poetical contemplations, and corresponded in Latin with the learned Schurtzfleisch. At that time, the opinions of the Pietists (q. v.), in Germany, attracted much attention. The pious Spener (q. v.) often visited Mad. von Gersdorf. His visits, and the pious meetings, held daily in the house, contributed to awaken early religious feelings in young Zinzendorf, which soon ran into extravagance. While a child, he used to write little letters to the Savior, and throw them out of the window, hoping that the Lord might find them. When ten years old, he was sent to the academy of Halle, then under the direction of its founder, the devout Franke. (q. v.) Here he established pious meetings, and founded a mystic order of the mustard-seed. His uncle and guardian did not view his turn of mind favorably, as he wished to prepare him for practical life, and sent him, in 1716, to the university of Wittenberg, the theological teachers of which were known under the name of the Orthodox, and were the most violent opponents of the Pietists of Halle. The feelings of Zinzendorf, however, remained unchanged, and, in 1717, when the centennial celebration of the reformation took place at Wittenberg, he shut himself up in his chamber, and mourned over the degeneracy of the church, with fasting and weeping. Besides his other studies, he applied himself, without assistance or guidance, to theology, and, at this early period, resolved to devote himself to the ecclesiastical profession. He left Wittenberg in 1719, and travelled through Holland and France. These travels he described in a work bearing the title Pilgrimage of Atticus through the World. During this period, he spent his time chiefly in conversing with distinguished clergymen on religious subjects. In 1721, he received an appointment in the government at Dresden, but, in 1727, resigned it, having, during his term of office, taken little share in business, and chiefly occupied himself with the study of theology and pious exercises. In 1722, he married a countess of Reuss von Ebersdorf, and gave some emigrant Moravian Brethren permission to settle on his estate of Berthelsdorf, in Upper Lusatia. This settlement received, in 1724, the name of Herrnhut (q. v.), which signifies "protection of the Lord." The settlers were at first few, but soon increased in number; and the count, in conjunction with a Lutheran minister, named Rothe, the clergyman of Berthelsdorf, and some others, labored to instruct

them, and to educate their children. At length, he conceived the idea of founding a religious community,-not a sect, as the United Brethren do not consider themselves a sect, and, for this purpose, made known his opinions in various writings, sometimes contradictory to each other, which excited much opposition. But the obstacles in the way of his plan could not induce him to give it up. In 1734, he went, under an assumed name, to Stral sund, passed an examination as a theological candidate, and preached for the first time in the city church. He now travelled into different countries, in order to extend his society, from which already missionaries proceeded; but, as may be imagined, he did not every where meet with a favorable reception. In 1736, he was banished from his country. The causes assigned were the innovations, conventicles and dangerous principles that he had introduced, by which the authority of the government, and the established forms of religious worship, were brought into disrepute. But, in 1747, this order was repealed. Zinzendorf, in the mean time, had been consecrated bishop of the Moravian church in Berlin. As he could not preach publicly in that city, he held for a time private meetings in his house, which were very much frequented. In 1739, he wrote a kind of catechism,— the Good Word of the Lord,-and made a voyage to St. Thomas and St. Croix, in the West Indies, where the Brethren had already established missions. (q. v.) His object was to put these on a firmer footing. With the same view, he went, in 1741, to North America, whither a daughter, sixteen years old, accompanied him. He as sisted here in establishing missions among some of the Indian tribes. On all these expeditions, he was incessantly occupied, not only with preaching, corresponding, and attending to the general concerns of the society, but in writing books. He wrote, during this time, more than a hundred books, some for the edification and instruction of his society, others in answer to attacks on himself and his followers, and others giving accounts of the origin and organization of the society, and of his own labors. Many excellent and elevated passages are to be found in them, which J. G. Müller, in his sketch of Zinzendorf (in the Confessions of Remarkable Men, 3d vol., p. 166 et seq., 222 et seq.), has collected; but many parts of them are such as most readers would consider extravagant, and many expressions appear indecorous and objectionable. These are

