can, in the Wolga, Yaik, Don, and even as far as Siberia. It is the basis of the Russian glue, which is preferred to all other kinds for strength. Isinglass receives its different shapes in the following manner. The parts of which it is composed, particularly the sounds, are taken from the fish while sweet and fresh, slit open, washed from their slimy sordes, divested of a very thin membrane which envelopes the sound, and then exposed to stiffen a little in the air. In this state, they are formed into rolls about the thickness of a finger, and in length according to the intended size of the staple; a thin membrane is generally selected for the centre of the roll, round which the rest are folded alternately, and about half an inch of each extremity of the roll is turned inwards. Isinglass is best made in the summer, as frost gives it a disagreeable color, deprives it of its weight, and impairs its gelatinous principles. Isinglass boiled in milk forms a mild, nutritious jelly, and is thus sometimes employed medicinally. This, when flavored by the art of the cook, is the blancmanger of our tables. A solution of isinglass in water, with a very small proportion of some balsam, spread on black silk, is the court plaster of the shops. Isinglass is also used in fining liquors of the fermented kind, and in making mock-pearls, stiffening linens, silks, gauzes, &c. With brandy it forms a cement for broken porcelain and glass. It is also used to stick together the parts of musical instruments.

ISIS; the principal goddess of the Egyptians, the symbol of nature, the mother and nurse of all things. According to Diodorus, Osiris, Isis, Typhon, Apollo and Aphrodite (Venus) were the children of Jupiter and Juno. Osiris, the Dionysos (Bacchus) of the Greeks, married Isis (sun and moon), and they both made the improvement of society their especial care. Men were no longer butchered, after Isis had discovered the valuable qualities of wheat and barley, which had till then grown wild, unknown to mankind, and Osiris taught how to prepare them. In gratitude for these benefits, the inhabitants always presented the first ears gathered as an offering to Isis. Whatever the Greek related of his Demeter (Ceres) the Egyptian attributed to Isis. As agriculture was improved, civilization advanced, and a taste for art and letters was develop ed. At least, we first hear among the Egyptians, of the building of cities and temples, and the constitution of the priesthood, after the time of Isis, who was also rever

ed as the inventress of sails. According to Plutarch's learned treatise (on Isis and Osiris), Osiris and Isis were the illegitimate offspring of Saturn and Rhea. When Helios (Sol), the husband of Rhea, discovered the intrigue, he pronounced judgment upon her, that she should not be delivered in any month nor in any year. Mercury, who was then in love with Rhea, and was loved by her, having heard the curse, discovered a way in which she might be delivered, notwithstanding. In playing at draughts with the moon, he won from her the seventieth part of her light, of which he made five days, and, having added them to the 360, of which the year had previously consisted, gave the goddess time for delivery. These were the intercalary days of the Egyp tians, which were celebrated by them as the birthdays of their deities. Osiris was born the first, and at his birth a voice cried, "The lord of the world is born." On the second day, Rhea was delivered of Aroueris, or the elder Horus (Apollo), on the third of Typhon, on the fourth of Isis, and on the fifth of Nephthys, who was called Teleute, the Consummation, though others give her the name of Aphrodite and Nike (Victory). Of these five children, there were three fathers-Helios, Saturn and Mercury. Typhon married Nephthys; Osiris and Isis loved each other even in their mother's womb. Osiris, the good spirit, was persecuted by Typhon, the bad spirit, who, by stratagem, shut him up in a chest, and threw him into the sea. When Isis learned this, she cut off one of her locks, put on mourning garments, and wandered about disconsolate, in search of the chest. Meanwhile she learned that Osiris, on a certain occasion, deceived by Nephthys, who was enamored of him, had mistaken Nephthys for herself, and that the child which was the fruit of this union had been exposed by its mother. Isis therefore sought the child, and bred him up under the name of Anubis. The chest in which Osiris was shut up, was, meanwhile, driven ashore at Byblos, and thrown on a bush, which, having suddenly grown into a beautiful tree, had entirely enclosed it. This tree was afterwards cut down by the king of the country as a curiosity, and used as a pillar in his palace. The chest was finally obtained by an artifice of Isis, but the body, being afterwards discovered by Typhon, was torn by him into 14 pieces. On discovering this, Isis proceeded to collect the fragments; she found them all but one, an image of which she therefore formed; and thus the Phallus

