730 CEBIDE CEDAR RAPIDS several journalists suffered imprisonment through | camped on its left bank, a little less than a mile his orders. CEBIDÆ, a family of apes. See APE, Vol. II, Pp. 152-155. CECIDOMYIA, a gall-making cereal pest. See WHEAT, Vol. XXIV, p. 535. CECIL, RICHARD, clergyman; born in London, Nov. 8, 1748; died at Tunbridge Wells, Aug. 15, 1810. He was ordained a minister of the Church of England in 1776; minister at St. John's, London, and Risley in Surrey. He wrote a series of biographies, which include some of Rev. John Newton; a series of miscellaneous tracts; a volume of sermons; and a volume of Remains, a work eminently useful to ministers. CECROPIA, a South American and West Indian genus of Urticaceæ, known as "trumpet-trees.' The pith is divided into chambers, and these partitions being removed, the branches are made into water-pipes and wind-instruments. The wood is very light, and is used to make floats for nets, and by the Indians in kindling fires, by friction against a harder piece of wood. The bast yields a cordage fiber, and the outer bark is astringent. The fruit resembles a raspberry, the buds furnish a potherb and the juice hardens into caoutchouc. The pith-chambers are inhabited by ants, which feed upon small food-bodies formed on the leafpetioles, and serve as a police-protection against dangerous ants and other insects. The leaves are a favorite food of the sloth. above the north fork. He himself had been called to Washington, and had left General Wright in command. During the previous night the Confederates had marched around and taken their position behind and to the left of the Union line. Part of the Union troops were routed, the rest General Wright withdrew about a mile to the north, taking up a more favorable position. The Confederates followed, though in disorder, and formed again in front of General Wright's line. At this time, a little before one p.m., Sheridan, who had heard of the battle, at Winchester, arrived, and his appearance inspired his men with confidence, so that they drove back the enemy. General Sheridan then prepared for aggressive action, and about four p. m. made a spirited attack, driving the Confederates completely from the field, and recapturing all the guns and ammunition which had been lost on the previous night, and capturing, in addition, 24 guns and 56 ambulances from the enemy. The Union losses in killed, wounded and prisoners was estimated at 6,000. The Confederates lost about 3,100. This was the last important battle in the Shenandoah valley. It was this ride of Sheridan's, from Winchester to Cedar Creek, that forms the theme of Thomas Buchanan Read's famous poem. CEDAR FALLS, a city of Blackhawk County, northeastern Iowa, situated on the Cedar River, 100 miles W. of Dubuque, on the Burlington, CECROPIA, a moth of the genus Platysamia, | Cedar Rapids and Northern, Chicago Great Westwidely distributed in the United States. The wings are brown, with a red and black crescentlike spot near the center. The young caterpillars are black, but the mature specimens are of a green color. They construct cocoons of very fine silk. In California an attempt is being made to cultivate the cecropia silk-worm. CEDAR, BASTARD BARBADOS (Cedrela odorata), a tree of the family Meliacea, a native of the tropical parts of America. It is often upward of 80 feet high, with a trunk remarkable for its thickness. The wood has an agreeable fragrance, and, being light and soft, it is used for canoes, shingles and cigar-boxes. In France it is used in making black lead-pencils. True Barbados cedar is Juniper barbadensis, and is of much less importance. The true cedar belongs to the coniferous genus Cedrus (q.v.). CEDAR-BERG, a mountain range in Cape Colony, stretching north and south on the east side of Olifant River valley, in Clanwilliam division. The name is from the plantations of Cape Cedar (Widdringtonia juniperoides), which are now, however, being fast destroyed. This is the only locality where this species is found. CEDAR-BIRD. See WAX-WING, Vol. XXIV, p. 461. CEDAR CREEK, a stream of northern Virginia, which rises in the North Mountains and flows between Shenandoah and Frederic counties, emptying into the Shenandoah River. A battle was fought here on Oct. 19, 1862, which takes its name from the creek. Sheridan's army was en ern and Illinois Central railroads. It is the seat of a state normal school, and contains oatmeal and paper mills, and various other manufacturing industries, most of them utilizing the water-power obtained from the fall of the Cedar River as it passes through the town. Population 1890, 3,459. CEDAR KEYS, a seaport and city on one of the Cedar Keys, Levy County, western central Florida; terminus of the