deer-hunt: he received a fall which caused a double fracture of his right leg below the knee, of such a character as ultimately to render amputation necessary. The operation was performed on December 10th.

The Legislature met at Columbia on the 26th of November, and adjourned on the 24th of December. The ceremony of the inauguration and installment in office took place on the 4th of December at Governor Hampton's residence in the suburbs of Columbia, by the side of the bed on which he lay in a reclining position. On the 10th of December Governor Hampton was elected United States Senator for the term of six years from March 4, 1879, as successor of John T. Patterson.

The receipts and expenditures of the State during the fiscal year ending October 31, 1878, were as follows:

Among the items of revenue for 1878, the royalty paid on phosphate, from the several places where it is dug, amounted to $93,420.98. The amounts of all taxable property in South Carolina for the fiscal year 1878-'79 were: Immovable property, $85,633,873; movable property, $40,088,341; railroad property, $6,530,772; making a total of $132,237,986; which is $3,618,023 less than the aggregate assessment of the previous year.

Public instruction in South Carolina appears to be in a satisfactory condition, with a tendency toward further progress. The aggregate number of children who attended the public schools in the year was 116,239, or nearly 14,000 above their number in the previous year. The charitable institutions of the State appear to be under praiseworthy management. To meet the expenses of the State charities for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1878, the Legislature at the previous_session made the following appropriations: For the Lunatic Asylum, $45,000; for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum, $4,000; for the State Orphan Asylum, $3,000.

An act was passed to cede to the United States of America so much land on the shore of Sullivan's Island and Morris Island, respectively, as may be necessary for the erection of the shore lines of the jetties to be erected for the improvement and deepening of the bar of Charleston Harbor. The projected jetties will, it is expected, give that port one of the best harbors on the Atlantic coast. The plan is similar to that employed at the mouth of the Mississippi. The bar at the entrance of the harbor is 10 miles wide. The plan is to inclose in a channel half a mile broad all the water which spreads its force over the whole length

of the bar, thus increasing the scouring property of the outflow between the heads of the jetty as much as eightfold. This will, according to the calculations, open a channel 24 feet deep through the bar, where there is now only 10 or 12 feet of water, thus enabling vessels of the largest size built to float over Charleston bar into the deep, commodious, landlocked haven within.

An important case was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States on October 14, 1878, one of the parties in litigation being the city of Charleston. The case arose under an ordinance of the City Council taxing the six per cent. stock of the city in the hands of purchasers. The holders of the stock refused to pay the tax, and were sued for payment before the courts of the State. Seeing themselves defeated there, they carried the matter on a writ of error to the Supreme Court of the United States. After hearing the argument of counsel on both sides, the Supreme Court decided that the city has no power to annul by her own acts any part of the obligations she assumes toward her creditors. On this point the decision sets forth several reasons, concluding with these words: "We hold that no municipality of a State can by its own ordinances, under the guise of taxation, relieve itself from performing to the letter all that it has expressly promised to its creditors."

SPAIN, a kingdom of southern Europe. King, Alfonso XII., born November 28, 1857, proclaimed King December 30, 1874. The Ministry in 1878 was composed as follows: Canovas del Castillo, President of the Council; Silvela, Foreign Affairs; Calderon y Collantes, Justice; Caballos y Vargas, War; Marquis de Orovio, Finance; Pavia, Navy; Romero y Robledo, Interior; Count Toreno, Agriculture and Commerce; Herrera, Colonies. The area of Spain is 197,774 square miles; the population in 1870 was 16,635,506. The area of the Spanish colonies was 117,209 square miles, and their population 8,093,610.

The revenue and expenditure in the budget for 1878-'79 were estimated as follows (values in pesetas-1 peseta = 19.3 cents):

1, 1878, was 6,199 kilometres. The aggregate length of the telegraph lines in 1876 was 13,618 kilometres; of the wires, 32,998 kilometres; number of dispatches, 1,560,897, of which 1,053,306 were inland, 293,803 foreign, 22,936 transit, and 190,852 official.

The Cortes assembled on January 11th. Posada Herrera was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies, and Barzanellana of the Senate. On the 11th Señor Canovas del Castillo read a royal message announcing the approaching marriage of the King with Princess Maria de las Mercedes, Infanta of Spain, second daughter of the Duc de Montpensier. On the 14th the discussion on the marriage was opened. General Pavia opposed the marriage, which he regarded as disadvantageous for Spain. Señor Moyana made a long speech against the marriage, and also attacked the Duc de Montpensier, accusing him of ingratitude to Queen Isabella. Señor Canovas del Castillo replied, declaring the language of Señor Moyana to be disrespectful, and stating that he considered the projected union as very advantageous for the nation, as it brought together two branches of the same family. On the following evening the marriage bill was agreed to by 309 votes to 4. On the 17th it was unanimously approved by the Senate. The session was closed on the 29th.

