Herod (Herod the Great) was King of the Jews. He was born in about 74 BC at Ascalon, in Judea. He was the second son of Antipater the Idumean, who, being made procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar, appointed Herod to the government of Galilee. He at first embraced the party of Brutus and Cassius, but after their death reconciled himself to Antony, by whose interest he was first named Tetrarch, and afterwards king of Judea. After the battle of Actium he successfully paid court to Augustus, who confirmed him in his kingdom.
On all occasions his abilities as a politician and commander were conspicuous; but his passions were fierce and ungovernable, and his wife Mariamne, her brother, grandfather, and mother, and his own sons by her, were all put to death by him. He rebuilt the temple at Jerusalem with great magnificence, and erected a stately theatre and amphitheatre in that city. He also rebuilt Samaria, which he called Sebaste, and constructed many strong fortresses throughout Judea, the principal termed Caesarea, after the emperor.
The birth of Jesus Christ is said to have taken place in the last year of the reign of Herod, about 4 BC, the year was also signaled by the massacre of the children of Bethlehem. Herod's policy and influence gave a great temporary splendour to the Jewish nation, but he was also the first to shake the foundation of the Jewish government, by dissolving the national council, and appointing the high-priests and removing them at pleasure, without regard to the laws of succession. Research Herod
There were two Battles of Cambrai during the Great War. The first was a British victory in November 1917, the second Battle of Cambrai was part of the great Allied attack of September and October 1918.
During the retreat of the British and French armies from Belgium after the battles of Mons and Charleroi (August 23rd-24th, 1914), efforts were made by the French forces in Flanders to strike the flank of the advancing German army and facilitate the retirement of the British. The 61st and 62nd French reserve divisions and 84th Territorial division under General d'Amade, with General Sordet's cavalry corps, took part in these operations.
On August the 26th 1914, they were heavily engaged near Cambrai with the 2nd German Infantry Corps (forming part of Kluck's 1st Army), while the British were fighting at Le Cateau. The French divisions were newly mobilised, wanting in coherence, and were exposed to the attack of some of the best troops in the German army. Inferior in numbers, and greatly inferior in artillery and equipment, they were rapidly driven back; Cambrai was seized by the Germans on August the 26th, and d'Amade's infantry were so greatly shaken that Joffre in a message of September the 3rd expressed the hope that they might be 'able to recover some steadiness'. But by their sacrifice they covered the withdrawal of the British from Le Cateau, and thus actually rendered important services.
From this time until the end of 1917 there was no fighting around Cambrai, as, the Germans' line being well to the west of it, the city was outside the actual battle zone. The battle of the Somme, in the autumn of 1916, had Bapaume and Peronne as its immediate objectives, and Cambrai and St Quentin as the ultimate goal.
The first battle of Cambrai began on November the 20th, 1917, when Sir Douglas Haig, as the best means of assisting the Italians, who were then being heavily attacked, determined to deliver a sudden blow on the British front. The intended battle was of a revolutionary type, the first of a new order in war; it was to be marked by two new features, both of which had been planned by the staff of the Tank Corps in the summer of 1917. They were the employment of tanks in masses to break through the German line where it was strongest, and the abandonment of the long, preliminary artillerybombardment which up to that date had been usual before a battle, to cut the wire, shake the opposing infantry, and prepare the way for the final assault.
The point selected was on the front of the 3rd army (Byng), west of Cambrai, where the ground was suitable for tank movements. It had the defect, which was pointed out by the Tank Staff that a break-through there, if successful, would bring the British up against the German system of water and canal defence, from near Cantaing to Marcoing, Masnieres, Crevecoeur, and Banteux. The scheme of operations provided for the employment of 350 tanks and 2 corps of infantry;
these were to be thrown suddenly upon the Germans, who formed part of Marwitz's 2nd army. All the tanks were to be put in at the outset; there was to be no reserve to exploit any victory, and this decision was taken against the advice of the tank leaders. The Hindenburg line would have to be crossed; it consisted of three lines of trenches, each 12 feet (3.6 meters) or more wide, with wide belts of strong wire in front. Provision was made for bridging the trenches with special fascines carried by the tanks.