Florida Central and Peninsular railroad; 35 miles S. W. of Gainesville, It is on the Gulf of Mexico, and its harbor is formed by several small islands, on one of which stands a lighthouse. The town has an ice factory, a large trade in lumber, oysters and pencil-wood, and has a very healthful climate. Population 1890, 1,600. near CEDAR MOUNTAIN, a battlefield situated the Rappahannock River, in Culpeper County, northwestern Virginia. The action took place Aug. 9, 1862, between the Confederates under General Jackson and the Federal forces under General Banks. The Union army was greatly outnumbered and defeated, with a loss of 1,400 in killed and wounded, 400 taken prisoners, besides the loss of a large quantity of ammunition and stores. The Confederate loss was 1,314. CEDAR RAPIDS, a city of Linn County, central eastern Iowa, on the Cedar River, 79 miles S. W. of Dubuque, at the junction of the Chicago and Northwestern and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern railroads also on the Illinois Central and on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroads. It is also the terminus of the CEDAR RIVER-CELLULOSE Dubuque and Southwestern railroad. The Coe Collegiate Institute (Presbyterian) is situated here. The rapid current of the river at this point provides ample water-power for flour-mills and various manufactories of machinery, carriages and agricultural implements. It has a pork-packing establishment, and the extensive car-shops of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern railroad. Population 1890, 18,020; 1895, 21,555. CEDAR RIVER rises in southeastern Minnesota, enters Iowa at Mitchell County, runs southeast past Waverley, Waterloo and Vinton, and enters the Iowa River some 25 miles above its junction with the Mississippi. Its length has been estimated to be between 375 and 400 miles. It flows through a very fertile prairie region. CEDAR SPRINGS, a village of Kent County, in the central western part of the southern peninsula of Michigan, on the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon and the Grand Rapids and Indiana railroads, 18 miles N. of Grand Rapids. It has a number of lumber-mills. Population 1890, 1,038. CEDAR SPRING, a village of Spartanburg County, northwestern South Carolina, about 90. miles N. W. of Columbia, and 4 miles W. of Spartanburg. It is the seat of the state institution for the deaf, dumb and blind. CEDARTOWN, capital of Polk County, northwestern Georgia, on the Chattanooga, Rome and Columbus and the East and West railroads, 20 miles S. of Rome. Its principal industries are iron-working, lumber-making and fruit-raising. Population 1890, 1,625. CEILING. See BUILDING, Vol. IV, pp. 505, 506; also, for churches, see ARCHITECTURE, Vol. II, p. 462. CELAKOVSKY, FRANZ LADISLAUS, Bohemian poet and professor of Slav philosophy; born in Strakonitz, March 7, 1799; died at Prague, Aug. 5, 1852. His principal works are Echoes of Russian and Bohemian Folk-Songs (1833-40), and a cycle of love-songs and didactic and political poems (1840). He also translated the works of Herder, Goethe and Scott. CELANDINE, a popular name applied to two dissimilar plants: (1) Chelidonium majus, a member of the poppy family, common to Europe and the United States. It is a tall perennial branching herb, with pinnate leaves, and small yellow flowers in umbels. The whole plant is full of an acrid yellow juice, which has some reputation in medicine. Its nearest ally (Stylophorum diphyllum) is known as "celandine poppy.' (2) Ranunculus Ficaria, one of the early "buttercups" of Europe, otherwise known as "pile-wort." 731 CELESTINE. See MINERALOGY, Vol. XVI, p. 400. CELINA, a village and the capital of Mercer County, central western Ohio, situated at the junction of the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw, the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton and the Lake Erie and Western railroads, on the northwest bank of the Great Reservoir. It has several churches, banks and two planing-mills. Population 1890, 2,702. CELLE, a Prussian town. See ZELLE, Vol. XXIV, p. 775 CELLIER, ALFRED, English musician and composer; born at Hackney, England, Dec. 1, 1844; died in London, Dec. 28, 1891. He was of French parentage; conductor of the Belfast Harmonic Society in 1865; orchestral conductor of the Opera Comique in 1877-79, and with Sir Arthur Sullivan at Covent Garden. He composed Charity Begins at Home; Sultan of Mocha; Pandora; The Tower of London; The Mountebanks; and numerous other not so well known operas. CELL-LIFE, ANIMAL. See EMBRYOLOGY, in these Supplements. CELL-LINEAGE. See EMBRYOLOGY, in these CELLS, PRIMARY AND SECONDARY. TRICITY, 897-109, in these Supplements. CELLULAR CARTILAGE. See ANATOMY, Vol. I, p. 