SPADIX
1788
SPAIN
Hall in the English Lake-Country where Coleridge lived, and devoted himself to writing, for a long time supporting Coleridge's family as well as his own. His works number nearly 50, filling more than 100 volumes, and many contributions to periodicals besides. Madoc, Curse of Kehama, Thalaba and Roderick are among his longer poems, though he is best known by a few short ones, as the Battle of Blenheim and How the Water Comes Down at Lodore, and by his Life of Nelson, one of the best biographies in English literature. He wrote also in prose a History of Brazil and History of the Peninsular War. His works brought him a competency and were rewarded by a pension, an honorary degree and the offer of a baronetcy, and in 1813 he was made poet-laureate. He died on March 21, 1843. See Southey, in the English Men of Letters Series, by Dowden.
Spadix (spd'diks), a peculiar spike-like form of inflorescence of the Aroids (q. v,), in which the axis is fleshy. The minute sessile flowers occur only on the lower part of the axis as in Jack-in-the-Pulpit, or completely cover it. See INFLORESCENCE.
Spain, one of the European states, forms with Portugal the southwestern peninsula.
Area and Surface. It is separated from France by the Pyrenees Mountains, and at its most southern point from Africa by the Strait of Gibraltar, and washed on three sides by the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The Balearic Islands, on its Mediterranean coast, belong to Spain. The coast, 1,317 miles long, is broken by fine harbors, as Vigo, Corunna, Cadiz, Malaga and Barcelona. Its area is 194,783 square miles, its population 19 503,068. Madrid is the capital (population 571,539). Other chief cities are Barcelona (560,000), Valen cia (213,530), Sevilla (155,366), Malaga (133,045), Marcia (124,085), and Cartagena (99,871). The Mediterranean shore in the south is rocky, sloping upward to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The country is a high plain, crossed by several ranges of mountains, the highest points being in the Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada. The rivers, of which there are 230, flow mostly into the Atlantic; the Tagus, Guadalquivir, Douio and Ebro being some of the largest.
Resources. The mines of Spain have been worked from the earliest times. There are mines of lead, copper, tin, iron, salt and coal. Gold and silver were formerly produced in Galicia, but now silver is found only in Seville, while the quicksilver mines of Almaden are the richest in Europe. The largest industry is farming, which employs from 60 to 70 per cent, of the people. Besides the cereal crops, saffron and dye-plants, mulberry trees for the rearing of silkworms and large quantities of southern fruits are cultivated. Wine is one of the principal exports. Large herds of cattle,
sheep, hogs, asses and mules are raised, and the horses are descended from the Arabian breeds.
Manufactures. The manufactures do not equal those of the middle ages, when Spain was noted for wool and silk goods and arms. The principal manufactured products are cork and cotton, besides silk, linen, leather, glassware and arms. There are a comprehensive postal system, 9,190 miles of railway, 20,540 miles of telegraph and 4,970 miles of telephone.
Education. Spain has universities — at Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Valladolid, Saragossa, Seville, Santiago, Salamanca, Oviedo and Valencia—with 391 professors and about 16,000 students. The school-system varies with different provinces, the larger cities and a few of the provinces having schools equal to the best in Europe, but in many others the schools are poor. The public and primary schools are supported mainly by the municipalities, and most of the children are educated free. However, a large proportion of the inhabitants are illiterate. There is on an average one school for every 560 persons.
Government. Spain is governed by a hereditary monarchy, its present constitution being settled in 1870, The Cortes, as the legislative body is called, consists of two parts — the senate and the chamber of deputies. One third of the senate hold their seats by inheritance, one third are appointed by the king, and one third are elected. In 1890 universal suffrage was introduced. The army in time of peace numbers about 100,000, and the navy 15,725 men, besides 9,000 marines. There are 13 military schools and colleges.
History. The Phoenicians and Greeks were the earliest visitors to Spain, where they found a race called by the Greeks Iberians, consisting probably of a number of different tribes. The Carthaginians made the first effort to occupy Spain, founding Cartha-gena, and were expelled by the Romans in 206 B. C. The Roman conquest was completed ir 19 B. C., when Augustus divided Hispania, as they called it, into three provinces. The country became a thorough Roman province, adopting the Latin language and the Christian religion. After the invasion of the Goths, Spain became a province of the Visigoths until 573, when she became the seat of the Gothic kingdom, which was destroyed in 711 by the Arab and Moorish invaders. The Moorish kingdom in Spain, lasting three centuries, reached its highest prosperity in 756. Cordova, their capital, was the finest of western Europe, as may be seen in its grand mosque. Their last stronghold in Spain was Granada, which surrendered to the Spanish army on Jan. 2, 1492. The different
Erovinces of Christian Spain have at times een independent and then conquered and
