however, he retired in 1874. Mr Chamberlain had by this time acquired considerable celebrity as a Radical politician. In 1868 he was appointed a member of the Birmingham Town-council; was Mayor of Birmingham from 1873 to 1876, and chairman of the Birmingham School-board from 1874 to 1876. After unsuccessfully contesting Sheffield against Mr Roebuck in 1874, he was returned for Birmingham without opposition in June 1876. He soon made his mark in parliament, and on the return of the Liberals to power in 1880 he was appointed President of the Board of Trade, with a seat in the cabinet. To Mr Chamberlain's exertions was due the passing of the Bankruptcy Bill, but his efforts to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts were unsuccessful. Meanwhile his influence was increasing rapidly outside the House; he came to be regarded as the leader of the extreme Radical party, and enunciated schemes for the regeneration of the masses which were based on the doctrines of the restitution' of land and the 'ransom' of property. During the last hours of Mr Gladstone's government he was understood to be opposed to the renewal of the Irish Crimes Act; and during the general election of 1886 he was most severe in his strictures on the moderate Liberals, and produced an 'unauthorised' programme (in opposition to that of Mr Gladstone), which included the readjustment of taxation, free schools, and the creation of allotments by compulsory purchase. He was returned free of expense by the western division of Birmingham. On February 1, 1886, he became President of the Local Government Board, but resigned on March 26 because of his strong objections to Mr Gladstone's Home Rule measures for Ireland; and

after the Round Table' conference had failed to reunite the Liberal party he assumed an attitude of uncompromising hostility to his old leader's new policy. His visit to Ulster in the autumn of 1887 did much to strengthen the Unionist cause there. Shortly afterwards he went to America, having been appointed by Lord Salisbury one of the British High Commissioners to settle the fishery disputes between the United States and Canada. He succeeded in concluding a provisional arrangement pending the ratification or rejection of the treaty by the American Senate. He has contributed several political articles to the Fortnightly Review, and a selection of his speeches has been published, with an introduction by Mr H. W. Lucy.

Chamber Music is music specially fitted for performance in a room, as distinguished from concert or church music or opera. The name applies more particularly to instrumental music for a single instrument or a small combination, up to the septett or octett.

Chamber of Commerce, a body of merchants, traders, bankers, and others, associated for the purpose of promoting the interests of its own members, of the town or district to which the society belongs, and of the community generally, in so far as these have reference to trade and merchandise. Of the means for the accomplishment of these objects the following may be mentioned as the most prominent: (1) Representing and urging on the legislature the views of their members in mercantile affairs; (2) aiding in the preparation of legislative measures having reference to trade, such, for example, as the Bankrupt and Limited Liability Acts; (3) collecting statistics bearing upon the staple trade of the district; (4) acting in some places as a sort of court of arbitration in mercantile questions; (5) attaining by combination advantages in trade which might be beyond the reach of individual enterprise.

The oldest chamber of commerce is that of

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Marseilles, which dates from the end of the 14th or commencement of the 15th century. It shared in the municipal jurisdiction and in the administration of justice in mercantile questions. It was several times suppressed and re-established, and it was not till 1650 that it received its ultimate organisation. The chamber of Dunkirk was established in 1700. The same year a councilgeneral of commerce was instituted at Paris, which, in addition to six councillors of state, consisted of twelve merchants or traders, delegated by the principal commercial towns of the country, an arrangement which led within the next few years to the formation of chambers of commerce everywhere in France. We thus find that the chamber at Lyons was instituted in 1702, those of Rouen and Toulouse in 1703, of Montpellier in 1704, of Bordeaux in 1705, &c. These chambers were all suppressed by a decree of the National Assembly in 1791, but they were re-established by a consular edict in 1802. Their organisation was modified in 1832, in 1851, and in 1852. The members of these bodies are now elected by the chief merchants of each town chosen for that purpose by the prefect. The number of this elective body cannot be less than 9 nor more than 21. They hold office for six years, one-third of their number being renewed every two years. The functions now assigned to these chambers in France are to give to the government advice and information on industrial and commercial subjects; to suggest the means of increasing the industry and commerce of their respective districts, or of improving commercial legislation and taxation; to suggest the execution of works requisite for the public service, or which may tend to the increase of trade or commerce, such as the construction of harbours, the deepening of rivers, the formation of railways, and the like. On these and similar subjects the advice of the chambers, when not volunteered, is demanded by the government. In most of the other countries of continental Europe there are similar institutions.

