of the population of the State is of German extraction having settled especially in Saint Louis and along the Missouri River. A large percentage of the population is also composed of Irish, 23,290; English, 13,751; Canadians, 7,961; Swiss, 6,141; Russians, 21,401, and 5,654 Swedes. The native American population until a generation ago was mostly descended from immigrants from the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, but during the last 40 years a large accession of the population has come from the Eastern and Northwestern States. Saint Louis, the largest city in the State and one of the most important in the Mississippi Valley, had a population of 687,029 according to the last official census. Kansas City, the next largest city in the State on its western border, had a population of 248,381, but is growing more rapidly than any other city in the State. Saint Joseph, in the northwestern part of the State, is given by the same census a population of 77,403; Hannibal, a river town in the eastern part of the State, 18,341; Springfield, in the central southern portion, 35,201; Joplin, in the extreme southwestern part of the State, 32,073: Sedalia, in the central part of the State, 17,822; Jefferson City, the capital, 11,850.

History. Missouri is a part of the territory taken possession of by the French adventurer and discoverer, La Salle, 9 April 1682, which he named Louisiana in honor of the reigning king, Louis XIV, of France. The exact dates of the first settlements are unknown. Some historians give 1763 as the date of the first settlement and others, supported by traditions, place it as early as 1735. Saint Louis was settled by Pierre Laclede Liguest, a Frenchman. The site was selected in 1763, and in 1764 August Choteau, at the order of Liguest, began the erection of a village. Other earlier. settlements were for years confined to the banks of the rivers. The French governor's official residence to 1701 was at Fort Biloxi; from 1701 to 1723 at Mobile, and then at New Orleans. On 3 Nov. 1762, France ceded Louisiana to Spain, but the Spanish authorities did not take possession of Upper Louisiana, of which Saint Louis was the capital, till 20 May 1770. Spain retroceded Louisiana to France by treaty of 1 Oct. 1800, ratified 21 March 1801, but the actual transfer of Upper Louisiana

of

was not made until 9 March 1804. France ceded for a cash consideration the province of Louisiana to the United States, 30 April 1803, the actual transfer of Upper Louisiana being made at Saint Louis on 10 March 1804. Under act of Congress, approved 31 Oct. 1803, President Thomas Jefferson appointed Wm. C. C. Claiborne (who was at the time governor of the Mississippi Territory) governor, and invested him with the powers heretofore exercised by the Governor and Intendant of Louisiana." Governor Claiborne assumed the government at New Orleans, 20 Dec. 1803. Capt. Amos Stoddard was appointed agent and commissioner of the French republic 12 Jan. 1804. In that capacity he had received the province from Delassus at Saint Louis 9 March, and the following day delivered it to himself for the United States, having been authorized to do so by Wm. C. C. Claiborne, ex officio governor of the Territory of Louisiana. From 1 Oct. 1804, the district of Louisiana consisted of all that part of the territory purchased from France, except that portion lying south of what is now the State Arkansas. The government was assigned to the officers of the Territory of Indiana, of which William Henry Harrison was governor until 3 March 1805. On this date the Territory of Louisiana was erected with the same limits as the district of Louisiana. The capital was Saint Louis, and from 3 March 1805, until the last part of 1806 James Wilkinson was governor. The Territory of Missouri was erected 7 Dec. 1812, and had the same limits, government and capital as the Territory of Louisiana. From 7 Dec. 1812, to July 1813, Frederick_Bates was secretary and acting governor. From July 1813, to 1820 William Clark was governor. Under act of Congress, passed 6 March 1820, the State of Missouri was organized. The Constitutional Convention met in Saint Louis, 19 July 1820. The State officers assumed their duties, 19 Sept. 1820, proclamation was issued by President James Monroe, admitting Missouri as a State, 10 Aug. 1821. By act of Congress 7 June 1836, which took effect by proclamation 28 March 1837, the western boundary was extended to include the "Platte Purchase," area of which was 3,168 square miles. The application for statehood and admission into the Union of Missouri on 8 Jan. 1818. was followed by two years of controversy which excited the entire country. The controversy raged about the question as to whether or not slavery should be permitted in Missouri. It was finally brought to an end by the admission of Missouri into the Union upon what is known as the "Missouri Compromise" (q.v.), which forbade the existence of slavery in that part of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36° 31' except in Missouri. The constitution adopted upon the admission of the State remained practically unchanged until 1865. The first governor of the State was Alexander McNair. Saint Charles was first fixed upon as the seat of the government, but in 1826 the capital was removed to Jefferson City, where it remains. The official census of the State, taken in 1821, showed that there were 70.647 inhabitants, of whom 11,254 were slaves. The Missouri troops came in for due recognition in the Indian wars, such as the Black Hawk War of 1832, the Florida War of 1837 and afterward in the

