Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Kelly, Edward" to "Kite" by Various
1894. (A. E. S.)
8732 words | Chapter 40
KINROSS-SHIRE, a county of Scotland, bounded N. and W. by Perthshire, on
the extreme S.W. by Clackmannanshire and S. and E. by Fifeshire. Its
area is 52,410 acres or 81.9 sq. m. Excepting Clackmannan it is the
smallest county in Scotland both in point of area and of population. On
its confines the shire is hilly. To the N. and W. are several peaks of
the Ochils, the highest being Innerdouny (1621 ft.) and Mellock (1573);
to the E. are the heights of the Lomond group, such as White Craigs
(1492 ft.) and Bishop Hill; to the S. are Benarty (1131 ft.) on the Fife
border and farther west the Cleish Hills, reaching in Dumglow an
altitude of 1241 ft. With the exception of the Leven, which drains Loch
Leven and of which only the first mile of its course belongs to the
county, all the streams are short. Green's Burn, the North and South
Queich, and the Gairney are the principal. Loch Leven, the only lake, is
remarkable rather for its associations than its natural features. The
scenery on the Devon, west of the Crook, the river here forming the
boundary with Perthshire, is of a lovely and romantic character. At one
place the stream rushes through the rocky gorge with a loud clacking
sound which has given to the spot the name of the Devil's Mill, and
later it flows under the Rumbling Bridge. In reality there are two
bridges, one built over the other, in the same vertical line. The lower
one dates from 1713 and is unused; but the loftier and larger one,
erected in 1816, commands a beautiful view. A little farther west is the
graceful cascade of the Caldron Linn, the fall of which was lessened,
however, by a collapse of the rocks in 1886.
_Geology._--The northern higher portion of the county is occupied by
the Lower Old Red Sandstone volcanic lavas and agglomerates of the
Ochils. The coarse character of some of the lower agglomerate beds is
well seen in the gorge at Rumbling Bridge. The beds dip gently towards
the S.S.E.; in a north-easterly direction they contain more sandy
sediments, and the agglomerates and breccias frequently become
conglomerates. The plain of Kinross is occupied by the soft
sandstones, marls and conglomerates of the upper Old Red Sandstone,
which rest unconformably upon the lower division with a strong dip.
Southward and eastward these rocks dip conformably beneath the Lower
Carboniferous cement stone series of the Calciferous Sandstone group.
The overlying Carboniferous limestone occupies only a small area in
the south and east of the county. Intrusive basalt sheets have been
intercalated between some of the Carboniferous strata, and the
superior resisting power of this rock has been the cause of the
existence of West Lomond, Benarty, Cleish Hills and Bishop Hill, which
are formed of soft marls and sandstones capped by basalt. The Hurlet
limestone is worked on the Lomond and Bishop Hills. East- and
west-running dikes of basalt are found in the north-east of the
county, traversing the Old Red volcanic rocks. Kames of gravel and
sand and similar glacial detritus are widely spread over the older
rocks.
_Climate and Industries._--The lower part of the county is generally
well sheltered and adapted to all kinds of crops; and the climate,
though wet and cold, offers no hindrance to high farming. The average
annual rainfall is 35.5 inches, and the temperature for the year is 48°
F., for January 38° F. and for July 59°.5 F. More than half of the
holdings exceed 50 acres each. Much of the land has been reclaimed, the
mossy tracts when drained and cultivated being very fertile. Barley is
the principal crop, and oats also is grown largely, but the acreage
under wheat is small. Turnips and potatoes are the chief green crops,
the former the more important. The raising of livestock is pursued with
great enterprise, the hilly land being well suited for this industry,
although many cattle are pastured on the lowland farms. The cattle are
mainly a native breed, which has been much improved by crossing. The
number of sheep is high for the area. Although most of the horses are
used for agricultural work, a considerable proportion are kept solely
for breeding. Tartans, plaids and other woollens, and linen are
manufactured at Kinross and Milnathort, which is besides an important
centre for livestock sales. Brewing and milling are also carried on in
the county town, but stock-raising and agriculture are the staple
interests. The North British railway company's lines, from the south and
west run through the county via Kinross, and the Mid-Fife line branches
off at Mawcarse Junction.
_Population and Government._--The population was 6673 in 1891 and 6981
in 1901, when 55 persons spoke Gaelic and English. The only towns are
Kinross (pop. in 1901, 2136) and Milnathort (1052). Kinross is the
county town, and of considerable antiquity. The county unites with
Clackmannanshire to return one member to parliament. It forms a
sheriffdom with Fifeshire and a sheriff-substitute sits at Kinross. The
shire is under school-board jurisdiction.
_History._--For several centuries the shire formed part of Fife, and
during that period shared its history. Towards the middle of the 13th
century, however, the parishes of Kinross and Orwell seem to have been
constituted into a shire, which, at the date (1305) of Edward I.'s
ordinance for the government of Scotland, had become an hereditary
sheriffdom, John of Kinross then being named for the office. James I.
dispensed with the attendance of small barons in 1427 and introduced the
principle of representation, when the shire returned one member to the
Scots parliament. The inclusion of the Fife parishes of Portmoak, Cleish
and Tullibole in 1685, due to the influence of Sir William Bruce, the
royal architect and heritable sheriff, converted the older shire into
the modern county. Excepting, however, the dramatic and romantic
episodes connected with the castle of Loch Leven, the annals of the
shire, so far as the national story is concerned, are vacant. As to its
antiquities, there are traces of an ancient fort or camp on the top of
Dumglow, and on a hill on the northern boundary of the parish of Orwell
a remarkable cairn, called Cairn-a-vain, in the centre of which a stone
cist was discovered in 1810 containing an urn full of bones and
charcoal. Close to the town of Kinross, on the margin of Loch Leven,
stands Kinross House, which was built in 1685 by Sir William Bruce as a
residence for the Duke of York (James II.) in case the Exclusion Bill
should debar him from the throne of England. The mansion, however, was
never occupied by royalty.
See Æ. J. G. Mackay, _History of Fife and Kinross_ (Edinburgh, 1896);
W. J. N. Liddall, _The Place Names of Fife and Kinross_ (Edinburgh,
1895); C. Ross, _Antiquities of Kinross-shire_ (Perth, 1886); R. B.