came to be held sacred, and a festival was instituted in its honor by the Egyptians. Osiris having returned to life, Isis bore him, prematurely, Harpocrates, the god of silence, who was lame in his lower limbs. Horus, the son of Isis, afterwards vanquished Typhon in a war, and gave him to his mother for safe-keeping. She set him at liberty, on which account Horus tore the crown from her head, instead of which Mercury gave her an ox's head. As the goddess of fecundity, and the universal benefactress, she superintended the cure of human maladies, and, even in Galen's time, several medicines bore her name. After her death, she was reverenced as the chief of the divinities. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians represented Isis under the form of a woman, with the horns of a cow, as the cow was sacred to her. Another tradition also related, that Isis, in the shape of a young cow, became the mother of Apis, by a ray from heaven (Osiris); that is, the sun and moon sustain the earth. She is also known by the attributes of the lotus on her head, and the sistrum in her hand, a musical instrument, which the Egyptians used in the worship of the gods. The dress of Isis consists of a close under garment, and a mantle drawn together and fastened in a knot on her breast. Her head is covered with the Egyptian hood. Sometimes, like the Diana of Ephesus, the universal mother, she is represented with a great number of breasts. Among the Romans, Isis afterwards received, in countenance, figure and dress, somewhat of the character of Juno. A foreign character is to be recognised only in the mantle and fringed veil, and other attributes. She was particularly worshipped in Memphis, but, at a later period, throughout all Egypt. A festival of eight days (the festival of Isis) was annually solemnized in her honor, consisting of a general purification. (See Mysteries.) It was introduced into Rome, but frequently prohibited on account of the abuses which it occasioned. Under Augustus, the temples of Isis were the theatres of the grossest licentiousness, From Egypt, the worship of this goddess passed over to Greece and Rome. (See lo, also Egyptian Mythology in the article Hieroglyphics.)

ISLAM, or, as it is pronounced in Syria, Eslam, signifies an entire submission or devotion to the will of another, and especially of God, and thence the attaining of security, peace and salvation. This act is performed, and these blessings are obtained, according to the doctrine of the 8

VOL. VII.

Koran, by acknowledging the unity of God, and the apostleship of Mohammed. Every man who makes this profession (aslama) is a Moslem, i. e. has entirely given himself up to the will of God, and is, on that account, in a state of salvation (salam). But as Muslimani, the dual of Muslim, is commonly substituted for the singular by the Persians and Turks, the word Musulmán, or Musselman, has in those, as well as in the European languages, now nearly superseded the shorter and more correct term.-As Islam comprehends the practical as well as the doctrinal tenets of the Mohammedan religion— every thing which Moslems must believe and practise-it embraces the whole of their civil and religious polity; for the system of Mohammed relates more to this world than the next, and was designed, like the law of Moses, for the secular as well as the spiritual direction of his followers. But, taken in its more common and direct sense, it signifies the profession of the five fundamental doctrines, on which, according to a traditional declaration of the prophet (Reland, Rel. Moh. I. 1. p. 5.) the whole edifice of the faith is built. Those five points are-1. the acknowledgment of the Divine Unity and of the prophetic mission of Mohanimed; 2. observance of prayer; 3. giving of alms; 4. keeping the fast of Ramadan; and 5. the performance, if possible, of the pilgrimage to Mecca. They are often, also, subdivided and enlarged, in order to arrange them more conveniently into the two classes of belief (iman) and practice (din). The former relates to-1. God; 2. the angels; 3. the Sacred Book; 4. the prophets; 5. the last day; and, 6. the divine decrees: the latter, to-1. purification; 2. prayer; 3. alms; 4. fasting; and 5. the pilgrimage. To the first article of this creed, the Persians and other adherents of Ali add, “Ali is the vicar of God ;" and that is the only essential point in which they differ from the Sunnites, or orthodox Musselmans, who acknowledge the authority of the four first khalifs. The disputes concerning the succession to the khalifate, or supremacy of the prophet, spiritual and civil, which arose immediately after his death, split his followers, as is well known, into two distinct sects, the Sunnites and the Shiites, who have never since ceased to hate each other with a cordial animosity; but they differ more in the degree of veneration paid to Ali, than in any other point; and, professing the same creed, with the exception of one article, they derive their doctrines from the same sources. In their