The oldest chamber of commerce in Great Britain is believed to be that of Glasgow, which was instituted 1st January 1783, and obtained a royal charter, registered at Edinburgh on the 31st of the same month. That of Edinburgh was instituted in 1785, and incorporated by royal charter in 1786. The Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce was the first public body which petitioned for of free-trade principles; and it stood almost alone the abolition of the Corn Laws, and the adoption Canal project. It also originated the movement in the United Kingdom in advocating the Suez which resulted in placing the telegraph service in connection with the Post-office. Between five and six hundred of the bankers, merchants, and ship-owners of Edinburgh and Leith constitute the chamber. The London Chamber of Commerce (1882) may now be regarded as the most important in the United Kingdom. The main branches of commercial enterprise are dealt with by separate departments of the chamber, while by public lectures and the frequent publication of detailed reports it maintains communication with chambers of commerce throughout the country, and serves when necessary to unite and concentrate their action in the promotion of reforms in our mercantile system and in the development of the commercial resources of the empire. The Manchester chamber, so famous for its exertions in the cause of free trade, was not established till 1820, and for many years it continued to be the only institution of the kind in England. Its members number over 900. In Hull there has been a chamber of commerce since 1837, but those of Liverpool, Leeds, and Bradford, notwithstanding the great trading and manufacturing

interests of these towns, were not established till 1850; in which year also a similar institution was established in South Australia. The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce numbers 550. The annual income of the Manchester chamber is up wards of £1400, contributed entirely by the subscriptions, ranging from £1, 1s. for individual members, to £10, 10s. for large firms. There are now similar chambers in all the great mercantile towns of Great Britain and Ireland, and in 1860 there was established an Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom,' which meets in annual conference for the promotion of commerce. The Chamber of Commerce of New York, organised in 1768, was incorporated by a royal charter in 1770, afterwards superseded by charter granted by the state government. Its aims are similar to those in Britain, and it comprises some 800 members, who have established a court of arbitration for differences amongst members. Like bodies have been formed in other large American cities. In Canada the Dominion Board of Trade consists of the Chambers of Commerce, or Boards of Trade, as they are indifferently called, of the most important cities of the Dominion.

Chambers are private rooms attached to most of the English courts, in which the judges, or more frequently the masters and chief clerks, transact a large amount of judicial business. In fact nearly all business which is begun by what is technically called a Summons in England goes to chamberse.g. all such incidental matters as the recovery of documents, examination of witnesses about to go abroad, investigation of accounts, settling of deeds between parties. A decree of the court which directs further procedure is carried out by a summons to proceed in chambers. Counsel attend in chambers only in important matters. In Scotland a good deal of this business takes the form of a remit to an accountant or other man of business, a judicial reference, a commission to examine witnesses, but all initiated by a motion in court. Chamber-counsel, a barrister or advocate who gives opinions in his own chambers, but does not, or rarely does, plead in court.

Chambers, EPHRAIM, an amiable but frugal and free-thinking encyclopædist, was born about 1680 at Kendal, and began life as an apprentice to a globe-maker in London, where he conceived the idea of a cyclopædia that should surpass Harris's Lexicon Technicum (1704). It appeared in 2 folio vols. in 1728, and reached a 6th edition in 1750, Chambers having died meanwhile on 15th May 1750. A French translation gave rise to the more famous Encyclopedie of Diderot and D'Alembert; itself expanded into Rees's Encyclopædia. Dr Johnson told Boswell that he had partly formed his style upon Chambers's Proposal for his Dictionary. See ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Chambers, SIR WILLIAM, architect, was born of a Scotch family at Stockholm in 1726, but was brought up in England. At first a sailor, he soon turned to the study of architecture in Italy and at Paris. He rose rapidly, and as early as 1757 was employed by Augusta, Princess-dowager of Wales, to construct the well-known semi-Roman and oriental buildings in Kew Gardens. The king of Sweden made him a knight of the Polar Star. Somerset House (1776) was his design, which Fergusson pronounces the greatest architectural work of the reign of George III.' His Treatise of Civil Architecture (1759) was successful, but his absurdly pretentious and ignorant Dissertation on Oriental Gardening (1772) justly covered him with ridicule. Chambers enjoyed the friendship of Johnson, Reynolds, and Garrick, and died in London, March 8, 1796.