Mexican War of 1846. Besides being a border State and a slave State as well, in all troubles preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, Missouri was deeply concerned. In many parts of the State, the sentiment was strongly in favor of secession. Governor Jackson on 3 Aug. 1861 declared that Missouri must take its stand by the side of the slave-holding States whatever they might desire to do. In a convention called to consider the affairs of the nation sentiment was found hostile to secession and the convention refused to commit the State to secession. United States troops were gathered at Saint Louis. Attempts made to take possession of the United States arsenal at Saint Louis, with its equipment, by the Secessionists were defeated and within a few months after the outbreak of the war the greater part of the State was under the control of the Federal forces. Governor Jackson declared the State out of the Union, and Confederate forces were assembled in the southwestern part of the State. The State Convention which had convened before the war again convened and declared the executive officers and the seats of the members of the general assembly vacant, The executive offices were then filled by appointment by the convention. At the battle of Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, General Lyon,' who had been a strong Union leader, was killed and General Frémont, who had been placed in charge of the Department of the West, declared martial law throughout the State. At the beginning of 1862 the Confederates held nearly half of the State, but their strength gradually waned. The State furnished to the United States during the Civil War 108,773 troops, and to the Confederate army more than 50,000, keeping the State's quota full without draft or enforced enlistment not merely in one but in both armies, a record unexampled among the States North or South. In 1865 a new constitution was adopted by the people, and in 1869, by a large majority, the 15th amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted. In 1875 a convention framed and the people adopted a new State constitution, omitting many of the drastic provisions of the constitution of 1865 which had been ratified in Reconstruction days. This constitution has since been the fundamental law of the State, modified in minor details by several amendments adopted from time to time.

Professor of History and Principles of Journalism, University of Missouri.

MISSOURI, a river in the United States, the largest tributary of the Mississippi. Its headwaters are in southwestern Montana, and the Missouri River proper begins at the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin. rivers. The Madison has its source in Yellowstone Park, near the headwaters of Yellowstone River and the geysers in the western part of the park. The Gallatin also has its rise in the same park and not far from the source of the Yellowstone and Madison rivers. The Jef-. ferson rises farther west; its headwaters are near the source of the Snake River. The Missouri from the confluence of the three rivers flows north and east to the Bear Paw Mountains, when it turns and flows south and east a distance of about 50 miles, when again the course changes toward the east, from the 108th meridian to about 107° 30′ northeast, then east to North Dakota, which State it enters at 49° N. It has a very irregular course in the northwestern part of North Dakota, but it is generally southeast to South Dakota, which State it enters at 100° 20′ W. It crosses the State of South Dakota, marking an irregular course, generally in a southeasterly direction to the boundary of Nebraska at 42° 45′ N. From here it forms the boundary between South Dakota and Nebraska to Iowa at 42° 20', when it turns south and forms the boundary between Nebraska and Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri, and Kansas and Missouri to Kansas City, where it enters the State of Missouri, flows east by north to Brunswick, then east by south, making two large curves, to the Mississippi which it enters 20 miles north of Saint Louis and three miles below Alton, Ill. The length of the whole course from the source of the Madison River is about 2,915 miles, from the source of the Jefferson about 3,000 miles. From its source to the mouth of the Mississippi River is a total length of

4,200 miles, the longest continuous water-way in the world. There are some peculiar irregularities along its course, one in Montana, where the Musselshell River enters, is in the form of a "V," its opening toward the north, and the sides about 12 miles long. Along the course in each State there are long narrow loops, enclosing lands which are almost islands; across the State of Missouri the river forms three crescents, one pointing north and two pointing south.

