Zagros

Zagros, the ancient name of a range of mountains which separated Media from Assyria. (See Persia, vol. xiii., p. 315).

Zahdicl Boylston

Zahdicl Boylston, an American physician, born at Brookline, Mass., in 1680, died in Boston, March 1, 1766. In 1721, when the smallpox appeared at Boston, the attention of the faculty was called by Cotton Mather to inoculation. Dr. Boylston, the only member of that body who did not treat the communication with disdain, commenced the practice successfully in his own family, and extended it to other cases. But the opposition to the new process was so stubborn that the doctor was in danger of being mobbed, until six clergymen came forward in his support, and the practice approved itself. In 1721 and 1722 he inoculated 247 persons; 39 were inoculated by others; of the whole number only 6 died. During the same period, of 5,759 who had the disease in the natural way, 844 died.

Zaire

See Congo.

Zala

Zala, a S. W. county of Hungary, bordering on Croatia, from which it is separated by the Drave, and on Styria; area, 1,890 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 333,237, chiefly Magyars. It is mountainous or hilly, and about three fifths covered with woods. Excellent wine is obtained on the island of the Mur and on Lake Balaton. Agriculture^ fishing, and the raising of bees and swine are the chief occupations. Capital, Zala-Egerszeg.

Zaleucus

Zaleucus, the lawgiver of Locri Epizephyrii (Western Locri), a Greek colony in southern Italy. Nothing trustworthy has been recorded of his life, and some authorities doubt that he ever existed. The nature of his laws is also unknown. Tradition places him at about 660 B. C, and speaks of him also as a pupil or slave of Pythagoras, who lived about a century later. Those who accept the former date re'gard his laws as the first written code possessed by the Greeks. They are said to have been of extraordinary rigor. Whoever proposed a new law was obliged to appear in public with a rope around his neck, and if his proposition was not accepted he was immediately strangled.

Zama

Zama, an ancient town of Numidia, on the border of the Carthaginian territory. Here took place on Oct. 19, 202 B. C, the defeat of Hannibal by Scipio which terminated the second Punic war. (See Hannibal).

Zamcebar

See Zanzibar.

Zampieri

See Domenichino.

Zancle

See Messina.

Zapata

Zapata, a S. W. county of Texas, bounded W. by the Rio Grande, which separates it from Mexico; area, 1,425 sq. m.; pop. in 1870,1,488. The surface is level or undulating, with hills in the N. part, and the soil in the valley of the river is fertile. The inhabitants, mostly Mexicans, are devoted to stock raising. The chief productions in 1870 were 7,945 bushels of Indian corn and 37,675 lbs. of wool. There were 4,119 horses, 3,716 milch cows, 3,696 other cattle, and 34,960 sheep. Capital, Carrizo.

Zara (Anc. Jadera)

Zara (Anc. Jadera), a city of Austria, capital of Dalmatia, on a promontory of the Adriatic extending into the gulf of Zara, 74 m. N. W. of Spalato; pop. in 1870, 8,014. It is strongly fortified, and has a spacious harbor, but is exposed to the sirocco and bora. It has a cathedral, five churches (including St. Simon's, with the relics of that saint, and St. Anastasia's, the former cathedral, now the metropolitan church), an arsenal, a museum of art and antiquities, a theatre, and various schools. It is celebrated for the liquors called maraschino and rosoglio, and leather, silk, and linen are manufactured. There are remains of an aqueduct built by Trajan. - Zara stood a celebrated siege by the combined French and Venetians at the beginning of the fourth crusade.