Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/496

MICHIGAN.  the State University of Iowa, Northwestern, and Oberlin. It belongs to the Central Debating League, with the universities of Chicago and Minnesota, and Northwestern University, and has maintained for several years a series of debates with the University of Pennsylvania. Entrance is based upon examination or upon certificates from accredited schools. The university has no dormitories and no commons. Recent extension of the elective system has resulted in a considerable loss in the choice of Latin, Greek, and mathematics, and a marked gain in the modern languages. Among other developments, the establishment of courses in marine engineering and in the training of students for foreign consular service are noteworthy. The faculty in 1902 numbered 247. The endowment of the university was $545,964; its gross income, $741,000. The total value of the college property was $2,501,138, and that of the grounds and buildings $1,583,925. James B. Angell became president in 1871.  MICHIGAN CITY. A city in Laporte County, Ind., 50 miles east of Chicago, Ill.; on Lake Michigan, and on the Lake Erie and Western, the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville, and the Michigan Central railroads (Map:, C 1). It is the seat of the Northern Indiana State Prison, and has a public library, a United States life-saving station, a public park on the lake front, and a soldiers' monument. There are good transportation facilities, to which are due the city's large commercial interests, the trade being principally in lumber, salt, and iron ore. The manufactures of railroad cars, chairs, hosiery and knit goods, lumber and products of lumber are important. The government, as provided by the charter of 1867 and numerous amendments thereto, is vested in a mayor, who holds office for two years, and a common council, which elects all administrative officials, excepting the statutory municipal officers, who are chosen by popular vote. The city owns and operates the water-works. Michigan City was laid out in 1832 and settled in the following year. It was incorporated in 1837. Population, in 1890, 10,776; in 1900, 14,850.  MICHIGAN HERRING. The (q.v.).  MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. A coeducational State institution at Lansing, Mich., the oldest institution of its kind in the country. It was established in pursuance of a constitutional provision in 1855, and was opened in 1857. Its endowment consists of a fund of $800,000 derived from the sale of part of the lands (235,673 acres) given by the General Government through the act of 1862. There are three courses, agricultural, mechanical, and women's or domestic science, which were attended in 1902 by 850 students under a faculty of 60. The library contained 23,000 volumes. Farmers' institutes are carried on annually in each county of the State, the total attendance at these instruction schools in 1902 being about 100,000. The income from the endowment fund, with other Government grants and State appropriations, amounted in 1902 to $225,000. In that year the buildings and grounds were valued at $700,000.  MICHMASH,. The site of the camp of the Philistines in the war at the beginning of Saul's reign, connected with the notable

exploit of (q.v.) related in I. Sam. xiv. It was a town of Benjamin, about seven miles north of Jerusalem. Its importance arose from its position on one of the two main roads from Jerusalem northward, at a point where the road descends into a steep and rugged valley. Josephus (Ant., vi. 6, 2) gives a detailed account of Jonathan's exploit, which tallies well with the features of the locality to-day. Men of Michmash returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 27; Neh. vii. 31). It is mentioned in the fictitious invasion of the Assyrians in Isaiah x. 28 sqq. In the time of the Maccabees it became the headquarters of Jonathan (I. Macc. ix. 73), and was a large village in the time of Eusebius. It is the modern Muhmas.  MICHOACÁN,. A Pacific Coast State of Mexico, bounded by the States of Jalisco and Guanajuato on the north, Mexico on the east, Guerrero and the Pacific Ocean on the south, and Colima and Jalisco on the west (Map:, H 8). Area, 22,874 square miles. The surface is generally mountainous, although its highest elevations are below 13,000 feet. The northern part is the more elevated, being in general over 6000 feet above the sea, with a few peaks exceeding 10,000 feet. The southern part slopes toward the coast, which is mostly low. The extreme northern part is rather flat and interspersed with a number of lakes. With the exception of the large rivers Lerma and Las Balsas, forming part of the boundaries, and the Tepalcatepec, a tributary of Las Balsas, crossing the State from east to west, the rivers are small, but lakes are abundant, and some of them, such as Cuitzeo, are of considerable size. The climate is on the whole healthful, except in the southern part, where fever prevails to some extent. The soil is of remarkable fertility; the principal products are cereals in the more elevated parts, and sugar, coffee, vanilla, tobacco, and other tropical plants in the valleys. Stock-raising and mining are also important industries, and trade is considerable. The province is crossed by the Mexican National and the Mexican Central railway lines. Population, in 1895, 896,495. Capital, (q.v.). Michoacán was inhabited by the Tarascos, who had successfully resisted the domination of the Aztecs up to the time of the Conquest.  MICKIEWICZ, , (1798-1855). The greatest of Polish poets. He was born near Novogrodek, Lithuania; his father was a lawyer of the lesser nobility. Inclined to the study of nature, he took up mathematics and physics at the University of Vilna, but later passed to biology and literature (1815-19). After that he taught Latin and Polish at the gymnasium in Kovno until 1823, publishing there the first collection of his poems in two volumes in 1822. To the legends, superstitions, and tales of the Polish nation contained in it, Mickiewicz gave a wonderfully poetic form, and at one bound became the national poet of the Poles. The volumes contained two longer works: Dziady (Ancestors, Festival in honor of the Dead), a romantic drama; and Gražyna, an historical epic. The former contains much autobiographical material. The poem is deficient in orderliness, the episodes being flung together with almost reckless freedom, but the chief theme—love—has, perhaps, never been better sung. Gražyna relates