PLATES

MAPS IN COLOUR

Adolphe Abrahams, O.B.E., B.A., M.D., late Major, R.A.M.C.

George E. Allan, D.Sc., Lecturer in Electricity, University of Glasgow.

R. E. Anderson, Maker of Artificial Limbs.

F. L. Attenborough, B.A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

F. F. P. Bisacre, O.B.E., M.A., B.Sc., A.M.I.C.E.

R. M. Brown, B.Sc.

Grenville A. J. Cole, F.R.S., Professor of Geology, Royal College of Science, Ireland.

Arthur O. Cooke, Author of A Book of Dovecotes.

J. R. Ainsworth Davis, M.A., F.C.P., former Principal of The Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

Montagu Drummond, M.A., Lecturer in Botany, University of Glasgow.

Charles J. Ffoulkes, B.Litt., Major, R.M.; Curator of the Armouries, Tower of London.

F. Morley Fletcher, Director, College of Art, Edinburgh.

Rev. William Fulton, D.D., B.Sc., Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Aberdeen.

L. Haden Guest, M.C., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.

R. N. Haygarth, B.A., B.Sc., Queens' College, Cambridge.

W. A. Hislop, M.B., late Captain, R.A.M.C.

Donald A. Mackenzie, Folklorist; Author of Egyptian Myth and Legend, &c.

Magnus Maclean, M.A., D.Sc., M.Inst.E.E., M.Inst.C.E., Editor of Modern Electrical Engineering, &c.

W. Lockwood Marsh, O.B.E., M.A., A.F.R.Ae.S., Lieutenant-Colonel; late R.A.F.; Secretary of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

D. J. Mackellor, B.Sc., Lecturer in Electrical Engineering, Royal Technical College, Glasgow.

R. F. Patterson, M.A., D.Litt., formerly Charles Oldham Shakespeare Scholar, Cambridge University.

Angelo S. Rappoport, Ph.D., B. ès L.

James Ritchie, M.A., M.D., Professor of Bacteriology, University of Edinburgh.

W. D. Robieson, M.A.

John J. Ross, M.A., F.R.A.S.

George Smith, Procurator Fiscal.

G. Elliot Smith, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Anatomy, University of London.

C. S. Stooks, D.S.O., Major, Indian Army; Instructor in Military Organization, Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

M. M. J. Sutherland, D.Sc., F.I.C.

Thomas G. Wright, LL.B., Professor of Mercantile Law, University of Glasgow.

The method of marking pronunciations here employed is either (1) by marking the syllable on which the accent falls, or (2) by a simple system of transliteration, to which the following is the Key:—

ā, as in fate, or in bare.

ä, as in alms, Fr. âme, Ger. Bahn = á of Indian names.

a˙, the same sound short or medium, as in Fr. bal, Ger. Mann.

a, as in fat.

a¨, as in fall.

a, obscure, as in rural, similar to u in but, ė in her: common in Indian names.

ē, as in me = i in machine.

e, as in met.

ė, as in her.

ī, as in pine, or as ei in Ger. mein.

i, as in pin, also used for the short sound corresponding to ē, as in French and Italian words.

eu, a long sound as in Fr. jeûne = Ger. long ö, as in Söhne, Göthe (Goethe).

eu, corresponding sound short or medium, as in Fr. peu = Ger. ö short.

ō, as in note, moan.

o, as in not, soft—that is, short or medium.

ö, as in move, two.

ū as in tube.

u, as in tub: similar to ė and also to a.

u¨, as in bull.

ü, as in Sc. abune = Fr. û as in dû, Ger. ü long as in grün, Bühne.

u˙, the corresponding short or medium sound, as in Fr. but, Ger. Müller.

oi, as in oil.

ou, as in pound; or as au in Ger. Haus.

Of the consonants, b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, ng, p, sh, t, v, z, always have their common English sounds, when used to transliterate foreign words. The letter c is not used by itself in re-writing for pronunciation, s or k being used instead. The only consonantal symbols, therefore, that require explanation are the following:—

ch is always as in rich.

d, nearly as th in this = Sp. d in Madrid, &c.

g is always hard, as in go.

h represents the guttural in Scotch loch, Ger. nach, also other similar gutturals.

n˙, Fr. nasal n as in bon.

r represents both English r, and r in foreign words, which is generally much more strongly trilled.

s, always as in so.

th, as th in thin.

th, as th in this.

w always consonantal, as in we.

x = ks, which are used instead.

y always consonantal, as in yea (Fr. ligne would be re-written lēny).

zh, as s in pleasure = Fr. j.

[1]

A, the first letter in many alphabets. The sound most commonly belonging to it, as in French, Italian, German, &c., is that which is heard in father, pronounced short or long. In English the letter is made to represent at least seven sounds, as in father, mat, mate, mare, many, ball, what, besides being used in such digraphs as ea in heat, oa in boat.—A, in music, is the sixth note in the diatonic scale of C, and stands when in perfect tune to the latter note in the ratio of ³/₅ to 1. The second string of the violin is tuned to this note.

A 1, a symbol attached to vessels of the highest class in Lloyd's register of shipping, A referring to the hull of the vessel, 1 to the rigging and whole equipment. When A 1 has a number prefixed, as 100 A 1, 90 A 1, the number denotes that the vessel is built according to certain specifications. See Shipbuilding.

Aa (ä) (Old Ger. aha, water; allied to Lat. aqua, water), the name of a great many streams of Central and Northern Europe.

Aachen (ä′hėn). See Aix-la-Chapelle.

Aaland Islands. See Aland Islands.

Aalborg (ōl′borh: 'eel-town'), a seaport of Denmark, in Jutland, on the Liimfiord, see of a bishop, with iron-founding, distilling, fishing, &c. Pop. 33,449.

Aalen (ä′lėn), a town of Germany in Württemberg, which manufactures woollen and linen goods. It has important iron-works and tanneries. Pop. 11,347.

Aalesund (ō′le-su¨nd), seaport and fishing centre on the west coast of Norway, on a small island. Pop. 13,858.

Aali Pasha. See Ali Pasha.

Aalst (älst). See Alost.

Aar, or Aare (är), the name of several European rivers, of which the chief (180 miles long) is a tributary of the Rhine, next to it and the Rhone the longest river in Switzerland. It has its origin from the Upper and Lower Glaciers of the Aar, in the Bernese Alps, traverses Lakes Brienz and Thun, and receives the Saane, Reuss, Limmat, &c. On it are Interlaken, Thun, Bern, Solothurn, and Aarau, to which, as to the canton of Aargau, it gives its name.

Aarau (ä′rou), a well-built and finely-situated town in Switzerland, capital of canton Aargau, on the River Aar. Pop. 9536.

Aard-vark (ärd′va˙rk: earth-pig), Dutch name for a burrowing insect-eating animal of South Africa, Orycterŏpus capensis, order Edentata, resembling the ant-eater and armadillo. It is called also ground-hog and Cape pig.

Aardwolf (ärd′wu¨lf: earth-wolf) (Protĕles cristātus), a burrowing carnivore of S. and E. Africa, allied to the hyenas and civets. It feeds on carrion, small mammals, insects, &c.

Aare. See Aar.

Aargau (är′gou), or Argovie (a˙r-go-vē), a northern canton of Switzerland; area, 543 sq. miles; hilly, well wooded, abundantly watered by the Aar and its tributaries, and well cultivated. Pop. 236,860. German is almost universally spoken. Capital, Aarau. [2]

Aarhuus (ōr′hös), a seaport and ancient town of Denmark, on the east coast of Jutland. It has a fine Gothic cathedral, a good harbour, and manufactures woollens, gloves, hats, tobacco, &c. Pop. 65,858.

Aaron (ā′ron), of the tribe of Levi, brother of Moses. At Sinai, when the people became impatient at the long-continued absence of Moses, he complied with their request by making a golden calf, and thus became involved with them in the guilt of gross idolatry. The office of high-priest, which he first filled, was made hereditary in his family. He died at Mount Hor at the age of 123, and was succeeded by his son Eleazer.

Aaron's Beard. See Saint John's Wort and Toad-flax.

Aaron's Rod. See Golden-rod and Mullein.

Aasen (ō′zen), Ivar Andreas, Norwegian poet and philologist, was born in 1813 and died in 1896. He wrote miscellaneous poems and a drama, but he is chiefly known as the originator of the patriotic movement known as the Maulstroev. He endeavoured to give Norway a literary language distinct from the Danish, which has long served as the literary and official language of the country. This he attempted to do mainly by the help of the native dialects, which he studied thoroughly, setting forth their grammar in special works and embodying their vocabulary in his Norsk Ordbog med Dansk Forklaring (Norse Dictionary, with Explanations in Danish, 1873), supplemented by the Norsk Ordbog of Hans Ross (1890-2). Numbers of poems, tales, &c., have been written in the language, of which Aasen was in a sense the inventor.

Aasvär (ōs′vār), a group of small islands off the Norwegian coast, under the Arctic Circle, where there is an important herring-fishery.

Ab, the eleventh month of the Jewish civil, the fifth of the ecclesiastical, year—part of July and part of August.

Ababda, or Ababdeh (abab′de) (Gebadei of Pliny), a nomadic African race inhabiting Upper Egypt and part of Nubia, between the Nile and the Red Sea, dark-brown in colour. Their language is Arabic and they are Mahommedans in religion. They number about 40,000.

Ab′aca, or Manilla Hemp, a strong fibre yielded by the leaf-stalks of a kind of plantain (Musa textĭlis) which grows in the Indian Archipelago, and is cultivated in the Philippines. The outer fibres of the leaf-stalks are made into strong and durable ropes, the inner into various fine fabrics.

Ab′aco, Great and Little, two islands of the Bahamas group, (q.v.). Pop. about 4000.

Ab′acus, a Latin term applied to an apparatus used in elementary schools for facilitating arithmetical operations, consisting of a number of parallel cords or wires, upon which balls or beads are strung, the uppermost wire being appropriated to units, the next to tens, &c.—The uppermost member or division of the capital of a column, immediately under the architrave.

Abad′don (Heb. destruction), the name given in Rev. ix. 11 as that of the angel of the bottomless pit, otherwise called Apollyon. In Job, xxvi, 6, it designates the underworld, or Hades.

Abakansk′, a fortified place in Siberia, near the Upper Yenisei, founded by Peter the Great in 1707.

Abalone (ab-a-lō′ne), a name in California for a species of ear-shell (Haliotis) that furnishes mother-of-pearl.

Ab′ana, or Amanah, one of the two rivers of Damascus mentioned in the Bible (2 Kings, v, 12). See Barada.

Aban′donment, a term of marine insurance, employed to designate the case where the party insured gives up his whole interest in the property to the insurer, and claims as for a total loss.—Bibliography: G. G. Phillimore, Marine Insurance, in Encyclopedia of the Laws of England, vol. viii; C. R. Tyser, Law relating to Losses under a Policy of Marine Insurance.

Ab′ano, a village of North Italy, 5 miles from Padua, famous for its mud-baths and warm springs. It is supposed to be the birthplace of Livy.

Aba′rim, a mountain range of Eastern Palestine, including Nebo, on which Moses died.

Abatement, in law, has various significations. Abatement of nuisances is the remedy allowed to a person injured by a public or private nuisance, of destroying or removing it himself. A plea in abatement is brought [3]forward by a defendant when he wishes to defeat or quash a particular action on some formal or technical ground. Abatement, in mercantile law, is an allowance, deduction, or discount made for prompt payment or other reason.

Ab′attis, or Abatis, in field engineering, a mass of trees cut down and laid with their branches turned towards the enemy in such a way as to form a defence for troops stationed behind them.

Abattoir (ab-at-wär′). See Slaughter-house.

Abauzit, Firmin (a˙-bō-zē), a French Protestant scholar, was born in 1679 and died in 1767. He lived chiefly at Geneva, but visited England and was highly esteemed by Newton, who considered him not unfit to be judge between himself and Leibnitz in the quarrel as to the invention of the integral and differential calculus. Collections of his works were published at Geneva (1770) and at London (1773).

Abba, a Syrian word equivalent to 'father', which, being applied in the Eastern Church to monks, superiors of monks, and other ecclesiastics, gave rise to the word abbot. In the Syriac and Coptic Churches it is given to bishops.

Abbadie (a˙b-a˙-dē), Antoine Thomson and Arnaud Michel d', French travellers, born in Dublin in 1810 and 1815 respectively. They lived for years in Abyssinia, and published valuable works on that country: Arnaud, Douze Ans dans la Haute-Éthiopie; Antoine, Géodésie de la Haute-Éthiopie, &c. Arnaud died in 1893, Antoine in 1897.

Abbas I, the Great, Shah or King of Persia, born in 1557, ascended the throne in 1586, at a time when the Turks and hordes of Usbek Tartars had made great encroachments on the country. Having defeated the Usbeks, recovered the provinces overrun by them, and reduced a great part of Afghanistan, he made war against the Turks, and in 1605 defeated them near Bussorah, thus getting back all the lost provinces. He extended his rule beyond Persia proper, and at his death in 1628 his dominions stretched from the Tigris to the Indus. He is looked upon by the Persians as their greatest sovereign.

Abbas II, Hilmi, ex-Khedive of Egypt, was born in 1874. He is the eldest son of Tewfik Pasha, and succeeded his father in 1892. During his reign he adopted an unfriendly attitude towards England, but he failed in his attempt to form an anti-British Cabinet in 1893. On 19th Dec., 1914, the British Government issued a proclamation deposing Abbas Hilmi and conferring the title of Sultan of Egypt upon Hussein Kamil, eldest living prince of the family of Mohammed Ali-Hussein Kamil, who died in 1917. See Egypt.

Abbas Mirza, a Persian prince and soldier, was the son of the shah Feth Ali; born 1783, died 1833; he greatly distinguished himself in the wars against Russia.

Abbasids, or Abbassides (ab′as-sidz), the name of the second Arabian dynasty which supplanted the Ommiades. It traced its descent from Abbas (born 566, died 652), uncle of Mahomet, and gave thirty-seven caliphs to Bagdad between 749 and 1258. Harun al Rashid was a member of this dynasty. See Caliphs.

Abbate (a˙b-bä′tā), the Italian term corresponding to Abbé.

Abbé (a˙b-ā), a French word for abbot, or for anyone regularly wearing the clerical dress. Before the Revolution, all who had studied theology, either with the view of becoming ordained clergymen or merely of obtaining some ecclesiastical appointment or benefice, were generally so designated. Marked out by their special dress, a short, violet-coloured robe, they were seen everywhere—at court, the ball, the theatre, and in private families, where they acted sometimes as tutors and sometimes as confidential advisers. Others, again, adopted the literary profession or became teachers in the higher educational establishments.

Abbe, Cleveland, American meteorologist and astronomer, born at New York in 1838, and educated at Harvard. He held various positions in connection with observatories and other institutions in America, and was for some time chief meteorologist in the United States Weather Bureau. He wrote much on meteorology and kindred subjects. He died in 1916. His works include: The Mechanics of the Earth's Atmosphere; Relations between Climates and Crops, &c.

Abbeoku′ta, a town of West Africa, in the Lagos Province of S. Nigeria, on the Ogun River, and on the railway from Lagos to N. Nigeria, 45 miles north of Lagos, consists chiefly of mud houses, surrounded by a mud wall. Pop. 50,000 to 100,000.

Ab′bess. See Abbey and Abbot.

Abbeville (ancient Abbatis Villa), a town of France, department of the Somme, on the River Somme (which is here tidal), 108 miles N.N.W. of Paris. The town is first mentioned in the ninth century, when it belonged to the Abbey of St. Riquier. It has a Gothic church (St. Vulfran) (begun in the fifteenth century and completed in the seventeenth), which has a magnificent west front in the Flamboyant style. It manufactures woollens, sail-cloth, chemicals, &c. Pop. 20,373.

Ab′bey, a monastery or religious community of the highest class, governed by an abbot, assisted generally by a prior, sub-prior, and other subordinate functionaries; or, in the case of a female community, superintended by an abbess. An abbey invariably included a church. A priory differed from an abbey only in being [4]scarcely so extensive an establishment, and was governed by a prior. In the English conventual cathedral establishments, as Canterbury, Norwich, Ely, &c., the archbishops or bishops held the abbot's place, the immediate governor of the monastery being called a prior. Some priories sprang originally from the more important abbeys, and remained under the jurisdiction of the abbots; but subsequently any real distinction between abbeys and priories was lost. The greater abbeys formed most complete and extensive establishments, including not only the church and other buildings devoted to the monastic life and its daily requirements, such as the refectory or eating-room, the dormitories or sleeping-rooms, the room for social intercourse, the school for novices, the scribes' cells, library, &c., but also workshops, storehouses, mills, cattle and poultry sheds, dwellings for artisans, labourers, and other servants, infirmary, guest-house, &c. Among the most famous abbeys on the continent of Europe were those of Cluny, Clairvaux, and Citeaux in France; St. Galle in Switzerland, and Fulda in Germany; the most noteworthy English abbeys were those of Westminster, St. Mary's of York, Fountains, Kirkstall, Tintern, Rievaulx, Netley; and of Scotland, Melrose, Paisley, and Arbroath.

Abbiategrasso (a˙b-bē-ä′tā-gra˙s-sō), a town in the north of Italy, 15 miles W.S.W. of Milan. Pop. 13,148.

Ab′bot (from the Syriac abba, father), the head of an abbey (see Abbey), the lady of similar rank being called abbess (abbatissa). An abbess, however, was not, like the abbot, allowed to exercise the spiritual functions of the priesthood, such as preaching, confessing, &c.; nor did abbesses ever succeed in freeing themselves from the control of their diocesan bishop. In the early age of monastic institutions (circ. A.D. 300-600) the monks were not priests, but simply laymen who retired from the world to live in common, and the abbot was also a layman. In the course of time the abbots were usually ordained, and when an abbey was directly attached to a cathedral the bishop was also the abbot, but the functions devolving on the head of a monastery were, in this case, performed by a prior. At first the abbeys were more remarkable for their numbers than for their magnitude, but afterwards many of them were large and richly endowed, and the heads of such establishments became personages of no small influence and power, more especially after the abbots succeeded (by the eleventh century) in freeing themselves from the jurisdiction of the bishop of their diocese. Hence families of the highest rank might be seen eagerly striving to obtain the titles of abbot and abbess for their members. The great object was to obtain control over the revenues of the abbeys, and for this purpose recourse was had to the device of holding them under a kind of trust, or, as it was called, in commendam. According to the original idea, the abbot in commendam, or 'commendator', was merely a temporary trustee, who drew the whole or part of the revenues during a vacancy, and was bound to apply them to specific purposes; but ultimately the commendator or lay abbot in many instances held the appointment for life, and was allowed to apply the whole or a large portion of the revenues to his own private use. Many of the abbots vied with the bishops and nobility in rank and dignity. In England abbots long sat in the House of Lords, ranking next after barons. Seventeen of them were present on 28th June, 1539, the last occasion when the abbots as a body sat in Parliament. The Reformation introduced vast changes, not [5]only in Protestant countries, where abbeys and all other monastic establishments were generally suppressed, but even in countries which still continued Roman Catholic; many sovereigns, whilst displaying their zeal for the Roman Catholic Church by persecuting its opponents, did not scruple to imitate them in the confiscation of Church property.

Abbot (or Lord) of Misrule, the personage who took the chief part in the Christmas revelries of the English populace before the Reformation. In Scotland he was called Abbot of Unreason.

Abbot, George, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born in 1562 and died in 1633. He studied at Oxford, assisted in the translation of the Bible, was made Bishop of Lichfield in 1609, next year Bishop of London, and in 1611 Archbishop of Canterbury. He retained the favour of James I to the last, but after the accession of Charles I his influence at Court was superseded by that of Laud. He published several works, chiefly theological, and A Brief Description of the Whole World (1599).

Ab′botsford, the country-seat of Sir Walter Scott, on the south bank of the Tweed, in Roxburghshire, 3 miles from Melrose, in the midst of picturesque scenery, forming an extensive and irregular pile in the Scottish baronial style of architecture.—Abbotsford Club, a club established at Edinburgh for printing works throwing light on matters of history or literature connected with the writings of Sir Walter Scott; issued 34 vols. 1835-64.

Ab′bott, Rev. Edwin, D.D., prolific writer on theological, educational, and other subjects, born in London, 1838, was educated at the City of London School and St. John's College, Cambridge, where he highly distinguished himself; he was head master of the City of London School from 1865 to 1889, when he retired. His Shakespearian Grammar (1870) is one of his best contributions to English philology. Among his theological and kindred writings are: Through Nature to Christ; Bible Lessons; Cambridge Sermons; Oxford Sermons; the elaborate article Gospels in the Encyclopædia Britannica (9th edition); From Letter to Spirit. Other works are: Philochristus and Onesimus, both romances on the history of the Early Christian Church; Francis Bacon, an Account of his Life and Works; St. Thomas of Canterbury, his Death and Miracles; The Anglican Career of Cardinal Newman (a very depreciatory estimate); Flatland, a Romance of Many Dimensions. He also wrote: Johannine Grammar (1906), The Message of the Son of Man (1909), The Fourfold Gospel (1913-7).

Ab′bott, Jacob, a popular American writer, especially of entertaining and instructive books for the young. He was born in 1803 and died in 1879. For a time he was a teacher and later a clergyman.

Ab′bott, Thomas Kingsmill, D.D., biblical scholar and writer on philosophic and other subjects, born at Dublin, 1829, died 18th Dec., 1913. He studied with distinction at Trinity College, and was successively professor in Dublin University of moral philosophy, 1867-72; of biblical Greek, 1875-88; and of Hebrew, 1879-1900; he was at one time librarian of the College. He has written Sight and Touch, directed against the Berkeleian theory of vision; Elements of Logic; Essays, chiefly on the Original Texts of the Old and New Testaments; Notes on some Epistles of St. Paul; Elementary Theory of the Tides; Translation of Kant's Theory of Ethics; Kant's Introduction to Logic; Commentary on Ephesians and Colossians; &c.

Abbrevia′tions, devices used in writing and printing to save time and space, consisting usually of curtailments effected in words and syllables by the removal of some letters, often of the whole of the letters except the first. The following is a list of the more important:—

Abd-el-Ka′der, an Arab chief, born in Algeria, 1807; died at Damascus, 1883. He was the chief opponent of the French in their [7]conquest of Algeria, but at last surrendered to them in 1847, and was imprisoned till set at liberty by Napoleon III in 1852. He afterwards resided chiefly at Damascus, but made various journeys, and visited the Paris exhibition of 1867. He wrote a religious philosophical work in Arabic which has been translated into French.

Abde′ra, an ancient Greek city on the Thracian coast, the birthplace of Democritus (the laughing philosopher), Anaxarchus, and Protagoras. Its inhabitants were proverbial for stupidity.

Abdica′tion, properly the voluntary, but sometimes also the involuntary, resignation of an office or dignity, and more especially that of sovereign power. Abdication does not necessarily require the execution of a formal deed, but may be presumed from facts and circumstances, as in the case of the English Revolution in 1688, when, after long debate, it was resolved by both Houses of Parliament that King James II, having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, had "abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant". Yet the sovereign of Great Britain cannot constitutionally abdicate without the consent of both Houses of Parliament. The principal abdications in recent years were: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, 14th March, 1917; King Constantine of Greece, 11th June, 1917; King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 6th Oct., 1918; Wilhelm II of Germany, 9th Nov., 1918; Karl I of Austria, 13th Nov., 1918; and Marie Adelaide, Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg, 15th Jan., 1919.

Abdo′men, in man, the belly, or lower cavity of the trunk, separated from the upper cavity or thorax by the diaphragm or midriff, and bounded below by the bones of the pelvis. It contains the viscera belonging to the digestive and urinary systems. What are called the abdominal regions will be understood from the accompanying cut, in which 1 is the epigastric region, 2 the umbilical, 3 the pubic, 4 4 the right and left hypochondriac, 5 5 the right and left lumbar, 6 6 right and left iliac. The name is given to the corresponding portion of the body in other animals. In insects it comprises the whole body behind the thorax, usually consisting of a series of rings. See Alimentary Canal.

Abdom′inal Fishes (Abdomināles), a group of the soft-finned (or malacopterous) fishes, having fins upon the abdomen, and comprising the herring, pike, salmon, carp, &c.

Abduc′tion, a legal term, generally applied to denote the offence of carrying off a female either forcibly or by fraudulent representations. Such a delinquency in regard to a man is styled kidnapping. There are various descriptions of abduction recognized in criminal jurisprudence, such as that of a child, of an heiress, or of a wife.

Ab′dul-Az′iz, Sultan of Turkey, was born in Feb., 1830, and succeeded his brother Abdul-Mejid, in June, 1861. He concluded treaties of commerce with France and England, both of which countries he visited in 1867. Deposed in May, 1876, he committed suicide, or more probably was assassinated, in June of the same year. He was succeeded by his son Murad V. See next article.

Ab′dul-Ham′id, Sultan of Turkey, younger son of Abdul-Mejid, born 22nd Sept., 1842, succeeded his brother Murad V, who was deposed on proof of his insanity in 1876. At that time Turkey, which was at war with Serbia, was compelled to agree to an armistice at the demand of Russia. The persecution and oppression of the Christian population of Bulgaria had roused remonstrances from other European countries, and a congress met at Constantinople to consider a constitution which the Porte had proclaimed. The conference was a failure, and in April, 1877, war was declared by Russia. During the sanguinary struggle which ensued the Turks fought with great bravery, but they had ultimately to sue for peace. A treaty was signed at San Stefano in Feb., 1878, but its provisions were modified by a congress of the Great Powers which met at Berlin. The island of Cyprus was ceded to Britain. Serbia, Rumania, and Montenegro were freed from Turkish suzerainty altogether; Bulgaria was left in nominal dependence; whilst Bosnia and Herzegovina were placed under Austrian administration. In 1881 Thessaly was transferred to Greece; in 1885 E. Roumelia became united to Bulgaria. Ever since the treaty of Berlin, Abdul Hamid saw in Germany the future friend of Turkey. He therefore entrusted Germans with the reorganization of his army and finances. Subsequently there were massacres of Christians, a war with Greece (1897), and troubles in Crete and Macedonia. In April, 1909, the Sultan was deposed, and his brother, Rashid Effendi, proclaimed sultan as Mohammed V. Abdul Hamid died in captivity 10th Feb., 1918.

Abd-ul-Lat′if, an Arab writer and physician, was born at Bagdad in 1161 and died there in 1231. He was patronized by the celebrated Saladin, and published an excellent description of Egypt, which is still extant. It was translated into English by White, Oxford, 1800.

Ab′dul-Mej′id Khan, Sultan of Turkey, born in 1823, succeeded his father, Mahmud II, [8]1st July, 1839. At the time of his accession Mehemet, Pasha of Egypt, had risen a second time against the Turkish yoke; his son Ibrahim had inflicted a severe defeat on the Turks at Nizib (24th June, 1839), and was advancing on Constantinople. But the intervention of the leading European Powers checked the designs of Mehemet Ali, and saved the Turkish empire. Abdul-Mejid was desirous of carrying out reforms, but most of them were not enforced, or caused bloody insurrections where attempts were made to carry them out. Owing to disputes between the Latin and Greek Churches regarding the rights of precedence and possession of the 'holy places' in Palestine, and to demands made by the Tsar virtually implying the right of protectorate over the Christian subjects of the Sultan, war broke out between Turkey and Russia in 1853. In the following year the Porte effected an alliance with France and England (hence the Crimean War), and later on with Sardinia. (See Crimean War.) Abdul-Mejid died 25th June, 1861, and was succeeded by his brother, Abdul-Aziz.

Abeceda′rian, a term formed from the first four letters of the alphabet, and applied to the followers of Storch, a German Anabaptist (1522), because they rejected all worldly knowledge, even the learning of the alphabet.

À Becket, Thomas. See Becket.

À Beck′ett, Gilbert Abbott, English writer, born near London in 1811. He studied for the bar, and became one of the original staff of Punch, was long a leader-writer to the Times and the Morning Herald, and contributed articles to the Illustrated London News. He wrote Comic History of England, Comic History of Rome, and Comic Blackstone, and between fifty and sixty plays. In 1849 he was appointed a metropolitan police magistrate, which office he retained till his death in 1856.

Abel, properly Hebel (Heb. breath, vapour, vanity), the second son of Adam. He was a shepherd, and was slain by his brother Cain from jealousy because his sacrifice was accepted while Cain's was rejected. Several of the fathers, among others St. Chrysostom and Augustine, regard him as a type of the new, regenerate man.

Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus, chemist, was born in London, 1827; died 1902. Having adopted chemistry as a profession, he studied under Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry, became professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy in 1851, and was chemist to the War Department and chemical adviser to the Government from 1854 to 1888. He did useful work in connection with the chemistry of explosives (especially gun-cotton), the flash-point of petroleum, &c.; was joint-inventor of cordite along with Dewar; and was also an authority on the manufacture of steel. He was honoured with a baronetcy, and was also a K.C.B. and a K.C.V.O. He wrote works on gunpowder, gun-cotton, and explosives generally, and on electricity as applied to explosive purposes. His works include: The Modern History of Gunpowder; Electricity applied to Explosive Purposes, &c.

Abélard (ab′e-lärd), or Abailard, Peter, a celebrated scholastic teacher, born near Nantes, in Brittany, in 1079. He made extraordinary progress with his studies, and, ultimately eclipsing his teachers, he opened a school of scholastic philosophy near Paris, which attracted crowds of students from the neighbouring city. His success in the fiery debates which were then the fashion in the schools made him many enemies, among whom was Guillaume de Champeaux, his former teacher, chief of the cathedral school of Notre-Dame, and the most advanced of the Realists. Abélard succeeded his adversary in this school (in 1113), and under him were trained many men who afterwards rose to eminence, among them being the future Pope Celestin II, Peter Lombard, and Arnold of Brescia. While he was at the height of his popularity, and in his fortieth year, he fell violently in love with Heloise—then eighteen years of age—niece of Fulbert, a canon of Paris. They obtained a home in Fulbert's house under the pretext of teaching Heloise philosophy, and their intercourse at length became apparent. Abélard, who had retired to Brittany, was followed by Heloise, who there gave birth to a son, named Astrolabius. A private marriage took place, and Heloise returned to her uncle's house, but, refusing to make public her marriage (as likely to spoil Abélard's career), she was subjected to severe treatment at the hands of her uncle. To save her from this Abélard carried her off and placed her in a convent at Argenteuil, a proceeding which so incensed Fulbert that he hired ruffians who broke into Abélard's chamber and subjected him to a shameful mutilation. Abélard, filled with grief and shame, became a monk in the abbey of St. Denis, and Heloise took the veil. When time had somewhat moderated his grief, he resumed his lectures; but trouble after trouble overtook him. His theological writings were condemned by the Council of Soissons, and he retired to an oratory called the Paraclete, subsequently becoming head of the abbey of St. Gildas-de-Rhuys in Brittany. For a short time he again lectured at Paris (1136), but his doctrines once more brought persecution on him, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the most powerful man in the Church in those days, had him condemned by the Council of Sens and afterwards by the Pope. Abélard did not long survive this, dying at St. [9]Marcel, near Chalon-sur-Saône, 21st April, 1142. Heloise, who had become abbess of the Paraclete, had him buried there, where she herself was afterwards laid by his side. Their ashes were removed to Paris in 1800, and in 1817 they were finally deposited beneath a mausoleum in the cemetery of Père la Chaise. According to John of Salisbury, Abélard is credited with the invention of a new philosophical system, midway between Realism and Nominalism. In Ethics, Abélard seems to have attached importance to the psychological element in the action, rather than to the action itself. "The intention of sinning", he maintained, "is worse than the actual physical sin." A complete edition of his works was published by Cousin (2 vols., Paris, 1849-59), and the letters of Abélard and Heloise have been often published in the original and in translations. Pope's Eloisa to Abélard is founded on them. Abélard's autobiography, entitled Story of my Calamities, is still extant.—Bibliography: Charles de Rémusat, Abélard (2 vols.); J. M‘Cabe, Life of Abélard.

