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kp-eb0901-005103-0066m | ABOLITIONIST. See Slavery. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005104-0066m | ABOMASUM, caillette, the fourth or rennet stomach of Ruminantia. From the omasum the food is finally deposited in the abomasum, a cavity considerably larger than either the second or third stomach, although less than the first. The base of the abomasum is turned to the omasum. It is of an irregular conical form. It is that part of the digestive apparatus which is analogous to the single stomach of other Mammalia, as the food there undergoes the process of chymification, after being macerated and ground down in the three first stomachs. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005105-0066m | ABOMEY, the capital of Dahomey, in West Africa, is situated in N. lat. 7°, E. long. 2° 4', about 60 miles N. of Whydah, the port of the kingdom. It is a clay-built town, surrounded by a moat and mud walls, and occupies a large area, part of which is cultivated. The houses stand apart; there are no regular streets; and the place is very dirty. It has four larger market-places, and trade is carried on in palm-oil, ivory, and gold, Mohammedan traders from the interior resorting to its markets. The town contains the principal palace of the king of Dahomey. It is the scene of frequent human sacrifices, a “custom” being held annually, at which many criminals and captives are slain; while on the death of a king a “grand custom” is held, at which sometimes as many as 2000 victims have perished. The slave-trade is also prosecuted, and the efforts of the British Government to induce the king to abolish it and the “customs” have proved unsuccessful. Population, about 30,000. See Dahomey. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005106-0066m | ABORIGINES, originally a proper name given to an Italian people who inhabited the ancient Latium, or country now called Campagna di Roma. Various deriva tions of this name have been suggested; but there can be scarcely any doubt that the usual derivation (ab origine) is correct, and that the word simply indicated a settled tribe, whose origin and earlier history were unknown. It is thus the equivalent of the Greek autochthones. It is therefore, strictly speaking, not a proper name at all, although, from being applied to one tribe (or group of tribes), it came to be regarded as such. Who the Aborigines were, or whence they came, is uncertain; but various traditions that are recorded seem to indicate that they were an Oscan or Opican tribe that descended from the Apennines into Latium, and united with some Pelasgic tribe to form the Latins. The stories about Aeneas’s landing in Italy represent the Aborigines as at first opposing and then coalescing with the Trojans, and state that the united people then assumed the name of Latins, from their king Latinus. These traditions clearly point to the fact that the Latins were a mixed race, a circumstance which is proved by the structure of their language, in which we find numerous words closely connected with the Greek, and also numerous words that are of an entirely different origin. These nonGreek words are mostly related to the dialects of the [9:1:52] Opican tribes. In modern times the term Aborigines has been extended in signification, and is used to indicate the inhabitants found in a country at its first discovery, in contradistinction to colonies or new races, the time of whose introduction into the country is known. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005201-0067m | ABORTION, in Midwifery (from aborior, I perish), the premature separation and expulsion of the contents of the pregnant uterus. When occurring before the eighth lunar month of gestation, abortion is the term ordinarily employed, but subsequent to this period it is designated premature labour. The present notice includes both these terms. As an accident of pregnancy, abortion is far from uncommon, although its relative frequency, as compared with that of completed gestation, has been very differently estimated by accoucheurs. It is more liable to occur in the earlier than in the later months of pregnancy, and it would also appear to occur more readily at the periods corresponding to those of the menstrual discharge. Abortion may be induced by numerous causes, both of a local and general nature. Malformations of the pelvis, accidental injuries, and the diseases and displacements to which the uterus is liable, on the one hand; and, on the other, various morbid conditions of the ovum or placenta leading to the death of the foetus, are among the direct local causes of abortion. The general causes embrace certain states of the system which are apt to exercise a more or less direct influence upon the progress of utero-gestation. A deteriorated condition of health, whether hereditary or as the result of habits of life, certainly predisposes to the occurrence of abortion. Syphilis is known to be a frequent cause of the death of the foetus. Many diseases arising in the course of pregnancy act as direct exciting causes of abortion, more particularly the eruptive fevers and acute inflammatory affections. Prolonged irritation in other organs may, by reflex action, excite the uterus to expel its contents. Strong impressions made upon the nervous system, as by sudden shocks and mental emotions, occasionally have a similar effect. Further, certain medicinal substances, particularly ergot of rye, borax, savin, tansy, and cantharides, are commonly believed to be capable of exciting uterine action, but the effects, as regards at least early pregnancy, are very uncertain, while the strong purgative medicines sometimes employed with the view of procuring abortion have no effect whatever upon the uterus, and can only act remotely and indirectly, if they act at all, by irritating the alimentary canal. In cases of poisoning with carbonic acid, abortion has been observed to take place, and the experiments of Dr Brown Sequard show that anything interfering with the normal oxygenation of the blood may cause the uterus to contract and expel its contents. Many cases of abortion occur without apparent cause, but in such instances the probability is that some morbid condition of the interior of the uterus exists, and the same may be said of many of those cases where the disposition to abort has become habitual. The tendency, however, to the recurrence of abortion in persons who have previously miscarried is well known, and should ever be borne in mind with the view of avoiding any cause likely to lead to a repetition of the accident. Abortion resembles ordinary labour in its general phenomena, excepting that in the former hemorrhage often to a large extent forms one of the leading symptoms. The treatment of abortion embraces the means to be used by rest, astringents, and sedatives, to prevent the occurrence when it merely threatens; or when, on the contrary, it is inevitable, to accomplish as speedily as possible the complete removal of the entire contents of the uterus. The artificial induction of premature labour is occasionally resorted to by accoucheurs under certain conditions involving the safety of the mother or the foetus. For Criminal Abortion, see Medical Jurisprudence. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005202-0067m | ABOUKIR, a small village on the coast of Egypt, 13 miles N.E. of Alexandria, containing a castle which was used as a state prison by Mehemet Ali. Near the village, and connected with the shore by a chain of rocks, is a small island remarkable for remains of ancient buildings. Stretching to the eastward as far as the Rosetta mouth of the Nile is the spacious bay of Aboukir, where Nelson fought “the Battle of the Nile,” defeating and almost destroying the French fleet that had conveyed Napoleon to Egypt. It was near Aboukir that the expedition to Egypt, under Sir Ralph Abercromby, in 1801, effected a landing in the face of an opposing force. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005203-0067m | ABRABANEL, Isaac (called also Abravanel , Abarbanel, Barbanella, and Ravanella), a celebrated Jewish statesman, philosopher, theologian, and commentator, was born at Lisbon in 1437. He belonged to an ancient family that claimed descent from the royal house of David, and his parents gave him an education becoming so renowned a lineage. He held a high place in the favour of King Alphonso V., who intrusted him with the management of important state affairs. On the death of Alphonso in 1481, his counsellors and favourites were harshly treated by his successor John; and Abrabanel was, in consequence, compelled to flee to Spain, where he held for eight years (1484-1492), the post of a minister of state under Ferdinand and Isabella. When the Jews were banished from Spain in 1492, no exception was made in Abrabanel’s favour. He afterwards resided at Naples, Corfu, and Monopoli, and in 1503 removed to Venice, where he held office as a minister of state till his death in 1508. Abrabanel was one of the most learned of the rabbis. His writings are chiefly exegetical and polemical; he displays in them an intense antipathy to Christianity, though he lived on terms of friendship with Christians. He wrote commentaries on the greater part of the Old Testament, in a clear but somewhat diffuse style, anticipating much that has been advanced as new by modern theologians. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005204-0067m | ABRACADABRA, a meaningless word once supposed to have a magical efficacy as an antidote against agues and other fevers. Ridiculously minute directions for the proper use of the charm are given in the Proecepta de Medicina of Serenus Sammonicus. The paper on which the word was written had to be folded in the form of a cross, suspended from the neck by a strip of linen so as to rest on the pit of the stomach, worn in this way for nine days, and then, before sunrise, cast behind the wearer into a stream running to the east. The letters of this word were usually arranged to form a triangle in one or other of the following ways :—
[table]
[table] | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005205-0067m | ABRAHAM or ABRAM, father of the Israelite race, was the first-born son of Terah, a Shemite, who left Ur of the Chaldees, in the north-east of Mesopotamia, along with Abram, Sarai, and Lot, and turned westwards in the direction of Canaan. Abram had married his half-sister Sarai, who was ten years younger than himself; and though such relationship was afterwards forbidden by the law, it was common in ancient times, both among other [9:1:53] peoples, and among the Hebrews themselves at least before Moses. The cause of Terah’s removing from his native country is not given. Having come to Haran, he abode there till his death, at the age of 205. According to Genesis xii., Abram left Saran when he was 75 years of age, that is, before the death of his father, in consequence of a divine command, to which was annexed a gracious promise, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (xii. 2, 3). Another tradition makes him leave Haran only after Terah’s decease (Acts vii. 4). The later account is that Abram’s departure was the result of religious considerations, because he had already become emancipated from surrounding idolatry. Perhaps the desire of a nomadic life, the love of migration natural to an Oriental, had more to do with his pilgrimage than a spiritual impulse from within; but it is likely that his culture advanced in the course of his sojournings, and that he gradually attained to purer conceptions of duty and life. Traditions subsequent to the Jehovistic represent him as driven forth by the idolatrous Chaldeans (Judith v. 6, &c.) on account of his monotheistic doctrines, and then dwelling in Damascus as its king (Josephus’s Antiquities, i. 7). The true cause of departure may be suggested by Nicolaus of Damascus saying that he came out of Chaldea with an army. The leader of a horde, worsted in some encounter or insurrection, he emigrated at the head of his adherents in quest of better fortunes. The word redeemed, in Isaiah xxix. 22, out of which Ewald conjectures so much, as if Abram had been rescued from great bodily dangers and battles, does not help the portrait, because it means no more than the patriarch’s migration from heathen Mesopotamia into the Holy Land. Journeying south-west to Canaan with his wife and nephew, he arrived at Sichem, at the oak of the seer or prophet, where Jehovah appeared to him, assuring him for the first time that his seed should possess the land he had come to. He travelled thence southward, pitching his tent east of Bethel. Still proceeding in the same direction, he arrived at the Negeb, or most southern district of Palestine, whence a famine forced him down to Egypt. His plea that Sarai was his sister did not save her from Pharaoh; for she was taken into the royal harem, but restored to her husband in consequence of divine chastisments inflicted upon the lawless possessor of her person, leading to the discovery of her true relationship. The king was glad to send the patriarch away under the escort and protection of his men. A similar thing is said to have subsequently happened to Sarai at Gerar with the Philistine king Abimelech (Genesis xx.), as also to Rebekah, Isaac’s wife (xxvi.) The three narratives describe one and the same event in different shapes. But the more original (the junior Elohistic)^[1. Three documents at least are traceable in the Pentateuch; the Elohistic, the junior Elohistic, and the Jehovistic. These were put together by a redactor. Nearly the whole of the fifth book was added by the Deuteronomist. ] is that of the 20th chapter, so that Gerar was the scene, and Abimelech the offender; while the later Jehovistic narrative (xii.) deviates still more from verisimilitude. Though this occurrence, however, belongs to the southern borders of Palestine, we need not doubt the fact of Abram’s sojourn in Egypt, especially as he had an Egyptian slave (Genesis xvi.) How long the patriarch remained there is not related; nor are the influences which the religion, science, and learning of that civilised land had upon him alluded to. That they acted beneficially upon his mind, enlightening and enlarging it, can scarcely be doubted. His religious conceptions were transformed.
