43

GUNPOWDER.

GUNPOWDER.

44 The explosive force of gunpowder depends upon the | son, the powder used for artillery and mining, where sudden formation of nitrogen and carbonic acid gases, it is desirable the combustion should be comparatively which, at the high temperature at which they are slow, is coarse-grained. The corning or graining of evolved, may be considered as amounting to about the powder is effected in wooden mortars, by wooden 2000 times the volume of the powder employed. pestles actuated by machinery, and a certain number The fœtid odour that attends the explosion of gun- of blows is given to a definite amount of the material. powder comes of sulphide of potassium that is formed. Parchment sieves are in succession employed to sepaThe Chinese have long been acquainted with the use rate the grains of a required size from the pulverized of gunpowder-indeed as early as the year A.D. 85; mass. The process of glazing the powder by attri and singularly enough the composition of their pow- tion then follows the operation of corning. Another der in the 100 parts was, on analysis, found to be method is that of pressing the composition into a almost exactly that employed by European nations, firm cake in the corning house; after which it is as the following table will show:broken up into small lumps, and the graining process is conducted in revolving sieves, each containing a flat circular piece of lignum-vitæ. The sieveholes are sized, to permit the escape through them of the grains as they are forined by the abrading action of the plate of wood. The grains are separated from the dust by proper sieves and reels; they are then hardened, and the rougher edges are taken off by being run a sufficient length of time in a close reel, which has a proper circular motion given to it. The temperature at which gunpowder explodes is about 600° Fahr.

Nitre.

English,

75.

French,

Prussian,.
Chinese,

75'

.

75° 75.

...

It was very probably also an invention of the Greeks, and employed by them in the fabrication of fireworks. It has been asserted upon doubtful evidence that the knowledge of this substance was conveyed to Europe from the Arabs by the Crusaders; and it has been further alleged, that the Arabs employed it at the siege of Mecca in 690, and that they obtained a knowledge of it from India. The earliest authentic record that we have of this composition is to be found in a work written by Roger Bacon at Oxford in 1216, and entitled 'The Secrets of Art and Nature;' wherein he states, that from saltpetre and other ingredients we are able to make a fire that shall burn at what distance we please, and that The yellow prussiate must be dried in an iron ladle sounds and coruscations resembling thunder and until it is as white as the chlorate. The ingredients lightning might be formed in the air, much more to are ground separately, and mixed by means of a be dreaded than those that happen naturally, inas- conical sieve until they are thoroughly incorporated. much as by its power armies and cities might be In loading it is treated the same way as ordinary destroyed.' Roger Bacon has been supposed to allude gunpowder, being pressed down by hand solid, but in an enigmatic way, by a formula of Latin words, not hard. The charge is ignited in the usual way, to the composition of gunpowder. A knowledge of either with a common cap and nipple, or in a rim or its destructive power, and the advantages to be de- central fire cartridge. No alteration is required in rived from it in war, is said to have originated early the gun, but the cartridge case must be little more in the fourteenth century, through an accidental dis- than half its usual length, which gives the same covery of Bartholdus Schwartz, a German chemist: result as double the quantity of gunpowder, but with while operating in a mortar with a pestle on a mix-greater quickness, penetration, and accuracy. ture of charcoal and nitre, an explosion occurred is also, comparatively, much cheaper than ordinary which blew the vessel to a considerable distance. gunpowder.

It

The introduction of cannon into the operations of Protected gunpowder-the invention of Mr. Galewarfare by sea and land soon followed the discovery is a method of rendering ordinary gunpowder inexploof gunpowder; as we find the Moors using artillery sive. The means employed for this purpose is simply against Alonzo, king of Castile, in 1343 and 1346. glass ground down to an exceedingly fine powder, Edward III. of England used five field-pieces against the French at the battle of Cressy. Cannon, and of course gunpowder, are said to have been first employed for naval purposes on the Baltic Sea in 1350, and by the Venetians in 1380.

which, on being mixed with the gunpowder, prevents it from exploding, even if touched with a red-hot iron. Three pounds of pounded glass to one of the powder is found to be the safest proportions. With equal parts of each the gunpowder will burn, but not explode. Slow In the manufacture of gunpowder, the nitre (nit- matches may be burned in vessels holding gunpowder rate of potash) and sulphur must be pure, the char-mixed with the protective powder, and they only serve coal carefully selected and prepared, and the whole to ignite a few grains. A red-hot poker may be perfectly mixed in fine powder. This mixture is stirred through the mixture without ignition. Even moistened, ground, and pressed into a cake; it is a quantity of pure gunpowder may be exploded in then dried and granulated, and, associated with plum- the centre of the protected powder, and no other bago in powder, it is afterwards polished by attri-effect will follow but the dispersion of a part of the tion in revolving barrels. The granular form of the mixture by the explosion. The mixture can be stored powder increases the rapidity of its combustion, by in magazines or on shipboard, or transported by land enabling the flame to penetrate it so as to kindle to any point, without more risk than attaches to every grain nearly at the same time. For this rea- commodities in general

