X

when, on June 30, 1778, a body of 400 British troops and 700 Seneca Indians, with some Tories, invaded the valley. On July 3d the battle of Wyoming was fought between this force and some 300 settlers, chiefly boys and old men, who were driven into a fort, and after a desperate resistance, in the course of which about two thirds of their number were killed by the Tories and Indians, not even the prisoners being spared, were forced to capitulate, but the terms of the capitulation were not observed, and the greater part of the inhabitants were soon compelled by the Indians to flee from the valley.

XERXES

In 1782, Congress decided the dispute as to jurisdiction in favor of Pennsylvania; but, when the authorities attempted to eject the Connecticut people, they again took up arms, and the contest lasted until 1788, when the Pennsylvania Legislature confirmed the titles of the residents; but for some twenty-five years there was much litigation in regard to the conflicting claims. This long series of contests was known as the "Pennymite wars," the settlers calling their opponents Pennymites." Above Kingston, opposite Wilkesbarre, stands a granite obelisk which commemorates the slain in the contest of July 3, 1778.

66

X, the twenty-fourth letter of the English alphabet. In form it is probably an old variant of tau (T, +, X), just as the next letter of the Western alphabet (ch) was a variant of upsilon. The name eks has displaced the earlier iks. The sound is generally that of a double consonant: (1) ks, in tax, axle, exile; (2) gz before an accented vowel, as in examine, example, exist, exhort; (3) ksh (kš), in anxious, luxury; (4) gzh (gž), in luxurious, luxuriant; (5) ≈ initially, as in Xerxes, Xenophon.

as

X stands for ten in the Roman numerals, probably as representing one V (five) inverted upon another. In algebra a stands for the unknown quantity.

Xalapa (hä-lä'pä). See JALAPA.

Xanthus (zăn'thus), an ancient city of Asia Minor, in Lycia, on the river Xanthus, about 8 m. above its mouth. Its ruins were discov

ered in 1838 by Sir C. Fellows, and have yielded a large collection of marbles, now in the British Museum. The river rises in Mount Taurus, and falls into the Mediterranean a little to the W. of Patara.

Xavier (hä-vē-ar'), Francisco de. See FRANCIS XAVIER.

Xenocrates (zě-nõkʼră-tēz), 396-314 B.C.; Greek philosopher; b. at Chalcedon; became a pupil of Plato, and gained his favor by his earnestness and energy, though the master was well aware of his slowness of comprehension and lack of elegance in manners. He accompanied Plato to Syracuse, and went after his death, together with Aristotle, to Asia Minor. Afterwards he returned to Athens, and succeeded Speusippus as chief of the Academy (in 339 B.C.), which position he occupied till his death. He was highly respected by the Athenians for the integrity of his character, and was repeatedly sent as an ambassador to foreign princesPhilip of Macedon, Antipater, etc. Aristotle respected him for his insight and knowledge,

but of his works none has come down to us.

Xenon (zěn'ōn), a heavy gas which occurs in the atmosphere to the amount of one volume in 20,000,000.

Xenophon (zěn’ō-fön), abt. 434-abt. 350 B.C.; Athenian writer. He was a pupil of Socrates. In 401 he went to Sardis and joined the expedition of the younger Cyrus. After the battle of Cunaxa the Greeks began that return to Europe famous as the retreat of the 10,000. When Clearchus and other Greek leaders had been treacherously massacred by Tissaphernes, Xenophon was elected one of the five generals, and came to be regarded as the head of the army. With skill he conducted the troops across Mesopotamia and through Armenia to Trapezus on the Euxine, and thence to Europe. His" Anabasis" is an account of this retreat. His 66 Hellenica" is a continuation of the history of Thucydides to the battle of Mantinea, and the Cyropædia" a political romance, in which the author gives his ideas of the state, picturing the advantages of a wise monarchical

rule. Several of his works are records of the acts and conversations of Socrates. Of these, by far the best known is the "Memorabilia."

Xenophon united in his person many of the best elements of a Greek gentleman. As a writer he was held up as the model of a simple style, and was called "The Attic Bee," by reason of the sweetness of his Atticism. Modern scholarship has made many deductions from the antique estimate, and closer criticism has shown that in long absence from Attica Xenophon lost much of the purity of Attic speech. He uses many poetical and dialectical words, and his syntax is not always constructed on Attic lines, and these faults, which enhance the human interest of Xenophon's style, have served to bring him into increasing disrepute with exacting Atticists.

Xerxes (zérks'ēz), King of Persia, who reigned from 486 to 465 B.C.; son of Darius In 481 he assembled an Hystaspes and Atossa. immense army at Sardis for the invasion of Greece.

Early in 480 the army began its march, and spent seven days and nights in crossing the Hellespont on two bridges. According to Herodotus, it amounted to 1,700,000 foot and 80,000 horse-the largest armament the world had ever seen. Besides these, upon the fleet of 1,207 ships of war and 3,000 smaller vessels and transports was a force which swelled the number of combatants to 2,317,000.

XIMENES

The statement is doubtless exaggerated. The first resistance met was at Thermopylæ. In the meantime a storm destroyed many of the ships. The naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis followed, and Xerxes, who sat on his throne of gold, raised on a promontory, to witness the battle of Salamis, returned, panic stricken, to Asia, leaving Mardonius and 300,000 troops to continue the war in Greece. In 479 the disastrous battles of Platea and Mycale occurred, followed by the utter overthrow of all the Persian power in Greece. In 465 Xerxes was murdered, and was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes. He is generally considered the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther.