The manifold wisdom of Egypt impressed him. Intercourse with men far advanced in civilisation taught him much. Later tradition speaks of his communicating to the Egyptians the sciences of arithmetic and astronomy (Josephus i. 7); but this is founded upon the notion entertained at the time of the civilised Chaldeans of Babylon, whereas Ur of the Chaldees was a district remote from the subsequent centre of recondite knowledge. Abram received more than he imparted, for the Egyptians were doubtless his superiors in science. He found the rite of circumcision in use. There, too, he acquired great substance—flocks and herds, male and female slaves. After returning to Canaan, to his former locality, Abram and Lot separated, because of disputes between their herdsmen, there not being sufficient room for all their cattle in common. After this separation the possession of Canaan was again assured to Abram and to his seed, who should be exceedingly numerous. This is the third theocratic promise he received. He is also commanded by Jehovah to walk through it in its length and breadth as a token of inheritance,—a later Jehovistic tradition that must be judged according to its inherent verisimilitude. Abram settled again at the oak of Mamre near Hebron. This was his headquarters. After Lot had been taken prisoner in the expedition of the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goyim, against the old inhabitants of Basan, Ammonitis, Moabitis, Edomitis, and others besides, Abram gave chase to the enemy, accompanied by his 318 slaves and friendly neighbours, rescuing his nephew at Hobah, near Damascus. On his return, the royal priest Melchizedek of Salem came forth to meet him with refreshments, blessed the patriarch, and received from him the tithe of the spoils. The king acted generously towards the victor, and was still more generously treated in return.
Jehovah again promised to Abram a numerous offspring, with the possession of Canaan. He also concluded a covenant with him in a solemn form, and revealed the fortunes of his posterity in Egypt, with their deliverance from bondage. In consequence of the barrenness of Sarai, she gave her handmaid Hagar to Abram, who, becoming pregnant by him, was haughtily treated by her mistress, and fled towards Egypt. But an angel met her in the desert and sent her back, telling of a numerous race that should spring from her. Having returned, she gave birth to Ishmael, in the 86th year of Abram’s age.
Again did Jehovah appear to the patriarch, promising as before a multitudinous seed, and changing his name in conformity with such promise. He assured him and his posterity of the possession of Canaan, and concluded a covenant with him for all time. At the institution of circumcision on this occasion, Sarai’s name was also changed, because she was to be the maternal progenitor of the covenant people through Isaac her son. Abram, and all the males belonging to him, were then circumcised. He had become acquainted with the rite in Egypt, and transferred it to his household, making it a badge of distinction between the worshippers of the true God and the idolatrous Canaanites—the symbol of the flesh’s subjection to the spirit. Its introduction into the worship of the colony at Mamre indicated a decided advance in Abram’s religious conceptions. He had got beyond the cruel practice of human sacrifice. The gross worship of the Canaanites was left behind; and the small remnant of it which he retained comported with a faith approaching monotheism. Amid prevailing idolatry this institution was a protection to his family and servants—a magic circle drawn around them. But, though powerful and respected wherever his name was known, he confined the rite to his own domestics, without attempting to force it on the inhabitants of the land where he sojourned. The punishment of death [9:1:54] for neglecting it, because the uncircumcised person was thought to be a breaker of the covenant and a despiser of its Author, seems a harsh measure on the part of Abram; yet it can hardly be counted an arbitrary transference of the later Levitical severities to the progenitor of . the race, since it is in the Elohist.
Accompanied by two angels, Jehovah appeared again to Abram at the oak of Mature, accepted his proposed hospitality, and promised him a son by Sarai within a year. Though she laughed incredulously, the promise was definitely repeated. When the angels left, Jehovah communicated to Abram the divine purpose of destroying the dwellers in Siddim because of their wickedness, but acceded to the patriarch’s intercession, that the cities of the plain should be spared if ten righteous men could be found in them. The two angels, who had gone before, arrived at Sodom in the evening, and were entertained by Lot, but threatened with shameful treatment by the depraved inhabitants. Seeing that the vengeance of Heaven was deserved, they proceeded to execute it, saving Lot with his wife and two daughters, and sparing Zoar as a place of refuge for them. Jehovah rained down fire and brimstone from heaven, turning all the Jordan district to desolation, so that when Abram looked next morning from the spot where Jehovah and himself had parted, he saw a thick smoke ascend from the ruins.
Abram then journeyed from Hebron to the Negeb, settled between Kadesh and Shur in Gerar, where Sarai is said to have been treated as a prior account makes her to have been in Egypt. At the patriarch’s prayer the plague inflicted on the king and his wives was removed. This is a duplicate of the other story. Whatever historical truth the present narrative has belongs to an earlier period of Abram’s life. His second removal to Gerar originated in the former journeying through it into Egypt. He must have remained in the neighbourhood of Hebron, his first settlement, where Isaac was born according to the Elohistic account. After the birth of the legitimate heir, succeeding events were the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from the paternal home, and the making of a covenant between Abimelech and Abram at Beersheba. Here Abram “called on the name of the Lord,” and is said to have planted a noted tamarisk in commemoration of the event.
Abram was now commanded by God to offer up Isaac in the land of Moriah. Proceeding to obey, he was prevented by an angel just as he was about to slay his son, and sacrificed a ram that presented itself at the time. In reward of his obedience he received the promise of a numerous seed and abundant prosperity. Thence he returned to Beersheba.
Sarai died and was buried in the cave of Machpelah near Hebron, which Abram purchased, with the adjoining field, from Ephron the Hittite. The measures taken by the patriarch for the marriage of Isaac are circumstantially described. His steward Eliezer was sent to the country and kindred of Abram to find a suitable bride, which he did in Haran, whither he was divinely conducted. Rebekah appeared as the intended one; she parted from Bethuel and her family with their full approbation, was brought to Isaac, and became a maternal ancestor of the chosen , people.
It is curious that, after Sarah’s death, Abram should have contracted a second marriage with Keturah, and begotten six sons. The Chronicles, however, make her his concubine (1 Chron. i. 32), so that these children may have been born earlier. Probably the narrative intends to account for the diffusion of Abram’s posterity in Arabia. Keturah’s sons were sent away with gifts from their home into Arabia, and all the father’s substance was given to Isaac. The patriarch died at the age of 175 years, and was buried by Isaac and Ishmael beside Sarai in Machpelah. The book of Genesis gives two lists of Arab tribes, descended partly from Abram and Keturah, partly from him and Hagar or Ishmael. These dwelt in Arabia Deserta and Petraea, as also in the northern half of Arabia Felix.
1. We cannot adopt the opinion of Von Bohlen and Dozy that Abram is a mythical person. He must be regarded as a historical character, though the accounts of his life have mythical elements intermingled with much that is traditional or legendary. The difficulty of separating the historic from the merely traditional, hinders the presentation of a natural portrait. Later legends have invested him with extraordinary excellence. They have made him a worshipper of Jehovah, a prophet, the friend of God, favoured with visible manifestations of His presence, and receiving repeated promises of the most far-reaching character. He is the typical ancestor of the chosen race, living under the constant guidance of God, prospering in worldly goods, delivered from imminent perils. A superhuman halo surrounds him. It is the Jehovist in particular who invests him with the marvellous and improbable, connecting him with altars and sacrifices—a cultus posterior to both his time and mental development—making him the subject of theophanies, talking familiarly to Jehovah himself, and feeding angels with flesh. The Elohist’s descriptions are simpler. His patriarchs are usually colourless men, upright and plain. They have neither characteristic features nor distinct outline. Abram stands out an honest, peaceable, generous, high-minded patriarch; a prince, rich, powerful, and honoured, fitted for rule, and exercising it with prudence. We need not expect a full history of the man from writers long posterior, the representatives of popular traditions. Only fragments of the life are given, designed to show his greatness. Legend assigned ideal lineaments to the progenitor whom a remote antiquity shrouded with its hoary mantle, and thus he became a model worthy of imitation.
2. The biblical sources of his biography are three at least; and sometimes all appear in a single chapter, as in Gen. xxii., which describes the severest trial of faith. The oldest or Elohim-document is seen in verses 20-24, which link on to chap. xxi. 2-5, from the same. The rest of the chapter belongs to the junior Elohist, except verses 14-18, added by the Jehovist to connect Abram’s sacrifice with Jerusalem. These different documents, out of which the general narrative was finally put together by a redactor, create diversities and contradictions. Thus the Elohist makes Abram laugh at the announcement of a son by Sarai (xvii. 17); the Jehovist, jealous for the patriarch’s honour, assigns the laughter to the woman as a sign of incredulity (xviii. 12).
3. The account of the change of names given to Abram and Sarai when circumcision was instituted, cannot be regarded as historical. The Elohist says that Abram became Abraham, the latter meaning father of much people. But the Hebrew tongue has no word rah â m, and no root with the three letters רהם. Hence the Jews found the etymology a puzzle.^[2. See Beer’s Leben Abrahams, pp. 150, 151. ] The old reading was undoubtedly Abram and Sarai, though the later Jews expressly forbade Abram either in speaking or writing. The difference is one of mere orthography. The forms רהם and רום are cognate ones, as are שרי and שרה. The etymologising propensity of the Elohist is well known. The names signify father of height and princess respectively.
