Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/742

 706 FRANKFORT turesque relic of the ancient fortifications dating from the middle of the 14th century. Hardly any fact about Frankfort is more familiar to the reader of Goethe than that it has an old bridge over the Main, and that on the bridge there has been for centuries an iron crucifix surmounted by a somewhat insignificant figure of a cock, commemorating, according to tradition, the unfortunate fowl which first crossed the bridge, and thus fell a prey to the devil who, in hope of a nobler victim, had sold his assistance to the original architect. The first distinct mention of a bridge over the river occurs in 1222, and the present structure dates from the 14th century. As late at least as 1475 the central span was not arched over. There are now fourteen arches in all, the total length of the bridge being 869 feet. The cock and crucifix are mentioned as early as 1405, and antiquaries assert that it probably marks the spot where criminals in the olden time were flung into the river. About half a mile below the old bridge a new bridge, called the &quot; Unter- Main Briicke/ was constructed by P. Schmick, between 1872 and 1874; and about midway between the two lies the footbridge or &quot; Steg,&quot; erected by the same engineer in 1868-69, and the first example of its kind in Germany. The &quot;Ober-Main&quot; or Upper-Main Bridge was opened to traffic in the spring of 1878. Several other bridges for railway purposes are projected. Few cities of the same size as Frankfort are so richly furnished with literary, scientific, and artistic institutions, or possess so many handsome buildings appropriated to their service. The town theatre was built between 1 780 and 1827 in a Dutch-French style, and was restored in 1855; and as it has proved too small for the wants of the people, a new opera house has been erected near the Bockenheim gate, after the plans of Professor Luca of Berlin. There is a public picture-gallery in the Saalhof, containing works by Hans Holbein, Griinewald, Vandyck, Teniers, Van der Neer, Hans von Culmbach, Lucas Cranach, Martin Schon, &c. The nucleus of the collection is of very ancient date ; considerable additions were made in 1803 at the seculariza tion of the monasteries ; in 1839 Ernst Fr. K. Prehn s cabinet of more than 850 small oil-paintings was presented by his heirs, and 220 that had belonged to Johann G. Chr. Daems were added in 1856, in terms of his bequest. The Stadel Art Institute (Stcadel sche Kunst-Institut) takes its name from Johann Friedrich Stadel, who not only left his collection of paintings, engravings, and other property to the town, but appropriated a million marks to the erection of an institute and college. Its picture gallery and cabinet of engravings are both extremely rich in works of German art : the latter in 1874 had 54,300 plates, In the town library, which is kept in a building erected between 1820 and 1825, there are upwards of 100,000 volumes; and among its rarer treasures are a Gutenberg Bible printed at Mainz between 1450 and 1455, another on parchment dated 1462, the Inslitutiones Justiniani, Mainz, 1468, the Thcner- Dank, with woodcuts by Hans Scheufelein, Abyssinian manuscripts presented by the African traveller Riippel, and autographs of Luther, Melanchthon, Wallenstein, Napoleon I., Goethe, Schiller, &c. The Bethmann Museum owes its celebrity principally to Dannecker s Ariadne, but it also possesses the original plaster model of Thorwaldsen s En trance of Alexander the Great into Babylon. Among the scientific institutions perhaps the chief place belongs to those named after J. Chr. Senckenberg, the physician. Senckon- berg himself founded both the Burger or citizens hospital and the medical institute, with an anatomical theatre, botani cal garden, and library ; and a society of natural science (SencJtenbergsche Nalurforschende Gesellschaft) was instituted in his honour in 1817, and now possesses an extensive and valuable museum. Large gardens were opened for the patients of the citizens hospital in 1851, and in 1875 new buildings were added. A physical association was founded in 1824, an association for geography and statistics in 1836, a medical association in 1845, the association for history and archaeology in 1857, and the free German institute for science, art, and general culture in 1859. An association for the cultivation of classical and especially of church music (the Ciicilien- Verein) was instituted by Schelble in 1818, and a similar association (the Ruhl sche Vereiu) by Riihl in 1851 ; and there are several other musical unions, such as the Philharmonische Verein, the Liederkranz, &c. In 1858 a zoological garden was opened by a joint stock company near the Bockenheim Road; and in 1873 it was transferred to a new site on the Pfingstweide or Pentecost Meadow, and assigned to a new company. When in 18G8 the duke of Nassau offered the plants of his winter garden for sale, a company, the Palm Garden Company, was formed at Frankfort, which purchased the collection, and established what is now the most beautiful of all the pleasure-grounds in the city. Besides the Burger Hospital already mentioned, Frank fort has several large institutions for the sick and infirm. The Holy Ghost Hospital, originally founded in 1278 for invalid pilgrims, is now appropriated to the servants and apprentices of Frankfort citizens. Its convalescent hospital, opened in 1868 at the Mainkur, was the first establish ment of the kind in Germany. It maintains in each of the fourteen quarters of the town a physician, a surgeon, and an apothecary for the gratuitous assistance of the poor. The new asylum for the insane, with room for 200 patients, was erected between 1859 and 1863, partly by public sub scription, and partly by a donation of 100,000 florins from Herr von Wiesenhiitten. For its deaf and dumb institution the town is indebted to Ludwig Kosel, who in 1827 started with three pupils ; and it was at his suggestion that the blind asylum was established by the society for the furtherance of the useful arts. The Waisenhaus or orphan asylum erected in 1829 is no longer employed for its original pur pose, as it has since 1860 been thought better to board the orphan children with families in the neighbouring villages of Lich, Wiichtersbach, &c. It is sufficient to mention the Jewish infirmary, built at the expense of the Rothschilds ; the new Jewish hospital, erected in 1874; Dr Christ s children s hospital, originated in 1835 ; and the maternity hospital, opened in 1 855. Among thenumerous associations for benevolent purposes are the Frauen- Verein or ladies union, founded in 1813 for the assistance of sick families and women in childbed ; the Jewish ladies union for the education of orphan girls ; the association originated in 1851 for taking charge of infants during the working hours; the Pestalozzi union (1846) for the education of neglected children, and its auxiliary the Schuboth institute for Protestant boys (1865) ; the prison association, dating from 1868; and the Martha asylum, dating from 1866. Frankfort has always been much more of a commercial than an industrial town, and at present it manufactures little else but Frankfort black, waxcloth, jewellery, gold and silver thread, tapestry, and such like articles. Bockenheim, however, a small town with which it is connected by tramway lines, is a flourishing manufacturing centre ; and the Frank fort capitalists are connected with the industrial enterprises of Wiesbaden, Hanau, Odenbach, &c. There are two great fairs held in the town, the Ostermesse or spring fair, and the Herbstmesse or autumn fair. The former, which was the original nucleus of all the commercial prosperity of the city, begins on the second Wednesday before Easter; and the latter on the second Wednesday before the 8th of Sep tember. They last three weeks, and the last day save one, called the Nickdcfastag, is distinguished by the influx of people from the neighbouring country. The trade in