ISLAND; a portion of land less than a continent, and which is entirely surrounded by water. Islands are of very different extent, surface, &c. There are some so large, that authors have doubted whether they should not be called continents, as New Holland; this, however, is a mere matter of definition. Borneo, Java, Madagascar, Sumatra, Sicily, Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Hayti, Cuba, Newfoundland, are among the most considerable islands, and are capable of containing powerful states; while others, speaking only of those which are inhabited, are only of a few miles in diameter. They differ not less in form than in extent; some being indented with deep bays, and affording fine harbors, and others presenting an almost unbroken line of coast. A cluster of several islands is called an archipelago. (q. v.) The principal clusters in the Atlantic are the West Indies, the Azores, the Canaries, the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands, &c. But the great world of islands is in the Pacific, and modern writers have considered them as forming a fifth division of the world, including the Eastern Archipelago, Polynesia and Australia, to which they, have given the name of Oceanica. (See Oceanica.) A large island is a continent in miniature, with its chains of mountains, its rivers, lakes, and is often surrounded by a train of islets. The rivers of islands are in general little more than streams or torrents, and the smaller islands are often uninhabitable from want of water; but they serve as haunts and breeding-places of innumerable sea-birds. There are islands in rivers and lakes, as well as in the sea. In rivers, they are often formed by the division of the stream into various branches, and often by accumulations of earth brought down and deposited around a rocky base. Examples are not wanting of floating islands, which are formed by the roots of plants and trees interlacing with each other, and thus constituting a support for deposits of successive layers of earth. Chains of islands in the neighborhood of continents seem to be often formed by the action of the waters washing away the less solid parts, which once occupied the spaces between

pear above the surface of the waves. Single islands in the ocean, such as St. Helena, Ascension, &c., and some clusters, as the Canaries, the Azores, &c., appear to owe their origin to the action of submarine fire, which has raised them above the level of the sea. Considerable islands have been known to be suddenly raised from the bed of waters, and soon after to have as suddenly disappeared in the ocean. The Pacific contains a great number of low islands formed of coral reefs, which are sometimes covered with sand, on which a few plants find nourishment. These reefs are formed by the labors of innumerable zoophytes. Submarine islands, as they have been sometimes called, or immense banks of sand, above which there is no great depth of water, are not unfrequent. It has been remarked that islanders have generally some peculiar traits of character, which distinguish them from the inhabitants of continents: it is true that they have often been distinguished by their commercial activity, and their naval skill; but this trait is common to other inhabitants of countries bordering on the sea. The great commercial powers of ancient times were the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians and continental Greeks; of the middle ages, the Italian republics; and the Normans were the most distinguished naval warriors of their time.-A portion of country nearly included between several rivers, is sometimes called an island, as the ancient province of the Isle de France. The Greeks called such a district by the expressive name of Mesopotamia. The Greek word for island is vos, the Latin insula, Italian isola, Spanish isla, French ile, ilot, German insel and eiland, Danish oe, and ey, Swedish œ, Russian ostrov.

ISLAND OF ICELAND SPAR. (See Lime.) ISLANDS OF THE BLESSED, or FORTUNATE ISLANDS (Insula Beatorum, Fortunatæ Insulæ, Nŋoot Makaowv); the Elysium of Homer; according to the Grecian mythology, the happy islands which were supposed to lie westward in the ocean, where the favorites of Jupiter, snatched from death, lived in the midst of happiness. According to Hesiod, they were the residence of the fourth race of heroes. In the earliest mythology, the Islands of the Blessed, the Elysian Fields, and the lower world, were in general confounded with each other.

