dyes, spectacles, antiseptics, various serums for inoculation, galvanized iron, paper from wood pulp, machines for every purpose from the making of pins to the making of armor plate, the phonograph the kineto-scope,—the list is endless and is ever growing. The study or the history of inventions is one of the best ways to understand modern life.
Invest′ments. The money which is saved by individuals is generally invested in some enterprise by which it may at the same time be of some service and yield an increased return. The most common investment is in the banks; but in such a case it is not really the depositor but the banking company which makes the investment. The interest which the bank pays to the depositor is only a part of the return which the bank gains from its investments. These investments may be in such securities as house and land property; or in such industries as mining, railroads or manufactures. It is seldom that a private individual, except in the case of house and land property, controls the whole of the concern in which his money is invested. For the most part he buys some shares in such a concern. Most great railroad and mining companies and many manufacturing establishments are organized into joint-stock companies, from which one receives dividends or periodical payments out of the profits, if any, in proportion to the number of shares which one may hold. The stock of such companies is sometimes bought merely in the hope of selling at a profit if it should rise in value. This kind of speculation is not worthy of the name of investment. Probably the first and safest investment in most cases is one's own house and land.
In′volu′cre (in plants). A set of bracts occurring in a rosette (“whorl,” “cycle”). Bracts are leaves more or less modified, which occur in an inflorescence. In some forms of inflorescence, as in the umbel and head, the numerous pedicels arise from approximately the same point, and as each pedicel is subtended by a bract, the numerous bracts are thrown together in a rosette-like cluster which is called the involucre. A distinct involucre is present, therefore, in the head-like clusters of the composite family, in which case it resembles the calyx of an ordinary flower, and also in the umbels of the great family of umbelliferae, to which the carrots, parsnips etc. belong.
Io (ī′ō), a character in Grecian mythology, was the daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. She was beautiful, and soon won the love of Jupiter, the Grecian god of the sky, who on account of the jealousy of Juno, his wife, changed Io into a white heifer. Juno appointed Argus, “the all-seeing one,” who had one hundred eyes, to watch over her. Mercury, the winged god, was commissioned by Jove to carry off the heifer, and he slew Argus, first charming him to sleep by playing on the flute and then cutting off his head. Juno used the eyes of Argus to decorate the peacock's tail. Afterwards, by the request of Jupiter, Io was restored to her former shape, and married King Osiris. After her death she was worshiped as an Egyptian deity, under the name of Isis. The story is given in the Prometheus of Æschylus.
I′odine, one of the nonmetallic elements, is a black crystalline solid. It is never found in the free state, but occurs in combination, particularly in the ashes of seaweeds and in Chilean saltpeter. It forms a beautiful violet vapor when heated; hence its name comes from a Greek word which signifies this color. Iodine and its compounds, the most important of which is potassium iodide, are used in medicine and photography and by chemists.
Iona (ḗō′nä), the most famous island of the Hebrides off Scotland. It is three and one half miles long and one and one half broad. The soil is fruitful, so much being raised per acre that in early times the yield was considered miraculous. Its history begins in 563, when St. Columba, leaving Ireland, landed upon Iona with 12 disciples and built a monastery, which was long regarded as the mother-church of the Picts. The heathen Norsemen ravaged and destroyed the settlement repeatedly. In 1888 a great Catholic pilgrimage was made to the island. It is situated near Staffa, and can be reached by steamer from Oban. See Iona by the Duke of Argyll.
Io′nian Islands, a group or chain of islands in the Ionian Sea, about 40 in number, stretching along the west and south coasts of Greece. Corfu, Paxo, Santa Maura and Ithaca are the largest. Their total area is 1,010 square miles, and the population 260,000, mostly of Greek descent. The surface is generally mountainous, and the plains and valleys fertile. In 1863 Great Britain ceded the islands to Greece. See Corfu.
Io′nian Sea, a name anciently given to that part of the Mediterranean which washes the shores of Greece and Epirus, separating them from Italy and Sicily. It is connected with the Adriatic by the Strait of Otranto.
Iowa (ī́′ṓwȧ), the “Hawkeye State,” one of the north-central states, is bounded on the north by Minnesota, on the east by Wisconsin and Illinois, on the south by Missouri and on the west by Nebraska and South Dakota. It is rectangular in shape; 310 miles east and west and 205 north and south; has an area of 56,025 square miles; the Mississippi flows along the eastern border and the Missouri and Big Horn along the western one. Des Moines, the largest city and capital, has a population of 86,368. The state's population is 2,224,771.
