which the evil genius is gnawing at and corroding the vitals of society; and it is not for a moment to be supposed he has done so from any pleasure he takes in gloating over the doings of the ghoul, or that he is in sympathy with those who do; of his works suffice it to mention here some recent ones, as the story of “Lourdes,” published in 1894, “Rome” in 1896, and “Paris” in 1897; he has recently distinguished himself by his courage in connection with the Dreyfus affair and his bold condemnation of the sentence under which Dreyfus was condemned; b. 1840.

ZOLAISM, name given to an excessive realism in depicting the worst side of human life and society.  See ZOLA.

ZOLLVEREIN (Customs Union), a union of the German States under Prussia in 1827, and extended in 1867, to establish among them a uniform system of customs rates.

ZONES, the name given to belts of climate on the surface of the earth marked off by the tropical and polar circles, of which the former are 231/2 deg. from the equator and the latter 231/2 deg. from the poles, the zone between the tropical circles, subject to extremes of heat, being called the Torrid Zone, the zones between the polar circles and the poles, subject to extremes of cold, being called respectively the North Frigid Zone and the South Frigid Zone, and the zones north and south of the Torrid, subject to moderate temperature, being called respectively the North Temperate, and the South Temperate Zone.

ZOROASTER, ZARATHUSTHRA, or ZERDUSHT, the founder or reformer of the Parsee religion, of whom, though certainly a historical personage, nothing whatever is for certain known except that his family name was Spitama, that he was born in Bactria, and that he could not have flourished later than 800 B.C.; he appears to have been a pure monotheist, and not to be responsible for the Manichean doctrine of dualism associated with his name, as Zoroastrianism, or the institution of fire-worship.

ZOSIMUS, Greek historian; wrote a history of the Roman emperors from the time of Augustus to the year 410, and ascribed the decline of the empire to the decay of paganism (408-450).

ZOUAVES, the name given to a body of light infantry in the French army wearing the Arab dress, a costume copied from that of Kabyles, in North Africa, and adopted since the French conquest of Algiers; some regiments of them consist of French soldiers, some of Algerines, though originally the two were incorporated into one body.

ZOUTSPANSBERG, a ridge of mountains on the NE. of the Transvaal, being a continuation of the Drakensberg.

ZSCHOKKE, JOHANN HEINRICH, a German writer, born in Magdeburg, lived chiefly at Aarau, in Aargau, Switzerland, where he spent forty years of his life, part of them in the service of his adopted country, and where he died; wrote histories, and a series of tales, but is best known by his “Stunden der Andacht” (i. e. hours of devotion), on ethico-rationalistic lines (1771-1845).