KALISZ, a government of Russian Poland, having Prussia on the W., and the governments of Warsaw and Piotrkow on the E. Its area is 4390 sq. m. Its surface is a lowland, sloping towards the west, and is drained by the Prosna and the Warta and their tributaries, and also by the Bzura. It was formerly covered with countless small lakes and thick forests; the latter are now mostly destroyed, but many lakes and marshes exist still. Pop. (1897), 844,358 of whom 427,978 were women, and 113,609 lived in towns; estimated pop. (1906), 983,200. They are chiefly Poles. Roman Catholics number 83%; Jews and Protestants each amount to 7%. Agriculture is carried to perfection on a number of estates, as also livestock breeding. The crops principally raised are rye, wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. Various domestic trades, including the weaving of linen and wool, are carried on in the villages. There are some factories, producing chiefly cloth and cottons. The government is divided into eight districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1897, are: Kalisz (21,680), Kolo (9400), Konin (8530), Leczyca (8863), Slupec (3758), Sieradz (7019), Turek (8141) and Wielun (7442). KALISZ, the chief town of the above government, situated in 51 deg. 46' N. and 18 deg. E., 147 m. by rail W.S.W. of Warsaw, on the banks of the Prosna, which there forms the boundary of Prussia. Pop. (1871), 18,088; (1897), 21,680, of whom 37% were Jews. It is one of the oldest and finest cities of Poland, is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, and possesses a castle, a teachers' institute and a large public park. The industrial establishments comprise a brewery, and factories for ribbons, cloth and sugar, and tanneries. Kalisz is identified with the _Calisia_ of Ptolemy, and its antiquity is indicated by the abundance of coins and other objects of ancient art which have been discovered on the site, as well as by the numerous burial mounds existing in the vicinity. It was the scene of the decisive victory of Augustus the Strong of Poland over the Swedes on the 29th of October 1706, of several minor conflicts in 1813, and of the friendly meeting of the Russian and Prussian troops in 1835, in memory of which an iron obelisk was erected in the town by Nicholas I. in 1841. The treaty of 1813 between Russia and Prussia was signed here. KALK, a town in the Prussian Rhine province, on the right bank of the Rhine, 2 m. E. of Cologne. Pop. (1905), 25,478. Kalk is an important junction of railway lines connecting Cologne with places on the right bank of the river. It has various iron and chemical industries, brickworks and breweries, and an electric tramway joins it with Cologne.