to be attributed to the warmth of his imagination, and his habits of rapid composition, connected, perhaps, with a desire of appearing original, and a want of taste. His hymns, in particular, which stand unaltered in the old hymn-book of the Herrnhuters, are full of quaint, ambiguous and indecent expressions and images, and are often far from bearing the stamp of poetic inspiration, especially those hymns in which he represents the mysterious union of Jesus, the Bridegroom, with his bride, the church; and not less objectionable was his doctrine of the office of mother (Mutteramte), which he ascribed to the Holy Ghost. Sometimes a whole hymn consists of but one image variously presented. These absurdities had even extended to the religious service. Zinzendorf himself, in the latter part of his life, would gladly have blotted out many of these passages from his writings, and strove to give a better direction to his community, in which he was not without success. Certainly part of the praise which must be given to the Moravians for their activity, their industry, their peaceable manners, and good behavior, wherever they have settled, is due to their founder. When he returned, in 1743, to Europe, he made a journey to Livonia, where he had adherents; but the Russian government prohibited him from proceeding farther; and he was sent back to the frontier under a military escort. He then made several visits to Holland and England, where he spent above four years, and, countenanced by archbishop Porter, general Oglethorp, and others, obtained an act of parliament for the protection of his followers throughout the British dominions. Though the number of his opponents constantly increased, he had the satisfaction of seeing new societies of his followers arising, which sent missions to other parts of the world; e. g. the East Indies, Tranquebar, &c. He also succeeded in establishing a Moravian academy, and in obtaining a commission of investigation into their principles, which commission declared the Moravian community true adherents of the Confession of Augsburg. (See the article United Brethren.) His second wife was Anna Nitschmann, who, in 1725, had come with her parents

A remarkable proof of the peaceable and sober character of the Moravians, is to be found in the fact that, during the late revolt of the slaves in the island of Jamaica, in which the feelings of the whites were excited to the highest degree against the missionaries, so that they were in general ordered to leave the island, and a few were executed, the Moravians alone were allowed to remain undisturbed.

ZIRCON. This rare mineral, which is sometimes a gem, occurs in crystals, whose forms are octahedrons and right square prisms surmounted by four-sided pyramids. The primary form is an obtuse octahedron, whose planes over the summit incline under the angle of 84°20'. Cleavage takes place parallel to the faces of the primary figure, but with great difficulty; lustre adamantine; color red, brown, yellow, gray and white; streak white; specific gravity 4.5 to 4.7; hardness rather superior to quartz. It varies from transparent to opaque. Before the blow-pipe, alone, it is infusible, but with borax, melts into a transparent glass. It consists of

Zircon occurs imbedded in sienite and granite. It is also found imbedded in several simple minerals, and occurs in the sands of rivers. Its localities are Frederick-Schwerin in Norway, Kitiksul in Greenland, at which places it is found in sienite. It occurs at several places in the mountains of gneiss, in New York and New Jersey; also in magnetic iron ore, at Monroe in New York. Very distinct detached crystals are brought from Buncombe county, in North Carolina. Loose crystals of fine colors are found in the sands of rivers in Ceylon, with spinelle ruby, sapphire, and iron sand; likewise in the district of Ellore, in India, and in the brook Expailly, in France. All the varieties of zircon which possess transparency, are cut and polished by the lapidary, but, in general, are not greatly esteemed. The exposure of some colors to heat deprives them of their hues, in which condition they are said to have been sold for diamonds.

ZIRCONIA. This earth was discovered by Klaproth, in 1789, in the zircon. To obtain it, powder the zircon very fine, mix it with two parts of pure potash,

