1878

Hierophant Off for India

Eager to See her Dear Heathen Again, and To Have a Little Tiger Shooting ---

Greetings by Phonograph --- The Theosophical Cat.

On last Sunday night a farewell reception was given to the friends and the members of the Theosophical Society, by the famous heathen of Eighth avenue, Madame H. P. Blavatsky, who, together with Col. H. S. Olcott and another Theosophist, sailed yesterday for Liverpool, en route for Bombay. The spacious rooms of the Lamasery were denuded of furniture, even the carpets having been torn up and sold, and the guests sat on two or three chairs hardly worth selling, and upon boxes and trunks corded and marked for transportation. The usual refreshments were provided in the usual plenty. Tea was served in rotation, only three teacups being left from the sale, but every guest had either a pipe or a cigarette. The long series of "Sunday nights at home" was ending, and there was an unusual number of unusually subdued Theosophists present. There was much talk of the probable future of the Theosophical Society, which, now that it is in coalition with the Arya Samaj of Aryawari, is expected to become a powerful factor in the development of the mental and religious freedom of the world. But, as was natural, there was far more talk of personal memories and anticipations. Madame Blavatsky carried fully her share of the conversation. Her memories of the years she has passed in America were far from cheerful. "I hate the civilization you boast of," she said, emphatically. But her anticipations were rose colored. "I shall go to Bombay, and be with my dear heathen," she said, "who are free from the yokes of Christianity at least. I shall only stop for a day or two in England to visit our branch society, and then on to India. When I get there, the first thing I shall do will be to go tiger shooting. I shall go into the jungles with one friend, and no guides, and we will not come back till we get each of us a tiger skin." "But it is not for that I go to India," she continued. "It is to work for the Arya Samaj. I promise you you will hear of it before long." Presently a man came in with a phonograph which had been procured for the purpose of carrying greetings to India, without the possibility of any mistake in their delivery. A tall sculptor was dislodged from a barrel on which he sat, and the phonograph was put in position, after which the greetings were shouted into the paper funnel, and a song in pigeon Hindustanee was sung into it by a jolly English artist. Charles, a huge theosophical cat, was then induced to purr at the machine, and the various records were carefully put away. Long after midnight the talk was kept up, and from the writings of the Church in the second century to the latest English attack on the Arya Samaj, religious themes were discussed. On Monday and Tuesday the packing was finished, and on Tuesday night the little party gathered in the Canada’s saloon. Charles, in the mean time, had been sent to a good Theosophist’s house, but had disappeared from the basket in transitu, and has not been seen since. "I don’t know where he is," said the Hierophant, "but I presume we will find him in Bombay when we get there." Yesterday morning a few of the most intimate friends of the travellers went to the steamer to bid them farewell. The Hierophant wrote dozens of last despatches on the cabin table, sending messenger after messenger away on various errands, and giving all sorts of instructions as to the future management of the society to the newly chosen officers. Madame Blavatsky held high court in her stateroom, when the inevitable cigarettes were consumed in great numbers, and when a few of her most faithful disciples were telling her of their grief at her departure. "I am glad to go, but I am sorry to leave the few good friends I have found here," she said, and one by one they bade her what was probably their last farewell on earth.

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1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January - April

• January - Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London
• January 9 - Humbert I becomes King of Italy
• January 5 - Battle of Shipka Pass IV
• January 17 - Battle of Plovdiv
• January 23 - Lord Beaconsfield orders British fleet to the Dardanelles
• January 28 - The Yale News becomes the first daily, college newspaper in the United States.
• January 31 - Turkey agrees to armistice at Adrianople
• February 2 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
• February 8 - British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Constantinople - Russia threatens to occupy Constantinople but does not carry out the threat

File:Pope0256c.jpg

Pope Leo XIII, elected pope on February 20.

• February 11 - 1st US bicycle club, Boston Bicycle Club, forms.
• February 11 - 1st weekly Weather report published in UK
• February 18 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico
• February 19 - The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison
• February 20 - Leo XIII becomes new pope
• February 24 - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Hyde Park, London
• February 28 - Mississippi State University is created by the Mississippi Legislature (under the name The Agricultural and Mechanical College of the State of Mississippi)
• March 3 - Bulgaria regained its independence from Ottoman Empire.
• March 3 - The Treaty of San Stefano concludes the Russo-Turkish War
• March 24 - The UK frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
• March 25 - Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress
• March 27 - In anticipation with war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to Malta

May - August

• May 15 - Tokyo Stock Exchange established
• June 4 - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
• June 12-July 12 - Congress of Berlin about the Ottoman Empire
• July 13 - The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia, Montenegro and Romania completely independent
• July 26 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.