Abele (a-bēl′), a name of the white poplar.

A′belite, or Abe′lian, a member of a religious sect in Africa which arose in the fourth century after Christ. They married, but lived in continence, after the manner, as they maintained, of Abel, and attempted to keep up the sect by adopting the children of others.

Abelmoschus (-mos′kus), a genus of tropical plants of the mallow family. A. esculentus, cultivated in India, Algeria, &c., yields edible pods and also a valuable fibre. The fruit, called okro or ochro, is used in soups.

Abencerrages (ab-en-ser′a-jez), a powerful and distinguished Moorish family of Granada, the chief members of which, thirty-six in number, are said to have been massacred in the Alhambra by the king Abu-Hassan (latter half of the fifteenth century) on account of the attachment of his sister to one of them. There is a room in the Alhambra which is still called 'the hall of the Abencerrages'. The legend has furnished the subject of many poems both Arabic and Spanish (Las Guerras Civiles de Granada, by Gines Perez de Hita), and formed the basis for Chateaubriand's Aventures du dernier des Abencérages.

Ab′en Ezra (Ibn Ezra), a celebrated Jewish rabbi, born at Toledo about 1093, travelled in pursuit of knowledge in England, France, Italy, and Greece, and is supposed to have died in Rhodes about 1167. He is best known as a commentator on Scripture.

Abensberg (ä′bėns-berh), a village of Bavaria, in the Danube valley, below Ingolstadt, celebrated for Napoleon's victory over the Austrians, 20th April, 1809.

Abeoku′ta. See Abbeokuta.

Ab′er, a prefix in Celtic geographical proper names signifying the mouth or entrance of a river into the sea, or into another stream. It is used chiefly in Wales and Scotland, having the same meaning as inver.

Abera′von, a municipal borough of Wales in Glamorganshire, near the mouth of the Avon in Swansea Bay, embracing Aberavon proper and its harbour Port Talbot. There are collieries, ironworks, copper-works, &c. Since 1918 Aberavon gives its name to a parliamentary division of the county. Pop. (municipal borough) (1921), 15,370.

Aberbroth′ock. See Arbroath.

Abercarn′, an urban district or town of England, Monmouthshire, 10½ miles north-west of Newport, with collieries, ironworks, &c. Pop. (1921), 20,123.

Ab′ercrombie, John, M.D., a Scottish writer on medical and moral science, and an eminent physician, born in Aberdeen, 1781, died at Edinburgh in 1844. He graduated at the university of Edinburgh in 1803, and subsequently pursued his studies in London, returning to Edinburgh in 1804, where he acquired an extensive practice as a physician. Apart from medical treatises, he is known from his Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers and his Philosophy of the Moral Feelings.

Ab′ercrombie, Patrick, a Scottish historical writer and antiquary, born at Forfar, 1656; date of death uncertain. Educated at St. Andrews and abroad, he took the degree of M.D., and practised as a physician in Edinburgh. In 1685 he was appointed physician to James II. His chief work is Martial Atchievements of the Scots Nation, 2 vols. folio, 1711-6.

Ab′ercromby, Sir Ralph, a British general, born in 1734 in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. He entered the army in 1756 as cornet in the 3rd Dragoon Guards; and he gradually passed through all the ranks of the service until he became a major-general in 1787. He served as lieutenant-general in Flanders, 1793-5, and was then appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in the West Indies, where he captured the islands of Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad, with the settlements of Demerara and Essequibo. On his return in 1798 he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland; and he afterwards held a corresponding command in Scotland. His next and concluding service was in the expedition to Egypt, of which he was commander-in-chief. He landed, after a severe fight, at Aboukir, 8th March, 1801; and on the 21st of the same month the battle of Alexandria was fought, in which Sir Ralph was mortally wounded.

Aberdare (-dār′), a town of South Wales, [10]in Glamorganshire, pleasantly situated at the junction of the Cynon and Dare, 4 miles south-west of Merthyr-Tydfil, with extensive coal and iron mines in the vicinity. It belongs to the parliamentary borough of Merthyr-Tydfil. Pop. (1921), 55,010.

Aberdeen′, a university city and royal, municipal, and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, capital of the county of same name, mainly on the north bank of the Dee at its entrance into the North Sea, and between this river and the Don, with a part also on the south bank of the Dee, while the municipal limits include the adjacent Woodside. The site is in places somewhat hilly. Aberdeen is one of the oldest towns in Scotland, and was constituted a royal burgh by William the Lion in 1179. The streets are generally spacious and regular, the houses built of fine grayish-white granite. There are many handsome public buildings, as the County and Municipal Buildings, Marischal College, Grammar School, Infirmary, Arts School, Art Gallery, Music Hall Buildings, public library, &c. The finest street, Union Street, made in 1800, is carried over a valley by a granite bridge having an arch of 132 feet span. The small portion of the city called Old Aberdeen, long a separate town, consists mainly of a single street, stretching northwards to the River Don. Its chief buildings are King's College and St. Machar's Cathedral. Noteworthy features of the college buildings are the crown-tower and the chapel, the latter containing some very fine old carved woodwork. The cathedral, now used as a parish church, was commenced about 1357. There are several bridges over the Dee and Don. Over the latter is a fine old bridge (Brig o' Balgownie) of one arch, erected according to some accounts by Robert Bruce. There are docks 34 acres in area, an extensive tidal harbour and basin, and a graving-dock. The shipping trade is extensive. The industries embrace wool, jute, linen, combs, soap, preserved provisions, chemicals, paper, shipbuilding, engineering, and especially the cutting and polishing of granite. The fishing industry is of great importance. The city of Aberdeen returns two members to Parliament. Pop. 158,969.—The County of Aberdeen forms the north-eastern portion of Scotland, and is bounded on the east and north by the North Sea. Area, 1,261,521 acres. It is divided into six districts (Mar, Formartine, Buchan, Alford, Garioch, and Strathbogie), and is generally hilly, there being in the south-west some of the highest mountains in Scotland, as Ben Macdhui (4295 feet), Cairntoul (4245), Cairngorm (4090), Lochnagar, &c. Its most valuable mineral is granite, large quantities of which are exported. The principal rivers are the Dee and the Don, both of which enter the sea at the town of Aberdeen. Cereals (except wheat) and other crops succeed well, and the number of acres under cultivation is nearly double that of any other Scottish county. Great numbers of cattle are fattened and sent to London and the south. On the banks of the upper Dee is situated Balmoral, a favourite residence of Queen Victoria. Aberdeenshire and Kincardine unite in sending three members to Parliament. Pop. 300,980.—Aberdeen University, as now constituted, derives its origin from two different foundations; one, the University and King's College (Old Aberdeen), founded in 1494 by Bishop Elphinstone (who was bishop of Aberdeen from 1483-1514) under the authority of a papal bull obtained at the instance of James IV; the other, Marischal College and University (New Aberdeen), founded in 1593 by Geo. Keith, Earl Marischal, by a charter ratified by act of Parliament. The two foundations existed as separate universities, both having the right of conferring degrees, till 1860, when they were united and incorporated into one university, the University of Aberdeen. Holding the funds of both colleges and dating as from the foundation of King's College in 1494, the university has about 300 bursaries or exhibitions, mostly open to public competition, and a number of money prizes and scholarships. The classes for arts and divinity are held in King's College, and those for law and medicine in Marischal College. There is a full teaching staff in the faculties of arts, medicine, science, and divinity, and two professors in that of law. There are in all 25 professors and some 900 matriculated students. The constitution of the university is similar to that of Edinburgh and the other Scottish universities. The library contains over 80,000 volumes. The university unites with those of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St. Andrews in sending three members to Parliament.

Aberdeen′, George Hamilton Gordon, Earl of, British statesman, born 28th Jan., 1784, died 14th Dec., 1860. He began his diplomatic life in 1801 as attaché to Lord Cornwallis's embassy to France, which resulted in the signing of the treaty of Amiens. In 1806 he entered Parliament as a Scottish representative peer, and in 1813 was entrusted with a successful mission to Austria for the purpose of inducing the emperor to join the coalition of sovereigns against Bonaparte. In 1814 he was created a British peer, and in 1828 he became foreign secretary in the Duke of Wellington's administration. During the short premiership of Sir Robert Peel in 1834-5 he acted as colonial secretary, and when Sir Robert again became premier in 1841 he took office as Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He was a warm supporter of [11]Catholic Emancipation, and endeavoured, though without result, to bring in a compromise bill in 1846, during the struggle which divided the Established Church of Scotland. Quitting office with his chief in 1846, he came, on the death of Peel in 1850, to be regarded as the leader of the Conservative free-trade party. On the Derby ministry failing to maintain its place, Lord Aberdeen returned to office in the end of 1852 as head of a coalition ministry. The principal event which marked his administration was the Crimean war; but the bad management of this irritated the country, and the ministry resigned in 1855. This event marks the close of Lord Aberdeen's public career. From his travels and his acquaintance with Greece and its antiquities he was called by Byron "the travelled thane, Athenian Aberdeen".

Ab′erdevine. See Siskin.

Abergaven′ny (sometimes pron. ab-ėr-ge′ni, the Roman Gobannium), a municipal borough and market town of England, in Monmouthshire, situated amid delightful scenery in the beautiful valley of the Usk. It manufactures woollens and shoes, and has considerable trade. Pop. (1921), 9252.

Abernethy (ab-ėr-neth′i), John, an eminent English surgeon, of somewhat eccentric habits, born in 1764 in London, a pupil of the celebrated John Hunter. In 1787 he became assistant surgeon at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and shortly after lecturer on anatomy and surgery. In 1815 he was elected principal surgeon, and under his auspices the hospital attained a celebrity which it had never before enjoyed. He published Surgical Observations; The Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases; and Lectures, explanatory of Hunter's opinions of the vital processes; besides smaller essays. He died in 1831.

Aberra′tion, in astronomy, the difference between the true and the observed position of a heavenly body, the result of the combined effect of the motion of light and the motion of the eye of the observer caused by the annual or diurnal motion of the earth; or of the motion of light and that of the body from which the light proceeds. When the auxiliary cause is the annual revolution of the earth round the sun it is called annual aberration, in consequence of which a fixed star may appear as much as 20.4" from its true position; when the auxiliary cause is the diurnal rotation of the earth on its axis it is called diurnal aberration, which amounts at the greatest to 0.3"; and when the auxiliary cause is the motion of the body from which the light proceeds it is called planetary aberration.

Abersychan (ab-ėr-sik′an), a town of Monmouthshire, England, about 10 miles north of Newport, in a rich coal-mining district. Pop. (1921), 27,089.

Abertil′lery, an urban district or town of England, Monmouthshire, 16 miles north-west of Newport, with tinplate works, coal-mines, &c. Since 1918 it gives its name to a parliamentary division of the county. Pop. (1921), 38,805.

Aberystwith (ab-ėr-ist′with), a seaport and fashionable watering-place of Wales, county of Cardigan, on Cardigan Bay. The town is well built, and the surrounding country is picturesque. There is here a University College of the University of Wales, occupying a handsome Gothic building. Pop. (1921), 12,289.

Abeyance, in law, a legal term meaning that the title to dignity, office, or real or personal property is not vested in anyone, but is suspended until the right thereto is determined by the appearance of the true owner. Under English law, when a nobleman dies leaving no male issue, the title, if descendible to his heirs general, as in the case of baronies by writ, is said to be in abeyance, until the king, by his prerogative, terminates the abeyance in favour of one of the co-heiresses. See Property.

Abgar, title of the Syrian rulers at Edessa. The fourteenth prince of the dynasty, a contemporary of the Roman emperor Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), is said to have written a letter to our Saviour.

Abhor′rers, in English history a name given to the Court party in 1679-80, who, on petitions being presented to Charles II praying him to summon Parliament, signed counter-petitions expressing abhorrence for those who were thus attempting to encroach on the royal prerogative.

A′bib, the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and the seventh of the civil year, corresponding to the latter part of March and the first of April. Also called Nisan.

Abies (ab′i-es), a genus of trees. See Fir and Spruce.

Ab′ingdon, a town of England, in Berkshire, 50 miles north-west of London, on the right bank of the Thames. It was an important place in Anglo-Saxon times, and Offa, King of Mercia, had a palace in it. Formerly a parliamentary borough, it now gives name to a parliamentary division of Berks. Pop. (1921), 7167.

Abiogenesis (a-bī-o-jen′e-sis), the doctrine or hypothesis that living matter may be produced from non-living; spontaneous generation. See Generation (Spontaneous).

Abjura′tion, Oath of, an oath which by an English Act passed in 1701 had to be taken by all holders of public offices, clergymen, teachers, members of the universities, and lawyers, abjuring and renouncing the exiled Stuarts: superseded in 1858 by a more comprehensive oath, declaring allegiance to the present royal family.—Abjuration [12]of the realm was an oath that a person guilty of felony, who had taken sanctuary, might take. This oath permitted him to go into exile, and not return on pain of death, unless by the king's permission. In ecclesiastical language the term is applied to renunciation of heresy.

Abkha′sia, a Russian district, at the western extremity and south of the Caucasus, between the mountains and the Black Sea. The Abkhasians form a race distinguished from their neighbours in various respects. At one time they were Christians, but afterwards adopted Mahommedanism. Many of them migrated into Turkish territory in 1864 and 1878.

Ablaincourt. See Somme.

Ab′lative, a term applied to a case of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in Latin, Sanskrit, and some other languages; originally given to the case in Latin because separation from (ab, from latus, taken) was considered to be one of the chief ideas expressed by the case.

Abnaki, a Confederacy of Algonquin tribes, formerly occupying what is now Maine and Southern New Brunswick. Their territory, to which they removed after 1724, is in Canada on the St. John River and at St. Francis.

Åbo (ō′bō), a town and port in Finland, the see of an archbishop, and the capital of Finland till 1819, when it was supplanted by Helsingfors. Pop. (1919), 56,168.

Abolitionists. See Slavery.

Aboma′sum, or Aboma′sus, the fourth stomach of ruminating animals, next the omasum or third stomach.

Abo′mey, or Agbo′mey, the capital of the French territory and former kingdom of Dahomey, in West Africa, in a fertile plain, near the coast of Guinea. Pop. 11,000.

Aborigines (ab-o-rij′i-nēz), the name given in general to the earliest known inhabitants of a country, those who are supposed to have inhabited the land from the beginning (Lat. ab origine). (The singular of the word is Aboriginal, or sometimes Aboriginé.)

Abortion, in medicine, the expulsion of the fœtus before it is capable of independent existence. This may take place at any period of pregnancy before the completion of the twenty-eighth week. A child born after that time is said to be premature. Abortion may be the result of the general debility or ill-health of the mother, of a plethoric constitution, of special affections of the uterus, of severe exertions, sudden shocks, &c. Various medicinal substances, generally violent emmenagogues or drastic medicines, are believed to have the effect of provoking abortion, and are sometimes resorted to for this purpose. Attempts to procure abortion are punishable by law in all civilized states. When the death of the woman ensues as a result of the attempt, the crime is murder.—The term is applied in botany to denote the suppression by non-development of one or more of the parts of a flower, which consists normally of four whorls—namely, calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil.—Bibliography: Sir W. O. Russell, Crimes and Misdemeanours (3 vols.); A. S. Taylor, Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence.

Aboukir (a˙-bö-kēr′; ancient Zephyrion, near ruins of Canōpus), a small village on the Egyptian coast, 10 miles east of Alexandria. In Aboukir Bay took place the naval battle in which Nelson annihilated a French fleet on the night of 1st and 2nd Aug., 1798, thus totally destroying the naval power of France in the Mediterranean. Near this place, on 25th July, 1799, Napoleon defeated the Turks under Mustapha; and on 8th March, 1801, Sir Ralph Abercromby effected the landing of a British army against the French.

Abou-Simbel. See Ipsambul.

About (a˙-bö), Edmond François Valentin, a French novelist and miscellaneous writer, born 14th Feb., 1828, died 17th Jan., 1885. He was educated at the Lycée Charlemagne and the École Normale, Paris; and was sent at Government expense to the French school at Athens; on his return to Paris, he devoted himself to literature. Principal novels: Tolla, Le Roi des Montagnes, Germaine, Madelon, Le Fellah, La Vieille Roche, L'Infâme, Les Mariages de Province, Le Roman d'un Brave Homme (against Zola and the naturalist school), &c.; miscellaneous works: La Grèce Contemporaine, La Question Romaine, La Prusse en 1860, Rome Contemporaine, &c. In 1884 he was elected a member of the Academy. About wrote in a bright, humorous, and interesting style, and his novels have been very popular.

Abracadab′ra, a word of Eastern origin used in incantations. When written on paper so as to form a triangle, the first line containing the word in full, the one below it omitting the last letter, and so on each time until only one letter remained, and worn as an amulet, it was supposed to be an antidote against certain diseases.

A   B   R   A   C   A   D   A   B   R   A
A   B   R   A   C   A   D   A   B   R
A   B   R   A   C   A   D   A   B
A   B   R   A   C   A   D   A
A   B   R   A   C   A   D
A   B   R   A   C   A
A   B   R   A   C
A   B   R   A
A   B   R
A   B
A

A′braham, originally Abram (Assyrian Aburamu, lofty father), the greatest of the Hebrew patriarchs, was born at Ur in Chaldea in 2153 B.C. according to Hales, in 1996 B.C. according [13]to Ussher, while Bunsen says he lived 2850 B.C. He migrated, accompanied by his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, to Canaan, where he led a nomadic life, which extended over 175 years. His two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, were the progenitors of the Jews and Arabs respectively.

Abraham, Heights or Plains of. See Quebec.

Abraham à Santa Clara, a German pulpit orator, whose real name was Ulrich Megerle, born in 1644. As a preacher he acquired so great a reputation that, in 1669, he was appointed court-preacher in Vienna, where he died in 1709. His sermons are full of homely, grotesque humour, often of coarse wit, and impartial severity towards all classes of society. His principal work and masterpiece is Judas, the Archknave (4 vols.), 1686-95.

Abrahamites, 1, A sect of Syrian Deists of the ninth century, whose doctrines were allied to those of the Paulicians.—2, A sect of Bohemian Deists of the late eighteenth century, who professed to be followers of John Huss and claimed that they followed the religion of Abraham before his circumcision. Believing in one God, they rejected the Trinity, and accepted nothing of the Bible except the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. Refusing to join either the Jewish or Christian folds, they were excluded from the edict of toleration promulgated by the Emperor Joseph II, and expelled to Transylvania in 1783. Some were martyred, others became Roman Catholics.

Abraham-men, originally a set of vagabonds who had been discharged from Bethlehem Hospital, London; but as many assumed, without right, the badge worn by them, the term came to signify an impostor who travelled about the country seeking alms, under the pretence of lunacy.

Abram, a town (urban district) of England, Lancashire, 3½ miles from Wigan; a colliery centre. Pop. (1921), 6858.

Ab′ramis, a genus of fishes. See Bream.

Abran′tes, a fortified town of Portugal, on the right bank of the Tagus (here navigable), 73 miles north-east of Lisbon, with which it carries on an active trade. Pop. 8000.

Abrantes, Duke of. See Junot.

Abrax′as (or Abrasax) Stones, the name given to stones or gems found in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere, cut into almost every variety of shape, but generally having a human trunk and arms, with a cock's head, two serpents' tails for the legs, &c., and the mystico-theosophical word Abraxas or Abrasax in Greek characters engraved upon them. Eventually they came to be used as charms and amulets. Basilides (A.D. 130) and other gnostics gave the name of Abraxas to Almighty God, the Supreme Deity, since the numerical value of its letters in Greek gave the sum of 365, and they believed that 365 orders of spirits emanated from God. Not all abraxas stones, however, are of gnostic origin, just as the name of abraxas cannot be applied to all gnostic stones. Cf. King: The Gnostics and their Remains, London, 1887.

Abrin, or Abrine, a poisonous substance, being the active principle in the seeds of Abrus precatorius (see Abrus). A minute quantity introduced into the blood is fatal to many animals, but it is employed in ailments of the eyes, and as a remedy for lupus and certain skin diseases.

Abroga′tion, the repealing of a law by a competent authority.

Abrolhos (a-brole′-yoce) a group of rocky islands 50 miles off the east coast of Brazil, the largest of which is Santa Barbara. Another group called Abrolhos lies off the west coast of Australia.

Abro′ma, a genus of small trees, natives of India, Java, &c., one species of which, A. augusta, has a bark yielding a strong white fibre, from which good cordage is made.

Abrupt′, in botany, terminating suddenly, as if a part were cut short off.

Ab′rus, a genus of papilionaceous plants, order Leguminosæ, one species of which, Abrus precatorius, a delicate twining shrub, a native of the East Indies, and found also in tropical parts of Africa and America, has round brilliant scarlet seeds, used to make necklaces and rosaries. Its root is sweetish and mucilaginous, and is used as a substitute for liquorice (Indian liquorice). The seeds yield a strong poison.

Abruzzi (a˙-bru¨t′sē), a division of Italy on the Adriatic, between Umbria and the Marches on the north, and Apulia on the south. It is united with Molise to form a compartimento, comprising the four provinces of Aquila degli Abruzzi, Campobasso, Chicti, and Teramo. The sea-coast of about 80 miles does not possess a single harbour. The interior is rugged and mountainous, being traversed throughout by the Apennines. The lower parts consist of fertile plains and valleys, yielding corn, wine, oil, almonds, saffron, &c.; area, 6387 sq. miles. Pop. 1,480,748.

Ab′salon, or Axel, a Danish prelate, statesman, and warrior, born in 1128, died 1201. He became the intimate friend and counsellor of his sovereign Waldemar I, who appointed him Archbishop of Lund. He cleared the sea of the Slavonic pirates who had long infested it, secured the independence of the kingdom by defeating a powerful fleet of the Emperor Barbarossa, and built the castle of Axelborg, the nucleus of Copenhagen. He ultimately became Primate of Denmark and Sweden. Turning his thoughts to literature he caused the History of Denmark to [14]be drawn up by Saxo Grammaticus and Svend Aagesen.

Ab′scess, any collection of purulent matter or pus formed in some tissue or organ of the body, and confined within some circumscribed area, of varying size, but always painful and often dangerous.

Absenteeism, a term applied to landlords who absent themselves from their estates and live and spend their money elsewhere; in its more extended meaning it refers to all those whose fixed residence is outside their own country but who derive their income from sources within it. The social, economic, political, and moral evils resulting from such a system are considerable and hurtful to the interests of a region, the absentee being apt to lose his interest in things and persons and the public welfare generally. Some economists, however, have adduced arguments in favour of it, as it may sometimes be for the good of the community that a rich and luxurious landlord should be absent from his estate.

The absenteeism of the Irish nobility, which became worse after the Union with Great Britain and the transfer of Parliament from Dublin to London, has been a constant source of mischief, whilst France before the Revolution, Russia under the Tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I, and Hungary in the eighteenth century suffered greatly from the practice. The first statute concerning absentees was passed in the English Parliament in 1379, and in 1729 a tax was levied on all moneys paid out of Ireland.

Ab′sinth, French Absinthe (a˙b-san˙t), a liqueur consisting of an alcoholic solution strongly flavoured with an extract of several sorts of wormwood, oil of anise, &c. When taken habitually, or in excess, its effects are very pernicious. A favourite drink of the Parisians, it was suppressed entirely throughout France by a law passed on 12th Feb., 1915.

Ab′solute, in a general sense, loosed or freed from all limitations or conditions. In politics, an absolute monarchy is that form of government in which the ruler is unlimited or uncontrolled by constitutional checks. In modern metaphysics the Absolute represents the unconditioned, infinite, and self-existent.

Absolu′tion, remission of a penitent's sins in the name of God. It is commonly maintained that down to the twelfth century the priests used only what is called the precatory formula, "May God or Christ absolve thee", which is still the form in the Greek Church; whereas the Roman Catholic uses the expression "I absolve thee", thus regarding the forgiveness of sins as in the power of the priest (the indicative form). This theory of absolution was confirmed by the Council of Trent. The passages of Scripture on which the Roman Catholic Church relies in laying down its doctrine of absolution are such as Mat. xvi. 19, xviii. 18; John, xx. 23. Among Protestants absolution properly means a sentence by which a person who stands excommunicated is released from that punishment.

Absolutism, a system of government in which the supreme power is vested in a ruler not controlled or limited by any constitution or laws. It has prevailed in Oriental countries, including Japan, until the latter part of the nineteenth century. There are now no absolute monarchies in Europe.

Absor′bents, the system of minute vessels by which the nutritive elements of food and other matters are carried into the circulation of vertebrate animals. The vessels consist of two different sets, called respectively lacteals and lymphatics. The former arise from the digestive tract, the latter from the tissues generally, both joining a common trunk which ultimately enters the blood-vessel system. Absorbents in medicine are substances such as chalk, charcoal, &c., that absorb or suck up excessive secretion of fluid or gas.

Absorp′tion, in physiology, one of the vital functions by which the materials of nutrition and growth are absorbed and conveyed to the organs of plants and animals. In vertebrate animals this is done by the lymphatics and lacteals, in plants chiefly by the roots. See Absorbents.

In physics, absorption of colour is the phenomenon observed when certain colours are retained or prevented from passing through transparent bodies; thus pieces of coloured glass are almost opaque to some parts of the spectrum, while allowing other colours to pass through freely. In chemistry absorption is the taking up of a gas by a liquid, or by a porous solid.

Ab′stinence. See Fasting, Temperance.

Abstrac′tion, the operation of the mind by which it disregards part of what is presented to its observation in order to concentrate its attention on the remainder. It is the foundation of the operation of generalization, by which we arrive at general conceptions. In order, for example, to form the conception of a horse, we disregard the colour and other peculiarities of the particular horses observed by us, and attend only to those qualities which all horses have in common. In rising to the conception of an animal we disregard still more qualities, and attend only to those which all animals have in common with one another.

Abu (a-bö′), a granitic mountain of India in Sirohi State, Rajputána, rising precipitously from the surrounding plains, its top forming a picturesque and varied tract 14 miles long and 2 to 4 broad; highest point 5653 ft. It is a [15]hot-weather resort of Europeans, and is the site of two most beautiful Jain temples, built in 1031 and 1200.

Abu-Bekr, or Father of the Virgin, born 570 died 634, the father-in-law and first successor of Mahomet. His right to the succession was unsuccessfully contested by Ali, Mahomet's son-in-law, and a schism took place, which divided the Mahommedans into the two great sects of Sunnites and Shiites, the former maintaining the validity of Abu-Bekr's and the latter that of Ali's claim.

Abukir′. See Aboukir.

Abu Klea, a group of wells, surrounded by steep, black mountains, about 120 miles from Khartoum, in the Sudan, where, on the 17th Jan., 1885, Sir Herbert Stewart, with 1500 men, defeated the Mahdi's troops numbering 10,000.

Abulfara′gius, Gregory, a distinguished scholar, a Jew by birth (hence the name of Barhebræus, often given him), author of numerous works in Arabic and Syriac, was born in Armenia in 1226, died in 1286. About 1264 he was consecrated Bishop of Gubas; he was afterwards translated to Aleppo and was appointed primate of the Jacobite Christians. His principal work is a History of the World from the Creation to his own day, written in Syriac, with an abridged version in Arabic, entitled The Abridged History of the Dynasties.

Abul′feda, Arab writer, Prince of Hamah, in Syria, of the same family as Saladin, famous as an historian and geographer, was born at Damascus 1273, died 1331. Amid the cares of government he devoted himself with zeal to study, drew the learned around him, and rendered his power and wealth subservient to the cause of science. His most important works are his History of the Human Race (the portion from the birth of Mahomet to his own time being valuable), and his geography called The True Situation of Countries.

Abunda, a Bantu race of Angola, living on the coastlands and on the terraces rising towards the interior, and divided into 'highlanders' and 'lowlanders'. They speak Portuguese and Umbunda, a trade language.

Abushehr (ä-bö-shār′). See Bushire.

Abu-Simbel. See Ibsambul.

Abu′tilon, a genus of plants, order Malvaceæ, sometimes called Indian mallows, found in the East Indies, Australia, Brazil, Siberia, &c. Several of them yield a valuable hemp-like fibre, as A. indicum and A. Avicennæ. The latter, now a troublesome weed in the Middle United States, has been recommended for cultivation, and is sometimes called American jute.

Abut′ment, the part of a bridge which receives and resists the lateral outward thrust of an arch; the masonry, rock, or other solid materials from which an arch springs.

Aby′dos, 1, an ancient city of Asia Minor, on the Hellespont, at the narrowest part of the strait, opposite Sestos. Leander, say ancient writers, swam nightly from Abydos to Sestos to see his loved Hero—a feat in swimming accomplished also by Lord Byron.—2, an ancient city of Upper Egypt (Egyptian Abotu), about 6 miles west of the Nile, now represented only by ruins of temples, tombs, &c. It was celebrated as the burial-place of the god Osiris, and its oldest temple was dedicated to him. Here, in 1818, was discovered the famous Abydos Tablet, now in the British Museum, and containing a list of the predecessors of Rameses the Great, which was supplemented by the discovery of a similar historical tablet in 1864. The tomb of Osiris was discovered in 1898 by Amélinau. Cf. Flinders Petrie, The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties (2 vols.), London, 1900-9.