The Missouri is noted for the great amount of suspended silt it always carries and which has given it the name "Big Muddy." This silt is deposited in reefs which change the current, and frequently much damage results. In 1903 considerable damages were sustained by the washing away or grinding away of portions of Decatur, and Covington in Nebraska, Sioux City in Iowa and Yankton in South Dakota. The river follows no known rules as to when or where it will deposit its burden of silt, change its current and begin to destroy a solid shore line. Dikes and stone walls have been constructed in many places. In the upper part of its course the Missouri passes through the "Gate of the Rocky Mountains," a gorge about six miles long and having perpendicular walls about 1,200 feet in height. At Great Falls, Mont., there are a series of falls making vertical descent of 350 feet in 16 miles. The highest falls is 87 feet.

The chief tributaries are in Missouri, the Osage and Kansas; in Nebraska, the Platte and Nibrara; a large number of short streams in Iowa; the Big Sioux, White, James and Cheyenne, in South Dakota; the Little Missouri in North Dakota; and the Yellowstone and Milk in Montana. The extent of country drained by the Missouri and its tributaries is about 500,000 square miles or nearly two-fifths of the whole Mississippi Basin. The northern point of the basin of the Missouri extends almost to the Saskatchewan River. The Missouri is a swiftly flowing stream in its upper course, and for a distance of about 500 miles it presents scenes of almost unequaled grandeur. It forces its way through narrow gorges, foams over cataracts and winds around mountains. In the lower part of its course the waters move more slowly on its journeys across the vast plains. It is navigable in summer, during the flood period, to Great Falls, Mont., and in low water as far as Buford at the mouth of the Yellowstone River. The flat-bottomed steamboats are necessarily those used or navigation on the Missouri.

The principal cities on the river from the upper course to its mouth are Great Falls and Fort Benton in Montana; Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota; Pierre, the capital of South Dakota; Sioux City, Iowa; Omaha, Neb.; Atchison, Leavenworth and Kansas City, Kan.; Kansas City, Saint Joseph and Jefferson City, Mo. That portion of Iowa lying near the mouth of the Little Sioux and north for about 70 miles, between the Missouri and the Little Sioux, is below the level of the Missouri from 8 to 32 feet. The area of the tract below water level is about 840 square miles, and embraces some of the finest farms and most prosperous towns of the State.

The history of this river is connected with the history of the early explorers and mission

aries and with the lives of the miners and settlers of the latter part of the 19th century. The possibilities in the unused water power of its upper course are enormous. The great prairies through which the river passes on its lower course contain the most productive lands in the United States.

