TODAY IN HISTORY

In 1836, more than 1,600 people were killed by a disastrous fire at a theatre in Canton, China.

In 1876, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha

Gray applied separately for American patents related to the telephone. The U. S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that Bell -- who moved to Canada from his native Scotland -- was the rightful inventor.

In 1879, physicist Eli Burton was born in Toronto. Educated at the University of Toronto and Cambridge, Burton returned to U- of- T as head of the physics department in 1932. His most notable achievement was building the first electron microscope in North America with Cecil Hall, James Hillier and A. F. Prebus in the late 1930s. He died July 6, 1948.

In 1879, “La Marseillaise” became the national anthem of France.