Abyssin′ia (Ar. Habesha), a country of Eastern Africa, which, with dependencies, may be said to extend from lat. 5° to 15° N. and long. 35° to 42° E., having the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan on the W., British E. Africa on the S., and on the S.E. and E. Somali-land and Eritrea (Italian Red Sea coast); area, 350,000 sq. miles. Pop. over 8,000,000. The country is now divided into 9 provinces, the principal being Harrar, Tigré, Amhara or Gondar. Each province is governed by a ras, or prince, but Ras Michael, the governor of Wollo and father of the deposed negus, Lij Yasu, was crowned king on 1st June, 1914. Abyssinia proper is an elevated region, with a general slope to the north-west. The more marked physical features are a vast series of tablelands, of various and often of great elevations, and numerous masses or ranges of high and rugged mountains, dispersed over the surface in apparently the wildest confusion. Along the deep and tremendous ravines that divide the plateaux rush innumerable streams, which impart extraordinary fertility to the plains and valleys below. The mountains in various parts of the country rise to 12,000 and 13,000 feet, while some of the peaks are over 15,000 feet (Ras Dashan being 15,160), and are always covered with snow. The principal rivers belong to the Nile basin, the chief being the impetuous Tacazzé ('the Terrible') in the north, and the Abai in the south, the latter being really the upper portion of the Blue Nile. The principal lake is Lake Tzana or Dembea (from which issues the Abai), upwards of 6000 feet above the sea, having a length of about 45 and a breadth of 35 miles. Round this lake lies a fertile plain, deservedly called the granary of the country.—According to elevation there are several zones [16]of vegetation. Within the lowest belt, which reaches an elevation of 4800 feet, cotton, wild indigo, acacias, ebony, baobabs, sugar-canes, coffee trees, date palms, &c., flourish, while the larger animals are lions, panthers, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, jackals, hyenas, bears, numerous antelopes, monkeys, and crocodiles. The middle zone, rising to 9000 feet, produces the grains, grasses, and fruits of southern Europe, the orange, vine, peach, apricot, the bamboo, sycamore tree, &c. The principal grains are millet, barley, wheat, maize, and teff, the latter a small seed, a favourite bread-stuff of the Abyssinians. Two, and in some places three, crops are obtained in one year. All the domestic animals of Europe, except swine, are known. There is a variety of ox with immense horns. The highest zone, reaching to 14,000 feet, has but little wood, and generally scanty vegetation, the hardier corn-plants only being grown; but oxen, goats, and long-woolled sheep find abundant pasture.—The climate is as various as the surface, but as a whole is temperate and agreeable; in some of the valleys the heat is often excessive, while on the mountains the weather is cold. In certain of the lower districts malaria prevails.—The chief mineral products are sulphur, copper, coal, and salt, the last-named serving to some extent as money. Iron is very abundant and is manufactured into knives, hatchets, and spears. There has been a great intermixture of races in Abyssinia. Those who may be considered the Abyssinians proper seem to have a blood-relationship with the Bedouin Arabs. Their complexion varies from very dark through different shades of brown and copper to olive, and they are usually well built. Other races are the black Gallas from the south; the Falashas, who claim descent from Abraham and retain many Jewish characteristics; the Agows, Gongas, &c. The great majority of the people profess Christianity, belonging, like the Copts, to the sect of the Monophysites. The head of the church is called the Abuna ('our father'), and is consecrated by the Coptic patriarch of Alexandria. Geez or Ethiopian is the language of their sacred books: it has long ago ceased to be spoken. The chief spoken language is the Amharic; in it some books have been published. Mohammedanism appears to be gaining ground in Abyssinia. A corrupt form of Judaism is professed by the Falashas.—The bulk of the people are devoted to agriculture and cattle-breeding. The trade and manufactures are of small importance. A good deal of common cotton cloth and some finer woven fabrics are produced. Leather is prepared to some extent, silver filagree-work is produced, and there are manufactures of common articles of iron and brass, pottery, &c. Trade is carried on through Zeila and Djibouti (French Ethiopian Railway was completed in 1915) on the Gulf of Aden, and Massowa on the Red Sea (Italian), exports being hides, coffee, wax, gum, ivory, &c., imports textile fabrics, &c. The Abyssinians were converted to Christianity in the fourth century, by some missionaries from Alexandria. In the sixth century the power of the sovereigns of their kingdom, which was generally known as Ethiopia, had attained its height; but before another had expired the Arabs had invaded the country, and obtained a footing. For several centuries subsequently the kingdom continued in a distracted state, being now torn by internal commotions and now invaded by external enemies (Mahommedans and Gallas). To protect himself from the latter the Emperor of Abyssinia applied, about the middle of the sixteenth century, to the King of Portugal for assistance, promising, at the same time, implicit submission to the Pope. The solicited aid was sent, and the empire saved. The Roman Catholic priests endeavoured to induce the emperor and his family to renounce the tenets and rites of the Coptic Church, and to adopt those of Rome. This attempt, however, was resisted by the ecclesiastics and the people, and ended, after a long struggle, in the expulsion of the Catholic priests about 1630. The kingdom gradually fell into a state of anarchy, and was broken up into several independent States. An attempt to revive the power of the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia was made by King Theodore about the middle of the last century. He introduced European artisans, and went to work wisely in many ways, but his cruelty and tyranny counteracted his politic measures. In consequence of a slight, real or fancied, which he had received at the hands of the British Government, he threw Consul Cameron and a number of other British subjects into prison, in 1863, and refused to give them up. To effect their release an army of nearly 12,000 men, under Sir Robert (afterwards Lord) Napier, was dispatched from Bombay in 1867. The force landed at Zoulla on the Red Sea, and marching up the country came within sight of the hill-fortress of Magdala in April, 1868. After being defeated in a battle, Theodore delivered up the captives and shut himself up in Magdala, which was taken by storm on the 13th April, Theodore being found among the slain. After the withdrawal of the British, fighting immediately began among the chiefs of the different provinces, but at last the country was divided between Kasa, who secured the northern and larger portion (Tigré and Amhara) and assumed the name of King Johannes, and Menelek, who gained possession of Shoa. Latterly Johannes made himself supreme and in 1881 assumed the title of emperor (negus [17]negusti—king of kings), having under him the Kings of Shoa and Gojam. Debra Tabor, about 30 miles east of Lake Dembea, was his chief residence. During the troubles in Abyssinia the Egyptians annexed Massowa and the region adjacent, Abyssinia being thus shut out from the sea. Afterwards the Italians gained and still hold Massowa and the Red Sea littoral (Eritrea). Johannes fell at Metemmeh in 1889, whilst fighting against the Mahdists, and was succeeded by Menelek II. In 1916 Lij Yasu, who succeeded Menelek II in 1913, was deposed and Waizeru Zauditu (born 1876) became empress.—Bibliography: R. P. Skinner, Abyssinia of Today. A. B. Wylde, Modern Abyssinia.

Aca′cia, a genus of plants, nat. ord. Leguminosæ, sub-order Mimoseæ, consisting of trees or shrubs with compound pinnate leaves and small leaflets, growing in Africa, Arabia, the East Indies, Australia, &c. The flowers, usually small, are arranged in spikes or globular heads at the axils of the leaves near the extremity of the branches. The corolla is bell- or funnel-shaped; stamens are numerous; the fruit is a dry unjointed pod. Several of the species yield gum-arabic and other gums; some having astringent barks and pods, used in tanning. A. Catechu, an Indian species, yields the valuable astringent called catechu; A. dealbāta, the wattle tree of Australia, from 15 to 30 feet in height, is the most beautiful and useful of the species found there. Its bark contains a large percentage of tannin, and is exported in large quantities. Some species yield valuable timber; some are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers.

Acad′emy, an association for the promotion of literature, science, or art; established sometimes by Government, sometimes by the voluntary union of private individuals. The name Academy was first applied to the philosophical school of Plato, from the place where he used to teach, a grove or garden at Athens which was said to have belonged originally to the hero Acadēmus. The home of Academies as associations of learned men (not institutes for instruction), was Hellenized Egypt and afterwards Italy of the Renaissance. The flourishing Academies at Florence, Naples, and Rome became the models of academies in other countries. Academies devote themselves either to the cultivation of science generally or to the promotion of a particular branch of study, as antiquities, language, and the fine arts. The most celebrated institutions bearing the name of academies, and designed for the encouragement of science, antiquities, and language respectively, are the French Académie des Sciences (founded by Colbert in 1666), Académie des Inscriptions (founded by Colbert in 1663), and Académie Française (founded by Richelieu in 1635), all of which are now merged in the National Institute. The most celebrated of the academies instituted for the improvement of language is the Italian Accademia della Crusca, or Furfuratorum (now the Florentine Academy), formed in 1582, and chiefly celebrated for the compilation of an excellent dictionary of the Italian language (Vocabulario della Crusca, Venice, 1612), and for the publication of several carefully-prepared editions of ancient Italian poets. The (Imperial) Academy of Science of St. Petersburg was projected by Peter the Great and established by Catherine I in 1725. The Academy of Science in Berlin was founded by Frederick I in 1700. It was opened in 1711 and had Leibnitz as its first president. In Britain the name of academy, in the more dignified sense of the term, is confined almost exclusively to certain institutions for the promotion of the fine arts, such as the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Scottish Academy. The Royal Academy of Arts (usually called simply the Royal Academy) was founded in London in 1768, "for the purpose of cultivating and improving the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture". The number of academicians is now limited to forty-two, among whom are two engravers. There are also thirty associates, from whom the academicians are elected. Of the associates five are engravers. Any person who is possessed of [18]sufficient proficiency may be admitted as a student and receive instruction gratis, and prizes are annually bestowed on meritorious students. The annual exhibition of the Academy is open to all artists whose works show sufficient merit. The Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture was founded in 1826 and incorporated in 1838. It consists of thirty academicians and twenty associates. The Royal Hibernian Academy at Dublin was incorporated in 1823 and reorganized in 1861. It consists of thirty members and ten associates. A British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical, and Philological Studies was incorporated in 1902. (See British Academy.) In the United States, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston was founded in 1780, and since then various other societies of similar character and name have been instituted, as the New York Academy of Sciences, the Chicago Academy of Science, &c.

Aca′dia (Fr. Acadie), the name formerly given to Nova Scotia. It received its first colonists from France in 1604, being then a possession of that country, but it passed to Britain, by the Peace of Utrecht, in 1713. In 1756, 18,000 of the French inhabitants were forcibly removed from their homes on account of their hostility to the British, an incident on which is based Longfellow's Evangeline. Many Acadians afterwards wandered back to their old homes, and their descendants are at present supposed to number 270,000, 100,000 of them living in French Canada.

Acale′pha (Gr. akalēphē, a nettle, from their stinging properties), a term formerly used to denote the Medusæ, or jelly-fishes, and allied species.

Acantha′ceæ, or Acanthads, a nat. ord. of dicotyledonous herbaceous plants or shrubs, with opposite leaves and monopetalous corolla, mostly tropical; species about 1400. See Acanthus.

Acanthop′teri, Acanthopterygii (Gr. akantha, a spine, pterygion, a fin), a group of fishes, distinguished by the fact that at least the first rays in each fin exist in the form of stiff spines; it includes the perch, mullet, mackerel, gurnard, wrasse, &c.

Acanth′us, a genus of herbaceous plants or shrubs, order Acanthaceæ, mostly tropical, two species of which, A. mollis and A. spinōsus (the bear's-breech or brankursine), are characterized by large white flowers and deeply-indented shining leaves. They are favourite ornamental plants in British gardens.—In architecture the name is given to a kind of foliage decoration said to have been suggested by this plant, and much employed in Greek, Roman, and later styles.

Acapul′co, a seaport of Mexico, on the Pacific, with a capacious, well-sheltered harbour; a coaling station for steamers, but with no great trade. Pop. 5950.

Acar′ida, a division of the Arachnida, including the mites, ticks, and water-mites. See Mite.

Acarna′nia, the most westerly portion of Northern Greece, together with Ætolia now forming a nomarchy with a pop. of 188,597. The Acarnanians of ancient times were behind the other Greeks in civilization, living by robbery and piracy.

Ac′arus, the genus to which the mite belongs.

Acca′dians (Akkad), the primitive inhabitants of Northern Babylonia (Akkad), who had descended from the mountainous region of Elam on the east, and to whom the Assyrians ascribed the origin of Chaldean civilization and writing. This race is believed to have belonged to the Turanian family, or to have been at any rate non-Semitic. What is known of them has been learned from the cuneiform inscriptions. See Babylonia and Summerians.

Accelera′tion is the rate of change of the velocity of a body under the action of a force. A body falling from a height is one of the most common instances of acceleration.—Acceleration of the Moon, the increase of the moon's mean angular velocity about the earth, the moon now moving rather faster than in ancient times. This phenomenon has not been fully explained, but it is known to be partly owing to the slow process of diminution which the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is undergoing, and from which there results a slight diminution of the sun's influence on the moon's motions.—Diurnal acceleration of the fixed stars, the apparent greater diurnal motion [19]of the stars than of the sun, arising from the fact that the sun's apparent yearly motion takes place in a direction contrary to that of his apparent daily motion. The stars thus seem each day to anticipate the sun by nearly 3 minutes 56 seconds of mean time.

Ac′cent, a term used in several senses. In English it commonly denotes superior stress or force of voice upon certain syllables of words, which distinguishes them from the other syllables. Many English words, as as′pi-ra″tion, have two accents, a secondary and primary, the latter being the fuller or stronger. Some words, as in-com′pre-hen′si-bil″i-ty, have two secondary or subordinate accents. When the full accent falls on a vowel, that vowel has its long sound, as in vo′cal; but when it falls on a consonant, the preceding vowel is short, as in hab′it. This kind of accent alone regulates English verse, as contrasted with Latin or Greek verse, in which the metre depended on quantity or length of syllables. In books on elocution three marks or accents are generally made use of, the first or acute (´) showing when the voice is to be raised, the second or grave (`), when it is to be depressed, and the third or circumflex (ˆ) when the vowel is to be uttered with an undulating sound. In some languages there is no such distinct accent as in English (or German), and this seems to be now the case with French.—In music, accent is the stress or emphasis laid upon certain notes of a bar. The first note of a bar has the strongest accent, but weaker accents are given to the first notes of subordinate parts of the bars, as to the third, fifth, and seventh in a bar of eight quavers.

Accen′tor (Accentor modulāris), or Hedge Accentor, a British bird of the warbler family. See Hedge Warbler.

Accep′tance, in law, the act by which a person binds himself to pay a bill of exchange drawn upon him. (See Bill.) No acceptance is valid unless made in writing on the bill, but an acceptance may be either absolute or conditional, that is, stipulating some alteration in the amount or date of payment, or some condition to be fulfilled previous to payment.

Ac′cessary, or Ac′cessory, in law, a person guilty of an offence by connivance or participation, either before or after the act committed, as by command, advice, concealment, &c. An accessary before the fact is one who procures or counsels another to commit a crime, and is not present at its commission; an accessary after the fact is one who, knowing a felony to have been committed, gives assistance of any kind to the felon so as to hinder him from being apprehended, tried, or suffering punishment. An accessary before the fact may be tried and punished in all respects as if he were the principal. In high treason, all who participate are regarded as principals.

Acciden′tals, notes introduced in the course of a piece of music in a different key from that in which the passage where they occur is principally written. They are represented by the sign of a sharp, flat, or natural immediately before the note which is to be raised or lowered.

Accipitres (ak-sip′i-trēz), the name given by Linnæus and Cuvier to the rapacious birds now usually called Raptores (q.v.).

Acclimatiza′tion, the process of accustoming plants or animals to live and propagate in a climate different from that to which they are indigenous, or the change which the constitution of an animal or plant undergoes under new climatic conditions, in the direction of adaptation to those conditions. The systematic study of acclimatization has only been entered upon in very recent times, and the little progress that has been made in it has been more in the direction of formulating anticipative, if not arbitrary hypotheses, than of actual discovery and acquisition of facts. The best-known society founded, for the purpose of naturalizing animals and plants, is the Société d'Acclimatation in Paris. It opened the Jardin d'Acclimatation in 1860. See Tropical Hygiene. The term is sometimes applied to the case of animals or plants taking readily to a new country with a climate and other circumstances similar to what they have left, such as European animals and plants in America and New Zealand: but this is more properly naturalization than acclimatization.—In agriculture the word is used with reference to stock, principally sheep, 'acclimatized' to a particular area, a special allowance being made by the landlord on transference of the farm and stock in respect of the acclimatization of the sheep. The value assigned to the advantages resulting from acclimatization of stocks varies considerably. In Argyllshire, for instance, Dumbartonshire, and the western portion of Perthshire the rates are high, while in the south of Scotland and the north of England they are much lower.

Accolade (ak-o-lād′; Fr., from Lat. ad, to, collum, the neck), the ceremony used in conferring knighthood, anciently consisting either in the embrace given by the person who conferred the honour of knighthood or in a light blow on the neck or the cheek, latterly consisting in the ceremony of striking the candidate with a naked sword.

Accol′ti, Benedetto, an Italian lawyer, born at Arezzo in Tuscany in 1415, died at Florence in 1466. He was secretary to the Florentine republic, 1459, and author of a work on the Crusades which is said to have furnished Tasso with matter for his Jerusalem Delivered. [20]

Accommoda′tion Bill, a bill of exchange drawn and accepted to raise money on, and not given, like a genuine bill of exchange, in payment of a debt, but merely intended to accommodate the drawer: colloquially called a wind bill and a kite.

Accommoda′tion Ladder, a light ladder hung over the side of a ship at the gangway to facilitate ascending from, or descending to, boats.

Accom′paniment, in music, is that part of music which serves for the support of the principal melody.

Accor′dion, a keyed musical wind-instrument similar to the concertina, being in the form of a small box, containing a number of metallic reeds fixed at one of their extremities, the sides of the box forming a folding apparatus which acts as a bellows to supply the wind, and thus set the reeds in vibration, and produce the notes both of melody and harmony. The accordion was invented by Damian of Vienna in 1829.

Accountant, a person whose chief business is with accounts and the drawing up of financial statements and balance-sheets. An accountant is an important official in banks, railways, and certain other institutions, and many persons carry on the business of accountant as a distinct profession, auditing the books of merchants, joint-stock companies, &c. There are several bodies of accountants in the United Kingdom incorporated by royal charter, and hence specially distinguished as 'chartered accountants' (C.A.). Since 1919 women are admitted as members of the Society of Incorporated Accountants.—Bibliography: L. R. Dicksee, Advanced Accounting; G. Lisle, Encyclopædia of Accounting (8 vols.).

Ac′cra, a British settlement in Africa, in a swampy situation, capital of Gold Coast, about 75 miles east of Cape Coast Castle. Exports gold-dust, ivory, gums, palm-oil; imports cottons, cutlery, &c. Pop. 20,000.

Ac′crington, a municipal borough of England, Lancashire, 5 miles east of Blackburn, with large cotton factories, print-works and bleaching-greens, and coal-mines. Pop. 43,610. Accrington was created a parliamentary borough in 1918.

Accu′mulator, a name applied to a kind of electric battery by means of which electric energy can be stored and rendered portable. In the usual form each battery forms a cylindrical leaden vessel, containing alternate sheets of metallic lead and minium wrapped in felt and rolled into a spiral wetted with acidulated water. On being charged with electricity the energy may be preserved till required for use.

Accu′sative Case, in Latin and some other languages, the term applied to the case which designates the object to which the action of any verb is immediately directed, corresponding, generally speaking, to the objective in English.

Ace, in aviation the name 'ace' is given to a flying-man who has distinguished himself by bringing down a large number (sometimes given as ten) of enemy machines. The word is used colloquially, and was borrowed from the French Air Force during the European War.

Aceph′ala, in zoology, the headless Mollusca or those which want a distinct head, corresponding to those that have bivalve shells and are also called Lamellibranchiata.

A′cer, the genus of plants (nat. ord. Aceraceæ) to which belongs the maple.

Acerra (a˙-cher′a˙), a town in South Italy, 9 miles north-east of Naples, the see of a bishop, in a fertile but unhealthy region. Pop. 17,878.

Acetab′ulum, an anatomical term applied to any cup-like cavity, as that of a bone to receive the protuberant end of another bone, the cavity, for instance, that receives the end of the thigh-bone.

Acetates (as′e-tāts), salts of acetic acid. The acetates of most commercial or manufacturing importance are those of aluminium and iron, which are used in calico-printing; of copper, which as verdigris is used as a colour; and of lead, best known as sugar of lead. The acetates of potassium, sodium, and ammonium, of iron, zinc, and lead, and the acetate of morphia, are employed in medicine.

Acet′ic Acid, an acid produced by the oxidation of common alcohol, and of many other organic substances. Pure acetic acid has a very sour taste and pungent smell, burns the skin, and is poisonous. From freezing at ordinary temperatures (58° or 59°) it is known as glacial acetic acid. Vinegar is simply dilute acetic acid. Acetic acid is largely used in the arts, in medicine, and for domestic purposes. See Vinegar.

Acet′ic Ethers, or Acetic Esters, acetates of alcohol radicals. The common ester—ethyl acetate—is a volatile colourless liquid, manufactured by distilling a mixture of alcohol, oil of vitriol, and acetic acid, and used for flavouring purposes.

Acetone (as′), a constituent of ordinary wood spirit, a colourless volatile liquid used as a solvent, the simplest of the ketones.

Acet′ylene, C₂H₂, is a substance composed of two elements, carbon and hydrogen, and belonging to a class of compounds known as hydrocarbons. It is formed in the incomplete combustion of many hydrocarbons and also of coal-gas, and may be produced in a variety of ways, but is now made almost entirely from calcium carbide. Acetylene has been known for a long time, but only since 1870 has it been produced in any quantity. After the development of the electric furnace it was found that calcium oxide, [21]quicklime, heated with carbon to the high temperature possible in such a furnace, is transformed into calcium carbide, and this compound reacts with water, generating acetylene. A great deal of heat is developed on adding water to calcium carbide, so that care has to be taken in generating acetylene. Various devices are in use for bringing the two substances in contact slowly, and for keeping the temperature low. When carbon and hydrogen combine to form acetylene a large amount of heat is used up, so that much heat is evolved when acetylene decomposes again, and once decomposition starts sufficient heat is developed to decompose the whole volume of gas.

Acetylene is a colourless gas slightly soluble in water and very sparingly soluble in brine. When pure it has little or no odour, but as ordinarily prepared it has a strong unpleasant odour due to traces of impurities such as sulphuretted hydrogen, phosphine, &c. The gas can be liquefied easily, and in the liquid state is highly explosive. It burns with an exceedingly sooty flame, but if it is allowed to pass through a very small orifice the carbon liberated becomes incandescent and acetylene burns with an intense white flame. It is largely used as an illuminant and for the production of great heat. As an illuminant the gas is produced in specially-constructed generators. It is led through iron pipes and burned from an acetylene burner, or it may be used with special types of incandescent mantles. Acetylene readily combines with copper and with silver to form metallic acetylides which are very explosive, hence pipes through which acetylene is passing must not be made of brass or copper. Acetylene mixed with air and brought in contact with an ignited body explodes even more violently than a mixture of air and coal-gas.

Large quantities of acetylene are generated and stored for oxy-acetylene welding. Acetylene, burning in oxygen, gives an intensely hot flame (about 2000°-3000° C.), sufficiently hot to melt iron. Although liquid acetylene is unstable, and even the gas, under slight pressure, is also unstable, it may be transported safely if dissolved in acetone. Acetone dissolves a large volume of acetylene, and this solution is quite stable and may be stored in iron cylinders and used for various purposes. If it is to be stored it must be carefully purified from phosphine, which is apt to cause sudden decomposition. Recently, numerous patents have been taken out for the preparation of compounds such as acetaldehyde, acetic acid, acetic anhydride, &c., using acetylene as starting-point, so that many substances may be prepared from acetylene just as many substances may be prepared from benzene.

Achæans (a-kē′anz), one of the four races into which the ancient Greeks were divided. In early times they inhabited a part of Northern Greece and of the Peloponnesus. They are represented by Homer as a brave and warlike people, and so distinguished were they that he usually calls the Greeks in general Achæans. Afterwards they settled in the district of the Peloponnesus, called after them Achaia, and forming a narrow belt of coast on the south side of the Gulf of Corinth. From very early times a confederacy or league existed among the twelve towns of this region. After the death of Alexander the Great it was broken up, but was revived again, 280 B.C., and from this time grew in power till it spread over the whole Peloponnesus. It was finally dissolved by the Romans, 147 B.C., and after this the whole of Greece, except Thessaly, was called Achaia or Achæa. Achaia with Elis now forms a nomarchy of the kingdom of Greece. Pop. 254,728. Cf. Freeman, History of Federal Government in Greece and Italy, London, 1893.

Achæmenidæ (ak-ē-men′i-dē) a dynasty of ancient Persian kings, being that to which the great Cyrus belonged.

Achaia (a-kā′ya). See Achæans.

Achalzik. See Akhalzik.

Achard (a˙h′a˙rt), Franz Karl, a German chemist, born 1753, died 1821, principally known by his invention (1789-1800) of a process for manufacturing sugar from beetroot. In 1801 the first beet-sugar factory ever established was started by him in Silesia.

Achard (a˙-shär), Louis Amédée Eugène, born 1814, died 1875, French journalist, novelist, and playwright. He was best known as a novelist; wrote the novels Belle Rose, La Chasse royale, Châteaux en Espagne, Robe de Nessus, Chaînes de fer, &c. His Lettres Parisiennes were published in 1838 under the pseudonym of Grimm.

Achates (a-kā′tēz), a companion of Æneas in his wanderings subsequent to his flight from Troy. He is always distinguished in Virgil's Æneid by the epithet fidus, 'faithful', and has become typical of a faithful friend and companion.

Acheen, or Atchin (a˙-chēn′) (Du. Atjeh), a native State of Sumatra, with a capital of the same name, in the north-western extremity of the island, now nominally under Dutch administration. Though largely mountainous, it has also undulating tracts and low fertile plains. By treaty with Britain the Dutch were prevented from extending their territory in Sumatra by conquest; but this obstacle being removed, in 1871 they proceeded to occupy Acheen. It was not till 1879, however, after a great waste of blood and treasure, that they obtained a general recognition of their authority. But they have not been able to establish it firmly, and have had [22]to put down many determined risings, sometimes costing them losses both in men and guns. In the seventeenth century Acheen was a powerful State, and carried on hostilities successfully against the Portuguese, but its influence decreased with the increase of the Dutch power. The principal exports are rice and pepper. Area, 20,471 sq. miles; pop. 789,664.

Achelous (ak-e-lō′us) (now Aspropotămo), the largest river of Greece, rising on Mount Pindus, separating Ætolia and Acarnania, and flowing into the Ionian Sea. In Greek legend, Achelōus, the son of Oceanus and Tethys, was the river-god.

Achenbach (a˙′hen-ba˙ch), Andreas, was a distinguished German landscape and marine painter, born in 1815, died in 1910.

Achenbach, Oswald, born 1827, died 1905, brother of above, was also a distinguished landscape painter. Both are of the Düsseldorf school, and pupils of the famous painter Schadow.

Achene, or Achenium (a-kēn′, a-kē′ni-um), in botany, a small, dry carpel containing a single seed, the pericarp of which is closely applied but separable, and which does not open when ripe. It is either solitary, or several achenia may be placed on a common receptacle as in the buttercup.

Achensee, a lake in Tyrol, 20 miles north-east of Innsbruck and 3018 feet above sea-level. On its shores are beautiful villas and hotels frequented as summer resorts.

Acheron (ak′e-ron) (modern Fanarioticos), the ancient name of several rivers in Greece and Italy, all of which were connected by legend with the lower world. The principal was a river of Thesprotia in Epirus, which passes through Lake Acherusia and flows into the Ionian Sea. Homer speaks of Acheron as a river of the lower world, and late Greek writers use the name to designate the lower world.

Acheulian, a term applied by archæologists to the late stage of Chellean civilization in the Pleistocene Age. It is named after St. Acheul in the Somme valley, where relics of it were found. The geological horizon, according to Professor James Geikie, is late Second Interglacial and Third Glacial periods.

Ach′iar, or At′char, an Indian condiment made of the young shoots of the bamboo pickled.

Achievement (a-chēv′ment), in heraldry, a term applied to the shield of armorial bearings generally, or to a hatchment (q.v.).

Achill (ak′il), the largest island on the Irish coast, separated from the mainland of Mayo by a narrow sound, now bridged over. The chief occupation is fishing. The island is mountainous, has fine scenery, and is visited by many tourists, there being now a railway terminus here, and many recent improvements. Pop. nearly 7000.

Achillæ′a, the milfoil genus of plants.

Achilleion, famous castle at Corfu, which used to belong to the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. It was acquired by the ex-Kaiser William II, who bought it from the Archduchess Giséla, wife of Prince Leopold of Bavaria.

Achilles (a-kil′ēz), a Greek legendary hero, the chief character in Homer's Iliad. His father was Peleus, ruler of Phthia in Thessaly, his mother the sea-goddess Thetis. When only six years of age he was able to overcome lions and bears. His guardian, Cheiron the Centaur, having declared that Troy could not be taken without his aid, his mother, fearing for his safety, disguised him as a girl, and introduced him among the daughters of Lycomedes of Scyros. Her desire for his safety made her also try to make him invulnerable when a child by anointing him with ambrosia, and again by dipping him in the River Styx, from which he came out proof against wounds, all but the heel, by which she held him. His place of concealment was discovered by Odysseus (Ulysses), and he promised his assistance to the Greeks against Troy. Accompanied by his close friend, Patroclus, he joined the expedition with a body of followers (Myrmidons) in fifty ships, and occupied nine years in raids upon the towns neighbouring to Troy, after which the siege proper commenced. On being deprived of his prize, the maiden Briseïs, by Agamemnon, he refused to take any further part in the war, and disaster attended the Greeks. Patroclus now persuaded Achilles to allow him to lead the Myrmidons to battle dressed in his armour, and he having been slain by Hector, Achilles vowed revenge on the Trojans, and forgot his anger against the Greeks. He attacked the Trojans and drove them back to their walls, slaying them in great numbers, chased Hector, who fled before him three times round the walls of Troy, slew him, and dragged his body at his chariot-wheels, but afterwards gave it up to Priam, who came in person to beg for it. He then performed the funeral rites of Patroclus, with which the Iliad closes. He was killed in a battle at the Scæan Gate of Troy by an arrow from the bow of Paris which struck his vulnerable heel. In discussions on the origin of the Homeric poems the term Achilleid is often applied to those books (i, viii, and xi-xxii) of the Iliad in which Achilles is prominent, and which some suppose to have formed the original nucleus of the poem. See Iphigenia.

Achilles' Tendon, or Tendon of Achilles, [23]the strong tendon which connects the muscles of the calf with the heel, and which may be easily felt with the hand. The origin of the name will be understood from the above article.

Achilles Tatius (a-kil′ēz tā′shi-us), a Greek romance writer of the fifth century A.D., belonging to Alexandria; wrote a love story in 8 books called Leucippē and Cleitophon.

Achimenes (a-kim′e-nēz), a genus of tropical American plants, with scaly underground tubers, nat. ord. Gesneraceæ, now cultivated in European greenhouses on account of their white, blue, and red flowers.

Achlamydeous (ak-la-mid′i-us), in botany, wanting the floral envelopes, that is, having neither calyx nor corolla, as the willow.

Achor (ā′kor), a disease of infants, in which the head, the face, and often the neck and breast become incrusted with thin, yellowish or greenish scabs, arising from minute, whitish pustules, which discharge a viscid fluid.

