Encyclopaedia Britannica [1, 9 ed.]

Table of contents :
Cover
Title
Prefatory Notice
A
ABB
ABE
ABU
ACC
ACO
ACQ
ADA
ADM
AEDI
AER
AEST
AFG
AFR
AGE
AGR
AGR
AGR
AGR
AGR
AGR
AGR
ALA
ALC
ALE
ALE
ALG
ALG
ALG
ALL
ALP
ALP
ALT
AMB
AME
AME
AME
AMM
AMP
AMS
ANA
ANA
ANA
ANA
ANA
ANA
Plates
Aeronautics
Africa
Agriculture
North America
South America
Anatomy

Citation preview

ENCYCLOPiEDIA BRITANNICA NINTH EDITION

A

THE

ENCYCLOPiEDIA BRITANNICA DICTIONAEY

ARTS, SCIENCES, AND GENERAL LITERATURE

NINTH EDITION

VOLUME

I

(^LIERARY^)

EDINBURGH: ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK MDCCCLXXV

[ All Rights reserved. ]

-

■

t'\

j-

1’RINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH

PREFATORY NOTICE.

has long deservedly held a foremost place amongst -L English Encyclopaedias. It secured this position by its plan and method of treatment, the plan being more comprehensive, and the treatment a happier blending of popular and scientific exposition than had previously been attempted in any undertaking of the kind. The distinctive feature of the work was that it gave a connected view of the more important subjects under a single heading, instead of breaking them up into a number of shorter articles. This method of arrangement had a twofold advantage. The space afforded for extended exposition helped to secure the services of the more independent and productive minds who were engaged in advancing their own departments of scientific inquiry. As a natural result, the work, while surveying in outline the existing field of knowledge, was able at the same time to enlarge its boundaries by embodying, in special articles, the fruits of original observation and research. The Encyclopaedia Britannica thus became, to some extent at least, an instrument as well as a register of scientific progress. This characteristic feature of the work will be retained and made even more prominent in the New Edition, as the list of contributors already published sufficiently indicates. In some other respects, however, the plan will be modified, to meet the multiplied requirements of advancing knowledge. In the first place, the rapid progress of science during the last quarter of a century necessitates many changes, as well as a considerable increase in the number of headings devoted to its exposition. In dealing with vast wholes, such as Physics and Biology, it is always a difficult problem how best to distribute the parts under an alphabetical arrangement, and perhaps impossible to make such a distribution perfectly consistent and complete. The difficulty of distribution is increased by the complexity of divisions and multiplication of details, which the progress of science involves, and which constitute indeed the most authentic note of advancing knowledge. This sign of progress is reflected in extensive changes of terminology and nomenclature, vague general headings once appropriate and sufficient, such as Animalcule, being of necessity abandoned for more precise and significant equivalents. But, since the publication of the last edition, science, in each of its main divisions, may mHE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

VI

PREFATORY NOTICE.

be said to have changed as much in substance as in form.

