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LEFT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY 468 EDISON tile plains. Along the coast are coal mining and other industries, but the greater part of the area of the county is devoted to agriculture. The leading industry is the making of paper. The principal burghs are Edinburgh, the county town and capital of Scotland; Leith, and Musselburgh. EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, the latest of the Scottish universities; was founded in 1582 by a charter granted by James VI. The government, as in the other Scottish universities, is vested in the Senatus Academicus, the university court, and the general council. The chancellor of the university is elected for life by the general council. He is the head of the university and the president of the general council. The rector is elected for a term of three years by the matriculated students. He presides over the university court. The principal is the resident head of the college and presi- dent of the Senatus Academicus. The university court consists of the rector, principal, the lord-provost of Edinburgh, and assessors appointed by the chancel- lor, town council of Edinburgh, the rec- tor, the general council, and the sena- tus respectively. The general council consists of the chancellor, the members of the university court, the professors, and all graduates of the university. There are four faculties, viz., arts, di- vinity, law, and medicine. Some of the professors are appointed by the crown, others are elected by the university court and by special electors, and a con- siderable number by the curators, who also elect the principal. In 1919 the teaching staff numbered 242, and the students 4,300. The degree of M. A. is conferred on all who have completed their course and passed the ordinary examinations in the classical department (Latin and Greek), the de- partment of mathematics and natural philosophy, and that of logic and meta- physics, moral philosophy, and rhetoric and English literature. Three medical degrees are conferred : Bachelor of Medi- cine (M. B.), Master in Surgery (C. M.), and Doctor of Medicine (M. D.). The de- grees in law are Bachelor of Laws (LL. B.), Bachelor of the Law (B. L.), and Doctor of Laws (LL. D.). The last is purely honorary. The degrees of Bache- lor of Divinity (B. D.) and Doctor of Divinity (D. D.), the latter honorary, are bestowed in the faculty of divinity. Degrees in science are also conferred. That of B. Sc. is conferred only in mathe- matical, physical, and natural science, in engineering, and in public health. In 1918 the university instituted a degree in commerce (B. Comm.). The present university buildings were begun in 1789. The library of the university contains about 270,000 printed volumes, besides 8,000 manuscripts. There is also a sepa- rate theological library containing about 10,000 volumes. Among the new build- ings erected in this century are the Hughes Bennett Physiological Labora- tory, John Usher Institute of Public Health (1902) and a new block of build- ings devoted to engineering (1905). The university's annual revenues are about $500,000. EDISON, THOMAS ALVA, an Amer- ican inventor; born in Milan, O., Feb. 11. 1847. In early life he was denied the privileges of continuous schooling, but acquired a large and varied stock of knowledge by his own industry. Before he was 12 years of age he became a train boy on the Detroit and Port Huron branch of the Grand Trunk railroad, and learned to operate the telegraph. He be- gan to study batteries, wires, and instru- THOMAS A. EDISON ments, wherever he could find them. His first invention to be patented was a com- mercial stock indicator, and the proceeds of this invention, which at once came intfl wide use, enabled him to establish a labo- ratory at Newark, N. J., afterward re- moved to Menlo Park, and then to its present location at West Orange, N. J. From this beginning he became known to