The value of the exports of gunpowder from the United Kingdom amounts to nearly 500,000l. yearly. Gunpowder, Laws Relating to.-In consequence

Attempts have been made at various times by Dr. Hutton, Count Rumford, and others, to measure the force of gunpowder, but it is only within recent years that, by the combined efforts of chemists and mathe-of its very dangerous nature, the manufacture, carmaticians, science has advanced far enough to render riage, and storage of gunpowder are regulated by a definite answer to the problem. It was found that several stringent Acts of Parliament. Every mill in by the explosion of powder in the chamber of an 81- which it is made must be licensed, and only 40 lbs. ton gun, heat was generated equal to 4000° Fahr., must be dried at one time. Safe magazines for the being far more than sufficient to melt iron, and that storage of the powder have to be made at a distance the pressure exerted amounted to 42 tons per square from every mill, and the powder must be conveyed inch. The heat, owing to the ejection of the shot, there as soon as possible after its manufacture. No was but momentary, but no gun could stand the fre- dealer must keep more than 200 lbs. weight on his quent repetition of such enormous pressure from premises at one time, and no more than 300 lbs. inside without serious damage, and eventually rend-must be kept in store for mining purposes. Not ing open. Of course, the larger the bore, the greater more than 30 lbs. are to be carried by any land the number of square inches exposed to this dangerous pressure, and hence the chief difficulty of increasing the size of guns.

These difficulties were gradually overcome, so that it became possible in 1878 for Woolwich to undertake to turn out a gun of 200 tons, and to insure that, notwithstanding a huge charge of more than 400 lbs. of powder, the pressure within the gun should not exceed about 20 tons per square inch. And this result has been obtained chiefly by modern science being now able to calculate mathematically what the power of a given quantity of gunpowder will be, and, by modifications in its manufacture, to regulate to some extent its explosive force.

The instantaneous explosion of powder is only so in appearance. The time occupied in the burning of the charge may be exceedingly small, but scientifically speaking there is a very appreciable duration of time between the first ignition of a charge of gunpowder, and the conversion of the whole mass into gas.

It being thus a recognized fact that the combustion of gunpowder is not instantaneous, the problem was how to still further prolong the period occupied in the process. If the powder at the rear of the shot were to explode instantaneously, then the maximum pressure would be brought violently against the inner surface of the gun, and the utmost possible damage would be done to the gun, probably even to bursting it; while the shot would be sent out by the force of a smart blow. If, on the other hand, the powder burned comparatively slowly, the shot would have begun to move before the maximum force of the powder was exerted; and while the pressure within the gun would be reduced, the effect upon the shot would be a prolonged push.

carriage unless in a van specially constructed, and then 40 lbs. ; or unless such carriage form part of a railway train, and then 80 lbs. All vessels, unless belonging to the navy, coming into the Thames, have to put on shore, at or below Blackwall, all the gunpowder they have on board except 25 lbs.; and vessels outward bound are not to receive on board more than 25 lbs. previous to their arrival at that place. Warrants may be issued for searching in any places where gunpowder is suspected to be unlawfully secreted, or where more than the legal quantity is kept.

GUNPOWDER-PLOT. [FAWKES, Guido.] GUNJAH, the Indian name for the dried hemp plant (Cannabis sativa) before the resinous juice has been removed. It is chiefly used for smoking with tobacco.

GUNSTOCK is the stock or wood in which the barrel of a gun is fixed. It is turned by machinery from strong light wood. Walnut-wood is best adapted and principally used for the purpose.

GUNTER, EDMUND, was born in the county of Hertford, but of a family originally from Gunter's Town, in Brecknockshire. He was appointed professor of astronomy in Gresham College, March 6, 1619; and died on the 10th of December, 1626, about the forty-fifth year of his age. He was the first who laid down a logarithmic scale upon wood, and used it for the purposes of the draughtsman. This scale is still used, and goes by his name. common chain used by surveyors also goes by his name. The first observation of the variation of the compass is due to Gunter. Gunter's chain, for land measurements, is 66 feet in length, and its convenience in practice is owing to the fact that ten square chains make an acre.

