for liberty and independence, would forbid it! If attempted by those at home, away from the danger and carnage of battle, the consequence would be fearful. A civil war in fact would be inaugurated, and the red stream of eternal strife, swelling like the molten lava from some volcanic crater through every avenue of these States, would flow, annihilating, deluging with its burning avalanche, every landmark of civilization." He stated that a convention of the Governors of North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, and Alabama was held at Augusta, Ga., on February 17th, at which several resolutions relating to public affairs were adopted. One urging the use of negroes in the army he recommended to the Legislature to repudiate, as a measure both unconstitutional and destructive to the interests of the States. Other events besides the divided sentiment of the Legislature, and the arguments of the Governor, indicated not only a universal desire of the people for peace, but a disposition among a portion of them to return to the Union. Some public meetings were held in the northern part of the State early in the year, for this object, and addressed by distinguished citizens. But as the views of the authorities were opposed to such action, nothing could be accomplished. Freedmen's camps were established on deserted plantations in the northern part of the State, and five thousand old men, women, and children collected in them. The able-bodied men were in the Federal army. About two thousand acres of land were thus put under cultivation. AMERICA. The American continent continued throughout the year 1864 to be the scene of grand and stirring events. In the United States, the civil war was prosecuted with unabated vigor. At the Presidential election, on the 8th of November, President Lincoln was reelected for another term of four years, receiving the electoral votes of twenty-two out of the twenty-five States in which a full vote was taken. The States of Louisiana and Maryland adopted new State Constitutions, by which slavery is abolished, and Missouri elected, on the 8th of November, a convention pledged to pass an ordinance of immediate emancipation early in January, 1865. A motion in Congress so to amend the Constitution of the United States as to prohibit slavery, received the required two-thirds' majority in the Senate, but failed the House. In Mexico, the war between the Republican Government and the French and their allies likewise continued throughout the year. With many delays the Archduke Maximilian finally accepted the proffered crown, abandoned his reversionary interests in the Empire of Austria, and sailed for Mexico in the month of April. President Juarez retired before the overwhelming numbers of his adversaries, who advanced in the northeast to the Rio Grande. Juarez found a refuge in the mountains of Chihuahua, while Gens. Porfirio Diaz and Arteaga, at the close of the year, were still in command of considerable armies in the Pacific States of Central Mexico. Maximilian was recognized by most of the European States, but the House of Representatives of the United States Congress by a unanimous vote reasserted the Monroe doctrine. Maximilian appeared to be very anxious to conciliate the Liberal party, and toward the close of the year announced his intention to ratify the past sales of church property. (See MEXICO.) A highly important project of federation was started in British America. A sectional conflict between Upper and Lower Canada was terminated by a coalition of parties under a ministry which undertook to form a great colonial federation. A scheme for the New Constitution was framed by a convention of delegates from all the provinces, and it was commonly expected that it would be acceptable to the people of the several provinces, and be ratified by the Home Government. The confederation is to embrace at first the two Canadas, New Brunswick, New Foundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward's Island, and gradually to take in the rest of the British dominions of North America. (See CANADA.) In South America, upon the invitation of Peru, a congress of plenipotentiaries of the South American Republics assembled at Lima on the 14th of November. The congress, on opening, was composed of the plenipotentiaries of Chili, Peru, Bolivia, the Argentine Republic, Ecuador, the United States of Colombia, and Venezuela. Later a plenipotentiary for Guatemala was added. The object of this congress is to effect a close alliance between all the republics of Spanish America; especially for the purpose of resisting the encroachments of European powers upon this continent. (See PERU.) A new act of lawless aggression was committed by Spain, in seizing the Peruvian Chincha Islands. The alleged cause was the failure of the Peruvian Government to give full satisfaction for a wrong done to a citizen of Spain upon Peruvian territory. The aggressive act of Spain produced throughout South America the greatest excitement. The Governments and people of most of the republics declared their determination to aid Peru in case of a war. When the South American congress met its first resolution was to make the cause of Peru the common cause of all the republics. Before, however, declaring war against Spain, it was resolved first to try again the effect of negotiations. (See PERU.) The people of San Domingo heroically continued their war against Spain, to which power the republic had been treacherously sold in 1861 by the late President Santana. The Spaniards made hardly any progress in the subjugation of the Island, and the murderous climate decimated the ranks of the Spanish army to a fearful extent. At the same time the drain of