4. The religion of Abram was not pure Jehovism. According to Exodus vi. 3, the name Jehovah was unknown before Moses. Pure Jehovism was a growth not reached [9:1:55] before the prophets. It was a late development, the creed of the most spiritual teachers, not of the people generally. Abram was a distinguished Oriental sheikh, who laid aside the grossness of idolatry, and rose by degrees, through contact with many peoples and his own reflection, to the conception of a Being higher than the visible world, the God of the light and the sun. He was a civilised nomad, having wider and more spiritual aspirations than the peoples with whom he lived. As a worshipper of God, his faith was magnified by later ages throwing back their more advanced ideas into his time, because he was the founder of a favoured race, the type of Israel as they were or should be.
5. The leading idea forming the essence of the story respecting Abram’s sacrifice of Isaac, presents some difficulty of explanation. The chapter did not proceed from the earliest writer, but from one acquainted with the institution of animal sacrifices. That the patriarch was familiar with human sacrifices among the peoples round about is beyond a doubt. Was he tempted from within to comply, on one occasion, with the prevailing custom; or did the disaffected Canaanites call upon him to give such proof of devotion to his God? Perhaps there was a struggle in his mind between the better ideas which led to the habitual renunciation of the barbarous rite, and scruples of the universal impropriety attaching to it. The persuasion that it could never be allowed may have been shaken at times. The general purport of the narrative is to place in a strong light the faith of one prepared to make the most costly sacrifice in obedience to the divine command, as well as God’s aversion to human offerings.
6. It is impossible to get chronological exactness in Abram’s biography, because it is composed of different traditions incorporated with one another, the product of different times, and all passing through the hands of a later redactor for whom the true succession of events was not of primary importance. The writers themselves did not know the accurate chronology, having to do with legends as well as facts impregnated with the legendary, which the redactor afterwards altered or adapted. The Elohist is much more chronological than the other writers. It is even impossible to tell the time when Abram lived. According to Lepsius, he entered Palestine 1700-1730 B.c.; according to Bunsen, 2886; while Schenkel gives 2130-2140 B.C. In Beer’s Leben Abraham’s his birth is given 1948 A.M., i.e., 2040 B.c.
7. The Midrashim contain a good deal about Abram which is either founded on biblical accounts or spun out of the fancy. Nimrod was king of Babylon at the time. The patriarch’s early announcement of the doctrine of one God, his zeal in destroying idols, including those worshipped by his father, his miraculous escape from Nimrod’s wrath, his persuading Terah to leave the king’s service and go with him to Canaan, are minutely told. During his life he had no fewer than ten temptations. Satan tried to ruin him, after the fiend had appeared at the great feast given when Isaac was weaned, in the form of a poor bent old man, who had been neglected. We can only refer to one specimen of rabbinic dialogue-making. God appeared to Abram by night, saying to him, “Take thy son”—(Abram interrupting), “Which? I have two of them.” The voice of God—“Him who is esteemed by you as your only son.” Abram—“Each of them is the only son of his mother.” God’s voice—“Him whom thou lovest.” Abram—“I love both.” God’s voice—“Him whom thou especially lovest.” Abram—“I cherish my children with like love.” God’s voice—“Now, then, take Isaac.” Abram—“And what shall I begin with in him?” God’s voice—“Go to the land where at my call mountains will rise up out of valleys to Moriah, and offer thy son Isaac as a holocaust.” Abram—“Is it a sacrifice I shall offer, Lord? Where is the priest to prepare it ?” “Be thou invested with that dignity as Shem was formerly.” Abram—“But that land counts several mountains, which shall I ascend ?” “The top of the mountain where thou shalt see my glory veiled in the clouds,” &c. (Beer, pp. 59, 60.)
The Arabic legends about Ibrahim are mostly taken from the Jewish fountain, very few being independent and preIslamite. Mohammed collected all that were current, and presented them in forms best suited to his purpose. His sources were the biblical accounts and later Jewish legends. Those about the patriarch building the Kaaba along with Ishmael, his giving this son the house and all the country in which it was, his going as a pilgrim to Mecca every year, seeing Ishmael, and then returning to his own land, Syria, his foot-print on the black stone of the temple, and similar stories, are of genuine Arabic origin. The rest are Jewish, with certain alterations. The collected narratives of the Arabic historians are given by Tabari, constituting a confused mass of legends drawn from the Old Testament, the Koran, and the Rabbins. (See Ewald’s Geschichte des Volkes Israel, vol. i. pp. 440-484, third edition; Bertheau’s Zur Geschichte der Israeliten, p. 206, et seq.; Tuch’s Kommentar ueber die Genesis, 1838; Knobel’s Die Genesis, 1852; Dozy’s Die Israeliten zu Mekka, p. 16, et seq.; B. Beer’s Leben Abraham’s nach Auffassung der jüdischen Sage, 1859; Chronique d’Abou Djafar Mohammed Tabari, par L. Dubeux, tome premier, chapters 47-60; Chwolson’s Ssabier und der Ssabismus, vol. ii.) (s. D.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005501-0070m | ABRAHAM-A-SANCTA-CLARA, was born at Krähenheimstetten, a village in Suabia, on the 4th of June 1642. His family name was Ulrich Megerle. In 1662 he joined the order of Barefooted Augustinians, and assumed the name by which alone he is now known. In this order he rose step by step until he became prior provincialis and definitor of his province. Having early gained a great reputation f ∙r pulpit eloquence, he was appointed court preacher at Vienna in 1669. There the people flocked in crowds to hear him, attracted by the force and homeliness of his language, the grotesqueness of his humour, and the impartial severity with which he lashed the follies of all classes of society. The vices of courtiers and court-life in particular were exposed with an admirable intrepidity. In general he spoke as a man of the people in the language of the people, the predominating quality of his style, which was altogether unique, being an overflowing and often coarse wit. There are, however, many passages in his sermons in which he rises to loftier thought, and uses more refined and dignified language. He died at Vienna on the 1st December 1709. In his published writings Abraham-a-Sancta-Clara displayed much the same qualities as in the pulpit. Perhaps the most favourable specimen of his style is furnished in Judas der Erzschelm. His works have been several times reproduced in whole or part, though with many spurious interpolations, within the last thirty years, and have been very extensively read by both Protestants and Catholics. A selection was issued at Heilbronn in 1845, and a complete edition in 21 vols. appeared at Passau and Lindau, in 1835-54. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005502-0070m | ABRANTES, a town of Portugal, Estremadura province, on the Tagus, about 70 miles N.E. of Lisbon, delightfully situated on the brow of a hill, of which the slopes are covered with olive trees, gardens, and vineyards. It has considerable trade with Lisbon, particularly in fruit, corn, and oil. The town is strongly fortified, and is an important military position. At the convention of Cintra it was surrendered to the British. Junot derived from it his title of Duke of Abrantes. Population about 6000.
[9:1:56] | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005601-0071m | ABRANTES, Duke and Duchess of. See Junot. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005602-0071m | ABRAXAS, or Abrasax, a word engraved on certain antique stones, which were called on that account Abraxas stones, and were used as amulets or charms. The Basili-dians, a Gnostic sect, attached importance to the word, if, indeed, they did not bring it into use. The letters of ά β ρ aξ ά s, in the Greek notation, make up the number 3G5, and the Basilidians gave the name to the 365 orders of spirits, which, as they conceived, emanated in succession from the Supreme Being. These orders were supposed to occupy as many heavens, each fashioned like, but inferior to that above it; and the lowest of the heavens was thought to be the abode of the spirits who formed the earth and its inhabitants, and to whom was committed the administration of its affairs. The Abraxas stones, which are frequently to be met with in the cabinets of the curious, are of very little value. In addition to the word Abraxas and other mystical characters, they have often engraved on them cabalistic figures. The commonest of these have the head of a fowl, and the arms and bust of a man, and terminate in the body and tail of a serpent. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005603-0071m | ABRUZZO, originally one of the four provinces of the continental part of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, afterward subdivided into Abruzzo Ulteriore I., Abruzzo Ulteriore II., and Abruzzo Citeriore, which were so named from their position relative to Naples, and now form three of the provinces of the kingdom of Italy. The district, which was the most northerly part of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, is bounded by the Adriatic on the E., and by the provinces of Ascoli Piceno on the N., Umbria and Rome on the W., and Terra di Lavoro, Molise, and Capitanata on the S. The Abruzzi provinces have an area of nearly 4900 English square miles, and extend from N. lat. 41° 40' to 42° 55'. Though presenting to the Adriatic a coast of about 80 miles in length, they have not a single good port This territory is mostly rugged, mountainous, and covered with extensive forests, but contains also many fertile and well-watered valleys. The Apennines traverse its whole extent, running generally from N.W. to S.E., and here attaining their greatest elevation. Near Aquila is Monte Como, the loftiest peak of that chain, called Il gran Sasso d’Italia, or the great rock of Italy, which rises to the height of 9813 feet. Monte Majella and Monte Velino attain the height of 9500 and 8792 feet respectively. From the main range of the Apennines a number of smaller branches run off towards the west. The country is watered by numerous small rivers, most of which fall into the Adriatic. They are often suddenly swollen by the rains, especially in the spring, and thus cause considerable damage to the lands through which they pass. The principal rivers are the Tronto, Trentino, Pescara, and Sangro. In Abruzzo Ulteriore II. is lake Celano or Lago di Fucino, the Lacus Fucinus of the Romans, now reduced to about one-third of its former extent. The climate varies with the elevation, but, generally speaking, is temperate and healthy. Agriculture is but little understood or attended to, although in many of the lower parts of the country the land is fertile. The rivers are not embanked, nor is irrigation practised; so that the best of the land is frequently flooded during the rainy season, and parched in the heat of summer. The principal productions are corn, hemp, flax, almonds, olives, figs, grapes, and chestnuts. In the neighbourhood of Aquila saffron is extensively cultivated, although not to such an extent as formerly. The rearing and tending of sheep is the chief occupation of the inhabitants of the highlands; and the wool, which is of a superior quality, is an important article of commerce, while the skins are sent in large quantities to the Levant. Bears, wolves, and wild boars inhabit the mountain fastnesses; and in the extensive oak forests numerous herds of swine are fed, the hams of which are in high repute. The manufactures are very inconsiderable, being chiefly woollen, linen, and silk stuffs, and earthen and wood wares. Abruzzo was of great importance to the kingdom of Naples, being its chief defence to the north, and presenting almost insurmountable difficulties to the advance of an enemy. The country is now free of the daring brigands by whom it was long infested. The inhabitants are a stout, well-built, brave, and industrious race. Their houses are generally miserable huts; their food principally maize, and their drink bad wine. The railway from Ancona to Brindisi passes through Abruzzo Ulteriore I. and Abruzzo Citeriore, skirting the coast; and a line has been projected from Pescara, by Popoli, the Lago di Fucino, and the valley of the Liris, to join the railway from Rome to Naples, and thus open up the interior of the country. The line is open for traffic between Pescara and Popoli.