GURNARD. [TRIGLA.]

The

It is found that by manufacturing the powder in large grains, and making what is known as 'pebble GUSTAVUS ERICKSON, commonly called Guspowder,' these results can be obtained, inasmuch as tavus Vasa, a descendant of the ancient Swedish a large grain takes a longer time to burn than a kings, was born May 2, 1490, at Ockestadt, near small grain-somewhat on the same principle of Stockholm. The independence of Sweden, which small pieces of coal burning through more rapidly had been recovered by a successful insurrection, than the same weight of coal in one lump. By being again lost through the success of the Danes, means of this pebble powder therefore a sufficiently Christian, the Danish monarch, caused himself to high velocity can be communicated to the shot without overstraining the gun. We have thus been led to increase the size of cannon powder from small grains to large lumps. A bag of onionseed would fairly represent the charge of the 68pounder in 1857, while a large sack of potatoes is suggested by the charge of the monster guns of 1878. [ORDNANCE.]

be crowned king of Sweden, and behaved in a most barbarous manner towards the inhabitants. Gustavus was thrown into prison, but escaped to the mountains of Dalecarlia, where, however, he could obtain neither food nor shelter from the peasants, who feared the threats of Christian. He wandered about the country half dead with cold and hunger, but succeeded in obtaining employment for

47

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.

48

a short time as a labourer. He was soon recognized, force into four parts. One division, under the duke of and in danger of being betrayed and taken. At Lauenburg, was ordered to the relief of Magdeburg; length, after a variety of adventures and some narrow General Bauditz was sent to make an attack upon escapes, he succeeded in reaching Rattwik in safety. Kolberg; Horn was left with a garrison in Stettin; Here Gustavus began his preparations for his and Gustavus himself encamped at Ribbenitz in the great undertaking. With unwearying zeal he went duchy of Mecklenburg. While lying there, he refrom house to house, and from hut to hut, and soon ceived a letter written by the Emperor Ferdinand, found himself surrounded with a number of reso- containing proposals for peace, in which he made lute combatants. With this force he marched towards the most advantageous offers to the Swedish king, Stockholm. His forces increased with each step, and including the possession of Pomerania. Gustavus in May, 1521, Erickson was at the head of 15,000 rejected these proposals, and continued to make himmen. Victory crowned the arms of the Dalecarlians, self master of the towns and fortresses of Pomerania to whom the inhabitants of the plains of Sweden and Mecklenburg. By the end of February, 1631, in quickly united themselves. At length, after various the course of only eight months, he had already taken vicissitudes, Stockholm fell into the hands of Gustavus, eighty fortified places; but the towns of Rostock and and Christian was forced to withdraw to Denmark. Wismar yet remained in the hands of his enemies. The nation which he had freed offered Gustavus the The emperor sent against him Field-marshal Tilly, crown of Sweden, but he declined to accept sove- at the head of the Imperial army. The army of reignty. Under the title of Stadtholder, however, Gustavus pressed forward into the heart of North he conducted the government of Sweden. But the Germany, gaining continnal victories, and on August adherents of the Catholic party and the expelled king 1, 1631, encamped near Wittemberg, where Gustavus of Denmark still continued to disturb the country by received Count Arnheim, the ambassador of the their intrigues, and the Swedes, in order to obtain elector of Saxony. A treaty was quickly concluded, peace and security, again solicited Gustavus to by which the Saxon dominions were opened to the ascend the throne; and in June, 1527, he was king of Sweden, and the whole military power of solemnly crowned king of Sweden, and became the the electorate placed under his command; the elector founder of a new dynasty. to provide the army with ammunition and provision, and to conclude no peace with Austria without the consent of the king of Sweden. Gustavus then prepared to encounter Tilly, who had advanced against him to Eilmarschen. On the 7th September, 1631, they met on the plains of Leipzig. The force of the king of Sweden, to which the Saxon troops under Arnheim were joined, amounted to about 40,000 men; Tilly's army was somewhat more numerous. The victory was long doubtful; but at length Tilly's defeat was complete.

Gustavus Vasa reigned in Sweden upwards of thirty-three years. During this long period he displayed such virtues and talents for government, that he acquired fresh and imperishable claims upon the gratitude of his country.

