Tilsit
a town of Prussia, province of East Prussia; at the junction of the Tilse with the Memel or Niemen, which is crossed by a fine railway bridge (1875), 53 miles S. E. of Memel. It has a schloss (built 1537, partially burnt 1876), a fine rathhaus, four churches, two hospitals, a gymnasium (since 1586), a realschule of the first class (1839), and a large barrack. Tilsit manufactures paper, leather, linens, woolens, and beer, has iron founding and sugar refining, and considerable commerce in horses, timber, corn, and produce. The town is historically interesting as the place where, on a raft in the river, the peace of 1807 was concluded between Napoleon, Alexander, and Friedrich Wilhelm III., by which the last was deprived of onehalf of his dominions. In the World War the Russians captured the city in TIMBER 1914, but were unable to hold it. Pop about 40,000.