Abruzzo Ulteriore I. is the most northerly of the three provinces, and has an area of 1283 square miles, with a population in 1871 of 245,684. The western part of the province is very mountainous, the highest crest of the Apennines dividing it from Abruzzo Ulteriore II. The valleys possess a rich soil, well watered by rivulets and brooks in the winter and spring, but these are generally dried up in the summer months. The streams run mostly into the Pescara, which bounds the province towards Abruzzo Citeriore, or into the Tronto, which is the northern boundary. The city of Teramo is the capital of the province.
Abruzzo Ulteriore II. is an inland district, nearly covered with mountains of various heights, one of which is the Gran Sasso. There are no plains; but among the mountains are some beautiful and fruitful valleys, watered by the various streams that run through them. None of the rivers are navigable. The province has an area of 2510 square miles, and in 1871 contained 332,782 inhabitants. Its chief town is Aquila.
Abruzzo Citeriore lies to the south and east of the other two provinces. It is the least hilly of the three, but the Apennines extend through the south-west part. They, however, gradually decline in height, and stretch away into plains of sand and pebbles. The rivers all run to the Adriatic, and are very low during the summer months. The soil is not very productive, and agriculture is in a very backward state; the inhabitants prefer the chase and fishing. The province contains 1104 square miles, with a population of 340,299 in 1871. Its chief town is Chieti. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005604-0071m | ABSALOM (אבשלום, father of peace), the third son of David, king of Israel. He was deemed the handsomest man in the kingdom. His sister Tamar having been violated by Amnon, David’s eldest son, Absalom caused his servants to murder Amnon at a feast, to which he had invited all the king’s sons. After this deed he fled to the kingdom of his maternal grandfather, where he remained three years; and it was not till two years after his return that he was fully reinstated in his father’s favour. Absalom seems to have been by this time the eldest surviving son of David, but he was not the destined heir of his father’s throne. The suspicion of this excited the impulsive Absalom to rebellion. For a time the tide of public opinion ran so strong in his favour, that David found it expedient to retire beyond the Jordan, But, instead of adopting the prompt measures which his sagacious counsellor Ahithophel advised, Absalom loitered at Jerusalem till a large force was raised against him, and when he took the field his army was completely routed. The battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim; and Absalom, caught in [9:1:57] the boughs of a tree by the superb hair in which he gloried, was run through the body by Joab. The king’s grief for his worthless son vented itself in the touching lamentation —“O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005701-0072m | ABSALON, Archbishop of Lund, in Denmark, was born in 1128, near Soroe in Zealand, his family name being Axel. In 1148 he went to study at Paris, where a college for Danes had been established. He afterwards travelled extensively in different countries; and returning to Denmark in 1157, was the year after chosen Bishop of Roeskilde or Rothschild. Eloquent, learned, endowed with uncommon physical strength, and possessing the confidence of the king, Waldemar I., known as the Great, Absalon held a position of great influence both in the church and state. In that age warlike pursuits were not deemed inconsistent with the clerical office, and Absalon was a renowned warrior by sea and land, as well as a zealous ecclesiastic, his avowed principle being that “both swords, the spiritual and the temporal, were entrusted to the clergy.” To his exertions as statesman and soldier Waldemar was largely indebted for the independence and consolidation of his kingdom. In 1177 he was chosen by the chapter Archbishop of Lund and Primate of the church, but he declared himself unwilling to accept the appointment; and when an attempt was made to install him by force, he resisted, and appealed to Rome. The Pope decided that the choice of the chapter must be respected, and commanded Absalon to accept the Primacy on pain of excommunication. He was consecrated accordingly by the papal legate Galandius in 1178. He set the Cistercian monks of Soroe the task of preparing a history of the country, the most valuable result being the Danish Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus, who was secretary to Absalon and his companion in an expedition against the Wendish pirates. A tower or castle which the archbishop caused to be built as a defence against these pirates, was the commencement of the present capital, Copenhagen, which from this circumstance is sometimes known in history as Axelstadt. The archbishop died in 1201, in the monastery at Soroe, aud was buried in the parish church, where his grave may still be seen. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005702-0072m | ABSCESS, in Surgery (from abscedo, to separate), a collection of pus among the tissues of the body, the result of inflammation. Abscesses are divided into acute and chronic. See Surgery. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005703-0072m | ABSINTHE, a liqueur or aromatised spirit, prepared by pounding the leaves and flowering tops of various species of wormwood, chiefly Artemisia Absinthium, along with angelica root (Archangelica officinalis'), sweet flag root (Acorus Calamus), the leaves of dittany of Crete (Origanum Dictamnus), star-anise fruit (Illicium anisatum), and other aromatics, and macerating these in alcohol. After soaking for about eight days the compound is distilled, yielding an emerald-coloured liquor, to which a proportion of an essential-oil, usually that of anise, is added. The liqueur thus prepared constitutes the genuine Extrait d'Absinthe of the French; but much of an inferior quality is made with other herbs and essential oils, while the adulterations practised in the manufacture of absinthe are very numerous and deleterious. In the adulterated liqueur the green colour is usually produced by turmeric and indigo, but the presence of even cupric sulphate (blue vitriol) as a colouring ingredient has been frequently detected. In commerce two varieties of absinthe are recognised—common and Swiss absinthe—the latter of which is prepared with highly concentrated spirit; and when really of Swiss manufacture, is of most trustworthy quality as regards the herbs used in its preparation. The chief seat of the manufacture is in the canton of Neufchâtel in Switzerland, although absinthe distilleries are scattered generally throughout Switzerland and France. The liqueur is chiefly consumed in France, but there is also a considerable export trade to the United States of America. In addition to the quantity distilled for home consumption in France, the amount imported from Switzerland in recent years has not been less than 2,000,000 gallons yearly. The introduction of this beverage into general use in France is curious. During the Algerian war (1844-47) the soldiers were advised to mix absinthe with their wine as a febrifuge. On their return they brought with them the habit of drinking it, which is now so widely disseminated in French society, and with such disastrous consequences, that the custom is justly esteemed a grave national evil. A French physician, Μ. Legrand, who has studied the physiological effects of absinthe drinking, distinguishes two trains of results according as the victim indulges in violent excesses of drinking or only in continuous steady tippling. In the case of excessive drinkers there is first the feeling of exaltation peculiar to a state of intoxication. The increasing dosenecessary to produce this state quickly deranges the digestive organs, and destroys the appetite. An unappeasable thirst takes possession of the victim, with giddiness, tingling in the ears, and hallucinations of sight and hearing, followed by a constant mental oppression and anxiety, loss of brain, power, and, eventually, idiocy. The symptoms in the case of the tippler commence with muscular quiverings and decrease of physical strength; the hair begins to drop off, the face assumes a melancholy aspect, and he becomes emaciated, wrinkled, and sallow. Lesion of the brain follows, horrible dreams and delusions haunt the victim, and gradually paralysis overtakes him and lands him in his grave. It has been denied by a French authority, Μ. Moreau, that these symptoms are due to wormwood or any of the essential oils contained in absinthe, and he maintains that the strong spirit and such adulterations as salts of copper are sufficient to account for the effects of the liqueur. There is, however, uo doubt that proportionately the consumption of absinthe is much more deleterious to the human frame than the drinking of brandy or other strong spirits. The use of absinthe has been prohibited in both the army and navy of France. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005704-0072m | ABSOLUTE (from the Latin absolvere), having the general meaning of loosened from, or unrestricted, in which sense it is popularly used to qualify such words as “monarchy” or “power,” has been variously employed in philosophy. Logicians use it to mark certain classes of names. Thus a term has been called absolute in opposition to attributive, when it signifies something that has or is viewed as having independent existence; most commonly, however, the opposition conveyed is to relative. A relative name being taken as one which, over and above the object which it denotes, implies in its signification the existence of another object, also deriving a denomination from the same fact, which is the ground of the first name (Mill), as, e.g., father and son, the non-relative or absolute name is one that has its meaning for and in itself, as man. This distinction is a convenient one, although, as has been observed, it can hardly in perfect strictness be maintained. The so-called absolute name, if used with a meaning, does·· always stand in some relation, however variable or indefinite, and the meaning varies with the relation. Thus-man, which is a word of very different meanings, as, e.g., not woman, not boy, not master, not brute, and so forth, may be said to have them according to the different relations in which it admits of being viewed, or, as it has-been otherwise expressed, according to the different notions whose “universe” it composes, along with its different correlatives. From this point of view there is always one-relation in which a real thing must stand, namely, the [9:1:58] relation to its contradictory (as not man) within the universe of being; the correlatives, under