852. The CELLULOID OR PARKESINE, a substance. consisting chiefly of a dried solution of guncotton (pyroxylin). A variety of it can be made with. pyroxylin and camphor. It resembles ivory, horn, tortoise-shell and hardened India-rubber. pyroxylin is prepared by treating cellulose from such vegetable materials as cotton, rags, papermaker's half-stuff, or paper itself, with a mixture of one part of strong nitric acid and four parts of strong sulphuric acid. The distillate obtained by distilling wood-naphtha with chlorid of lime is used as a solvent for the pyroxylin. When the excess of solvent is removed from the pyroxylin, it is mixed with a considerable quantity of castoroil or cottonseed-oil, and made into a paste between heated rollers. For a hard compound, the quantity of oil should be less than the pyroxylin. In a plastic condition, celluloid can be spread on textile fabrics, or it may be made as hard as ivory, for which it is largely used as a substitute. Billiard-balls, piano-keys and combs are made of it. It can be colored to represent amber, tortoise-shell or malachite. In imitation of red CELAYA, a town in the state of Guanajuato, central Mexico, situated on the Rio Laja, about 150 miles, by the Mexican National railroad, N. W. coral it has been a great deal used for jewelry. of the City of Mexico, and about 30 miles W. of CELLULOSE, primarily, the essential constitQueretaro by the Mexican Central. It has sevuent of the framework or wall-membrane of all eral fine plazas, handsome churches, and manu- plant-cells. It is a secretion from the contained factories of cotton and woolen cloths and sad-protoplasm, but in the advancing growth of the dlery. Population, 21,000. CELESTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY. See ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY, in these Supplements. plant the walls become incrusted with resin, coloring matter, etc. It composes the cells of wood as wax composes the cells of a honeycomb. It is 732 CELLULOSE SILK-CENOZOIC changed to glucose by long boiling with dilute sulphuric acid. A substance resembling parchment is readily obtained by treating unsized paper with cold sulphuric acid. Cellulose is also said to exist in the tunics of Ascidia, and in other invertebrates. It is insoluble in water, alcohol, ether, dilute alkalies and dilute acids. It is remarkable for its insolubility, being dissolvable, so far as at present known, only by an ammoniacal solution of oxid of copper, from which it may be again precipitated. It may be bleached by the action of chlorin water. Skeleton leaves, so often made in phantom bouquets, consist of nearly pure cellulose. They are usually prepared either (a) by boiling the leaves in a dilute solution of caustic soda, and bleaching by an immersion in a solution of hypochlorite of lime, or (b) by suspending the leaves in a mixture of nitric acid and chlorate of potassa for several days. It is isomerous, with starch in its composition, and allied to starch, sugar and inulin. Cotton and bleached flax, as well as hemp, are nearly pure cellulose. With age it becomes largely transformed into lignin, suberin, or mucilage. In some filter-paper, notably the Swedish, it is in almost a chemically pure state. Sugar and gum are nearly allied to it in composition. When pure, it is fibrous or spongy, white, translucent and often silky. Under the microscope the fibrous varieties appear like spun glass. It is tough and extremely elastic, with a specific gravity of 1.5. By dipping paper or cotton or linen fabrics in a copper-ammonia solution of cellulose, and then passing the sheets between rolls, they are rendered water-proof. Several layers of such sheets of cloth or fiber pressed together form an artificial wood of enormous strength. A plastic mass of this material can be readily prepared, suitable for the manufacture of water-pipes, gas-pipes, hats, clothing, boats, etc. Cellulose, by reason of its peculiar properties, is being largely introduced into ship-building, as it is specially adapted for resisting blows, concussions, or perforations, either above or below the water-line. Its component parts are carbon, dydrogen and oxygen, and its scientific formula is given as C18H30O15. In The material used for ship-protection is usually made from the ground fiber of the cocoanut with a small percentage of original fibers. It is extremely light, and has the property of rapidly swelling when wet. A cubic foot weighs about seven and a half to eight pounds. It is practically free from danger of fire, burning very slowly, and with great difficulty when compressed. France, experiments have been made by firing a ten-inch shot through a mattress of cellulose; the fibers came together and swelled so