91

Chambers, WILLIAM, publisher, was born 16th April 1800 at Peebles, his father being a cotton manufacturer there. The boy got a fair elementary education; but owing to the father's misfortunes, his schooling terminated with his thirteenth year. Hence his education for life-work was mainly due to the habit, very early acquired and long maintained, of miscellaneous and extensive reading. The household migrated to Edinburgh in 1813, and next year William was apprenticed to a bookseller. His five years up, he started business in a humble way for himself (May 1819), to bookselling afterwards adding printing. Between 1825 and 1830 he wrote the Book of Scotland, and in conjunction with his brother Robert, a Gazetteer of Scotland. His experience gained as a bookseller and printer was next utilised in his attempt to take advantage of the universal appetite for instruction which at present exists,' and to supply that appetite with food of the best kind,' which resulted in the founding of Chambers's Edinburgh Journal on 4th February 1832. This was about six weeks in advance of the Penny Magazine, and it may be considered the pioneer of that class of cheap and popular periodicals of a wholesome kind now so At the end of the fourteenth generally diffused. number he united with his brother Robert in founding the business of William & Robert Chambers, in which they were associated in writing, editing, printing, and publishing. W. & R. Chambers issued a series of works designed for popular instruction, including besides the Journal, Information for the People, 2 vols.; the Educational Course' series; Cyclopædia of English Literature, 2 vols.; Miscellany of Useful and Entertaining Tracts, 20 vols. ; Papers for the People, 12 vols. ; and the present Encyclopædia, 10 vols. (1859-1868; new edition, 1888-92). In 1849 William acquired the estate of Glenormiston, Peeblesshire, and in 1859 founded and endowed an institution in his native town for purposes of social improvement. Twice elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh, William occupied that office for four years (1865-69), during which he promoted several important public acts, including one for the improvement of the older part of the city, which has resulted in a great diminution of the death-rate. (The death-rate of the city in 1865-75 was 26-26 per 1000; in 1875-85, only 19.94.) He also carried out at his Own cost a thorough restoration of St Giles' Cathedral. He died 20th May 1883, having shortly before received the offer of a baronetcy. He was made LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1872. A statue has been erected to his memory in Edinburgh. Besides many contributions to the Journal, he was author and editor of various volumes, and wrote The Youths' Companion and Counsellor, History of Peeblesshire (1864), Ailie Gilroy, Stories of Remarkable Persons, Stories of Old Families, and Historical Sketch of St Giles' Cathedral (1879).

1818.

ROBERT CHAMBERS, born in Peebles, 10th July 1802, took to Latin and books at an early age, and began business as a bookseller in Edinburgh in His leisure hours were devoted to literary composition, the impulse to which, his brother says, came upon him like an inspiration at nineteen years of age. In 1824 he published the Traditions of Edinburgh, the writing of which procured him the friendship of Sir Walter Scott, who furnished some memoranda for the work. Between 1822 and 1834 he wrote in all twenty-five volumes, many of them of great literary interest and permanent historical value. He had already won reputation as an author when he joined his brother after the success of the Journal in 1832; and this success was materially promoted by his essays, and by his versatility and elegance as a writer, his diligence in collecting and working up stray

material, and his perception of what was suited to the popular taste in history, poetry, science and arts. In 1844 he published anonymously the remarkable work, Vestiges of Creation, which prepared the way for Darwin's great work, The Origin of Species. The authorship, positively ascribed to him in the Athenæum of 2d December 1854, was first acknowledged in Mr Ireland's introduction to the 12th ed. (1884). He received the degree of LL.D. from St Andrews in 1863. The labour in

preparing the Book of Days (2 vols. 1863) broke his health, and he died at St Andrews, 17th March 1871. Other works by Robert are Popular Rhymes of Scotland, a valuable contribution to folklore (1847), History of the Rebellions in Scotland, Life of James I., Scottish Ballads and Songs (3 vols. 1829), Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, Ancient Sea Margins (1838), The Life and Works of Robert Burns (4 vols. 1851), Domestic Annals of Scotland (3 vols. 1859-61), and Songs of Scotland prior to Burns (1862). His Select Writings (7 vols.) were published in 1847.-His son ROBERT CHAMBERS, born in 1832, became head of the firm in 1883, and conducted the Journal till his death, March 23, 1888.-See W. Chambers's Memoir of William and Robert Chambers (1872; 13th ed., with supplementary chapter, 1884).