The new conceptions introduced

into the Biological Sciences have revolutionised their points of view, methods of procedure, and systems of classification. In the light of larger and more illuminating generalisations, sections of the subject, hitherto only partially explored, have acquired new prominence and value, and are cultivated with the keenest interest. It is enough to specify the researches into the ultimate structures, serial gradations, and progressive changes of organic forms, into the laws of their distribution in space and time, and into the causes by which these phenomena have been brought about. The results of persistent labour in these compaiativcly new fields of inquiry will largely determine the classifications of the future. Meanwhile the whole system of grouping, and many points of general doctrine, are in a transition state; and what is said and done in these directions must be regarded, to a certain extent at least, as tentative and provisional. - In these circumstances, the really important thing is, that whatever may be said on such unsettled questions should be said with the authority of the fullest knowledge and insight, and every effort has been made to secure this advantage for the New Edition of the Encyclopaedia. The recent history of Physics is marked by changes both of conception and classification almost equally great. In advancing from the older dynamic to the newer potential and kinetic conceptions of power, this branch of science may be said to have entered on a fresh stage, in which, instead of regarding natural phenomena as the result of forces acting between one body and another, the energy of a material system is looked upon as determined by its configuration and motion, and the ideas of configuration, motion, and force are generalised to the utmost extent warranted by their definitions. This altered point of view, combined with the far reaching doctrines of the correlation of foices and the conservation of energy, has produced extensive changes in the nomenclature and classifi cation of the various sections of physics; while the fuller investigations into the ultimate constitution of matter, and into the phenomena and laws of light, heat, and electricity, have created virtually new sections, which must now find a place in any adequate survey of scientific progress. The application of the newer principles to the mechanical arts and industries has rapidly advanced during the same period, and will require extended illustration in many fresh directions. Mechanical invention has, indeed, so kept pace with the progress of science, that in almost every department of physics improved machines and processes have to be described, as well as fresh discoveries and altered points of view. In recent as in earlier times, invention and discovery have acted and reacted on each other to a marked extent, the instruments of finer measurement and analysis having directly contributed to the finding out of physical properties and laws. The spectroscope is a signal instance of the extent to which in our day scientific discovery is indebted to appropriate instruments of observation and analysis. These extensive changes in Physics and Biology involve corresponding changes in the method of their exposition. Much in what was written about each a generation ago is now of comparatively little value.

Not only therefore does the system of grouping m these

PEEFATOEY NOTICE.

VII

sciences require alteration and enlargement; the articles themselves must, in the majority of instances, be written afresh rather than simply revised. The scientific department of the work will thus be to a great extent new. In attempting to distribute the headings for the new edition, so as fairly to cover the ground occupied by modern science, I have been largely indebted to Professor Huxley and Professor Clerk Maxwell, whose valuable help in the matter I am glad to have an opportunity of acknowledging. Passing from Natural and Physical Science to Literature, History, and Philosophy, it may be noted that many sections of knowledge connected with these departments display fresh tendencies, and are working towards new results, which, if faithfully reflected, will require a new style of treatment. Speaking generally, it may be said that human nature and human life are the great objects of inquiry in these departments. Man, in his individual powers, complex relationships, associated activities, and collective progress, is dealt with alike in Literature, History, and Philosophy. In this wider aspect, the rudest and most fragmentary records of savage and barbarous races, the earliest stories and traditions of every lettered people, no less than their developed literatures, mythologies, and religions, are found to have a meaning and value of their own. As yet the rich supplied for throwing light on the central problems of human life and history have only been very partially turned to account. It may be said, indeed, that their real significance is perceived and appreciated, almost for the first time, in our own day. But under the influence of the modern spirit, they are now being dealt with in a strictly scientific manner. The available facts of human history, collected over the widest areas, are carefully co-ordinated and grouped together, in the hope of ultimately evolving the laws of progress, moral and material, which underlie them, and which, when evolved, will help to connect and interpret the whole onward movement of the race. Already the critical use of the comparative method has produced very striking results in this new and stimulating field of research. Illustrations of this are seen in the rise and rapid development of eomparatively modern science of Anthropology, and the successful cultivation of the assistant sciences, sue i as Archaeology, Ethnography, and Philology, which directly contribute materials for its use. The activity of geographical research in both hemispheres, and the large additions recently made to our knowledge of older and newer continents by the discoveries of eminent travellers and explorers, afford the anthropologist additional materials for his work. any branches of mental philosophy, again, such as Ethics, Psychology, and ^Esthetics, while supplying important elements to the new science, are at the same time very largely

materials thus

the

interested m its results, and all may be regarded as subservient to the wider problems raised by the philosophy of history. In the new edition of the Encyclopedia full justice will, it is hoped, be done to the progress made in these various directions. It may be well, perhaps, to state at the outset the position taken by the Encyclopedia ntanmea m relation to the active controversies of the time-Scientific, Religious, and i osophical. This is the more necessary, as the prolific activity of modern science has naturally stimulated speculation, and given birth to a number of somewhat crude conjee-

PREFATORY NOTICE.

viii

tures and hypotheses.