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS, King of Sweden, was born on December 9, 1594. He was the sixth monarch of the dynasty of Vasa. His father, Charles, had been declared king of Sweden to the exclusion of Sigismund, the heir of the elder line of the house of Vasa. Charles died October 30, 1611, leaving the Swedish sceptre to his son, then in his seventeenth year. As long as Charles lived, Sigismund never ventured to renew his claims to the crown of Sweden; but upon his death he invaded Sweden, and laid claim to the crown for his son Ladislaus, then a minor; but Gustavus fought successfully against the czar of Russia, the ally of Sigismund, and also against Sigismund himself, until, by the mediation of England and Holland, a peace was concluded in 1629, upon the most advantageous terms for Adolphus. Gustavus next declared war against Austria, his principal motive being to protect the oppressed German Protestants, notwithstanding that the ground of quarrel alleged in his declaration was the enmity shown to Sweden by Austria, and the violation of her territories.

Gustavus landed in Pomerania on the 24th June, 1630, with not more than 8000 men. He made himself master of the islands of Usedom and Wollin, and pressed Bogislav, the duke of Pomerania, so warmly, that he was compelled to agree to a treaty by which the town of Stettin was put in possession of the conqueror, and the whole country placed at his disposal.

The army of Gustavus was reinforced by six Scottish regiments, under the conduct of the duke of Hamilton, and he provided himself with money by raising a contribution of 50,000 rix-dollars in Pomerania. After several other successes, he divided his

All Germany was now open to the Swedes, and Gustavus hastened forwards in an uninterrupted course of conquest. But the progress of the Swedish arms excited the jealousy and apprehension of the whole German population-even among the Protestants. Gustavus was also accused of having designs on the Imperial crown. His allies became lukewarm, and the inhabitants everywhere viewed the Swedes with dislike. Upon the defeat of Tilly at Leipzig, and the Saxon army making itself master of Bohemia almost without opposition, Ferdinand called in Wallenstein, who drove the Saxons out of Bohemia, and threatened Gustavus, who in the meantime had gained a second victory over Tilly, in which that general lost his life. Wallenstein took up a strong position in the neighbourhood of Nürnberg. In fruitless attacks upon the camp, and through hunger and disease, in the course of seventy-two days, Gustavus lost 30,000 men. At length Wallenstein moved towards Saxony, and on November 1, 1632, he offered battle to his opponent at Lützen.

Gustavus opened the battle to the sound of music, with Luther's hymn, 'Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott.' He led the attack in person, descended at the critical moment from his horse, and killed the foremost of the enemy with a lance. While heading a second attack on horseback against the enemy's cavalry, a ball struck him from behind, and he fell. Duke Bernhard of Weimar, crying out to the Swedes that the king was made a prisoner, inflamed them to such

a degree that nothing could resist their impetuosity, and after a frightful carnage the enemy was forced to retreat. The Swedes gained a victory, but with the loss of their king. A strong suspicion of the crime of assassination rests upon his cousin, the duke of Saxe-Lauenberg.

Gustavus Adolphus married, in 1621, Maria Eleonora, the sister of the duke of Mecklenburg, by whom he had one daughter, Christina, who was his

successor.

GUSTAVUS III., King of Sweden, born in 1746, was the eldest son of Adolphus Frederic, duke of Holstein, who had been called to the Swedish throne in 1743. On the 12th of February, 1771, Gustavus III. succeeded to the crown on the death of his father. The country was at this time divided by two factions, the Hats and Caps, as the aristocratic adherents to the Russian or French policy respectively called themselves. Gustavus took the bold resolution of subverting both these parties with the assistance of the people. The execution of the king's plans was commenced by the insurrection of the commandant of Christianstadt, who issued a violent proclamation against the States-General. Gustavus sent Prince Charles with a powerful force ostensibly to subdue the rebel, but in reality to unite with him. On the 19th of August, 1772, the king began to follow out his plans in person. He arrested the heads of the parties and the most powerful members of the States, and publicly announced his plans for the establishment of a new constitution. The next day the magistracy of the capital took the oaths of fidelity, and the States-General were invited to assemble. Gustavus entered the assemblage in order to submit to them the proposed new constitution. His armed force was apparently sufficient to subdue every scruple of the assembly; but as the constitution only restricted and circumscribed the privileges of the nobility, and did not infringe the liberties of the citizens, it was received by the majority with real satisfaction, and vonfirmed by oaths and signatures. Those who had been arrested were immediately afterwards released, and the revolution was completed.

many of the conspirators were banished from the country.