Begg, _History of Lochleven Castle_ (Kinross, 1887).
KINSALE, a market town and seaport of Co. Cork, Ireland, in the
south-east parliamentary division, on the east shore of Kinsale Harbour
(the estuary of the Bandon river) 24 m. south of Cork by the Cork Bandon
& South Coast railway, the terminus of a branch line. Pop. of urban
district (1901), 4250. The town occupies chiefly the acclivity of
Compass Hill, and while of picturesque appearance is built in a very
irregular manner, the streets being narrow and precipitous. The Charles
Fort was completed by the duke of Ormonde in 1677 and captured by the
earl of Marlborough in 1690. The parish church of St Multose is an
ancient but inelegant structure, said to have been founded as a
conventual church in the 12th century by the saint to whom it is
dedicated. Kinsale, with the neighbouring villages of Scilly and Cove,
is much frequented by summer visitors, and is the headquarters of the
South of Ireland Fishing Company, with a fishery pier and a commodious
harbour with 6 to 8 fathoms of water; but the general trade is of little
importance owing to the proximity of Queenstown and Cork. The Old Head
of Kinsale, at the west of the harbour entrance, affords fine views of
the coast, and is commonly the first British land sighted by ships bound
from New York, &c., to Queenstown.
Kinsale is said to derive its name from _cean taile_, the headland in
the sea. At an early period the town belonged to the De Courcys, a
representative of whom was created baron of Kinsale or Kingsale in 1181.
It received a charter of incorporation from Edward III., having
previously been a borough by prescription, and its privileges were
confirmed and extended by various subsequent sovereigns. For several
centuries previous to the Union it returned two members to the Irish
parliament. It was the scene of an engagement between the French and
English fleets in 1380, was forcibly entered by the English in 1488,
captured by the Spaniards and retaken by the English in 1601, and
entered by the English in 1641, who expelled the Irish inhabitants.
Finally, it was the scene of the landing of James II. and of the French
army sent to his assistance in 1689, and was taken by the English in the
following year.
KINTORE, a royal and police burgh of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Pop.
(1901), 789. It is situated on the Don, 13¼ m. N.W. of Aberdeen by the
Great North of Scotland railway. It is a place of some antiquity, having
been made a royal burgh in the reign of William the Lion (d. 1214).
Kintore forms one of the Elgin group of parliamentary burghs, the others
being Banff, Cullen, Elgin, Inverurie and Peterhead. One mile to the
south-west are the ruins of Hallforest Castle, of which two storeys
still exist, once a hunting-seat of Robert Bruce and afterwards a
residence of the Keiths, earls marischal. There are several examples of
sculptured stones and circles in the parish, and 2 m. to the north-west
is the site of Bruce's camp, which is also ascribed to the period of the
Romans. Near it is Thainston House, the residence of Sir Andrew Mitchell
(1708-1771), the British envoy to Frederick the Great. Kintore gives the
title of earl in the Scottish, and of baron in the British peerage to
the head of the Keith-Falconer family.
KIOTO (KYOTO), the former capital of Japan, in the province of
Yamashiro, in 35° 01´ N., 135° 46´ E. Pop. (1903), 379,404. The
Kamo-gawa, upon which it stands, is a mere rivulet in ordinary times,
trickling through a wide bed of pebbles; but the city is traversed by
several aqueducts, and was connected with Lake Biwa in 1890 by a canal
6(7/8) m. long, which carries an abundance of water for manufacturing
purposes, brings the great lake and the city into navigable
communication, and forms with the Kamo-gawa canal and the Kamo-gawa
itself a through route to Osaka, from which Kioto is 25 m. distant by
rail. Founded in the year 793, Kioto remained the capital of the empire
during nearly eleven centuries. The emperor Kwammu, when he selected
this remarkably picturesque spot for the residence of his court, caused
the city to be laid out with mathematical accuracy, after the model of
the Tang dynasty's capital in China. Its area, 3 m. by 3½, was
intersected by 18 principal thoroughfares, 9 running due north and
south, and 9 due east and west, the two systems being connected at
intervals by minor streets. At the middle of the northern face stood the
palace, its enclosure covering three-quarters of a square mile, and from
it to the centre of the south face ran an avenue 283 ft. wide and 3½ m.
long. Conflagrations and subsequent reconstructions modified the
regularity of this plan, but much of it still remains, and its story is
perpetuated in the nomenclature of the streets. In its days of greatest
prosperity Kioto contained only half a million inhabitants, thus never
even approximating to the size of the Tokugawa metropolis, Yedo, or the
Hojo capital Kamakura. The emperor Kwammu called it Heian-jo, or the
"city of peace," when he made it the seat of government; but the people
knew it as Miyako, or Kyoto, terms both of which signify "capital," and
in modern times it is often spoken of as Saikyo, or western capital, in
opposition to Tokyo, or eastern capital. Having been so long the
imperial, intellectual, political and artistic metropolis of the realm,
the city abounds with evidences of its unique career. Magnificent
temples and shrines, grand monuments of architectural and artistic
skill, beautiful gardens, gorgeous festivals, and numerous _ateliers_
where the traditions of Japanese art are obeyed with attractive results,
offer to the foreign visitor a fund of interest. Clear water ripples
everywhere through the city, and to this water Kioto owes something of
its importance, for nowhere else in Japan can fabrics be bleached so
white or dyed in such brilliant colours. The people, like their
neighbours of Osaka, are full of manufacturing energy. Not only do they
preserve, amid all the progress of the age, their old-time eminence as
producers of the finest porcelain, faience, embroidery, brocades,
bronze, _cloisonné_ enamel, fans, toys and metal-work of all kinds, but
they have also adapted themselves to the foreign market, and weave and
dye quantities of silk fabrics, for which a large and constantly growing
demand is found in Europe and America. Nowhere else can be traced with
equal clearness the part played in Japanese civilization by Buddhism,
with its magnificent paraphernalia and imposing ceremonial spectacles;
nowhere else, side by side with this luxurious factor, can be witnessed
in more striking juxtaposition the austere purity and severe simplicity
of the Shinto cult; and nowhere else can be more intelligently observed
the fine faculty of the Japanese for utilizing, emphasizing and
enhancing the beauties of nature. The citizens' dwellings and the shops,
on the other hand, are insignificant and even sombre in appearance,
their exterior conveying no idea of the pretty chambers within or of the
tastefully laid-out grounds upon which they open behind. Kioto is
celebrated equally for its cherry and azalea blossoms in the spring, and
for the colours of its autumn foliage.