The air is full of novel and extreme opinions, arising often from

a hasty or one-sided interpretation of the newer aspects and results of modern inquiry. The higher problems of philosophy and religion, too, are being investigated afresh from opposite sides in a thoroughly earnest spirit, as well as with a directness and intellectual power, which is certainly one of the most striking signs of the times. This fresh outbreak of the inevitable contest between the old and the new is a fruitful source of exaggerated hopes and fears, and of excited denunciation and appeal. In this conflict a work like the Encyclopaedia is not called upon to take any direct part. It has to do with knowledge rather than opinion, and to deal with all subjects from a critical and historical, rather than a dogmatic, point of view. It cannot be the organ of any sect or party in Science, Religion, or Philosophy. Its main duty is to give an accurate account of the facts and an impartial summary of results in every department of inquiry and research.

This duty will, I hope,

be faithfully performed. T. S. BAYNES. ST ANDREWS, 1S£

January 1875.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BBITANNICA.

A

A

THE first symbol of every Indo-European alphabet, 5 denotes also the primary vowel sound. This coincidence is probably only accidental. The alphabets of Em ope, and perhaps of India also, were of Semitic origin, and in all the Semitic alphabets except one, this same symbol (in modified forms) holds the first place; but it represents a peculiar breathing, not the vowel a,—-the vowels in the Semitic languages occupying a subordinate place, and having originally no special symbols. When the Greeks, with whom the vowel sounds were much more important, borrowed the alphabet of Phoenicia, they required symbols to express those vowels, and used for this purpose the signs of breathings which were strange to them, and therefore needed not to be preserved; thus the Phoenician equivalent of the Hebrew aleph became cdjiha; it denoted, however, no more a guttural breathing, but the puiest vowel sound. Still, it would be too much to assume that the Greeks of that day were so skilled in phonetics that they assigned the first symbol of their borrowed alphabet to the a-sound, because they knew that sound to be the most essential vowel. This primary vowel-sound (the sound of a in father) is produced by keeping the passage through which the air is vocalised between the glottis and the lips in the most open position possible. In sounding all other vowels, the airchannel is narrowed by the action either of the tongue or the lips. But here neither the back of the tongue is raised (as it is in sounding o and other vowels), so that a free space is left between the tongue and the uvula, nor is the front of the tongue raised (as in sounding e), so that the space is clear between the tongue and the palate. Again, no other vowel is pronounced with a wider opening of the bps; whereas the aperture is sensibly reduced at each side when we sound o, and still more when we sound u (that is, yoo). The whole channel, therefore, from the glottis, where the breath first issues forth to be modified in the oral cavity, to the lips, where it finally escapes, is thoroughly open. Hence arises the great importance of the sound, by reason of its thoroughly non-consonantal character. All vowels may be defined as open positions

of the speech-organs, in which the breath escapes without any stoppage, friction, or sibilation arising from the contact of those organs, whereas consonants are heard when the organs open after such contact more or less complete. Now, all vowels except a are pronounced with a certain contraction of the organs; thus, in sounding the i (the English e-sound), the tongue is raised so as almost to touch the palate, the passage left being so close, that if the tongue were suffered for a second to rest on the palate, there would be heard not i but y; and a similar relation exists between u and w. This is commonly expressed by calling y and w semi-vowels. We might more exactly call i and u consonantal-vowels; and as an historic fact, i does constantly pass into y, and u into w, and vice versa. But no consonant has this relation to the a-sound; it has absolutely no affinity to any consonant; it is, as we have called it, the one primary essential vowel. The importance of this sound may be shown by historical as well as by physiological evidence. We find by tracing the process of phonetic change in different languages, that when one vowel passes into another, it is the pure a-sound which thus assumes other forms, whereas other vowels do not pass into the a-sound, though sometimes _ the new sound may have this symbol. Roughly speaking, we might express the general character of vowel change by drawing two lines from a common point, at which a is placed. One of these lines marks the progress of an original a (aA-sound) through e (a-sound), till it sinks finally to i (e-sound); the other marks a similar degradation, through o to u (oo-sound). This figure omits • many minor modifications, and is subject to some, exceptions in particular languages. But it represents fairly in the main the general process of vowelchange. Now, we do not assert that there ever was a time when a was the only existing vowel, but we do maintain that in numberless cases an original a has passed into other sounds, whereas the reverse process is excessively