the war upon the Spanish finances was so heavy that at the close of the year the cabinet of Marshal Narvaez insisted upon abandoning San Domingo. (See SPAIN and SAN DOMINGO.) The war which existed at the beginning of the year between the United States of Colombia and Ecuador was soon after terminated by a compromise. A revolution in Ecuador against the Conservative Government of Gen. Moreno was promptly suppressed and the leaders executed. In Venezuela the civil war was brought to a close. The civil war in the republic of Uruguay continued throughout the whole year. Toward the close of the year the Government of Brazil, on the ground that the Government of Uruguay refused to give satisfaction for some grievances, threatened the latter republic with a declaration of war and even with annexation to Brazil. These reported intentions of Brazil produced a great excitement in the upper provinces of the Argentine Republic and in Paraguay, both of which feel deeply interested in withholding from Brazil the control of the mouth of the river La Plata. Both seemed to be determined to aid Uruguay. (See BRAZIL and URUGUAY.) Chili, the Argentine Republic, Bolivia, and the republics of Central America, enjoyed an undisturbed peace, and made considerable progress in material prosperity. The cultivation of cotton, in particular, is increasing in all the republics of Central and South America, and largely adding to their exports and their wealth. In all parts of the American continent the question of Inter-Oceanic Railroads, connecting the Pacific with the Atlantic, is exciting a great interest. The most important of these roads, the Union Pacific Railway, in the United States, is rapidly approaching completion. In British America, the plan of an interoceanic railway, connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific provinces of the British dominions, has gained new importance in view of the projected confederation of all the provinces. In Chili, a passage through the Andes was discovered, which will greatly facilitate a connection, by railway, of the two oceans. The Imperial Government of Mexico is again inviting the attention of capitalists to the importance of the transit of Tehuantepec. It was also found that the Amazon is navigable nearly as far as its source, thus affording another transit route between the two oceans. President Geffrard, of Hayti, in December, issued a proclamation to his people in which he tells them that though three insurrections had broken out within the past six months, they were all quelled and order completely restored. The condition of this republic, both politically and materially, is favorable. A treaty of amity, commerce, navigation, and extradition, was concluded between the United States and Hayti on the 3d of November. A similar treaty was concluded between Hayti and Liberia, which provides that slave trade shall be assimilated to piracy, and the vessels of the two States which may be engaged in the traffic shall be judged and punished according to the laws in force in their respective countries against piracy. AMPERE, JEAN JACQUES ANTOINE, a French author, born in Lyons, Aug. 12th, 1800; died March 27, 1864. He was the son of the celebrated mathematician André Marie Ampère, under whose direction his education was conducted, and who permitted, if he did not encourage him, to gratify an ardent taste for belles lettres and poetry, to which his own studies and inclinations were rather hostile. Of a natural independence of character, young Ampère early left the beaten tracks of literature, and associated himself with those new ideas about philosophy, literature, and history, which formed so remarkable a feature in the intellectual history of the early part of the 19th century. He evinced, in particular, a lively enthusiasm for the master-pieces of foreign literature, and before the age of 20 had acquired a considerable knowledge of the English, German, and Italian languages, beside acquainting himself with the best productions of French authors. Thrown from boyhood into the companionship of the scholars and men of letters who frequented his father's house, he gained the esteem of Balzac and Chateaubriand, by whom he was introduced to the polished circle which assembled at the saloon of Madame Recamier. To the influence which this association produced may be traced the refined judgment and artistic spirit which characterize the productions of his pen. He commenced his literary career as a writer in the Globe and the Revue Française, established by Guizot to oppose the reactionary ministry of Charles X., and in 1830 commenced a course of lectures on literary history at the Athenæum in Marseilles. The first of these discourses appeared in 1831, under the title of "Essay on the History of Poetry." After the July revolution of 1830 he returned to Paris, lectured for a year or two at the Sorbonne, and in 1833 succeeded Andrieux in the chair of History and French Literature at the College of France, which he filled with great reputation for many years. Among the fruits of his labors in this field are his "Literary History of France previous to the 12th Century" (3 vols., 1839-40), an introduction to the "History of French Literature in the Middle Ages" (1841), and "Formation of the French Language" (3 vols., 1841). He was also a frequent contributor to the Revue des DeuxMondes and the National. In 1842 he succeeded Gérando at the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1847 Guiraud at the French Academy. An irresistible love of travel led him at various times to visit many parts of the Old and of the New World, of which accounts appeared from time to time in the columns. of the Revue des