[Isengrin], the wolf, typifying the feudal baron in the epic tale of Reynard the Fox, as the fox does the Church. See [Reynard].
[Iser], a German river, which rises in the Tyrol N. of Innsbruck, passes through Münich, and falls into the Danube after a course of 180 m.
[Isère], a river in the SE. of France, which gives name to a dep. (572), and which, after a course of 180 m. falls into the Rhône near Valence.
[Iserlohn] (22), a town in Prussian Westphalia, 14 m. SE. of Dortmund; is picturesquely situated, and is engaged in iron-ware manufacture.
[Ishmael], the son of Abraham and the handmaid Hagar, cast out of Abraham's household at 15; he became skilful with the bow, and founded a great nation, the Arabs; for the offering of Isaac on Moriah the Arabs substitute the offering of Ishmael on Arafat, near Mecca; Mahomet claimed descent from him; he gives name in modern life to a social outcast driven into antagonism to social arrangements.
[Isidore, St., Bishop of Seville], born at Carthagena, a distinguished man and ecclesiastic, who exercised great influence on Latin Christianity, and on both civil and ecclesiastical matters in Spain, and left a large number of writings of varied interest; he was animated at once by a severe sense of duty and by an admirable Christian spirit (570-638). Festival, April 4.
[Isinglass], a gelatine substance prepared from the sounds or air-bladders of certain fresh-water fishes, the sturgeon in particular; it is imported from Russia, Brazil, and the Hudson Bay Territory.
[Isis], an Egyptian divinity, the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus, the three together forming a trinity, which is characteristically Egyptian, and such as often repeats itself in Egyptian mythology, and typifying the life of the sun, Osiris representing that luminary slain at night and sorrowed over by his sister Isis, reviving in the morning in his son Horus, and wedded anew to his sister Isis as his wife; passed into the mythology of the Greeks, Isis became identified first with Demeter and then with the Moon, while in that of Rome she figures as the Universe-mother.
[Isla, José Francisco de], a Spanish Jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist of the stamp of Cervantes; his principal work "Friar Gerund," a satire on the charlatanism and bombast of the popular preaching friars of the day, as Don Quixote was on the false chivalry; the friars he satirised were too strong for him, and he was expelled from Spain, retired to Italy, and died at Bologna in extreme poverty (1703-1781).
[Islam] or Islamism, the religion of Mahomet, "that we must submit to God; that our whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever He do to us, for this world and the other; this is the soul of Islam; it is properly the soul of Christianity; Christianity also commands us, before all, to be resigned to God. This is yet the highest wisdom that Heaven has revealed to our earth." See "Heroes and Hero-Worship."