JACOB • 955 JAGUAR

JACOB •                                                    955                                                       JAGUAR

dumb, the insane and, also, the idiotic and feeble-minded. The public-school system is excellent, and the city is greatly beautified by trees. There are manufactories of woolens, paper, machinery, boilers, lumber, confectionery, furniture etc. Population 15,326.

Ja'cob (Heb. Supplanter), one of the three chief patriarchs. His history and character are described in Genesis. His capacity for spiritual growth and true manhood is suggested by his name being changed to Israel or Prince-with-God. His sons were the ancestors of the twelve Hebrew tribes.

Jacobins (jãk'-ō-bĭnz), a political club which had great influence during the French Revolution. The club was at first called the Club Breton, and was formed at Versailles in 178g. The members were all in sympathy with the Revolution. The club met at the former Jacobin convent in Paris. Its power became greater than the national assembly, and no less than 1,200 branch clubs were formed. Almost all the great events which followed were determined by the voice and power of this club. It reached the height of its power in 1792. The popular cry for the death of the king, the uprising of the lower classes against the middle classes and the Reign of Terror throughout France were the work of the Jacobins. But upon the arrest, trial and execution of Robespierre in 1794 the Jacobin club began, to lose its influence. On Nov. 9, 1794 the club was suppressed. The term Jacobins is often employed to indicate persons of extreme revolutionary sentiments.

Jacquard (zha'kar'), Joseph Marie, was an ingenious Frenchman, a native of Lyons, born on July 7, 1752. Early in life he was called upon to carry on the weaving business of his father, and set himself to work to improve the machinery then used in weaving. By his invention he made it possible for an ordinary workman to produce the most beautiful patterns with little labor. The reception of this great invention, like all others, was not encouraging. Napoleon rewarded the weaver by a small pension, but the great body of weavers so opposed the new machine, that on one occasion they tried to take the inventor's life and broke his machine in pieces. But the invention was too valuable to be kept long in the background, and in a few years weaving was almost revolutionized by its use, especially in the finer silk fabrics. On the spot where his machine was publicly destroyed now stands a fine statue of Jacquard. He died near Lyons on Aug. 7, 1834.

Jade, a hard, green stone, highly prized in oriental countries for making ornaments. It also is known as nephrite, being so named by the Greeks because often worn in diseases of the kidneys as an imagined

remedy. It is a compact, translucent stone, usually but not invariably green or greenish in color, variable in composition. It is a variety of hornblende, and is often called axestone because of its frequent use among savages for making weapons and implements.

Jaffa or Jop'pa, a town situated on the seacoast of Syria, about 33 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Jaffa is a place of great beauty as well as of great age. Here, according to fable, Andromeda was chained to a rock and left to be devoured by a sea-monster. It was the port of Jerusalem in the time of David and Solomon. From here Jonah sailed for Tarshish. It was at Jaffa that Peter saw the vision that taught him that Christ came to save Jew and Gentile alike. It reached its greatest importance during the crusades, when it became the principal landing-place of the warriors of Christendom. In 1799 it was bombarded by Bonaparte, and upon the surrender of the town a cruel massacre of Turkish prisoners took place. The exports are soap, leather, oranges, wheat and sesame. The open harbor, the old walls, the yellow sandbanks and the large orange gardens are the chief features. There is a railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem, a distance of 54 miles. Population 22,500.

Jag'uar, the largest of American animals belonging to the cat family. An average specimen measures (with the tail) from six to seven feet. It is the tiger of the New World and the third most powerful of the entire cat tribe. The head is noticeably large, the legs massive. There is much variation in its color, but in general it is yellowish brown with spots like the leopard. The spots, however, are larger and mure

JAGUAR

angular. It inhabits all South America, except Patagonia, and extends into North America as far as the Red River of Louisiana and the Medina River of Texas. It is found in the forests, especially along the Amazon, and is the dreaded foe of man, monkey, quadrupeds and small ro-. dents. Deer are also hunted, alligators and boas sometimes devoured, and the animal is often expert in catching fish. It hunts both by pursuit and by leaping from ambush. There is some reason for believing