The attack opened at 6.20a.m. on the 20th of November 1917, in mist, when the whole line of tanks swept forward, led in the centre by Major-General H. Elles, commander of the Tank Corps, and followed by the infantry, who had not had previous experience of working with tanks. The front of attack was 6 miles from Havrincourt to La Vacquerie. As the tanks advanced, 1,000 British guns suddenly opened and maintained a creeping barrage. When the Germans saw that the tanks were able to cross the Hindenburg trenches, many of them fled in panic, but at the villages there was severe fighting, due in some cases to the fact that the infantry had not been able to keep pace with the tanks. Havrincourt and Ribecourt were carried, but at Flesquieres many tanks were put out of action by field guns, and the German resistance was stubborn.
At Marcoing an important bridge was captured by a tank before the Germans could destroy it; but at Masnieres, the bridge, vital for an enveloping advance against Cambrai, was so damaged that when a tank officer gallantly tried to cross it, it gave way slowly under him and finally collapsed; and other tanks which arrived could not cross the Schelde Canal. None the less, they enabled the infantry to force a passage, covering them with their fire. At nightfall the British had penetrated at points 10,000 yards, taking all three trenches of the Hindenburg line, and captured Graincourt, Marcoing, and Masnieres; they had isolated Flesquieres; tanks had also pushed into Bourlon Wood, but the infantry, from exhaustion, were unable to follow and support them.
On November the 21st the battle was resumed by Sir J. Byng with tired infantry, and tanks which had been through one great engagement already. Cantaing was taken, as also Fontaine-Notre-Dame, bringing the British close up to Cambrai on the west, but Fontaine-Notre-Dame was lost the next day to a furious German counter-attack.
Nearly all Bourlon Wood was secured on November the 23rd. German reserves were now arriving and efforts to storm Bourlon village and to recover Fontaine-Notre-Dame failed, though they were renewed on November the 25th, 26th, and 27th. The tank crews had been fought to a standstill, and the infantry were worn out. The position of Cambrai as a great railway junction enabled the Germans to bring up fresh troops from every direction.
On November the 27th the battle was broken off. The British had taken 10,500 prisoners and 142 guns; the German losses in prisoners were double the British casualties in the first two days of the battle. The effect on the German army was serious, and was intensified by the German reports, which frightened their men by stating that the victory had been snatched by the British use of tanks in masses. Most important was the influence on the French command, which had hitherto been doubtful of the value of tanks, but from the date of the battle entertained no more doubts. General Franchet d'Esperey's comment on it, that it was a great victory, was fully justified in the light of subsequent events. The tactics first tested at Cambrai were those which led to the far-reaching successes gained by Foch on July the 18th, 1918, and by the British in the battle of Amiens on August the 8th 1918. This battle marks a turning point in military history - the vindication of mechanical war.
It was unfortunate for the British army that the great success won in the first part of this battle was followed by a counter-stroke in which much of the fruit of the earlier victory was lost, because this led in that army to a belief that tanks were, after all, a doubtful weapon. It undoubtedly delayed their rapid construction on the largest possible scale. Immediately after their reverse, the Germans decided at all cost to attack, in order to clear Cambrai, a point of extreme importance to them because of its railway facilities.
The plan worked out by the Germans provided for a surprise assault at two points, on each side of the salient in which lay Bourlon Wood, from the south-east by a group of 12 divisions advancing between Cantaing and Vendhuile, and from the north-west by a group of five divisions, advancing three hours after the first attack had begun, between Moeuvres and Bourlon. Yet another division was to attack Bourlon Wood frontally, while the salient was being pinched out. The British force holding the front was only six divisions strong, so that the Germans had a strength of three to one, 18 divisions to 6.
The German tactics were skilful. The bombardment which preceded the first attack was sufficiently strong to keep the British troops under cover without at first seriously alarming them ; it was followed by a series of aeroplane attacks, the machines flying low in squadrons, and machine-gunning and bombing the British trenches, after which the German trench mortars opened, and the German infantry, about 8 a.m. on November the 30th, swept into the British position on the south-eastern section of attack. They advanced rapidly with great bravery and penetrated deep, taking Villers-Guislain, Gonnelieu, and Gouzeaucourt, but not without fierce fighting. At noon the Guards came into action and recaptured Gouzeaucourt, attacking with the greatest gallantry and promptitude. Tanks of three battalions, which had been opened up for overhaul and repair, were able to assist the infantry in the afternoon. The recovery of much of the lost ground was assisted by the determination with which detachments of British troops had held their positions even when outflanked and surrounded ; the 29th division specially distinguished itself in this way.