and heat them red hot in a silver crucible for one hour. Treat the substance obtained with distilled water, pour it on a filter, and wash the insoluble part well. It will be a compound of zirconia, silex, potash, and oxide of iron. Dissolve it in muriatic acid, and evaporate to dryness, to separate the silex. Redissolve the muriates of zirconia and iron in water; and, to separate the zirconia which adheres to the silex, wash it with weak muriatic acid, and add this to the solution. Filter the fluid, and precipitate the zirconia and iron by pure ammonia; wash the precipitates well, and then treat the hydrates with oxalic acid, boiling them well together, that the acid may act on the iron, retaining it in solution, whilst an insoluble oxalate of ammonia is formed. It is then to be filtered, and the oxalate washed, until no iron can be detected in the water that passes. The earthy oxalate is, when dry, of an opaline color. After being well washed, it is to be decomposed by heat in a platina crucible. Thus obtained, the zirconia is perfectly pure, but is not affected by acids. It must be reacted on by potash as before, and then washed until the alkali is removed. Afterwards dissolve it in muriatic acid, and precipitate by ammonia. The hydrate thrown down, when well washed, is easily soluble in acids. It is insoluble in water and the pure alkalies, but the alkaline carbonates dissolve it. Heated with the blowpipe, it does not melt, but emits a yellowish phosphoric light. Heated in a crucible of charcoal, bedded in charcoal powder, placed in a stone crucible, and exposed to a good forge for some hours, it undergoes a hasty fusion, which unites its particles into a gray opaque mass, resembling porcelain. In this state, it is sufficiently hard to strike fire with steel, and scratch glass. Specific gravity 4.3. Potassium, when brought into contact with zirconia ignited to whiteness, is converted into potash, and dark particles of zirconium, the metallic base of the earth, make their appearance. They are as black as charcoal, and, at a temperature slightly elevated, burn with great intensity. It combines with sulphur, and forms a sulphuret of zirconium.

ZIRKNITZ, or CZIRKNITZ; a remarkable lake of the Austrian states, in Carniola, twenty-three miles south-west of Laybach. It is situated amidst lofty mountains and frightful precipices, containing vast subterranean caverns, which communicate with each other by openings, in general small. The lake is six miles in length, and three in breadth, and presents a curious phenomenon. The bottom remains

dry for about four months, is cultivated, and made to produce a crop of millet and hay. At the end of that time, the water rises with great impetuosity, and fills the lake in the short space of twenty-four hours. This singular phenomenon is owing to its having two subterranean outlets, by which the water is discharged, and through which it again rises.

ZISCA, or ZIZKA (pronounced Shishka), John Zisca, of Trocnow, the formidable general of the Hussites, was descended from a noble Bohemian family, and was born about 1360, on a farm belonging to his parents, at Trocnow, in the present circle of Budweis, in the open air, under an oak. He lost his right eye in his boyhood, but did not, as some have supposed, derive the name of Zisca from that circumstance. This was the name of his family, and does not signify one-eyed. He went as a page to the court of Wenceslaus VI, king of Bohemia, where he subsequently became a chamberlain. He displayed great talents from early youth, but, at the same time, a gloomy and solitary disposition. His first military service was in the band of volunteers who went from Bohemia and Hungary to assist the Teutonic knights against the Poles. He took part in the battle of Tanneburg, on July 15, 1410, in which the knights suffered a great defeat. Zisca then fought in the Hungarian service against the Turks, and afterwards with the English against the French, at the battle of Agincourt (1415). After his return, he remained at the court of king Wenceslaus, and shared in the indignation of a great part of the Bohemian nation, at the fate of the two reformers, Huss (q. v.) and Jerome of Prague. (q. v.) A monk having dishonored his sister, who was a nun, and abandoned her, Zisca became bent on vengeance. Wenceslaus himself one day told him, that, if he knew any means of taking revenge for the disgrace inflicted on the Bohemians at Constance, he had his consent to use them. Zisca now left the court, tried the disposition of the people, and soon returned to Prague. Nicholas of Hussynecz had already placed himself at the head of the insurgents, and Wenceslaus called on the citizens of Prague to give up their arms; but Zisca led them armed into the castle (April 15, 1418), and he said to the king, "With these weapons will we fight for thee;" and the citizens retained their arms. Zisca was considered, from this time, the head of the Hussites. On the occasion of a procession (July 30, 1419), the priest of the Hussites was hit by a stone. They immediately stormed the town-house, at the