ISLAY, ILAY, OF ILA; one of the Hebrides, or Western Islands of Scotland, to the southwest of Jura, and belonging to the

county of Argyle. It is of an irregular form, about 31 miles in length, and 24 broad. It contains about 154,000 acres, of which one seventh may be stated to be in cultivation. The linen manufacture is carried on to a considerable extent. About 200 tons of kelp are manufactured annually. Population, in 1801, 6821; in 1811, 11,500; in 1821, 16,993. Its inhabitants are rapidly increasing. ISLE OF FRANCE. (See France, Isle

of.)

ÍSLINGTON, a village of England, in the county of Middlesex, and neighborhood of London, is chiefly composed of the dwellings of retired citizens, and other persons connected with the capital. The neighborhood abounds with pleasant walks, the fields being unenclosed, and intersected by the meanders of the New river, while the adjacent tea-gardens and taverns, all in fine open situations, and furnished with bowling-greens, are much visited from the metropolis. Population of the parish, 22,417.

ISMAIL, OF ISMAILOW; a town in Russia, in Bessarabia, on the north side of the Danube, about 33 miles from the Black sea; 144 S. W. Otchakov, 268 N. Constantinople; lon. 28° 50′ E.; lat. 45° 21′ N. Population, 10,000. The town of Ismail contains 17 mosques, and measures about a mile towards the land, and half a mile by the side of the Danube, and was fortified by eight bastions. The ramparts are, in general, 18 feet in height, in some parts 25. This place was taken by storm (December 22, 1790), by the Russians, under general Suwarrow. The Russians were several times repulsed, and lost, in the siege, 10,000 men. According to the account, as published at Petersburg, the Turkish garrison were put to death after the surrender, and 30,000 men massacred in cold blood. The booty found was immense-230 pieces of cannon, many magazines, powder, bombs and balls, 345 standards, an abundance of provisions, 10,000 horses, &c., to the value, as calculated, of 10,000,000 piastres.

ISNARD, Maximin, was born at Draguignan, in Provence, and his father, a rich tradesman, gave him an excellent education. He was elected to the legislative assembly by the department of the Var (1791), and, as soon as he took his seat, he attacked the priests and emigrants with the utmost severity. He also supported the impeachment of the king's brothers, voted against the minister Delessart, accused the court of counter-revolutionary projects, and, in a variety of other

instances, displayed his hostility to the government. He was returned as a deputy to the convention, and he voted for the death of the king. In that assembly, Isnard belonged to the Brissotine or Girondist (q. v.) party, and, in the struggle which took place with the Jacobins, he manifested an undaunted courage, and an impetuous and powerful eloquence. May 16, 1793, he was chosen president of the convention. He was not comprised in the proscription of his party on the 2d of June; but the revolutionary tribunal issued an order for arresting him, and, as he escaped, they outlawed him. Isnard, however, was concealed by a friend till after the fall of Robespierre. He then quitted his asylum, and resumed his seat in the convention. Shortly after this, he was sent on a mission into the south of France; and he took a decisive part against the terrorists, who had committed such atrocious enormities in that quarter. He is even accused of having incited the oppressed to carry their vengeance beyond all reasonable bounds. Some young men having complained to him that they had no arins with which to oppose the terrorists, he exclaimed "You have no arms! Open the ground, draw forth the bones of your fathers, and rush on their assassins!" Isnard was elected a member of the council of five hundred, but quitted it in 1797, and was afterwards employed in the tribunals of the Var. He is the author of some political pamphlets, of an account of his own proscription, of a work On the Immortality of the Soul, and of a Dithyrambic on the Immortality of the Soul. Not having accepted any office during the hundred days, he was allowed to remain in France.

ISOCRATES; one of the most distinguished Greek orators, born at Athens, 436 B. C. His principal teachers were Gorgias, Prodicus and Protagoras. On account of his weak voice and natural timidity, he was reluctant to speak in public; but he applied himself with the greatest ardor to instruction in the art of eloquence, and preparing orations for others. He derived a considerable profit from this occupation, as is evident from the fact, that he received a present of 20 talents (about 18,000 dollars) for a speech that he wrote for Nicocles, king of Cyprus. In his childhood, he was the companion of Plato, and they remained friends during their whole lives. He had a great veneration for Socrates. After the death of Socrates, which filled his scholars with fear and horror, he alone had the courage