2

A — AAR

rare. Consequently, the farther we trace hack the history of-thirst). Sometimes, especially with verbs, it represents of language, the more instances of this vowel do we find; the old English d, which in old High German appears as the more nearly, if not entirely, does it become the one ur or er, and in modern German as er, which signifies the completion of an action, as in erwachen, to which awake starting point from which all vowel-sound is derived. It is principally to the effort required to keep this corresponds. Frequently no special force seems to be sound pure that we must attribute the great corruption of added by the prefix, as in abide, arise, &c. Sometimes a it in all languages, and in none more than our own. In- appears as the representative of the prefix commonly used deed, in English, the short a-sound is never heard pure ; it in past participles, which has the form ge in German, and is heard in Scotland, e.y., in man, which is quite different ge and y in old English, e.g., in ago or agone; compare from the same word on English lips. We have it, how- aware (O.E. gewaere), among (O.E. gemang), &c. A also ever, long in father, &c., though it is not common. . It has stood for the preposition an (on) in such expressions (now passed into a great many other sounds, all of which are obsolete) as a-doing, a-making, where doing and making are denoted in a most confusing way by the original symbol, verbal nouns. Lastly, it represents the prepositions on or and some by other symbols as well. Thus a denotes (1.) o/in the phrases now-a-days, Jack-a-lantem, and others. The place that A occupies in the alphabet accounts for The English vowel-sound in man, perhaps the most common of all the substitutes, dating from the 17th century. (2.) its being much employed as a mark or symbol. It is used, It appears in want; for this sound o is also employed, as in for instance, to name the sixth note of the gamut in music; on. (3.) A more open sound is heard in all (also denoted in some systems of notation it is a numeral (see AKITII; and in Logic it denotes a universal affirmative by au in auk, and aw in awl). (4.) Very commonly it re- METIC) proposition (see LOGIC). In algebra, a and the first letters presents the continental e, as in ale (here also we have the symbol ai in ail). (5.) It is found in dare and many of the alphabet are employed to represent known quantisimilar words, where the sound is really the e of den, pro- ties. AI marks the best class of vessels in Lloyd’s Relonged in the utterance; here also ai is sometimes an gister of British and Foreign Shipping. In the old poets, equivalent, as in air. Then (6) there is a sound which is “ A per se” is found, meaning the highest degree of excelnot that of a either in man or in father, but something lence; as when Chaucer calls Creseide “ the floure and A between the two. It is heard in such words as ask, pass, per se of Troye and Grece.” A was the first of the eight literce nundinales at Rome, grant, &c. All these may be, and often are, pronounced with the sound either of man or of father; still, we do often and on this analogy it stands as the first of the seven Dominihear in them a clearly distinguishable intermediate sound, cal letters. It is often used as an abbreviation, as in A.D. for anno which ought to have a special symbol. Lastly (7), there is the dull sound heard in final unaccentuated syllables, e.g., domini, A.M. for ante meridiem, A.B. and A.M. for artium baccalaureus and artium magister. In commerce A stands in the word final itself. It is that to which all unaccenfor accepted. (J- p-) tuated syllables tend; but it is also often heaid even in AA, the name of about forty small European rivers. monosyllables, where it is represented by every other vowelThe word is derived from the old German aha, cognate symbol in the language, e.g., in her, sir, son, min. This Protean sound is commonly called the neutral vowel; it to the Latin aqua, water. The following are the more occurs in all languages, but perhaps in none so frequently important streams of this name :—a river of Holland, in as in English. This great variety of sounds, which are all North Brabant, which joins the Dommel at Bois-le-Duc; denoted among us by one symbol, clearly shows the in- two rivers in the west of Russia, both falling into the Gulf of Livonia, near Riga, which is situated between sufficiency of our written alphabet. As in English, so in Sanskrit, the short a/i-sound was them; a river in the north of France, falling into the sea lost, and was replaced regularly by the neutral _ sound. at Gravelines, and navigable as far as St Omer; and a This was regarded by the grammarians as inherent in every river of Switzerland, in the cantons of Lucerne and Aargau, consonant, and therefore was only written at the beginning which carries the waters of Lakes Baldeker and Hallwyler of a word; in fact, it is the smallest amount of vowel- into the Aar. AACHEN. See AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. sound requisite to float a consonant. Long a, however, AALBORG, a city and seaport of Denmark, is situated on kept its sound pure, and does so still in the vernaculars of the Liimfiord, about 15 miles from its junction with the India. In Latin the sound was probably pure, both short and long, and it has been preserved so in the Romance Cattegat. It is the capital of the district of the same languages down to the present day. In Greek there was name, one of the subdivisions of the province of Jutland. considerable variation, proved in one case at least by a The city is a place of considerable commercial importance, variation of symbol; in Ionic a commonly passed into and contains a cathedral and a school of navigation. Soap, tobacco, and leather are manufactured; there are several v, a symbol which probably denoted the modern Italian open e ; but possibly the close e, that is, the English a in distilleries; and the herring fishery is extensively prosecuted. ale. On the other hand, it is probable that the Doric a Grain and herring are largely exported, as are also to a approximated to an o, being sounded as a in our word smaller extent wool, cattle, skins, tallow, salt provisions, and The harbour, which is good and safe, though want; and it is likely that this variation was the TrAa-macr- spirits. jaos which the grammarians attribute to the Dorians. This difficult of access, is entered by about 800 vessels annually, is commonly supposed to have been the retention of a where and there is direct steam communication with Copenhagen. the Ionic had g; but that was not peculiar to the Dorians, The district is celebrated for its breed of horses. Populabeing common to all the Greeks except the lonians. In tion (1870), 11,953. AALEN, a walled town of Wurtemberg, pleasantly the north of Europe we find a similar tendency to give to a an o-sound; thus in Norse, aa is sounded as an open o. situated on the Kocher, at the foot of the Swabian Alps, By a further extension in the north of England, at least in about 50 miles E. of Stuttgart. Woollen and linen goods such parts as have been specially exposed to Norwegian are manufactured, and there are ribbon looms and tanneries influence, au has the sound of o ; e.g., law is pronounced lo. in the town, and large iron works in the neighbourhood. A is frequently used as a prefix in lieu of some fuller Aalen was a free imperial city from 1360 till 1863, when form in old English. Thus it stands for the preposition it was annexed to Wurtemberg. Population (1871), 5552. AAR, or AAKE, the most considerable river in Switzeron (O.E. an) in away, again, afoot, asleep; for off in adown (O.E. of-dune); and seems to be intensive in athirst (O.E. land, after the Rhine and Rhone. It rises in the glaciers