September - December

• September 3 - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
• September 20 - The Hindu founded
• October 1 - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) opens as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College.
• October 14 - The worlds first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield
• October 15 - The Edison Electric Company begins operation.
• October 17 - John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.
• November 21 - Second Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.
• November 29 - Kahua, the chief of Jaluits in the Marshall Islands, declares himself king of the Ralik Islands

Unknown date

• The Buchan School was founded on the Isle of Man.
• Newton Heath founded in that year. Later the team was renamed as Manchester United.
• Yellow fever in Mississippi Valley - over 13.000 dead
• US arbitration rejects Argentinean claims to Paraguay's part of Chaco region
• West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match.
• Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld is the first one to navigate the Northern Sea Route, which is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Siberian coast.
• The Stawell Gift is run for the first time.
• Everton Football Club, then known as St Domingo, formed

Births

• January 6 - Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
• January 12 - Ferenc Molnár, author (d. 1952)
• January 20 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
• January 25 - Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
• February 2 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect (d. 1955)
• February 5 - André Citroën, French automobile manufacturer (d. 1935)
• February 8 - Martin Buber, Austrian philosopher (d. 1965)
• February 14 - Hirota Koki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
• February 26 - Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano (d. 1930)
• March 16 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German Catholic cardinal (d. 1946)
• March 22 - Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919)
• March 31 - Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
• April 6 - Erich Mühsam, German author (d. 1934)
• April 24 - Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (d. 1958)
• April 28 - Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954)
• April 28 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (d. 1951)
• May 3 - Cruz Hernandez, Oldest Living Person (d. Still Alive)
• May 10 - Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
• May 26 - Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d. 1927)
• May 28 - Paul Pelliot, French sinologist (d. 1945)
• June 1 - John Masefield, English poet and novelist (d. 1967)
• June 3 - Barney Oldfield, American automobile racer and pioneer (d. 1946)
• June 5 - Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1923)
• July 4 - George M. Cohan, American singer, dancer, composer, actor, and writer (d. 1942)
• July 24 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (d. 1957)
• August 10 - Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957)
• August 28 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
• August 31 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
• September 5 - Robert von Lieben, Austrian physicist (d. 1913)
• September 13 - Matilde Moisant, American pilot (d. 1964)
• September 22 - Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1967)
• September 20 - Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968)
• September 24 - C. F. Ramuz, Swiss writer (d. 1947)
• October 1 - Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist (d. 1950)
• October 16 - Maxey Long, American athlete (d. 1959)
• November 1 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959)
• November 14 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (d. 1957)
• November 17 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (d. 1939)
• December 18 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d. 1953)
• December 25 - Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race driver and automobile builder (d. 1941)
• December 25 - Joseph Schenck, Russian-born film executive (d. 1961)
• December 31 - Elizabeth Arden, Canadian-born beautician and cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1966)
• December 31 - Horacio Quiroga, Argentina's writer was born in Salto, Uruguay (d. 1937)

Deaths

• January 9 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
• January 18 - Antoine César Becquerel, French scientist (b. 1788)
• February 7 - Pope Pius IX (b. 1792)
• February 11 - Gideon Welles, American politician (b. 1802)
• February 19 - Charles-Francois Daubigny, French painter (b. 1817)
• March 8 - Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (b. 1802)
• April 12 - William Marcy Tweed, American politician (b. 1823)
• April 25 - Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
• May 28 - John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
• June 6 - Robert Stirling, Scottish clergyman and inventor (b. 1790)
• June 6 - Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, Marshal of France (b. 1795)
• June 8 - Porter Rockwell, Mormon bodyguard (b. 1815)
• June 12 - George V of Hanover (b. 1819)
• July 17 - Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
• November 28 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805)
• December 10 - Henry Wells, American businessman (b. 1805)
• December 14 - Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1843)
• Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer (b. 1818)