Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/740

ANTWERP. of Quinten Massys, and the "Christ Crucified," by Rubens, a work of great dramatic effect, being the most remarkable. Worthy of mention are also the Musée Plantin-Moretus, famous for its collection of everything pertaining to the early history of printing, the Guild Hall of the Archers, the Vieille Boucherie or old meat market, and the Steen, part of the old castle dating from the Tenth Century, once the seat of the Inquisition, and now containing an archæological museum.

Antwerp is administered by a burgomaster, assisted by five assessors and a municipal council. The burgomaster is nominated by the King for a period of eight years, and is also the head of the police. The assessors are chosen by the municipal council for the same period. The municipal council numbers 39 members, including 8 members from the labor council, who are elected by all voting citizens for 8 years. The city is divided into 9 districts, administered by commissioners. Water, as well as gas, is supplied by private companies. With the exception of the railway stations and the harbor, which have electric lights, the city is lighted by gas. Of its annual budget of over $7,500,000, the city expends only about 9 per cent, on administration, police, and street cleaning, about 8 per cent, on education, and about 15 per cent, on the service of the debt, which amounts to about $60,000,000 at 2½ per cent, repayable by 1977.

Among the educational institutions of the city the most noteworthy are the commercial school, established in 1852, the Athénée Royal, the Academy of Fine Arts, dating from 1665, and attended by over 160 students, and the Royal Conservatory of Music, with an attendance of about 1350. Some of the higher schools are managed by Jesuits, and the German School is supported by the German Government. Besides numerous scientific associations, Antwerp has many societies for the advancement of art, and its triennial exhibition of paintings is regarded as an important event in the world of art. The city has two theatres and two municipal libraries. Of the 16 daily newspapers published in Antwerp 6 are in French and 10 in Flemish. Of charitable and benevolent institutions, Antwerp has its full share. Besides two hospitals with 900 beds, an insane asylum, and asylums for orphans and aged people, there are a considerable number of minor charitable institutions maintained by private societies. The industrial establishments of Antwerp include distilleries and breweries, textile mills, diamond-cutting works, sugar refineries, cigar factories, etc. Owing to its advantageous position on the western coast of Europe, and its proximity to London, Antwerp is inferior to few European cities in the volume of its commerce, and is considered one of the greatest centres of the grain import trade. Its commerce is chiefly with the Balkan countries, Russia, the United States, and South America. The total annual value of the commerce, of which a large portion is transit, exceeds $1,200,000,000, of which slightly more than one-half represents imports. Antwerp has magnificent harbor advantages. The quays have a total length of 3½ miles and are provided with gigantic cranes for the loading and unloading of vessels. There are eight large basins and a number of smaller ones connected by sluices with the Scheldt. In 1899, 5613 vessels representing a tonnage of 6,872,848 cleared the port. In 1891

the figures were respectively 4461 and 4,693,238. Antwerp is the chief arsenal of Belgium and is fortified by strong ramparts and numerous citadels and forts surrounding the city. It has also devices for the flooding of the surrounding country and contains a garrison of about 10,000 men; Antwerp has consular representatives from all the important countries of the world. The population is (1900) 285,600, not including the suburbs, with a population of over 50,000. In 1830 the total population was only 73,500, while in 1891 it numbered 232,732. The average annual temperature of the city is about 50°, or nearly the same as that of New York.

Antwerp appears in history as early as the Seventh Century, is spoken of as a market town some hundred years later, and by the middle of the twelfth century seems to have attained considerable prosperity as a trading town. Steadily extending its commercial operations under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy, it became in the second half of the Fifteenth Century the world-mart of Europe, supplanting the other great Flemish cities, Bruges and Ghent. It was the entrepôt for the trade between England and the Continent, and in its harbor vessels from the north and the south of Europe met to exchange their cargoes. In the first half of the Sixteenth Century, under the rule of Charles V., the city was at the height of its splendor and prosperity. It was the principal station of the Hanseatic League and the centre of the money exchanges of Europe, while its manufacturing industry was on a level with its vast shipping. Material prosperity was accompanied by intellectual progress, and the great schools of Flemish painters made Antwerp their principal home. The events of the Reformation brought about a sudden decline. The reign of terror instituted by the Duke of Alva, and the siege of 14 months by the Duke of Parma (1584-85), to whom the city offered a heroic but ineffectual resistance, sapped the prosperity of Antwerp. Its population at the end of the Sixteenth Century had dwindled to 55,000, or less than half of what it had been at the beginning of the century. Its ruin was completed by the Treaty of Westphalia, which closed the navigation of the Scheldt. It received new life from the French, who took the city in 1794, and declared the Scheldt open once more. Later Napoleon attempted to set it up as a rival to London. During the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the Dutch general Chassé held the citadel for two years against the citizens, until he was forced to surrender by a French army under Gérard. After the revolution. the growth of the city was rapid. Consult: J. P. Van Mol, Guide to Antwerp (Antwerp, 1886); E. Rowland. "Le Port d'Anvers," in L'Economiste Français, Vol. II. (Paris, 1899); "The Great Fire at Antwerp, and its Effects," in The Builder, Vol. LXXX. (London, 1901).

ANTYL'LUS (Gk. Ἄντυλλος, Antyllos). A Greek physician and surgeon who is supposed to have lived in the Third or Fourth Century, A.D. He is said to have been a voluminous writer, but only the fragments of his works quoted by Oribasius are extant. Of these extracts, the most interesting describe his method of operating on aneurisms. Antyllus is the earliest writer whose directions for performing tracheotomy are extant.