KIOWAS, a tribe and stock of North American Indians. Their former range
was around the Arkansas and Canadian rivers, in Indian Territory
(Oklahoma), Colorado and New Mexico. A fierce people, they made raids
upon the settlers in western Texas until 1868, when they were placed on
a reservation in Indian Territory. In 1874 they broke out again, but in
the following year were finally subdued. In number about 1200, and
settled in Oklahoma, they are the sole representatives of the Kiowan
linguistic stock.
See J. Mooney, "Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians," _17th Report
of Bureau of American Ethnology_ (Washington, 1898).
KIPLING, RUDYARD (1865- ), British author, was born in Bombay on the
30th of December 1865. His father, John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), an
artist of considerable ability, was from 1875 to 1893 curator of the
Lahore museum in India. His mother was Miss Alice Macdonald of
Birmingham, two of whose sisters were married respectively to Sir E.
Burne-Jones and Sir Edward Poynter. He was educated at the United
Services College, Westward Ho, North Devon, of which a somewhat lurid
account is given in his story _Stalky and Co._ On his return to India he
became at the age of seventeen the sub-editor of the Lahore _Civil and
Military Gazette_. In 1886, in his twenty-first year, he published
_Departmental Ditties_, a volume of light verse chiefly satirical, only
in two or three poems giving promise of his authentic poetical note. In
1887 he published _Plain Tales from the Hills_, a collection mainly of
the stories contributed to his own journal. During the next two years he
brought out, in six slim paper-covered volumes of Wheeler's Railway
Library (Allahabad), _Soldiers Three_, _The Story of the Gadsbys_, _In
Black and White_, _Under the Deodars_, _The Phantom 'Rickshaw_ and _Wee
Willie Winkee_, at a rupee apiece. These were in form and substance a
continuation of the _Plain Tales_. This series of tales, all written
before the author was twenty-four, revealed a new master of fiction. A
few, but those the best, he afterwards said that his father gave him.
The rest were the harvest of his own powers of observation vitalized by
imagination. In method they owed something to Bret Harte; in matter and
spirit they were absolutely original. They were unequal, as his books
continued to be throughout; the sketches of Anglo-Indian social life
being generally inferior to the rest. The style was to some extent
disfigured by jerkiness and mannered tricks. But Mr Kipling possessed
the supreme spell of the story-teller to entrance and transport. The
freshness of the invention, the variety of character, the vigour of
narrative, the raciness of dialogue, the magic of atmosphere, were alike
remarkable. The soldier-stories, especially the exuberant vitality of
the cycle which contains the immortal Mulvaney, established the author's
fame throughout the world. The child-stories and tales of the British
official were not less masterly, while the tales of native life and of
adventure "beyond the pale" disclosed an even finer and deeper vein of
romance. India, which had been an old story for generations of
Englishmen, was revealed in these brilliant pictures as if seen for the
first time in its variety, colour and passion, vivid as mirage,
enchanting as the _Arabian Nights_. The new author's talent was quickly
recognized in India, but it was not till the books reached England that
his true rank was appreciated and proclaimed. Between 1887 and 1889 he
travelled through India, China, Japan and America, finally arriving in
England to find himself already famous. His travel sketches, contributed
to _The Civil and Military Gazette_ and _The Pioneer_, were afterwards
collected (the author's hand having been forced by unauthorized
publication) in the two volumes _From Sea to Sea_ (1899). A further set
of Indian tales, equal to the best, appeared in _Macmillan's Magazine_
and were republished with others in _Life's Handicap_ (1891). In _The
Light that Failed_ (1891, after appearing with a different ending in
_Lippincott's Magazine_) Mr Kipling essayed his first long story
(dramatized 1905), but with comparative unsuccess. In his subsequent
work his delight in the display of descriptive and verbal technicalities
grew on him. His polemic against "the sheltered life" and "little
Englandism" became more didactic. His terseness sometimes degenerated
into abruptness and obscurity. But in the meanwhile his genius became
prominent in verse. Readers of the _Plain Tales_ had been impressed by
the snatches of poetry prefixed to them for motto, certain of them being
subscribed "Barrack Room Ballad." Mr Kipling now contributed to the
_National Observer_, then edited by W. E. Henley, a series of _Barrack
Room Ballads_. These vigorous verses in soldier slang, when published in
a book in 1892, together with the fine ballad of "East and West" and
other poems, won for their author a second fame, wider than he had
attained as a story-teller. In this volume the Ballads of the "Bolivar"
and of the "Clampherdown," introducing Mr Kipling's poetry of the ocean
and the engine-room, and "The Flag of England," finding a voice for the
Imperial sentiment, which--largely under the influence of Mr Kipling's
own writings--had been rapidly gaining force in England, gave the
key-note of much of his later verse. In 1898 Mr Kipling paid the first
of several visits to South Africa and became imbued with a type of
imperialism that reacted on his literature, not altogether to its
advantage. Before finally settling in England Mr Kipling lived some
years in America and married in 1892 Miss Caroline Starr Balestier,
sister of the Wolcott Balestier to whom he dedicated _Barrack Room
Ballads_, and with whom in collaboration he wrote the _Naulahka_ (1891),
one of his less successful books. The next collection of stories, _Many
Inventions_ (1893), contained the splendid Mulvaney extravaganza, "My
Lord the Elephant"; a vividly realized tale of metempsychosis, "The
Finest Story in the World"; and in that fascinating tale "In the Rukh,"
the prelude to the next new exhibition of the author's genius. This came
in 1894 with _The Jungle Book_, followed in 1895 by _The Second Jungle
Book_. With these inspired beast-stories Kipling conquered a new world
and a new audience, and produced what many critics regard as his most
flawless work. His chief subsequent publications were _The Seven Seas_
(poems), 1896; _Captains Courageous_ (a yarn of deep-sea fishery), 1897;
_The Day's Work_ (collected stories), 1898; _A Fleet in Being_ (an
account of a cruise in a man-of-war), 1898; _Stalky and Co._ (mentioned
above), 1899; _From Sea to Sea_ (mentioned above), 1899; _Kim_, 1901;
_Just So Stories_ (for children), 1902; _The Five Nations_ (poems,
concluding with what proved Mr Kipling's most universally known and
popular poem, "Recessional," originally published in _The Times_ on the
17th of July 1897 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's second jubilee),
1903; _Traffics and Discoveries_ (collected stories), 1904; _Puck of
Pook's Hill_ (stories), 1906; _Actions and Reactions_ (stories), 1909.