Chambersburg, capital of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in a pleasant valley 52 miles WSW. of Harrisburg by rail, has several manufactories, breweries, foundries, and machine-shops. A large part of the borough was burned by the Confederates in 1864. Pop. (1880) 6877; (1890) 8006.

Chambertin, a famous red Burgundy, obtained from a vineyard (62 acres) of that name in the French department of Côte-d'Or, 7 miles S. of Dijon by rail.

Chambéry, capital of the former duchy and present French department of Savoy, beautifully situated between two ridges of hills, amid gardens and country seats, 370 miles SE. of Paris by rail. The scenery around, with the river Laisse flowing through the valley, is exceedingly fine. The town itself, however, is dull and uninteresting, with narrow and gloomy streets winding between high well-built houses. Notable edifices are the small cathedral, the palace of justice, and the old castle of the Dukes of Savoy, restored early in the present century. Chambéry has manufactures of clocks, silk-gauze, soap, hats, paper, and a trade in silk, wine, coal, &c. Pop. (1886) 19,664. From 1525 to 1713 Chambéry was under the dominion of France, and again from the Revolution to 1815, when it was restored to the House of Savoy; but in 1860, by the cession of Savoy, it came again under the rule of France.

Chambeze, the farthest head-stream of the Congo, rises in the highlands south of Tanganyika, about 9° 40′ S. lat., and 33° 15' E. long. Its tributaries are large, and form a considerable stream, which flows south-west to Lake Bangweolo (q.v.).

Chambord, a celebrated château in the French department of Loir-et-Cher, stands 12 miles E. of Blois, in the midst of a walled, sandy park of 13,000 acres. Commenced by Francis I. in 1526, it is a huge Renaissance pile, with numberless turrets, chimneys, gables, and cupolas, and with four round towers, each 63 feet in diameter. There are no fewer than 440 rooms. Chambord, the 'Versailles of Touraine,' was a residence of the French kings down to Louis XV., who conferred it on Marshal Saxe; and here in 1670 Molière gave the first representation of his Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Among its various occupants were Diane de Poitiers, Stanislaus of Poland, and Marshal Berthier, upon whom it was bestowed by Napoleon in 1809.

It was

CHAMBRE INTROUVABLE

bought from his widow in 1821 for 1,542,000 francs, and presented to the future Comte de Chambord, who spent large sums on its restoration. He left it to his wife, and, after her, to her nephews, by a will which was more than once disputed, but recognised by the state as valid. See La Question de Chambord, by J. B. C. Arnauld (1887).

Chambord, HENRI CHARLES DIEUDONNÉ, COMTE DE, was born in Paris, 29th September 1820, seven months after the assassination of his father, the Duc de Berri (q.v.). On the day of his baptism Jordan, the Child of Miracle' was presented by with water brought by Châteaubriand from the the Legitimists with the château of Chambord; hence in 1844 he dropped the title of Duc de Bordeaux for that by which he was most usually known. When Charles X. abdicated at the July revolution of 1830, he did so in favour of his little grandson; but the people insisted on the citizen king,' and the elder Bourbons were driven into exile. They fixed their court successively at Holyrood, Prague, and Görz, where the trained in clerical and absolutist ideas by his aunt, old king died in 1836, and the young count was the Duchesse d'Angoulême, and his tutor, the Duc de Damas. A good, dull, timid soul, whom D'Orsay likened to ‘a palace with no room furnished but the chapel,' 'Henry V.' had three times a chance of regaining the crown of his ancestors-in 1848, 1870, and 1873, on which last occasion, three months after Thiers's overthrow, he paid an incognito visit to Versailles. Each time he fooled away his opportunities, always vanishing just when his presence was indispensable, and ever protesting that he would never abandon the white flag of Joan of Arc.' A fall from his horse (1841) had lamed him for life; his marriage (1846) with the Princess of Modena (1817-86) brought him no successor; and in keeping up a stately mimic court, in stag-hunting from a phaeton, in issuing manifestoes, in visiting innumerable churches, and in much travelling, he passed forty years of blameless inertia. His death, after long suffering, at his castle of Frohsdorf, in Lower Austria, 24th August 1883, was a relief at once to himself and to his adherents. The Comte de Paris inherited his claims. BOURBON; and the Comte de Falloux' Mémoires d'un Royaliste (2 vols. Paris, 1888).