Achromat′ic (Gr. a, priv., and chrōma, chrōmatos, colour), in optics, transmitting colourless light, that is, not decomposed into the primary colours, though having passed through a refracting medium. A single convex lens does not give an image free from the prismatic colours, because the rays of different colour making up white light are not equally refrangible, and thus do not all come to a focus together, the violet, for instance, being nearest the lens, the red farthest off. If such a lens of crown-glass, however, is combined with a concave lens of flint-glass—the curvatures of both being properly adjusted—as the two materials have somewhat different optical properties, the latter will neutralize the chromatic aberration of the former, and a satisfactory image will be produced. Telescopes, microscopes, &c., in which the glasses are thus composed are called achromatic.

Acid (Lat. acidus, sour), a name applied to a number of compounds, having more or less the qualities of vinegar (itself a diluted form of acetic acid). Their general properties are sour taste, the power of changing vegetable blues into reds, of evolving hydrogen in presence of magnesium, of decomposing chalk with effervescence, and of being in various degrees neutralized by alkalies. An acid has been defined as a compound of hydrogen, the whole or a part of which is replaceable by a metal when this is presented in the form of a hydroxide; being monobasic, dibasic, or tribasic, according to the number of replaceable hydrogen atoms in a molecule. See Chemistry.

Acierage (ā′sē-ėr-āj), (Fr. acier, steel), a process by which an engraved copper-plate or an electrotype from an engraved plate of steel or copper has a film of iron deposited over its surface by electricity in order to protect the engraving from wear in printing. By this means an electrotype of a fine engraving, which, if printed directly from the copper, would not yield 500 good impressions, can be made to yield 3000 or more; and when the film of iron becomes so worn as to reveal any part of the copper, it may be removed and a fresh coating deposited so that 20,000 good impressions may be got.

Acipenser (as-i-pen′sėr), the genus of cartilaginous ganoid fishes to which the sturgeon belongs.

Aci Reale (ä′chē rā-ä′lā), a seaport of Sicily, north-east of Catania, a well-built town, with a trade in corn, wine, fruit, &c. Pop. 35,587.

A′cis, according to Ovid, a beautiful shepherd of Sicily, loved by Galatea, and crushed to death by his rival the Cyclops Polyphemus. His blood, flowing from beneath the rock which crushed him, was changed into a river bearing his name, and renowned for the coldness of its water. It has been identified as the Fiume di Jaci.

Aclin′ic Line (Gr. priv. a, klinō, to incline), the magnetic equator, an irregular curve in the neighbourhood of the terrestrial equator, where the magnetic needle balances itself horizontally, having no dip. See Magnetism.

Acne (ak′nē), a skin disease, consisting of small hard pimples, usually on the face, caused by congestion of the follicles of the skin.

Acolytes (ak′o-līts), in the ancient Latin and Greek Churches, persons of ecclesiastical rank next in order below the subdeacons, whose office it was to attend the officiating priest. The name is still retained in the Roman Church. Cf. Duchesne, Christian Worship, its Origin and Evolution.

Aconcagua (a˙-kon-kä′gwa˙), a province, a river, and a mountain of Chile. The peak of [24]Aconcagua, whose summit is just within the Argentine Republic, rises to the height of 23,080 feet, and is probably the highest mountain of the western hemisphere. Area of province, 5406 sq. miles. Pop. (1919), 132,165.

Ac′onite (Aconītum), a genus of hardy herbaceous plants, nat. ord. Ranunculaceæ, represented by the well-known wolf's-bane or monk's-hood, and remarkable for their poisonous properties and medicinal qualities, being used internally as well as externally in rheumatism, gout, neuralgia, &c.

Acon′itine, an alkaloid extracted from monk's-hood and some other species of aconite; used medicinally, though a virulent poison.

Aconquija (a˙-kon-kē′ha˙), a range of mountains in the Argentine Republic; the name also of a single peak, 17,000 feet high.

A′corn, the fruit of the different kinds of oak. The acorn-cups of one species are brought from the Levant under the name of valonia, and used in tanning.

Acorn-shell. See Balanus.

Ac′orus, a genus of plants, including the sweet-flag. See Sweet-flag and Calamus.

Acos′ta, Gabriel, afterwards Uriel, a Portuguese of Jewish descent, born at Oporto in 1590, died by his own hand 1640. Brought up a Christian, he afterwards embraced Judaism. Having gone to Amsterdam, where he attacked the practices of the Jews, and denied the divine mission of Moses, he suffered much persecution at the hands of the Jews. He left an autobiography, published in 1687, under the title Exemplar Humanæ Vitæ. He is the hero of a novel, Die Sadducäer von Amsterdam, and of a tragedy, Uriel Acosta, both by Gutzkow.

Acotyle′dons, plants not furnished with cotyledons or seed-lobes. They include ferns, mosses, seaweeds, &c., and are also called flowerless plants or cryptogams.

Acousimeter, or Acoumeter (Gr. akouein, to hear, and metron, measure), an instrument used to determine the acuteness of hearing. It consists of a small bar which gives a uniform sound when struck by a hammer.

Acoustics (a-kou′stiks), the science of sound. It deals with the production of sound, its propagation and velocity in various media; the reflection, refraction, and interference of sound waves; the properties of musical notes; and the general phenomena of such vibrations of elastic bodies as affect the organ of hearing.

In order that a sound may be heard, it is necessary that an uninterrupted series of particles of elastic matter should extend from the sounding body to our ear. Sound is propagated by a longitudinal wave-motion in the medium (gaseous, liquid, or solid), that is, the particles oscillate along the line in which the wave is travelling, giving rise to regular series of condensations and rarefactions.

The velocity of sound varies directly as the square root of the elasticity, and inversely as the square root of the density, of the medium in which it is propagated. The velocity of sound in air at 0° C. is 330.6 metres per second, or 1085 feet per second; in water 1.49 kilometres per second, or 0.926 mile per second; in copper 5.01 kilometres per second, or 3.12 miles per second.

The intensity of sound varies inversely as the square of the distance from the sounding body. Recently sound-ranging instruments have been produced by means of which the position of a gun can be determined.

A note produced by a musical instrument consists of a fundamental of a certain frequency, together with a number of overtones of various higher frequencies and much smaller amplitude. The timbre of a note depends on the overtones present, the loudness depends on the amplitude of the vibrations, and the pitch depends on the frequency. The musical scale consists of eight notes, C D E F G A B C, whose frequencies are in the proportion of the numbers 24, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40, 45 and 48. The interval between two notes is the ratio of the frequency of the higher note to the frequency of the lower note. In order that the intervals may be the same in all keys, a tempered scale is used in music. (See Table, p. 25.)

Bibliography: Lord Rayleigh, Theory of Sound; H. Smith, The Making of Sound in the Organ and Orchestra; J. W. Capstick, Sound (Cambridge Natural Science Manuals); E. H. Barton, Text-book of Sound.

Acqui (a˙k′wē), a town of Northern Italy, 18 miles S.S.W. of Alessandria, a bishop's see. It has warm sulphurous baths, which were known to the Romans, and which still attract a great many visitors. Pop. 16,500.

Acre, a standard British measure of land, also used in the colonies and the United States. The imperial statute acre consists of 4840 sq. yards, divided into 4 roods. The old Scotch acre contains 6146.8 sq. yards, the old Irish acre 7840 sq. yards.

Acre (ā′kėr) (ancient Accho and Ptolemais), a seaport of Syria, in Northern Palestine, on the Bay of Acre, early a place of great strength and importance. Taken from the Saracens under Saladin in 1191 by Richard I of England and Philip of France; bravely defended by the Turks, assisted by Sir Sidney Smith, in 1799 against Napoleon; in 1832, taken by Ibrahim Pasha; in 1840, bombarded by a British, Austrian, and Turkish fleet, and restored to the Sultan of Turkey. The town was occupied by British troops under General Allenby in September, 1918. Pop. 10,000.

[25]

MUSICAL INTERVALS.—See Acoustics

NOTES OF PERFECT DIATONIC SCALE (with their Frequencies)

PERFECT DIATONIC SCALES (Transition to Key of Dominant)

Example—Key of C to Key of G

[26]

Acri (ā′krē), a town of S. Italy, province of Cosenza. Pop. 4000.

Ac′rita (Gr. akritos, undistinguishable, doubtful), a name sometimes given to the animals otherwise called Protozoa.

Acroceph′ali, tribes of men distinguished by pyramidal or high skulls.

Acrocerau′nia (thunder-smitten peaks) (now Cape Glossa or Linguetta), a promontory of Western Greece, in Epirus, running into the Adriatic.

Acrocorin′thus, a steep rock in Greece, nearly 1900 feet high, overhanging ancient Corinth, and on which stood the acropolis or citadel, the sacred fountain of Pirēnē being also here. This natural fortress has proved itself of importance in the modern history of Greece.

Ac′rogens (-jenz), lit. summit-growers, a term applied to the ferns, mosses, and lichens (cryptogams), as growing by extension upwards, in contradistinction to endogens and exogens.

Ac′rolith, an early form of Greek statuary in which the head, hands, and feet only were of stone, the trunk of the figure being of wood draped or gilded.

Acrop′olis (Gr. akros, high, and polis, a city), the citadel or chief place of a Grecian city, usually on an eminence commanding the town. That of Athens contained some of the finest buildings in the world, such as the Parthenon, Erechthēum, &c.

Acros′tic, a poem of which the first or last, or certain other, letters of the line, taken in order, form some name, motto, or sentence. A poem of which both first and last letters are thus arranged is called a double acrostic. In Hebrew poetry, the term is given to a poem of which the initial letters of the lines or stanzas were made to run over the letters of the alphabet in their order, as in Psalm cxix.—Acrostics have been much used in complimentary verses, the initial letters giving the name of the person eulogized. They were very popular among French poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In modern times Edgar Allen Poe has written quite remarkable acrostic verses.

Act, in special senses: (1) In dramatic poetry, one of the principal divisions of a drama, in which a definite and coherent portion of the plot is represented; generally subdivided into smaller portions called scenes. The Greek dramas were not divided into acts. The dictum that a drama should consist of five acts was first formally laid down by Horace, and is generally adhered to by modern dramatists in tragedy. In comedy, especially since the time of Molière, more freedom is allowed, and a division into two or three acts is common.—(2) Something formally done by a legislative or judicial body; a statute or law passed.—(3) In universities, a thesis maintained in public by a candidate for a degree. See Act of God, of Parliament, of Settlement.

Acta Diur′na (Lat., proceedings of the day), a daily Roman newspaper which appeared under both the republic and the empire.

Actæ′a. See Baneberry.

Actæ′on, in Greek mythology, a great hunter, turned into a stag by Artĕmis (Diana) for looking on her when she was bathing, and torn to pieces by his own dogs.

Acta Erudito′rum (Lat., acts of the learned), the first literary journal that appeared in Germany (1682-1782). It was started by Otto Mencke, after the model of the Journal des Savants. Among the contributors, the most distinguished was Leibnitz.

Acta Sanctorum (Lat., acts of the saints), a name applied to all collections of accounts of ancient martyrs and saints, both of the Greek and Roman Churches, more particularly to the valuable collection begun by John Bolland, a Jesuit of Antwerp, in 1643, and which, being continued by other divines of the same order (Bollandists), now extends to sixty volumes, the lives following each other in the order of the calendar.

Actin′ia, the genus of animals to which the typical sea-anemones belong. See Sea-anemone.

Ac′tinism, the property of those rays of light which produce chemical changes, as in photography, in contradistinction to the light rays and heat rays. The actinic property or force begins among the green rays, is strongest in the violet rays, and extends a long way beyond the visible spectrum.

Actinium, an element or elementary substance obtained in minute quantities in connection with the study of radioactivity. It was discovered by Debierne in 1899. In 1902 Giesel discovered another substance which he called emanium, and which was considered to be identical with actinium. Marckwald, however, came to the conclusion that these two substances are not identical but closely related to each other. See Radium, Chemistry.

Actin′olite, a mineral nearly allied to hornblende.

Actinom′eter, an instrument for measuring the intensity of the sun's actinic rays. See Actinism.

Actinozo′a (lit. ray-animals), a class of animals belonging to the sub-kingdom Cœlenterata, and including sea-anemones, corals, &c., all having rayed tentacles round the mouth.

Action, the mode of seeking redress at law for any wrong, injury, or deprivation. Actions are divided into civil and criminal, the former again being divided into real, personal, and mixed.

Ac′tium (now La Punta), a promontory on [27]the western coast of Northern Greece, not far from the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf (Gulf of Arta), memorable on account of the naval victory gained here by Octavianus (afterwards the Emperor Augustus) over Antony and Cleopatra, 2nd Sept., 31 B.C., in sight of their armies encamped on the opposite shores of the Ambracian Gulf. Soon after the beginning of the battle Cleopatra escaped with sixty Egyptian ships, and Antony basely followed her, and fled with her to Egypt. The deserted fleet was not overcome without making a brave resistance. Antony's land forces soon went over to the enemy, and the Roman world fell to Octavianus. In 1538 a victory was gained at Actium by the Turks over the Spanish and Venetian fleets.

Act of God, a legal term defined as "a direct, violent, sudden, and irresistible act of nature, which could not, by any reasonable cause, have been foreseen or resisted". No one can be legally called upon to make good loss so arising.

Act of Parliament, a law or statute proceeding from the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in both houses, and having received the royal assent. Before it is passed it is a Bill and not an Act. Acts are either public or private, the former affecting the whole community, the latter only special persons and private concerns. The whole body of public Acts constitutes the statute law. An Act of Parliament can only be altered or repealed by the authority of Parliament. Acts are usually cited in this way, "13 and 14 Vict. c. (or chap.) 21", which means the 21st Act in succession passed in year 13th-14th of the queen's reign (that is, 1850). Short titles, such as "the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854", are also used. Up to the time of Edward I Acts of Parliament were in Latin; then French was introduced, and for some time was exclusively employed. It was not till Henry VII's reign that all Acts were in English.

Act of Settlement, an Act passed by the English Parliament in 1700, by which the succession to the throne of the three kingdoms, in the event of King William and Princess (afterwards Queen) Anne dying without issue, was settled on the Princess Sophia, electress of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being Protestants. The Princess Sophia was the youngest daughter of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I. By this act George I, son of the Princess Sophia, succeeded to the crown on the death of Queen Anne.—Another Act of Settlement was that by which, under Cromwell's government, a new allotment was made of almost all landed property in Ireland, in 1652.

Act of Toleration, an Act of Parliament Passed in 1689, by which Protestant dissenters from the Church of England, on condition of their taking the oaths of supremacy and allegiance, and repudiating the doctrine of transubstantiation, were relieved from the restrictions under which they had formerly lain with regard to the exercise of their religion according to their own forms.

Act of Uniformity, an English Act passed in 1662, enjoining upon all ministers to use the Book of Common Prayer on pain of forfeiture of their livings. See Nonconformity.

Acton, a kind of padded or quilted vest or tunic formerly worn under a coat of mail to save the body from bruises, or used by itself as a defensive garment. Jackets of leather or other material plated with mail were also so called. Gambeson was an equivalent term.

Acton, a name of various places in England, one of them a western suburb of London, pop. (1921), 61,314. Since 1918 Acton gives its name to a parliamentary division of Middlesex, returning one member to Parliament.

Acton, John Emerich Edward Dalberg, first Baron Acton, born 1834, died 1902, was son of Richard Acton (seventh baronet) and the daughter of the Duc de Dalberg, afterwards wife of Earl Granville, Mr. Gladstone's colleague. As a Roman Catholic he was educated at Oscott, and afterwards on the Continent, partly under Döllinger, and acquired a special taste for and profound knowledge of history. He conducted the Home and Foreign Review from 1862 to 1864, and, in doing so, showed himself a strong opponent of ultramontane pretensions. He next edited the North British Review, which under him was rather overweighted with learning, and soon came to an end. In 1869 he was raised to the peerage. He strongly opposed the papal-infallibility movement, and took the side of Mr. Gladstone in his attacks on Vaticanism. In 1895 he accepted the professorship of modern history at Cambridge, delivered lectures, and planned and undertook the editorship of the great work on modern history, The Cambridge Modern History, comprising a series of contributions by various scholars, and issued by the university press. Except essays, letters, or articles for periodicals, he himself wrote little. Since his death have been published: Lectures in Modern History (1906); The History of Freedom and other Essays (1907); Lectures on the French Revolution (1910). His library of 60,000 volumes he left to Mr. (now Lord) Morley, who handed it over to the University of Cambridge. [28]

Actor, one who represents some part or character on the stage. Actresses were unknown to the Greeks and Romans in the earliest times, men or boys always performing the female parts. They appeared under the Roman empire, however. Charles II first encouraged the public appearance of actresses in England; in Shakespeare's time there were none. See Drama.—Bibliography: C. F. Armstrong, Century of Great Actors; H. Simpson, Century of Great Actresses.

Acts of the Apostles, fifth of the books of the New Testament, written in Greek and assigned to the author of the gospel of St. Luke. Its date is probably A.D. 63 or 64. It embraces a period of about thirty years, beginning immediately after the resurrection, and extending to the second year of the imprisonment of St. Paul in Rome. Very little information is given regarding any of the apostles, excepting St. Peter and St. Paul, and the accounts of them are far from being complete. It describes the gathering of the infant Church; the fulfilment of the promise of Christ to his apostles in the descent of the Holy Ghost; the choice of Matthias in the place of Judas, the betrayer; the testimony of the apostles to the resurrection of Jesus in their discourses; their preaching in Jerusalem and in Judea, and afterwards to the Gentiles; the conversion of Paul, his preaching in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, his miracles and labours.—Bibliography: R. T. Knowling, The Expositor's Greek Testament; J. Moffatt, The Historical New Testament; J. M. Wilson, Origin and Aim of the Acts of the Apostles.

Ac′tuary, an accountant whose business is to make the necessary computations in regard to a basis for life assurance, annuities, reversions, &c.

Acu′leus, in botany, a prickle, or sharp-pointed process of the epidermis, as distinguished from a thorn or spine, which is of a woody nature.

Acupress′ure, a means of arresting bleeding from a cut artery introduced by Sir James Simpson in 1859, and consisting in compressing the artery above the orifice, that is, on the side nearest the heart, with the middle of a needle (Lat. acus, a needle) introduced through the tissues.

Acupunc′ture, a surgical operation, consisting in the insertion of needles into certain parts of the body for alleviating pain, or for the cure of different species of rheumatism, neuralgia, eye diseases, &c. It is easily performed, gives little pain, causes neither bleeding nor inflammation, and seems at times of surprising efficacy.

Adagio (It. a˙-dä′jō), a musical term, expressing a slow time, slower than andante and less so than largo, lento, and grave.

Adâl′, a country in Africa, east of Abyssinia and north-westward of Tajurrah Bay, inhabited by a dark-brown race of the same name, a tribe of the Danakils, Mahommedans in religion; towns Aussa and Tajurrah. Part of the coast here is held by the French.

Ad′albert of Prague, called the apostle of the Prussians, son of a Bohemian nobleman named Slavnik, born about 939. His real name was Voitech, but he assumed the name of the Archbishop Adalbert, under whom he studied at Magdeburg. He was appointed Bishop of Prague in 983, laboured in vain among the heathenish Bohemians, resolved to convert the pagans of Prussia, but was murdered in the attempt (997). Boga-Rodzica, a Polish war-song, is said to have been composed by him.

Ada′lia, a seaport on the south coast of Asia Minor. Pop. 28,000. The district of Adalia has a population of over 200,000.

Adam (a˙-da˙n˙), Adolphe Charles, a French composer, more especially of comic operas; born 1803, died 1856. Wrote Le postillon de Longjumeau, Le Brasseur de Preston (Brewer of Preston), La Rose de Peronne, Le roi d'Yvetot, &c.

Adam, Albrecht, a German painter of battles and animals, born 1786, died 1862. Three sons of his have also distinguished themselves as painters, especially Franz, born 1815, died 1886, among whose best pictures are several representing scenes of the Franco-Prussian war.

Adam, Alexander, a Scottish classical scholar, born in 1741; became in 1768 rector of the High School of Edinburgh, and died there in 1809. Wrote Principles of Latin and English Grammar; Roman Antiquities, a useful school-book; Summary of Geography and History; Classical Biography, &c.

Adam, Robert, an eminent Scottish architect, born in 1728, a son of William Adam, architect. He resided several years in Italy, visited Spalatro, in Dalmatia, and published a work on the ruined palace of Diocletian there. In conjunction with his brother James he was much employed by the English nobility and gentry in constructing modern and embellishing ancient mansions. Among their works are the Register House and the University Buildings, Edinburgh, and the Adelphi Buildings, London. Robert Adam died in 1792, and was buried in Westminster Abbey; his brother James died in 1794.

Adam and Eve, the names given in Scripture to our first parents, an account of whom and their immediate descendants is given in the early chapters of Genesis. Cain, Abel, and Seth are all their sons that are mentioned by name; but we are told that they had other sons as well as daughters. There are numerous Rabbinical additions to the Scripture narrative of an extravagant character, such as the myth of Adam having a wife before Eve, named Lilith, who became the mother of giants and evil spirits. [29]Other legends or inventions are contained in the Koran.

Adam de la Hale, an early French writer and musician, born 1235, died 1287. His Jeu de Robin et de Marion (first produced at Naples), may be regarded as the first comic opera ever written. Cf. H. Guy, Bibliographie Critique du Trouvère, Paris, 1900.

Ad′amant, an old name for the diamond; also used in a vague way to imply a substance of impenetrable hardness.

Adaman′tine Spar, a name of the mineral corundum or of a brownish variety of it.

Adama′wa (also called Fumbina), a region of West Africa, between lat. 6° and 10° N., and lon. 11° and 17° E. Much of the surface is hilly or mountainous, Mount Atlantika being 9000 or 10,000 feet. The principal river is the Benue. A great part of the country is covered with thick forests. The oil palm and bananas are staple products. Chief town Yola (Nigeria).

Adamello. See European War.

Ad′amites, a religious sect dating from the second century, probably of Gnostic origin. It was so called because both men and women were said to appear naked in their assemblies, either to imitate Adam in the state of innocence or to prove the control which they possessed over their passions. Practices similar to those of the Adamites arose several times in later ages. See Beghards.

Adam′nan, St., born in Ireland about 624, was elected abbot of Iona in 679, and died there about 703 or 704. He is best known from his Life of St. Columba, valuable as throwing light on the early ecclesiastical history of Scotland. (There are editions by Reeves, 1857; reissued with English translation 1874; and by Fowler, 1895.) His feast is celebrated on 23rd Sept.

Adams, Charles Francis, American litterateur and statesman, was a son of John Quincy Adams, and was born in 1807. His boyhood was spent in Europe, partly in England; but he finished his education at Harvard, and afterwards studied law. After serving some years in the Massachusetts legislature he was sent to Congress in 1859. In 1861 Lincoln sent him to England as American minister, and here he remained for seven years, performing the arduous duties of his office with the utmost tact and ability. Between 1874 and 1877 he edited a complete edition of his grandfather's works in 12 vols. He was one of the arbitrators on the Alabama claims. Died in 1886.

Adams, John, second president of the United States, was born at Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, 19th Oct., 1735. He was educated at Harvard University, and adopted the law as a profession. His attention was directed to politics by the question as to the right of the English Parliament to tax the colonies, and in 1765 he published some essays strongly opposed to the claims of the mother country. As a member of the new American congress in 1774, 1775, and 1776 he was strenuous in his opposition to the home Government, and in organizing the various departments of the colonial Government. On 13th May, 1776, he seconded the motion for a declaration of independence proposed by Lee of Virginia, and was appointed a member of committee to draw it up. The declaration was actually drawn up by Jefferson, but it was Adams who fought it through Congress. In 1778 he went to France on a special mission, but soon came back and again returned, and for nine years resided abroad as representative of his country in France, Holland, and England. After taking part in the peace negotiations he was appointed, in 1785, the first ambassador of the United States to the Court of St. James. He was recalled in 1788, and the following year elected vice-president of the republic under Washington. In 1792 he was re-elected vice-president, and at the following election in 1797 he became president in succession to Washington. The commonwealth was then divided into two parties, the Federalists, who favoured aristocratic and were suspected of monarchic views, and the Republicans. Adams adhered to the former party, with which his views of government had always been in accordance, but the real leader of the party was Hamilton, with whom Adams did not agree, and who tried to prevent his election. His term of office proved a stormy one, which broke up and dissolved the Federalist party. His re-election in 1801 was again opposed by the efforts of Hamilton, which ended in effecting the return of the Republican candidate Jefferson. Thus it happened that when Adams retired from office his influence and popularity with both parties were at an end, and he sunk at once into the obscurity of private life. He had the consolation, however, of living to see his son president. He died 4th July, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of independence, and on the same day as Jefferson. His works have been ably edited by his grandson Charles Francis Adams.

Adams, John Couch, English astronomer, born 1819, died 1892, studied at Cambridge, and was senior wrangler in 1843. His investigations into the irregularities in the motion of the planet Uranus led him to the conclusion that they must be caused by another more distant planet, and the results of his labours were communicated in September and October, 1845, to Professor Challis and Airy the Astronomer Royal. The French astronomer Leverrier had by this time been engaged in the same line of research, and had come to substantially the same results, [30]which, being published in 1846, led to the actual discovery of the planet Neptune by Galle of Berlin. In 1858 Adams was professor of mathematics at Aberdeen University, and in 1859 was appointed Lowndean professor of astronomy and geometry at Cambridge.

Adams, John Quincy, sixth president of the United States, son of John Adams, second president, was born 11th July, 1767. Accompanying his father to Europe he received part of his education there, but graduated at Harvard in 1788. Having adopted the legal profession, in 1791 he was admitted to the bar. He now began to take an active interest in politics, and some letters that he wrote having attracted general attention, in 1794 Washington appointed him minister to the Hague. He afterwards was sent to Berlin, and also on a mission to Sweden. In 1798 he received a commission to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Sweden. On the accession of Jefferson to the presidency in 1801 he was recalled. The Federalist party (that of his father), which was now declining, had sufficient influence in Massachusetts to elect him to the senate in 1803. On an important question of foreign policy, that of embargo, he abandoned his party, and having lost his re-election on this account, he retired to the professorship of rhetoric at Cambridge, which he held from 1806 to 1809. In 1809 he went as ambassador to Russia. He assisted in negotiating the peace of 1814 with England, and was afterwards appointed resident minister at London. Under Monroe as president he was secretary of state, and at the expiration of Monroe's double term of office he succeeded him in the presidency (1825). He was not very successful as president, and at the end of his term (1829) he was not re-elected. In 1831 he was returned to Congress by Massachusetts, and continued to represent this State till his death, his efforts being now chiefly on behalf of the Abolitionist party. He died 21st Feb., 1848.

Adams, Samuel, an American statesman, second cousin of President John Adams, was born in Boston, 27th Sept., 1722, and was educated at Harvard College. He early devoted himself to politics, and in connection with the dispute between America and the mother country he showed himself one of the most unwearied, efficient, and disinterested assertors of American freedom and independence. He was one of the signers of the declaration of 1776, which he laboured most indefatigably to bring forward. He sat in congress eight years; from 1789-94 was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts; from 1794-7 governor, when he retired from public life. He died 2nd Oct., 1803.

Adam's Apple, the popular name of the prominence seen in the front of the throat in man, and which is formed by the portion of the larynx known as the thyroid cartilage. It is much smaller and less visible in females than in males, and is so named from the supposition that it was caused by a piece of the forbidden fruit having stuck in Adam's throat. In botany it is the name given to the plantain tree and the Citrus pomum. It is the Heb. Ethrog, which, according to Hebrew legend, was the fruit Adam and Eve ate in the garden of Eden.

Adam's Bridge, a chain of reefs, sandbanks, and islands stretching between India and Ceylon; so called because the Mohammedans believe that when Adam was driven from paradise he had to pass by this way to Ceylon (where is also Adam's Peak). The Brahmans call it the bridge of Rama, the hero of the Indian Epic, the Ramayana.

Adam's Needle, a popular name of the Yucca plant.

Adam's Peak, one of the highest mountains in Ceylon, 45 miles east-south-east of Colombo, conical, isolated, and 7420 feet high. On the top, a rocky area of 64 feet by 45, is a hollow in the rock 5 feet long bearing a rude resemblance to a human foot, which the Brahmans believe to be the footprint of Siva; the Buddhists, who call it Sri-pada (sacred footmark), that of Buddha; the Mahommedans that of Adam. The last-named believe that Adam stood here on one foot for a thousand years, lamenting his exclusion from Eden. Devotees of all creeds meet here and present their offerings (chiefly rhododendron flowers) to the sacred footprint. The ascent is very steep, and towards the summit is assisted by steps cut and iron chains riveted in the rock.

Adamson, Patrick, a Scottish divine and Latin poet, born 15th March, 1536, died 19th Feb., 1592. He was educated at St. Andrews, lived some years in France, was minister of Paisley, and afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews, in which position he made himself very obnoxious to the Presbyterian party. Deprived of the revenues of the see, he died in indigence. He turned portions of the Bible into Latin verse.

Ad′ana, town and capital of Adana vilayet, Asia Minor, on the Seihun-Irmak; served by the Bagdad Railway. The district is claimed by Armenia. Cotton, rice, wine, and fruit are exported. Pop. (town), 70,000; (vilayet), 1,000,000.

Adanson (a˙-da˙n-sōn˙), Michel, French naturalist and traveller (of Scottish extraction), born 1727; died 1806. He lived five years in Senegal, and wrote a natural history of this region as well as works on botany. The baobab genus is named Adansonia after him. Adanson's statue was erected in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, in 1856.

Adanso′nia. See preceding article and Baobab.

Adaptation (from the Lat. ad, to, and aptāre, to fit), the process of modification or alteration [31]of a thing so as to change its original purpose and adapt it to other uses. Adaptation in biology is the power and process by which an organism or species of animals or plants changes and becomes modified, so as to suit the conditions of its life. In other words it is the adjustment, or favourable reaction, of the living world to its environment, the advantageous variation of animals and plants under changed conditions. The term now includes both that which is hereditary and that which is acquired. The powers of lower forms of life to adapt themselves to changes of environment are limited, and frequently, when the conditions vary suddenly, they are either arrested in their development or die altogether.—In literature it is the process by which an author modifies the work of another not in its essence but in its form and details, either in the original or in a foreign language.

A′dar, the twelfth month of the Hebrew sacred and sixth of the civil year, answering to part of February and part of March.

Adda (ancient Addua), a river of North Italy, which, descending from the Rhætian Alps, falls into Lake Como, and leaving this joins the Po, after a course of about 170 miles. On the banks of the Adda Napoleon won the battle of Lodi in 1796.

Adda, a species of lizard, more commonly called Skink.

Ad′dax, a species of antelope (Hippotrăgus nasomaculātus) of the size of a large ass, with much of its make. The horns of the male are about 4 feet long, beautifully twisted into a wide-sweeping spiral of two turns and a half, with the points directed outwards. It has tufts of hair on the forehead and throat, and large broad hoofs. It inhabits the sandy regions of Nubia and Kordofan, and is also found in Caffraria.

