into 30 districts. Among the more important communes are Brienz, Unterseen, Thun, Langnan, Arberg, Bienne, and Porrentruy. Besides the university of Bern, the canton has 3 gymnasia and 5 schools preparatory for them, 29 Realschulen and secondary schools, 1,412 primary schools upon which attendance is compulsory, and 6 normal schools.—In 1191 Berchtold V., duke of Zähringen, fortified his castle of Nydeck, upon the promontory where the city of Bern now stands, as a place of refuge for the lesser nobles, and gave a charter to the city. The canton was formed out of the territory which was from time to time acquired by the city, and in 1353 joined the Swiss confederation. In 1528 it placed itself upon the side of the reformation, and having in 1536 conquered the Pays de Vaud from Savoy, its territory for nearly three centuries extended from the lake of Geneva to the Rhine. During this period its government from being democratic became aristocratic and oligarchical. The armies of the French republic invaded the canton in 1798, took the city of Bern, and seized its treasury, containing 30,000,000 francs. In 1803, by Napoleon's act of mediation, Aargau and Vaud were separated from Bern. In 1815, to compensate for the loss of Aargau and Vaud, the territories of the bishop of Basel were taken from France and added to Bern, and an aristocratic tone was given to the institutions of this “Venice of the Alps,” as the canton has sometimes been called. In 1831 a more democratic constitution was adopted, and still another in 1846. Under this the government is vested in a grand council, which delegates its power to a smaller body called the council of administration. The chief judicial power is given to a supreme court of 15 members with 4 substitutes. Under the constitution of Switzerland which was promulgated Sept. 12, 1848, the canton sends 23 members to the Nationalrath or lower house of the Swiss diet. In 1870 the referendum was introduced, which provides that every law adopted by the legislature must be ratified by the people before it can become valid. The revenue and expenditure of the canton in 1870 amounted to about 5,200,000 fr.; public debt, 20,000,000 fr.
Bern, Switzerland.
II. A city, capital of the canton and of Switzerland, situated upon a promontory of sandstone around which flows the Aar with steep and precipitous banks, 43 m. S. of Basel; pop. in 1870, 36,002, of whom 2,644 were Roman Catholics, 303 Jews, and the remainder Protestants. The lofty Nydeck bridge by which it may be entered from the east is one of the most gigantic structures of Switzerland. The city is handsomely built, with broad straight streets, many of the houses resting upon arcades. By means of the Gasel, a brook introduced into the city in 1868, fountains are supplied and rills made to flow through many of the streets. The capitol of the confederation was completed here in 1857, and cost 2,145,471 fr. The high clock tower, built by Berchtold of Zähringen in 1191, is near the middle of the city. Every hour its works set in motion puppets which represent a cock, a procession of bears, and a bearded old man with an hour glass, who strikes a bell. The cathedral faces a terrace 108 feet above the Aar, from which a fine view may be had of the Oberland Alps. It was begun in 1421 under the supervision of Matthias Heinz, son of one of the architects of Strasburg cathedral, to which
