Part 19

The origin of knucklebones is closely connected with that of dice, of which it is probably a primitive form, and is doubtless Asiatic. Sophocles, in a fragment, ascribed the invention of draughts and knucklebones (_astragaloi_) to Palamedes, who taught them to his Greek countrymen during the Trojan War. Both the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ contain allusions to games similar in character to knucklebones, and the Palamedes tradition, as flattering to the national pride, was generally accepted throughout Greece, as is indicated by numerous literary and plastic evidences. Thus Pausanias (_Corinth_ xx.) mentions a temple of Fortune in which Palamedes made an offering of his newly invented game. According to a still more ancient tradition, Zeus, perceiving that Ganymede longed for his playmates upon Mount Ida, gave him Eros for a companion and golden dibs with which to play, and even condescended sometimes to join in the game (Apollonius). It is significant, however, that both Herodotus and Plato ascribe to the game a foreign origin. Plato (_Phaedrus_) names the Egyptian god Theuth as its inventor, while Herodotus relates that the Lydians, during a period of famine in the days of King Atys, originated this game and indeed almost all other games except chess. There were two methods of playing in ancient times. The first, and probably the primitive method, consisted in tossing up and catching the bones on the back of the hand, very much as the game is played to-day. In the Museum of Naples may be seen a painting excavated at Pompeii, which represents the goddesses Latona, Niobe, Phoebe, Aglaia and Hileaera, the last two being engaged in playing at Knucklebones (see GREEK ART, fig. 42). According to an epigram of Asclepiodotus, astragals were given as prizes to school-children, and we are reminded of Plutarch's anecdote of the youthful Alcibiades, who, when a teamster threatened to drive over some of his knucklebones that had fallen into the wagon-ruts, boldly threw himself in front of the advancing team. This simple form of the game was generally played only by women and children, and was called _pentalitha_ or five-stones. There were several varieties of it besides the usual toss and catch, one being called _tropa_, or hole-game, the object having been to toss the bones into a hole in the earth. Another was the simple and primitive game of "odd or even."

The second, probably derivative, form of the game was one of pure chance, the stones being thrown upon a table, either with the hand or from a cup, and the values of the sides upon which they fell counted. In this game the shape of the pastern-bones used for astralagoi, as well as for the _tali_ of the Romans, with whom knucklebones was also popular, determined the manner of counting. The pastern-bone of a sheep, goat or calf has, besides two rounded ends upon which it cannot stand, two broad and two narrow sides, one of each pair being concave and one convex. The convex narrow side, called _chios_ or "the dog" counted 1; the convex broad side 3; the concave broad side 4; and the concave narrow side 6. Four astragals were used and 35 different scores were possible at a single throw, many receiving distinctive names such as Aphrodite, Midas, Solon, Alexander, and, among the Romans, Venus, King, Vulture, &c. The highest throw in Greece, counting 40, was the Euripides, and was probably a combination throw, since more than four sixes could not be thrown at one time. The lowest throw, both in Greece and Rome, was the Dog.

See _Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes_ (London, 1896); _Games and Songs of American Children_, by W. W. Newell (1893); and _The Young Folks' Cyclopaedia of Games and Sports_ (New York, 1899), for the modern children's game. For the history see _Les Jeux des Anciens_, by L. Becq de Fouquières (Paris, 1869); _Das Knochelspiel der Alten_, by Bolle (Wismar, 1886); _Die Spiele der Griechen und Römer_, by W. Richter (Leipzig, 1887).