The north-western German attack followed, as had been arranged, after the south-eastern attack had already made great progress. The German infantry advanced in dense waves against the 47th, 2nd, and 56th British divisions, which offered a most stubborn and determined resistance and inflicted on the Germans very heavy losses, enfilading their advancing waves of infantry with machine-gun fire and mowing them down. The German accounts speak of their 'desperate and most strenuous defence'. Some ground was gained by the Germans but at a bitter price. A company of the 13th Essex here fought to the very last, -deciding after a council of war to have no surrender, and its heroism was not in vain. In Bourlon Wood the Germans, made a little progress despite an equally gallant resistance offered by the 1st Berkshire.
British reserves were brought up and a force of French artillery came into action during the afternoon of November the 30th. On December the 1st the battle was renewed, the Germans attempting on the north to hold the British at Bourlon Wood, while their southern attack penetrated deep and cut them. off. The Guards fought their way into Gonnelieu on the southern front with the aid of tanks; GaucheWood was recovered with the cooperation of tanks; and a great effort was made to recapture Villers-Guislain, but it failed owing to the violence of the German machine-gun fire and the small number of tanks available. Masnieres had to be abandoned owing to the loss of commanding ground south of it; and the troops were successfully withdrawn during the night of December 1st to 2nd.
On December the 2nd and 3rd there was heavy fighting between Gonnelieu and Bourlon, and the Germans captured La Vacquerie and forced the evacuation of the ground held beyond the Schelde Canal near Marcoing. December the 4th passed quietly with nothing but local fighting, but on the 5th and 6th fresh efforts were made by the Germans to capture Welsh Ridge, north of Gonnelieu; and though these were repulsed, the British command decided to abandon Bourlon Wood and the ground north of the Flesquieres ridge, as this could not be held unless the British army was prepared for prolonged and severe fighting.
The line to which it fell back left it in possession of an important section of the Hindenburg Line, but gave Gonnelieu and Villers-Guislain to the Germans. The Germans claimed the capture of 9,000 British prisoners and 148 British guns with large quantities of material, but these claims were probably exaggerated. The total British loss in this battle was given by the British authorities as 45,000. The German loss was probably heavier from the close formations employed and the absence of tanks on their side.
After their defeat in the battle of Epehy, the Germans fell back on the vast fortified system of the Hindenburg Line which protected the whole centre of their front, at its most important point, near Cambrai. This had been strengthened and improved by the labour of prisoners since the earlier battle of Cambrai, and was now a most formidable obstacle. From Arleux to Havrincourt it ran along the Canal du Nord, which could not be thoroughly reconnoitred by the British because both banks were in German hands. Near Havrincourt the British had a bridge-head. From Havrincourt southwards the fortified system was carried well to the west of the Schelde Canal, which at various points .passed through deep cuttings, and, between Vendhuile and Bellicourt, through a long tunnel. Some short distance to the south of Bellicourt the canal was dry. The tunnel was connected by shafts with the German trench systems; the sides of the canal in the cuttings were utilised for the construction of dug-outs; and where the canal was dry it served as a covered way.
The Hindenburg system was nowhere less than 7,000 yards wide, and in places it was from 10,000 to 17,000 yards wide. It consisted of two sets of continuous trenches, dug very deep and broad, so as, the Germans hoped, to be proof against tankattack. The first set of trenches had two trench lines, about 1,000 yards apart. They were each provided with concrete and steel emplacements for machine guns and were wired with belts about 50 feet wide; sometimes there were eight or ten belts to each trench. There was also a maze of machine-gun pits, tunnels, large subterranean shelters and trenches independent of the two main lines. The other set, also of two continuous trenches, was sited two miles or more back from the outer line, and each trench in this was very heavily wired and provided with deep and large dug-outs. The second set of trenches had an interval of about 1,000 yards between its two lines.
