Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/418

 404 PHILADELPHIA PHILJE 5,470 houses; but the people were then much scattered. The battle of Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777, was fought within the present char- tered limits of the city, 6 m. N. W. of the cen- tre of the old city. Philadelphia was the cap- ital of the colony and state of Pennsylvania till 1799, except during the British occupation. From 1790 to 1800 it was the seat of govern- ment of the United States. Its foreign com- merce and general trade increased rapidly after the revolution, the domestic exports rising to $7,000,000 in 1793, and to $17,500,000 in 1796. In 1806 the export of foreign goods rose to $13,809,389, and the total export to $31,384,- 091. At the war of 1812 this commerce al- most wholly ceased; in 1816 business and spec- ulation revived, but the results were not for- tunate, and direct external trade never recov- ered its former importance. Previous to 1839 the banking capital of Philadelphia was large, and for most of the period down to 1836 it was the monetary centre of the country. The first bank of the United States, established by act of congress in 1791, with a capital of $10,000,000, was located here ; and the second bank of the United States was established here in 1816 with a capital of $35,000,000. The failure of the bank under its state charter in 1839, and the loss of its large capital, greatly weakened the financial strength of the city, and the monetary centre was permanently transferred to New York. The revulsion of 1837, and the subsequent financial depression, were severely felt, the recovery from them not being apparent till 1844. In 1793 the yellow fever made terrible ravages, nearly decima- ting the population, and driving great numbers into the country; and again in 1798 it was epidemic. In 1832 the Asiatic cholera was very destructive, the victims numbering 770. In 1835 riots were incited against the colored population, and in 1838 Pennsylvania hall, be- longing to the anti-slavery societies and occu- pied by their meetings, was burned by a mob. In 1844 the districts of Kensington and South- wark were the scene of riots arising from the hostility between the Roman Catholics and " Native Americans ;" the disturbance was pro- tracted over a considerable time, two Catholic churches were burned, the military were called out, and some lives were lost. During the civil war Philadelphia was active in the cause of the Union, and furnished a large number of men to the federal armies. PHILADELPHIA a genus of shrubs popularly called mock orange, and sometimes syringa, a name the use of which should be discouraged, as it properly belongs to the lilac. The ge- nus is now placed in the saxifrage family, and comprises shrubs with opposite leaves without stipules ; their abundant white flowers, some- times solitary, are usually in corymbs ; the ca- lyx having its tube coherent with the ovary, with four or five valvate lobes ; petals four or five; stamens 20 to 40; styles three to five, the ovary with the same number of cells, be- coming when ripe a pod which splits into as many pieces as there are cells. There are several species, natives of the southern Atlantic and Pacific states and of Japan, and these have varied much by cultivation ; our native species are scentless or nearly so. P. 'inodorus has mostly entire ovate-oblong leaves, and small flowers ; P. grandiflorus is a much taller shrub, with long and recurving branches, usually toothed leaves, and very large flowers; both are found from Virginia southward; P. hir- sutus of North Carolina and Tennessee has small acute hairy leaves, and the small flowers solitary or two or three together; P. Gordoni- anus of Oregon so much resembles P. grandi- florus that it is suspected of being a variety of it; P. Californicus and P. Lewisii are also found on the Pacific coast ; some of these, es- pecially P. grandiflorus and P. Gordonianus, Gordon's Mock Orange (Philadelphia Gordonianus). are cultivated for the abundance and beauty of their large pure white flowers, but neither is so common as P. coronarius, sometimes called the garland mock orange, which has been long in cultivation, and the native country of which is not well known; some refer it to Japan, and others consider it a native of southern Europe. It has erect branches, oblong-ovate leaves, which have exactly the odor and taste of cucumbers, and large clusters of cream- white flowers, which are exceedingly fragrant ; there is a dwarf variety, and one with double flow- ers. These shrubs form such dense clumps that they require no special propagation other than to dig up an old stool and pull it apart. PHIL:E, an island of the Nile in Upper Egypt, 5 m. S. of Ass wan, in lat. 24 I 7 34" N., Ion. 32 54' 16" E. Its Egyptian name is Pilak, Ailak, or Manlek, "the place of the frontier." The Arabs call it Jeziret el-Birbeh. It lies between the S. extremity of the island of Elephantine and the E. bank of the river, is a quarter of a mile long and about 500 ft. broad, and is covered with picturesque ruins of temples, mostly of the times of the Ptole- mies, with additions by the Eoman emperors. These are principally at the S. end of the isl- and. The chief temple is that of Isis. The earliest name found in the ruins is that of