Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/202

190 NAPLES The students in 1882-3 numbered 3421. Originally erected in 1557 for the use of the Jesuits, the university buildings are regarded as the best work of Marco di Pino ; the quadrangle, surrounded by a simple but effective peristyle, contains statues of Pietro della Vigna (Frederick s chancellor), Thomas Aquinas, Vico, and Giordano Bruno. The famous zoological station at Naples, whose aquarium is the principal building in the Villa Nazionale, is not connected with the university ; it was founded in 1872 by Dr Dohrn, and has become one of the greatest centres of biological research in Europe. Its Mitthcilungen began to be published in 1878, and a great work on the fauna and flora of the Gulf of Naples is in progress. The Royal Society of Naples, dating originally from 1756, was reconsti tuted in 1861, and now comprises three "academies" or depart ments, dealing respectively with the physical and mathematical sciences, the moral and political sciences, and literature, archaeology, and the fine arts. The famous Accademia Pontaniana, founded in 1471 by Ant. Panormita and J. J. Pontanus, was restored in 1809, and still exists. The royal school of Oriental languages (35 pupils in 1880) owes its existence to Matteo Kipa, who in 1732 estab lished a college for Chinese missionaries with money which he had collected by visiting various European courts in company with ten or twelve young Chinamen. Since 1857 Ludovico da Casoria, relying on public subscriptions, has carried on a special college for the education of Africans (Coll. dei Mori a Capodimonte). The royal college of music, practically founded by Charles III. in 1760, and thus one of the oldest as it is one of the most celebrated insti tutions of its class, was re-established in 1879. It has a teaching staff of nearly forty persons, takes in boarders (50 Italians gratui tously), and carries on a free day school for males and females. A large and beautiful building in Strada Fuori Porta Medina, erected in a Pompeian style by Francesco del Giudice, accommodates the royal institute for the encouragement of the natural and economical sciences, the royal technical institute (535 pupils), and the nautical institute (46 pupils) ; and in Str. del Salvatore there is a royal school of engineering with 250 pupils. Four technical schools are maintained by the municipality. The primary educa tion of the people was so much neglected under the Bourbons that after twenty years of a better regime there were still 294,384 persons in Naples who could neither read nor write. That some progress had been made was shown in 1881 by the fact that the number of persons under thirty years of age who could both read and write had increased from 79,224 in 1871 to 101,277. In 1872 there were 14,461 children attending school; in 1879 there were 75,311. The educational expenditure of the commune was 64.972 in 1882 for the education of 30,000 children. About one-fourth of the children attending the infant schools are gratuitously supplied with soup at midday, and the children of the working classes are taught free of charge. Among the various private educational enter prises Mrs Salis Schwabe s Froebel Institute, founded in 1873, the Italian Protestant schools, and the institution established by the Marquis Casanova in 1869 to take charge of boys leaving school and bring them up to some special trade, deserve special mention. There are three schools for the blind notably Lady Strachan s (1865) and the "Prince of Naples," founded by Martuscelli (1873) and as many for the deaf and dumb. Charitable institutions are unusually numerous in Naples. The oldest civil hospital is S. Eligio, dating from 1270; but the largest is the Casa Santa degli Incurabili, founded in 1521 by Francesca Maria Longo. It is open to patients of both sexes and any rank, contains upwards of 1000 beds, and has an annual income of about 32,000. In 1877 an international hospital was established by the foreign residents. The Albergo dei Poveri (poorhouse) occupies a magnificent range of buildings, commenced in 1761 by Charles III. at the suggestion of Padre Rocco. Starting with an income of about 3000, it now disposes yearly of 48,000 ; and it has succes sively absorbed various minor institutions such as the Conservatorio of St Francis of Sales (1816) and the deaf-mute school (1818). The great almshouse of St Januarius for old men (Ospiz. di S. Gennaro dei Poveri) dates from 1666. Besides the great provincial lunatic asylum (340 patients), now transferred to the convent of St Francis of Sales, there are three smaller asylums in the suburbs. Nothing perhaps is more characteristic of Naples than its so-called Arci-con- fratcrnita, associations similar to our friendly and burial societies, but entering more into the life of all classes of society. There are about one hundred and thirty of them. The oldest which has kept the date of its origin is that of the Bianchi della Cariti, founded in 1382; seven belong to the 15th century and twenty-seven to the 16th. Mutual benefit societies are also numerous. There are about a score of theatres in Naples. The San Carlo opera-house, with its area of 5157 square yards, and its pit capable of containing one thousand spectators, is one of the largest in Europe. It was originally erected in 1737 under Charles III. after the designs of Giovanni Medrano, but had to be almost completely rebuilt after the fire of 1816. Though closely associated with the names of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante, &c. , San Carlo has always had to be subsidized