An almanac is a calendar, in which are set down the rising and setting of the sun, the phases of the moon, the most remarkable positions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies, for every month and day of the year; also the several fasts and feasts to be observed in the church and state, etc, and often much miscellaneous information likely to be useful to the public.
The term is of Arabic origin, but the Arabs were not the first to use almanacs, which indeed existed from remote ages. In England they are known from the fourteenth century, there being several English almanacs of this century existing in manuscript form. They became generally used in Europe within a short time after the invention of printing; and they were very early remarkable, as some are still, for the mixture of truth and falsehood which they contained. Their effects in France were found so mischievous, from the pretended prophecies which they published, that an edict was promulgated by Henry III in 1579 forbidding any predictions to be inserted in them relating to civil affairs, whether those of the state or of private persons.
In the reign of James I of England letters-patent were granted to the two universities and the Stationers' Company for an exclusive right of printing almanacs, but in 1775 this monopoly was abolished. During the English Civil War, and thence onward, English almanacs were conspicuous for the unblushing boldness of their astrological predictions, and their determined perpetuation of popular errors. The most famous English almanac was Poor Robin's Almanac, which was published from 1663 to 1775.
Gradually, however, a better taste began to prevail, and in 1828 the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, by publishing the British Almanac, had the merit of taking the lead in the production of an unexceptionable almanac in Great Britain. The example thus set has been almost universally adopted. The circulation of almanacs continued to be much cramped by the very heavy duty of one shilling and threepence per copy until 1834, when this duty was abolished. About 200 new almanacs were started immediately on the repeal.
Almanacs, from their periodical character, and the frequency with which they are referred to, are now more and more used as vehicles for conveying statistical and other useful information, some being intended for the inhabitants of a particular country or district, others for a particular class or party. Some of the almanacs that are regularly published every year are extremely useful, and before the Internet and improved communications were almost indispensable to men engaged in official, mercantile, literary, and professional business. Such in Great Britain were Thorn's Official Directory of the United Kingdom, the British Almanac, Oliver and Boyd's Edinburgh Almanac, and Whitaker's Almanac, now so well known.
In the United States was published The American Almanac, a useful compilation. The Almanach de Gotha, which first appeared at Gotha in 1764, contained in small bulk a wonderful quantity of information regarding the reigning families and governments, the finances, commerce, population, etc, of the different states throughout the world. It was published both in a French and in a German edition. Almanacs that pretend to foretell the weather and occurrences of various kinds are still popular in Britain, France, and elsewhere.
The Nautical Almanack was an important work published annually by the British government, two or three years in advance, in which was contained much useful astronomical matter, more especially the distances of the moon from the sun, and from certain fixed stars, for every three hours of apparent time, adapted to the meridian of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. By comparing these with the distances carefully observed at sea the mariner could with comparative ease, infer his longitude to a degree of accuracy unattainable in the past by any other way, and sufficient in the past for most nautical purposes. This almanac was commenced in 1767 by Dr. Maskelyne, astronomer royal. The French Connaissance des Temps was published with the same views as the English Nautical Almanac, and nearly on the same plan. It commenced in 1679. Of a similar character was the Astronomisches Jahrbuch formerly published at Berlin. Research Almanac
A berlin or berline was a four-wheeled covered carriage seating two person inside, and a third behind on a hooded seat. The driver sat in front. The berlin was first made in Berlin, hence its name, and was popular in France during the 18th century. By the 20th century the name berlin was being used to describe a development of the early limousine motor-car designed to carry five passengers. Research Berlin
The Berlin Decree was issued in 1806 by Napoleon, and declared the British islands to be in a state of blockade. The decree forbade commerce with them and trade in their merchandise and declared all merchandise belonging to Englishmen or transported from England to be lawful prize. The Berlin Decree inflicted a great loss on American trade at the time. Research Berlin Decree
A bible Society is a society formed for the distribution of the Bible or portions of it in various languages, either gratuitously or at a low rate. A clergyman of Wales, whom the want of a Welsh Bible led to London, occasioned the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society, on March the 7th, 1804.
A great number of similar institutions were soon formed in all parts of Great Britain, and afterwards on the Continent of Europe, in Asia and in America, and connected with the British as a parent or kindred society.
The proceeding's of the British and Foreign Bible Society gave rise to several controversies, one of which related to the neglecting to give the Prayer-book with the Bible. Another controversy related to the circulation of the Apocrypha along with the canonical books.
