Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/860

 830 TRACHYTE the wound should be closed so soon as the object is effected. TRACHYTE (Gr. rpaxvc, rough), a rock of volcanic origin, named from the roughness of its surface. It consists chiefly of glassy feld- spar, sometimes associated with hornblende, and also with augite. When these minerals predominate, the rock passes into the varieties of trap called basalt, greenstone, dolerite, &c. TRACT AUTO PUBLICATION SOCIETIES. The printing of short religious treatises and narra- tives for cheap or gratuitous distribution was very early practised. Indeed, prior to the in- troduction of printing, Wycliffe circulated his views by means of brief essays, which were transcribed and passed from hand to hand. Strype testifies to the circulation of some of Tyndale's tracts about 1530. In the 17th cen- tury there were associations for printing and promoting the sale of religious works. In 1701 the "Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge," consisting of members of the church of England, was founded to promote charity schools in all parts of England and Wales, and to disperse both at home and abroad Bibles and tracts of religion. In 1742 John Wesley began the publication and dis- tribution of tracts and books on a large scale, and in 1782 he and Dr. Coke organized the u Society for the Distribution of Tracts among the Poor." In 1750 the "Society for Promo- ting Religious Knowledge among the Poor" was organized in London, and was the first publishing society in which members of differ- ent religious denominations were united. In 1756 societies were established at Edinburgh and Glasgow for similar objects, and for sev- eral years circulated many religious publica- tions ; but eventually they as well as the Lon- don society declined. In 1795 Miss Hannah More commenced at Bath a monthly series of short religious tales which she named " Cheap Repository," of which 2,000,000 copies were sold the first year. In it was published the widely popular story of " The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain." Mrs. Rebecca Wilkinson, of Clapham, Surrey, also wrote and published many small books and tracts. The "Philan- thropic Society " printed for her in the course of a few years, commencing with 1792, 440,250 copies of books and tracts. In 1793 the " Re- ligious Tract Society," or as it is now called the "Religious Tract and Book Society of Scotland," was founded in Edinburgh by the Rev. John Campbell, a missionary to Africa. In 1855 this society adopted the colportage system of the American tract society, to which it has since given a large part of its effort. In that year it sent out three colporteurs ; in 1875 it sent out 234 in Scotland and 20 in the north of England. In the year ending March 81, 1875, its circulation was 2,855,000, inclu- ding 55,000 copies of the Scriptures and 120,- 000 other bound volumes, besides 300,000 hymn books, 1,240,000 periodicals, and 1,140,000 tracts. The "Religious Tract Society" of TRACT AND PUBLICATION SOCIETIES London was founded in May, 1799. It had its origin in the labors of the Rev. George Burder of Coventry, who had begun printing tracts on his own account in 1781, of a more directly religious character than those of Miss More. He continued their occasional issue in connection with some friends for several years, and then convened a meeting of ministers by whom the society was established under its present name. Among them were the Rev. Messrs. Rowland Hill, William Newman, Mat- thew Wilks, and Joseph Hughes, for many years its secretary. Its entire receipts the first year were 467 7s. 4d., of which 203 10*. Sd. were from contributions, &c., and 263 16*. 8d. from sales. In 1849, when the society celebrated its jubilee, they had risen to 50,981 15*. 8d, of which 4,939 2*. 6d. were from contributions, &c., and 44,603 16. 6d. from sales. The total receipts of 50 years from contributions and legacies, up to 1849, were 152,552 3*., from sales 1,023,215 13*. Id., making with other items 1,202,242 13*. 8d. By the expenditure of this sum the society had published 5,148 different works in 110 languages and dialects, of which it had issued over 500,000,000 copies. It now keeps on its catalogue about 10,000 different publications. It issued during the year ending March 31, 1875, 303 new volumes and 167 new tracts. The total circulation from the home deposi- tories during the year was 46,536,057, inclu- ding about 23,000,000 tracts. The issues in foreign depositories in Europe, India, China, Africa, and elsewhere were about 10,000,000 more. The entire number of issues since the formation of the society was about 1,595,000,- 000, of 13,023 different publications in 120 different languages and dialects. Its grants of books, tracts, &c., for the year amounted to 28,328 7*. 7d. This society owns no presses or bindery. It maintains three depositories in London, one at Brighton, one at Manchester, and others in the principal cities of continental Europe, in Constantinople, Beyrout, and differ- ent cities of India, China, and Japan ; and there are auxiliary and cooperating societies in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia. During the year it made grants of books and tracts to the colporteurs in the north of England from the religious tract and book society of Scotland, and a grant amounting to 400 to the negroes of the southern United States. There are sev- eral other societies in Great Britain for the circulation and distribution of religious books and tracts, each of the principal religious de- nominations having one or more. The most important of the tract societies of continental Europe is the Hamburg tract society, organized in 1836, which issued from April 1, 1872, to Nov. 1, 1874, 2,648,000 copies of its publica- tions in German, Danish, and Lettish ; and it has issued since its organization 27,000,000 tracts in seven languages. The Paris tract society has issued 665,380 publications. The Toulouse book society has issued 137,129 vol-