GUSTAVUS IV., King of Sweden, son of the preceding monarch, was born November 1st, 1778, and ascended the throne on the 29th of March, 1792. This king displayed, while a prince, a capricious humour and an obstinacy that bordered upon madness. He entered into a negotiation for a marriage with the granddaughter of the Empress Catherine of Russia, and the whole court was assembled in order to be present at the ratification of the marriagetreaty, when he departed secretly, and married a German princess of the house of Baden. Of all the European monarchs he was the most zealous partisan of legitimacy, and he proposed, as the great object of his life, the restoration of the dethroned family of the Bourbons to the crown of France. He involved his country in indescribable difficulties, irritated all his neighbours, and even offended England, his only ally, whom he certainly could not reproach with any friendly feelings towards Napoleon. Gustavus appears to have discovered that a storm was gathering about him, and in order to avert it he endeavoured to possess himself of the funds deposited in the bank of Sweden. At first he made an attempt to get the money by a loan of eighty-two millions of Swedish rix-dollars (about twelve millions sterling); but as the bank commissioners refused to comply with this demand, he resolved to carry his plan into effect by force.

On March 29, 1809, he repaired to the bank, accompanied by a detachment of military, with the intention of taking possession of the money deposited there. By order of the Diet, a resistance was made, and the king arrested, and confined in an apartment, where he raged like a madman. On March 29 there appeared the decision of the Diet, by which Gustavus IV. and all his direct descendants were declared to have forfeited their right to the Swedish crown; and the duke of Sudermania ascended the throne under the name of Charles XIII.

Gustavus left the Swedish territories. During his exile he assumed the name of Colonel Gustavson, and renounced all external observances that might remind him of his former rank. He refused the appanage which Sweden offered him, declined having any communication with his family, and obstinately rejected all assistance from them. He subsisted on the produce of his labours as an author, together with a little pension which he drew as a colonel. He died at St. Gall, towards the end of the year 1837.

GÜSTROW. [MECKLENBURG.]

GUSTO, or GUSTO'SO (Ital. taste), in Music, a word (generally written con gusto) prefixed to such movements as are to be performed in an elegant and spirited style.

The nobility were silenced, but they nourished a secret hatred, which at length broke out in the year 1788, when they prevailed on the States to refuse the supplies while the king was engaged in a war with Russia and Denmark. In order to free himself from the ever-active intrigues of the nobles, the king, on April 3rd, 1789, caused the leaders of the opposition in the Diet to be arrested, and a law to be passed, by which the royal prerogatives were very considerably increased. After varying fortunes in the war, Gustavus concluded a peace on the 14th August, 1790, with his foreign enemies; but the nobility, who apprehended the loss of all their privileges, resolved upon his death. Accordingly they formed a conspiracy under the direction of Counts Horn and GUTENBERG, believed to be the first inventor Ribbing, and Colonel Lilienhorn; and a nobleman, of the art of printing with movable types, whose named Ankerstroem, undertook to murder him. An- real name was Johannes Gensfleisch, was born in kerstroem chose a masked ball, given on the 16th of 1397 at Sulgeloch, a village near Mainz. During March, 1792, at Stockholm, as affording the fittest his residence there he became implicated in an insuropportunity. The king was warned by some anony-rection against the nobility, and was compelled to mous friend; but he went to the ball, and the assassin fly to Strasburg, where necessity compelled him to shot him through the body. The king suffered with employ himself in mechanical occupations, and by much firmness, and died on the 29th of March. accident he made the discovery so pregnant with His murderer was discovered and executed, and future consequences. On returning to Mainz, Guten

51

GUTHRIE, GEORGE JAMES.

GUTTA PERCHA.

52

berg experienced the hard fate that most great in- | On the sudden death of his brother John Dr. Guthrie ventors have to endure from the misconceptions took his place in the bank, and conducted its busiand ingratitude of mankind. The members of the Guild of Writers, together with the priests, persecuted him; his partners Fust and Schoeffer joined with his enemies against him; through litigation he was deprived of all his property; and once more he was forced to turn his back upon the ungrateful town. In the meantime Fust and Schoeffer pursued their business as printers, and thus reaped all the profit, while the inventor was wandering in exile. After many years Gutenberg returned to Mainz, where he died, February 24, 1468, and where a bronze statue has been erected to his memory.