KNUTSFORD, a market town in the Knutsford parliamentary division of Cheshire, England; on the London & North-Western and Great Central railways, 24 m. E.N.E. of Chester, on the Cheshire Lines and London & North-Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 5172. It is pleasantly situated on an elevated ridge, with the fine domains of Tatton Park and Tabley respectively north and west of it. The meres in these domains are especially picturesque. Knutsford is noted in modern times as the scene of Mrs Gaskell's novel _Cranford_. Among several ancient houses the most interesting are a cottage with the date 1411 carved on its woodwork, and the Rose and Crown tavern, dated 1641. A number of curious old customs linger in the town, such as the practice of working designs in coloured sand, when a wedding takes place, before the bride's house. In what is probably the oldest Unitarian graveyard in the kingdom Mrs Gaskell lies buried; and in a churchyard a mile from the town stood the ancient church, which, though partially rebuilt in the time of Henry VIII., fell into ruin in 1741. The church of St John, built in 1744, and enlarged in 1879, was supplemented, in 1880, by St Cross Church, in Perpendicular style. The town has a grammar school, founded before the reign of Henry VIII., but reorganized in 1885. Lord Egerton built the Egerton schools in 1893. The industries comprise cotton, worsted and leather manufactures; but Knutsford is mainly a residential town, as many Manchester merchants have settled here, attracted by the fine climate and surroundings. Knutsford was the birthplace of Sir Henry Holland, Physician Extraordinary to Queen Victoria (1788-1873); and his son, the second Sir Henry, who was secretary of state for the colonies (1887-1892), was raised to the peerage in 1888 with the title of Baron Knutsford.

The name Knutsford (_Cunetesford_, _Knotesford_) is said to signify Cnut's ford, but there is no evidence of a settlement here previous to Domesday. In 1086 Erthebrand held Knutsford immediately of William FitzNigel, baron of Halton, who was himself a mesne lord of Hugh Lupus earl of Chester. In 1292 William de Tabley, lord of both Over and Nether Knutsford, granted free burgage to his burgesses in both Knutsfords. This charter is the only one which gives Knutsford a claim to the title of borough. It provided that the burgesses might elect a bailiff from amongst themselves every year. The office however carried little real power with it, and soon lapsed. In the same year as the charter to Knutsford the king granted to William de Tabley a market every Saturday at Nether Knutsford, and a three days' fair at the Feast of St Peter and St Paul. When this charter was confirmed by Edward III. another market (Friday) and another three days' fair (Feast of St Simon and St Jude) were added. The Friday market was certainly dropped by 1592, if it was ever held. May-day revels are still kept up here and attract large crowds from the neighbourhood. A silk mill was erected here in 1770, and there was also an attempt to foster the cotton trade, but the lack of means of communication made the undertaking impossible.

See Henry Green, _History of Knutsford_ (1859).

KOALA (_Phascolarctus cinereus_), a stoutly built marsupial, of the family _Phascolmyidae_, which also contains the wombats. This animal, which inhabits the south-eastern parts of the Australian continent, is about 2 ft. in length, and of an ash-grey colour, an excellent climber, residing generally in lofty eucalyptus trees, the buds and tender shoots of which form its principal food, though occasionally it descends to the ground in the night in search of roots. From its shape the koala is called by the colonists the "native bear"; the term "native sloth" being also applied to it, from its arboreal habits and slow deliberate movements. The flesh is highly prized by the natives, and is palatable to Europeans. The skins are largely imported into England, for the manufacture of articles in which a cheap and durable fur is required.

KOBDO, a town of the Chinese Empire, in north-west Mongolia, at the northern foot of the Mongolian Altai, on the right bank of the Buyantu River, 13 m. from its entrance into Lake Khara-usu; 500 m. E.S.E. of Biysk (Russian), and 470 m. W. of Ulyasutai. It is situated amidst a dreary plain, and consists of a fortress, the residence of the governor of the Kobdo district, and a small trading town, chiefly peopled by Chinese and a few Mongols. It is, however, an important centre for trade between the cattle-breeding nomads and Peking. It was founded by the Chinese in 1731, and pillaged by the Mussulmans in 1872. The district of Kobdo occupies the north-western corner of Mongolia, and is peopled chiefly by Mongols, and also by Kirghiz and a few Soyotes, Uryankhes and Khotons. It is governed by a Chinese commissioner, who has under him a special Mongol functionary (Mongol, _dzurgan_). The chief monastery is at Ulangom. Considerable numbers of sheep (about 1,000,000), sheepskins, sheep and camel wool are exported to China, while Chinese cottons, brick tea and various small goods are imported. Leather, velveteen, cotton, iron and copper goods boxes, &c., are imported from Russia in exchange for cattle, furs and wool. The absence of a cart road to Biysk hinders the development of this trade.