The German intention was to hold this vast system through the winter, exhaust the Allies, and after beating off their attacks to induce them to enter into peace negotiations, as it was realized by Ludendorff that after the failure of the German offensives, a German victory was out of the question. The belief in the impregnability of the Hindenburg Line was complete in Germany. The British Government seems to have shared the belief that the storming of the line was an enterprise too dangerous to be attempted until the arrival of American troops and American artillery in masses. It had grave misgivings, knowing that the British armies in France, after their desperate exertions during the German offensives of March, April, and May, had been for six weeks continuously fighting and had suffered considerably.
Special tanks had been built in the winter of 1917-18 for the attack on the line - Mark V star - which were increased in length from 23.5 feet to 32 feet 5 inches, so as to be able to stride across the wide Hindenburg trenches without using fascines or the heavy bridgingtackle which smaller tanks required. In cooperation with the British armies, which were to break the German centre and attack the Germans where they were strongest, the Belgian and Allied forces were to advance in Flanders, the French were to attack west of the Argonne, and the Americans, with some 500,000 men, were to advance in the Argonne itself.
The British armies which were to be engaged were the 1st (Home), 3rd (Byng), and 4th (Rawlinson), in order from north to south; it was decided that the 1st and 3rd armies should open the battle before Cambrai, attacking on a front of 13 miles from south of Arleux to Gouzeaucourt, with the Canadians, 17th, 6th, and 4th corps in the order named. On the northern section of attack the troops would have before them the Canal du Nord, which thereabouts was dry, but was wide, deep, and difficult to cross. They were, therefore, to force a passage near Moeuvres, where the canal seemed, from aeroplane reconnaissance, to be practicable for tanks, and then deploy fanwise. They were also to advance from the bridge-head over the canal south-west of Flesquieres.
A heavy bombardment was opened by the British artillery in the night of September the 26th and 27th; the Germans replying with violence. At 5.20 a.m. the infantry went over the top, led by 53 tanks, among them several Mark V star. When the tanks took the wide German trenches the German infantry for the most part were seized with panic and gave way. But there was heavy fighting at many points. Ribecourt and Flesquieres were both carried early in the day, as also was Bourlon. The whole of Bourlon Wood was captured by the Canadians with but little loss; and Fontaine-Notre-Dame, which had resisted repeated British attacks in that year, was reached. At the close of the day the Hindenburg system north of Gouzeaucourt was in ruins. British troops reached the outskirts of Sailly, some six miles from the starting point of the attack, and could thence bring the railway junction at Cambrai under effective fire. Over 10,000 prisoners and 200 guns had been taken, and one of the most stupendous victories of the war had been won. No more terrible blow had been struck, and none had a more profound effect on German opinion, because the collapse of the Hindenburg system came to the German people as a warning that the war would be carried into Germany, and that no defensive plans could stop the Allied armies and their tanks.
During this great and triumphant assault on the northern section of the Hindenburg system, American troops attached to Sir Douglas Haig's armies were delivering a most gallant attack on the outworks of that system, along the 6,000 yards of front between Vendhuile and Bellicourt, where the Schelde Canal passes through the tunnel. They were of the 27th division and were supported by twelve British tanks; but they encountered so desperate a resistance that, though they reached their objectives, they could not maintain themselves and were driven back.
On September the 28th, on the northern section of attack, the British troops continued their advance and secured the villages which they had entered, completing their capture of Sailly, Marcoing, and Fontaine-Notre-Dame, and crossing the Schelde Canal at Marcoing, where they broke through another great series of German entrenchments. The Germans, hard pressed for reinforcements, were compelled to draw troops from Flanders, as Cambrai was a pivotal point; and this withdrawal opened the way for an Allied advance in Belgium.
On September the 29th Sir Douglas Haig concentrated his strength in an attack on the southern section of the Hindenburg Line, in which, on a front of twelve miles from Vendhuile to south of Bellenglise, three corps - the Australians, the Americans, and the 9th - advanced, supported by 175 tanks, among them being an American battalion equipped with British tanks. The American troops of the 27th division had great difficulties to overcome. The strength of the German works in their front was immense; the mist on the morning of attack was so dense that the movements of the infantry and tanks were hampered; and by a great misfortune the 301st battalion of American tanks, which was cooperating, was caught in an old British minefield, laid in March, 1918, the existence of which had not been notified to the Tank Corps staff. Many tanks were destroyed, and the 27th division could not advance as far as had been intended. The American 30th division, however, stormed Bellicourt and occupied Nauroy, penetrating the centre of the German position.