The regular session of the Cortes was opened on February 15th by the King, accompanied by the Queen and his sisters. The King presented the Queen to the assembled senators and deputies, and then read the speech from the throne. He said he had seen the Spanish nation and the foreign powers greet his choice with satisfaction-a choice he had been led to make by the personal qualities of the Queen. He declared that both he and his consort would devote all the strength and energy they possessed to the promotion of the felicity of Spain, with which they identified all their aspirations after happiness and their views for the future. He expressed his gratitude to all the sovereigns and rulers of the states who on the occasion of his marriage had given evidence of their friendly sentiments toward him and the nation. He lamented the death of Pope Pius IX., and said he hoped that Providence would enlighten the Conclave, so that they might elect a Pontiff who would insure concord between church and state. He expressed hopes for the maintenance of cordial relations with foreign powers, and added that the treaties of commerce with Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Denmark, and the United States would be presented for approval, together with several financial bills, including one in virtue of which the Government would propose to sell the forests belonging to the state which were not inalienable. Referring to Cuba, he said that, thanks to the exertions of the troops and sailors and the sacrifices made by the nation, the island, he trusted, would speedily be pacified. The Sec

ond Chamber elected for its President Señor Ayala. On February 26th the Marquis of Orovio, the Minister of Finance, made a statement respecting the financial condition of the country, which he said was very favorable. The receipts and expenditures in the next budget would balance, and the country had discharged its obligations on their falling due, without the necessity for any renewal. The revenue from taxes during the financial year 1876-77 had yielded an excellent result, and the Minister hoped shortly to be able to reduce the taxation. On March 7th the address in reply to the speech from the throne was adopted by 187 against 62 votes. Señor Castelar, in the debate preceding the vote, said that Spain suffered from two wounds-one at Gibraltar, the other on the Tagus. The inhabitants of Gibraltar, he said, were of Spanish blood, and the place should be in Spanish hands. Alluding to the recent Papal election, some speakers accused the Government of exercising pressure with the view of influencing the Conclave. Señor Canovas del Castillo, in his reply, denied that any such pressure had been employed. The Marquis of Orovio presented his budget to the Chamber on March 9th. The revenue was set down at 752,000,000 pesetas, and the expenditure at 760,000,000. The proceeds of the future sale of state property are estimated at 25,000,000 pesetas. Petroleum and other mineral oils are to be subjected to special duties, which will, however, be remitted on importations from countries enjoying the most-favored-nation clause, but maintained in regard to countries which have no treaty with Spain. In the first week of May the Minister of the Colonies submitted a bill authorizing a Cuban loan of 500,000,000 pesetas, to be guaranteed by the Cuban customs duties. The Cortes were prorogued on July 24th, and met again in the latter part of October. A new electoral bill was presented to the Cortes and passed, restricting universal suffrage.

On January 23d King Alfonso XII. was married to Maria de las Mercedes, the second daughter of the Duc de Montpensier. The young Queen was born June 24, 1860, and died June 26, 1878. (See OBITUARIES, FOREIGN.) By this marriage the two branches of the house of Bourbon were united. The King and Queen were also cousins, the mother of the Queen being a sister of Queen Isabella, the mother of King Alfonso.

As King Alfonso was returning from a tour of the provinces to Madrid on October 25th, a young man pressed forward and twice discharged a pistol, fortunately without hitting any one. He was immediately arrested, and after a trial sentenced to death. His name was Juan Oliva y Moncasi. He was a cooper of Catalonia, and asserted that he had come to Madrid for the purpose of murdering the King.

The insurrection in Cuba was officially de

clared at an end on February 21st. On March 1st telegrams were read in the Cortes announcing the submission of several thousand Cuban insurgents, with arms and cannon, and a large number of non-combatants. A royal decree was published in Havana on March 2d, ordaining that Cuba shall have its own deputies, municipalities, and councils general, and shall be treated in the same manner as Porto Rico. Another decree, issued at Puerto Principe, enacted that all slaves born after the passage of the law of February 10, 1869, shall be free if they present themselves to the Spanish authorities in Cuba before the expiration of the month. Proprietors who had taken part in the rebellion would not be indemnified for the loss of the slaves thus freed; but other owners, who had not taken any part in the rebellion, would receive compensation in virtue of the law for the gradual abolition of slavery.