Of these _Kim_ was notable as far the most successful of Mr Kipling's
longer narratives, though it is itself rather in the nature of a string
of episodes. But everything he wrote, even to a farcical extravaganza
inspired by his enthusiasm for the motor-car, breathed the meteoric
energy that was the nature of the man. A vigorous and unconventional
poet, a pioneer in the modern phase of literary Imperialism, and one of
the rare masters in English prose of the art of the short story, Mr
Kipling had already by the opening of the 20th century won the most
conspicuous place among the creative literary forces of his day. His
position in English literature was recognized in 1907 by the award to
him of the Nobel prize.
See Rudyard Kipling's chapter in _My First Book_ (Chatto, 1894); "A
Bibliography of Rudyard Kipling," by John Lane, in _Rudyard Kipling: a
Criticism_, by Richard de Gallienne; "Mr Kipling's Short Stories" in
_Questions at Issue_, by Edmund Gosse (1893); "Mr Kipling's Stories"
in _Essays in Little_, by Andrew Lang; "Mr Kipling's Stories," by J.
M. Barrie in the _Contemporary Review_ (March 1891); articles in the
_Quarterly Review_ (July 1892) and _Edinburgh Review_ (Jan. 1898); and
section on Kipling in _Poets of the Younger Generation_, by William
Archer (1902). See also for bibliography to 1903 _English Illustrated
Magazine_, new series, vol. xxx. pp. 298 and 429-432. (W. P. J.)
KIPPER, properly the name by which the male salmon is known at some
period of the breeding season. At the approach of this season the male
fish develops a sharp cartilaginous beak, known as the "kip," from which
the name "kipper" is said to be derived. The earliest uses of the word
(in Old English _cypera_ and Middle English _kypre_) seem to include
salmon of both sexes, and there is no certainty as to the etymology.
Skeat derives it from the Old English _kippian_, "to spawn." The term
has been applied by various writers to salmon both during and after
milting; early quotations leave the precise meaning of the word obscure,
but generally refer to the unwholesomeness of the fish as food during
the whole breeding season. It has been usually accepted, without much
direct evidence, that from the practice of rendering the breeding (i.e.
"kipper") salmon fit for food by splitting, salting and smoke-drying
them, the term "kipper" is also used of other fish, particularly
herrings cured in the same way. The "bloater" as distinct from the
"kipper" is a herring cured whole without being split open.
KIPPIS, ANDREW (1725-1795), English nonconformist divine and biographer,
son of Robert Kippis, a silk-hosier, was born at Nottingham on the 28th
of March 1725. From school at Sleaford in Lincolnshire he passed at the
age of sixteen to the nonconformist academy at Northampton, of which Dr
Doddridge was then president. In 1746 Kippis became minister of a church
at Boston; in 1750 he removed to Dorking in Surrey; and in 1753 he
became pastor of a Presbyterian congregation at Westminster, where he
remained till his death on the 8th of October 1795. Kippis took a
prominent part in the affairs of his church. From 1763 till 1784 he was
classical and philological tutor in Coward's training college at Hoxton;
and subsequently for some years at another institution of the same kind
at Hackney. In 1778 he was elected a fellow of the Antiquarian Society,
and a fellow of the Royal Society in 1779.
Kippis was a very voluminous writer. He contributed largely to _The
Gentleman's Magazine_, _The Monthly Review_ and _The Library_; and he
had a good deal to do with the establishment and conduct of _The New
Annual Register_. He published also a number of sermons and occasional
pamphlets; and he prefixed a life of the author to a collected edition
of Dr Nathaniel Lardner's _Works_ (1788). He wrote a life of Dr
Doddridge, which is prefixed to Doddridge's _Exposition of the New
Testament_ (1792). His chief work is his edition of the _Biographia
Britannica_, of which, however, he only lived to publish 5 vols.
(folio, 1778-1793). In this work he had the assistance of Dr Towers.
See notice by A. Rees, D.D., in _The New Annual Register_ for 1795.
KIRBY, WILLIAM (1759-1850), English entomologist, was born at Witnesham
in Suffolk on the 19th of September 1759. From the village school of
Witnesham he passed to Ipswich grammar school, and thence to Caius
College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1781. Taking holy orders in
1782, he spent his entire life in the peaceful seclusion of an English
country parsonage at Barham in Suffolk. His favourite study was natural
history; and eventually entomology engrossed all his leisure. His first
work of importance was his _Monographia Apum Angliae_ (2 vols. 8vo,
1802), which as the first scientific treatise on its subject brought him
into notice with the leading entomologists of his own and foreign
countries. The practical result of a friendship formed in 1805 with
William Spence, of Hull, was the jointly written _Introduction to
Entomology_ (4 vols., 1815-1826; 7th ed., 1856), one of the most popular
books of science that have ever appeared. In 1830 he was chosen to write
one of the _Bridgewater Treatises_, his subject being _The History,
Habits, and Instincts of Animals_ (2 vols., 1835). This undeniably fell
short of his earlier works in point of scientific value. He died on the
4th of July 1850.
Besides the books already mentioned he was the author of many papers
in the _Transactions of the Linnean Society_, the _Zoological Journal_
and other periodicals; _Strictures on Sir James Smith's Hypothesis
respecting the Lilies of the Field of our Saviour and the Acanthus of
Virgil_ (1819); _Seven Sermons on our Lord's Temptations_ (1829); and
he wrote the sections on insects in the _Account of the Animals seen
by the late Northern Expedition while within the Arctic Circle_
(1821), and in _Fauna Boreali-Americana_ (1837). His _Life_ by the
Rev. John Freeman, published in 1852, contains a list of his works.
KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS (1601-1680), German scholar and mathematician, was
born on the 2nd of May 1601, at Geisa near Fulda. He was educated at the
Jesuit college of Fulda, and entered upon his noviciate in that order at
Mainz in 1618. He became professor of philosophy, mathematics, and
Oriental languages at Würzburg, whence he was driven (1631) by the
troubles of the Thirty Years' War to Avignon. Through the influence of
Cardinal Barberini he next (1635) settled in Rome, where for eight years
he taught mathematics in the Collegio Romano, but ultimately resigned
this appointment to study hieroglyphics and other archaeological
subjects. He died on the 28th of November 1680.
Kircher was a man of wide and varied learning, but singularly devoid
of judgment and critical discernment. His voluminous writings in
philology, natural history, physics and mathematics often accordingly
have a good deal of the historical interest which attaches to
pioneering work, however imperfectly performed; otherwise they now
take rank as curiosities of literature merely. They include _Ars
Magnesia_ (1631); _Magnes, sive de arte magnetica opus tripartitum_
(1641); and _Magneticum naturae regnum_ (1667); _Prodromus Coptus_
(1636); _Lingua Aegyptiaca restituta_ (1643); _Obeliscus Pamphilius_
(1650); and _Oedipus Aegyptiacus, hoc est universalis doctrinae
hieroglyphicae instauratio_ (1652-1655)--works which may claim the
merit of having first called attention to Egyptian hieroglyphics; _Ars
magna lucis et umbrae in mundo_ (1645-1646); _Musurgia universalis,
sive ars magna consoni et dissoni_ (1650); _Polygraphia, seu
artificium linguarum quo cum omnibus mundi populis poterit quis
respondere_ (1663); _Mundus subterraneus, quo subterrestris mundi
opificium, universae denique naturae divitiae, abditorum effectuum
causae demonstrantur_ (1665-1678); _China illustrata_ (1667); _Ars
magna sciendi_ (1669); and _Latium_ (1669), a work which may still be
consulted with advantage. The _Specula Melitensis Encyclica_ (1638)
gives an account of a kind of calculating machine of his invention.
The valuable collection of antiquities which he bequeathed to the
Collegio Romano has been described by Buonanni (_Musaeum
Kircherianum_, 1709; republished by Battara in 1773).
KIRCHHEIM-UNTER-TECK, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Württemberg,
is prettily situated on the Lauter, at the north-west foot of the Rauhe
Alb, 15 m. S.E. of Stuttgart by rail. Pop. (1905), 8830. The town has a
royal castle built in 1538, two schools and several benevolent
institutions. The manufactures include cotton goods, damask,
pianofortes, machinery, furniture, chemicals and cement. The town also
has wool-spinning establishments and breweries, and a corn exchange. It
is the most important wool market in South Germany, and has also a trade
in fruit, timber and pigs. In the vicinity are the ruins of the castle
of Teck, the hereditary stronghold of the dukes of that name. Kirchheim
has belonged to Württemberg since 1381.
KIRCHHOFF, GUSTAV ROBERT (1824-1887), German physicist, was born at
Königsberg (Prussia) on the 12th of March 1824, and was educated at the
university of his native town, where he graduated Ph.D. in 1847. After
acting as _privat-docent_ at Berlin for some time, he became
extraordinary professor of physics at Breslau in 1850. Four years later
he was appointed professor of physics at Heidelberg, and in 1875 he was
transferred to Berlin, where he died on the 17th of October 1887.
Kirchhoff's contributions to mathematical physics were numerous and
important, his strength lying in his powers of stating a new physical
problem in terms of mathematics, not merely in working out the solution
after it had been so formulated. A number of his papers were concerned
with electrical questions. One of the earliest was devoted to electrical
conduction in a thin plate, and especially in a circular one, and it
also contained a theorem which enables the distribution of currents in a
network of conductors to be ascertained. Another discussed conduction in
curved sheets; a third the distribution of electricity in two
influencing spheres; a fourth the determination of the constant on which
depends the intensity of induced currents; while others were devoted to
Ohm's law, the motion of electricity in submarine cables, induced
magnetism, &c. In other papers, again, various miscellaneous topics were
treated--the thermal conductivity of iron, crystalline reflection and
refraction, certain propositions in the thermodynamics of solution and
vaporization, &c. An important part of his work was contained in his
_Vorlesungen über mathematische Physik_ (1876), in which the principles
of dynamics, as well as various special problems, were treated in a
somewhat novel and original manner. But his name is best known for the
researches, experimental and mathematical, in radiation which led him,
in company with R. W. von Bunsen, to the development of spectrum
analysis as a complete system in 1859-1860. He can scarcely be called
its inventor, for not only had many investigators already used the prism
as an instrument of chemical inquiry, but considerable progress had been
made towards the explanation of the principles upon which spectrum
analysis rests. But to him belongs the merit of having, most probably
without knowing what had already been done, enunciated a complete
account of its theory, and of thus having firmly established it as a
means by which the chemical constituents of celestial bodies can be
discovered through the comparison of their spectra with those of the
various elements that exist on this earth.
KIRCHHOFF, JOHANN WILHELM ADOLF (1826-1908), German classical scholar
and epigraphist, was born in Berlin on the 6th of January 1826. In 1865
he was appointed professor of classical philology in the university of
his native city. He died on the 26th of February 1908. He is the author
of _Die Homerische Odyssee_ (1859), putting forward an entirely new
theory as to the composition of the _Odyssey_; editions of Plotinus
(1856), Euripides (1855 and 1877-1878). Aeschylus (1880), Hesiod (_Works
and Days_, 1889), Xenophon, _On the Athenian Constitution_ (3rd ed.,
1889); _Über die Entstehungszeit des Herodotischen Geschichtswerkes_
(2nd ed., 1878); _Thukydides und sein Urkundenmaterial_ (1895).