A A R—A A R of the Finster-aarhom, Schreckhorn, and Grimsel, in the canton of Bern; and at the Handeck in the valley of Hash forms a magnificent water-fall of above 150 feet in height. It then falls successively into the lakes Brienz and Thun, and, emerging from the latter, flows through the cantons of Bern, Soleure, and Aargau, emptying itself into the Rhine, opposite Waldshut, after a course of about 170 miles. Its principal tributary streams are the Kander, Saane, and Thiele on the left, and the Emmen, Surin, Aa, Reuss, and Limmat, on the right. On its banks are situated Unterseen, Thun, Bern, Soleure or Solothurn, Aarburg, and Aarau. The Aar is a beautiful silvery river, abounding in fish, and is navigable from the Rhine as far as the Lake of Thun. Several small rivers in Germany have the same name. AARAU, the chief town of the canton of Aargau in Switzerland, is situated at the foot of the Jura mountains, on the right bank of the river Aar, 41 miles N.E. of Bern. It is well built, and contains a town-hall, barracks, several small museums, and a library rich in histories of Switzerland. There is a cannon foundry at Aarau, and among the principal manufactures are silk, cotton, and leather; also cutlery and mathematical instruments, which are held in great repute. The slopes of the neighbouring mountains are partially covered with vines, and the vicinity of the town is attractive. About ten miles distant along the right bank of the Aar are the famous baths of Schinznach. Population, 5449. AARD-YARK (earth-pig), an animal very common in South Africa, measuring upwards of three feet in length, and having a general resemblance to a short-legged pig. It feeds on ants, and is of nocturnal habits, and very timid and harmless. Its flesh is used as food, and when suitably preserved is considered a delicacy. The animal is the only known species of its genus (Oryderopus), and belongs to the order Edentata of the mammalia. The same prefix Aard appears in the name of the AARD-WOLF (Protetes Polandii), a rare animal found in Caffraria, which is said to partake of the characters of the dog and civet. See MAMMALIA.