Deux-Mondes. Archeologist, philosopher, and poet, as well as tourist, ho endeavored, whether in Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Nubia, or North America, to see things for himself, to accept no statements on trust, and, as far as possible, to bring the conclusions of science under the test of personal observation. Many of his papers on these subjects have been published under the title of "Literature and Travels," a book abounding in sprightly descriptions characterized alike by grace, wit, and erudition. It was while reading De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," during a trip up the Rhine, that Ampère conceived the desire and purpose to visit the United States, which he carried into effect in 1852-53. His Promenade en Amérique, recording his tour, says a recent critic, "is singularly unpretending. It resembles in tone and method the best conversation. The style is pure and animated, and the thoughts naturally suggested. He describes what he sees with candor and geniality, criticizes without the slightest acrimony, and commends with graceful zeal. And yet, simple and unambitious as is the narrative, it affords a most agreeable, authentic, and suggestive illustration of De Tocqueville's theories." His remaining works comprise "Greece, Rome, and Dante." "Literary Studies after Nature (1848), "Roman History at Rome" (1856), a a novel and remarkably liberal application of archæology to literature and politics, "Cæsar; Historic Scenes" (1859), etc., beside eulogies on Ballanche and Chateaubriand read before the Academy. His own eulogy was pronounced by Guizot, who bore testimony to his scholarly attainments, critical abilities, and a rare amenity of manners. ANESTHETICS, if the term be taken in its original and broadest sense, are those agents of whatever sort which, upon administration or application to the living body, suspend or greatly diminish for a time the common sensibility, i. e., the power of feeling. Since the development, however, of the modern and most successful methods to this end-and hence, mainly within the past twenty years-this term has acquired a new importance and in a manner a new signification, being now employed to designate specifically those agents which are in greater or less degree available for the relief or prevention of pain, as incident to surgical or dental operations, or as met with in general medical or in obstetrical practice. The condition of insensibility which such agents induce, and which, when perfect, precludes the feeling of pain, is termed anasthesia Illustrations of it are witnessed in the insensibility of fainting, of stupor from narcotics or other cause, and of one form of paralysis, and in the numbness caused by a blow or by severe cold. But since the common sensibility depends on the activity of a certain set of nerves and of nervous centres-hence called the "sensory," or those of sensation-we may say, more precisely, that anaesthesia is that state of a living body or of some part of it, in which the action of its sensory nervous apparatus is for the time suspended; and whatever can produce such condition, without destroying the nervous apparatus itself, is so far an anaesthetic. Under the title, ANESTHETICS, in the NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPÆDIA, will be found a concise history of the practice (to about the year 1858), together with an account of the mode of action of anaesthetic agents, and their effects, a summary of their applications in medicine, surgery, and obstetrics, &c. Among the earliest recorded instances of anaesthetic practice collected by MM. Perrin and Lallemand ("Treatise upon Surgical Anæsthesia," Paris, 1863), and in which the end aimed at was precisely that sought in the practice of the present day, are those of the resort, among the Assyrians, to the stupor caused by compressing the arteries (it would appear) of the neck, preparatory to performing circumcision in childhood; of the local application in certain minor surgical operations, among the early Greeks and Romans, of the powdered "Memphis stone "-probably a species of marble-mixed with vinegar, to parts to be benumbed, and which the authors conjecture to have acted by means of the carbonic acid set free by the mixture; and of the anæsthetic employment in China of the Indian hemp (Cannabis Indica)—the plant, closely allied to our common hemp, from which the celebrated "hashish," well known as possessing inebriating and stupefying properties, is still extracted; as also of both the hemp and the mandrake (Atropa mandragora) in India and some other oriental countries. The medical school of Bologna, in the 13th century, brought into vogue in surgery a set of stupefying preparations some of them believed to have been imitated from the ancients, and some, at least, of a highly complex character; of the latter class, one is known to have been a mixture of extracts with which a sponge was saturated; and when to be used, the sponge was wet in warm water, and the emanations were inhaled until stupor followed. But, in western and southern Europe, all the modes of producing anesthesia thus far considered-imperfect as they were-would appear by the beginning of the 18th century to have passed wholly out of use. The stupor of intoxication, and that produced by opium, were still resorted to, at times, in severe operations; and in minor ones, the practice of diverting the patient's attention by a blow or by some agitation of the feelings was much in vogue. The 18th century was strongly marked, however, by a tendency to seek for anaesthetic effects through agencies of a physical or biological character. The modern anæsthetic practice may be in a manner traced to the founding of