to appear in mourning. He gave another proof of his courage, by publicly defending Theramenes, who had been proscribed by the thirty tyrants. This courage, however, seems to have deserted him; for he never after ventured to appear publicly and take part in the popular assemblies. This was the reason why he never attained to the offices, to which, in Athens, public eloquence afforded the only passport; but eloquence, nevertheless, owed much to his services. He was particularly distinguished for a polished style and a harmonious construction of his sentences. The composition, revision, and repeated polishing of his speeches, occupied so much time, that he published little. His celebrated panegyric on Athens (Panathenaicus) employed him 10 years. The critics of his time objected to him, that his style was often prolix and overloaded with ornament; that he aimed rather at pleasing the ear than moving the heart; that he made the sense subservient to the sound, and often used unmeaning expressions and unappropriate figures to round off his periods. As all his speeches were modelled after the same pattern, their sameness excited weariness. His subjects were the most important points of morals and politics. His admonitions to princes were so gentle, that they could not be offended by them, and even bestowed favors on the author. He knew how to flatter them in the most delicate manner. A proof of this is afforded by the letter which he wrote, when 90 years of age, to the Macedonian king Philip. Yet his desire for the freedom of Greece was so intense, that he starved himself to death, in his 98th year, from grief at the unhappy battle of Cherona. In Plutarch's time, 60 orations went under his name, not half of which were, however, deemed genuine. Twenty-one now remain, of which the principal are the Panegyricus (an oration in which he exhorts the Greeks to concord, and to war against the Persians, edited by Morus and Spohn, Leipsic, 1817, Pinzger and Dindorf, 1825 and 1826), and the Panathenaicus. Ten letters are also extant. The latest editions of all his orations are those of Lange (Halle, 1803) and of Coray (Paris, 1806, two volumes). Of the older editions, those of H. Wolf, of Henry Stephens, Bekker, and Battie are the best.

ISOGRAPHY (from the Greek loos, equal, similar, and yodow, to write); the imitation of handwriting. As it is too expensive and difficult for many persons to collect autographs (q. v.) of famous persons,

it is agreeable to have at least fac-similes or isographs. An interesting work was completed in the year 1830, called Isographie des Hommes célèbres (Paris), containing several hundred fac-simile copies of autograph letters and signatures. Some years ago, Mr. Thane published a work under the title British Autography, containing a collection of portraits of celebrated English characters, with the fac-simile of their autographs under each; and Mr. Nichols is publishing another work of the kind. It has been often asserted, that some judgment could be formed of a man's character from his handwriting, and there exists a small French publication-L'Art de juger les Hommes par leur Ecriture-a new reason for authors to be thankful for the invention of printing.

ISOUARD, Nicolo. (See Nicolo.)

ISPAHAN, ISFAHAN, or SPAHAWN (anciently Aspadona); a city of Persia, in Irak, formerly the capital of the whole country; 260 miles N. E. Bassora; lon. 51° 50′ E.; lat. 32° 25′ N. The population was formerly estimated by some travellers, probably with much exaggeration, at 1,100,000. Chardin, in 1686, stated it at 600,000. According to Olivier, it was reduced, in 1796, to 50,000. In 1800, it was stated at 100,000. Morier stated it in 1808, from Persian authorities, at 400,000; but, in his second journey, at 60,000. Kinnier states it at 200,000. According to Chardin, the walls were 24 miles in circuit, and contained 162 mosques, 48 colleges, 1802 caravansaries, and 273 public baths. A great part of the city is at present a mass of ruins, with here and there an inhabited house. It is situated on the river Zenderout. Under the caliphs of Bagdad, it became the capital of the province of Irak. Being situated in the centre of the empire, and surrounded by the most fertile territories, it soon became a place of great population, wealth and trade. In 1387, it was taken by Timur Bec, and the citizens were given up to indiscriminate massacre, and 70,000 are said to have perished. Shah Abbas made it the seat of his empire, and spared no cost in embellishing it with the most splendid edifices. In 1722, it was taken by the Afghans; but, in 1727, it was retaken by Nadir Shah, since which it has not been a royal residence. palace built by Shah Abbas, is said to have been five miles in circuit, a great part of which space, however, was laid out in 10 gardens, adorned with summer houses and other elegant structures.

The great