rapidly that only three and a half gallons per minute of water passed through the aperture, and in a short time the aperture was closed entirely. Cellulose was first used in ship-building in 1884, but so rapidly did it obtain favor that in 1890 the French had introduced it into the construction of some 40 vessels of their navy, and in the same year its use was ordered as a means of protection in the construction of ships in Russia, Holland, Japan and Greece, as well as in the American navy. Its cost is about $1 a cubic foot, or approaching $250 a ton. (See FIBRES, Vol. IX, pp. 131, 132; BIOLOGY, Vol. III, p. 169; and GUN-COTTON, Vol. XI, p. 277. CELLULOSE SILK. See SILK, ARTIFICIAL, in these Supplements. CELMAN, MIGUEL JUAREZ, Argentine Republic statesman; born in Cordoba, Argentine Republic, September, 1844; governor of the province of Cordoba in 1880; a member of the National Congress in 1884. He was elected President of the republic in 1886, and retained the office until 1890, when he was compelled to resign, owing to the national financial panic and bankruptcy, the blame for which was laid on Celman and his Cabinet. CELSUS, AURELIUS CORNELIUS, physician. See ANATOMY, Vol. I, p. 802. CELT, the name by which certain weapons or implements of early inhabitants of western Europe are known among archæologists. The term is generally applied to a stone instrument of wedgelike form found in barrows and other repositories of Celtic antiquities. See ARMS AND ARMOR, Vol. II, p. 553. CELTIC CHURCH. See CELTIC LITERATURE, Vol. V, pp. 303-306; CULDEES, Vol. VI, pp. 693, 694. CELTS OR KELTS. See CELTIC LITERATURE, Vol. V, pp. 297–305. CEMBRA PINE. See PINE, Vol. XIX, pp. 105, 106. CEMENTATION, a process in metallurgy. See IRON, Vol. XIII, pp. 339-343. CEMENTITE. See IRON AND STEEL, in these Supplements. CEMETERIES, NATIONAL. There are eightythree cemeteries kept in condition and cared for by the United States government. In such cemeteries are buried soldiers and officers who have died in battle during a war, or who have died while in active service. Special provisions are made at times to provide for the burying there of ex-soldiers who die paupers. These eighty-three national cemeteries are scattered throughout the states of the Union, but are principally near the larger battle-fields of the Civil War, and near United States army posts. They are in charge of the quartermaster's department. CENIS, MONT, a carriage pass 6,672 feet in height, and a peak of the Alps of 11,451 feet, on the eastern border of the French department of Savoy. Napoleon I had a road constructed over the pass from the Isère valley, in France, to Susa, in Italy, in 1803-10, for strategical purposes. The Mont Cenis tunnel, on the FrancoItalian railway, was constructed in 1857-71, under the neighboring Col de Fréjus, and reaches an altitude of 4,395 feet. See TUNNELLING, Vol. XXIII, p. 624. CENOZOIC, CAINOZOIC OR CENOZOIC PERIOD. See GEOLOGY, Vol. X, pp. 360-365. CENSER-CENTRAL FORCES CENSER, a vase or other sacred vessel used for burning perfumes. Censers were much used Censers were much used in the Hebrew service of the Temple, and by the Greeks. The censer, called also a thurible, is used in the Roman Catholic Church at mass, vespers and other offices. It is suspended by chains which are held in the hand, and is swung in the air, so as to throw the smoke of the incense in all directions. CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. See BIBLIOGRAPHY, Vol. III, pp. 658, 659; PRESS LAWS, Vol. XIX, pp. 710-714. CENT, a coin representing the one hundredth part of a dollar, and of legal tender to the extent of twenty-five in one payment. The Dutch cent is a copper coin, the hundredth part of a guilder. In the United States it is a coin of copper, or copper alloy, and is nearly equal to an English halfpenny. CENTAUREA, a genus of plants of the family Composite, containing numerous species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants, chiefly natives of temperate and cold regions. The corn-bluebottle (C. cyanus), common in flower-gardens, has flowers variously modified by cultivation. The generic name has its origin in an ancient legend concerning the cure of a centaur by one of these species. The genus is related to the thistles, its numerous species (often called "star thistles,'') belonging chiefly to the eastern hemisphere, many of them being cultivated. CENTAURUS, the Centaur, a constellation in the southern hemisphere, represented by a form. half man and half horse. The stars in this constellation are 37 in number. See ASTRONOMY, Vol. II, p. 817. CENTAURY, the common name of the species of Centaurea, (q.v., in these Supplements); also applied to various species of the family Gentianacea, with