Dr. Beddoes' "Medical Pneumatic Institution," in 1798, near Bristol, England, and which was designed for the treatment of pulmonary diseases by inhalation of ether, and of carbonic acid and other gases. It was here that Humphry Davy, then young, acquired his interest in the subjects of gases and their inhalation; and his discovery, soon after, of nitrous oxide (protoxide of nitrogen), or "laughing gas," and of its effects on the human system-first published in the year 1800-created for some time a sort of furore in regard to its inhalation, for amusement, and as a restorative and curative agent. Davy himself predicted the use of this gas for anaesthetic purposes, when he wrote: As nitrous oxide in its extreme operation [deeper stages of its effect] seems capable of destroying physical pain, it will probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place." Still, this remained a mere prediction until, many years after, the use of agents capable of anesthetic effects was taken up and successfully reduced to practice in this country, by three physicians of the cities of Hartford and Boston. For, although nitrous oxide was in the outset experimented with by European chemists and surgeons, it was by them pronounced unsafe and laid aside; and ether, to which attention was thereupon turned as a substitute, was not at the time brought into practice. As early as 1828, Dr. Hickman, of London, in particular, addressed the French Academy on the subject of anesthesia by inhalation, and especially of carbonic acid; but that body did not favorably entertain the subject, and it was dropped. Without here entering into a discussion of the vexed question of priority in the discovery of the modern anæsthetic methods, it will be proper, at least, to name what appear to be the facts in the case. Recent evidence goes to show that the first painless operations (and also quite numerous) in the development of the new method, were performed by Dr. Horace Wells, a dentist of Hartford, Conn., during the close of the year 1844 and the early part of 1845; and that the agent which he employed in these cases was nitrous oxide, the operations being the extraction of teeth. This conclusion has been confirmed by the report and action of at least two important medical bodies in this country within the past two years. While, however, it is by some asserted that Dr. Wells was led to try the nitrous oxide by his reading of the views of Davy and other early authorities on the subject, Dr. G. Q. Colton states that Dr. Wells' attention was called to the agent by an observation made by the latter of the painlessness, for the time, of a wound which a person inhaling the gas at one of Dr. Colton's exhibitions of it had inflicted upon himself. Dr. Wells laid aside the use of the nitrous oxide, after its failure on the occasion of an attempted public demonstration with it, in Boston. would further appear, that it was the application of Dr. Wells' process that Dr W. T. G. Morton, of Boston, was proposing to imitate, with a person for whom he was about to extract a tooth, when Dr. C. T. Jackson, a chemist, also of Boston, and who had previously had experience in his own person of the insensibility produced by ether, suggested to Dr. Morton the real and superior value of the latter agent. It This was in September, 1846. Dr. Morton's first private administration of ether occurred on the 30th of that month, and his first public demonstration of the method, in the Massachusetts General Hospital, on the 16th of October following; while the first capital operation upon an etherized patient was performed on the 7th of the succeeding November, by Prof. George Hayward, also of Boston: the result in all these cases was, as desired, a complete freedom, on the part of the subjects operated on, from pain. The news of the remarkable success obtained with ether having reached Europe, certain physicians and chemists there made trial of several other volatile liquids, in the hope of obtaining one still more suited to the end in view than ether. In the following year, 1847, Dr. Simpson, of Edinburgh, announced his discovery of the applicability of chloroform-a material which has since closely contested the ground with the prior agent, and has even in some degree supplanted it. The fact, soon rendered evident in practice, that neither ether nor chloroform was wholly free from danger or from other inconveniences of application, led to the trial of still other agents, with a view, if possible, to find some one that should be entirely safe and devoid of disagreeable effects-conditions which, however, no substance has yet been found fully to satisfy. The following list presents-not altogether in the order of time-the more important of the substances, possessing anæsthetic powers in some degree, which have been experimented with for the purposes now indicated: 1. Nitrous oxide. (Davy, 1800; Dr. Horace Wella, 1844; Dr. G. Q. Colton, 1863.) 2. Carbonic acid. (Dr. Hickman, 1828; Dr. Ozanam, about 1862; and others.) 3. Sulphuric ether. (Drs. Jackson and Morton, 1846.) 4. Chloroform. (Dr. Simpson, 1847.) 5. Hydrochloric ether. (M. Flourens, 1847; M. Sédillot.) 6. Acetic ether. (M. Figuier, 1848; M. Flourens.) 7. Nitrous ether. (M. Flourens.) 8. Nitric ether. (Dr. Simpson-tried on animals.) Olefiant gas. (M. Tourdes.) 9. Aldehyde. (M. Poggiale.) 10. 