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[Illustration: “TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.”

  This picture explains and is symbolic of the most progressive one
    hundred years in history. In the center stands the beautiful
    female figure typifying Industry. To the right are the goddesses
    of Music, Electricity, Literature and Art. Navigation is noted in
    the anchor and chain leaning against the capstan; the Railroad,
    in the rails and cross-ties; Machinery, in the cog-wheels,
    steam governor, etc.; Labor, in the brawny smiths at the anvil;
    Pottery, in the ornamented vase; Architecture, in the magnificent
    Roman columns; Science, in the figure with quill in hand. In the
    back of picture are suggestions of the progress and development
    of our wonderful navy. Above all hovers the angel of Fame ready
    to crown victorious Genius and Labor with the laurel wreaths of
    Success.
]




  TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS
  OF THE
  19TH CENTURY

  THE
  TRUE MIRROR OF A PHENOMENAL ERA


  A VOLUME OF ORIGINAL, ENTERTAINING AND INSTRUCTIVE HISTORIC
  AND DESCRIPTIVE WRITINGS, SHOWING THE MANY AND
  MARVELLOUS ACHIEVEMENTS WHICH DISTINGUISH

  AN HUNDRED YEARS
  OF
  Material, Intellectual, Social and Moral Progress

  EMBRACING AS SUBJECTS ALL THOSE WHICH BEST TYPE THE GENIUS,
  SPIRIT AND ENERGY OF THE AGE, AND SERVE TO BRING INTO
  BRIGHTEST RELIEF THE GRAND MARCH OF IMPROVEMENT
  IN THE VARIOUS DOMAINS OF
  HUMAN ACTIVITY.


  BY
  JAMES P. BOYD, A.M., L.B.,

  _Assisted by a Corps of Thirty-Two Eminent and Specially Qualified
  Authors._

  Copiously and Magnificently Illustrated.


  [Illustration]


  PHILADELPHIA
  A. J. HOLMAN & CO.




  COPYRIGHT, 1899, BY W. H. ISBISTER.
  _All Rights Reserved._

  COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY W. H. ISBISTER.




INTRODUCTORY


Measuring epochs, or eras, by spaces of a hundred years each, that
which embraces the nineteenth century stands out in sublime and
encouraging contrast with any that has preceded it. As the legatee of
all prior centuries, it has enlarged and ennobled its bequest to an
extent unparalleled in history; while it has at the same time, through
a genius and energy peculiar to itself, created an original endowment
for its own enjoyment and for the future richer by far than any
heretofore recorded. Indeed, without permitting existing and pardonable
pride to endanger rigid truth, it may be said that along many of the
lines of invention and progress which have most intimately affected the
life and civilization of the world, the nineteenth century has achieved
triumphs and accomplished wonders equal, if not superior, to all other
centuries combined.

Therefore, what more fitting time than at its close to pass in
pleasing and instructive review the numerous material and intellectual
achievements that have so distinguished it, and have contributed in so
many and such marvelous ways to the great advance and genuine comfort
of the human race! Or, what could prove a greater source of pride and
profit than to compare its glorious works with those of the past, the
better to understand and measure the actual steps and real extent of
the progress of mankind! Or, what more delightful and inspiring than
to realize that the sum of those wonderful activities, of which each
reader is, or has been, a part, has gone to increase the grandeur of a
world era whose rays will penetrate and brighten the coming centuries!

Amid so many and such strong reasons this volume finds excellent cause
for its being. Its aims are to mirror a wonderful century from the
vantage ground of its closing year; to faithfully trace the lines which
mark its almost magical advance; to give it that high and true historic
place whence its contrasts with the past can be best noted, and its
light upon the future most directly thrown.

This task would be clearly beyond the power of a single mind. So rapid
has progress been during some parts of the century, so amazing have
been results along the lines of discovery and invention, so various
have been the fields of action, that only those of special knowledge
and training could be expected to do full justice to the many subjects
to be treated.

Hence, the work has been planned so as to give it a value far beyond
what could be imparted by a single mind. Each of the themes chosen
to type the century’s grand march has been treated by an author of
special fitness, and high up in his or her profession or calling, with
a view to securing for readers the best thoughts and facts relating to
the remarkable events of an hundred years. In this respect the volume
is unique and original. Its authorship is not of one mind, but of a
corps of minds, whose union assures what the occasion demands.

The scope, character, and value of the volume further appear in its
very large number and practical feature of subjects selected to show
the active forces, the upward and onward movements, and the grand
results that have operated within, and triumphantly crowned, an era
without parallel. These subjects embrace the sciences of the century
in their numerous divisions and conquests; its arts and literature;
industrial, commercial, and financial progress; land and sea prowess;
educational, social, moral, and religious growth; in fact, every field
of enterprise and achievement within the space of time covered by the
work.

A volume of such variety of subject and great extent affords fine
opportunity for illustration. The publishers have taken full advantage
of this, and have beautified it in a manner which commends itself to
every eye and taste. Rarely has a volume been so highly and elegantly
embellished. Each subject is illuminated so as to increase the pleasure
of reading and make an impression which will prove lasting.

As to its aim and scope, its number of specially qualified authors, its
vigor and variety of style and thought, its historic comprehensiveness
and exactness, its great wealth of illustration, its superb mechanism,
its various other striking features, the volume may readily rank as one
of the century’s triumphs, a wonder of industrious preparation, and
acceptable to all. At any rate, no such volume has ever mirrored any
previous century, and none will come to reflect the nineteenth century
with truer line and color.

Not only is the work a rare and costly picture, filled in with
inspiring details by master hands, but it is equally a monument, whose
solid base, grand proportions, and elegant finish are in keeping with
the spirit of the era it marks and the results it honors. Its every
inscription is a glowing tribute to human achievement of whatever kind
and wherever the field of action may lie, and therefore a happy means
of conveying to twentieth century actors the story of a time whose
glories they will find it hard to excel. May this picture and monument
be viewed, studied, and admired by all, so that the momentous chapters
which round the history of a closing century shall avail in shaping the
beginnings of a succeeding one.




AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS


                      JAMES P. BOYD, A. M., L. B.,
                        WONDERS OF ELECTRICITY.

                 REAR-ADMIRAL GEORGE WALLACE MELVILLE,
        _Chief of Bureau of Steam Engineering, Navy Department,
                           Washington, D. C._
                     THE CENTURY’S NA