STEAM-ENGINE, WELLS BALANCE. The economy obtained by diminishing the length of the piston-stroke, and proportionately increasing the speed, has led engine-builders to strive for the highest obtainable velocity. The advantages derived from small engines worked at high speed are counterbalanced by the disturbing effect caused by the inertia of the piston, piston-rod, and connecting-rod, which increases with the rapidity of their motion; so that there is a point of velocity beyond which an engine of a given size can not be worked without wearing out the frame and the foundation with the jars of the piston-strokes. This difficulty seems to be overcome in the doublepiston balance engine, invented by Justin R. Wells, of New York. He entirely counteracts the inertia by working two pistons in the same cylinder, each traversing half its length simultaneously in opposite directions. The steam is admitted alternately in the middle part of the cylinder between the pistons, to drive them apart, and at the cylinder-heads, to drive them together. The weight displaced is divided and carried in opposite directions simultaneously, thus entirely obliterating the shock; the intermittent action of the steam-pressure on the cylinder is also balanced and the strain obviated. Another weighty advantage is the removal of the dislocating strain on the journals by the shaft, and the tendency to twist the shaft produced by a single-piston engine: in this engine two opposite forces act in the cranks placed in opposite directions, leaving the action of the shaft and journals perfectly free and balanced. In three important particulars, therefore, is the wear and disturbance produced in an ordinary engine, which increases in proportion as the size of the engine for the same work is reduced and the velocity increased, removed in the Wells engine. The full benefits derived from short strokes and high speed can thus be obtained. An engine of this type used by George R. Otis, of New York, with a cylinder of a five-inch bore, and a stroke of five inches for each piston, can

leaving the cylinder loose, or by removing the pillow-blocks, when the shaft will remain stationary while the engine moves. It is claimed that the work is doubled in the two-piston balance engine with the same velocity of piston; and that, by increasing the velocity one half, the capacity is threefold that of an ordinary engine of the same size of cylinder. There seems to be a promising future for such an engine, in which strains and shocks are minimized and their destructive effects removed, when employed in vessels and railroad locomotives. SWEDEN AND NORWAY, two kingdoms of northern Europe, united under the same

dynasty. The King, Oscar II., born January 21, 1829, succeeded to the throne at the death of his brother, Charles XV., September 18, 1872. He married, June 6, 1857, Sophia, daughter of the Duke of Nassau, born July 9, 1836. Their oldest son is Gustavus, heir apparent, Duke of Wermland, born June 16, 1858.

SWEDEN. The executive authority is in the hands of the King, who acts under the advice of a ministry, formerly called the Council of State. The composition of the ministry at the close of 1878 was as follows: Baron L. de Geer, Minister of State and Justice; O. M.

Björnstjerna, Foreign Affairs; J. H. Rosensward, War; Baron F. W. von Otter, Navy; H. L. Forssell, Finance; F. F. Carlson, Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs; C. J. Thyselius, Interior. Besides these there are three ministers without portfolios: H. G. Lagerstråle, Dr. N. H. Vult von Steyern, and Dr. J. H. Lovén. The area of Sweden, inclusive of inland lakes, is 170,741 square miles. The population of the several provinces or lans on December 31, 1877, was as follows:

granted to increase the rolling stock and other material of the existing roads. The expenses of the army, church, and certain civil offices are in part defrayed out of the revenue of landed estates belonging to the Crown, and the amounts do not appear in the budget estimates. The public debt of Sweden on December 31, 1877, amounted to 182,157,084 crowns.

The Swedish army in 1876 numbered 156,970 men. The navy in 1878 consisted of 42 steamers, of 19,311 horse-power and 153 guns, 10 sailing vessels with 105 guns, and 87 smaller vessels with 113 guns.

The imports and exports in 1876 were as follows (value in crowns):

165,677

140,606

107,121

143,929

Of the total population, 2,180,060 were males and 2,304,482 were females. In 1876 there were 31,184 marriages, 140,236 births, 90,680 deaths, and 4,348 still-births.

The population of the principal cities of Sweden in 1877 was as follows: Stockholm, 167,677; Gothenburg, 71,707; Malmö, 34,439; Norrköping, 27,226; Gefle, 18,137; Carlskrona, 17,787; Jönköping, 14,460; Upsala, 13,466; Lund, 13,415; Oerebro, 10,830; Helsingborg, 10,639; Calmar, 10,222.

The budget for 1879 was as follows (value in crowns-1 crown = 26.8 cents):

NORWAY.-In Norway the executive is represented by the King, who exercises his authority through a Council of State composed of two ministers of state and nine councilors. Two of the councilors, who are changed every year, together with one of the ministers, form a delegation of the Council of State residing at Stockholm near the King. The Council of State was composed as follows in 1878: F. Stang, Minister of State; H. L. Helliesen, Finances and Customs; Dr. J. C. Falsen, Justice and Police; J. L. Johansen, Navy; C. A. Selmer, Interior; R. T. Nissen, Education and Worship; Major-General A. F. Munthe, Army; Jacob Aall (pro tem.), Revision of Public Accounts. The delegation of the Council at Stockholm consisted of O. R. Kierulf, Minister of State, N. Vogt, and J. Holmboe. The area of Norway is 122,280 square miles, and the population according to the census of 1875 was 1,806,900. (For an account of the area and population of each of the provinces of