first by the Bourbon princes, and since 1860 by the municipality, which also helps to support the Mercadante theatre. It is enough to mention the Teatro Nuovo, the Sannazaro, the Dei Fiorentini (de voted to the Italian drama), and the Bellini (dating from 1876, and second to none in the matter of decoration). The San Carlino, though mean and incommodious, is largely frequented by all classes from royalty downwards, its Pulcinella farces, always in the Nea politan dialect, being a purely local institution, connected it may be with the Atellan plays. At a very early date the original harbour at Naples, now known in its greatly reduced state as Porto Piccolo, and fit only for boats and lighters, became too small. In 1302 Charles II. of Anjou began the construction of the Porto Grande by forming the Molo Grande or San Gennaro, which stretched eastward into the bay, and was ter minated by a lighthouse in the 15th century. By the addition of a new pier running north-east from the lighthouse, and protected by a heavily armed battery, Charles III. in 1740 added greatly to the safety of the harbour. In 1826 the open area to the south of the Porto Grande was formed into the Porto Militare by the con struction of the Molo San Vincenzo, 1200 feet long. Shortly after the formation of the new kingdom of Italy attention was called to the insufficiency of the harbour for modern wants ; and new works were commenced in 1862. Besides the lengthening of the Molo San Vincenzo to a total of more than 5000 feet, the scheme as authorized in 1879 includes the formation of a new pier, which is to extend from the Castel del Carmine a distance of about 2460 feet, the con struction of quays along the shore between the fort and the Porto Grande, the deepening of the enclosed area to about 25 feet, and the establishment of new bonded warehouses and a floating dock on the Clark-Stanfield system. The contract provides for the com pletion of the works in 1885. The entrance to the harbour will then measure more than 2000 feet. The port of Naples is second in the kingdom. The total tonnage of foreign and coasting trade (entrance and clearance) had increased from 1,812,138 register tons in 1863 to 4,128,057 in 1882. In the foreign trade the first place belongs to French shipping, 956,171 tons; the second to British, 374,608; and the third to Italian, 93.424. Cotton, cereals, sugar, coffee, tobacco, wool, &c., are the chief imports; pastes, coral (to the value of 1,500,000), and jewellers work, dried fruit, hats, tartar and wine lees, wine, and olive oil are the chief exports. The total value of imports and exports was 9,374,940 in 1881 and 8,055,798 in 1882. Coral, kid gloves, and macaroni are manufactured in the city on an extensive scale. Naples has several good local springs (notably the Acqua del Leone at Mergellina) ; a covered channel brings the waters of Monte Somma (Vesuvius) to the lower parts of the town; an aqueduct, constructed in the 17th century at the cost of Criminello and Carmignano, taps the Isclero at Sant Agata dei Goti, 30 miles distant ; and a number of artesian wells have proved successful as far as quantity is concerned. But in spite of all these resources the water supply has long been far below the demand ; and a city which from its position might be one of the best-drained, cleanest, and healthiest in the world has had an unenviable reputation for dirtiness and unwholesomeness. At present extensive works are in progress by which good drinking water is to be brought from Serino (nearly 50 miles distant) and laid on at three different high levels at the rate of 22,000,000 gallons daily for the use of the inhabitants and 1,000,000 for public purposes. Naples, the most densely peopled city in Europe, is slowly but steadily increasing. The commune which includes not only the urban districts (frazioni) of S. Ferdinand, Chiaja, S. Giuseppe, Monte Calvario. Avvocata, Stella, San Carlo all Arena, Vicaria, S. Lorenzo, Mercato, Pendino, and Porto, but also the suburban districts of Vomero, Posillipo, Fuorigrotta, Miauo-Mianella, and Piscinola-Marianella has advanced from 404,000 inhabitants in 1788 to 493,115 in 1881, and the city proper (the first twelve dis tricts) from 326,130 in 1812 to 461,962 in 1881. In the condition of the lower classes considerable improvement has been effected since 1860 ; the lazzaroni, who bulked so largely in the experience of the tourist in the early part of the century, no longer exist, their place being taken by the dock-labourer, the fisherman, and the artisan. History. All ancient writers agree in representing Naples as a Greek settlement, though its foundation is obscurely and differently narrated. It seems that the oldest city on its site was founded by a colony from the neighbouring Greek town of Cumse. They are said to have given it the name of Farthcnope, from a legendary connection of the locality with the siren Parthenope, whose tomb was still shown at the time of Strabo. A number of Chalcidic and Athenian colonists are reported to have afterwards joined the original settlers, and to have built for themselves separate dwell ings, which they called Neapolis, or the new city, in contra distinction to the old settlement, which in consequence was styled Palxpolis. or the old city. All modern attempts to define the respective extent and situation of Pala?polis and Neapolis have failed ; but Livy s testimony leaves no doubt that they were close to each other, and identical in language and government. In the year 328 B.C., the Palrepolitans having provoked the hostility of Rome by their incursions upon her Campanian allies,