Adder, a name often applied to the common viper as well as to other kinds of venomous serpents. See Viper.

Adder-pike (Trachīnus vipĕra), a small species of the weever fish, called also the Lesser Weever or Sting-fish. See Weever.

Adder-stone, the name given in different parts of Britain to certain rounded perforated stones or glass beads found occasionally, and supposed to have a kind of supernatural efficacy in curing the bites of adders. They are believed to have been anciently used as spindle-whorls, that is, a kind of small fly-wheels to keep up the rotatory motion of the spindle.

Adder's-tongue, a species of British fern (Ophioglossum vulgātum), whose spores are produced on a spike, supposed to resemble a serpent's tongue.

Adder's-wort, a name of snakeweed or bistort (Polygŏnum Bistorta), from its supposed virtue in curing the bite of serpents.

Ad′dington, Henry, Viscount Sidmouth, born 1757, died 1844. Entered Parliament, 1783, as a warm supporter of Pitt. Was elected speaker of the House of Commons, 1789, and in 1801 invited by the king to form an administration, chiefly signalized by the conclusion of the Peace of Amiens. Quarrelled with Pitt, whom he bitterly attacked. Was home secretary from 1812 till 1822, his repressive policy making him remarkably unpopular with the nation at large. Retired from official life in 1824.

Addis Abe′ba, or Adis Abba′ba, a town in the south of Abyssinia, in Shoa, ranking as capital of the country, being chief residence of the negus or sovereign. It stands among mountains, at the height of 10,000 feet, and is a primitive place, but now has telegraphic connection with Jibouti and Massawa, and since 1917 is the terminus of the railway running inland from Jibouti by way of Harar. Pop. 50,000.

Ad′dison, Rt. Hon. Christopher, P.C., M.D., Cabinet Minister. Dr. Addison was born 19th June, 1869, and educated at Trinity College, Harrogate, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, where he was a lecturer for a time. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Hoxton Division, Shoreditch, in 1910, and was parliamentary secretary to the Board of Education from 1914 to 1915. From 1916 to 1917 he was Minister of Munitions; he was President of the Local Government Board from January to June, 1919, when he became Minister of Health. He has written and edited several works on medical subjects.

Ad′dison, Joseph, an eminent English essayist, son of the Rev. Lancelot Addison, afterwards Dean of Lichfield, born at Milston, Wiltshire, 1st May, 1672, died 17th June, 1719. He was educated at the Charterhouse, where he became acquainted with Steele, and afterwards at Oxford. He held a fellowship from 1697 till 1711, and gained much praise for his Latin verse. He secured as his earliest patron the poet Dryden, who inserted some of his verses in his Miscellanies in 1693. A translation of the fourth Georgic, with the exception of the story of Aristæus, by Addison, appeared in the same collection in 1694, and he subsequently translated for it two and [32]a half books of Ovid. Dryden also prefixed his prose essay on Virgil's Georgics to his own translation of that poem, which appeared in 1697. An early patron of his was Charles Montague, afterwards Earl of Halifax; another was Lord Somers, who procured him a pension of £300 a year to enable him to qualify for diplomatic employments by foreign travels. He spent from the autumn of 1699 to that of 1703 on the Continent, where he became acquainted with Malebranche, Boileau, &c. During his residence abroad his tragedy of Cato is supposed to have been written. During his journey across Mont Cenis he wrote his Letter from Italy, esteemed the best of his poems, and in Germany his Dialogues on Medals, which was not published till after his death. His Remarks on Several Parts of Italy in the Years 1701-3 was published in 1705. His political friends lost power on the death of William III, but The Campaign, a poem on the battle of Blenheim, procured him an appointment as a commissioner of appeal on excise. In 1706 he received an under-secretaryship, in 1707 accompanied Halifax on a mission to Hanover, in 1709 became secretary to the Viceroy of Ireland, and keeper of the records. In 1708 he was elected Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel, a seat he exchanged in 1710 for Malmesbury, which place he continued to represent till his death. From Oct., 1709, to Jan., 1711, he contributed 75 papers to the Tatler, either wholly by himself or in conjunction with Steele, thus founding the new literary school of the Essayists. For the Spectator (2nd Jan., 1711, to 6th Dec., 1712) he wrote 274 papers, all signed by one of the four letters C., L., I., O. His tragedy of Cato, produced April, 1713, ran for twenty nights, and was translated into French, Italian, German, and Latin. His other contributions to periodicals included 51 papers to the Guardian (May to Sept., 1713), 24 papers to a revived Spectator conducted by Budgell, and 2 papers to Steele's Lover. On the death of Queen Anne he successively became secretary to the lords justices, secretary to the Irish viceroy, and one of the lords commissioners of trade. He published the Freeholder (23rd Dec., 1715, to 9th June, 1716), a political Spectator. In August, 1716, he married the Countess of Warwick, a marriage which did not increase his happiness. He retired from public life, March, 1718, with a pension of £1500 a year. He formed a close friendship with Swift, and was chief of a distinguished literary circle. He had literary quarrels with Pope and Gay, the former of whom in revenge wrote the satire contained in his lines on Atticus in the Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. He also had a paltry quarrel over politics with his old friend Steele. His death took place at Holland House, its cause being dropsy and asthma. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Of his style as a writer so much has been said that nothing remains to say but to quote the dictum of Johnson: "Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison". He had great conversational powers, and his intimates speak in the strongest terms of the enjoyment derived from his society, but he was extremely reserved before strangers. His Dialogues on Medals and Evidences of the Christian Religion were published posthumously in Tickell's collected edition of his works.—Bibliography: W. J. Courthope, Addison (English Men of Letters Series); Essays from the Spectator, edited by Henry Morley.

Addison's Disease (from Dr. Addison, Guy's Hospital, London, who traced the disease to its source), a fatal disease, the seat of which is the two glandular bodies placed one at the front of the upper part of each kidney, and called suprarenal capsules. It is characterized by anæmia or bloodlessness, extreme prostration, and the brownish or olive-green colour of the skin. Death usually results from weakness, and commonly takes place within a year.

Addled Parliament, a Parliament called 5th April, 1614, in order to legalize the customs duties imposed by James I, but which, proceeding to the redress of grievances instead of granting supply, was dissolved, 7th June, without passing a single Bill.

Address, a document containing an expression of thanks, congratulation, satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, &c. It is the custom of the British Parliament to return an address to the speech delivered by the Sovereign at the commencement of every session.

Address, Forms of. The following are the principal modes of formally addressing titled personages or persons holding official rank in Great Britain:—

Adduc′tor, a muscle which draws one part of the body towards another: applied in zoology to one of the muscles which bring together the valves of the shell of the bivalve molluscs.

Adel′. See Adal.

Adela, born 1062, died 1137, fourth daughter of William the Conqueror, wife of Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres, and mother of Stephen, King of England. She proved herself an able ruler and a generous patroness of learning while her husband was abroad with the First Crusade; and after his death she acted as regent for his sons.

Adelaide (ad'e-lād), the capital of South Australia, 6 miles east from Port Adelaide (on St. Vincent Gulf), its port, with which it is united by railway, founded in 1837, and named after the queen of William IV. Situated on a large plain, it is built nearly in the form of a square, with the streets at right angles, and is divided into North and South Adelaide, separated by the river Torrens, which is crossed by several bridges, and by means of a dam is converted into a fine sheet of water. The public buildings comprise the Government House, the town hall, the post and telegraph offices, the Government offices, court-houses, the houses of legislature, the University, South Australian Institute, &c. There is a good service of tramway cars. Adelaide is connected by railway with Melbourne, and is the terminus of the overland telegraph to Port Darwin. It has a large trade. Pop. (including suburbs), (1919), 256,660.

Adelaide, daughter of George, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, and wife of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV, King of England; born 1792, died 1849; married 11th July, 1818, had two daughters, who died in infancy. She became queen-consort on William attaining the throne in 1830, and was for a time unpopular from being supposed to be averse to reform. On the death of William she passed into private life, with an allowance of £100,000 a year.

Adelard of Bath, an English philosophical writer of the twelfth century. He travelled through Spain, the north of Africa, Greece, and Asia Minor, and acquired from the Arabs much knowledge, which he put in systematic shape. Chief works, Perdifficiles Quæstiones Naturales and De Eodem et Diverso.

Adelsberg (ä'dėlz-berh), a small town of North Italy, in Carniola, midway between Trieste and Laibach, remarkable for the wonderful stalactite cave in its vicinity. The most extended of the ramifications which compose it reaches to over 2 miles from the entrance, at which the River Poik disappears, and is heard rushing below. The stalactites and stalagmites are of the most varied and often beautiful forms, and have received fanciful appellations, as they resemble columns, statues, &c.

Adelung (a˙d'e-lu¨ng), Friedrich von, nephew of J. C. Adelung, was a distinguished philologist. He was tutor to the Grand-duke Nicholas, afterwards Emperor of Russia, and became president of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg (now Petrograd). Born 1768, died 1843.

Adelung, Johann Christoph, a German philologist, born 1732, died 1806. In 1759 he was appointed professor in the Protestant academy at Erfurt, and two years after removed to Leipzig, where he applied himself to the works by which he made so great a name, particularly his German dictionary, Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der hochdeutschen Mundart (Leipzig, 1774-86), and his Mithridates, a work on general philology. In 1787 he was appointed librarian of the public library in Dresden—an office which he held till his death.

A′den, a seaport town and territory belonging to Britain, on the south-west coast of Arabia, in [34]a dry and barren district, the town being almost entirely closed in by an amphitheatre of rocks, and possessing an admirable harbour. Occupying an important military position, Aden is strongly fortified and permanently garrisoned. It is of importance also as a coaling station for steamers, and carries on a great amount of commerce, forming an entrepôt and place of transhipment for goods valued at £6,000,000 a year. Its greatest drawback is the scarcity of fresh water, which is obtained partly from wells, partly from rock-cisterns that receive the rain, and partly by condensation from salt water—the only unfailing means of supply. The peninsula on which it stands somewhat resembles the rock of Gibraltar, and could be rendered as formidable. Aden was a Roman colony, and in the Middle Ages it was a great entrepôt of the Eastern trade. It was acquired by Britain in 1839, after which it was attacked repeatedly by the Arabs. With the additional territory latterly acquired, the total British area is 75 sq. miles (or with the island of Perim, 80); while a large tract is under British influence. Aden is attached to the Bombay Presidency. Pop. 46,165.

Adenanthe′ra, a genus of trees and shrubs, natives of the East Indies, nat. ord. Leguminosæ. A. pavonīna is one of the largest and handsomest trees of India, and yields hard solid timber called red sandal-wood. The bright scarlet seeds, from their equality in weight (each=4 grains), are used by goldsmiths in the East as weights.

Adeni′tis (Gr. adēn, a gland), in medicine, inflammation of one or more of the lymphatic glands.

Ad′enoids, small growths often occurring in the back wall of the throat in children, blocking the nostrils and commonly causing deafness. They can be removed by a simple operation.

Aderer′. See Adrar.

Aderno′, a town of Sicily, 18 miles N.W. of Catania and about 10 miles W.S.W. of Mount Etna. Pop. 25,000.

Adessena′rian, one of a sect of Christians which holds that there is a real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but denying that it is effected by transubstantiation.

Adhesion, the tendency of two bodies to stick together when put in close contact, or the mutual attraction of their surfaces; distinguished from cohesion, which denotes the mutual attraction between the particles of a homogeneous body. Adhesion may exist between two solids, between a solid and a fluid, or between two fluids. A plate of glass or of polished metal laid on the surface of water and attached to one arm of a balance will support much more than its own weight in the opposite scale from the force of adhesion between the water and the plate. From the same force arises the tendency of most liquids, when gently poured from a jar, to run down the exterior of a vessel or along any other surface they meet.

Adian′tum, a genus of ferns; the maiden-hair fern.

Adiaph′orist (Gr. adiaphoros, indifferent), a name given in the sixteenth century to Melanchthon's party, who held some opinions and ceremonies to be indifferent which Luther condemned as sinful or heretical.

Adige (ä′dē-jā), Ger. Etsch (ancient Athĕsis), a river of Northern Italy, which rises in the Rhætian Alps, and after a south and east course of about 180 miles, during which it passes Verona and Legnago, falls into the Adriatic, forming a delta connected with that of the Po.

Ad′ipocere (-sēr) (Lat. adeps, fat, and cera, wax), a substance of a light-brown colour formed by animal matter when protected from atmospheric air, and under certain circumstances of temperature and humidity. It was first observed by Fourcroy, and a quantity discovered at the Cimetière des Innocents, Paris. A similar substance is found in peat-bogs in Wales and Ireland.

Ad′ipose tissue, the cellular tissue containing the oily or fatty matter of the body. It underlies the skin, surrounds the large vessels and nerves, invests the kidneys, &c., and sometimes accumulates in large masses.

Adiron′dack Mountains, in the United States, a group belonging to the Appalachian chain, extending from the N.E. corner of the State of New York to near its centre. The scenery is wild and grand, diversified by numerous beautiful lakes, and the whole region is a favourite resort of sportsmen and tourists.

Ad′it, a more or less horizontal opening, giving access to the shaft of a mine. It is made to slope gradually from the farthest point in the interior to the mouth, and by means of it the principal drainage is usually carried on. See Mine.

Ad′jective, in grammar, a word used to denote some quality in the noun or substantive to which it is accessory. The adjective is indeclinable in English (but has degrees of comparison), and generally precedes the noun, while in most other European languages it follows the inflections of the substantive, and is more commonly placed after it, though in German it precedes it, as in English.

Adjudica′tion, in English law, is the decree of the court in bankruptcy declaring a person bankrupt.

Adjust′ment, in marine insurance, is the settling of the amount of the loss which the insurer is entitled under a particular policy to recover, and if the policy is subscribed by more [35]than one underwriter, of the amounts which the underwriters respectively are liable to pay.

Ad′jutant, an officer appointed to each regiment or battalion, whose duty is to assist the commander. He is charged with instruction in drill, and all the interior discipline, duties, and efficiency of the corps. He has the charge of all documents and correspondence, and is the channel of communication for all orders.

Adjutant-bird (Leptoptĭlus argăla), a large grallatorial or wading bird of the stork family, native of the warmer parts of India, where it is known as Hurgĭla or Argăla. It stands about five feet high, has an enormous bill, nearly bare head and neck, and a pouch hanging from the under part of the neck. It is one of the most voracious carnivorous birds known, and in India, from its devouring all sorts of carrion and noxious animals, is protected by law. From underneath the wings are obtained those light downy feathers known as marabou feathers, from the name of an allied species of bird (L. marabou) inhabiting Western Africa, and also producing them.

Adjutant-general, in Great Britain the second military member of the Army Council, and styled Adjutant-general to the Forces. He is a general officer, and at the head of his department at the War Office, which is charged with all duties relative to personnel.—Among the Jesuits this name was given to a select number of fathers, who resided with the general of the order, and had each a province or country assigned to him.

Ad′jutators, in English history, representatives elected by the parliamentary forces in 1647 to act with the officers in compelling Parliament to satisfy the demands of the army.

Adler, Victor, Austrian socialist leader, born in 1852. Educated as a physician, he gave up his profession for socialist propaganda. He visited England, and wrote a book on factory inspection in this country. He was the founder and editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung; was a member of the Lower Austrian Diet and of the Imperial Council in 1907. His son, Dr. Friedrich Adler, assassinated Count Stuergkh, the Austrian premier, on 20th Oct., 1916. He died in 1918.

Ad′lington, a straggling place in Lancashire to the south-east of Chorley, engaged in the cotton manufacture. Pop. (1921), 4393.

Adme′tus, in Greek mythology, King of Pheræ, in Thessaly, and husband of Alcestis, who gave signal proof of her attachment by consenting to die in order to prolong her husband's life. See Alcestis.

Administra′tion, in politics, the executive power or body, the ministry or cabinet.

Admin′istrator, in law, the person to whom the goods of a man dying intestate are committed by the proper authority, and who is bound to account for them when required.

Ad′miral, the commander-in-chief of a squadron or fleet of ships of war, or of the entire naval force of a country, or simply a naval officer of the highest rank. In the British navy admirals are of four ranks—admiral of the fleet, admiral, vice-admiral, and rear-admiral. They were also divided formerly into three classes, named after the colours of their respective flags, admirals of the red, of the white, and of the blue. In 1864, however, this distinction was given up, and now there is one flag common to all ships of war, namely, the white ensign divided into four quarters by the cross of St. George, and having the union in the upper corner next the staff.—The title admiral of the fleet is conferred on a few admirals, and carries an increase of pay along with it.—A vice-admiral is next in rank and command to the admiral: he carries his flag at the foretop-gallant-mast head, while an admiral carries his at the main. A rear-admiral, next in rank to the vice-admiral, carries his flag at the mizzentop-gallant-mast head.—Lord high admiral, in Great Britain, an officer who (when this rare dignity is conferred) is at the head of the naval administration of Great Britain. There have been few high admirals since 1632, when the office was first put in commission. James Duke of York (afterwards James II) held it for several years during Charles II's reign. In the reign of William and Mary it was vested in lords commissioners of the admiralty, and since that time it has been held for short periods only by Prince George of Denmark (1702-8) in the time of Queen Anne, and by William IV, then Duke of Clarence, in 1827-8.

Ad′miralty, that department of the Government of a country that is at the head of its naval service. In Britain the board of Admiralty now consists of the First Lord of the Admiralty and [36]seven other commissioners, four of them being Sea Lords, and one a Civil Lord. The First Lord is always a member of the cabinet, and it is he who principally exercises the powers of the department. Under the 1912 Admiralty Organization Scheme, the various members of the board are responsible for special business. Several changes in Admiralty organization were made during the European War, but after the cessation of hostilities the system reverted to that of peace time.

Admiralty Charts are charts issued by the hydrographic department of the Admiralty of Britain; they are prepared by specially appointed surveyors and draughtsmen, and besides being supplied to every ship in the fleet, are sold to the general public at prices much less than their cost. In connection with these charts there are published books of sailing directions, lists of lights, &c. The navigating charts are generally on the scale of half an inch to a mile, and show all the dangers of the coasts with sufficient distinctness to enable the seamen to avoid them; the charts of larger size exhibit all the intricacies of the coast.

Admiralty Court, a court which takes cognizance of civil and criminal causes of a maritime nature, including captures made in war, and offences committed on the high seas, and has to do with many matters connected with maritime affairs. In England the Admiralty Court was once held before the Lord High Admiral, and at a later period was presided over by his deputy or the deputy of the Lords Commissioners. It now forms a branch of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty division of the High Court of Justice. There is a separate Irish Admiralty Court. In Scotland Admiralty cases are now prosecuted in the Court of Session, or in the Sheriff Court. In the United States, Admiralty cases are taken up in the first instance by the district courts.

Admiralty Island, an island belonging to the United States off the north-west coast of North America, 80 or 90 miles long and about 20 broad, covered with fine timber and inhabited by Sitka Indians.

Admiralty Islands, a cluster of 40 islands, north of New Guinea, in what was once called the Bismarck Archipelago. Discovered by the Dutch explorer Shouten in 1616, they were in German possession from 1884 to 12th Sept., 1914, when they were occupied by an Australian force. They have since been in British occupation. The largest is about 60 miles in length; the rest are much smaller. They are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, and possess dense groves of coco-nut trees. There are valuable pearl and other shell fisheries. Capital, Lorengau. Pop. (native), 4000; (European), 50.

Ad′nate, in botany, applied to a part growing attached to another and principal part by its whole length, as stipules adnated to the leaf-stalk.

Adobe (a˙-dō′bā), the Spanish name for a brick made of loamy earth, containing about two-thirds fine sand and one-third clayey dust, sun-dried; in common use for building in Mexico, Texas, and Central America. Building material in ancient Egypt and Assyria was adobe.

Adol′phus, John, 1768-1845, an able English criminal lawyer, and author of the History of England from the Accession of George III and Biographical Memoirs of the French Revolution.

Adolphus of Nassau, elected Emperor of Germany, 1292. In 1298 the college of electors transferred the crown to Albert of Austria, but, Adolphus refusing to abdicate, a war ensued in which he fell, after a heroic resistance, 2nd July, 1298.

Adonai (ad′o-nī), a name bestowed upon God in the Old Testament. See Jehovah.

Ado′ni, a town and district in Madras; pop. of former 30,416, of latter 179,418. It is well known for excellent silk and cotton fabrics.

Ado′nis, son of Myrrha, a mythological personage, originally a deity of the Phœnicians, but borrowed into Greek mythology. He was represented as being a great favourite of Aphroditē (Venus), who accompanied him when engaged in hunting, of which he was very fond. He received a mortal wound from the tusk of a wild boar, and when the goddess hurried to his assistance she found him lifeless, whereupon she caused his blood to give rise to the anemone. The worship of Adonis, which arose in Phœnicia, was afterwards widely spread round the Mediterranean. He is the reproductive principle, nature's decay in winter and its revival in spring. The name Adonis is akin to the Heb. Adonai, Lord. See Tammuz.

Ado′nis, a small river rising in Lebanon and flowing to the Mediterranean. When in flood it is tinged with a red colour, and so is connected with the legend of Adonis.

Ado′nis, a genus of ranunculaceous plants. In the corn-adonis or pheasant's eye (A. autumnālis) the petals are bright scarlet like the blood of Adonis, from which the plant is fabled to have sprung.

Adoptianism, the theory according to which [37]Christ as a man is the adopted Son of God. Elipandus, Archbishop of Toledo, and Felix, Bishop of Urgella, asserted this double sonship in Christ, maintaining that He was indeed the Son of God in His divine nature, but as man He was the Son of God only by grace and adoption. 'The Man Christ' is therefore only the adopted and not the natural Son of God. The doctrine was vigorously opposed by Alcuin, and condemned by the councils of Ratisbon (792) and Frankfort (794). The theory, however, found advocates during the Middle Ages, and has given rise to theological disputes in modern times. Adoptianism was attributed both to Abelard and Duns Scotus.

Adop′tion, the admission of a stranger by birth to the privileges of a child. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and also some modern nations, adoption is placed under legal regulation. In Rome the effect of adoption was to create the legal relation of father and son, just as if the person adopted was born of the blood of the adopter in lawful marriage. The adopted son took the name of his adopter, and was bound to perform his new father's religious duties. Adoption is not recognized by the law of England and Scotland; there are legal means to enable a person to assume the name and arms, and to inherit the property of another. In some of the United States adoption is regulated by laws not very dissimilar to those which prevailed among the Romans.

Adour (a˙-dör), a river of France, rising in the Hautes Pyrenees, and falling into the sea a little below Bayonne; length about 200 miles; partly navigable.

Ado′wa, a town of Abyssinia, in Tigré, at an elevation of 6270 feet; the chief commercial depot on the caravan route from Massawa to Gondar. Pop. about 4000. Here the Italians suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Abyssinians, 1st March, 1896.

Adra (ä′dra˙), a seaport of Southern Spain, in Andalusia, near the mouth of the Adra, on the Mediterranean; with marble quarries and lead works. Pop. 9000.

Adramit′ti (ancient Adramyttium; Turk. Edremid), a town of Turkey in Asia, near the head of the gulf of the same name, 80 miles north of Smyrna. Pop. about 5000.

Adrar′, a district in the Western Sahara, peopled by Berbers possessing camels, sheep, and oxen, and cultivating dates, wheat, barley, and melons. Chief towns, Wadan and Shingit, which has inexhaustible beds of rock-salt.

Adren′alin, or Suprarenin, a crystalline substance obtained from the adrenals or suprarenal capsules of cattle and sheep, which possesses the property of checking bleeding by its styptic or contractive powers, and is used in medical practice, more especially in the case of bleeding at the nose and nervous catarrh.

Adria (ä′dri-a˙), a cathedral city of Northern Italy, province of Rovigo, between the Po and the Adige, on the site of the ancient town of same name, whence the Adriatic derives its appellation. Owing to alluvial deposits the sea is now 17 miles distant. Pop. 11,878.

A′drian, the name of six Popes. The first, a Roman, ruled from 772-795; a contemporary and friend of Charlemagne. He expended vast sums in rebuilding the walls and restoring the aqueducts of Rome.—Adrian II, a Roman, was elected Pope in 867, at the age of seventy-five years. He died in 872, in the midst of conflicts with the Greek Church.—Adrian III, a Roman, elected 884, was Pope for one year and four months only. He was the first Pope who changed his name on the occasion of his exaltation.—Adrian IV, originally named Nicolas Breakspear, the only Englishman who ever occupied the papal chair, was born about 1100, and died 1159. He is said to have been a native of Hertfordshire, studied in France, and became abbot of St. Rufus in Provence, cardinal and legate to Norway. Chosen Pope in 1154, his reign is chiefly remarkable for his almost constant struggle for supremacy with Frederick Barbarossa, who on one occasion had been forced to hold his stirrup, and had been crowned by him at Rome (1155). He issued the famous bull (1158) granting the sovereignty of Ireland, on condition of the payment of Peter's pence, to Henry II.—Adrian V, previously called Ottobuono Fieschi, of Genoa, settled, as legate of the Pope, the dispute between King Henry III of England and his nobles, in favour of the former; but died a month after his election to the papal chair (1276).—Adrian VI (the last pontifice barbaro), born at Utrecht in 1459, was elected to the papal chair, 9th Jan., 1522. He tried to reform abuses in the Church, but opposed the zeal of Luther with reproaches and threats, and even attempted to excite Erasmus and Zuinglius against him. Died 1523, after a reign of one year and a half.

A′drian, a town of the United States, in Michigan, 70 miles W.S.W. of Detroit. Its extensive water-power is employed in works of various kinds. Pop. 9654.

A′drian, Publius Ælius Hadrianus. See Hadrian.

Adriano′ple (Turk. Edreneh), an important city in the Balkans, about 135 miles W.N.W. from Constantinople, on the Maritza (ancient Hebrus), at its junction with the Tundja and the Arda. It has a great mosque, among the most magnificent in the world; a palace, now in a state of decay; a grand aqueduct, and a splendid bazaar; manufactures of silk, woollen, and cotton stuffs, otto of roses, leather, &c., and an important [38]trade. Adrianople received its present name from the Roman emperor Adrian (Hadrian). In 1361 it was taken by Amurath I, and was the residence of the Turkish sovereigns till the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. In 1829 it was taken by the Russians, and here was then concluded the peace of Adrianople, by which Russia received important accessions of territory in the Caucasus and on the coast of the Black Sea. The Russians occupied it also in 1878. Adrianople was bombarded by the Balkan allied forces in Feb., 1913, and fell 28th March; it was recaptured by the Turks, under Enver Bey, 20th July. Pop. 83,000.

Adrian's (or Hadrian's) Wall. See Roman Walls.

Adriat′ic Sea, or Gulf of Venice, an arm of the Mediterranean, stretching in a north-westerly direction from the Straits of Otranto, between Italy and the Balkan Peninsula (Yugo-Slavia). Length, about 480 miles; average breadth, about 100; area, about 60,000 sq. miles. The rivers which it receives, particularly the Po, its principal feeder, have produced, and are still producing, great geological changes in its basin by their alluvial deposits. Hence Adria, between the Po and the Adige, which gives the sea its name, though once a flourishing seaport, is now 17 miles inland. An oceanographic investigation of the Adriatic Sea took place in Feb. and March, 1911. The principal trading ports on the Italian side are Brindisi, Bari, Ancona, Sinigaglia, and Venice; on the east side Ragusa, Fiume, Pirano, Pola, and Trieste (Italian).

Adscripti Glebæ (Lat., persons attached to the soil), a term applied to a class of Roman slaves attached in perpetuity to and transferred with the land they cultivated. Colliers and salt workers in Scotland were in a similar position till 1775.

Adula′ria, a very pure, limpid, translucent variety of the common felspar, called by lapidaries moonstone, on account of the play of light exhibited by the arrangement of its crystalline structure. It is found on the Alps, but the best specimens are brought from Ceylon. It is so called from Adula, one of the peaks of St. Gothard, where fine specimens are got.

Adul′lam, Cave of, a cave to which David fled when persecuted by Saul, and whither he was followed by "every one who was in distress, in debt, or discontented" (1 Sam. xxii, 1, 2).—The name Adullamites was given to an English political party, consisting of R. Lowe, Lord Elcho, and other Liberals, who opposed the majority of their party on the Franchise Bill of 1866. The term originated from a speech of John Bright on 13th March, 1866.

Adultera′tion, a term applied to the fraudulent mixture of articles of commerce, foods, drugs, beverages, seeds, &c., with inferior ingredients, and also to any accidental impurity found in a substance. The chief objects of adulteration are to render a substance more pleasing in appearance, to increase the weight, to make an inferior article appear as good as the article of superior quality. Any substance added to an article to increase its bulk, weight, colour, &c., is spoken of as an adulterant. Milk is often adulterated with water and with colouring-matter. Butter may be adulterated by mixing with it other fats or by the addition of colouring-matter. Nearly every article of food can be adulterated in some way to make it appear of finer quality. Preservatives added to foods and drugs generally may be classed as adulterants. Thus cream is preserved by adding small quantities of boric acid. Beer sometimes contains salicylic acid added as a preservative. Chloroform contains a small quantity of alcohol to prevent decomposition. Methylated spirits is alcohol adulterated in several ways to render it unfit for human consumption. Tobacco contains benzoic acid as preservative, and sometimes saltpetre to aid burning. Many of these adulterants are harmful, so that such added to foods and beverages must be present only in very small quantities. Food and Drug Acts lay down the limits of the quantities of foreign matter permitted either as preservative or impurity. Practically every article of commerce is adulterated in some way, and pure substances are seldom used. Cf. Walker, The Food Inspector's Encyclopædia.

Adul′tery, the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person with any other than the offender's husband or wife; when committed between two married persons, the offence is called double, and when between a married and single person, single adultery. The Mosaic, Greek, and early Roman law only recognized the offence when a married woman was the offender. By the Jewish law it was punished with death. In Greece the laws against it were severe. By the laws of Draco and Solon adulterers, when caught in the act, were at the mercy of the injured party. In early Rome the punishment was left to the discretion of the husband and parents of the adulteress. The punishment assigned by the Lex Julia, under Augustus, was banishment or a heavy fine. Under Constantius and Constans, adulterers were burned or sewed in sacks and thrown into the sea; under Justinian the wife was to be scourged, lose her dower, and be shut up in a monastery; at the expiration of two years the husband might take her again; if he refused she was shaven and made a nun for life. By the ancient laws of France this crime was punishable with death. In Spain personal mutilation was frequently the punishment adopted. In several European countries adultery is regarded as a [39]criminal offence, but in none does the punishment exceed imprisonment for a short period, accompanied by a fine. In England formerly it was punishable with fine and imprisonment, and in Scotland it was frequently made a capital offence. In Great Britain at the present day, however, it is punishable only by ecclesiastical censure. The aggrieved husband, however, can obtain damages against his wife's seducer. In England a man can obtain a dissolution of his marriage on the ground of his wife's adultery, and a wife can obtain a judicial separation on the ground of her husband's adultery, or a dissolution of the marriage if the offence is coupled with cruelty, desertion, or bigamy. In Scotland it is not necessary to prove cruelty. In the United States the punishment of adultery has varied materially at different times. It is, however, very seldom punished criminally in the States. A person divorced for adultery is by the laws of France and Scotland prohibited from intermarrying with the co-respondent.