less general notions, being then generally expressed positively as contraries (woman, boy, master, brute, and so forth, for man). If there is thus no name or notion that can strictly be called absolute, all knowledge may be said to be relative, or of the relative. But the knowledge of an absolute has also been held impossible, on the ground that knowing is itself a relation between a subject and an object; what is known only in relation to a mind cannot be known as absolute. This doctrine, now commonly spoken of under the name of the Relativity of Knowledge, may, indeed, be brought under the former view, in which subject-object marks the relation of highest philosophical significance within the whole universe of things. Keeping, however, the two views apart, we may say with double force that of the absolute there is no knowledge,—(1), because, to be known, a thing must be consciously discriminated from other things; and (2), because it can be known only in relation with a knowing mind. Notwithstanding, there have been thinkers from the earliest times, who, in different ways, and more or less explicitly, allow of no such restriction upon knowledge, or at least consciousness, but, on the contrary, starting from a notion, by the latter among them called the absolute, which includes within it the opposition of subject and object, pass therefrom to the explanation of all the phenomena of nature and of mind. In earlier days the Eleatics, Plato, and Plotinus, in modern times Spinoza, Leibnitz, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, and Cousin, all have joined, under whatever different forms, in maintaining this view. Kant, while denying the absolute or unconditioned as an object of knowledge, leaves it conceivable, as an idea regulative of the mind’s intellectual experience. It is against any such absolute, whether as real or conceivable, that Hamilton and Mansel have taken ground, the former in his famous review of Cousin’s philosophy, reprinted in his Discussions, the latter in his Bampton Lectures on The Limits of Religious Thought, basing their arguments indifferently on the positions as to the Relativity of Knowledge indicated above. For absolute in its more strictly metaphysical use, see Metaphysics. (g. c. r.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005801-0073m | ABSOLUTION, a term used in civil and ecclesiastical law, denotes the act of setting free or acquitting. In a criminal process it signifies the acquittal of an accused person on the ground that the evidence has either disproved or failed to prove the charge brought against him. It is now little used except in Scotch law, in the forms assoilzie and absolvitor. The ecclesiastical usage of the word is essentially different from the civil. It refers to sin actually committed, and denotes the setting of a person free from its guilt, or from its penal consequences, or from both. It is invariably connected with penitence, and some form of confession, the Scripture authority, to which the Roman Catholics, the Greek Church, and Protestants equally appeal, being found in John xx. 23, James v. 16, &c. In the primitive church the injunction of James was literally obeyed, and confession was made before the whole congregation, whose presence and concurrence were reckoned necessary to the validity of the absolution pronounced by the presbyter. In the 4th century the bishops began to exercise the power of absolution in their own right, without recognising the congregations. In consequence of this the practice of private confession (confessio auricularis) was established, and became more and more common, until it was rendered imperative once a year by a decree of the fourth Lateran Council (1215). A distinction, indeed, was made for a time between peccata venialia, which might be confessed to a layman, and peccata mortalia, which could only be confessed to a priest; but this was ultimately abolished, and the Roman Canon Law now stands, Nec venialia nec mortalia possumus confiteri sacramentaliter, nisi sacerdoti. A change in the form of absolution was almost a logical sequence of the change in the nature of the confession. At first the priest acted ministerially as an intercessory, using the formula absolutionis precativa or deprecativa, which consisted of the words: Dominus absolvat te — Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus et dimittat tibi omnia peccata tua. This is still the only form in the Greek Church, and it finds a place in the Roman Catholic service, though it is no longer used in the act of absolution. The Romish form was altered in the 13th century, and the Council of Trent decreed the use of the formula absolutionis indicativa, where the priest acts judicially, as himself possessed of the power of binding and loosing, and says, Ego absolvo te. Where a form of absolution is used in Protestant Churches, it is simply declarative, the state being only indicated, and in no sense or degree assumed to be caused by the declaration. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005802-0073m | ABSORPTION, in the animal economy, the function possessed by the absorbent system of vessels of taking up nutritive and other fluids. See Physiology. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005803-0073m | ABSTEMII, a name formerly given to such persons as could not partake of the cup of the eucharist on account of their natural aversion to wine. Calvinists allowed these to communicate in the species of bread only, touching the cup with their lip; which was by the Lutherans deemed a profanation. Among several Protestant sects, both in Great Britain and America, abstemii on a somewhat different principle have recently appeared. These are total abstainers, who maintain that the use of stimulants is essentially sinful, and allege that the wine used by Christ and his disciples at the supper was unfermented. They accordingly communicate in the unfermented “juice of the grape.” The difference of opinion on this point has led to a good deal of controversy in many congregations, the solution generally arrived at being to allow both wine and the pure juice of the grape to be served at the communion table. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005804-0073m | ABSTRACTION, in Psychology and Logic, is a word used in several distinguishable but closely allied senses. First, in a comprehensive sense, it is often applied to that process by which we fix the attention upon one part of what is present to the mind, to the exclusion of another part; abstraction thus conceived being merely the negative of Attention (q. v.) In this sense we are able in thought to abstract one object from another, or an attribute from an object, or an attribute perceived by one sense from those perceived by other senses. Even in cases when thoughts or images have become inseparably associated, we possess something of this power of abstracting or turning the attention upon one rather than another. Secondly, the word is used, with a more special signification, to describe that concentration of attention upon the resemblances of a number of objects, which constitutes classification. And thirdly, not to mention other less important changes of meaning, the whole process of generalisation, by which the mind forms the notions expressed by common terms, is frequently, through a curious transposition of names, spoken of as abstraction. Especially when understood in its less comprehensive connection, the process of abstraction possesses a peculiar interest. To the psychologist it is interesting, because there is nothing he is more desirous to understand than the mode of formation and true nature of what are called general notions. And fortunately, with regard to the abstractive process by which these are formed, at least in its initial stages, there is little disagreement; since every one describes it as a process of comparison, by which the mind is enabled to consider the objects confusedly presented[9:1:59] to it in intuition, to recognise and attend exclusively to tlιeir points of agreement, and so to classify them in accordance with their perceived resemblances. Further, this process is admitted without much dispute to belong to the discursive or elaborative action of the intellect; although, perhaps — should the view of some modern psychologists be correct, that all intelligence proceeds by the establishment of relations of likeness and unlikeness —abstraction will be better conceived as thus related to intelligence in general and typical of all its processes, than as the action merely of a special and somewhat indefinite faculty. No such harmony, however, exists regarding the nature of the product of abstraction; for that is the subjectmatter of Nominalism and Realism, which has produced more controversy, and stimulated to more subtlety of thought, than any other subject ever debated in philosophy. The concept or abstract idea has been represented in a multitude of ways: sometimes as an idea possessing an objective existence independent of particulars, even more real and permanent than theirs; sometimes as an idea composed of all the circumstances in which the particulars agree, and of no others; again, as the idea of an individual, retaining its individualising qualities, but with the accompanying knowledge that these are not the properties of the class; and yet again, as the idea of a miscellaneous assemblage of individuals belonging to a class. It is still impossible to say that the many-sided controversy is at an end. The only conclusion generally admitted seems to be, that there exists between the concept and the particular objects of intuition some very intimate relation of thought, so that it is necessary, for all purposes of reasoning, that the general and particular go hand in hand, that the idea of the class—if such exists —be capable of being applied, in every completed act of thought, to the objects comprised within the class.
To the student of ontology, also, abstraction is of special interest, since, according to many distinguished thinkers, the recognition of abstraction as a powerful and universal mental process is to explain all ontology away, and give the ontologist his eternal quietus. The thoroughgoing nominalist professes to discover in the mind an inveterate tendency to abstraction, and a proneness to ascribe separate existence to abstractions, amply sufficient to account for all those forms of independent reality which metaphysics defend, and to exhibit them all in their true colours as fictitious assumptions. In reply, the ontologist, strengthened by the instinct of self-preservation, commonly contends that the analogy between general notions and metaphysical principles does not hold good, and that the latter are always more than simple abstractions or mere names. Only after abstraction is understood can the question be settled.