pink or rose-colored flowers, notably the European species of Chlora and Erythræa. In America the name is applied to the numerous species of the gentianaceous genus Sabbatia. CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION. See EXHIBITION, Vol. VIII, p. 804; and WORLD'S FAIRS, in these Supplements. CENTER COLLEGE, an educational institution for men at Danville, Kentucky; organized in 1819; is under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church. The president is Rev. W. Clark Young. In 1895 there were 16 in. the faculty, 269 students and a library of 11,000 volumes. CENTER OF GRAVITY. Vol. XI, pp. 69, 70. See GRAVITATION, 733 the arch are supported until they are keyed in. In building bridges or other structures, where arches of great span are to be constructed, the centering is usually made of framed timbers, or timbers and iron combined. CENTERVILLE, capital of Appanoose County, central southern Iowa, on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific and on the Keokuk and Western railroads, 75 miles S. E. of Des Moines. The surrounding country is rich in coal, stone and timber and in agricultural products. Population 1890, 3,668. CENTERVILLE, a town and the capital of Queen Anne County, central western Maryland, on the Corsica Creek, where it enters an arm of the Chester River inlet; on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad; 36 miles by water S. E. of Baltimore. It has a considerable oyster trade; marl is found in the neighborhood. Pop| ulation 1890, 1,309. See CENTIGRADE THERMOMETER. THERMOMETER, Vol. XXIII, p. 289. CENTNER, in metallurgy, a weight of 100 pounds; the pound is divided into 32 parts or half-ounces, the half-ounce into two quarters, and each of these into two drams. In many European countries centner is a common name for a hundredweight, but the centner of Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland is now fixed at 50 kilos, or 110.23 pounds avoirdupois. The cental (100 pounds) of the United States and Great Britain is often called centner. CENTRAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES. See AMERICA, Vol. I, pp. 693, 694. CENTRAL CITY, capital of Gilpin County, northern central Colorado, situated on the Denver and Gulf branch of the Union Pacific railroad, 40 miles W. of Denver, among the Rocky Mountains. It has a fine school, and its prosperity is due to the gold-mines in the vicinity. Population 1890, 2,480. CENTRAL CITY, capital of Merrick County, southeastern central Nebraska, on the Platte River, and on the Burlington and Missouri and the Union Pacific railroads; by the latter, 132 miles W. of Omaha. The surrounding country is fertile, producing principally grains and hay. Population 1890, 1,368. CENTRAL FALLS, a village of Lincoln town, Providence County, Rhode Island, on the Blackstone River, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad, six miles above Providence. It is an active manufacturing town, producing cotton and woolen goods, machinery, leather, thread, CENTER OF OSCILLATION. See CLOCKS, hair-cloth, and has foundries and copper-refineries. Vol. VI, pp. 14, 15. See MECHAN Ics, Vol. XV, p. 770. Population 1895, 15,828. CENTRAL FORCES. When a body is once in motion, unless it be acted upon by some force, it will move uniformly forward in a straight line with unchanged velocity. If, therefore, a body moves uniformly in any other path than a straight line-in a circle, for instance--this must be because some force is constantly at work which continuously deviates it from this straight line. If the deviating force acts toward a point, as, for 734 CENTRALIA-CERAMIC ART example, the force of gravity in the case of planets, the force is called a central force. finite so-called centrosphere simply a portion, of the cytoplasm. See figure under KARYOKINESIS, in these Supplements. CENTURIES OF MAGDEBURG, Protestant ecclesiastical annals. See CHURCH HISTORY, Vol. V, p. 765. CENTURY, in modern usage, a period of 100 years. It is also used figuratively of any long period of time. The term was used originally in reference to a division of the Roman tribes for the election of magistrates, passage of laws, etc., in which the voting was done by centuries (com CENTRALIA, a city and railroad junction of Marion County, central southern Illinois, on the Centralia and Chester, the Illinois Central, the Jacksonville, Louisville and St. Louis, and the Louisville, Evansville and St. Louis railroads. The Illinois Central Railroad Company has its machine-shops here; there are also various manufactories, and it is the center of the Illinois fruit belt. The fair grounds of southern Illinois are located here. Population 1890, 4,763. CENTRALIA, a city of Lewis County, south-panies of 