Ad valo′rem (Lat., according to the value), a term applied to customs or duties levied according to the worth of the goods, as sworn to by the owner, and not according to number, weight, measure, &c.

Advance-note, a draft on the owner of a vessel, generally for one month's wages, given by the master to the sailors on their signing the articles of agreement. The granting of such notes to British sailors was made illegal by an Act passed in 1880.

Ad′vent (Lat. adventus, an arrival, 'the coming of our Saviour'), the name applied to the holy season which occupies the four or, according to the Greek Church, six weeks preceding Christmas, and which forms the first portion of the ecclesiastical year, as observed by the Anglican, the Roman Catholic, and the Greek Church.

Ad′ventists, a group of six American religious sects who believe in the speedy coming of Christ, and generally practise adult immersion. The first sect of Adventists was founded by William Miller in 1831.—There is also a sect called Seventh-day Adventists, who hold that the coming of Christ is at hand, and maintain that the Sabbath is still the seventh day of the week.

Ad′verb, one of the parts of speech used to limit or qualify the signification of an adjective, verb, or other adverb; as, very cold, naturally brave, much more clearly, readily agreed. Adverbs may be classified as follows: (1) Adverbs of time, as, now, then, never, &c.; (2) of place, as, here, there, where, &c.; (3) of degree, as, very, much, nearly, almost, &c.; (4) of affirmation, negation, or doubt, as, yes, no, certainly, perhaps, &c.; (5) of manner, as, well, badly, clearly, &c.

Advertis′ing. Advertising on a small scale is a practice as old as commerce; but modern advertising on a large scale cannot be dated further back than 1785, when the Times was founded. The last thirty years have witnessed a great increase in the importance of advertisements as part of the policy of a progressive business. Much more intelligence and vastly more money is now spent on advertising than ever was before. America led the way, but the British are not now far behind in the number and ingenuity of their advertisements.

There are roughly speaking five distinct types of advertisement:—

(1) Press advertising, under which heading is included daily and weekly newspapers, monthly magazines and year books, directories, &c.

(2) Mail-order advertising, which comprises form-letters, catalogues.

(3) Poster and showcard advertising. This includes large and small posters, on hoardings, in railway stations or tubes, &c.

(4) Illuminated signs either outside buildings on a large scale or in frames of various sizes inside business premises, theatres, &c.

(5) Cinema advertising—a recent development which has proved extremely effective.

Advertising to be successful must be carefully organized. A firm wishing to advertise must first of all settle how much money it is willing to spend on this object. A common practice is to devote a fixed proportion of the profits—at least five per cent—to advertising. The firm must then carefully consider the period of time over which the expenditure agreed upon is to be spread. Occasional or spasmodic advertising does not produce satisfactory results; advertising must be constant and must move with the times in order to be effective. A firm not uncommonly reviews the results of its advertising every six months, when it also arranges its plans for future advertisements. Mistakes in policy can thus be corrected and successful schemes can be readopted or improved upon. Advertising on any large scale must be handled by experts. Many thousands of pounds are wasted yearly by firms which hand over this work to a director who has no knowledge of how to advertise. The proper way for a firm to act, if it wishes to enter upon a campaign of publicity, is to engage an efficient advertising staff or to employ a reliable advertising agent. These agents in many cases obtain their profits from the commission given to them by newspapers—this often being about ten per cent of the cost of the space booked. In return for this they give their advice and copy—everything, indeed, except blocks and sketches.—Bibliography: Henry Sampson, A History of Advertising; Edinburgh Review, Feb., 1843, On the Advertising System. A good account of the [40]more recent developments of advertising is to be found in H. G. Wells's novel Tono-Bungay; T. Russell, Commercial Advertising.

Ad vitam aut culpam (Lat., for life or till a fault), a formula often used in regard to appointments to posts or offices, intimating that they are held for life or till the person forfeits his position by some fault or misdeed.

Ad′vocate (Lat., advocatus—ad, to, voco, to call), a lawyer authorized to plead the cause of his clients before a court of law. It is only in Scotland that this word seems to denote a distinct class belonging to the legal profession, the advocates of Scotland being the pleaders before the supreme courts, and corresponding to the barristers of England and Ireland. These advocates all belong to the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, to whom the oral pleadings in the Court of Session are for the most part limited, while they are also competent to plead in all the inferior Scottish courts and in the House of Lords in cases of appeal from the Court of Session. The supreme judges in Scotland, as well as the sheriffs of the various counties, are always selected from among them. Candidates for admission must undergo two separate examinations, one in general scholarship and the other in law.—The Lord-Advocate, called also the King's or Queen's Advocate, is the principal law officer of the crown in Scotland. He is the public prosecutor of crimes in the Supreme Court, and senior counsel for the crown in civil causes. Being appointed by the crown, he goes out of office with the administration to which he belongs. As public prosecutor he is assisted by the solicitor-general and by four junior counsel called advocates-depute. The lord-advocate and the solicitor-general, in addition to their official duties, accept of ordinary bar practice.

Advocates' Library, the chief library in Scotland, located in Edinburgh, and founded about 1682 by the Faculty of Advocates. It was increased by donations and by sums granted by the Faculty from time to time. As the donations were not confined to advocates the library was considered a kind of public library, and it has continued to retain this character. In 1709 it obtained, along with eight other libraries, the right to demand a copy of every new book published in Britain, which right it still possesses. The number of volumes is over 600,000 and MSS. over 3200.

Advoca′tus Diab′oli (Devil's advocate), in the Roman Catholic Church, a functionary who, when a deceased person is proposed for canonization, brings forward and insists upon all the weak points of the character and life of the deceased, endeavouring to show that he is not worthy of sainthood. The first formal mention of such an officer occurs under Pope Leo X (1513-21). The opposite side is taken by the Advocatus Dei (God's advocate).

Advow′son, in English law, a right of presentation to a vacant benefice, or, in other words, a right of nominating a person to officiate in a vacant church. Those who have this right are styled patrons. Advowsons are of three kinds—presentative, collative, and donative: presentative, when the patron presents his clerk to the bishop of the diocese to be instituted; collative, when the bishop is the patron, and institutes or collates his clerk by a single act; donative, when a church is founded by the king, or any person licensed by him, without being subject to the ordinary, so that the patron confers the benefice on his clerk without presentation, institution, or induction. An advowson cannot be held by either a Roman Catholic or an alien.

Ad′ytum, a secret place of retirement in the ancient temples, esteemed the most sacred spot; the innermost sanctuary or shrine. From this place the oracles were given, and none but the priests were permitted to enter it. The Holy of Holies or Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple at Jerusalem was of a similar character.

Adze, a cutting instrument used for chipping the surface of timber, somewhat of a mattock shape, and having a blade of steel forming a portion of a cylindrical surface, with a cutting edge at right angles to the length of the handle.

Ædiles (ē′dīlz), Roman magistrates who had the supervision of the national games and spectacles; of the public edifices, such as temples (the name comes from ædes, a temple); of private buildings, of the markets, cleansing and draining the city, &c.

Æ′dui, one of the most powerful nations of Gaul, between the Liger (Loire) and the Arar (Saône). On the arrival of Julius Cæsar in Gaul (58 B.C.) they were subject to Ariovistus, but their independence was restored by Cæsar. Their chief town was Bibracte (Mont Beuvray, near Autun).

Ægade′an Islands, a group of small islands lying off the western extremity of Sicily, and consisting of Maritimo, Favignana, Levanso, and Le Formiche.

Ægag′rus, a wild species of ibex (Capra ægagrus), found in herds on the Caucasus, and many Asiatic mountains, believed to be the original source of at least one variety of the domestic goat.

Ægean Civilization, a term applied to the pre-Hellenic civilization of south-eastern Europe, including Crete, Greece and the Cyclades, and the Danubian or Mid-European area. See Crete and Danubian Civilization.

Ægean Sea (ē-jē′an), that part of the Mediterranean which washes the eastern shores of [41]Greece, and the western coast of Asia Minor. See Archipelago.

Æ′gilops, a genus of grasses, very closely allied to wheat, and somewhat remarkable from the alleged fact that by cultivation one of the species becomes a kind of wheat.

Ægina (ē-jī′na), a Greek island in the Gulf of Ægina, south of Athens, triangular in form; area about 32 sq. miles; pop. 8500. It forms part of the nomarchy of Attica and Bœotia. Except in the west, where the surface is more level, the island is mountainous and unproductive. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in trade, seafaring, and agriculture, the chief crops being almonds, olives, and grain. The greater number of them reside in the seaport town of Ægina. Ægina was anciently colonized by Dorians from the opposite coast of Peloponnesus. In the latter half of the sixth century B.C. it had a flourishing commerce, a large navy, and was the seat of a distinct school of art. At the battle of Salamis (480 B.C.) the Æginetans behaved with great valour. In 456 the island fell under the power of the Athenians, and in 431 the Æginetans were expelled to make room for Athenian settlers, but were afterwards restored. On a hill are the remains of a splendid temple of Athena (Minerva), many of the columns of which are still standing. Here was found in 1811 a considerable amount of sculpture from the pediments (the Æginetan marbles), which is now at the Glyptothek at Munich, and is prized as throwing light on the early history of Greek art. Though in these figures there is a wonderfully exact imitation of nature, yet there is a certain stiffness about them and an unnatural sameness of expression in all. They should probably be assigned to the period 500-480 B.C.

Ægis (ē′jis), the shield of Zeus, according to Homer, but according to later writers and artists a metal cuirass or breastplate, in which was set the head of the Gorgon Medusa, and with which Athena (Minerva) is often represented as being protected. In a figurative sense the word is used to denote some shielding or protecting power.

Ægle (ē′glē), a genus of plants. See Bel.

Ægospot′ami ('goat-rivers'), a place on the Hellespont, of some note in Greek history, the Athenian fleet being here completely defeated in 405 B.C. by the Spartan Lysander, thus ending the Peloponnesian war.

Ælfric (al′frik), Abbot, called Grammaticus (the grammarian), was a celebrated English author of the eleventh century. He became a monk of Abingdon, was afterwards connected with Winchester, and died Abbot of Eynsham. His principal works are two books of homilies, a Treatise on the Old and New Testaments, a translation and abridgment of the first seven books of the Bible, a Latin Grammar and Glossary, &c. He has been frequently confounded both with Ælfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ælfric, Archbishop of York, surnamed Putta, who lived about the same time. There was also an Ælfric of Malmesbury.

Ælia′nus, Claudius, often called simply Ælian, a Roman author who lived about A.D. 221, and wrote in Greek a collection of stories and anecdotes and a natural history of animals.

Ælia′nus Tacticus, so called to distinguish him from Claudius Ælianus, lived at Rome, and wrote a work On the Military Tactics of the Greeks, which he dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian, who was emperor from A.D. 117 to 138. This book was closely studied by soldiers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Aelst (älst), Belgian town, same as Alost.

Æne′as, the hero of Virgil's Ænēid, a Trojan, who, according to Homer, was, next to Hector, the bravest of the warriors of Troy. When that town was taken and set on fire, Æneas, according to the narrative of Virgil, with his father, son, and wife Creusa, fled, but the latter was lost in the confusion of the flight. Having collected a fleet he sailed for Italy, but after numerous adventures he was driven by a tempest to the coast of Africa, where Queen Dido of Carthage received him kindly, and would have married him. Jupiter, however, sent Mercury to Æneas, and commanded him to sail to Italy. Whilst the deserted Dido ended her life on the funeral pile, Æneas set sail with his companions, and after further adventures by land and sea reached the [42]country of King Latinus, in Italy. The king's daughter Lavinia was destined by an oracle to wed a stranger, this stranger being Æneas, but was promised by her mother to Turnus, King of the Rŭtŭli. This occasioned a war, which was ended by Æneas slaying Turnus and marrying Lavinia. His son by Lavinia, Æneas Sylvius, was the ancestor of the kings of Alba Longa, and of Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city of Rome.

Æolian Harp, or Æolus' Harp, a musical instrument, generally consisting of a box of thin fibrous wood (often of deal), to which are attached from eight to fifteen fine catgut strings or wires, stretched on low bridges at either end, and tuned in unison. Its length is made to correspond with the size of the window or other aperture in which it is intended to be placed. When the wind blows athwart the strings it produces very beautiful sounds, sweetly mingling all the harmonic tones, and swelling or diminishing according to the strength or weakness of the blast.

Æolians (Gr. Aioleis), one of the four races into which the ancient Greeks were divided, originally inhabiting the district of Æŏlis, in Thessaly, from which they spread over other parts of Greece. In early times they were the most numerous and powerful of the Hellenic races, chiefly inhabiting Northern Greece and the western side of Peloponnesus, though latterly a portion of them went to Lesbos and Tenedos and the north-west shores of Asia Minor, where they possessed a number of cities. Their language, the Æolian dialect, was one of the three principal dialects of the Greek. It was cultivated for literary purposes chiefly at Lesbos, and was the dialect in which Alcæus and Sappho wrote.

Æol′ipile (Lat. Æŏli pila, the ball of Æŏlus), a spherical vessel of metal, with a pipe of small aperture, through which the vapour of heated water in the ball passes out with considerable noise; or having two nozzles so placed that the steam rushing out causes it to revolve on the principle of the Barker's mill. It was known to the ancient Greeks.

Æ′olus, in Greek mythology, the god of the winds, which he kept confined in a cave in the Æolian Islands, releasing them when he wished or was commanded by the superior gods.

Æ′on, a Greek word signifying life, an age, and sometimes eternity, but used by the Gnostics to express spirits or powers that had emanated from the Supreme Mind before the beginning of time. They held both Christ and the Holy Spirit to be æons; but as they denied the divine origin of the books of Moses, they said that the spirit which had inspired him and the prophets was not that exalted æon whom God sent forth after the ascension of Christ, but an æon very much inferior, and removed at a great distance from the Supreme Being.

Æpyor′nis, a genus of gigantic birds whose remains have been found in Madagascar, where they are supposed to have lived perhaps not longer than 200 years ago. It had three toes, and is classed with the cursorial birds (ostrich, &c.). Its eggs measured 14 inches in length, being about six times the bulk of those of the ostrich. The bird which laid them may well have been the roc of Eastern tradition.

Æ′qui, an ancient people of Italy, conspicuous in the early wars of Rome, and inhabiting the mountain district between the upper valley of the Anio (Teverone) and Lake Fucĭnus. They were probably akin to the Volscians, with whom they were in constant alliance. They were defeated by Cincinnatus in 458 B.C., and again by the dictator Postumius Tubertus in 428 B.C., and were finally subdued about 304-302 B.C. Soon after they were admitted to Roman citizenship.

A′erated Bread, bread which receives its sponginess or porosity from carbonic acid supplied artificially, and not produced by the fermentation caused by leaven or yeast.

A′erated Waters, waters impregnated with carbonic acid gas, and forming effervescing beverages. Some mineral waters are naturally aerated, as Vichy, Apollinaris, Rosbach, &c.; others, especially such as are used for medicinal purposes, are frequently aerated to render them more palatable and exhilarating. Water simply aerated, as soda-water, or aerated and flavoured with lemon or fruit syrups, is largely used, especially in summer, as a refreshing beverage. There are numerous varieties of apparatus for manufacturing aerated waters. The essential parts of an aerated-water machine are a generator in which the gas is produced, a vessel containing the water to be impregnated, and an apparatus for forcing the gas into the water. This last may be effected by force-pumps or by the high pressure of the impregnating gas itself. The quantity of gas with which the water is charged is usually equal to a pressure of 5 atmospheres. See also Mineral Waters.—Cf. W. Kirkby, Evolution of Artificial Mineral Waters.

Aerial Ropeways or Cableways, a means of transport or carriage in which a great rope or cable, elevated above the ground on fixed supports, is made use of in conveying from place to place materials or articles of various kinds. Such a cable may be said to serve the purpose of a rail, from which are suspended the carriages, buckets, or carriers of whatever sort are employed to convey the materials dealt with, the cable being actuated by means of a steam-engine and winding-gear of suitable construction. Such cables are now much used in carrying materials [43]over a comparatively short space, as in quarries, excavations for canals, docks, &c.; in the construction of bridges, in shipbuilding, &c. Besides being employed in such works—not to mention the coaling of a battleship at sea from a coal transport standing by—elevated ropeways miles in length have also been constructed between places where no roads exist, or where road carriage is much more expensive. The greatest aerial line yet in existence is in the Argentine Republic, being built to connect a mining locality in the Andes, about 15,000 feet above sea-level, with a station on the Northern Railway 11,500 feet lower down and about 22 miles off, the line running across deep chasms and hollows, and being in places supported on iron towers 130 feet high. The wire rope is said to have a length of 87 miles.

Aë′rians, the followers of Aërius of Pontus, who in the fourth century originated a small heretical sect, objecting to the established feast-days, fasts or abstinences, the distinction between bishops and presbyters, prayers for the dead, &c.

Aerodynam′ics, a branch of physical science which treats of the properties and motions of elastic fluids (air, gases), and of the appliances by which these are exemplified. This subject is often explained in connection with hydrodynamics. See also Meteorology.

Aeröe, or Arröe (är′eu-e), an island of Denmark, in the Little Belt, 15 miles long by 5 broad, with 12,000 inhabitants. Though hilly, it is very fertile.

A′erolite, a meteoric stone, meteorite, or shooting-star. See Meteoric Stones.

Aeronau′tics, the art or science of navigating the air, including Aviation (see Aeroplane and Sea-planes) and Aerostation (see Balloons and Air-ships). From the days of the mythical exploit of Dædalus and Icarus, students of 'experimental philosophy', or scientists, of all ages, turned their thoughts and inventive genius to the evolution of a machine by means of which man could fly. Most of the early schemes of which any details have survived were based upon the observation of birds and embodied the flapping of wings affixed to the arms or legs. Among the very early experimenters may be mentioned the monk Oliver of Malmesbury (A.D. 1050), de Pérouse (1420), who is said to have succeeded in flying over Lake Trasimene, and the great Leonardo da Vinci. All these produced designs for what are known as Ornithopters, or flapping-wing machines. There was, however, another school which believed in the future of machines which would be themselves lighter than air. The idea in the minds of the experimenters of this school was in the early days the replacing of the air in brass globes by a vacuum. If the brass were thin enough it was believed that the globe would then be sufficiently light to rise. It was, however, not realized that under such circumstances the globe would inevitably collapse under the pressure of the atmosphere with no corresponding internal pressure to withstand it. Among this 'lighter-than-air' school of experimenters were the famous Roger Bacon (twelfth century), Robert Hooke of the Royal Society (1644), and Francesco de Lana, a Jesuit priest (1660). It was this school which ultimately achieved success by providing the first machine of any sort to leave the ground and rise into the air. On 5th June, 1783, the first balloon ascended from the village of Annonay in France. It owed its inception to the genius of two brothers, paper-makers by trade, named Etienne and Joseph Montgolfier. Struck by the sight of smoke ascending from a chimney, after many failures with flapping-wing models, they conceived the idea of filling a receptacle with smoke and seeing if it would rise. They built a balloon or 'globe' of paper and canvas, and lit a fire of wood and straw below the aperture in it. The balloon gradually filled and rose into the air to a height reported to be 6000 feet, though this is probably an exaggeration. It remained in the air for ten minutes and landed 1½ miles away. This was the forerunner of the [44]'Montgolfières', or hot-air balloons, which are a feature of fêtes and Guy Fawkes' Day celebrations. It was followed by the sending up of a 'Montgolfière' from Versailles on 18th Sept. of the same year, carrying a basket containing a sheep, a cock, and a duck. The first human beings to make an ascent were Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlande, who went away from Paris on 21st Nov., 1783. They passed right over Paris, and were in the air for twenty-five minutes, during which time they replenished the fire suspended in a brazier below the neck of the balloon.

The real genesis of the balloon, or air-ship as we know it to-day, was due to the discovery of hydrogen as the lightest gas, which discovery was made in 1766 by an English chemist, Henry Cavendish. Various people claim the credit of having been the first to call attention to the possibilities of this gas for aerial navigation. In 1781 Dr. Joseph Black of Edinburgh suggested to his pupils that a thin bladder filled with 'the inflammable gas' (hydrogen) would rise into the air, but it appears doubtful whether he ever actually made the experiment. Tiberius Cavallo the same year, before the Royal Society, demonstrated that soap-bubbles filled with hydrogen would rise and float in the air. The honour of building the first hydrogen balloon belongs, however, to three Frenchmen—the brothers Robert, and Charles, a physicist. They sent up a hydrogen-filled balloon of varnished silk from the Champ de Mars, Paris, on 7th Aug., 1783. One of the Roberts and Charles themselves made the second human ascent in their balloon—the first in a hydrogen balloon as opposed to a Montgolfière (as above)—on 1st Dec. the same year. In 1784 the same Frenchmen constructed the first 'air-ship' or navigable balloon to the order of the Duc de Chartres (Philippe Egalité). The gas container of this was elongated in form, and it could be propelled to some small extent by means of oars, and steered by a rudder. In the same year a French military officer, named Meusnier, produced a completely detailed design for an air-ship. This embodied the first suggestion of screw-propellers, to be worked by man-power, and also provided for a 'ballonet' into which air could be driven to replace hydrogen lost owing to expansion during the ascent. Meusnier's design was the genesis of the modern non-rigid air-ship, all the essential features remaining. This air-ship was, however, never built.

The first ascent in the British Isles was made in a Montgolfière by James Tytler at Edinburgh, on 27th Aug., 1784, though he travelled only a few hundred yards. He was followed by Vincent Lunardi, an Italian, who ascended from the artillery ground in London three weeks later (Sept., 1784), landing near Ware in Hertfordshire. The first Channel crossing by air was made in a hydrogen balloon from Dover to Calais on 7th Jan., 1785, by Blanchard and Dr. Jeffries.

Subsequent developments in air-ships are due to the pioneer work of Giffard (1852) (the first steam-driven air-ship), Dupuy de Lôme (1872), the brothers Tissandier (electric propulsion) (1883), Rénard and Krebbs (1884), Wölfert (1897), Santos Dumont (1898-1905), Zeppelin (1900), Lebaudy (1903), Barton (English) (1905), Willows (English) (1910).

In the meantime experimental work was being carried on by the exponents of the heavier-than-air school, who soon abandoned the flapping-wing principle and eventually evolved the modern aeroplane. The modern aeroplane was evolved from the brain of an Englishman, Sir George Cayley, who in 1809 contributed an article to Nicholson's Journal in which he outlined the outstretched wings, vertical and horizontal steering surfaces, screw-propeller, 'explosion' motor, and 'stream-line' form of the modern aeroplane. In 1842 Henson and Stringfellow, both Englishmen, constructed a steam-driven model on this principle, which is now in the South Kensington Museum. Wenham in 1866 contributed a valuable paper to the Royal Aeronautical Society on the subject. In 1896 Lillienthal in Germany carried out a number of glides with rigid wings, provided with a movable tail, fixed to his body. He was followed by Chanute, who in America emphasized the biplane principle in his glider. In 1896 Ader, a Frenchman, built an 'avion' which is claimed to have risen from the ground at Satory, but this is doubtful. In 1895 a huge steam-propelled aeroplane built by Sir Hiram Maxim burst the rails holding it down and lifted for a few feet.

The real credit for the evolution of a man-carrying aeroplane is, however, due to the American brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio. Encouraged by the [45]advice of Chanute, they commenced experimenting with biplane gliders on the sand-hills at Kittyhawk. Meeting with considerable success, they fitted a petrol motor of their own design in 1903 and made several straight flights during the same year. In 1904 they succeeded in making the first turn in the air. These experiments were carried out in great secrecy, and it was not until 1908 that their first public flights were made in France, the first taking place in October of that year. The first aviator to fly in Europe was Santos Dumont, who, on 12th Nov., 1906, covered 220 metres, having previously in the same year flown for shorter distances. At this time and during the two or three ensuing years many experiments were carried out, and flights made, by Farman, Voisin, Esnault-Pelterie, and Blériot in France; Wright and Curtiss in America; and Roe, Ogilvie, and Moore-Brabazon in England. A prize of £2000 offered by MM. Deutsch de la Meurthe and Ernest Archdeacon for the first circular flight over a distance of 1 kilometre, returning to the point of starting, was won in Jan., 1908, by Henry Farman.

The second crossing of the Channel, and the first by a 'heavier-than-air' machine, was effected by Louis Blériot in a machine of his own construction with an Anzani engine from Calais to Dover on 25th July, 1909. From that date the science of aviation (flight by heavier-than-air machines) may be said to have begun, and progress was merely a record of improvements. By the end of 1919 the Atlantic had been crossed four times; once by sea-plane, once by a non-stop aeroplane flight, and twice (outward and return) by non-stop air-ship flights. Aeroplanes had achieved a speed of 190 miles an hour, had attained to a height of over 34,000 feet, and had covered upwards of 1900 miles in one non-stop flight.—Bibliography: De St. Fond, Description de la Machine Aerostatique; Cavallo, History and Practice of Aerostation; Lunardi, The First Aerial Voyage in England; Moedebeck, Pocket Book of Aeronautics; Santos Dumont, My Air-ships; The Aeronautical Classics (Aeronautical Society); G. Tissandier, Histoire des Ballons; A. Berget, The Conquest of the Air.

Aeroplane, a flying-machine deriving its power of sustentation from the reaction of the air driven downwards by the rapid transit of fixed wings or 'planes' through the air. The term 'plane' for the wing of an aeroplane is strictly a misnomer, as the word implies a flat plate, whereas a wing is 'cambered' or curved in section from front to back. This is due to the discovery of Lillienthal (see Aeronautics) that a cambered 'aerofoil' when set at an angle to a wind current gives more 'lift' than a flat plane. The wing of an aeroplane is normally set at an angle horizontally (or rather at an angle to the relative wind) varying from 0° to 4°. This angle is known as the 'angle of incidence'. As the wing is driven through the air under the influence of the propeller, the air meets the 'leading' or 'entering' edge and is divided into two streams [46]along the top and bottom surfaces. It does not, however, follow the surface closely, but in the case of the lower stratum is deflected downwards at an angle to the surface, which results in an upward reaction. The upper of the two streams of air is correspondingly deflected upwards at an angle to the surface for a short distance. This causes an 'area of discontinuity of flow', or eddy, which results in 'negative pressure', causing an upward suction. This fact was first discovered by Sir Hiram Maxim, though it was G. Eiffel who measured the effects of the positive pressure on the lower surface and the negative pressure on the upper surface, and found, contrary to all expectation, that the latter is responsible for three-quarters of the total lifting effect of the wing. In addition to the lift, the wings offer resistance to progress through the air, which effect is known as 'drag'. The ratio of lift to drag is a measure of the efficiency of a wing-section. A well-designed wing will have a L/D ratio at an angle of incidence of 4° of about 16, i.e. the lift effect in pounds will be 16 times that of the drag. The fundamental equation of an aeroplane is R = KSV², where R = the resistance, K = a constant (usually 0.003), S = area of surface, and V = the velocity in feet per second. From this it will be seen that the resistance for the same area increases as the square of the speed, which shows the importance of reducing the resistance to the lowest possible degree if high speeds are to be obtained. For this purpose it is necessary that the flow of air round the component parts of the aeroplane caused by its passage should be as little disturbed and broken up into eddies as possible. It is found that the best theoretical shape for this purpose is a body of circular cross-section tapering from front to rear, with the maximum cross-section toward the front. The 'fineness ratio' (ratio of length to maximum diameter) should be about 6 to 1, and the maximum cross-section situated about one-third of the distance from the nose. Such a form will offer only about ¹/₂₀ the resistance of a flat plate of similar cross-section, and is known as a 'stream-line form'. The width of a wing from side to side at right angles to the wind is known as the 'span', and the breadth from front to back as the 'chord'. The ratio of span to chord is the 'aspect ratio'. Owing to the increase in drag resulting from low aspect ratio (large chord relative to span) the higher the aspect ratio the more efficient the wing. This is in practice about 6, owing to structural difficulties in constructing a wing of larger relative span. The essential parts of an aeroplane are the wings, fuselage (body), tail (comprising fixed vertical and horizontal surfaces behind which are hinged movable rudders and elevators), and chassis, or landing-carriage. The majority of modern machines are biplanes, i.e. with one set of wings superposed on the other and connected by upright wooden members called 'struts'. Aeroplanes with one set of wings only are called 'monoplanes'; those with three, 'triplanes'; with four, 'quadruplanes'; and with more than four, 'multiplanes'. Aeroplanes are also divided into 'tractor' and 'pusher', according to whether the propeller is situated in front or rear of the wings.

When the engine is started, the revolution of the propeller causes the aeroplane to move along the ground until such a speed is reached (usually about 35-50 miles per hour) that it is able to support its own weight in the air when it leaves the ground. When in the air it is made to ascend or descend by moving the elevators, which are operated by a vertical stick in front of the pilot through control cables or levers. Steering to right or left is effected by the rudder, which is operated by a foot-bar through cables or levers. Lateral balance is obtained by means of 'ailerons' or flaps on the outer extremities of the wings. If one wing tends to dip, the aileron on that side is depressed. This increases the resistance of that wing and so causes it to rise. By a combination of movements of the elevators, rudder, and ailerons almost any evolution can be performed with a modern aeroplane. A well-designed machine will, on cutting off the engine-power, turn its nose slightly down and automatically assume its own 'gliding-angle' to the ground. The gliding-angle is the ratio of descent to forward travel and is usually 1 in 12 to 1 in 14.

Speeds of 190 miles per hour have been attained and a height of 34,600 feet reached. The greatest distance covered in one flight is the crossing of the Atlantic—slightly more than 1900 miles—while an aeroplane has remained in the air for 24 hours. Aeroplanes range in size from small single-seater 'scouts' with a duration of only some three hours, to large multiple-engined machines with a weight, fully loaded, of from 15 to 20 tons. The essential feature of the aeroplane is, as already stated, that it is heavier than air and therefore subject to the laws of gravity in the event of engine failure. Its choice of a landing-ground is then dependent upon its height at the moment and gliding-angle.

Aeroplanes are normally constructed throughout of wood, though steel is occasionally used. The wings are built of wooden 'spars', of which there are usually two along the length of each wing, connected together by wooden 'ribs'. The wings of a biplane are braced by the struts (see above) and by wires. 'Landing-wires' support the weight of the wing on the ground, while 'flying-wires' prevent them folding upwards under the influence of the lift in flight. 'Drift-wires' are to prevent the wings folding [47]backwards under the pressure of the air in flight. See also Aeronautics, Sea-planes.—Bibliography: H. Barber, The Aeroplane Speaks; H. Barber, Aerobatics; Hamel and Turner, Flying; Borlase Mathews, Aviation Pocket Book; Pippard and Pritchard, Aeroplane Structures; Judge, Design of Aeroplanes; Judge, Properties of Aerofoils; Loening, Military Aeroplanes.