KOBELL, WOLFGANG XAVER FRANZ, BARON VON (1803-1882), German mineralogist, was born at Munich on the 19th of July 1803. He studied chemistry and mineralogy at Landshut (1820-1823), and in 1826 became professor of mineralogy in the university of Munich. He introduced some new methods of mineral analyses, and in 1835 invented the stauroscope for the study of the optical properties of crystals. He contributed numerous papers to scientific journals, and described many new minerals. He died at Munich on the 11th of November, 1882.

PUBLICATIONS.--_Charakteristik der Mineralien_ (2 vols. 1830-1831); _Tafeln zur Bestimmung der Mineralien_ &c. (1833; and later editions, ed. 12, by K. Oebbeke, 1884); _Grundzüge der Mineralogie_ (1838); _Geschichte der Mineralogie von 1650-1860_ (1864).

KOCH, ROBERT (1843-1910), German bacteriologist, was born at Klausthal, Hanover, on the 11th of December 1843. He studied medicine at Göttingen, and it was while he was practising as a physician at Wollstein that he began those bacteriological researches that made his name famous. In 1876 he obtained a pure culture of the bacillus of anthrax, announcing a method of preventive inoculation against that disease seven years later. He became a member of the Sanitary Commission at Berlin and a professor at the School of Medicine in 1880, and five years later he was appointed to a chair in Berlin University and director of the Institute of Health. In 1882, largely as the result of the improved methods of bacteriological investigation he was able to elaborate, he discovered the bacillus of tuberculosis; and in the following year, having been sent on an official mission to Egypt and India to study the aetiology of Asiatic cholera, he identified the comma bacillus as the specific organism of that malady. In 1890 great hopes were aroused by the announcement that in tuberculin he had prepared an agent which exercised an inimical influence on the growth of the tubercle bacillus, but the expectations that were formed of it as a remedy for consumption were not fulfilled, though it came into considerable vogue as a means of diagnosing the existence of tuberculosis in animals intended for food. At the Congress on Tuberculosis held in London in 1901 he maintained that tuberculosis in man and in cattle is not the same disease, the practical inference being that the danger to men of infection from milk and meat is less than from other human subjects suffering from the disease. This statement, however, was not regarded as properly proved, and one of its results was the appointment of a British Royal Commission to study the question. Dr Koch also investigated the nature of rinderpest in South Africa in 1896, and found means of combating the disease. In 1897 he went to Bombay at the head of a commission formed to investigate the bubonic plague, and he subsequently undertook extensive travels in pursuit of his studies on the origin and treatment of malaria. He was summoned to South Africa a second time in 1903 to give expert advice on other cattle diseases, and on his return was elected a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1906-1907 he spent eighteen months in East Africa, investigating sleeping-sickness. He died at Baden-Baden of heart-disease on the 28th of May 1910. Koch was undoubtedly one of the greatest bacteriologists ever known, and a great benefactor of humanity by his discoveries. Honours were showered upon him, and in 1905 he was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine.

Among his works may be mentioned: _Weitere Mitteilungen über ein Heilmittel gegen Tuberkulose_ (Leipzig, 1891); and _Reiseberichte über Rinderpest, Bubonenpest in Indien und Afrika, Tsetse- oder Surra-Krankheit, Texasfieber, tropische Malaria, Schwarzwasserfieber_ (Berlin, 1898). From 1886 onwards he edited, with Dr Karl Flügge, the _Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten_ (published at Leipzig). See Loeffler, "Robert Koch, zum 60ten Geburtstage" in _Deut. Medizin. Wochenschr._ (No. 50, 1903).

KOCH, a tribe of north-eastern India, which has given its name to the state of Kuch Behar (q.v.). They are probably of Mongolian stock, akin to the Mech, Kachari, Garo and Tippera tribes, and originally spoke, like these, a language of the Bodo group. But since one of their chiefs established a powerful kingdom at Kuch Behar in the 16th century they have gradually become Hinduized, and now adopt the name of Rajbansi (= "of royal blood"). In 1901 the number in Eastern Bengal and Assam was returned at nearly 2½ millions.