In like manner to logic, whether regarded as the science of the formal laws of thought, or, more widely, as the science of scientific methods, a true understanding of abstraction is of the greatest importance. It is important in pure logic, because, as we have seen, every act of judgment and reasoning postulates a concept or concepts, and so presupposes abstraction. Abstraction, determining the possibility alike of reason and speech, creates those notions that bear common names; it is indispensable to the formation of classes, great or small; and just according as it ascends, increasing the extension and diminishing the intension of classes, the horizon visible to reason and to logic gradually recedes and widens. And to logic as the science of the sciences a true doctrine of abstraction is not less necessary; because the process of extending knowledge is, in all its developments, essentially the same as the first rudimentary effort to form a concept and think of particulars as members of a class; a “natural law,” at least in its subjective aspect, is invariably an abstraction made by comparing phenomena—an abstraction under which phenomena are classed in order to the extension of knowledge, just as under a concept are grouped the particulars presented in intuition. As proof of this identity it is found that the same differences exist regarding the objective or subjective nature of the “natural law” as regarding that of the concept. Some affirm that the law is brought ready-made by the mind and superinduced on the facts; others, that it is never in any sense more than a mere mental conception, got by observing the facts; while there are yet others who maintain it to be such a subjective conception, but one corresponding at the same time to an external relation which is real though unknowable. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005901-0074m | ABSURDUM, Reductio ad, a mode of demonstrating the truth of a proposition, by showing that its contradictory leads to an absurdity. It is much employed by Euclid. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-005902-0074m | ABU, a celebrated mountain of Western India, between 5000 and 6000 feet in height, situated in 24° 40' N. lat., and 72° 48' E. long., within the Rájputáná State of Sirohi. It is celebrated as the site of the most ancient Jain temples in India, and attracts pilgrims from all parts of the country. The Jains are the modern Indian representatives of the Buddhists, and profess the ancient theistic doctrines of that sect, modified by saint worship and incarnations. The elevations and platforms of the mountain are covered with elaborately sculptured shrines, temples, and tombs. On the top of the hill is a small round platform containing a cavern, with a block of granite, bearing the impression of the feet of Dátá-Bhrigu, an incarnation of Vishnu. This is the chief great place of pilgrimage for the Jains, Shrawaks, and Banians. The two principal temples are situated at Deulwárá, about the middle of the mountain, and five miles south-west of Guru Sikrá, the highest summit. They are built of white marble, and are pre-eminent alike for their beauty and as typical specimens of Jain architecture in India. The following description is condensed from Mr Fergusson’s History of Architecture, vol. ii. pp. 623 to 625 :—The more modern of the two was built by two brothers, rich merchants, between the years 1197 and 1247, and for delicacy of carving and minute beauty of detail stands almost unrivalled, even in this land of patient and lavish labour. The other was built by another merchant prince, Birnalá Sháh, apparently about 1032 a.d., and although simpler and bolder in style, is as elaborate as good taste would allow in a purely architectural object. It is one of the oldest as well as one of the most complete examples of Jain architecture known. The principal object within the temple is a cell lighted only from the door, containing a cross-legged seated figure of the god Paresnáth. The portico is composed of forty-eight pillars, the whole enclosed in an oblong court-yard about 140 feet by 90 feet, surrounded by a double colonnade of smaller pillars, forming porticos to a range of fifty-five cells, which enclose it on all sides, exactly as they do in a Buddhist monastery (vihára). In this temple, however, each cell, instead of being the residence of a monk, is occupied by an image of Paresnáth, and over the door, or on the jambs of each, are sculptured scenes from the life of the deity. The whole interior is magnificently ornamented. The Emperor Akbar, by a farmán dated in the month of Rabi-ul-ául, in the 37th year of his reign, corresponding with 1593, made a grant of the hill and temples of Abu, as well as of the other hills and places of Jain pilgrimage in the empire, to Harbijai Sur, a celebrated preceptor of the Setámbarí sect of the Jain religion. He also prohibited the slaughter of animals at these places. The farmán of this enlightened monarch declared that “it is the rule of the worshippers of God to preserve all religions.” [9:1:60] | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006001-0075m | ABU-BEKR(father of the virgin), was originally called Abd-el-Caaba (servant of the temple), and received the name by which he is known historically in consequence of the marriage of his virgin daughter Ayesha to Mohammed. He was born at Mecca in the year 573 a.d., a Koreishite of the tribe of Benn-Taim. Possessed of immense wealth, which he had himself acquired in commerce, and held in high esteem as a judge, an interpreter of dreams, and a depositary of the traditions of his race, his early accession to Islamism was a fact of great importance. On his conversion he assumed the name of Abd-Alla (servant of God). His own belief in Mohammed and his doctrines was so thorough as to procure for him the title El Siddik (the faithful), and his success in gaining converts was correspondingly great. In his personal relationship to the prophet he showed the deepest veneration and most unswerving devotion. When Mohammed fled from Mecca, Abu-Bekr was his sole companion, and shared both his hardships and his triumphs, remaining constantly with him until the day of his death. During his last illness the prophet indicated Abu-Bekr as his successor, by desiring him to offer up prayer for the people. The choice was ratified by the chiefs of the army, and ultimately confirmed, though Ali, Mohammed’s son-in-law, disputed it, asserting his own title to the dignity. After a time Ali submitted, but the difference of opinion as to his claims gave rise to a controversy which still divides the followers of the prophet into the rival factions of Sunnites and Shiites. Abu-Bekr had scarcely assumed his new position under the title Khalifet-Resul-Allah (successor of the prophet of God), when he was called to suppress the revolt of the tribes Hedjaz and Nedjd, of which the former rejected Islamism, and the latter refused to pay tribute. He encountered formidable opposition from different quarters, but in every case he was successful, the severest struggle being that with the impostor Mosailima, who was finally defeated by Khaled at the battle of Akraba. Abu-Bekr’s zeal for the spread of the new faith was as conspicuous as that of its founder had been. When the internal disorders had been repressed and Arabia completely subdued, he directed his generals to foreign conquest. The Irak of Persia was overcome by Khaled in a single campaign, and there was also a successful expedition into Syria. After the hard-won victory over Mosailima, Omar, fearing that the sayings of the prophet would be entirely forgotten when those who had listened to them had all been removed by death, induced Abu-Bekr to see to their preservation in a written form. The record, when completed, was deposited with Hafsu, daughter of Omar, and one of the wives of Mohammed. It was held in great reverence by all Moslems, though it did not possess canonical authority, and furnished most of the materials out of which the Koran, as it now exists, was prepared. When the authoritative version was completed, all copies of Hafsu’s record were destroyed, in order to prevent possible disputes and divisions. Abu-Bekr died on the 23d of August 634, having reigned as Khalif fully two years. Shortly before his death, which one tradition ascribes to poison, another to natural causes, he indicated Omar as his successor, after the manner Mohammed had observed in his own case. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006002-0075m | ABULFARAGIUS, Gregor Abulfaraj (called also Barhebraeus, from his Jewish parentage), was born at Malaria, in Armenia, in 1226. His father Aaron was a physician, and Abulfaragius, after studying under him, also practised medicine with great success. His command of the Arabic, Syriac, and Greek languages, and his knowledge of philosophy and theology, gained for him a very high reputation. In 1244 he removed to Antioch, and shortly after to Tripoli, where he was consecrated Bishop of Guba, when only twenty years of age. He was subsequently transferred to the see of Aleppo, and was elected in 1266 Maphrian or Primate of the eastern section of the Jacobite Christians. This dignity he held till his death, which occurred at Maragha, in Azerbijan, in 1286. Abulfaragius wrote a large number of works on various subjects, but his fame as an author rests chiefly on his History of the World, from the creation to his own day. It was written first in Syriac, and then, after a considerable interval, an abridged version in Arabic was published by the author at the request of friends. The latter is divided into ten sections, each of which contained the account of a separate dynasty. The historic value of the work lies entirely in the portions that treat of eastern nations, especially in those relating to the Saracens, the Tartar Mongols, and the conquests of Genghis Khan. The other sections are full of mistakes, arising partly no doubt from the author’s comparative ignorance of classical languages. A Latin translation of the Arabic abridgement was published by Dr Pococke at Oxford in 1663. A portion of the original text, with Latin translation, edited, by no means carefully or accurately, by Bruns and F. W. Kirsch, appeared at Leipsic in 1788. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006003-0075m | ABULFAZL, vizier and historiographer of the great Mongol emperor, Akbar, was born about the middle of the 16th century, the precise date being uncertain. His career as a minister of state, brilliant though it was, would probably have been by this time forgotten but for the record he himself has left of it in his celebrated history. The Akbar Nameh, or Book of Akbar, as Abulfazl's chief literary work is called, consists of two parts,—the first being a complete history of Akbar’s reign, and the second, entitled Ayin-i-Akbari, or Institutes of Akbar, being an account of the religious and political constitution and administration of the empire. The style is singularly elegant, and the contents of the second part possess a unique and lasting interest. An excellent translation of that part by Mr Francis Gladwin was published in Calcutta, 1783-6. It was reprinted in London very inaccurately, and copies of the original edition are now exceedingly rare and correspondingly valuable. Abulfazl died by the hand of an assassin, while returning from a mission to the Deccan in 1602. Some writers say that the murderer was instigated by the heir-apparent, who had become jealous of the minister’s influence. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006004-0075m | ABULFEDA, Ismael ben-Ali, Emad-eddin, the celebrated Arabian historian and geographer, born at Damascus in the year 672 of the Hegira (1273 a.d.), was directly descended from Ayub, the father of the emperor Saladin. In his boyhood he devoted himself to the study of the Koran and the sciences, but from his twelfth year he was almost constantly engaged in military expeditions, chiefly against the crusaders. In 1285 he was present at the assault of a stronghold of the Knights of St John, aud he took part in the sieges of Tripoli, Acre, and Roum. In 1298 the princedom of Hamah and other honours, originally conferred by Saladin upon Omar, passed by inheritance to Abulfeda; but the succession was violently disputed by his two brothers, and the Court availed itself of the opportunity to supersede all the three, and to abolish the principality. The sultan Melik-el-Nassir ultimately (1310) restored the dignity to Abulfeda, with additional honours, as an acknowledgment of his military services against the Tartars and Bibars, the sultan’s rival. He received an independent sovereignty, with the right of coining money, Ac., and had the title Melik Mowayyad (victorious prince) conferred upon him. For twenty years, till his death in October 1331, he reigned in tranquillity and splendour, devoting himself to the duties of government and to the composition of the works to which he is chiefly indebted for his fame. He was a munificent patron [9:1:61] of men of letters, who repaired in large numbers to his court. Abulfeda’s chief historical work is An Abridgement of the History of the Human Race, in the form of annals, extending from the creation of the world to the year 1328. A great part of it is compiled from the works of previous writers, and it is difficult to determine accurately what is the author’s and what is not. Up to the time of the birth of Mohammed, the narrative is very succinct; it becomes more full and valuable the nearer the historian approaches his own day. It is the only source of information on many facts connected with the Saracen empire, and altogether is by far the most important Arabian history we now possess. Various translations of parts of it exist, the earliest being a Latin rendering of the section relating to the Arabian conquests in Sicily, by Dobelius, Arabic professor at Palermo, in 1610. This is preserved in Muratori’» Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. i. The history from the time of Mohammed was published with a Latin translation by Reiske, under the title Annales Mos-lemici ( 5 vols., Copenhagen, 1789-94), and a similar edition of the earlier part was published by Fleischer at Leipsic in 1831, under the title Abulfedoe Historia Ante.