100 men each). It was soon applied to western Washington, on the Chehalis River, and on the Northern Pacific railroad, 51 miles S. of Tacoma. Its industries are coal-mining, lumbering and agriculture. Population 1890, 2,026. CENTRALIA, a city of Wood County, central Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin River, directly opposite Grand Rapids, and on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, the Green Bay, Winona and St. Paul and the Port Edwards, Centralia and Northern railroads. It has several manufactories, principally of wooden articles. Population 1895, 2,039. CENTRALIA, a town in Boone County, central Missouri, on the Chicago and Alton and the Wabash railroads, 20 miles N. N. E. of Columbia. The surrounding country is a farming and grazing district. Population 1890, 1,275 CENTRAL PARK. See NEW YORK, Vol. XVII, p. 466. CENTRARCHIDÆ, a family of bold carnivorous fishes found in the fresh waters of North America. The sunfish, rock-bass and black-bass are examples. CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL are terms sometimes used in botany to designate two different kinds of inflorescence, the former term being applied when the development of flowers proceeds from the apex toward the base of the axis, and the latter when it is from the base upward toward the apex. Originally applied to flattop inflorescences in which the order of blooming was really from the center toward the circumference, or vice versa. CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL FORCES. See MECHANICS, Vol. XV, p. 682. CENTROSOME. See CENTROSPHERE, in these Supplements. CENTROSPHERE, in botany, a name applied to a cell-body closely associated with the nucleus. Centrospheres usually occur as a pair of spherical bodies in contact with the nucleus, each of which consists of a small dense central body (centrosome), surrounded by a clear layer, and limited by granular substance. The centrospheres are observed to play an important part in nuclear and cell-division, in consequence of which they are often called "directive spheres"; also called "asters" from the fact that they are centers of radiating lines of structure. Their exact nature and function are still obscure. In fact, it is a question whether the centrosome is not the only essential part, and the rest of the somewhat inde a company of cavalry; a division of the Roman army. See ROME, Vol. XX, pp. 734, 735. CENTURY-PLANT, the popular name of Agave Americana, a Mexican plant of the family Amaryllidacea, otherwise known as American aloe. It develops a large cluster of very thick and large spiny leaves, from the midst of which, after a varying number of years, dependent on the climate, a flowering stalk very rapidly rises, attaining a height of 20 to 30 feet, and bearing an enormous cluster of greenish-yellow flowers. After flowering, the plant dies. The popular name arose from the erroneous impression that a century of leafformation and food-storage elapsed before the appearance of the flower-stalk. CEPHALOPODA. See MOLLUSCA, Vol. XVI, pp. 664-684. CEPHREN, CHEFREN OR KHAFRA, an Egyptian king. See CHEPHREN, Vol. V, pp. 582, 583. *CERAMIC ART.-Its Development in the United States since 1880. Ceramic art, or the department of the plastic and decorative arts which deals with objects made of clay, has been developed to its present degree of excellence in the United States practically within the last twenty years. The chief causes contributing to bring about this rapid advance were the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and the tariff act of 1883. The former event, with its extensive exhibit of European pottery, opened the eyes of the American manufacturer to his own inferiority, and fired him with the spirit of emulation; the latter, by rendering practicable, commercially, the production of finer wares, gave opportunity for the acquirement of that practice and experience which has since ripened into an established and perfected ceramic art in America. Imitation was the first and most natural characteristic of the attempt to introduce grace and beauty into the homely practice of utilitarian potting. The first effects of this movement were seen in the occasional production of ornamental single pieces, patterned closely upon the famous faience of Limoges, or the oddly shaped, gorgeously decorated wares of Japan, and in a gradual, though marked, refinement in the bodies of the dense and cumbrous stone and earthenwares which had contrasted so clumsily in 1876 with the delicate porcelains and semi-porcelains of Worcester, Doulton and Sèvres. A marked improvement in the handling of glazes and more frequent use of colors, both body and relief, man * Copyright, 1897, by The Werner Company. |