The following works are the result of his epigraphical and
palaeographical studies: _Die Umbrischen Sprachdenkmäler_ (1851); _Das
Stadlrecht von Bantia_ (1853), on the tablet discovered in 1790 at
Oppido near Banzi, containing a plebiscite relating to the municipal
affairs of the ancient Bantia; _Das Gotische Runenalphabet_ (1852);
_Die Fränkischen Runen_ (1855); _Studien zur Geschichte des
Griechischen Alphabets_ (4th ed., 1887). The second part of vol. iv.
of the _Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum_ (1859, containing the
Christian inscriptions) and vol. i. of the _C. I. Atticarum_ (1873,
containing the inscriptions before 403) with supplements thereto (vol.
iv. pts. 1-3, 1877-1891) are edited by him.
KIRGHIZ, a large and widespread division of the Turkish family, of which
there are two main branches, the Kara-Kirghiz of the uplands and the
Kirghiz-Kazaks of the steppe. They jointly number about 3,000,000, and
occupy an area of perhaps the same number of square miles, stretching
from Kulja westwards to the lower Volga, and from the headstreams of the
Ob southwards to the Pamir and the Turkoman country. They seem closely
allied ethnically to the Mongolians and in speech to the Tatars. But
both Mongols and Tatars belonged themselves originally to one racial
stock and formed part of the same hordes or nomadic armies: also the
Western Turks have to a large extent lost their original physique and
become largely assimilated to the regular "Caucasian" type. But the
Kirghiz have either remained nearly altogether unmixed, as in the
uplands, or else have intermingled in the steppe mainly with the Volga
Kalmucks in the west, and with the Dzungarian nomads in the east, all
alike of Mongol stock. Hence they have everywhere to a large extent
preserved the common Mongolian features, while retaining their primitive
Tatar speech. Physically they are a middle-sized, square-built race,
inclined to stoutness, especially in the steppe, mostly with long black
hair, scant beard or none, small, black and oblique eyes, though blue or
grey also occur in the south, broad Mongoloid features, high cheekbones,
broad, flat nose, small mouth, brachycephalous head, very small hands
and feet, dirty brown or swarthy complexion, often yellowish, but also
occasionally fair. These characteristics, while affiliating them
directly to the Mongol stock, also betray an admixture of foreign
elements, probably due to Finnish influences in the north, and Tajik or
Iranian blood in the south. Their speech also, while purely Turkic in
structure, possesses, not only many Mongolian and a few Persian and even
Arabic words, but also some terms unknown to the other branches of the
Mongolo-Tatar linguistic family, and which should perhaps be traced to
the Kiang-Kuan, Wu-sun, Ting-ling, and other peoples of South Siberia
partly absorbed by them.
_The Kara-Kirghiz._--The Kara or "Black" Kirghiz, so called from the
colour of their tents, are known to the Russians either as Chernyie
(Black) or Dikokammenyie (Wild Stone or Rocky) Kirghiz, and are the
Block Kirghiz of some English writers. They are on the whole the purest
and best representatives of the race, and properly speaking to them
alone belongs the distinctive national name Kirghiz or Krghiz. This term
is commonly traced to a legendary chief, Kirghiz, sprung of Oghuz-Khan,
ninth in descent from Japheth. It occurs in its present form for the
first time in the account of the embassy sent in 569 by the East Roman
emperor Justin II. to the Uighur Khan, Dugla-Ditubulu, where it is
stated that this prince presented a slave of the Kirghiz tribe to
Zemark, head of the mission. In the Chinese chronicles the word assumes
the form Ki-li-ki-tz', and the writers of the Yuan dynasty (1280-1367)
place the territory of these people 10,000 li north-west of Pekin, about
the headstreams of the Yenisei. In the records of the T'ang dynasty
(618-907) they are spoken of under the name of Kha-kia-tz' (pronounced
Khaka, and sometimes transliterated Haka), and it is mentioned that
these Khakas were of the same speech as the Khoei-khu. From this it
follows that they were of Mongolo-Tatar stock, and are wrongly
identified by some ethnologists with the Kiang-Kuan, Wu-sun, or
Ting-ling, all of whom are described as tall, with red hair, "green" or
grey eyes, and fair complexion, and must therefore have been of Finnish
stock, akin to the present Soyotes of the upper Yenisei.
The Kara-Kirghiz are by the Chinese and Mongolians called _Burut_,
where _ut_ is the Mongolian plural ending, as in Tangut, Yakut,
modified to _yat_ in Buryat, the collective name of the Siberian
Mongolians of the Baikal district. Thus the term _Bur_ is the common
Mongolian designation both of the Baikal Mongols and of the
Kara-Kirghiz, who occupied this very region and the upper Yenisei
valley generally till comparatively recent times. For the original
home of their ancestors, the Khakas, lay in the south of the present
governments of Yeniseisk and Tomsk, stretching thence southwards
beyond the Sayan range to the Tannuola hills in Chinese territory.
Here the Russians first met them in the 17th century, and by the aid
of the Kazaks exterminated all those east of the Irtish, driving the
rest farther west and south-westwards. Most of them took refuge with
their kinsmen, the Kara-Kirghiz nomad highlanders, whose homes, at
least since the 13th century, have been the Ala-tau range, the
Issyk-kul basin, the Tekes, Chu and Talass river valleys, the
Tian-shan range, the uplands draining both to the Tarim and to the
Jaxartes and Oxus, including Khokand, Karateghin and Shignan
southwards to the Pamir table-land, visited by them in summer. They
thus occupy most of the uplands along the Russo-Chinese frontier,
between 35° and 50° N. lat. and between 70° and 85° E. long.
The Kara-Kirghiz are all grouped in two main sections--the On or
"Right" in the east, with seven branches (Bogu, Sary-Bagishch,
Son-Bagishch, Sultu or Solye, Cherik, Sayak, Bassinz), and the Sol or
"Left" in the west, with four branches (Kokche or Kûchy, Soru, Mundus,
Kitai or Kintai). The Sol section occupies the region between the
Talass and Oxus headstreams in Ferghana (Khokand) and Bokhara, where
they come in contact with the Galchas or Highland Tajiks. The On
section lies on both sides of the Tian-shan, about Lake Issyk-kul, and
in the Chu, Tekes and Narin (upper Jaxartes) valleys.
The total number of Kara-Kirghiz exceeds 800,000.