Ximenes (or Ximenez) De Cisneros (he-ma'nes da thes-na'rōs), Francisco, 1436-1517; Spanish prelate; b. Torrelaguna, Spain. He was advocate in the consistorial courts of Rome, 145975; entered a Franciscan convent in Toledo, 1482; and was confessor to Queen Isabella in 1492, provincial of his order in Castile, 1494, and Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, 1495. He began a vigorous scheme of reform among the clergy. His destruction of Arabic manuscripts was the immediate cause of the decay of Arabian literature in Spain; but he made some amends by founding, 1500-10, the Univ. of Alcalá de Henares, and by his polyglot Bible, called the Complutensian polyglot. In 1507 he received a cardinal's hat, and was appointed Inquisitor General of Castile. In 1509, chiefly at his expense, he conducted a successful expedition against Oran. Ferdinand at his death, 1516, left Ximenes regent of the kingdom until the arrival of his grandson, Charles I of Spain, afterwards Charles V of Germany.

X-Rays, a form of radiation excited by the passage of the alternating current from an induction coil through a partial vacuum; called by their discoverer, Prof. Roentgen, from the unknown quantity x of algebra because their character was unknown to him; also called "Roentgen rays." When an electric current passes through an exhausted tube, rays called "cathode rays" proceed from the cathode, but are unable to traverse the walls of the tube. Where they impinge on these walls Xrays arise, and these pass outside the tube with ease. They pass also through many substances opaque to light, but are in general stopped by metals. The flesh of the human body is more transparent to them than the bones; hence, although they do not affect the human eye, they may be used to photograph the skeleton of a living person, or to locate bullets, or objects that have been swallowed. They cause a screen coated with some phosphorescent substance, like calcium sulphide, to emit light; hence the shadow cast by them becomes visible when

X Y Z Correspond'ence, the name given to the dispatches sent in 1797-98 to the U. S. Govt. by its commissioners, Charles Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, in Paris. These men were sent to France to settle certain difficulties with that government. On their arrival they were not received officially, but were compelled to communicate with the government through three agents, who informed them that the first step toward negotiation would be the payment of a large sum of money to the Directory, which was then in control of French affairs. The American commissioners, with the exception of Gerry, promptly withdrew and transmitted the correspondence to Pres. Adams, who, in turn, laid it before Congress, substituting for the names of the French commissioners the letters X Y Z. The correspondence aroused bitter feeling in the U. S., and a naval war with France was actually begun, but the French Govt. receded from its position, and thus averted a struggle.

Y

YACHTS AND YACHTING

Y, the twenty-fifth letter of the English | alphabet. It was simply the Greek letter upsilon, T. Prior to the adoption of the letter the sound had been rudely indicated by the Roman V (u); thus cupressus, turannus, Eguptus. The letter Y is therefore in its origin the same as V and U; cf. also W. As a vowel sign it stands for i (ai), as in my, cry, type, cycle, hyphen, tyrant, hybrid, cyclops, hyacinth, or for i, as in hymn, syllable, syntax, myth, cynic, physics, beauty, happy, physician. As a consonant, used only at the beginning of a syllable, it represents the consonant of i; as in yet, you, yolk.

In algebra, y stands usually for the second unknown quantity.

Yachts and Yacht'ing. A yacht is a vessel of any size, propelled by sail, steam, or other motive power and used exclusively for pleasure purposes. The use of large pleasure craft specially devoted to royalty may be traced back to a very remote period, but yachting in its true sense began no earlier than the seventeenth century, while its establishment as a recognized sport falls within the nineteenth

yachts is about 250 ft. water line and 1,000 tons displacement.

Sailing yachts may be divided into three types, according to the shape of the hull: (1) the keel yacht, with a deep body, of which the keel is an integral part; (2) the fin keel, with a very shoal body, to which is attached a

FIG. 2. YAWL RIG WITH LUG MIZZEN.

deep-fixed fin, with the ballast in the form of a cigar-shaped mass of lead attached to the lower edge; and (3) the centerboard yacht, also with a shoal body, but relying for lateral resistance on a movable plane of wood or metal, so pivoted as to drop through the keel and below the bottom of the vessel. Almost every variety of rig is used on yachts; and although there is not, of necessity, a close connection between model and rig, it is frequently the case that certain rigs have been so closely associated with certain types of hull that the name of the rig

FIG. 1. AMERICAN CATBOAT WITH CENTERBOARD.

century. No hard line of demarcation can be drawn between the small sailboat or launch and the yacht; while at the other extreme is found the larger class of steam yachts, which differ but little in model and build from passenger steamers. The sailing yacht, as distinguished from the larger boats and from canoes, may be defined as a craft of from 20 to 100 ft. water-line length, wholly or partly decked, and with standing spars and rigging. The steam, naphtha, or electric yacht, as distinguished from the simple launch, is a craft of from 50 ft. water-line length upward, completely decked, and with permanent cabins. The upper limit of length in private steam

FIG. 3. KETCH RIG.

is applied to both, as in the case of the catboat, the sloop, the cutter, and the lugger.

The simplest form of yacht is the centerboard catboat, the hull being wide, shallow, and usually lightly built, with no overhang at the ends; a wide, rectangular rudder hung outside the transom; a large centerboard, and with but one sail set on a gaff and boom, the mast being stepped as far forward as possible. These boats, ranging in length from 12 to 40