The Edinburgh Bible Society established in 1809, and up to 1826 connected with the British and Foreig'a Bible Society, seceded on the occasion of the controversy regarding the circulation of the Apocrypha, and up to 1860 existed as a separate society. In 1861 this society was united with the National, the Glasgow, and other Bible societies, into a whole called the National Bible Society of Scotland, having its headquarters in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The Hibernian Bible Society, which has its headquarters in Dublin, was established in 1806, to encourage a wider circulation of the Bible in Ireland. In Germany the principal Bible society was the Prussian, established at Berlin in 1814 and having many auxiliaries. France has two principal Bible Societies, whose headquarters are at Paris, the one instituted in 1818, the other in 1833. Switzerland possesses various Bible societies, chief among which are those of Basel founded in 1804, Bern, Lausanne, and Geneva. In the Netherlands there has existed since 1815 a fraternal union of different sects for the distribution of Bibles. The Swedish Bible Society was instituted in 1808, and the Norwegian Bible Society in 1816. The first Russian Society in St Petersburg printed the Bible in thirty-one languages and dialects spoken in the Russian dominions, and auxiliary societies were formed at Irkutsk, Tobolsk, among the Kirghises, Georgians, and Cossacks of the Don; but they were all suppressed by an imperial ukase in 1826. In 1831 a new Bible Society was instituted at St. Petersburg - namely, the Russian Evangelical Bible Society. In the United States of America the great American Bible Society was formed in 1816. Research Bible Society
The blind are those who want, or are deficient in, the sense of sight. Blindness may vary in degree from the slightest impairment of vision to total loss of sight; it may also be temporary or permanent. It is caused by defect, disease, or injury to the eye, to the optic nerve, or to that part of the brain connected with it. Old age is sometimes accompanied with blindness, occasioned by the drying up of the humours of the eye, or by the opacity of the cornea, the crystalline lens, etc. The blind are often distinguished for a remarkable mental activity, and a wonderful development of the intellectual powers. Their touch and hearing, particularly, become very acute.
As early as 1260 an asylum for the blind (L'hospice des Quinze-Vingts) was founded in Paris by St Louis for the relief of the Crusaders who lost their sight in Egypt and Syria; but the first institution for the instruction of the blind was the idea of Valentin Hauy, brother of the celebrated mineralogist. In 1784 he opened an institution in which the blind were instructed not only in appropriate mechanical employments, as spinning, knitting, making ropes or fringes, and working in paste-board, but also in music, in reading, writing, ciphering, geography, and the sciences. For instruction in reading he procured raised letters of metal; for writing he used particular writing-cases, in which a frame, with wires to separate the lines, could be fastened upon the paper; for ciphering there were movable figures of metal, and ciphering-boards in which the figures could be fixed; for teaching geographymaps were prepared upon which mountains, rivers, cities, and the boundaries of countries were indicated to the sense of touch in various ways, etc.
Similar institutions were soon afterwards founded in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dresden, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Vienna, and in many towns of the United States. By 1900 there were comparatively few large cities that did not possess a school or institution of some kind for the blind.
At the start of the 20th century the attitude towards the blind was rather patronising, and one source may be quoted as saying 'the occupations in which the blind are found capable of engaging are such as the making of baskets and other kinds of wicker-work, brushmaking, rope and twine making, the making of mats and matting, knitting, netting, fancy work of various kinds, cutting fire-wood, the sewing of sacks and bags; the carving of articles in wood, etc'. However, it was also recognised that more skilled tasks could also be performed by blind persons, and the same source notes that 'Piano-tuning is also successfully carried on by some, and the cleaning of clocks and watches has even been occasionally practised by them'.
Around 1900 an impetus was given, in Britain, to the higher education of the blind by the formation of the British and Foreign Blind Association, the establishment of a college for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen at Worcester, and the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind, Upper Norwood.
Various systems were devised for the purpose of teaching the blind to read, some of which consisted in the use of the ordinary Roman alphabet, with more or less modification, and some of which employ types quite arbitrary in form. In all systems the characters rise above the surface of the paper so as to be felt by the fingers. The type adopted by Hauy was the script or italic form of the Roman letter. This was introduced into England by Sir C. Lowther, who printed the Gospel of St. Matthew in 1832 with type obtained from Paris. Before this Gall of Edinburgh made use of an embossed alphabet based on the ordinary Roman small letters, in which all curves were replaced by angular lines, and in 1834 he published the Gospel of St John in this character. Subsequently he introduced various improvements, and in particular the letters were produced with serrated surfaces, thus giving greater distinctness. Alston of Glasgow, Howe of Boston, and others also used the Roman form; but the former (who was the first to print the whole Bible, in 1840) adopted the Roman capitals, while the latter adopted the small letters, printing in this type the Bible and many other books. Of alphabets deviating entirely or nearly so from the Roman letter, one consists of a stenographic shorthand invented by Lucas of Bristol; another was a phonetic shorthand devised by Frere of London. In Dr. Moon's alphabet some of the characters are Roman, others are based on or suggested by the Roman characters. The Braille system, widely adopted by the laye 20th century, is one in which the letters are formed by a combination of dots. Dr. Moon's system from its simplicity and the size of its characters is in very general use in books for the blind. There are also systems by which the blind are enabled to write, and the writing may be either in relief so as to be read by the blind, or in characters that may be read by those who see. Research Blind
Blue is one of the seven colours into which the rays of light divide themselves when refracted through a glassprism, seen in nature in the clear expanse of the heavens; the term is also applied to a dye or pigment of this hue.