instigation of Zisca, and threw thirteen of the city council out of the window on the pikes of the people. King Wenceslaus died of fear in consequence of this affair. His brother and successor, the emperor Sigismond, delayed undertaking the government of Bohemia, and Zisca gained time to make his preparations; yet he was at first obliged to retreat from Prague to Pilsen. Sigismond now began to execute the adherents of the new doctrine, and the Hussites, under Zisca, swore never to acknowledge him as king of Bohemia. They erected fortresses, and Zisca caused a town to be built on mount Tabor, from which the Hussites are sometimes called Taborites. He fortified the new city in a way which reflected honor on his skill. He is also said to have invented the bulwark of wagons, by which he protected his infantry against the enemy, as he was destitute of cavalry. In a short time, he disciplined his ill-armed and licentious horde. A few successful engagements procured him better arms, and horses for mounting a part of his men. His enterprises were undertaken from vengeance, religious hatred and love of plunder. He committed many cruelties, partly in order to make himself feared, partly because he was obliged to yield to the wild passions of his fanatical followers. In order to defend Prague against Sigismond, who was approaching with a large army, he repaired thither, and intrenched himself on the hill of Wittkow. Here, July 14, 1420, he repelled repeatedly the assaults of 30,000 men with 4000; and the place is still called Zisca's hill. From want of money, the emperor effected little during this campaign. In 1421, Zisca took the castle of Prague, and there got possession of the first four cannons, which, since the invention of gunpowder, had found their way to Bohemia. From this time, cannons and guns (though the latter could be procured at first only by noblemen) became common among the Hussites and their enemies. Zisca continued his system of plundering in Bohemia, took several fortresses, generally by assault, and treated the conquered cruelly. After the death of Nicholas of Hussynecz, in 1421, all the Hussites acknowledged him as their leader and chief; but he caused the crown of Bohemia to be offered to the king of Poland. By incredibly quick marches he every where anticipated the enemy. During the siege of the castle of Raby, an arrow deprived him of his only remaining eye. He now had himself carried about with his army on a car, so that he could be seen by his men, whom he arranged for battle

by means of the descriptions which were given to him of the country. He had a legion called the invincible brethren, with which he generally decided the fate of actions. He defeated a considerable army which the emperor Sigismond sent against him, at Dentschbrod (Jan. 18, 1422), and even penetrated, in 1422, into Moravia and Austria. The citizens of Prague refusing to obey his orders, he humbled them by several defeats. Only once, at Kremsir, in Moravia, he was obliged to retreat. This was the only time that he was ever beaten in the open field. Sigismond offered him, at last, the government of Bohemia, with great privileges, if he would declare for him. But during the negotiations, while he was occupied with the siege of Przibislaw, in the circle of Czaslau, a pestilential disorder carried him off (Oct. 12, 1424). The Taborites, infuriated at his death, stormed the town, and killed every living being, and burnt every dwelling. Zisca had won thirteen pitched battles, and been victorious in more than a hundred fights, notwithstanding his blindness and age. He considered himself an instrument of God's wrath, and called the cries of the monks and priests whom he sent to the stake, his sister's bridal song. He was buried in the church of Czaslau; and his favorite weapon (an iron battle-axe) was hung up over his tomb. It is related that the emperor Ferdinand I, more than a hundred and thirty years after, when on a journey to Prague, happening to visit the church of Czaslau, and being told that Zisca was buried there, immediately left the church, and even the town. The tomb was overturned in 1627, by order of the emperor, and Zisca's bones removed. The story of his having ordered his skin to be used as a drum, is a fable.-See Max. Millauer's Diplomatic Historical Essay on John Zisca of Trocnow (Prague, 1824, in German); see also the article Huss and Hussites.

ZITTAU; a town eighteen leagues from Dresden, in the Saxon province of Upper Lusatia, on the river Mandau, which empties into the Neisse, in the vicinity; population, 8100; lat. 50° 49′ N. Zittau is the centre of an active transit trade, owing to its situation near the Bohemian frontier, and in the midst of some industrious manufacturing villages. Here are a gymnasium, five churches, a theatre, &c.

ZIZANIA. (See Wild Rice.)

ZNAYM; a town in Moravia, capital of a circle of the same name, near the river Teya, thirty-eight miles north-west of Vienna, and sixty-eight south-west of Olműtz; lon. 16°2′ E.; lat. 48° 31′ N.; pop

ulation, 6000. It contains a citadel, a Catholic gymnasium, a Carthusian monastery, and some good houses, but is generally ill-built.—Population of the circle, 135,567; houses, 24,298; families, 33,578; square miles, 1260, It is generally hilly, but tolerably fertile. In the neighborhood of this town, the armistice between the French and Austrians was concluded July 12, 1809, which was followed by the peace of Vienna. (q. v.)