To the north of it two Australian divisions passed through the 27th division and made some advance; while farther north, again, the 12th and 18th British divisions pushed in near Vendhuile. But the greatest fighting of the day was done by the 46th division, which stormed Bellenglise. Equipped with lifebelts, mats, and rafts, it crossed the Schelde Canal, and many of its men had to swim the water. In this famous feat the 5th and 6th South Staffords and 6th North Staffords covered themselves with glory. They captured an important bridge before it could be destroyed, and in 2.5 hours from the start had secured the German system east of the canal, which from its strength was reputed impregnable. On the northern front of attack Masnieres was stormed, and the Schelde Canal crossings near it were secured, while the Canadians pushed in towards the northern outskirts of Cambrai.
On September the 30th the attack was renewed all along the line and important progress was made. The Germans, threatened with envelopment, everywhere fell back behind the Schelde Canal north of Vendhuile. Le Tronquoy with a smaller tunnel on the canal was captured. On October the 1st New Zealand and Canadian troops continued the envelopment of Cambrai from the north, reaching Ramillies, but only at the price of great efforts, as the German resistance here was particularly strenuous, and no fewer than 11 German divisions were engaged on this section of the front from first to last. The Canadians suffered severely, but their stubborn gallantry brought great results. To the south Joncourt and Bony were stormed by the Australians and tanks. Between October the 3rd and 5th, Montbrehain, Estrees, and Beaurevoir were taken by them with great dash, enabling the British forces to advance to the east of the Schelde Canal from Montbrehain northwards. On October the 1st, the French 1st army occupied St Quentin.
In this battle, between September the 27th and October the 5th, the Hindenburg system was shattered for a distance of 40 miles from north to south and Cambrai itself was reached. The total advance was from 11 to 15 miles. Not only this, but a wide gap was made in the rearward German defences, so that only incomplete German trench systems now remained before the British armies in this sector; they were in sight of open country and on the eve of the war of movement. The German centre on the Western front had been penetrated. In all, 30 British and 2 American divisions were engaged against 39 German divisions. The number of prisoners taken was 36,500, greater than in any other single Allied victory in the war on the Western front, and the guns captured numbered 380. It was the decisive battle of the war, leading the German Staff to urge the immediate opening of peace negotiations.
The effect of the loss of the Hindenburg system upon the moral of the German troops was very marked, and they did not thereafter on the British front fight with the determination which they showed before Cambrai. In tactics, the chief features of the victory were the skilful employment of tanks, and the 'leap-frogging' of fresh divisions through the exhausted British troops, by which the vigour of the attack was steadily maintained. Research Battle of Cambrai
Photography is the art, and sometimes business, of taking and also sometimes producing and printing photographs.
Early cameras operated upon the principle of allowing light reflected from a subject to fall upon a light-sensitive chemical impregnated plate, later plastic film. These plates or films were then treated with other chemicals to prevent further sensitivity to light, thereby fixing the image which was then printed. Later digital cameras evolved which used electronic light sensors to record the image in a binary digital file on a memory card.
If too much light is allowed in to the camera, the picture will be over exposed, and will look bright and indistinct. If not enough light is allowed in, the picture will be under exposed and will look dark and indistinct. It is less common for photographs to be over exposed, than under exposed.
Light is allowed in to the camera to the photograph plate, film or sensor through a quickly opening and closing door called the shutter. The size of the hole which is revealed by the shutter is known as the aperture, and is measured in F-Stops, such as F1.8, F4.5, F11 etc. Where, confusingly, the larger the F number the smaller the aperture is. Thus, F1.8 is quite a large aperture, and F11 is fairly small. A larger aperture, represented by a smaller F number, lets in more light than a smaller aperture.
The length of time for which the shutter remains open, letting light in through the aperture is often referred to as the shutter speed, and is measured in fractions of a second. Thus, a shutter speed of 500 implies that the aperture will be open for 1/500th of a second, while a shutter speed of 125 implies that the aperture will be open for 1/125th of a second. The longer the aperture remains open, the more light will enter.