Aerostatic Press, a contrivance for extracting the colouring matter from dye-woods and for similar purposes. A liquid intended to carry with it the extract is brought into contact with the substance containing it, and a vacuum being made by an air-pump suitably applied, the pressure of the atmosphere forces the liquid through the intervening mass, carrying the colour or other soluble matter with it.

Aerostat′ics, that branch of physics which treats of the weight, pressure, and equilibrium of air and gases. See Air; Air-pump; Barometer; Gases, Properties of; Hydrostatics; Meteorology; &c.

Aerotherapeutics is the treatment of disease by atmospheres artificially prepared and differing from the normal in compression or pressure or temperature. It is divided into:

1. Medical atmospheres artificially produced by changing the proportions of the normal gases of the atmosphere, or by adding gases to the atmosphere. These are applied by inhalation in various ways:

(a) By the inhalation of gases—ether; chloroform; nitrous oxide (see Anæsthetics). Oxygen under pressure in a cylinder, with outlet applied close to the patient's mouth and nose, is used in severe cases of pneumonia, cardiac disease, or wherever breathing is difficult. Amyl nitrate is inhaled on the breaking of the glass capsules in which it is contained close to the patient's mouth; this treatment is used in cardiac disease and other conditions to recover blood pressure. Chlorine and iodine are used in cases of throat and bronchial affections by inhaling the vapour itself for a short time, or by inhaling air strongly impregnated with the substance.

(b) By inhalation of substances requiring heat for volatilization, e.g. mercury and sulphur. The patient, enveloped in a sheet, sits on a chair, while the substance, placed in a vessel on the floor inside the enveloping sheet near the patient, is heated by a spirit lamp or similar method. Mercury is used for chronic and syphilitic laryngitis and pharyngitis; sulphur for scabies and other skin diseases.

(c) By inhalation of steam or warm-water vapour with a drug added. Apparatus of various kinds is used, the simplest of which is a wide-mouthed jug filled with boiling water to which the drug has been added. The patient takes a deep breath, drawing the vapour into his mouth up a napkin arranged in the form of a tube. More complicated forms of apparatus are steam-sprays and nebulizers for laryngeal and bronchial troubles.

(d) Cold medicated sprays and inhalations. Throat- and nose-sprays are much used, also sprays for the administration of local anæsthetics (ethyl chloride). Respirators are made of wire gauze with cotton wool or a sponge; the substance is poured on and inhaled by the patient.

For (c) and (d) the following drugs are used: carbolic acid, creosote, terebine, thymol, eucalyptol, zinc sulphate, in phthisis and bronchial affections; and eusol, izal, lysol, &c., for disinfection and fumigation.

2. Changes produced by variation in barometric pressure considered in treatment of disease:

Normal barometric pressure at sea-level, 29-30 inches; at Davos (5200 feet), 25 inches; at summit of Pike's Peak, Colorado (14,000 feet), 17½ inches; in balloon ascent (Glaisher and Coxwell) of 29,000 feet, 9¾ inches.

The effects of high pressure are seen in divers, caisson workers, miners. The effects of low pressure are seen in balloonists, airmen. The effect of sudden return to normal from high pressure is seen in cases of caisson disease (q.v.). The effects of low pressure were first applied to the human body in 1835 by V.T. Junot. He contrived a hollow copper ball, 4 yards in diameter, capable of containing a man, and by pumping out air gradually, produced the effects of low pressure. This principle was then applied by him locally by cupping-glasses similar in shape to the upper part of a wineglass. There are two types of cupping:

(a) In wet cupping an incision is made in the skin of the part to be treated. The air inside the glass is exhausted by introducing a lighted match, then the open end of the glass is immediately applied to the surface of the skin.

(b) In dry cupping the treatment is similarly carried out, but no incision is made.

The low pressure (partial vacuum) draws blood to the part. Cupping is used in congestion of internal organs, e.g. lungs, kidneys.

The artificial application of air to lungs at varying pressure is carried out by inspiring rarefied air or compressed air and expiring into rarefied air or into compressed air. Only inspiring compressed air, or expiring into rarefied air, can be practically applied. There are many kinds of apparatus for this. The best is the compressed-air bath (seen at Brompton Hospital, London), consisting of three parts—the engine, receiver, and air-chamber.

The patient is placed in this air-chamber, where he remains for two hours, during which time the pressure is usually raised from half again to double normal. For the first half-hour the pressure is gradually raised, and is maintained [48]at the same abnormal height for one hour; for the last half-hour it is reduced again gradually to normal. The patient first experiences an unpleasant sensation in the throat. This is relieved by swallowing or by drinking water; then pain in the ear-drums; the voice becomes shriller. These are early signs of the effects of high pressure, and are seen to a more marked degree in cases where a man has descended suddenly into a mine, caisson, &c. Compressed air-baths are used in cases of asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, anæmia.

Respiratory gymnastics are of value for defective breathing due to badly formed chests or injury and disease of the lungs. There are various forms of artificial breathing exercises and many ways of using artificial aids, e.g. breathing into bottles connected together by tubes and partly filled with water. The water is forced from one bottle to another by the respiratory effort of the patient.

Aerschot, town in Belgium, province of Brabant, on the Demer, a tributary of the Dyle. It was occupied by the Germans in Aug., 1914. Pop. 7800.

Æschines (es′ki-nēz), a celebrated Athenian orator, the rival and opponent of Demosthenes, was born in 389 B.C. and died in 314. He headed the Macedonian party in Greece, or those in favour of an alliance with Philip, while Demosthenes took the opposite side. Having failed in 330 B.C. in a prosecution against Ctesiphon for proposing to bestow a crown of gold upon Demosthenes for his services to the State (whence the oration of Demosthenes 'On the Crown') he left Athens, and subsequently established a school of eloquence at Rhodes. Three of his orations are extant. Æschines should not be confounded with his namesake, the Athenian philosopher and intimate friend of Socrates.

Æschylus (es′ki-lus), the first in time of the three great tragic poets of Greece, born at Eleusis, in Attica, 525 B.C., died in Sicily 456. Before he gained distinction as a dramatist he had fought at the battle of Marathon (490), as he afterwards did at Artemisium, Salamis, and Platæa. He first gained the prize for tragedy in 484 B.C. The Persians, the earliest of his extant pieces, formed part of a trilogy which gained the prize in 472 B.C. In 468 B.C. he was defeated by Sophocles, and then is said to have gone to the Court of Hiero, King of Syracuse. Altogether he is reputed to have composed ninety plays and gained thirteen triumphs. Only seven of his tragedies are extant: The Persians, Seven against Thebes, Suppliants, Prometheus, Agamemnon, Choephori, and Eumenides, the last three forming a trilogy on the story of Orestes, represented in 458 B.C. Æschylus may be called the creator of Greek tragedy, both from the splendour of his dramatic writings and from the scenic improvements and accessories he introduced. Till his time only one actor had appeared on the stage at a time, and by bringing on a second he was really the founder of dramatic dialogue. His style was grand, daring, and full of energy, and his choruses, though difficult, are among the noblest pieces of poetry in the world. His plays have little or no plot, and his characters are drawn by a few powerful strokes. There are English poetical translations of his plays by Blackie, Plumptre, Swanwick, Campbell, Robert Browning, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.—Bibliography: Bishop Copleston, Æschylus, in English Classics for Modern Readers Series (Blackwood & Son); Miss J. Case, Translation of Prometheus Vinctus (Dent).

Æscula′pius (Gr. Asklēpios), the god of medicine among the Greeks and afterwards adopted by the Romans, usually said to have been a son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis. He was worshipped in particular at Epidaurus, in the Peloponnesus, where a temple with a grove was dedicated to him. The sick who visited his temple had to spend one or more nights in the sanctuary, after which the remedies to be used were revealed in a dream. Those who were cured offered a sacrifice to Æsculapius, commonly a cock. He is often represented with a large beard, holding a knotty staff, round which is entwined a serpent, the serpent being specially his symbol. The staff and serpent have been adopted as a badge by the Royal Army Medical Corps. Sometimes Æsculapius is represented under the image of a serpent only.—Bibliography: L. Dyer, The Gods of Greece; W. H. D. Rouse, Greek Votive Offerings.

Æs′culus, the genus of plants to which belongs the horse-chestnut.

Æsir, in Scandinavian mythology, the eleven chief gods, besides Odin. They are: Thor, Balder, Ty or Tyr, Bragi, Heimdal, Hod, Vidar, Vali, Ull, Forseti, and Loki or Lopt. See Scandinavian Mythology.

Æ′sop, the Greek fabulist, is said to have been a contemporary of Crœsus and Solon, and thus probably lived about the middle of the sixth century (620-550) B.C. But so little is known of his life that his existence has been called in question. He is said to have been originally a slave, and to have received his freedom from a Samian master, Iadmon. He then visited the court of Crœsus, and is also said to have visited Pisistratus at Athens. Finally he was sent by Crœsus to Delphi to distribute a sum of money to each of the citizens. For some reason he refused to distribute the money, whereupon the Delphians, enraged, threw him from a precipice and killed him. No works of Æsop are extant, and it is doubtful whether he wrote any. Bentley [49]inclined to the supposition that his fables were delivered orally and perpetuated by repetition. Such fables are spoken of both by Aristophanes and Plato. Phædrus turned into Latin verse the Æsopian fables current in his day, with additions of his own. In modern times several collections claiming to be Æsop's fables have been published. Cf. J. Jacobs, The Fables of Æsop.

Æsthet′ics (Gr. aisthētikos, pertaining to perception), the philosophy of the beautiful; the name given to the branch of philosophy or of science which is concerned with that class of emotions, or with those attributes, real or apparent, of objects generally comprehended under the term beauty, and other related expressions. The term æsthetics first received this application from Baumgarten (1714-62), a German philosopher, who was the first modern writer to deal systematically with the subject, though the beautiful had received attention at the hands of philosophers from early times. Socrates, according to Xenophon, regarded the beautiful as coincident with the good, and both as resolvable into the useful. Plato, in accordance with his idealistic theory, held the existence of an absolute beauty, which is the ground of beauty in all things. He also asserted the intimate union of the good, the beautiful, and the true. Aristotle treated of the subject in much more detail than Plato, but chiefly from the scientific or critical point of view. In his treatises on Poetics and Rhetoric he lays down a theory of art, and establishes principles of beauty. His philosophical views were in many respects opposed to those of Plato. He does not admit an absolute conception of the beautiful; but he distinguishes beauty from the good, the useful, the fit, and the necessary. He resolves beauty into certain elements, as order, symmetry, definiteness. A distinction of beauty, according to him, is the absence of lust or desire in the pleasure it excites. Beauty has no utilitarian or ethical object; the aim of art is merely to give immediate pleasure; its essence is imitation. Plotinus agrees with Plato, and disagrees with Aristotle, in holding that beauty may subsist in single and simple objects, and consequently in restoring the absolute conception of beauty. He differs from Plato and Aristotle in raising art above nature. Baumgarten's treatment of æsthetics is essentially Platonic. He made the division of philosophy into logic, ethics, and æsthetics; the first dealing with knowledge, the second with action (will and desire), the third with beauty. He limits æsthetics to the conceptions derived from the senses, and makes them consist in confused or obscured conceptions, in contradistinction to logical knowledge, which consists in clear conceptions. Kant, in his Critique of the Power of Judgment, defines beauty in reference to his four categories, quantity, quality, relation, and modality. In accordance with the subjective character of his system he denies an absolute conception of beauty, but his detailed treatment of the subject is inconsistent with the denial. Thus he attributes a beauty to single colours and tones, not on any plea of complexity, but on the ground of purity. He holds also that the highest meaning of beauty is to symbolize moral good, and arbitrarily attaches moral characters to the seven primary colours. The value of art is mediate, and the beauty of art is inferior to that of nature. The treatment of beauty in the systems of Schelling and Hegel could with difficulty be made comprehensible without a detailed reference to the principles of these remarkable speculations. English writers on beauty are numerous, but they rarely ascend to the heights of German speculation. Shaftesbury adopted the notion that beauty is perceived by a special internal sense; in which he was followed by Hutcheson, who held that beauty existed only in the perceiving mind, and not in the object. Numerous English writers, among whom the principal are Alison and Jeffrey, have supported the theory that the source of beauty is to be found in association—a theory analogous to that which places morality in sympathy. The ability of its supporters gave this view a temporary popularity, but its baselessness has been effectively exposed by successive critics. Dugald Stewart attempted to show that there is no common quality in the beautiful beyond that of producing a certain refined pleasure; and Bain agrees with this criticism, but endeavours to restrict the beautiful within a group of emotions chiefly excited by association or combination of simpler elementary feelings. Herbert Spencer has a theory of beauty which is subservient to the theory of evolution. He makes beauty consist in the play of the higher powers of perception and emotion, defined as an activity not directly subservient to any processes conducive to life, but being gratifications sought for themselves alone. He classifies æsthetic pleasures according to the complexity of the emotions excited, or the number of powers duly exercised; and he attributes the depth and apparent vagueness of musical emotions to associations with vocal tones built up during vast ages. Among numerous writers who have made valuable contributions to the scientific discussion of æsthetics may be mentioned Winckelmann, Lessing, Richter, the Schlegels, Gervinus, Helmholtz, Ruskin, Home, Hogarth, Burke, Taine, and others.—Bibliography: Herbert Spencer, Principles of Psychology; Grant Allen, Physiological Æsthetics; A. Bain, Emotions and Will; B. Bosanquet, [50]History of Æsthetics; W. Knight, Philosophy of the Beautiful.

Æstiva′tion, a botanical term applied to the arrangement of the parts of a flower in the flower-bud previous to the opening of the bud.—The term is also applied to the summer sleep of animals. See Dormant State.

Æth′eling. See Atheling.

Æ′ther. See Ether.

Æthio′pia. See Ethiopia.

Æ′thrioscope (Gr. aithrios, clear, cloudless), an instrument (devised by Sir John Leslie) for measuring radiation towards a clear sky, consisting of a metallic cup with a highly-polished interior of paraboloid shape, in the focus of which is placed one bulb of a differential thermometer, the other being outside. The inside bulb at once begins to radiate heat when exposed to a clear sky, and the extent to which this takes place is shown by the scale of the thermometer. The æthrioscope also indicates the presence of invisible aqueous vapour in the atmosphere, radiation being less than when the air is dry.

Æthu′sa, a genus of umbelliferous plants. See Fool's Parsley.

Ætiology (Gr. aitia, cause, and logos, discourse), the theory of the physical causes of any class of phenomena, or the science of causation. It is, however, mainly used in medicine, and deals with the causes and origin of disease.

Aë′tius, a general of the western Roman Empire, born A.D. 396; murdered 454. As commander in the reign of Valentinian III he defended the empire against the Huns, Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, &c., completely defeating the Huns under Attila in a great battle at Châlons in 451. For twenty years he was at the head of public affairs, and in the end was murdered by Valentinian, who was jealous of his power.

Æt′na. See Etna.

Æto′lia, a western division of northern Greece, separated on the west by the Achelous from Acarnania and washed by the Corinthian Gulf on the south. The inhabitants are little heard of in Greek history till the Peloponnesian war, at which time they were notorious among the Greeks for the rudeness of their manners. Ætolia, in conjunction with Acarnania, now forms a nomarchy of the kingdom of Greece.

Afanasiev, Alexander Nicolaievitsh, Russian folklorist, born in 1826. Besides numerous articles and essays he wrote several monumental works: The Ancient Slav's Poetic View of Nature (3 vols., 1866-9), Russian Tales and Fables for Children (3 vols., 1870), &c. He died in 1871.

Affida′vit, a written statement of facts upon oath or affirmation. Affidavits are generally made use of when evidence is to be laid before a judge or a court, while evidence brought before a jury is delivered orally. The person making the affidavit signs his name at the bottom of it, and swears that the statements contained in it are true. The affidavit may be sworn to in open court, or before a magistrate or other duly qualified person; it may be made abroad before a qualified British state official.

Affin′ity, in chemistry, the force by which unlike kinds of matter combine so intimately that the properties of the constituents are lost, and a compound with new properties is produced. Of the force itself we know little or nothing. It is not the same under all conditions, being very much modified by circumstances, especially temperature. The usual effect of increase of temperature is to diminish affinity and ultimately to cause the separation of a compound into its constituents; and there is probably for every compound a temperature above which it could not exist, but would be broken up. Where two elements combine to form a compound, heat is almost always evolved, and the amount evolved serves as a measure of the affinity. In order that chemical affinity may come into play it is necessary that the substances should be in contact, and usually one of them at least is a fluid or a gas. The results produced by chemical combination are endlessly varied. Colour, taste, and smell are changed, destroyed, or created; harmless constituents produce strong poisons, strong poisons produce harmless compounds.

Affinity, in law, is that degree of connection which subsists between one of two married persons and the blood relations of the other. It is no real kindred (consanguinity). A person cannot, by legal succession, receive an inheritance from a relation by affinity; neither does it extend to the nearest relations of husband and wife so as to create a mutual relation between them. The degrees of affinity are computed in the same way as those of consanguinity or blood. All legal impediments arising from affinity cease upon the death of the husband or wife, excepting those which relate to the marriage of the survivor.

Affirma′tion, a solemn declaration by Quakers, Moravians, Dunkers, and others, who object to taking an oath, in confirmation of their testimony in courts of law, or of their statements on other occasions on which the sanction of an oath is required of other persons. In England the form for Quakers is, 'I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm'. Affirmation is generally allowed to be substituted for an oath in all cases where a person refuses to take an oath from conscientious motives, if the judge is satisfied that the motives are conscientious. False affirmation is subjected to the same penalties as perjury.

Affreightment means the contract of carriage of goods by sea, by which the shipowner [51]undertakes to carry goods in his ship for hire or freight. Unless otherwise stipulated, the merchant or freighter is only bound to pay the freight upon delivery of the goods at the agreed destination. If the voyage is abandoned, the merchant may claim his goods without any payment. The merchant must load and discharge his cargo within the lay-days or stipulated time, if any; otherwise within a reasonable time. Failure entails liability in damages—known as demurrage—for undue detention of the ship. The merchant will also be liable in damages—known as dead-freight—if he fails to furnish the full cargo promised. The shipowner has a lien on the goods for their own freight and charges, but not for a general balance. Nor has he any lien for dead-freight or demurrage. All such liens may be validly stipulated for in the contract. They are purely possessory as contrasted with the so-called maritime liens for seamen's and shipmasters' wages, which are valid without possession. There is no lien for advance freight, which in Scotland is repayable if the cargo is lost at sea or delivery otherwise prevented, but not so in England. In Scotland, accordingly, the burden of insuring advance freight falls upon the shipowner, in England upon the merchant.

The main obligations upon the shipowner are to provide a seaworthy vessel, carry without undue delay, and deliver the goods in the same condition as they were shipped. Unless otherwise agreed, he is liable for damage or loss through negligence, and if he be a common carrier, as he frequently is, even the absence of negligence may not save him. There is nothing in British law, however, to prevent him from contracting out of all responsibility for the safety of goods committed to his care, and he generally does so, either by inserting what is known as an 'exception clause' in the document evidencing the contract, viz. the Bill of Lading, or by giving public notice that he only accepts goods upon that footing. In this respect the position of shipowners is more favourable than that of railway companies and other land carriers, whose freedom of contract is curtailed by statute.—Bibliography: T. G. Carver, Carriage by Sea; Sir T. E. Scrutton, Contract of Affreightment.

Affrique (a˙f-rēk), St., a town of southern France, department of Aveyron.

Afghanistan (a˙f-gän′i-stän), that is, the land of the Afghans, a country in Asia, bounded on the east by the N. W. Frontier Province, &c., on the south by Baluchistan, on the west by the Persian province of Khorasan, and on the north by Bukhara and Russian Turkestan. The eastern and southern boundaries were settled in 1893, whilst the boundary towards Persia was demarcated between March, 1903, and May, 1905. The area may be set down at about 250,000 sq. miles. The population is estimated at 6,000,000. Afghanistan consists chiefly of lofty, bare, uninhabited tablelands, sandy barren plains, ranges of snow-covered mountains, offsets of the Hindu Kush or the Himálaya, and deep ravines and valleys. Many of the last are well watered and very fertile, but about four-fifths of the whole surface is rocky, mountainous, and unproductive. The surface on the north-east is covered with lofty ranges belonging to the Hindu Kush, whose heights are often 18,000 and sometimes reach perhaps 25,000 feet. The whole north-eastern portion of the country has a general elevation of over 6000 feet; but towards the south-west, in which direction the principal mountain chains of the interior run, the general elevation declines to not more than 1600 feet. In the interior the mountains sometimes reach the height of 15,000 feet. Great part of the frontier towards India consists of the Suleiman range, 12,000 feet high. There are numerous practicable avenues of communication between Afghanistan and India, among the most extensively used being the famous Khyber Pass, by which the River Kabul enters the Punjab; the Gomul Pass, also leading to the Punjab; and the Bolan Pass on the south, through which the route passes to Sind. Of the rivers the largest is the Helmund, which flows in a south-westerly direction more than 400 miles, till it enters the Hamoon or Seistan swamp. It receives the Arghandab, a considerable stream. Next in importance are the Kabul in the north-east, which drains to the Indus, and the Hari Rud in the north-west, which, like other Afghan streams, loses itself in the sand. The climate is extremely cold in the higher, and intensely hot in the lower regions, yet on the whole it is salubrious. The most common trees are the pine, oak, birch, and walnut. In the valleys fruits, in the greatest variety and abundance, grow wild. The principal crops are wheat (forming the staple food of the people), barley, rice, and maize. Other crops are tobacco, sugar-cane, and cotton. The chief domestic animals are the dromedary, the horse, ass, and mule, the ox, sheep with large fine fleeces and enormous fat tails, and goats; of wild animals there are the tiger, bears, leopards, wolves, jackal, hyena, foxes, &c. The chief towns are Kabul (the capital), Kandahar, Ghuzni, and Herat. The inhabitants belong to different races, but the Afghans proper form the great mass of the people. They are allied in blood to the Persians, and are divided into a number of tribes, among which the Duranis and Ghiljis are the most important. The Afghans, claiming descent from King Saul, are called by their own ancient chroniclers Beni-Israel. They are bold, hardy, and warlike, fond of freedom and resolute in maintaining it, but of a restless, turbulent temper, and much given [52]to plunder. Tribal dissensions are constantly in existence, and seldom or never do all the Afghans pay allegiance to the nominal ruler of their country. Their language (Pushtu) is distinct from the Persian, though it contains a great number of Persian words, and is written, like the Persian, with the Arabic characters. In religion they are Mahommedans of the Sunnite sect.

After having been subjugated by Alexander the Great, the country of the Afghans fell successively under the sway, actual or nominal, of Parthians, Seleucidæ, Persians, and Arabs. Djinghiz Khan conquered Afghanistan in the twelfth century and Timur in the fourteenth. In 1504 Sultan Baber took Cabul and founded the Mogul dynasty in India; Afghanistan thus formed part of the great empire of Delhi. In 1738 the country was conquered by the Persians under Nadir Shah. On his death in 1747 Ahmed Shah, one of his generals, obtained the sovereignty of Afghanistan, and became the founder of a dynasty which lasted about eighty years. At the end of that time Dost Mohammed, the ruler of Cabul, had acquired a preponderating influence in the country. On account of his dealings with the Russians the British resolved to dethrone him and restore Shah Shuja, a former ruler. In April, 1839, a British army under Sir John Keane entered Afghanistan, occupied Cabul, and placed Shah Shuja on the throne, a force of 8000 being left to support the new sovereign. Sir W. Macnaghten remained as envoy at Cabul, with Sir Alexander Burnes as assistant envoy. The Afghans soon organized a widespread insurrection, which came to a head on 2nd Nov., 1841, when Burnes and a number of British officers, besides women and children, were murdered, Macnaghten being murdered not long after. The other British leaders now made a treaty with the Afghans, at whose head was Akbar, son of Dost Mohammed, agreeing to withdraw the forces from the country, while the Afghans were to furnish them with provisions and escort them on their way. On 6th Jan., 1842, the British left Cabul and began their most disastrous retreat. The cold was intense, they had almost no food—for the treacherous Afghans did not fulfil their promises—and day after day they were assailed by bodies of the enemy. By the 13th 26,000 persons, including camp-followers, women and children, were destroyed. Some were kept as prisoners, but only one man, Dr. Brydon, reached Jelalabad, which, as well as Kandahar, was still held by British troops. In a few months General Pollock, with a fresh army from India, retook Cabul and soon finished the war. Shah Shuja having been assassinated, Dost Mohammed again obtained the throne of Cabul, and acquired extensive power in Afghanistan. He joined with the Sikhs against the British, but afterwards made an offensive and defensive alliance with the latter. He died in 1863, having nominated his son Shere Ali his successor. Shere Ali entered into friendly relations with the British, but in 1878, having repulsed a British envoy and refused to receive a British mission (a Russian mission being meantime at his Court), war was declared against him, and the British troops entered Afghanistan. They met with comparatively little resistance; the Ameer fled to Turkestan, where he soon after died; and his son Yakoob Khan having succeeded him concluded a treaty with the British (at Gandamak, May, 1879), in which a certain extension of the British frontier, the control by Britain of the foreign policy of Afghanistan, and the residence of a British envoy in Cabul, were the chief stipulations. Not long after this settlement, the British resident at Cabul, Sir Louis P. Cavagnari, and the other members of the mission were treacherously attacked and slain by the Afghans, and troops had again to be sent into the country. Cabul was again occupied, and Kandahar and Ghazni were also relieved; while Yakoob Khan was sent to imprisonment in India. In 1880 Abdur-Rahman, a grandson of Dost Mohammed, was recognized by Britain as ameer of the country. He was on friendly terms with the British during his reign, which ended with his death in 1901, his son Habibullah being his successor. He had adopted the title of Sirajul-Millat wa ud-din, 'Lamp of the Nation and Religion'. In a treaty signed on 21st March, 1905, the Ameer recognized the engagements which his father had entered into with the British Government. Encroachments by the Russians on territory claimed by Afghanistan almost brought about a rupture between Britain and Russia in 1885, and led to the delimitation of the frontier of Afghanistan on the side next Russia. On 31st Aug., 1907, an Anglo-Russian Convention relating to Afghanistan was signed. The Russian Government recognized Afghanistan as outside the Russian sphere of influence, whilst Great Britain undertook neither to annex nor occupy any portion of Afghanistan. In spite of German intrigues, the Ameer refused, in 1915, the inducements held out to him to abandon his British ally. He was assassinated on 20th Feb., 1919, and was succeeded by his third son Amanullah. The new Ameer sought to gain popularity with his subjects by embarking on an unprovoked war of aggression upon India. Hostilities broke out in May, 1919, and ended with a peace treaty signed at Rawalpindi on 8th Aug., 1919. In 1922 the first Afghan minister was appointed to London (instead of to Delhi).—Bibliography: MacGregor, Gazetteer of Afghanistan; Malleson, History of Afghanistan; Forbes, The Afghan Wars; Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, [53]Forty-one Years in India; J. G. Lyons, Afghanistan: the Buffer State.

Afium-Kara-Hissar ('opium-black-castle'), a city of Asia Minor, 170 miles E.S.E. of Constantinople, with manufactures of woollen goods, and a trade in opium (afium), &c. Pop. about 20,000.

Afrag′ola, a town of Italy, about 6 miles N.N.E. of Naples. Pop. 23,155.

Afra′nius, Lucius, a Roman comic dramatist who flourished about the beginning of the first century B.C., and of whose writings only fragments remain.

Af′rica, one of the three great divisions of the Old World, and the second in extent of the five principal continents of the globe, forming a vast peninsula joined to Asia by the Isthmus of Suez. It is of a compact form, with few important projections or indentations, and having therefore a very small extent of coast-line (about 16,000 miles, or much less than that of Europe) in proportion to its area. This continent extends from 37° 21′ N. lat. to 34° 51′ S. lat., and the extreme points, Cape Blanco and Cape Agulhas, are nearly 5000 miles apart. From west to east, between Cape Verde, lon. 17° 34′ W., and Cape Guardafui, lon. 51° 16′ E., the distance is about 4600 miles. The area is estimated at 11,500,000 sq. miles, or more than three times that of Europe. The islands belonging to Africa are not numerous, and, except Madagascar, none of them are large. They include Madeira, the Canaries, Cape Verde Islands, Fernando Po, Principe, São Thomé, Ascension, St. Helena, Mauritius, Réunion, the Comoros, Socotra, &c.

The interior of Africa is as yet imperfectly known, but we know enough of the continent as a whole to be able to point to some general features that characterize it. One of these is that almost all round it at no great distance from the sea, and, roughly speaking, parallel with the coast-line, we find ranges of mountains or elevated lands forming the outer edges of interior plateaux. The most striking feature of Northern Africa is the immense tract known as the Sahara or Great Desert, which is enclosed on the north by the Atlas Mountains (greatest height, 12,000 to 15,000 feet), the plateau of Barbary and that of Barqa, on the east by the mountains along the west coast of the Red Sea, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south by the Sudan. The Sahara is by no means the sea of sand it has sometimes been represented: it contains elevated plateaux and even mountains radiating in all directions, with habitable valleys between. A considerable nomadic population is scattered over the habitable parts, and in the more favoured regions there are settled communities. The Sudan, which lies to the south of the Sahara, and separates it from the more elevated plateau of Southern Africa, forms a belt of pastoral country across Africa, and includes the countries on the Niger, around Lake Tchad (or Chad), and eastwards to the elevated region of Abyssinia. Southern Africa as a whole is much more fertile and well watered than Northern Africa, though it also has a desert tract of considerable extent (the Kalahari Desert). This division of the continent consists of a tableland, or series of tablelands, of considerable elevation and great diversity of surface, exhibiting hollows filled with great lakes, and terraces over which the rivers break in falls and rapids, as they find their way to the low-lying coast tracts. The mountains which enclose Southern Africa are mostly much higher on the east than on the west, the most northerly of the former being those of Abyssinia, with heights of 10,000 to 14,000 or 16,000 feet, while the eastern edge of the Abyssinian plateau presents a steep unbroken line of 7000 feet in height for many hundred miles. Farther south, and between the great lakes and the Indian Ocean, we find Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro (19,500 feet), the loftiest in Africa, covered with perpetual snow. Of the continuation of this mountain boundary we shall only mention the Drakenberg Mountains, which stretch to the southern extremity of the continent, reaching, in Cathkin Peak, Natal, the height of over 10,000 feet. Of the mountains that form the western border the highest are the Cameroon Mountains, which rise to a height of 13,000 feet at the inner angle of the Gulf of Guinea. The average elevation of the southern plateau is from 3000 to 4000 feet.