All are essentially nomads, occupied mainly with stock breeding,
chiefly horses of a small but hardy breed, sheep of the fat-tailed
species, oxen used both for riding and as pack animals, some goats,
and camels of both species. Agriculture is limited chiefly to the
cultivation of wheat, barley and millet, from the last of which a
coarse vodka or brandy is distilled. Trade is carried on chiefly by
barter, cattle being taken by the dealers from China, Turkestan and
Russia in exchange for manufactured goods.
The Kara-Kirghiz are governed by the "manaps," or tribal rulers, who
enjoy almost unlimited authority, and may even sell or kill their
subjects. In religious matters they differ little from the Kazaks,
whose practices are described below. Although generally recognizing
Russian sovereignty since 1864, they pay no taxes.
_The Kazaks._--Though not unknown to them, the term Kirghiz is never
used by the steppe nomads, who always call themselves simply Kazaks,
commonly interpreted as riders. The first authentic reference to this
name is by the Persian poet and historian Firdousi (1020), who speaks of
the Kazak tribes as much dreaded steppe marauders, all mounted and armed
with lances. From this circumstance the term Kazak came to be gradually
applied to all freebooters similarly equipped, and it thus spread from
the Aralo-Caspian basin to South Russia, where it still survives under
the form of Cossack, spelt Kazak or Kozak in Russian. Hence though Kazak
and Cossack are originally the same word, the former now designates a
Mongolo-Tatar nomad race, the latter various members of the Slav family.
Since the 18th century the Russians have used the compound expression
Kirghiz-Kazak, chiefly in order to distinguish them from their own
Cossacks, at that time overrunning Siberia. Siegmund Herberstein
(1486-1566) is the first European who mentions them by name, and it is
noteworthy that he speaks of them as "Tartars," that is, a people rather
of Turki than Mongolian stock.
In their present homes, the so-called "Kirghiz steppes," they are far
more numerous and widespread than their Kara-Kirghiz kinsmen,
stretching almost uninterruptedly from Lake Balkash round the Aral and
Caspian Seas westwards to the lower Volga, and from the river Irtish
southwards to the lower Oxus and Ust-Urt plateau. Their domain, which
is nearly 2,000,000 sq. m. in extent, thus lies mainly between 45° and
55° N. lat. and from 45° to 80° E. long. Here they came under the sway
of Jenghiz Khan, after whose death they fell to the share of his son
Juji, head of the Golden Horde, but continued to retain their own
khans. When the Uzbegs acquired the ascendancy, many of the former
subjects of the Juji and Jagatai hordes fell off and joined the
Kazaks. Thus about the year 1500 were formed two powerful states in
the Kipchak and Kheta steppes, the Mogul-Ulus and the Kazak, the
latter of whom, under their khan Arslane, are said by Sultan Baber to
have had as many as 400,000 fighting men. Their numbers continued to
be swollen by voluntary or enforced accessions from the fragments of
the Golden Horde, such as the Kipchaks, Naimans, Konrats, Jalairs,
Kankali, whose names are still preserved in the tribal divisions of
the Kazaks. And as some of these peoples were undoubtedly of true
Mongolian stock, their names have given a colour to the statement that
all the Kazaks were rather of Mongol than of Turki origin. But the
universal prevalence of a nearly pure variety of the Turki speech
throughout the Kazak steppes is almost alone sufficient to show that
the Tatar element must at all times have been in the ascendant. Very
various accounts have been given of the relationship of the Kipchak to
the Kirghiz, but at present they seem to form a subdivision of the
Kirghiz-Kazaks. The Kara-Kalpaks are an allied but apparently separate
tribe.
The Kirghiz-Kazaks have long been grouped in three large "hordes" or
encampments, further subdivided into a number of so-called "races,"
which are again grouped in tribes, and these in sections, branches and
auls, or communities of from five to fifteen tents. The division into
hordes has been traditionally referred to a powerful khan, who divided
his states amongst his three sons, the eldest of whom became the
founder of the Ulu-Yuz, or Great Horde, the second of the Urta-Yuz, or
Middle Horde, and the third of the Kachi-Yuz, or Little Horde. The
last two under their common khan Abulkhair voluntarily submitted in
1730 to the Empress Anne. Most of the Great Horde were subdued by
Yunus, khan of Ferghana, in 1798, and all the still independent tribes
finally accepted Russian sovereignty in 1819.
Since 1801 a fourth division, known as the Inner or Bukeyevskaya
Horde, from the name of their first khan, Bukei, has been settled in
the Orenburg steppe.
But these divisions affect the common people alone, all the higher
orders and ruling families being broadly classed as White and Black
Kost or Bones. The White Bones comprise only the khans and their
descendants, besides the issue of the khojas or Moslem "saints." The
Black Bones include all the rest, except the _Telengut_ or servants of
the khans, and the _Kûl_ or slaves.
The Kazaks are an honest and trustworthy people, but heavy, sluggish,
sullen and unfriendly. Even the hospitality enjoined by the Koran is
displayed only towards the orthodox Sunnite sect. So essentially nomadic
are all the tribes that they cannot adopt a settled life without losing
the very sentiment of their nationality, and becoming rapidly absorbed
in the Slav population. They dwell exclusively in semicircular tents
consisting of a light wooden framework, and red cloth or felt covering,
with an opening above for light and ventilation.
The camp life of the Kazaks seems almost unendurable to Europeans in
winter, when they are confined altogether to the tent, and exposed to
endless discomforts. In summer the day is spent mostly in sleep or
drinking koumiss, followed at night by feasting and the recital of
tales, varied with songs accompanied by the music of the flute and
balalaika. But horsemanship is the great amusement of all true Kazaks,
who may almost be said to be born in the saddle. Hence, though excellent
riders, they are bad walkers. Though hardy and long-lived, they are
uncleanly in their habits and often decimated by small-pox and Siberian
plague. They have no fixed meals, and live mainly on mutton and goat and
horse flesh, and instead of bread use the so-called balamyk, a mess of
flour fried in dripping and diluted in water. The universal drink is
koumiss, which is wholesome, nourishing and a specific against all chest
diseases.
The dress consists of the chapân, a flowing robe of which one or two are
worn in summer and several in winter, fastened with a silk or leather
girdle, in which are stuck a knife, tobacco pouch, seal and a few other
trinkets. Broad silk or cloth pantaloons are often worn over the chapân,
which is of velvet, silk, cotton or felt, according to the rank of the
wearer. Large black or red leather boots, with round white felt pointed
caps, complete the costume, which is much the same for both sexes.