MISSOURI, University of, a higher educational institution established by an act of the general assembly of the State of Missouri, approved 11 Feb. 1839, two days after the approval of the act establishing the public school system of the State. In June of the same year the university was located at Columbia, Boone County, which is near the State's geographical centre. Boone County was selected as the home of the State's highest educational institution because its people offered the most liberal bid of the six central Missouri counties. The cornerstone of the main building was laid 4 July 1840, and in the following spring, April 1841, instruction in academic courses was begun. The first class, consisting of two members, was graduated in 1843. Something of the growth of the university is indicated by the fact that in 1917 it awarded 838 degrees and certificates. Women were admitted to the teachertraining department of the university in 1869. Since that time all other departments have been opened to them on the same terms as to men, and gradually the proportion of women students to men has grown, until in 1917 women numbered about one-third of the total enrolment. The government of the University of Missouri is vested in a board of curators, consisting of nine members appointed by the governor of the State, the terms of three members expiring every two years. The student enrolment in 1916-17 was 4,349. The faculty consisted of 208 members of the rank of instructor or higher. Its foundation was made possible by the enlightened policy of the national government with reference to Territories seeking admission into the Union. In admitting Missouri in 1820, Congress set aside two townships of land- 46,080 acres - for the support and maintenance of "a seminary of learning." From the income of this national grant, from the gifts of Boone County people and from student fees, the university received its entire support for the first 28 years of its existence. The first State aid was given in 1867, when $10,000 was appropriated by the general assembly for building and repairs. The university is now supported and maintained by appropriations from the State treasury, by Federal appropriations, income from its endowment funds and by the fees and deposits received from students. Tuition is free to residents of Missouri; students from other States pay a tuition fee of $10 a semester.

The national character of the early University of Missouri has been strengthened by the continuing Federal appropriations and the coming each year of students from more than three-fourths of all the States and nearly all the non-contiguous possessions of the United States. In its former student body of 7,000 graduates and about 25,000 non-graduates, every State and nearly every leading nation of the world has representatives. The university has extended its educational scope to include in the curricula of its various schools and colleges

theoretical instruction and practical training in all the leading activities of its constituents. Starting in 1841 with only an academic department, it is now composed of the following colleges and schools: College of Arts and Science, College of Agriculture, School of Education, School of Law, School of Medicine, School of Engineering, School of Mines and Metallurgy, School of Journalism, School of Business and Public Administration, Graduate School and the Extension Division.

The School of Mines and Metallurgy is at Rolla, Phelps County, Mo.; the other divisions are at Columbia. In addition to the work of the above schools and colleges, emphasis is given in particular lines of study by the establishment of minor divisions, chief of which are the Agricultural Experiment Station, the Engineering Experiment Station, the Missouri State Military School and the Mining Experiment Station at Rolla. The university also holds a summer session. In all the divisions of the university the laboratory method is followed. The university grounds at Columbia cover more than 800 acres. The main divisions are in the West Campus, the East Campus, the athletic fields and the university farm. A 20-acre tract of timber land near the university is used for experimental work in forestry and a demonstration forest. About five miles south an 80acre tract is used for experimental work in horticulture. On a 90-acre tract two miles north of the university is a new plant for the manufacture of hog cholera serum. The university also has a forest of 50,000 acres in the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri. On the grounds at Columbia are about 50 university buildings. The libraries of the university are the general library; law library; medical library; engineering library; agricultural library; collections in the observatory, chemical, geological and zoological buildings; and the library of the School of Mines at Rolla. These libraries contain about 200,000 volumes and pamphlets, and 1,400 publications are received currently in Columbia. The general library is now housed in a separate building, erected in 1915.

Students' expenses average $300 a year for men and $375 for women. Material reductions from these figures may be accomplished by living at the university dormitories and eating at the Commons.

Scholarship at the university is promoted by the offering of a large number of fellowships, scholarships and prizes. These yield from $50 to $400 a year. Each school and college also has its honorary organizations, and there are local branches of several national, scientific and professional societies.

MISSOURI COMPROMISE, in American politics, a term given to a compromise under an act of Congress passed in February 1821, at which time Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave State, declaring that all territory west of Missouri and north of lat. 36° 30′ should forever be free from slavery. This compromise was virtually repealed in 1854, when territorial governments were established for Kansas and Nebraska. Consult Woodburn on Historical Significance of the Missouri Compromise (in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1893); and Hodder,

'Side Lights on the Missouri Compromise' (ib. 1909). See KANSAS, History; KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL; MISSOURI.

MISSOURI,

or GOURD-SEED, SUCKER, a fish. See BLACK HORSE.

MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa, city in Harrison County, on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, about 120 miles west of Des Moines, the capital of the State, and 20 miles north of Council Bluffs. It is in a fruit growing and stock raising district and has large railroad shops, machine-shop, flour-mills, dairy products, bricks, coffins, grain elevators and stock yards. The fair grounds of the County Agricultural Society are located here. It has a Carnegie public library and the city owns and operates the waterworks. Pop. about 4,000.

MISSOURI VALLEY COLLEGE, in Marshall, Mo., a coeducational institution, founded under the auspices of the Cumberland Presbyterians in 1889. The courses lead to the degrees of A.B. and Ph.B. The faculty comprises 13 instructors and professors and the average attendance of students is over 200. The library and the grounds, buildings and apparatus are valued at $125,000; the productive funds at $113,000, and the annual income about $19,000.

MIST. See FOG.

MISTAKE, a term commonly used as the equivalent of blunder, error, erratum and particularly employed in law of a misconception affecting action. In general the law, by an extension of the rule that ignorance is no excuse, makes a mistake without remedy. This does not apply, however, in any misapprehension which may be brought under the law of contracts or the principle of quasi-contract. So, too, in equity there is a possibility of relief for mistake and its consequences.

MISTASSINI, mis-täs-se'nē, Canada, a lake in Quebec province, about 300 miles north of Quebec, and due east from the southern point of James Bay in Hudson Bay. It consists of two parallel narrow portions separated by a chain of islands, the western and larger portion being about 100 miles long, and a maximum breadth of 20 miles. Area, 975 square miles. It has a depth of between 300 and 400 feet. It drains by Rupert River into James Bay. The waters of Mistassini teem with fish, while its shores are densely wooded. The lake was first visited by French missionaries in 1671, but was not surveyed until 1884. The Hudson's Bay Company maintains a trading-post on the lake.

MISTLE-THRUST, or STORMCOCK, British names for a large European thrush (Turdus viscivorous), whose fine song is heard for a longer season than in the case of most birds, and on rainy days as well as sunny. Its common name is due to its unusual fondness for the berries of the mistletoe. In plumage it resembles the American wood-thrush.

MISTLETOE, a popular name for several related shrubs parasitic upon various deciduous trees, such as apple, thorn, maple, poplar, locust, linden, but rarely oak. The European or common mistletoe (Viscum album) of the natural order Loranthacea, is the one referred to in

poetry and prose but a relative named Phoradendron flavescens is the species most commonly found at Christmas time in the markets of America. The former, which is common almost throughout Europe, is an evergreen, bifurcately branched shrub, with opposite. almost sessile, oblong, leathery leaves; inconspicuous flowers in small terminal heads or in the angles of the branches, the pistillate and staminate flowers upon separate plants; and whitish, translucent, glutinous berries about a quarter of an inch in diameter. The stickiness serves to attach the berries to the host plant until germination is complete, the sprout, it is said, always turning toward the point of attachment. The American or false mistletoe is similar in habit and appearance, and has fallen heir to some of the traditions and functions of its European cousin, especially the Christmas practice of kissing under a suspended sprig. Anciently the European species was held to be sacred by the Druids and the Germans, and by the Celts was credited with magical properties, references to all of which are frequent in literature. Its formerly reputed value in medicine has also passed away. Several other species are well known, especially the fragrant flowered Loranthus odoratus, and L. europæus; the latter being distinguished for its racemes of flowers and its frequent appearance upon oak trees. The common American species mentioned above ranges from New Jersey to Indiana and southward to Florida and Texas. Several related species are found on the Pacific

coast.

