Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/567

LEFT YUAN-SHIH-KAI 487 YUGA and igniting with potassium, the metal is obtained as a blackish-gray powder, consisting of small, metallic, lustrous scales. It unites directly, at high tem- peratures, with chlorine, oxygen, and sulphur, and probably with other metal- loids. YUAN SHIH-KAI, President of the Republic of China; born in Honan prov- ince. He entered the army after failing in his examinations on the Chinese clas- sics and went to Korea, where he rose rapidly in the Chinese service, becom- ing a protege of Li Hung Chang, who in 1883 had him appointed Director Gen- eral of Trade and International Rela- tions. Commanding the Chinese troops, he secured for the Chinese Government the domination of Korea and its em- peror. Following the Chino-Japanese war of 1894-1895, which substituted Japanese for Chinese control in Korea, Yuan became Judicial Commissioner of Pechili province. He exposed the plot of 1898 which was aimed at the Em- press Dowager Tze Hsi, but which re- sulted in the deposition of Emperor Kwang-sii, and of her return to power. As Governor of the Shantung province he pacified in 1899 the Boxer rebellion and became Acting Viceroy of the Pechili province in 1901. In 1903 he undertook the work of reorganizing the army and in 1907 became president of the Wai Wu Pu, the Chinese foreign office. When the infant Hsuan-tung succeeded in 1908, Prince Chun, his father and regent retired Yuan, but in 1911, on the fall of the Manchu dynasty, he became Commander-in-Chief and Premier. Following the revolution of 1911-1912 he was proclaimed "Fully Empowered Organizer of the Republic of China," being elected President, Oct. 6, 1913, for a five-year term. He ex- pelled the southern senators and depu- ties from parliament, and on Jan. 10, 1914, dismissed the parliament, created an Advisory Council, with members ap- pointed by himself, and restored the worship of Heaven and Confucius. Japanese demands resulted in a gen- eral sentiment for a return of a central- ized monarchial government, and Yuan prepared for inauguration as emperor, but a revolt in the south postponed the ceremony. Before the plans could be further carried out he died, June 6, 1916, and the Republic of China con- tinued. YUCATAN (yo-ka-tan'), a peninsula forming the S. E. extremity of Mexico. Before its conquest by the Spaniards it was the seat of a flourishing civilization. It is now for the most part a sparsely cultivated region, whose forests yield excellent timber, cabinet woods, and dye woods, and which has recently been pro- ductive of great quantities of sisal or so-called Yucatan hemp. Five-sixths of the inhabitants ai*e Indians, preserving the speech of their ancestors, whom the Spaniards dispossessed. In 1861 the peninsula, which since 1824 had formed one State in the Mexican Confederation was divided into two : Yucatan and Cam- peche. Yucatan has an area of 35,203 square miles, and a pop. of about 350,- 000. Capital, Merida ; pop. about 65,000. Campeche has an area of 18,087 square miles and a pop. about 90,000. Capital, Campeche; pop. estimated at 20,000. YUCCA, Adams needle; a liliaceous genus doubtfully placed under Tulipfse. Evergreen shrubs, their stem tending to arborescence, crowned by a circle of linear, lanceolate, rigid leaves, from the center of which rises a large panicle of snow-white, whitish-green, or cream- colored flowers. Perianth bell-shaped, its segments without nectaries; stamens clavate, style wanting, fruit capsular, YUCCA hexagonal, with three cells and numerous flat seeds. From the hotter parts of America. Y. gloriosa, common Adani's needle, has an upright stem, a panicle of flowers three feet long, and a total height in America of 10 or 12 feet, though the cultivated plant in Great Britain is very much smaller. It is a native of the United States from Carolina to Mexico and Texas. Its fruit is purgative; its stem yields starch and also a fiber well adapted for paper mak- ing. Y. angustifolia and Y. filamentosa have also fibers which may be similarly used. The last-named species, called the silk grass, has panicles of pendulous cream-colored flowers. It grows in Brit- ish gardens, blossoming in the autumn. YUG-A, or YOOGA, in Hindu chronol- ogy, one of the periods into which the past history of the globe may be divided.