ness for behoof of his family until his nephew was able to enter on it. This varied experience throws much light upon the rare ability which Dr. Guthrie brought to bear on so many different phases of life, both by his writings and from the pulpit. But for this, his lively fancy, great power of graphic description, and broad, genial sympathies, would have failed to influence men. In 1830 he was presented to the parish of Arbirlot in the presbytery of Brech. : in 1837 he was translated to Old Greyfriars church Edinburgh; and in 1840 St. John's church in the same city was built mainly for him. At the disThe 'Statuta Provincialia antiqua et nova Mogun-ruption in 1843 he joined the party who left the tina,' quarto, are thought to have been printed by Established Church. His successful efforts in raisGutenberg, as well as two or three editions of Dona- ing money to build manses for the ministers of the tus, of which fragments only remain. Some have Free Church are well known in Scotland, and his thought the Mazarine Bible to have been a production of his press.

labours in behalf of ragged schools gained him the esteem and approbation of philanthropists both in this country and in America. Dr. Guthrie's principal works are- Three Pleas for Ragged Schools;' 'The Gospel in Ezekiel;' 'Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints;' Christ and Christ crucified;' 'War;' and 'The Street Preacher.' Few modern works in popular theology have been so successful. He died at St. Leonard's, in Sussex, in 1873.

GUTHRIE, GEORGE JAMES, F.R.S., President of the Royal College of Surgeons, &c., was born in 1785, and placed at an early age under the celebrated Dr. Hooper. For many years he practised as a regimental surgeon in North America and the Peninsula. After the Peninsular campaigns he returned to London, and commenced lecturing on surgery, which practice he continued for nearly thirty GUTTA PERCHA. This valuable substance, years. In 1827 he was appointed surgeon to the the name of which is the same in all languages, and Westminster Hospital, and in 1833 was elected which was unknown in Europe previously to the year president of the Royal College of Surgeons. He 1843, is the inspissated juice of a tree which grows also held the office of professor of anatomy and in the Malayan forests and the islands of the Eastern surgery; and such was the high opinion the members Archipelago. In its origin, character, and composiof the college entertained of his abilities and surgical tion, it is analogous to caoutchouc, but wants the skill, that in 1842 and 1855 the same honours were peculiar elasticity of that substance; on the other again conferred upon him, this being the only instance hand it possesses special and distinct properties, on record of the same person being three times which render it applicable to an extraordinary honoured with this distinguished position. Mr. variety of important uses, and which, within the Guthrie was the author of several works which rank comparatively short time that has elapsed since its high in the profession; among others, his Treatise introduction into Europe, have given a remarkable on Gun-shot Wounds of the Extremities;' 'Clinical development to its manufacture. Lectures on Compound Fractures;' 'On Injuries of the Hand, Chest, and Abdomen;' 'Diseases and Injuries of the Arteries;' 'On the Anatomy and Diseases of the Bladder and Urethra ;' Extraction of Cataract,' &c. He died on the 1st of May, 1856.

The word 'gutta,' in the Malay language, means a gum which exudes from a tree; and 'percha' is derived from 'pertsha,' the particular tree from which the gum is produced.

The merit of first appreciating its value and making it known in Europe, is claimed by two individuals GUTHRIE, THOMAS, D.D., an eminent clergy- who seem to have endeavoured about the same time, man and philanthropist, the son of an influential and quite independently of each other, to bring it merchant and banker in Brechin, was born there in into public notice, namely, Dr. William Montgomerie, 1803. Guthrie's mother was an eminently devout who was for some years surgeon to the residency at woman, and a person of strong ecclesiastical con- Singapore, and Sir Jose d'Almeida, who had been victions. To this may be traced much of that breadth for many years resident in the same settlement. The of view in Christian action which in her son was com- valuable qualities of the substance were no sooner bined with steadfast adherence to church principles. publicly announced, than it came into general deAll the influences around him in early youth tended mand. The immediate effect of its discovery may to enlist his sympathies on the side of principles be compared to that of the gold fields in California which were associated with his efforts in behalf of and Australia; and perhaps no commodity, except social morality and religious life. Before going to the precious metals, has been more eagerly sought college he was for some time under the care of a licen- after or more highly appreciated. tiate of the Church of Scotland. Under the charge of a tutor he entered, when only twelve years of age, the university of Edinburgh, where he studied for ten years. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of Brechin in 1825. Dr. Guthrie next turned his attention to the study of medicine, and went to Paris, where he 'walked' the hospitals for six months.

A knowledge of the article gradually spread from Singapore northward as far as Penang; southward along the east coast of Sumatra to Java; eastward to Borneo, where it was found not only at Sarawak, but also at Brunè and Pontianak on the west coast, and at Reti and Passir on the east.

This eager demand for the precious gum was pro