How quickly the photographic plate, film or sensor reacts to the light reaching it through the aperture is known as the sensitivity of the plate, film or sensor and is measured in ISO or ASA units. The larger the ISO value, the quicker the plate, film or sensor will react to the light. Thus, a sensitivity of ASA or ISO 100 will react slower than a sensitivity of 200 or 400.
The aperture size, shutter speed and sensitivity, work together to determine the level of exposure that occurs when a picture is taken. Automatic camera settings will set these three values for you, so that the picture is properly exposed, and if it can not be properly exposed, will warn you. However, there are other effects connected with each of these three settings.
The higher the sensitivity of the photographic plate, film or sensor, the more grainy or noisy the photograph will be. Therefore, using the lowest possible sensitivity will give the best possible quality for the photograph. In order to use a low sensitivity, the subject must be as brightly lit as possible. For example a subject in bright sunshine or lit by powerful lamps or the use of a cameraflash gun.
The camera's aperture size governs the depth of the photograph. The smaller the aperture is, the deeper the field of focus. Using a large aperture size will result in only the subject being in focus, objects behind and in front of the subject will be blurred. Using a small aperture will allow objects behind and in front of the subject to also be in focus. The smaller the aperture size, the further behind and in front of the subject objects will remain in focus, and by extension the easier it will be to focus upon the subject.
The most noticeable effect of the shutter speed is in reducing motion blur and camerashake. When holding a camera, particularly one with a long lens every one will quiver their hand to a greater or lesser degree. When using a zoom lens, this quivering or camerashake is much more noticeable than when using a shorter or wider angle lens. If the camera is moved, even slightly while the shutter is open, the picture will be blurred. The more the camera moves while the shutter is open, the more blurring will occur. By using a fast shutter speed, the shutter is open for less time and as such less movement affect the photograph. Similarly, if the subject being photographed moves while the image is being taken, the resulting photograph will be blurred. Using a fast shutter speed of 1/500th of a second or faster enables photographs to be taken of action shots, such as footballers in mid-movement or in the air while heading the ball. The subject's movement being slower than the speed of the shutter opening and closing which appears to freeze the moment in time.
The best way to reduce camerashake is to use a tripod. If you can not use a tripod, try resting the camera on a firm surface, such as a wall, fence post or tree. It can not be over emphasised that using a tripod will result in better photographs as every one quivers ever so slightly when taking photographs. Even activating the shutter release on the camera can slightly jar the camera. To overcome this, many photographers use a camera with automatic frame advance or sequential shooting, whereby after activating the shutter release the camera takes multiple photographs until the shutter release mechanism is released. In this way, three images may be taken automatically, the first and last will often suffer from slight camerashake due to the action of operating the shutter release mechanism, while the second image will not. Research Photography
Shake reduction is a popular name for an image stabilisation system found in electronic cameras, whereby often a gyroscopic sensor within the body of the camera detects the very fine movement of the camera - refered to as camerashake - and aims to compensates for it by very quickly moving the camera's sensor with the camera holder's shaking motion, resulting in less blurred photographs being taken. Shake reduction is not required when the camera is mounted on a stable platform, such as a tripod, and can be a hinderance when the photographer is deliberately moving the camera, such as for example when panning the camera with a moving subject. Research Shake Reduction
The Shake Virus is a computer virus which infects .COM files. The virus is loaded into memory by executing an infected program and then affects the computer's runtime operation and corrupts program or overlay files. Research Shake Virus
Coffee is the seed of an evergreen shrub which is cultivated in hot climates, and is a native of Abyssinia and of Arabia. This shrub (Coffea arabica) is from 4 to 6 meters in height, and belongs to the Rubiaceae. The leaves are green, glossy on the upper surface, and the flowers are white and sweet-scented. The fruit is of an oval shape, about the size of a cherry, and of a dark-red colour when ripe. Each of these contains two cells, and each cell a single seed, which is the coffee as we see it before it undergoes the process of roasting.