- Islamitica. His Geography is chiefly valuable in the historical and descriptive parts relating to the Moslem empire. From his necessarily imperfect acquaintance with astronomy, his notation of latitude and longitude, though fuller than that of any geographer who preceded him, can in no case be depended on, and many of the places whose position he gives with the utmost apparent precision cannot be now identified. A complete edition was published by MM. Reinaud and De Slane at Paris in 1840; and Reinaud published a French translation, with notes and illustrations, in 1848. MSS. of both Abulfeda’s great works are preserved in the Bodleian Library and in the National Library of France. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006101-0076m | ABULGHAZI-BAHADUR (1605-1663), a khan of Khiva, of the race of Genghis-Khan, who, after abdicating in favour of his son, employed his leisure in writing a history of the Mongols and Tartars. He produced a valuable work, which has been translated into German, French, and Russian. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006102-0076m | ABUNA, the title given to the archbishop or metropolitan of Abyssinia. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006103-0076m | ABUSHEHR. See Bushire. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006104-0076m | ABU-SIMBEL, or Ipsambul, the ancient Aboccis or Abuncis, a place in Nubia, on the left bank of the Nile, about 50 miles S.W. of Derr, remarkable for its ancient Egyptian temples and colossal figures hewn out of the solid rock. For a description of these see Nubia. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006105-0076m | ABU-TEMAN, one of the most highly esteemed of Arabian poets, was born at Djacem in the year 190 of the Hegira (806 a.D.) In the little that is told of his life it is difficult to distinguish between truth and fable. He seems to have lived in Egypt in his youth, and to have been engaged in servile employment, but his rare poetic talent speedily raised him to a distinguished position at the court of the caliphs of Bagdad. Arabian historians assert that a single poem frequently gained for him many thousand pieces of gold, and the rate at which his contemporaries estimated his genius may be understood from the saying, that “no one could ever die whose name had been praised in the verses of Abu-Teman.” Besides writing original poetry, he made three collections of select pieces from the poetry of the East, of the most important of which, called Hamasa, Sir William Jones speaks highly. Professor Carlyle quoted this collection largely in his Specimens of Arabic Poetry (1796). An edition of the text, with Latin translation, was published by Freytag at Bonn (1828-51), and a meritorious translation in German verse by Rückert appeared in 1846. Abu-Teman died 845 a.d. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006106-0076m | ABYDOS (1.), in Ancient Geography, a city of Mysia in Asia Minor, situated on the Hellespont, which is here scarcely a mile broad. It probably was originally a Thracian town, but was afterwards colonised by Milesians. Nearly opposite, on the European side of the Hellespont, stood Sestos; and it was here that Xerxes crossed the strait on his celebrated bridge of boats when he invaded Greece. Abydos was celebrated for the vigorous resistance it made when besieged by Philip II. of Macedon; and is famed in story for the loves of Hero and Leander. The old castle of the Dardanelles, built by the Turks, lies a little southward of Sestos and Abydos. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006107-0076m | ABYDOS (2.), in Ancient Geography, a town of Upper Egypt, a little to the west of the Nile, between Ptolemais and Diospolis Parva, famous for the palace of Memnon and the temple of Osiris. Remains of these two edifices are still in existence. In the temple of Osiris Mr Bankes discovered in 1818 the tablet of Abydos, containing a double series of twenty-six shields of the predecessors of Rameses the Great. This tablet is now deposited in the British Museum. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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and General Literature. 9th ed., 25 vols. NY: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
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kp-eb0901-006108-0076m | ABYSSINIA | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 61 [9:1:61] | |
kp-eb0901-006109-0076m | ABYSSINIA is an extensive country of Eastern Africa, the limits of which are not well defined, and authorities are by no means agreed respecting them. It may, however, be regarded as lying between 7° 30' and 15° 40' N. lat., and 35° and 40° 30' E. long., having, N. and N.W., Nubia;E., the territory of the Danakils; S.,the country of the Gallas; and W., the regions of the Upper Nile.^[1. It is usual to include in Abyssinia the flat country which lies between it and the Red Sea, and to regard the latter as forming its boundary on the east. This, however, is not strictly correct. Abyssinia proper comprises only the mountainous portion of this territory, the low lying portion being inhabited by distinct and hostile tribes, and claimed by the Viceroy of Egypt as part of his dominions. The low country is very unhealthy, the soil dry and arid, and with few exceptions uncultivated, whereas the highlands are generally salubrious, well watered, and in many parts very fertile. This arid track of country is only a few miles broad at Massowah, in the north, but widens out to 200 or 300 miles at Tajurrah, in the south. It is, in a great measure, owing to Abyssinia being thus cut off from intercourse with the civilised world by this inhospitable region, which has for three centuries been in the hands of enemies, that it is at present so far sunk in ignorance and barbarism. ] It has an area of about 200,000 square miles, and a population of from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000.
The name Abyssinia, or more properly Habessinia, is derived from the Arabic word Habesch, which signifies mixture or confusion, and was applied to this country by the Arabs on account of the mixed character of the people. This was subsequently Latinised by the Portuguese into Abassia and Abassinos, and hence the present name. The Abyssinians call themselves Itiopyavan, and their country Itiopia, or Manghesta Itiopia, the kingdom of Ethiopia.
The country of Abyssinia rises rather abruptly from the low arid district on the borders of the Red Sea in lofty ranges of mountains, and slopes away more gradually to the westward, where the tributaries of the Nile have formed numerous deep valleys. It consists for the most part of extensive and elevated table-lands, with mountain ranges extending in different directions, and intersected by numerous valleys. The table-lands are generally from 6000 to 9000 feet above the level of the sea, but in the south there are [9:1:62] some of considerable extent, which attain a height of more than 10,000 feet. The mountains in various parts of the country rise to 12,000 and 13,000 feet above the sea, and some of the peaks of Samen are said to reach to 15,000 feet, and to be always covered with snow. The average height of the range which divides the streams flowing to the east from those that flow westward is about 8000 feet, rising to 10,000 or 11,000 in the south, and sinking in the north. The whole country presents the appearance of having been broken up and tossed about in a remarkable manner, the mountains assuming wild and fantastic forms, with sides frequently abrupt and precipitous, and only accessible by very difficult passes. The Samen range of mountains are the highest in Abyssinia, and together with the Lamalmon and Lasta mountains form a long but not continuous chain, running from north to south.
The principal rivers of Abyssinia are tributaries of the Nile. The western portion of the country may be divided into three regions, drained respectively by the Mareb, the Atbara, and the Abai. The most northern of these rivers is the Mareb, which rises in the mountains of Taranta, flows first south, then west, and afterwards turns to the north, where it is at length, after a course of upwards of 500 miles, lost in the sand, but in the rainy season it falls into the Atbara. The Atbara, or Takazza, rises in the mountains of Lasta, and flowing first north, then west, and again turning to the north, at length falls into the Nile, after a course of about 800 miles. The Abai, Bahr-el-Azrek or Blue River, the eastern branch of the Nile, and considered by Bruce to be the main stream of that river, rises from two mountains near Geesh, in lat. 10° 59' 25" N., long. 36° 55' 30" E., about 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It flows first north to the Lake of Dembea or Tzana, then takes a long semicircular sweep round the province of Godjam, and afterwards flows northward to about the 15th degree of N. lat., where it unites with the Bahr-el-Abiad, which has now been ascertained to be the true Nile. The Hawash, the principal river of eastern Abyssinia, rises about lat. 9° 30' N., long. 38° E., and, flowing in a north-easterly direction towards the Red Sea, is lost in Lake Aussa, lat. 11° 25' N., long. 41° 40' E. The principal lake of Abyssinia is the Dembea, which lies between 11° 30' and 12° 30' N. lat., and 37° and 37° 35' E. long., being about 60 miles in length by 40 in width, and containing a number of small islands. It is fed by numerous small streams. The lake of Ashangi, in lat. 12° 35' N., long. 39° 40' E., is about 4 miles long by 3 broad, and upwards of 8000 feet above the sea.
The fundamental rocks of Tigré, and probably of all Abyssinia, are metamorphic. They compose the mass of the table-land, and while they occupy no inconsiderable portion of its surface, they are exposed, in Tigré at least, in every deep valley. The metamorphics vary greatly in mineral character, “every intermediate grade being found between the most coarsely crystalline granite and a slaty rock so little altered that the lines of the original bedding are still apparent. Perhaps the most prevalent form of rock is a rather finely crystalline gneiss. Hornblende-schist and mica-schist are met with, but neither of the minerals from which they are named appears to be so abundant as in some metamorphic tracts. On the other hand, a compact felspathic rock, approaching felsite in composition, is prevalent in places, as in the Suru defile, between Komayli and Senafé.” There are a few exceptions, but as a general rule it may be asserted that in the neighbourhood of the route followed by the British army, so much of the country as is more than 8000 feet above the sea consists of bedded traps, and this is probably the case in general over Abyssinia. “Between the traps and the metamorphics a series of sandstones and limestones intervene, one group of the former underlying the latter. The limestone alone is fossiliferous, and is of Jurassic age.” “On the route to Magdala volcanic rocks were first met with at Senafé, where several hills consist of trachyte, passing into claystone and basalt. Trap hills, chiefly of trachyte, are dotted over the country to the southward as far as Fokada, a distance of nearly 30 miles. Here a great range of bedded traps commences, and extends for about 25 miles to the south, passing to the west of Adigerat.” At Meshek, two marches south of Antalo, “the route entered high ranges entirely composed of trap, and thence no other rocks were seen as far as Magdala.” “The trappean rocks belong to two distinct and unconformable groups. The lower of these is much inclined, while the higher rests on its upturned and denuded edges.” Denudation has evidently been going on to a great extent in this country. One of its most striking features are the deep ravines which have been worked out by the action of the streams, sometimes to the depth of 3000 or 4000 feet. “How much of the Abyssinian highlands has been removed by these great torrents, and spread as an alluvial deposit over the basin of the Nile ?” “Probably over the whole of northern Abyssinia there existed at least 4000 feet of bedded traps, of which now only a few vestiges remain.”— W . T. Blanford.
Abyssinia is said to enjoy “probably as salubrious a climate as any country on the face of the globe.”— Parkyns. The heat is by no means oppressive, a fine light air counteracting the power of the sun; and during the rainy season, the sky being cloudy, the weather is always agreeable and cool, while the rain itself is not very severe. In certain of the low valleys, however, malarious influences prevail before and after the rainy season, and bring on dangerous fevers. On the higher parts the cold is sometimes intense, particularly at night. The natural division of the seasons is into a cold, a hot, and a rainy season. The cold season may be said to extend from October to February, the hot from the beginning of March to the middle of June, and the wet or monsoon period from this time to the end of September. The rainy season is of importance, not only in equalising the temperature, increasing [9:1:63] the fertility, and keeping up the water supply of the country, but, as Sir S. Baker has shown, it plays a most important part in the annual overflow of the Nile.