KOCK, CHARLES PAUL DE (1793-1871), French novelist, was born at Passy on the 21st of May 1793. He was a posthumous child, his father, a banker of Dutch extraction, having been a victim of the Terror. Paul de Kock began life as a banker's clerk. For the most part he resided on the Boulevard St Martin, and was one of the most inveterate of Parisians. He died in Paris on the 27th of April 1871. He began to write for the stage very early, and composed many operatic libretti. His first novel, _L'Enfant de ma femme_ (1811), was published at his own expense. In 1820 he began his long and successful series of novels dealing with Parisian life with _Georgette, ou la mère du Tabellion_. His period of greatest and most successful activity was the Restoration and the early days of Louis Philippe. He was relatively less popular in France itself than abroad, where he was considered as the special painter of life in Paris. Major Pendennis's remark that he had read nothing of the novel kind for thirty years except Paul de Kock, "who certainly made him laugh," is likely to remain one of the most durable of his testimonials, and may be classed with the legendary question of a foreign sovereign to a Frenchman who was paying his respects, "Vous venez de Paris et vous devez savoir des nouvelles. Comment se porte Paul de Kock?" The disappearance of the _grisette_ and of the cheap dissipation described by Henri Murger practically made Paul de Kock obsolete. But to the student of manners his portraiture of low and middle class life in the first half of the 19th century at Paris still has its value.

The works of Paul de Kock are very numerous. With the exception of a few not very felicitous excursions into historical romance and some miscellaneous works of which his share in _La Grande ville, Paris_ (1842), is the chief, they are all stories of middle-class Parisian life, of _guinguettes_ and _cabarets_ and equivocal adventures of one sort or another. The most famous are _André le Savoyard_ (1825) and _Le Barbier de Paris_ (1826).

His _Mémoires_ were published in 1873. See also Th. Trimm, _La Vie de Charles Paul de Kock_ (1873).

KODAIKANAL, a sanatorium of southern India, in the Madura district of Madras, situated in the Palni hills, about 7000 ft. above sea-level; pop. (1901), 1912, but the number in the hot season would be much larger. It is difficult of access, being 44 m. from a railway station, and the last 11 m. are impracticable for wheeled vehicles. It contains a government observatory, the appliances of which are specially adapted for the study of terrestrial magnetism, seismology and solar physics.

KODAMA, GENTARO, COUNT (1852-1907), Japanese general, was born in Choshu. He studied military science in Germany, and was appointed vice-minister of war in 1892. He became governor-general of Formosa in 1900, holding at the same time the portfolio of war. When the conflict with Russia became imminent in 1903, he gave up his portfolio to become vice-chief of the general staff, a sacrifice which elicited much public applause. Throughout the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) he served as chief of staff to Field Marshal Oyama, and it was well understood that his genius guided the strategy of the whole campaign, as that of General Kawakami had done in the war with China ten years previously. General Kodama was raised in rapid succession to the ranks of baron, viscount and count, and his death in 1907 was regarded as a national calamity.

KODUNGALUR (or CRANGANUR), a town of southern India, in Cochin state, within the presidency of Madras. Though now a place of little importance, its historical interest is considerable. Tradition assigns to it the double honour of having been the first field of St Thomas's labours (A.D. 52) in India and the seat of Cheraman Perumal's government. The visit of St Thomas is generally considered mythical; but it is certain that the Syrian Church was firmly established here before the 9th century (Burnell), and probably the Jews' settlement was still earlier. The latter, in fact, claim to hold grants dated A.D. 378. The cruelty of the Portuguese drove most of the Jews to Cochin. Up to 1314, when the Vypin harbour was formed, the only opening in the Cochin backwater, and outlet for the Periyar, was at Kodungalur, which must then have been the best harbour on the coast. In 1502 the Syrian Christians invoked the protection of the Portuguese. In 1523 the latter built their first fort there, and in 1565 enlarged it. In 1661 the Dutch took the fort, the possession of which for the next forty years was contested between this nation, the zamorin, and the raja of Kodungalur. In 1776 Tippoo seized the stronghold. The Dutch recaptured it two years later, and, having ceded it to Tippoo in 1784, sold it to the Travancore raja, and again in 1789 to Tippoo, who destroyed it in the following year. The country round Kodungalur now forms an autonomous principality, tributary to the raja of Cochin.

