particularly distinguished himself by beating a body of the French ashore at the head of a naval brigade of English and Spaniards. He was entrusted with the duty of embarking the fugitives when the town was evacuated. In 1794 he was promoted rear-admiral, and in 1795 he was sent to occupy the Dutch colonies at the Cape of Good Hope and in India. He had a large share in the capture of the Cape in 1795, and in August 1796 captured a whole Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. In the interval he had gone on to India, where his health suffered, and the capture at Saldanha was effected on his way home. When the Mutiny at the Nore broke out in 1797 he was appointed to the command, and was soon able to restore order. He was equally successful at Plymouth, where the squadron was also in a state of effervescence. At the close of 1798 he was sent as second in command to St Vincent. It was for a long time a thankless post, for St Vincent was at once half incapacitated by ill-health and very arbitrary, while Nelson, who considered that Keith’s appointment was a personal slight to himself, was peevish and insubordinate. The escape of a French squadron which entered the Mediterranean from Brest in May 1799 was mainly due to jarrings among the British naval commanders. Keith followed the enemy to Brest on their retreat, but was unable to bring them to action. He returned to the Mediterranean in November as commander-in-chief. He co-operated with the Austrians in the siege of Genoa, which surrendered on the 4th of June 1800. It was however immediately afterwards lost in consequence of the battle of Marengo, and the French made their re-entry so rapidly that the admiral had considerable difficulty in getting his ships out of the harbour. The close of 1801 and the beginning of the following year were spent in transporting the army sent to recover Egypt from the French. As the naval force of the enemy was completely driven into port, the British admiral had no opportunity of an action at sea, but his management of the convoy carrying the troops, and of the landing at Aboukir, was greatly admired. He was made a baron of the United Kingdom—an Irish barony having been conferred on him in 1797. On the renewal of the war in 1803 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the North Sea, which post he held till 1807. In February 1812 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Channel, and in 1814 he was raised to a viscounty. During his last two commands he was engaged first in overlooking the measures taken to meet a threatened invasion, and then in directing the movements of the numerous small squadrons and private ships employed on the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and in protecting trade. He was at Plymouth when Napoleon surrendered and was brought to England in the “Bellerophon” by Captain Maitland (1777–1839). The decisions of the British government were expressed through him to the fallen Emperor. Lord Keith refused to be led into disputes, and confined himself to declaring steadily that he had his orders to obey. He was not much impressed by the appearance of his illustrious charge, and thought that the airs of Napoleon and his suite were ridiculous. Lord Keith died on the 10th of March 1823 at Tullyallan, his property in Scotland, and was buried in the parish church. A portrait of him by Owen is in the Painted Hall in Greenwich. He was twice married: in 1787 to Jane Mercer, daughter of Colonel William Mercer of Aldie; and in 1808 to Hester Maria Thrale, who is spoken of as “Queenie” in Boswell’s Life of Johnson and Mme. D’Arblay’s Diary. He had a daughter by each marriage, but no son. Thus the viscounty became extinct on his death, but the English and Irish baronies descended to his elder daughter Margaret (1788–1867), who married the Comte de Flahault de la Billarderie, only to become extinct on her death.
There is a panegyrical Life of Lord Keith by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1882); and biographical notices will be found in John Marshall’s Royal Naval Biography, i. 43 (1823–1835), and the Naval Chronicle, x. 1. (D. H.)
KEITH, a police burgh of Banffshire, Scotland, on the Isla,
5314 m. N.W. of Aberdeen by the Great North of Scotland railway.
Pop. (1901), 4753. A branch of the Highland railway also
gives access to Elgin, and there is a line to Buckie and Portessie on
the Moray Firth. The burgh includes Old Keith and New Keith
on the east bank of the Isla, and Fife-Keith on the west bank.
Though Old Keith has a charter dating from William the Lion
it fell into gradual decay; New Keith, founded in the 18th century
by the second earl of Seafield, being better situated for the growth
of a town. Fife-Keith has sprung up since 1816. The principal
public buildings include the Turner memorial hospital, the Longmore
hall, and the Institute. In the Roman Catholic church
there is a painting of the “Incredulity of St Thomas,” presented
by Charles X. of France. The industries include manufactures of
tweeds, blankets, agricultural implements, and boots and shoes;
there are also distilleries, breweries, flour mills, and lime and
manure works. But the main importance of Keith lies in the
fact that it is the centre of the agricultural trade of the shire.
The “Summer Eve Fair” held in September is the largest cattle
and horse fair in the north of Scotland; the town is also the headquarters
of the dressed-meat trade in the north.
KEJ, or Kech, the chief place in a district of the province of
Makran in Baluchistan, which has given its name to Kej-Makran,
as distinguished from Persian Makran. There is no town, but
a number of small villages dominated by a fort built upon a rock,
on the eastern bank of the Kej River. This fort, like many others
similarly placed throughout the country, is supposed to be impregnable,
but is of no strength except against the matchlocks
of the surrounding tribes. Kej (or Kiz) was an important trade
centre in the days of Arab supremacy in Sind, and the rulers of
Kalat at various times marched armies into the province with a
view to maintaining their authority. At the beginning of the
19th century it had the reputation of a commercial centre, trading
through Panjgur with Kandahar, with Karachi via Bela, and
with Muscat and the Persian Gulf by the seaport of Gwadar,
distant about 80 m. The present Khan of Kalat exercises but
a feeble sway over this portion of his dominion, although he
appoints a governor to the province. The principal tribe residing
around Kej is that of the Gichki, who claim to be of Rajput origin,
and to have settled in Makran during the 17th century, having
been driven out of Rajputana. The climate during summer is
too hot for Europeans. During winter, however, it is temperate.
The principal exports consist of dates, which are considered of the
finest quality. A local revolt against Kalat rendered an expedition
against Kej necessary in 1898. Colonel Mayne reduced the
fortress and restored order in the surrounding districts.
KEKULÉ, FRIEDRICH AUGUST (1829–1896), German
chemist, was born at Darmstadt on the 7th of September 1829.
While studying architecture at Giessen he came under the influence
of Liebig and was induced to take up chemistry. From
Giessen he went to Paris, and then, after a short sojourn in
Switzerland, he visited England. Both in Paris and in England
he enjoyed personal intercourse with the leading chemists of the
period. On his return to Germany he started a small chemical
laboratory at Heidelberg, where, with a very slender equipment,
he carried out several important researches. In 1858 he was
appointed professor of chemistry at Ghent, and in 1865 was called
to Bonn to fill a similar position, which he held till his death in
that town on the 13th of June 1896. Kekulé’s main importance
lies in the far-reaching contributions which he made to chemical
theory, especially in regard to the constitution of the carbon compounds.
The doctrine of atomicity had already been enunciated
by E. Frankland, when in 1858 Kekulé published a paper in which,
after giving reasons for regarding carbon as a tetravalent element,
he set forth the essential features of his famous doctrine of the
linking of atoms. He explained that in substances containing
several carbon atoms it must be assumed that some of the affinities
of each carbon atom are bound by the affinities of the atoms of
other elements contained in the substance, and some by an equal
number of the affinities of the other carbon atoms. The simplest
case is when two carbon atoms are combined so that one affinity
of the one is tied to one affinity of the other; two, therefore, of the
affinities of the two atoms are occupied in keeping the two atoms
together, and only the remaining six are available for atoms of
other elements. The next simplest case consists in the mutual
interchange of two affinity units, and so on. This conception led
Kekulé to his “closed-chain” or “ring” theory of the constitution
