lbe), sturgeon and lampreys. The country is rich in lignite, and
salt works are abundant. Of the manufactures of Anhalt, the chief
are its sugar factories, distilleries, breweries and chemical works.
Commerce is brisk, especially in raw products--corn, cattle, timber
or wool. Coal (lignite), guano, oil and bricks are also articles of
export. The trade of the country is furthered by its excellent roads,
its navigable rivers and its railways (165 m.), which are worked in
connexion with the Prussian system. There is a chamber of commerce in
Dessau.

[v.02 p.0045]

_Constitution_.--The duchy, by virtue of a fundamental law, proclaimed
on the 17th of September 1859 and subsequently modified by various
decrees, is a constitutional monarchy. The duke, who bears the
title of "Highness," wields the executive power while sharing the
legislation with the estates. The diet (_Landtag_) is composed of
thirty-six members, of whom two are appointed by the duke, eight are
representatives of landowners paying the highest taxes, two of the
highest assessed members of the commercial and manufacturing classes,
fourteen of the other electors of the towns and ten of the rural
districts. The representatives are chosen for six years by indirect
vote and must have completed their twenty-fifth year. The duke
governs through a minister of state, who is the praeses of all the
departments--finance, home affairs, education, public worship and
statistics. The budget estimates for the financial year 1905-1906
placed the expenditure of the estate at L1,323,437. The public debt
amounted on the 30th of June 1904 to L226,300. By convention with
Prussia of 1867 the Anhalt troops form a contingent of the Prussian
army. Appeal from the lower courts of the duchy lies to the appeal
court at Naumburg in Prussian Saxony.

_History_.--During the 11th century the greater part of Anhalt was
included in the duchy of Saxony, and in the 12th century it came
under the rule of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg. Albert was
descended from Albert, count of Ballenstedt, whose son Esico (d. 1059
or 1060) appears to have been the first to bear the title of count of
Anhalt. Esico's grandson, Otto the Rich, count of Ballenstedt, was the
father of Albert the Bear, by whom Anhalt was united with the mark of
Brandenburg. When Albert died in 1170, his son Bernard, who received
the title of duke of Saxony in 1180, became count of Anhalt. Bernard
died in 1212, and Anhal