ZOBEIDE, or ZEBD-EL-KHEWATIN (the flower of women), was the cousin and wife of the celebrated caliph Haroun al Rashid. (q. v.) History records her piety and generosity, and the Persian writers speak of her as the founder of Tauris, one of the chief cities of Persia: but she performs a more important part in the Arabian Nights, in which she is a more conspicuous character than in history. She died in 831, after having survived her illustrious husband twenty years.

ZOBTENBERG; a mountain in Silesia, about eighteen miles from Breslau, near the small town of Zobten, 2318 feet above the level of the sea, with a fine extensive view from the top. According to Bűsching, the ancient Asciburg, or Asen castle (Asgard), stood here, corresponding to the mons Asciburgius of Ptolemy. The mountain is of a primary character. A block of from 7000 to 8000 cwt. was taken from this mountain, which, according to the wish of marshal Blücher, is to cover his tomb in the shape of a cube.

ZODIAC (from the Greek gudia, animals, because the constellations composing it are represented under the figures of animals), in astronomy; an imaginary ring or broad circle in the heavens, in the form of a belt or girdle, within which the planets all make their revolutions. In the middle of it runs the ecliptic, or path of the sun in his annual course; and its breadth, comprehending the deviations or latitudes of the earlier known planets, is, by some authors, accounted sixteen, some eighteen, and others twenty degrees. The zodiac, cutting the equator obliquely, makes with it the same angle as the ecliptic, which is its middle line; which angle, continually varying, is now nearly equal to 23° 28, which is called the obliquity of the ecliptic, and constantly varies between certain limits which it can never exceed. (See Ecliptic.) The zodiac is divided into twelve equal parts, of thirty degrees each, called the signs of the zodiac, being so named from the constellations which anciently occupied them. But the stars having a motion from west to east, those

constellations do not now correspond to their proper signs; from whence arises what is called the precession of the equinoxes. And, therefore, when a star is said to be in such a sign of the zodiac, it is not to be understood of that constellation, but only of that dodecatemory, or twelfth part of it. (See Constellations, Precession of the Equinox, and Denderah.)

ZODIACAL LIGHT; a triangular beam of light, rounded a little at the vertex, which is seen at certain seasons of the year, before the rising and after the setting of the sun. It resembles the faint light of the Milky Way, and has its base always turned towards the sun, and its axis inclined to the horizon. The length of this pyramidal light, reckoning from the sun as its base, is sometimes 45°, and at others 150°; and the vertical angle is sometimes 26°, and sometimes 10°. It is generally supposed to arise from an atmos phere surrounding the sun, and appears to have been first observed by Descartes and by Childrey in 1659; but it did not attract general attention till it was noticed by Dominique Cassini (q. v.), who gave it its present name. If we suppose the sun to have an atmosphere, as there is every reason to believe from the luminous aurora which appears to surround his dise in total eclipses (see Sun), it must be very much flattened at its poles, and swelled out at the equator, by the centrifugal force of his equatorial parts. (See Atmosphere.) When the sun, then, is below the horizon, a portion of this luminous atmosphere will appear like a pyramid of light above the horizon. The obliquity of the zodiacal light will evidently vary with the obliquity of the sun's equator to the horizon; and in the months of February and March, about the time of the vernal equinox, it will form a very great angle with the horizon, and ought, therefore, to be seen most distinctly at that season of the year. But when the sun is in the summer solstice, he is in the part of the ecliptic which is parallel to the equator, and, therefore, his equator, and consequently the zodiacal light, is more oblique to the hori zon. Laplace, however, has made some objections to this theory in his Mécanique Celeste; and Regnier is of opinion that it is owing merely to the refraction of the solar light by the earth's atmosphere.

ZOËGA, George, a Dane, one of the greatest antiquarians of our time, was born Dec. 20, 1755, at Dahler, a village in Jutland, where his father was a clergyman. In 1772, he entered the gymnasium of Altona, and, in 1773, the university