See

Chambre Ardente ('the fiery chamber'), a name given at different times in France to an extraordinary court of justice, probably on account of the severity of the punishments which it awarded, the most common being that of death by fire. In the year 1535, Francis I. established an Inquisitorial Tribunal and a Chambre Ardente. Both were intended for the extirpation of heresy. The former searched out cases of heresy, and instructed the processes; while the latter both pronounced and executed the final judgment. Under Henri II., the activity of the Chambre Ardente received a new impulse. In 1679 Louis XIV. employed a Chambre Ardente to investigate the numerous reports of poisoning cases which the trial of the Marchioness Brinvilliers (q.v.) caused to be circulated. Many persons of the first rank were examined on suspicion, but no one was executed except the pretended sorcerer, Voisin (1680).

Chambre Introuvable (Fr., the chamber the like of which is not to be found again') was the name given to that Chamber of Deputies in France which met after the second return of Louis XVIII. (July 1815), and which, by its fanatical royalty, began to throw the country and society anew into commotion. The name was given to it by the king in his gratitude (though some think even he spoke ironically); but it soon came to be used sarcastically for any ultra-royalist assembly.

CHAMELEON

Chameleon. See CHAMELEON. Chamfer. In Architecture, an angle which is slightly pared off is said to be chamfered; a large chamfer, as in a wall at the window opening, is called a splay. The chamfer is sometimes made slightly concave, in which case it is called a hollow chamfer. Chamfers, in Gothic architecture, have frequently ornamental terminations of various kinds. The term chamfer is applied to woodwork as well as stone.

Chamfort, NICOLAS, a famous writer of maxims and anecdotes, was born in Auvergne in 1741. He was of illegitimate birth, and was educated at one of the Paris colleges, where he obtained a scholarship. Having distinguished himself in the prize competitions of the Academy, he gained an entrance into the highest literary circles in Paris, and for some years lived literally by his wit, if not by his wits. At one time Madame Helvétius gave him free lodgings at Sèvres, and he was afterwards made independent by a pension bestowed on him by a now forgotten man of letters named Chabanon. At the Revolution he espoused the popular side, and was hailed in the clubs as 'La RochefoucauldChamfort. After a time, however, certain incisive witticisms-such as, 'Be my brother or I will kill you,'-drew down on him the anger of the Jacobin leaders. Threatened with arrest, he tried to commit suicide, wounded himself horribly, and died after several days' suffering, 13th April 1794. His writings include tales, dramas, and éloges on Molière and La Fontaine-all of little or no worth-a brilliant collection of maxims, and an even more admirable collection of anecdotes. Many of his sayings are among the sharpest and bitterest ever pennedthe utterances of a reluctant but sincere cynic, whose insight into human weakness was unusually keen. He has never been excelled as a writer of

anecdotes; his work under this head contains a series of portraits in miniature, drawn with the hand of a master, of the Parisian society of his day. Augnis edited his works (5 vols. 1824-25).

Chamier, FREDERIC, an English novelist, born in 1796, entered the navy in 1809, and retiring in 1833, was promoted to be captain in 1856. He had settled near Waltham Abbey, and turned his attention to literary pursuits. Marryat's success in depicting sea-life fed Chamier to try the same field, in which he was not without success, though in invention and humour he falls short of his model. His best romances, now almost forgotten, are Life of a Sailor (1832), Ben Brace (1836), The Arethusa (1837), Jack Adams (1838), and Tom Bowline (1841). He also wrote a continuation of James's Naval History (1837), and a somewhat prejudiced Review of the French Revolution of 1848 (1849). He died 1st November 1870.

Chamisso, ADELBERT VON, one of the most celebrated of German lyric poets, was born in 1781, at the château of Boncourt, in Champagne. The French Revolution driving his parents to settle in Prussia in 1790, he became in 1796 a page of the queen, and two years later entered the Prussian service. But when the campaign of 1806 broke out he returned to France, for though no admirer of Napoleon, he would not fight against his native land. At this time he was thrown into the circle of Madame de Staël at Coppet, and there began that study of natural science which he afterwards pursued at Berlin. In 1815-18 he accompanied a Russian exploring expedition round the world as naturalist (see CORAL); and on his return was appointed custodian of the Botanical Garden of Berlin. In 1835 he was elected to the Academy of Science; and, after a happy domestic life, he died at Berlin, 21st August 1838, universally loved and honoured. He wrote several works on natural

history, but his fame rests partly on his poetical productions, still more on his quaint and humorous fiction called Peter Schlemihl (1813), the story of the man who lost his shadow, which has been translated into almost all the languages of Europe. The character of his poetry is wild and gloomy, and he is fond of rugged and horrible subjects. In his political songs he succeeds well in humour and irony; nor is he deficient in deep and genuine feeling. Indeed, several of his ballads and romances are His collected works masterpieces in their way. have been edited by Hitzig (6th ed. 4 vols. 1874). See his Life by Fulda (Leip. 1881).