AARGAU (French, ARGO VIE), one of the cantons of Switzerland, derives its name from the river which flows through it, Aar-gau being the province or district of the Aar. It is bounded on the north by the Rhine, which divides it from the duchy of Baden, on the east by Zurich and Zug, on the south by Lucerne, and on the west by Bern, Soleure or Solothurn, and Basel. It has an area of 502£ square miles. By the census of 1870, the number of inhabitants was 198,873, showing an increase during the preceding ten years of 4665. Aargau stands sixth among the Swiss cantons in density of population, having 395 inhabitants to the square mile. The statistics of 1870 show that of the inhabitants 107,703 were Protestants, 89,180 Catholics, and 1541 Jews. German is the language almost universally spoken. Aargau is the least mountainous canton of Switzerland. It forms part of a great table-land to the north of the Alps and the east of the Jura, having a general elevation of from 1200. to 1500 feet. The hills do not rise to any greater height than 1800 feet above this table-land, or 3000 feet above the level of the sea. The surface of the country is beautifully diversified, undulating tracts and well-wooded hills alternating with fertile valleys watered by the Aar and its numerous tributaries, and by the rivulets which flow northward into the Rhine. Although moist and variable, the climate is milder than in most parts of Switzerland. The minerals of Aargau are unimportant, but remarkable palaeontological remains are found in its rocks. The soil to the left of the Aar is a stiff clay, but to the right it is light and productive. Agriculture is in an advanced state, and great attention is given to the rearing of cattle. There

3

are many vineyards, and much fruit is grown. The canton is distinguished by its industry and its generally diffused prosperity. Many of the inhabitants are employed in the fishings on the Aar, and in the navigation of the river. In the villages and towns there are considerable manufactures of cotton goods, silk, and linen. The chief exports are cattle, hides, cheese, timber, raw cotton, yarn, cotton cloths, silk, machinery, and wooden wares; and the imports include wheat, wine, salt, leather, and iron. The most important towns are Aarau, Baden, Zofingen, and Laufenburg, and there are mineral springs at Baden, Schinznach, Leerau, and Niederweil. The Swiss Junction Railway crosses the Rhine near Waldshut, and runs south through the canton to Turgi, whence one line proceeds S.E. to Zurich, and another S.W. to Aarau and Olben. Until 1798, Aargau formed part of the canton of Bern, but when the Helvetic Republic was proclaimed, it was erected into a separate canton. In 1803 it received a considerable accession of territory, in virtue of the arrangement under which the French evacuated Switzerland. According to the law whereby the cantons are represented in the National Council by one member for every 20,000 inhabitants, Aargau returns ten representatives to that assembly. The internal government is vested in a legislative council elected by the body of the people, while a smaller council of seven members is chosen by the larger body for the general administration of affairs. The resources of Aargau are stated to amount to about a million sterling; its revenue in 1867 was nearly £82,000, and the expenditure slightly greater. There is a public debt of about £40,000. The canton is divided into eleven districts, and these again are subdivided into forty-eight circles. There is a court of law for each district, and a superior court for the whole canton, to which cases involving sums above 160 francs can be appealed. Education is compulsory; but in the Roman Catholic districts the law is not strictly enforced. By improved schools and other appliances great progress has been made in education within the last thirty or forty years. AARHUUS, a city and seaport of Denmark, situated on the Cattegat, in lat. 56° 9' N., long. 10° 12' E. It is the chief town of a fertile district of the same name, one of the subdivisions of Jutland. The cathedral of Aarhuus is a Gothic structure, and the largest church in Denmark. The town also contains a lyceum, museum, and library. Aarhuus is a place of extensive trade. It has a good find safe harbour, has regular steam communication with Copenhagen, and is connected by rail with Viborg and the interior of the country. Agricultural produce, spirits, leather, and gloves are exported, and there are sugar refineries, and manufactures of wool, cotton, and tobacco. Population (1870), 15,020. AARON, the first high-priest of the Jews, eldest son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi, and brother of Moses and Miriam. When Moses was commissioned to conduct the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, Aaron was appointed to assist him, principally, it would appear, on account of his possessing, in a high degree, persuasive readiness of speech. On the occasion of Moses’ absence in Mount Sinai (to which he had gone up to receive the tables of the law), the Israelites, regarding Aaron as their leader, clamorously demanded that he should provide them with a visible symbolic image of their God for worship. He weakly complied with the demand, and out of the ornaments of gold contributed for the purpose cast the figure of a calf, tins form being doubtless chosen in recollection of the idols of Egypt. In obedience to instructions given by God to Moses, Aaron was appointed high-priest; his sons and descendants, priests; and his tribe was set apart as the sacerdotal caste. The office of high-priest was held by Aaron for nearly forty years, till the time of his