The substances used as blue pigments are of very different natures, and derived from various sources; they are all compound bodies, some being natural and others artificial. They are derived almost entirely from the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. The principal blues used in painting are ultramarine, which was originally prepared from lapis-lazuli or azure-stone - a mineral found in China and other oriental countries - but, as now prepared, it is an artificial compound of china-clay, carbonate of soda, sulphur, and charcoal; Prussian or Berlin blue, which is a compound of cyanogen and iron; blue bice, prepared from carbonate of copper; indigo blue, from the indigo plant. Besides these, there are numerous other blues used in art, as blue-verditer, smalt- and cobalt-blue, from cobalt, lacmus or litmus, etc.
Before the discovery of aniline or coal-tar colours dyers chiefly depended for their blues on woad, archil, indigo, and Prussian blue, but now a series of brilliant blues are obtained from coal-tar, possessing great tinctorial power and various degrees of durability.
Blue as a colour ranges from green-blue (turquoise) through to purple-blue (indigo).
Alice blue - A very light greenish-blue colour.
Aquamarine - A bluish-green colour.
Azure - A deep blue colour reminiscent of the sky.
Aquamarine - A pale greenish-blue colour.
Bice blue - A medium blue colour
Cambridge blue - A light blue colour.
Cobalt blue - A deep blue colour with a greenish-tint. The colour of old blue glass.
The Congress of Berlin was held between the European powers at Berlin in 1878 under the Presidency of Bismarck, to determine the boundaries of the Balkan states after the Russo-Turkish war. Beaconsfield attended as Britain' s chief envoy, and upon his return to England declared that he had brought back peace with honour. Research Congress of Berlin
The Continental System was a plan devised by Napoleon to exclude Britain from all intercourse with the continent of Europe. It began with the decree of Berlin on November the 21st 1806, by which the British Islands were declared to be in a state of blockade; all commerce, intercourse and correspondence were prohibited; every Briton found in France, or a country occupied by French troops, was declared a prisoner of war; all property belonging to Britons, fair prize, and all trade in goods from Britain or British colonies entirely prohibited.
Britain replied by orders in council prohibiting trade with French ports, and declaring all harbours of France and allies subjected to the same restrictions as if they were closely blockaded. Further decrees on the part of France, of a still more stringent kind, declared all vessels of whatever flag, which had been searched by a British vessel or paid duty to Britain, denationalised, and directing the burning of all British goods. The decrees were annulled at the fall of Napoleon in 1814. Research Continental System
Faience is imitation porcelain, a kind of fine pottery, superior to the common pottery in its glazing, beauty of form, and richness of painting, and of which several kinds are distinguished by critics. It derived its name from the town of Faenza, in Italy, where a fine sort of pottery called majolica was manufactured as early as the 14th century. The majolica reached its greatest perfection between 1530 and 1560. In the Louvre, at Berlin, and at Dresden are rich collections of it. The modern faience appears to have been invented about the middle of the 16th century, at Faenza, as an imitation of majolica, and obtained its name in France, where a man from Faenza, having discovered a similar kind of clay at Nevers, had introduced the manufacture of it. True faience is made of a yellowish or ruddy earth, covered with an enamel which is usually white, but may be coloured. This enamel is a glass rendered opaque by oxide of tin or other suitable material, and is intended not only to glaze the body, but to conceal it entirely. Research Faience
The Macon Bill No 2 was an American bill so called from its author, Nathaniel Macon, which was passed by Congress on May the 1st, 1810, as a means of extricating the United States from the difficulties caused by the aggressions of England and France. It provided that commerce should be free, but that if either England should withdraw her Orders in Council or France her Berlin and Milan Decrees, intercourse should be prohibited with the nation which retained them. Research Macon Bill No 2
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Almanac