Chamois (Antilope or Rupicapra, Ger. Gemse), a goat-like species or genus of Antelope (q.v.). It inhabits the Alps and other high mountains of Central and Southern Europe, such as the Pyrenees,

the Carpathians, and the mountains of Greece; it is also found on some of the Mediterranean islands, and on the Caucasus, Taurus, and other mountains of the west of Asia. In Europe it is now most numerous on the Bavarian and Styrian Alps. The chamois is about the size of a large goat, but the neck is longer in proportion, and the body shorter; the horns on both sexes are seldom more than six or seven inches long, black, rising nearly straight up from the forehead, and so bent back at the tip as to form a hook. A peculiar gland opens at the base of each horn. The summer colour is reddish brown, with a darker dorsal band, and a yellowish ventral surface; the winter colour is a darker brown, but white below. A dark brown band runs from the eye along each cheek. The rest of the head is pale yellow. The short tail is black.

snow.

The usual summer-resort of the chamois is in the higher regions of the mountains, not far from the snow-line, and it is often to be seen lying on the In winter it descends to the higher forests. The aromatic and bitter plants of the mountainpastures are its favourite food. Young twigs of rhododendron, willow, juniper, &c. are greedily devoured. It is like the ruminants generallyvery fond of salt, and often licks stones for the saltpetre which forms on them. The chamois is gregarious flocks of one hundred used sometimes to be seen; but in the Swiss Alps, where the numbers have been much reduced by hunting, the flocks generally consist only of a few (4 to 20) individuals. Old males often live solitarily. The female bears one or rarely two young at a birth, in the month of March or April. The general cry of the chamois is a goat-like bleat.

It is an animal of extraordinary agility, and flocks may often be observed sporting in a remarkable manner among the rocky heights. It can leap over ravines 16 to 18 feet broad; a wall 14 feet high presents no hindrance to it; and it passes readily

up or down precipices which almost no other quadruped could attempt. The hunting of the chamois is attended with great hardship and much danger. The hunter sometimes goes out on the adventurous chase alone; but more frequently several go out together, dividing into parties, of which one drives and the other shoots. The scent, sight, and hearing of the chamois are extremely keen. When a flock is feeding, one is always on the watch, and by a sort of whistle, announces apprehended danger. The flesh is highly esteemed. The skin is made into leather, and from it the original shammoy or shammy leather (wash-leather), so much prized for softness and warmth, was obtained, although the name has now become common also to leather prepared from the skins of other animals (see LEATHER and BUFF LEATHER). The horns are often used to adorn alpenstocks. Hairy balls or Concretions (q.v.) found in the stomach used to have a medicinal reputation. When taken young the chamois is easily tamed, and its general disposition is gentle and peaceable. See Keller, Die Gemse (Klagenfurt, 1885).

Chamomile. See CAMOMILE.

Chamouni, or CHAMONIX (Lat. Campus munitus, from the shelter of the mountains), a celebrated valley and village among the French Alps, in the department of Upper Savoy, lying 53 miles ESE. of Geneva, at an elevation of about 3400 feet above the level of the sea. The valley, bounded on the E. by the Col de Balme, is about 13 miles long and 2 broad, and is traversed by the Arve. On the north side lies Mont Brévent and the chain of the Aiguilles Rouges, and on the south, the giant group of Mont Blanc, from which enormous glaciers glide down, even in summer, almost to the bottom of the valley. The chief of these are the Glacier des Bossons, des Bois, de l'Argentière, and du Tour; the Glacier des Bois expands in its upper course into a great mountain-lake of ice called the Mer de Glace. The village of Chamouni owes its origin and its alternative name, Le Prieuré, to the Benedictine convent founded here before 1099. Until 1741, however, the valley was little sought; the region was known, from the savageness of its inhabitants, by the name of Les Montagnes Maudites, or accursed mountains.' In that year it was visited by two Englishmen, Pococke and Wyndham, who described it in the Transactions of the Royal Society, but it was only in 1787 that the attention of travellers was effectually called to it by the Genevese naturalist, De Saussure, and others. Since then the number of visitors has gradually increased; now over 15,000 tourists are accommodated annually in the large hotels that have sprung up in the village, where an English chapel was opened in 1860. Grazing and such farming as the elevation allows are carried on, but most of the people are in some fashion dependent on the strangers for their income. Here the best guides are to be found for the neighbouring Alps, and from this point Mont Blanc is usually ascended. the article ALPS there is a view of Chamouni, whose beauties have been celebrated by Byron, Coleridge, Shelley, Wordsworth, Lamartine, and Ruskin (Notes and Queries, July 23, 1887, p. 67). Pop. of village (1886) 576; of commune, 2450.