4

A A R —A BA

death, which took place on Mount Hor, when he was 123 years old. AARSSENS, FRANCIS VAN (1572-1641), one of the greatest diplomatists of the United Provinces. He represented the States-General at the Court of France for many years, and was also engaged in embassies to Venice, Germany, and England. His great diplomatic ability appears from the memoirs he wrote of his negotiations in 1624 with Richelieu, who ranked him among the three greatest politicians of his time. A deep stain rests on the memory of Aarssens from the share he had in the death of Barneveldt, who was put to death by the States-General, after the semblance of a trial, in 1619. ABABDE, an African tribe occupying the country between the Red Sea and the Nile, to the S. of Kosseir, nearly as far as the latitude of Derr. Many of the race have settled on the eastern bank of the Nile, but the greater part still live like Bedouins. They are a distinct race from the Arabs, and are treacherous and faithless in their dealings. They have few horses ; when at war with other tribes, they fight from camels, their breed of which is famed. They possess considerable property, and trade in senna, and in charcoal made from acacia wood, which they send as far as Cairo. ABACA or ABAKA, a name given to the Musa textihs, the plant that produces the fibre called Manilla Hemp, and also to the fibre itself. ABACUS, an architectural term (from the Gr. a/3a^, a tray or flat board) applied to the upper part of the capital of a column, pier, &c. The early form of an abacus is

Forms of the Abacus.

simply a square flat stone, probably derived from the Tuscan order. In Saxon work it is frequently simply chamfered, but sometimes grooved, as in the crypt at Repton (fig. 1), and in the arcade of the refectory at Westminster.' The abacus in Norman work is square where the columns are small; but on larger piers it is sometimes octagonal, as at Waltham Abbey. The square of the abacus is often sculptured, as at the White Tower and at Alton (fig. 2). In early English work the abacus is generally circular, and in larger work a continuation of circles (fig. 4), sometimes octagonal, and occasionally square. The mouldings are generally rounds, which overhang deep hollows. The abacus in early French work is generally square, as at Blois (fig. 3). The term is applied in its diminutive form (Abaciscus) to the chequers or squares of a tesFig. 5.—Roman Abacus. sellated pavement. ABACUS also signifies an instrument employed by the ancients for arithmetical calculations; pebbles, bits of bone, or coins, being used as counters. The accompanying figure (5) of a Roman abacus is taken from an ancient monument. It contains seven long and seven shorter rods or bars, the former having four perforated beads running on

them, and the latter one. The bar marked I indicates units, X tens, and so on up to millions. The beads on the shorter bars denote fives,—five units, five tens, Ac. The rod O and corresponding short rod are for marking ounces; and the short quarter rods for fractions of an ounce. The Swan-Pan of the Chinese (fig. 6) closely resembles the Roman abacus in its 6.—Chinese Swan-Pan. construction and use. Computations are made with it by means of balls of bone or ivory running on slender bamboo rods similar to the simpler board, fitted up with beads strung on wires, which is employed in teaching the rudiments of arithmetic in elementary schools. ABdE, a town of ancient Greece in the E. of Phocis, famous for a temple and oracle of Apollo. The temple was plundered and burned by the Persians (B.C. 480), and again by the Boeotians (B.C. 346), and was restored on a smaller scale by Hadrian. Remains of the temple and town may still be traced on a peaked hill near Exarkho. See Leake’s Northern Greece.