The Nile is the only great river of Africa which flows into the Mediterranean. It receives its waters primarily from the great lake Victoria Nyanza, which lies under the equator, and in its upper course is fed by tributary streams of great size, but for the last 1200 miles of its course it has not a single affluent. It drains an area of more than 1,000,000 sq. miles. The Indian Ocean receives numerous rivers; but the only great river of South Africa which enters that ocean is the Zambezi, the fourth in size of the continent, and having in its course the Victoria Falls, one of the greatest waterfalls in the world. In Southern Africa also, but flowing westward and entering the Atlantic, is the Congo, which takes its origin from a series of lakes and marshes in the interior, is fed by great tributaries, and is the first in volume of all the African rivers, carrying to the ocean more water than the Mississippi. Unlike most of the African rivers, the mouth of the Congo forms an estuary. Of the other Atlantic rivers, the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Niger are the largest, the last being third among African streams. [54]

With the exception of Lake Tchad there are no great lakes in the northern division of Africa, whereas in the number and magnificence of its lakes the southern division almost rivals North America. Here are the Victoria and Albert Nyanza, Lakes Tanganyika, Nyasa, Shirwa, Bangweulu, Moero, and other lakes. Of these the Victoria and Albert belong to the basin of the Nile; Tanganyika, Bangweulu, and Moero to that of the Congo; Nyasa, by its affluent the Shiré, to the Zambezi. Lake Tchad on the borders of the northern desert region is now known to be much smaller than was formerly believed, but varies in area according to the season. Lake Ngami in the far south is now a mere swamp.

The climate of Africa is mainly influenced by the fact that it lies almost entirely within the tropics. In the equatorial belt, both north and south, rain is abundant and vegetation very luxuriant, dense tropical forests prevailing for about 10° on either side of the line. To the north and south of the equatorial belt the rainfall diminishes, and the forest region is succeeded by an open pastoral and agricultural country. This is followed by the rainless regions of the Sahara on the north and the Kalahari Desert on the south, extending beyond the tropics, and bordering on the agricultural and pastoral countries of the north and south coasts, which lie entirely in the temperate zone. The low coast regions of Africa are almost everywhere unhealthy, the Atlantic coast within the tropics being the most fatal region to Europeans.

Among mineral productions may be mentioned gold, which is found in the rivers of West Africa (hence the name Gold Coast), and in Southern Africa, most abundantly in the Transvaal; diamonds have been found in large numbers in recent years in the south; iron, copper, lead, tin, and coal are also found.—Among plants are the baobab, the date-palm (important as a food plant in the north), the doum-palm, the oil-palm, the wax-palm, the shea-butter tree, trees yielding caoutchouc, the papyrus, the castor-oil plant, indigo, the coffee-plant, heaths with beautiful flowers, aloes, &c. Among cultivated plants are wheat, maize, millet, and other grains, cotton, coffee, cassava, ground-nut, yam, banana, tobacco, various fruits, &c. As regards both plants and animals, Northern Africa, adjoining the Mediterranean, is distinguished from the rest of Africa in its great agreement with Southern Europe.—Among the most characteristic African animals are the lion, hyena, jackal, gorilla, chimpanzee, baboon, African elephant (never domesticated, yielding much ivory to trade), hippopotamus, rhinoceros, giraffe, zebra, quagga, antelopes in great variety and immense numbers.—Among birds are the ostrich, the secretary-bird or serpent-eater, the honey-guide cuckoo, sacred ibis, guinea fowl.—The reptiles include the crocodile, chameleon, and serpents of various kinds, some of them very venomous. Among insects are locusts, scorpions, the tsetse-fly whose bite is so fatal to cattle, and white-ants.

The great races of which the population of Africa mainly consists are the Eastern Hamites (who are not a distinct race but a blend), the Semites, the Negroes, and the Bantus. To the Semitic stock belong the Arabs, who form a considerable portion of the population in Egypt and along the north coast, while a portion of the inhabitants of Abyssinia is of the same race. The Hamites are represented, according to Sergi, by the Copts of Egypt, the Berbers, Kabyles, &c., of Northern Africa, and the Somâli, Danâkil, &c., of East Africa. The Negro races occupy a vast territory in the Sudan and Central Africa, while the Bantus occupy the greater part of Southern Africa from a short distance north of the equator, and include the Kaffirs, Bechuanas, Swahili, and allied races. In the extreme south-west are the Hottentots and Bushmen (the latter a dwarfish race), distinct from the other races as well as, probably, from each other. In Madagascar there is a large Malay element. To these may be added the Fulahs on the Niger and the Nubians on the Nile and elsewhere, who are of a brownish colour, and are often regarded as distinct from the other races, though sometimes classed with the Negroes. In religion a great proportion of the inhabitants are heathens of the lowest type; Mohammedanism numbers a large number of adherents in North Africa, and is rapidly spreading in the Sudan; Christianity prevails only among the Copts, the Abyssinians, and the natives of Madagascar, the last-named having been converted in recent times. Elsewhere the missionaries seem to have made but little progress. Over a great part of the continent civilization is at a low ebb, yet in some parts the natives have shown considerable skill in agriculture and various mechanical arts, as in weaving and metal working. Of African trade two features are the caravans that traverse great distances, and the trade in slaves that still widely prevails, though it has been greatly restricted in recent years. Among articles exported from Africa are palm-oil, diamonds, ivory, ostrich feathers, wool, cotton, gold, esparto, caoutchouc, &c. The population is estimated at 180,000,000. Of these a small number are of European origin—French in Algeria and Morocco, British and Dutch at the southern extremity.

Great areas in Africa have been apportioned among European Powers as protectorates or spheres of influence. Among native States still more or less independent are Egypt, Abyssinia, Waday, Bagirmi, Liberia. To Britain belong the Cape Province, Natal, the Orange Free State and Transvaal, with Rhodesia, [55]&c., farther north, a region in Eastern Africa extending from the sea to Lake Victoria and the headwaters of the Nile, Nigeria, Gold Coast, and other tracts on the west, with Mauritius, &c.; to France belong Algeria and Tunis, Senegambia, Zone of Morocco, territory north of the Lower Congo, Madagascar, &c.; the Portuguese possess Angola on the west coast and Mozambique on the east; Italy has a territory on the Red Sea, and part of Somaliland; Spain has a part of the coast of the Sahara; the Congo State is a colony of Belgium; Zanzibar is merged in Kenya Colony. Germany was deprived of her possessions in Africa during the European War, and the Peace Conference of 1919 appointed Great Britain, France, and Belgium to act as mandatories of the League of Nations.

The name Africa was given by the Romans at first only to a small district in the immediate neighbourhood of Carthage. The Greeks called Africa Libya, and the Romans often used the same name. The first African exploring expedition on record was sent by Pharaoh Necho about the end of the seventh century B.C. to circumnavigate the continent. The navigators, who were Phœnicians, were absent three years, and according to report they accomplished their object. Fifty or a hundred years later, Hanno, a Carthaginian, made a voyage down the west coast and seems to have got as far as the Bight of Benin. The east coast was probably known to the ancients as far as Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. Of modern nations the Portuguese were the first to take in hand the exploration of Africa. In 1433 they doubled Cape Bojador, in 1441 reached Cape Blanco, in 1442 Cape Verde, in 1462 they discovered Sierra Leone. In 1484 the Portuguese Diego Cam discovered the mouth of the Congo. In 1486 Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached Algoa Bay. A few years later a Portuguese traveller visited Abyssinia. In 1497 Vasco da Gama, who was commissioned to find a route by sea to India, sailed round the southern extremity as far as Zanzibar, discovering Natal on his way. The first European settlements were those of the Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique, soon after 1500. In 1650 the Dutch made a settlement at the Cape. In 1770 James Bruce reached the source of the Blue Nile in Abyssinia. For the exploration of the interior of Africa, however, little was done before the close of the eighteenth century.

Modern African exploration may be said to begin with Mungo Park, who reached the upper course of the Niger (1795-1805). Dr. Lacerda, a Portuguese, about the same time reached the capital of the Cazembe, in the centre of South Africa, where he died. During 1802-6 two Portuguese traders crossed the continent from Angola, through the Cazembe's dominions, to the Portuguese possessions on the Zambezi. During 1822-4 extensive explorations were made in Northern and Western Africa by Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney, who proceeded from Tripoli by Murzuq to Lake Tchad, and explored the adjacent regions; Laing, in 1826, crossed the desert from Tripoli to Timbuktu; Caillié, leaving Senegal, made in 1827-8 a journey to Timbuktu, and thence through the desert to Morocco. In 1830 Lander traced a large part of the course of the Niger downward to its mouth, discovering its tributary the Benue. In the south Livingstone, who was stationed as a missionary at Kolobeng, setting out from that place in 1849 discovered Lake Ngami. In 1851 he went north again, and came upon numerous rivers flowing north, affluents of the Zambezi. In 1848 and 1849 Krapf and Rebmann, missionaries in East Africa, discovered the mountains Kilimanjaro and Kenya. An expedition sent out by the British Government started from Tripoli in 1850 to visit the Sahara and the regions around Lake Tchad, the chiefs being Richardson, Overweg, and Barth. The last alone returned in 1855, having carried his explorations over 2,000,000 sq. miles of this part of Africa, hitherto almost unknown. During 1853-6 Livingstone made an important series of explorations. He first went north-westwards, tracing part of the Upper Zambezi, and reached St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast in 1854. On his return journey he followed pretty nearly the same route till he reached the Zambezi, and proceeding down the river, and visiting its falls, called by him the Victoria Falls, he arrived at Quelimane at its mouth on 20th May, 1856, thus crossing the continent from sea to sea. In 1858 he resumed his exploration of the Zambezi regions, and in various journeys visited Lakes Shirwa and Nyasa, sailed up the Shiré to the latter lake, and established the general features of the geography of this part of Africa, returning to England in 1864. By this time the great lakes of equatorial Africa were becoming known, Tanganyika and Victoria having been discovered by Burton and Speke in 1858, and the latter having been visited by Speke and Grant in 1862 and found to give rise to the Nile, while the Albert Nyanza was discovered by Baker in 1864. In 1866 Livingstone entered on his last great series of explorations, the main object of which was to settle the position of the watersheds in the interior of the continent, and which he carried on till his death in 1873. His most important explorations on this occasion were west and south-west of Tanganyika, including the discovery of Lakes Bangweulu and Moero, and part of the upper course of the River Congo (here called Lualaba). For over two years he [56]was lost to the knowledge of Europe till met with by H. M. Stanley at Tanganyika in 1871. Gerhard Rohlfs, in a succession of journeys from 1861 to 1874, traversed the Sahara in different directions, and also crossed the continent entirely from Tripoli to Lagos by way of Murzuq, Bornu, &c. During 1873-5 Lieutenant Cameron, who had been sent in search of Livingstone, surveyed Lake Tanganyika, explored the country to the west of it, and then travelling to the south-west, finally reached Benguella on the Atlantic coast. During 1874-7 Stanley surveyed Lakes Victoria Nyanza and Tanganyika and explored the intervening country; then going westward to where Livingstone had struck the Congo he followed the river down to its mouth, thus finally settling its course and completing a remarkable and valuable series of explorations. In 1879 Serpa Pinto completed a journey across the continent from Benguella to Natal, and in 1881-2 Wissman and Pogge crossed it again from St. Paul de Loanda to Zanzibar. In recent years our knowledge of all parts of Africa has been greatly increased, thanks to the efforts of travellers, missionaries, and commercial agents. Steamers now ply on the Congo, and on Lakes Tanganyika, Nyasa, and Victoria, and numerous railways ('Cape to Cairo', &c.) extend far into the continent.—Bibliography: Mungo Park, Travels; D. Livingstone, Missionary Travels; Sir H. M. Stanley, In Darkest Africa; Sir H. H. Johnston, Africa.

Afridis (a˙-frē′diz), a tribe or clan on the north-west frontier of India, about the Khyber Pass, who have at various times given trouble to the British, and are included in a new (1922) scheme of Khassadars (irregulars). In 1897-8 a campaign ('the Tirah campaign') had to be undertaken against them, costly both in men and money, before British authority was asserted. In 1905 the Afridis of the force called the Khyber Rifles formed an escort for the Prince and Princess of Wales on their visit to the famous pass, which was long in their charge.—Cf. Holdich, The Indian Borderland.

Afrikander Bund, an association dating from 1880 and founded for the purpose of consolidating Afrikander influence in South Africa. For a time it supported the policy of Cecil Rhodes, but after 1895 separated itself from him. After the war in 1902 the Bund was reorganized, and identified with the South African party whose policy is to further the federation of the South African colonies under the British crown.

A′ga, formerly title of Turkish officers of a lower military rank, now of men of great wealth and influence except learned men and ecclesiastics, to whom the corresponding title of effendi, meaning 'elder brother' and subsequently 'master', is given.

Ag′ades, a town of Africa, near the middle of the Sahara, capital of the Saharan oasis of Aïr or Asben; at one time a seat of great traffic, probably containing 60,000 inhabitants, now with a pop. of about 7000.

Agadir, a little town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, the Santa Cruz May of the Spaniards. It was seized by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, and captured by Mulai Ahmed in 1536. It was once one of the most important seaports of Morocco, but is now closed to commerce and only used as a customs station, its place being taken by Mogador. In July, 1910, the appearance of a French cruiser in the port of Agadir gave rise to a Franco-German dispute, and in 1911 Germany sent the gunboat Panther, and a few days later the Berlin, to Agadir for the protection of German subjects. See France, Germany.

Agallochum (a-gal′o-kum), a fragrant wood obtained from Aloexўlon Agallŏchum, a leguminous tree of Cochin-China, and Aquilāria Agallŏcha, a large tree found in north-east Bengal, abounding in resin and an essential oil which yields a perfume used as incense.

Agal′matolite (Gr. agalma, image), a kind of stone, a clay-slate altered by heat and by the addition of alkalies, which is carved into images, &c., by the Chinese.

Ag′ama, a name of several lizards allied to the iguana, natives of both hemispheres.

Agamem′non, in Greek mythology, son of Atreus, King of Mycenæ and Argos, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the allied Greeks at the siege of Troy. Returning home after the fall of Troy, he was treacherously assassinated by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her paramour, Ægisthus, Agamemnon's cousin. He was the father of Orestes, Iphigenīa, and Electra.

Ag′ami. See Trumpeter.

Agamogenesis (-jen′e-sis; Gr. a, priv., gamos, marriage, genesis, reproduction), the production of young without the congress of the sexes, one of the phenomena of alternate generation. See Generation and Parthenogenesis.

Aganippe (-nip′ē), daughter of the river-god Parmessos, or Termessos, nymph of a fountain on Mount Helicon, in Greece, sacred to the Muses, which had the property of inspiring with poetic fire whoever drank of it. The name is often given to the wife of Acrisius and mother of Danae.

Agape (ag′a-pē; Gr. agapē, love), in ecclesiastical history, the love-feast or feast of charity, in use among the primitive Christians, when a liberal contribution was made by the rich to feed the poor. For a time the agape coincided with the eucharist, which, at its origin, was clearly funerary in its intention. "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." During the first [57]three centuries love-feasts were held in the churches without scandal, but in after-times they acquired a bad reputation, not undeservedly, and they were condemned at the Council of Carthage in 397. Some modern sects, as the Wesleyans, Sandemanians, Moravians, &c., have attempted to revive this feast.

Agapemone (ag-a-pem′o-nē; lit. 'the abode of love'), the name of a singular conventual establishment which has existed at Spaxton, near Bridgewater, Somersetshire, since 1859, the originator of it being a certain Henry James Prince, at one time a clergyman of the Church of England, who called himself the Witness of the First Resurrection. The life spent by the inmates appears to be a sort of religious epicureanism. Some of the proceedings of the inmates of the 'Abode of Love' have resulted in applications to the courts of law, where parties formerly members of the society have returned to the world and sought to regain their rights from Prince and his followers, and such cases have caused some scandal. In 1902 Prince was succeeded by T. H. Smyth-Pigott.

A′gar-a′gar, a dried seaweed of the Asiatic Archipelago, the Gracilaria lichenoides, much used in the East for soups and jellies, and also by paper and silk manufacturers.

Agar′ic (Agarĭcus), a large and important genus of fungi, characterized by having a fleshy cap or pileus, and a number of radiating plates or gills on which are produced the naked spores. The majority of the species are furnished with stems, but some are attached to the objects on which they grow by their pileus. Over a thousand species are known, and are arranged in five sections according to whether the colour of their spores is white, pink, brown, purple, or black. The chief British representatives are the common wild mushroom (A. campestris, L.), the Horse mushroom (A. arvensis, Schæff.), A. elvensis, B. and Br., A. silvaticus, Schæff., &c. Many of the species are edible, like the common mushroom, and supply a delicious article of food, while others are deleterious and even poisonous.

Agaric Mineral, or Mountain-meal, one of the purest of the native carbonates of lime, found chiefly in the clefts of rocks and at the bottom of some lakes in a loose or semi-indurated form resembling a fungus. The name is also applied to a stone of loose consistence found in Tuscany, of which bricks may be made so light as to float in water, and of which the ancients are supposed to have made their floating bricks. It is a hydrated silicate of magnesium, mixed with lime, alumina, and a small quantity of iron.

Aga′sias, a Greek sculptor of Ephesus, about 400 B.C., whose celebrated statue, known as the Borghese Gladiator, representing a soldier contending with a horseman, is now in the Louvre, Paris.

Agassiz (ag′as-ē), Louis John Rudolph, an eminent naturalist, born 1807, died 1873, son of a Swiss Protestant clergyman at Motiers, near the eastern extremity of the Lake of Neufchâtel. He completed his education at Lausanne, and early developed a love of the natural sciences. He studied medicine at Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich. His attention was first specially directed to ichthyology by being called on to describe the Brazilian fishes brought to Europe from Brazil by Martius and Spix. This work was published in 1829, and was followed in 1830 by Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'eaux douces de l'Europe Centrale (Fresh-water Fishes of Central Europe). Directing his attention to fossil ichthyology, five volumes of his Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles appeared between 1834 and 1844. His researches led him to propose a new classification of fishes, which he divided into four classes, distinguished by the characters of the skin, as ganoids, placoids, cycloids, and ctenoids. His system has not been generally adopted, but the names of his classes have been taken as useful terms. In 1836 he began the study of glaciers, and in 1840 he published his Études sur les Glaciers, in 1847 his Système Glaciaire. From 1838 he had been professor of natural history at Neufchâtel, when in 1846 pressing solicitations and attractive offers induced him to settle in America, where he was connected as a teacher first with Harvard University, Cambridge, and afterwards with Cornell University as well as Harvard. After his arrival in America he engaged in various investigations and explorations, and published numerous works, including: Principles of Zoology, in connection with Dr. A. Gould (1848); Contributions to the Natural History of the United States (4 vols., 1857-62); Zoologie Générale (1854); Methods of Study in Natural History (1863). In 1865-6 he made zoological excursions and investigations in Brazil, which were productive of most valuable results. [58]Agassiz held views on many important points in science different from those which prevailed among the scientific men of the day, and in particular he strongly opposed the evolution theory. Cf. Letters and Recollections, edited by G. R. Agassiz.

Agassiz (ag′a-sē), Mount, an extinct volcano in Arizona, United States, 10,000 feet in height; a place of summer resort, near the Great Cañon of the Colorado.

Ag′ate, a semi-translucent compound mineral mass formed in the cavities of rocks by the successive deposition of various types of silica, or by the staining of a siliceous mass thus deposited along concentric zones. Bands or layers of various colours blended together, the base generally being chalcedony, and this mixed with variable proportions of jasper, amethyst, quartz, opal, heliotrope, and carnelian. The varying manner in which these materials are arranged causes the agate when polished to assume some characteristic appearances, and thus certain varieties are distinguished, as the ribbon agate, the fortification agate, the zone agate, the star agate, the moss agate, the clouded agate, &c. In Scotland they are cut and polished under the name of Scottish pebbles.

Agathar′chus, a Greek painter, native of Samos, the first to paint a scene for the acting of tragedies. The view, however, that he applied the rules of perspective to theatrical scene-painting is doubtful. He flourished about 480 B.C.

Agath′ias, a Greek poet and historian, born at Myrina, Asia Minor, about A.D. 530; author of an anthology, a collection of love poems, and a history of his own times, which is our chief authority for the period 552-8, during which time the Byzantine army was struggling against the Goths, Vandals, and Franks.

Agathocles (a-gath′o-klēz), a Sicilian Greek, one of the boldest adventurers of antiquity, born 361 B.C. By his ability and energy, and being entirely unscrupulous, he raised himself from being a potter to being tyrant of Syracuse and master of Sicily. Wars with the Carthaginians were the chief events of his life. He died at the age of seventy-two.

Ag′athon, a Greek tragic poet, a friend of Euripides, and contemporary with Socrates and Alcibiades, born about 445 B.C., died about 402 B.C. The banquet which he gave to celebrate his first dramatic victory was made the groundwork of Plato's Symposium.

Agave (a-gā′vē), a genus of plants, nat. ord. Amaryllidaceæ (which includes the daffodil and narcissus), popularly known as American aloes. They are generally large, and have a massive tuft of fleshy leaves with a spiny apex. They live for many years—ten to seventy according to treatment—before flowering. When this takes place, the tall flowering stem springs from the centre of the tuft of leaves, and grows very rapidly until it reaches a height of 15, 20, or even 40 feet, bearing towards the end a large number of flowers. The best-known species is A. americāna, known as the Maguey or 'tree of wonders', introduced into Spain in 1561, and now extensively grown in the warmer parts of this continent as well as in Asia (India in particular). This and other species yield various important products, the chief being the fibre obtained by maceration from the leaves and roots, and known commercially as American aloe, pita flax, or vegetable silk. The sap when fermented yields a beverage resembling cider, the pulque beer of the Spaniards, or is distilled into an intoxicating spirit (Mezcal or Aguardiente). The leaves are used for feeding cattle; the fibres of the leaves are formed into thread, cord, and ropes, and are also good material for paper-making; an extract from the leaves is used as a substitute for soap; slices of the withered flower-stem are used as razor-strops.

Agde (a˙gd), a seaport of southern France, department of Hérault, with a cathedral, an ancient and remarkable structure. The trade, chiefly coasting, is extensive. Pop. 9265.

Age, a period of time representing the whole [59]or a part of the duration of any individual thing or being, but used more specifically in a variety of senses. In law age is applied to the periods of life when men and women are enabled to do that which before, for want of years and consequently of judgment, they could not legally do. A male at twelve years old may take the oath of allegiance; at fourteen is at years of discretion, and therefore may choose his guardian or be an executor, although he cannot act until of age; and at twenty-one is at his own disposal, and may alienate and devise his lands, goods, and chattels. In English law a male at fourteen and a female at twelve may consent or disagree to marriage, but it cannot be celebrated without the consent of the parents or guardians until the parties are of age. A female at fourteen is at years of legal discretion, and may choose a guardian; at seventeen may be an executrix; and at twenty-one may dispose of herself and her lands. So that full age in male or female is twenty-one years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person's birth, who till that time is an infant, and so styled in law. In France majority is attained at twenty-one, whilst the marriageable age is eighteen for males and fifteen for females, subject to consent of parents or guardians. In England no one can take a seat in Parliament under twenty-one, be ordained a priest under twenty-four, nor made a bishop under thirty. In France a seat in the Chamber of Deputies may be taken only at twenty-five and in the Senate at forty. The law of Scotland divides life into three periods—pupilarity, minority, and majority. The first extends up to the time of legal puberty, that is, twelve years for a female and fourteen for a male, when they may marry; the second extends from this point up to twenty-one years, which is the time when majority is attained.

The term is also applied to designate the successive epochs or stages of civilization in history or mythology. Hesiod speaks of five distinct ages:—1. The golden or Saturnian age, a patriarchal and peaceful age. 2. The silver age, licentious and wicked. 3. The brazen age, violent, savage, and warlike. 4. The heroic age, which seemed an approximation to a better state of things. 5. The iron age, when justice and honour had left the earth. The term is also used in such expressions as the dark ages, the middle ages, the Elizabethan age, &c.

The Archæological Ages or Periods are three—the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, these names being given in accordance with the materials chiefly employed for weapons, implements, &c., during the particular period. The Stone Age of Europe has been subdivided into two—the Palæolithic or earlier, and Neolithic or later. The word age in this sense has no reference to the lapse of time—or not necessarily so—but simply refers to the stage at which a people has arrived in its progress towards civilization; thus there are races still in their stone age. The Palæolithic or earlier stone age in Europe was doubtless immensely earlier than the Neolithic, the latter being marked by implements of much greater finish than the former. See Stone Age.

Agen (a˙-zhan˙), one of the oldest towns in France, capital of department Lot-et-Garonne on the Garonne, 74 miles south-east of Bordeaux; see of a bishop; manufactures sailcloth and other articles, and has an extensive trade. The river is here crossed by a stone bridge, a suspension bridge, and a canal aqueduct. Pop. 23,294.

Agenor (a-jē′nor), a mythical Greek hero, King of Phœnicia, and father of Europa and Cadmus. Also one of the bravest among the Trojans, slain by Neoptolemus.

A′gent, a person appointed by another to act for or perform any kind of business for him, the latter being called in relation to the former the principal. Ambassadors were originally styled diplomatic agents.—In India, it is the name for an officer to whom political power is given to deal with native states.—Army Agent is a kind of military banker, authorized by the Government to manage the monetary affairs of a regiment. There are only a few of these agents, and consequently each has in charge the affairs of a number of different regiments.—Crown Agents are officials appointed by the secretary of state for the colonies to act as commercial and financial agents in this country for the different British colonies that are not self-governing; those that are self-governing appoint their own agents, who are designated agents-general.—Agent in mechanics is the general force producing a movement.

Ageratum (a-jer′a-tum), a genus of composite plants of the warmer parts of America, one species of which, A. mexicānum, is a well-known flower-border annual with dense lavender-blue heads. From it have been derived several varieties with flowers of different colours used chiefly as bedding plants.

Ager Publicus. See Agrarian Law.

Agesilaus (a-jes-i-lā′us), a king of Sparta, born in 444 B.C., and elevated to the throne after the death of his brother Agis II. He acquired renown by his exploits against the Persians, Thebans, and Athenians. Though a vigorous ruler, and almost adored by his soldiers, he was of small stature and lame from his birth. He died in Egypt in the winter of 361-360 B.C. His life has been written by Xenophon, Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos.

Agglom′erate, in geology, a collective name for masses consisting of angular fragments ejected [60]from volcanoes. When a rock mass consists largely of fragments worn and rounded by water it is called a conglomerate, and such masses were originally, no doubt, gravels and shingles on sea beaches and river channels.

Agglu′tinate Languages, languages in which the modifying suffixes are, as it were, glued on to the root, both it and the suffixes retaining a kind of distinctive independence and individuality, as in the Japanese, Turkish, and other Turanian languages, and the Basque language.

Agg′regate, a term applied in geology to rocks composed of several different mineral constituents capable of being separated by mechanical means, as granite, where the quartz, felspar, and mica can be separated mechanically.—In botany it is applied to flowers composed of many small florets having a common undivided receptacle, the anthers being distinct and separate, the florets commonly standing on stalks, and each having a partial calyx.

Aggry Beads, glass beads of various forms and colours, prized by the natives of West Africa as ornaments, and as having magical and medicinal virtues. Their origin and history are not well known. Such beads have been found in various parts of the world, including North and South America, and often in graves. Some authorities believe that the oldest of them are the work of the ancient Egyptians, or the Phœnicians, while the later are probably of Venetian origin.

Agha, see Aga.

Aghrim, see Aughrim.

Agincourt (a˙-zhan˙-kör), a village of Northern France, department Pas de Calais, famous for the battle of 25th Oct., 1415, between the French and English. Henry V, King of England, eager to conquer France, landed at Harfleur, took the place by storm, and wished to march through Picardy to Calais, but was met by a French army under the Constable d'Albret. The English numbered about 15,000 men, while the French numbers are variously given as from 50,000 to 150,000. The confined nature and softness of the ground were to the disadvantage of the French, who were drawn up in three columns unnecessarily deep. The English archers attacked the first division in front and in flank, and soon threw them into disorder. The second division fled on the fall of the Duc d'Alençon, who was struck down by Henry himself; and the third division fled without striking a blow. Of the French 10,000 were killed, including the Constable d'Albret, with six dukes and princes. The English lost 1600 men killed, among them the Duke of York, Henry's uncle. After the battle the English continued their march to Calais.

Agio (ā′ji-ō), the difference between the real and the nominal value of money, as between paper money and actual coin. It is used to denote both the difference between two currencies in the same country and the variations in the currencies of different countries. The term is derived from the It. aggiungere, to add, augment, hence agiotage. See Disagio and Balance of Trade.

Agira (a˙-jē′ra˙), (ancient Agyrium), a town of Sicily south-west of Etna. Pop. 22,485.

Agis (ā′jis), the name of four Spartan kings, the most important of whom was Agis IV, who succeeded to the throne in 244 B.C., and reigned four years. He attempted a reform of the abuses which had crept into the State—his plan comprehending a redistribution of the land, a division of wealth, and the cancelling of all debts. Opposed by his colleague Leonidas, advantage was taken of his absence, in an expedition against the Ætolians, to depose him. Agis at first took sanctuary in a temple, but he was treacherously seized and strangled, after going through the form of a trial.

Agistment (from the Lat. ad, to, and Fr. giste, lodging), a term designating the pasturing of horses, cattle, or sheep of another. See Bailment.

Agitators, an alternative form of Adjutators, a name given to the representatives elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English parliamentary army.

Aglaia (a-glā′ya), wife of Hephaistos, in Greek mythology, one of the three Graces, the other two being Euphrosyne and Thalia.

Aglossa, a sub-order of anurous amphibia, the frogs, without a tongue.

Agnano (a˙-nyä′nō), until 1870 a lake of Italy, west of Naples, occupying probably the crater of an extinct volcano, but now drained.

Ag′nates, in the civil law, relations on the male side, in opposition to cognates, relations on the female side.

Agnello Pass, see European War.

Agnes, St., a virgin martyr who, according to the story, suffered martyrdom because she steadfastly refused to marry Sempronius, the prefect of Rome, and adhered to her religion in spite of repeated temptations and threats, A.D. 303. She was first led to the stake, but as the flames did not injure her she was beheaded. Her festival is celebrated on 21st Jan. For superstitions connected with St. Agnes' Eve see Keats's poem The Eve of St. Agnes. Tintoret's most remarkable picture is The Martyrdom of St. Agnes.

Agnes, St., the most southerly of the Scilly Islands. A lighthouse was erected here as early as 1680; another on the Wolf Rock near the island was completed in 1858.

Agnesi (a˙-nyā′sē), Maria Gaetana, a learned [61]Italian lady, born at Milan in 1718. In her ninth year she was able to speak Latin, in her eleventh Greek; she then studied the oriental languages, and at the age of thirteen mastered Hebrew, besides French, Spanish, and German. She was called the 'Walking Polyglot'. She next studied geometry, philosophy, and mathematics. She was appointed, in 1750, professor of mathematics in the University of Bologna, ultimately took the veil, and died in 1799. Her sister, Maria Theresa, composed several cantatas and three operas.