Like the Kara-Kirghiz, the Kazaks are nominally Sunnites, but Shamanists
at heart, worshipping, besides the Kudai or good divinity, the Shaitan
or bad spirit. Their faith is strong in the _talchi_ or soothsayer and
other charlatans, who know everything, can do everything, and heal all
disorders at pleasure. But they are not fanatics, though holding the
abstract doctrine that the "Kafir" may be lawfully oppressed, including
in this category not only Buddhists and Christians, but even Mahommedans
of the Shiah sect. There are no fasts or ablutions, mosques or mollahs,
or regular prayers. Although Mussulmans since the beginning of the 16th
century, they have scarcely yet found their way to Mecca, their pilgrims
visiting instead the more convenient shrines of the "saints" scattered
over eastern Turkestan. Unlike the Mongolians, the Kazaks treat their
dead with great respect, and the low steppe hills are often entirely
covered with monuments raised above their graves.
Letters are neglected to such an extent that whoever can merely write is
regarded as a savant, while he becomes a prodigy of learning if able to
read the Koran in the original. Yet the Kazaks are naturally both
musical and poetical, and possess a considerable number of national
songs, which are usually repeated with variations from mouth to mouth.
The Kazaks still choose their own khans, who, though confirmed by the
Russian government, possess little authority beyond their respective
tribes. The real rulers are the elders or umpires and sultans, all
appointed by public election. Brigandage and raids arising out of tribal
feuds, which were formerly recognized institutions, are now severely
punished, sometimes even with death. Capital punishment, usually by
hanging or strangling, is inflicted for murder and adultery, while
three, nine or twenty-seven times the value of the stolen property is
exacted for theft.
The domestic animals, daily pursuits and industries of the Kazaks differ
but slightly from those of the Kara-Kirghiz. Some of the wealthy steppe
nomads own as many as 20,000 of the large fat-tailed sheep. Goats are
kept chiefly as guides for these flocks; and the horses, though small,
are hardy, swift, light-footed and capable of covering from 50 to 60
miles at a stretch. Amongst the Kazaks there are a few workers in
silver, copper and iron, the chief arts besides, being skin dressing,
wool spinning and dyeing, carpet and felt weaving. Trade is confined
mainly to an exchange of live stock for woven and other goods from
Russia, China and Turkestan.
Since their subjection to Russia the Kazaks have become less lawless,
but scarcely less nomadic. A change of habit in this respect is opposed
alike to their tastes and to the climatic and other outward conditions.
See also TURKS.
LITERATURE.--Alexis Levshin, _Description des hordes et des steppes
des Kirghiz-Kazaks_, translated from the Russian by Ferry de Cigny
(1840); W. Radloff, _Proben der Volksliteratur der Türkischen Stämme
Südsiberiens_; Ch. de Ujfalvy, _Le Kohistan, le Ferghanah, et
Kouldja_; also _Bull. de la Soc. de Géo._ (1878-1879); Semenoff, paper
in _Petermann's Mittheilungen_ (1859), No. 3; Valikhanov's _Travels in
1858-1859_; Madame de Ujfalvy, papers in _Tour du Monde_ (1874);
Vambéry, _Die primitive Cultur des Turko-Tatarischen Volkes_; P. S.
Pallas, _Observations sur les Kirghiz_ (1769; French trans., 1803);
Andriev, "La Horde Moyenne," in _Bull. de la Soc. de Géogr. de St
Petersburg_ (1875); Radomtsev, _Excursion dans le steppe Kirghiz_;
Lansdell, _Russian Centralasia_ (1885); Jadrinzer, _La Sibérie_
(1886). Skrine and Ross, _Heart of Asia_ (1899); E. H. Parker, _A
Thousand Years of the Tartars_ (1895). Various Russian works by
Nalivkin, published in Turkestan, contain much valuable information,
and N. N. Pantusov, _Specimens of Kirghiz Popular Poetry_, with
Russian translations (Kazan, 1903-1904).
KIRIN, a province of central Manchuria, with a capital bearing the same
name. The province has an area of 90,000 sq. m., and a population of
6,500,000. The chief towns besides the capital are Kwang-chêng-tsze, 80
m. N.W. of the capital, and Harbin on the Sungari river. The city of
KIRIN is situated at the foot of the Lau-Ye-Ling mountains, on the left
bank of the Sungari or Girin-ula, there 300 yds. wide, and is served by
a branch of the Manchurian railway. The situation is one of exceptional
beauty; but the streets are narrow, irregular and indescribably filthy.
The western part of the town is built upon a swamp and is under water a
great part of the year. The dockyards are supplied with machinery from
Europe and are efficient. Tobacco is the principal article of trade, the
kind grown in the province being greatly prized throughout the Chinese
empire under the name of "Manchu leaf." Formerly ginseng was also an
important staple, but the supply from this quarter of the country has
been exhausted. Outside the town lies a plain "thickly covered with open
coffins containing the dead bodies of Chinese emigrants exposed for
identification and removal by their friends; if no claim is made during
ten years the remains are buried on the spot." Kirin was chosen by the
emperor K'anghi as a military post during the wars with the Eleuths; and
it owes its Chinese name of Ch'uen-ch'ang, i.e. Naval Yard, to his
building there the vessels for the transport of his troops. The
population was estimated at 300,000 in 1812; in 1909 it was about
120,000.
KIRK, SIR JOHN (1832- ), British naturalist and administrator, son of
the Rev. John Kirk, was born at Barry, near Arbroath, on the 19th of
December 1832. He was educated at Edinburgh for the medical profession,
and after serving on the civil medical staff throughout the Crimean War,
was appointed in February 1858 physician and naturalist to David
Livingstone's second expedition to Central Africa. He was by
Livingstone's side in most of his journeyings during the next five
years, and was one of the first four white men to behold Lake Nyassa
(Sept. 16, 1859). He was finally invalided home on the 9th of May 1863.
The reputation he gained during this expedition led to his appointment
in January 1866 as acting surgeon to the political agency at Zanzibar.
In 1868 he became assistant political agent, being raised to the rank of
consul-general in 1873 and agent in 1880. He retired from that post in
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