KOENIG, KARL DIETRICH EBERHARD (1774-1851), German palaeontologist, was born at Brunswick in 1774, and was educated at Göttingen. In 1807 he became assistant keeper, and in 1813 he was appointed keeper, of the department of natural history in the British Museum, and afterwards of geology and mineralogy, retaining the post until the close of his life. He described many fossils in the British Museum in a classic work entitled _Icones fossilium sectiles_ (1820-1825). He died in London on the 6th of September 1851.

KOESFELD, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, on the Berkel, 38 m. by rail N.N.W. of Dortmund. Pop. (1905), 8449. It has three Roman Catholic churches, one of which--the Gymnasial Kirche--is used by the Protestant community. Here are the ruins of the Ludgeri Castle, formerly the residence of the bishops of Münster, and also the castle of Varlar, the residence of the princes of Salm-Horstmar. The leading industries include the making of linen goods and machinery.

KOHAT, a town and district of British India, in the Peshawar division of the North-West Frontier Province. The town is 37 m. south of Peshawar by the Kohat Pass, along which a military road was opened in 1901. The population in 1901 was 30,762, including 12,670 in the cantonment, which is garrisoned by artillery, cavalry and infantry. In the Tirah campaign of 1897-98 Kohat was the starting-point of Sir William Lockhart's expedition against the Orakzais and Afridis. It is the military base for the southern Afridi frontier as Peshawar is for the northern frontier of the same tribe, and it lies in the heart of the Pathan country.

The DISTRICT OF KOHAT has an area of 2973 sq. m. It consists chiefly of a bare and intricate mountain region east of the Indus, deeply scored with river valleys and ravines, but enclosing a few scattered patches of cultivated lowland. The eastern or Khattak country especially comprises a perfect labyrinth of ranges, which fall, however, into two principal groups, to the north and south of the Teri Toi river. The Miranzai valley, in the extreme west, appears by comparison a rich and fertile tract. In its small but carefully tilled glens, the plane, palm, fig and many orchard trees flourish luxuriantly; while a brushwood of wild olive, mimosa and other thorny bushes clothes the rugged ravines upon the upper slopes. Occasional grassy glades upon their sides form favourite pasture grounds for the Waziri tribes. The Teri Toi, rising on the eastern limit of Upper Miranzai, runs due eastward to the Indus, which it joins 12 m. N. of Makhad, dividing the district into two main portions. The drainage from the northern half flows southward into the Teri Toi itself, and northward into the parallel stream of the Kohat Toi. That of the southern tract falls northwards also into the Teri Toi, and southwards towards the Kurram and the Indus. The frontier mountains, continuations of the Safed Koh system, attain in places a considerable elevation, the two principal peaks, Dupa Sir and Mazi Garh, just beyond the British frontier, being 8260 and 7940 ft. above the sea respectively. The Waziri hills, on the south, extend like a wedge between the boundaries of Bannu and Kohat, with a general elevation of less than 4000 ft. The salt-mines are situated in the low line of hills crossing the valley of the Teri Toi, and extending along both banks of that river. The deposit has a width of a quarter of a mile, with a thickness of 1000 ft.; it sometimes forms hills 200 ft. in height, almost entirely composed of solid rock-salt, and may probably rank as one of the largest veins of its kind in the world. The most extensive exposure occurs at Bahadur Khel, on the south bank of the Teri Toi. The annual output is about 16,000 tons, yielding a revenue of £40,000. Petroleum springs exude from a rock at Panoba, 23 m. east of Kohat; and sulphur abounds in the northern range. In 1901 the population was 217,865, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. The frontier tribes on the Kohat border are the Afridis, Orakzais, Zaimukhts and Turis. All these are described under their separate names. A railway runs from Kushalgarh through Kohat to Thal, and the river Indus has been bridged at Kushalgarh.

KOHAT PASS, a mountain pass in the North-West Frontier Province of India, connecting Kohat with Peshawar. From the north side the defile commences at 4½ m. S.W. of Fort Mackeson, whence it is about 12 or 13 m. to the Kohat entrance. The pass varies from 400 yds. to 1¼ m. in width, and its summit is some 600 to 700 ft. above the plain. It is inhabited by the Adam Khel Afridis, and nearly all British relations with that tribe have been concerned with this pass, which is the only connexion between two British districts without crossing and recrossing the Indus (see AFRIDI). It is now traversed by a cart-road.