Great attention is paid to the culture of coffee in Arabia. The trees are raised from seed sown in nurseries and afterwards planted out in moist and shady situations, on sloping grounds or at the foot of mountains. Care is taken to conduct little rills of water to their roots, which at certain seasons require to be constantly surrounded with moisture. When the fruit has attained its maturity cloths are placed under the trees, and upon these the labourers shake it down. They afterwards spread the berries on mats, and expose them to the sun to dry. The husk is then broken off by large and heavy rollers of wood or iron. When the coffee has been thus cleared of its husk it is again dried in the sun, and, lastly, winnowed with a large fan, for the purpose of clearing it from the pieces of husks with which it is intermingled. A pound of coffee is generally more than the produce of one tree; but a tree in great vigour will produce 3 or 4 lbs.
The best coffee has its name from Mocha, on the Red Sea. It is packed in large bales, each containing a number of smaller bales, and when good appears fresh and of a greenish-olive colour. Next in quality to the Mocha coffee may perhaps be ranked that of Southern India and that of Sri Lanka, which is strong and well flavoured; but comparatively little coffee now comes from Sri Lanka. Indonesia and Central America produce large quantities of excellent coffee. Brazilian coffee, though produced more abundantly than any other, stands at the bottom of the list as regards quality. Liberian coffee may also be mentioned. American coffee holds in the judgment of all Orientals the very last rank.
The Dutch were the first to extend the cultivation of coffee beyond the countries to which it is native. About 1690 some coffee seeds were brought to Java, where they were planted and produced fruit. By 1718 the Dutch planters of Surinam had entered on the cultivation of coffee with success, and ten years after it was introduced from that colony by the English into Jamaica, and by the French into Martinique. It was not until 1774 that the planters of Brazil, now the greatest producers of coffee in the world, commenced its cultivation.
Coffee as an article of diet is of but comparatively recent introduction. To the Greeks and Romans it was wholly unknown. From Arabia it passed to Egypt and Turkey, whence it was introduced into England by a Turkeymerchant named Edwards in 1652, whose Greek servant, named Pasqua, first opened a coffee-house in London. In 1671 an Armenian named Pascal set up a coffee-house in Paris. The excellence of coffee depends in a great measure on the skill and attention exercised in roasting it. If it be too little roasted it is devoid of flavour, and if too much it becomes acrid, and has a disagreeable, burned taste. Coffee is used in the form either of an infusion or decoction, of which the former is decidedly preferable, both as regards flavour and strength. The fine aromatic oil which produces the flavour and strength of coffee is lost by boiling. The best mode is to pour boiling water through the coffee in a biggin or strainer, which is found to extract nearly all the strength; or to pour boiling water upon it and set it upon the fire, not to exceed ten minutes. Prepared in either way it is fine and strong.
In the Asiatic mode of preparing coffee the beans are pounded, not ground; and though the Turks and Arabsboil the coffee, they traditionally boil each cup by itself and only for a moment, so that the effect is much the same as that of infusion. In Arabia some additional spicing, generally of saffron or some aromatic seeds, is considered indispensable; but neither Turks nor Arabians use sugar or cream with coffee.
Coffee acts as a nervous stimulant, a property which it owes mainly to the alkaloidcaffeine. It thus promotes cheerfulness and removes languor, and also aids digestion; but in some constitutions it induces sleeplessness and nervous tremblings. Research Coffee
Illyria was a name formerly rather loosely applied to a large tract of country on the east side of the Adriatic, the ancient Illyrians being the ancestors of the modern Albanians. Piracy was carried on by the Illyrians, whose kings were therefore embroiled in quarrels with the Romans, which ended in their subjugation in 228 BC. They sought from time to time to shake off their chains; but being always beaten, the country at last became a Roman province. The name of Illyrian Provinces was given, by a decree of Napoleon in 1809, to Carniola, Dalmatia, and other countries, then part of the French Empire. After the fall of Napoleon the Illyrian Provinces were restored to Austria, and designated as the Kingdom of Illyria, a title which the country bore until 1849, when it was divided into the provinces of Carinthia, Camiola, and the Coast-lands. Research Illyria
In music the beat is the beating or pulsation resulting from the joint vibrations of two sounds of the same strength, and all but in unison. The term is also applied to a short shake or transient grace-note struck immediately before the note it is intended to ornament.
In music the term shake describes a rapid alternation of a principal tone with another represented on the next degree of the staff above or below it. Research Shake
In music a trill is a shake or quaver of the voice in singing, or of the sound of an instrument, produced by the rapid alternation of two contiguous tones of the scale. Research Trill
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Herod
