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questions of the day. Seeing the dangers which threatened Greece, he wrote earnestly in behalf of unity and advocated an invasion of Asia by Greece. The vision of the Greek race “brought under one polity” was not fulfilled as Aristotle or Isocrates saw it. But the invasion of Asia by Alexander became the event which actually opened new and larger destinies to the Greek race.

Isoetes (ī́-sō′ ḗ-tēz), a small genus of aquatic plants known as quillworts, which belong to the pteridophytes. By some the genus is put with ferns and by others with club-mosses. It resembles a bunch of fine grass growing in shoal water or mud, but the leaves enlarge at the base and overlap one another on the very short tuberous stem. In each enlarged leaf base there is a single sporangium of interesting structure. Isoetes has attracted a great deal of attention because it is heterosporous, and has the general appearance of monocotyledons. There are some who believe that the monocotyledons have been derived from isoetes or from forms closely allied to it.

Isog′amy, a condition in plants in which the sexual cells (gametes) are alike, that is, they cannot be distinguished as male and female. Only the lowest plants are isogamous. The contrasting term is heterogamy,.

Isos′pory (in plants). See.

Isothermal (ī′ sṓ-tẽr′ mal) Line or Isotherm, a term used in meteorology to denote the line obtained by joining all contiguous points having the same temperature. The United States Weather Bureau publishes each month a map of the United States on which are drawn lines connecting adjoining localities which have had the same mean temperature for the past month. These lines are called isotherms. In physics the word is used in a slightly enlarged sense to indicate any curve which represents the manner in which one quantity varies with another while the temperature remains constant. Thus the curve which shows how the volume of any given mass of gas changes, when the pressure is altered, is called an isothermal line.  For full discussion see Maxwell’s Theory of Heat, chap. vi.

Ispahan (ĭs′ pȧ-han′), properly Isfahan, a famous city of Persia, capital of the province of Irak-Ajemi and formerly capital of the entire country. It is situated on the Zenderud, in an extensive and fertile plain. It still is an important city, the seat of manufactures of all sorts of woven and ornamental goods, firearms, swordblades, glass and earthenware. Under the caliphs of Bagdad Ispahân was a large trading town; in 1387 it was taken by the Tartar conqueror, Timur, and 70,000 of its citizens massacred; in the 17th century it became the capital of Persia, and was a city 24 miles in circumference, with 600,000 inhabitants. It was the great city of the east. After the ravaging of the city by the Afghans in 1722, Teheran became the capital. Ispahân is the religious center of Persia, the seat of the high priest. Population 80,000.

Israel in Egypt. One of the greatest of Händel’s 19 English oratorios composed in the fall of 1738. The words are Biblical, including “The Song of Moses” in Exodus 15. The first performance was on April 4, 1739. The work as originally produced consisted of 39 numbers, 28 of which were massive double choruses — a veritable mountain chain of harmony. The experience of this early performance led to the addition of four recitatives and two airs, which in a measure relieved the continuous strain of listening to such a succession of choruses. It was not until 1831 that the work had its first performance by the Sing-Akademie of Berlin and still later (1849), when it was given as first composed, by the Sacred Harmonic Society in England. The reputation of Händel has suffered from the fact that in this oratorio, as elsewhere, he unwarrantably appropriated the work of other composers where it suited his purpose. This reflects less upon his superior genius as a composer than it does upon his rectitude as a man, since in each instance he has “touched (stolen) but to adorn.”

Ital′ian Literature. See.

Italio-Turkish War.  (See .)

It′aly, a country of southern Europes which consists of a long stretch of peninsular mainland, closely resembling a boot in outline and including several islands. From the southern boundary of Sicily to the Alps its greatest length is about 700 miles, its breadth being 350 miles. Its natural limits are strongly defined by the Alps and the sea. The area of Italy is 110,550 square miles with a population of 34,565,198.

Surface. Northern Italy is for the most part one great plain, the basin of the Po. In central Italy the great Apennine chain gives a picturesque grandeur to the country. In the highland districts of Naples the Apennines reach an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet. The beautiful scenery of the coast

Image: ISOETES

A quillwort (A) showing microspore (D), sperm (E), megaspore (B), and a female gametophyte (C) with an archegonium (a).