11. Chloride of hydrocarbon; or, Dutch liquid. (Dr. 12. Benzine. (Drs. Simpson and Snow.) and the agent was thereupon abandoned. Dr. Ozanam, in his recent revival of inhalation of carbonic acid to produce insensibility, administered it along with common air, 3 parts to 1. He found this mixture safe; and it produced complete anesthesia, from which the patient recovered without difficulty; but it does not appear that the use of this agent has yet become in any manner general. The condition of trance, somnambulism, or artificial sleep, as induced in connection with the agencies or methods of influence passing under the names of "Mesmerism," "animal magnetism," "Braidism" or "hypnotism," "psychometric impression," "spiritualism," &c., has been of late years often resorted to, and in some of these forms for a time much vaunted; but though in exceptional cases, or in the hands of particular persons, painless surgical operations have been doubtless secured under some or all of the influences named, yet their effect is far from uniform, or even certain; and at the present day, none of them are relied on as suitable to take the place of the material anaesthetics. Dr. Valentine Mott, in his monograph upon "Pain and Anesthetics," prepared at the request of the U. S. Sanitary Commission (Washington, 1863), in considering the philosophy of of anaesthetics, and their value to the surgeon, justly remarks, not only that pain is useless, but also that it is positively injurious to the pained; and he cites from difierent authorities the expression of a truth which is stated by Gooch, in the words, "Mere pain can destroy the powers of life." But when complete insensibility exists, both pain and nervous shock are, so far as the operation is concerned, avoided. "The most severe operation during anesthesia," says Dr. Mott, "produces little or no effect upon the pulse, because the nervous centres receive little or no impression." But again, except where the conscious cooperation of the patient with the surgeon is required, and in all cases in which the locality or peculiar nature of the operation may not forbid the administration of anaesthetics, the unconsciousness, helplessness, and complete relaxation which those agents can produce, is often a matter of the highest convenience and advantage. The use of anesthetics thus allows the surgeon to undertake cases in which, without them, he could not safely think of operating; and it also allows him to take more time. Considerations such as these show that their employment practically extends the domain of surgery; and moreover that, prima facie, it should lessen the danger and the mortality of operations. Dr. Detmold, in 1847, M. Ozanam later, and some other medical authorities, have argued that in the inhalation of ether, chloroform, or other anaesthetics, the insensibility obtained is due to action of carbonic acid resulting from the decomposition of such substance within the system. M. Ozanam went so far as to say that carbon is in all cases the true anæsthetic; and that so-called anaesthetic agents possess their power just in the proportion that they are more largely composed of carbon. But if this were true, amylene should be a more potent anaesthetic than ether, and ether itself than chloroform; whereas the reverse is true in both cases. Again, the experiments and observations of Flourens and Longet go to show that the specific anaesthetic agents, not less than morphine, strychnine, alcohol, &c., produce their effects by a direct and positive depressing action upon the nervous centres. Thus, they are all (save, perhaps, nitrous oxide-and even on this point there is room for question) positive poisons; and in undue quantity they produce death in that mode (naturally, and usually in fact) in which we say it begins in the nervous system. Nitrous oxide, by freely yielding oxygen, is, like common air, only in still higher degree, a supporter of combustion. Of course, in the outset of its inhalation, it is in proportionate degree a supporter and quickener of the functions of life. By hurrying on decomposition in the system, it rapidly generates carbonic acid, and loads the blood with this product. Ether is not a supporter of combustion, but is combustible; and its decomposition may to some extent increase the proportion of carbonic acid naturally contained in the blood. But chloroform is neither a supporter of combustion nor combustible; and it is doubtful whether it undergoes decomposition in the system at all. All anaesthetics, however, after a preliminary stage of excitement, longer or shorter, then forthwith begin, by inducing a torpor or inactivity in the nervous centres, to depress and to lower the respiration, if not also the heart's action; and as a consequence, they occasion the retaining for the time in the blood of much of the carbonic acid, naturally forming in the system, which would under a normal respiration be continually expelled. Still further, wherever gaseous anesthetics are administered by means of a containing reservoir or bag, so that the patient breathes the same material over and over, even the carbonic acid which is expelled, for the time, mingles with the anaesthe tic, increasing in quantity, and being reinhaled. These facts would show, that with chloroform, there is a single source of increase of carbonic acid in the blood-this being, however, not the cause, but the consequence, of the anæsthetic action; that with ether, there are two such sources; while with nitrous oxide, there are three sources of increase of carbonic acid. And unquestionably the retained carbonic acid will contribute its share to the depth of the stupor that results; if, indeed, in the case of nitrous oxide alone, it may not be in a large degree the really effective agent. At all events, it is probable that the action of carbonic acid, generated or retained in the blood during anæsthetic inhalation, may in some cases modify. materially the symptoms attending or following upon their use. The stages of anesthesia are strictly comparable to those of intoxication (carried to |