At

Champac, or CHUMPAKA (Michelia Champaca), an Indian tree (order Magnoliaceae) possessing great beauty both of foliage and flowers, and venerated both by Brahmanists and Buddhists. Images of Buddha are made of its wood. Its yellow flowers and their sweet oppressive perfume are much celebrated in the poetry of the Hindus. The timber of this and other species is useful and fragrant, and the bark and root are employed in native medicine.

CHAMPAGNE WINE

Champagne, a district and ancient province of France, surrounded by Luxemburg, Lorraine, Burgundy, Ile de France, and Orléanais; now forming the departments of Marne, Haute-Marne, Aube, and Ardennes, and parts of Yonne, Aisne, Seine-et-Marne, and Meuse. It was popularly divided into Upper and Lower Champagne and Brie Champenoise, and was fertile in its western, barren in its eastern part. Its chief towns were Troyes, Bar-sur-Aube, Leon, and Rheims. province was about 180 miles long by 150 broad, its surface presenting extensive plains with ranges of hills, especially in the north and east.

The

In ancient times Champagne was known as a part of Gallia Lugdunensis, was subjugated by Cæsar, and afterwards was annexed to the kingdom established by the Franks. After the 11th century it had its own dukes, who were vassals of the French kings. By the marriage of Philip IV. with Joanna, heiress to the kingdom of Navarre, Champagne, and Brie, Champagne in 1284 came to the French crown, and was incorporated in 1328.

Champagne Wine is the produce of vineyards in the above-mentioned province of Champagne. There are white and red champagnes; the white is either sparkling or still. Sparkling or effervescent (mousseux) champagne is the result of a peculiar treatment during fermentation. In December the wine is racked off, and fined with isinglass, and in March it is bottled and tightly corked. To clear the wine of sediment, the bottles are placed in a sloping position with the necks downward, so that the sediment may be deposited in the necks of the bottles. When this sediment has been poured off, some portion of a liqueur (a solution of sugar-candy in cognac with flavouring essences) is added to the wine, and every securely re-corked. The fermentation being incombottle is filled up with bright clarified wine, and plete when the wine is bottled, the carbonic acid gas generated in a confined space exerts pressure on itself, and it thus remains as a liquid in the wine. into gas, and thus communicates the sparkling When this pressure is removed it expands property to champagne. The effervescence of the wine thus prepared bursts many bottles, in some sudden heat, as many as 20 and 25 per cent. have cases 10 per cent.; and in seasons of early and been burst. Still or non-effervescent champagne is first racked off in the March after the vintage. Creaming or slightly effervescent champagne (demimousseux) has more alcohol, but less carbonic acid than sparkling champagne.

gas

The best varieties of this wine are produced at Rheims and Epernay, and generally on a chalky soil. Among white champagnes of the first class, the best are those of Sillery, which are of a fine amber hue, dry, spirituous, and possessing a superior bouquet; those of Ay and Mareuil are less spirituous, but are sparkling, with a pleasant bouquet, Other white wines of first class are those of Hautvilliers, Dizy, and Pierry.

The cellars in which the vintages are stored are cut out of the calcareous rock. The fact that the

sale of champagne is very extensive and lucrative, has naturally given rise to adulterations. Spurious champagne is readily manufactured by simply charging other light wines with carbonic acid gas. The popular notions about gooseberry champagne have but small foundation, if any. Gooseberryjuice is far more costly than grape-juice, wherever the grape flourishes, and in this country there are no such great gooseberry plantations as would be required for a flourishing champagne industry, which would demand a few hundred tons of fruit per annum. Recently, the German purveyors have succeeded in preparing light wines-such as Rhenish, Main, Neckar, Meissner, and Naumburg