Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/880

844 K A N K A N Total. Males. Females. Per Sq. Mile. 18M 1870 1880 107,206 364,399 995,966 59,178 202,224 536,725 48,028 162,175 459,241 1-3 4-5 122 The State is divided into 104 counties. The following are the largest towns, with population in 1880 : Leavenworth, 16,550 ; Topeka, 15,451 ; Atchison, 15,106; Lawrence, 8511; Wyandotte, 6149 ; Fort Scott, 5372; Wichita, 4911 ; Emporia, 4632 ; Parsons, 4196 ; Ottawa, 4032. Topeka, the State capital, is advantageously situated, and is one of the most nourishing towns in the State. History. Kansas belongs to that immense tract of country, pur chased by the American Government from France in 1803, known as the Louisiana purchase. Prior to 1854 it was in the hands of various Indian tribes, some native, and others which had been re moved from the older States. It was organized and opened for settlement as a territory by Act of Congress in May 1854, in the midst of a heated contest on the slavery question. The slave holders and the friends of freedom at once began a vigorous con test for the occupancy and control of the new territory, and thus it was that Kansas became the vanguard in the great struggle which resulted in the overthrow of slavery in the United States. Before the formal beginning of the war, societies were organized by the rival settlers and their friends in the States on both sides of the slavery question, and even rival legislatures were elected and convened. The discussions frequently resulted in personal violence, and the greatest excitement prevailed till the breaking out of the civil war. Kansas was admitted into the Union as a State in January 1861, and took an active part in furnishing troops for the suppression of the rebellion. The State was frequently invaded, and the city of Lawrence was sacked and burned in August 1863. Since the overthrow of slavery, Kansas has shared fully in the general progress of the country. (J. D.t) KANSAS CITY, in Jackson county, Missouri, U.S., the second city in size and importance in the State, is situated on the right bank of the Missouri immediately below the mouth of the Kansas river, 235 miles west by north of St Louis. It is a large railroad centre, several important lines meeting there, and giving the city large facilities for commanding the trade of western Missouri, Kansas, northern Texas, and part" of Colorado and New Mexico. The Missouri at this point is crossed by a bridge 1387 feet long, resting on seven piers. The business in agricultural products is very large, and is constantly increasing, that of packing beef and pork being especially great, and growing with remarkable rapidity. The city was laid out in 1830, but its growth may be said to date from 1860, when its population numbered 4418. In 1870 the population had increased to 32,290, and in 1880 it was 55,787. KANT, IMMANUEL (1724-1804). So far as changes of external fortune are concerned, the life of the greatest philosopher of the 18th century presents little or nothing of interest. Born in humble circumstances, he passed a quiet and almost undisturbed existence within the narrow limits of his native place. Education, both of school and university, he obtained at Konigsberg, and during a pro longed academic activity in that retired Prussian town he gave forth the works which have exercised such influence on European thought that, in the estimation of the best historical judges, they may be placed on a level with the great events of the French Revolution as the most important factors in determining the characteristic features of 19th century culture. A biography of Kant can be little more than ^ a record of the successive phases of his literary activity. The family of Kant was of Scotch extraction, the grand father of the philosopher having been an emigrant from Scotland who had settled, first at Memel, and afterwards at Tilsit. The name Cant, as it was originally spelled, is not uncommon in the north of Scotland, whence the family is said to have come, and it is not perhaps mere fancy to trace in some of the ethical doctrines of the critical philosophy and in the personal character of its author some of the prominent features of Scottish nationality. The father of the philosopher carried on the business of a saddler in Konigsberg, and in that town, on the 22d April 1724, was born Immanuel, the fourth of a large family, most of whom died at an early age. Konigsberg was then somewhat noted as a stronghold of what is known as Pietism, a phase of religious thought and life which had in Germany, as elsewhere, too much that was unpleas- ing, but which nevertheless was capable of exercising a powerful influence for good on the development of a really strong and ample character. " Say what you will of Pietism," writes Kant to his friend Rink, "no one can deny the real worth of the characters which it formed ; they possessed the highest that man can possess a peace, a cheerfulness, an inner harmony with self, which was disturbed by no passion." To influences of this kind Kant was subjected in his early years, partly from his mother, for whose memory he ever cherished the warmest affection and regard, partly from his excellent friend and patron, Schulz, the director of the Collegium Fredericianum in Konigsberg, and afterwards professor of theology in the university. At the Collegium Frederici anum Kant was entered in his tenth year, with the definite view of proceeding to the theological courses of the university. His inclination at this time, determined probably by the high character of his teachers, was towards classics, and he was recognized, with his schoolfellow, the afterwards celebrated David Ruhnken, as among the most competent and promising classical scholars of the college. His taste for the greater Latin authors, particularly Lucretius, was never lost, and he acquired through his school training an unusual facility in Latin composition. With Greek authors he does not appear to have been equally familiar. During his university course, which began in 1740, Kant was principally attracted towards mathematics and physics, doubtless through the influence of Knutzen, who then, as extraordinary professor, lectured on most; branches of mathematics and also on philosophy. The lectures on classics do not seem to have satisfied Kant, and, though he attended Schulz s courses on theology, and even preached on one or two occasions, he appears finally to have given up the intention of entering the church. The last years of his university studies were much disturbed by the straitened means of his family, and he was compelled to have recourse to private teaching of the humblest kind. The death of his father, in 1746, destroyed his hopes of remaining at the university until he should have obtained some sub ordinate academic post. Much against his inclination he undertook the office of private tutor, and for nine years acted in this capacity in various families in the immediate neighbourhood of Konigsberg. Although the life was not one which Kant would have chosen, and one for which he was not specially qualified as he used to say regarding the excellent precepts of his Pedagogics, he was never able to apply them yet it gave him an extended knowledge of the world, and added to his other accomplishments the grace and polish of refined society, which he displayed ever afterwards to a degree somewhat unusual in a philosopher by profession. In 1755 Kant returned to Konigsberg as tutor in the family of Count Kayserling. By the kindness of a friend named Richter, he was enabled again to take up his univer sity career, and in autumn of that year he graduated as doctor and qualified as " Privatdocent." Two of the theses publicly defended on the occasion are printed in his works ; an address, on the easier and harder styles of philosophical exposition, has not been publishe d. For fifteen years he continued to labour in this subordinate position, his fame as writer and lecturer steadily increasing. On two occasions he was disappointed in the hope of obtaining a professor ship in his own university, but during this time, as in later years, he refused all offers that would have withdrawn him