MISTRAL, mes-träl, Frédéric, French poet: b. Maillane, Bouches-du-Rhone, 8 Sept. 1830; d. there, 25 March 1914. He studied law for a time, but abandoned it and gave his attention to writing in Provençal, the dialect of southern France, which, under the influence of Jasmin, the "barber-poet," had entered on a renaissance as a literary medium. In 1854 he, with six others, founded the well-known Society of the Felibrige; and in 1859 he published his 'Mirèio, a narrative poem in the recovered language, which was crowned by the Académie in 1861. A second work in verse, 'Calendau, came out in 1867; a volume of poems, 'Lis Isclo d'Or (The Isles of Gold), in 1875; Lou Trésor dou Félibrige,' a dictionary of modern Provençal, in 1878-86; and the historical poem Nerto,' in 1884. 'La Reino Jano (1890) is a tragedy, and 'Le Poème du Rhône' (1879), another narrative poem. There are English renderings of Mireio by Grant (1867), Crichton (1868) and Preston (1872). In 1904 he was awarded, jointly with José Eshegaray, the Nobel prize in literature. Consult Downer, 'Frédéric Mistral) (1901).

MISTRAL, the local or provincial name of a strong northwest wind, which, blowing from the Alps, forms one of the scourges of Provence and the valley of the Rhône. It is caused by low atmospheric pressure in the Gulf of Lyons with high pressure in the north, and corresponds with the "bora" of southern Russia. It blows with great violence during the winter and spring months. Its approach is indicated by a sudden change in the temperature from warmth to cold; the air becomes purer and more invigorating, light fleecy clouds are seen in the sky and at night the stars shine

with extraordinary brightness. The tempest it causes in the Mediterranean from Ebro to the Gulf of Genoa is very dangerous to small vessels.

MISTRETTA, me-strět'ta, Sicily, town in the province of Messina, 34 miles northeast of Caltanissetta, 50 miles northwest of Catania and about 11 miles from the sea. It is in the most fertile region of Sicily and is 3,200 feet above sea-level. Lignite is mined in the vicinity. The chief industries are farming and cattleraising. An annual fair is held here. The name was anciently Aniestratus. Pop. 18,000.

MISTRIAL, a trial which is erroneous on account of some defect in the persons trying, as if the jury come from the wrong county, or because there was no issue formed, as if no plea be entered, or some other defect of jurisdiction. Where a jury is discharged without a verdict, the proceeding is properly known as a mistrial. Consent of parties cannot help such a trial, when past. It is error to go to trial without a plea or issue, in the absence of counsel and without his consent, although an affidavit of defense be filed in the case, containing the substance of a plea, and the court has ordered the case on the calendar for trial. On an indictment for perjury, an infant under the age of 21 years, and not otherwise qualified, not having, in fact, been summoned, personated his father as a juror. Here was a mistrial, because the verdict in the case was the verdict of but 11 jurors. A mistrial leaves the parties to an action in statu quo ante, and in criminal cases the indicted person may be retired as at a mistrial such a person is not considered to have been placed in jeopardy. See TRIAL.

MISU, Nicholas, Rumanian diplomat, represented his country (with M. Bratiano) at the Peace Conference in Paris. By origin a Macedonian Rumane, M. Misu adopted Rumanian citizenship and served for many years in Balkan capitals. In London he carried on the negotiations with the British government relating to Rumania's entry into the war. He was called home when the conclusion of peace with Germany became inevitable to negotiate terms with the conquerors. He possesses a remarkable knowledge of European and Balkan languages.

MITANNIANS, a race dwelling in Mesopotamia in the 2d millenium B.C. and that came to light by the discovery of some cuneiform tablets found in the rock tombs of Tell-elAmarna in Upper Egypt (between Memphis and Thebes) in 1887-88. These clay tablets contained Egyptian correspondence with Babylonia, Assyria and other ancient nations. In these tablets, through the scholarship of learned Orientalists, it was discovered that there was a kingdom of Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia which had important relations with Egypt. Moreover, this country was identified as Aram-Naharayim (Aram of the Two Rivers), called in Syriac, Beth-Nahrin, i.e., "the land of the rivers"-Euphrates and Tigris -and meaning particularly the northern portion of Mesopotamia. Aram-Naharayim, in other words Mitanni, was the home of Balaam and probably his famous animal, for in Deut. xxiii, 4 Balaam is called a native of AramNaharayim and Numbers xxiii, 7 reads that