ABAKANSK, a fortified town of Siberia, in the government of Yeniseisk, on the river Abakan, near its confluence with the Yenisei. Lat. 54° N.; long. 91° 14' E. This is considered the mildest and most salubrious place in Siberia, and is remarkable for the tumuli in its neighbourhood, and for some statues of men from seven to nine feet high, covered with hieroglyphics. Population about 1000. ABANA and PHARPAR, “rivers of Damascus” (2 Kings v. 12), are now generally identified with the Barada and the Awaj respectively. The former flows through the city of Damascus; the Awaj, a smaller stream, passes eight miles to the south. Both run from west to east across the plain of Damascus, which owes to them much of its fertility, and lose themselves in marshes, or lakes, as they are called, on the borders of the great Arabian desert. Mr Macgregor, who gives an interesting description of these rivers in his Rob Roy on the Jordan, affirms that “ as a work of hydraulic engineering, the system and construction of the canals by which the Abana and Pharpar are used for irrigation, may be still considered as the most complete and extensive in the world.” ABANCAY, a town of Peru, in the department of Cuzco, 65 miles W.S.W. of the town of that name. It lies on the river Abancay, which is here spanned by one of the finest bridges in Peru. Rich crops of sugar-cane are produced in the district, and the town has extensive sugar refineries. Hemp is also cultivated, and silver is found in the mountains. Population, 20,000. ABANDONMENT, in Marine Asmrance, is the surrendering of the ship or goods insured to the insurers, in the case of a constructive total loss of the thing insured. There is an absolute total loss entitling the assured to recover the full amount of his insurance wherever the thing insured has ceased to exist to any useful purpose,—and in such a case abandonment is not required. Where the thing assured continues to exist in specie, yet is so damaged that there is no reasonable hope of repair, or it is not worth the expense of bringing it, or what remains of it, to its destination, the insured may treat the case as one of a total loss (in this case called constructive total loss), and demand the full sum insured. But, as the contract of insurance is one of indemnity, the insured must, in such a case, make an express cession of all his right to the recovery of the subject insured to the underwriter by abandonment. The insured must intimate his intention to abandon, within a

A B A —A B A reasonable time after receiving correct information as to the loss; any unnecessary delay being held as an indication of his intention not to abandon. An abandonment when once accepted is irrevocable; but in no circumstances is the insured obliged, to abandon. After abandonment, the captain and crew are still bound to do all in their power to save the property for the underwriter, without prejudice to the right of abandonment; for which they are entitled to wages and remuneration from the insurers, at least so far as what is saved will allow. See Arnould, Marshall, and Park, on the Law of Insurance, and the judgment of Lord Abinger in Roux v. Salvador, 3 Bing. N.C. 266, Tudor’s Leading Cases, 139. ABANDONMENT has also a legal signification in the law of railways. Under the Acts 13 and 14 Yict. c. 83, 14 and 15 Viet. c. 64, 30 and 31 Viet. c. 126, and 32 and 33 Viet. c. 114, the Board of Trade may, on the application of a railway company, made by the authority and with the consent of the holders of three-fifths of its shares or stock, and on certain conditions specified in the Acts, grant a warrant authorising the abandonment of the railway or a portion of it. After due publication of this warrant, the company is released from all liability to make, maintain, or work the railway, or portion of the railway, authorised to be abandoned, or to complete any contracts relating to it, subject to certain provisions and exceptions. ABANDONING a young child under two years of age, so that its life shall be endangered, or its health permanently injured, or likely to be so, is in England a misdemeanour, punishable by penal servitude or imprisonment, 24 and 25 Viet. c. 100, § 2