On the summits and slopes of the highest mountains the vegetation is of a thoroughly temperate and even English character; the plateaux have a flora of the same character; while on the lower slopes of the hills and in the ravines occur many trees and shrubs of warmer climes. “The general appearance of the plateaux and plains is that of a comparatively bare country, with trees and bushes thinly scattered over it, and clumps and groves only occurring round villages and churches. But the glens and ravines in the plateau sides, each with its little bright spring, are often thickly wooded, and offer a delicious contrast to the open country.”— Markham. This refers more particularly to the northern portion of the country, that drained by the Mareb; the central and southern parts are much more fertile and productive. Here the fertility is so great that in some parts three crops are raised annually. Agriculture receives considerable attention, and large quantities of maize, wheat, barley, peas, beans, &c., are grown. Very extensively cultivated is teff (Poa abyssinica), a herbaceous plant with grains not larger than the head of a pin, of which is made the bread in general use throughout the country. The low grounds produce also a kind of corn called tocussa, of which a black bread is made, which constitutes the food of the lower classes. Coffee grows wild on the western mountains, and the vine and sugar-cane are cultivated in favourable localities. Cotton is also grown to a considerable extent. Among the fruit-trees are the date, orange, lemon, pomegranate, and banana. Myrrh, balsam, and various kinds of valuable medicinal plants are common.
Most of the domestic animals of Europe are found here. The cattle are in general small, and the oxen belong to the humped race. The famous Galla oxen have horns sometimes four feet long. The sheep belong to the short and fat-tailed race, and are covered with wool. Goats are very common, and have sometimes horns two feet in length. The horses are strong and active. Of wild animals the spotted hyaena is among the most numerous, as well as the fiercest and most destructive, not only roaming in immense numbers over the country, but frequently entering the towns, and even the houses of the inhabitants. The elephant and rhinoceros are numerous in the low grounds. The Abyssinian rhinoceros has two horns; its skin, which has no folds, is used for shields, and for lining drinking vessels, being regarded as an antidote to poison. Crocodiles and hippopotami are plentiful in the rivers; lions, panthers, and leopards are seen occasionally, and buffaloes frequently. Among other animals may be mentioned as common various species of antelopes, wild swine, monkeys, hares, squirrels, several species of hyrax, jackals, &c.
The birds of Abyssinia are very numerous, and many of them remarkable for the beauty of their plumage. Great numbers of eagles, vultures, hawks, and other birds of prey are met with; and partridges, snipes, pigeons, parrots, thrushes, and swallows are very plentiful. Among insects the most numerous and useful is the bee, honey everywhere constituting an important part of the food of the inhabitants, and several of the provinces paying a large proportion of their tribute in this article. Of an opposite class is the locust, the ravages of which here, as in other parts of Northern Africa, are terrible. Serpents are not numerous, but several species are poisonous.
The inhabitants of Abyssinia form a number of different tribes, and evidently belong to several distinct races. The majority are of the Caucasian race, and are in general well-formed and handsome, with straight and regular features, lively eyes, hair long and straight or somewhat curled, and colour dark olive, approaching to black. Rüppell regards them as identical in features with the Bedouin Arabs. The tribes inhabiting Tigré, Amhara, Agow, &c., belong to this race. The Galla race, who came originally from the south, have now overrun the greater part of the country, constituting a large portion of the soldiery, and, indeed, there are few of the chiefs who have not an intermixture of Galla blood in their veins. They are fierce and turbulent in character, and addicted to cruelty. Many of them are still idolaters, but most of them have now adopted the Mohammedan faith, and not a few of them the Christianity of the Abyssinians. They are generally large and well-built, of a brown complexion, with regular features, small deeply-sunk but very bright eyes, and long black hair. A race of Jews, known by the name of Falashas, inhabit the district of Samen. They affirm that their forefathers came into the country in the days of Rehoboam, but it seems more probable that they arrived about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. From the 10th century they enjoyed their own constitutional rights, and were subject to their own kings, who, they pretend, were descended from King David, until the year 1800, when the royal race became extinct, and they then became subject to Tigré.
The prevailing religion of Abyssinia is a very corrupted form of Christianity. This is professed by the majority of the people, as well as by the reigning princes of the different states. There are also scattered over the country many Mohammedans, and some Falashas or Jews. Christianity was introduced into this country about the year 330, but since that time it has been so corrupted by errors of various kinds as to have become little more than a dead formality mixed up with much superstition and Judaism. Feasts and fast-days are very frequent, and baptism and the Lord’s supper are dispensed after the manner of the Greek Church. The children are circumcised, and the Mosaic commandments with respect to food and purification are observed. The eating of animals which do not chew the cud and which have not cloven hoofs is prohibited. The ecclesiastical body is very numerous, consisting of priests of various kinds, with monks and nuns, and is looked upon with great awe and reverence. If a priest be married previous to his ordination, he is allowed to remain so; but no one can marry after having entered the priesthood. The primate or chief bishop is called Alruna (i.e., our father), and is nominated by the patriarch of Cairo, whom they acknowledge as their spiritual father. The churches are rude edifices, chiefly of a circular form, with thatched roofs, the interior being divided into three compartments,—an outer one for the laity, one within for the priests, and in the centre the Holy of Holies, exactly after the manner of a Jewish temple. The worship consists merely in reading passages of Scripture and dispensing the Lord’s supper, without any preaching. Like the Greek Church, they have no images of any kind in their places of worship, but paintings of the saints are very common—their faces always in full, whatever may be the position of their bodies. They have innumerable saints, but above all is the Virgin, whom they regard as queen of heaven and earth, and the great intercessor for the sins of mankind. Their reverence for a saint is often greater than for the Almighty, and a man who would not hesitate to invoke the name of his Maker in witness to a falsehood may decline so to use the name of St Michael or St George. Legends of saints and works of religious controversy form almost their entire literature. “At present,” says Bishop Gobat, “the Christians of Abyssinia are divided into three parties, so inimical to each other that they curse one another, and will no longer partake of the sacrament together. It is one single point of theology that disunites them—the unceasing dispute concerning the unction of Jesus Christ.”
In manners the Abyssinians are rude and barbarous.
[9:1:64]
Engaged as they are in continual wars, and accustomed to bloodshed, human life is little regarded among them. Murders and executions are frequent, and yet cruelty is said not to be a marked feature of their character; and in war they seldom kill their prisoners. When one is convicted of murder, he is handed over to the relatives of the deceased, who may either put him to death or accept a ransom. When the murdered person has no relatives, the priests take upon themselves the office of avengers. The Abyssinians are irritable, but easily appeased; and are a gay people, fond of festive indulgences. On every festive occasion, as a saint’s day, birth, marriage, &c., it is customary for a rich man to collect his friends and neighbours, and kill a cow and one or two sheep. The principal parts of the cow are eaten raw while yet warm and quivering, the remainder being cut into small pieces, and cooked with the favourite sauce of butter and red pepper paste. The raw meat in this way is considered to be very superior in taste and much tenderer than when cold. “I can readily believe,” says Mr Parkyns,” that raw meat would be preferred to cooked meat by a man who from childhood had been accustomed to it.” The statement by Bruce respecting the cutting of steaks from a live cow has frequently been called in question, but there can be no doubt that Bruce actually saw what he narrates, though it would appear to have been a very exceptional case. Mr Parkyns was told by a soldier, “that such a practice was not uncommon among the Gallas, and even occasionally occurred among themselves, when, as in the case Bruce relates, a cow had been stolen or taken in foray.” The principal drinks are mése, a kind of mead, and bousa, a sort of beer made from fermented cakes. Their dress consists of a large folding mantle and close-fitting drawers; and their houses are very rude structures of a conical form, covered with thatch. Marriage is a very slight connection among them, dissolvable at any time by either of the parties; and polygamy is by no means uncommon. Hence there is little family affection, and what exists is only among children of the same father and mother. Children of the same father, but of different mothers, are said to be "always enemies to each other.”— Gobat.
Abyssinia is one of the most ancient monarchies in the world, and has been governed from time immemorial by an emperor. For many years, however, until the accession of the late Emperor Theodore, he had been a mere puppet in the hands of one or other of his chiefs. Each chief is entire master of all sources of revenue within his territory, and has practically full power of life and death. His subjection consists in an obligation to send from time to time presents to his superior, and to follow him to war with as large a force as he can muster. For several generations the emperor had been little better than a prisoner in his palace at Gondar, his sole revenue consisting of a small stipend and the tolls of the weekly markets of that city, the real power being in the hands of the ras or vizier of the empire, who was always the most powerful chief for the time. If at any time a chief “has found himself strong enough to march upon the capital, he has done so, placed upon the throne another puppet emperor, and been by him appointed ras or vizier, till a rival stronger than himself could turn him out and take his place.”— Dr Beke.
The three principal provinces of Abyssinia are Tigré in the north, Amhara (in which Gondar the capital is situated) in the centre, and Shoa in the south. The governors of these have all at different times assumed the title of Ras. Three other provinces of some importance are Lasta and Waag, whose capital is Sokota; Godjam, to the south of Lake Dembea; and Kivara, to the west of that lake, the birth-place of the Emperor Theodore The two provinces of Tigré and Shoa have generally been in a state of rebellion from or acknowledged independence of the central power at Gondar. The geographical position of Tigré enhances its political importance, as it lies between Gondar and the sea at Massowah, and thus holds as it were the gate of the capital. The province of Shoa is almost separated from that of Amhara by the Wolla Gallas, a Mohammedan tribe, and for a long time the former had been virtually independent, and governed by a hereditary line of princes, to one of whom the Indian government sent a special embassy under Major Harris in 1841.
The principal towns are Gondar in Amhara, the former capital of the kingdom, and containing about 7000 inhabitants, and Debra Tabor in Amhara, formerly a small village, but which rose to be a place of considerable size in consequence of the Emperor Theodore having fixed upon it as his residence, and near it was Gaffat, where the European workmen resided. It was burned by the emperor when he set out on his fatal march to Magdala. Adowa is the capital of Tigré, and the second city in the empire, having about 6000 inhabitants. Antalo is also one of the principal towns of Tigré, and the capital of Enderta. Near Antalo is Chelicut. Sokota, the capital of Lasta Waag, is a town of considerable size. The capital of Shoa is Ankobar, and near it is Angolala, also a place of considerable size. The capital of Agamé is Adigerat.
The language of the religion and literature of the country is the Geez, which belongs to the Ethiopic class of languages, and is the ancient language of Tigré; of this the modern Tigré is a dialect. The Amharic, the language of Amhara, is that of the court, the army, and the merchants, and is that too which travellers who penetrate beyond Tigré have ordinarily occasion to use. But the Agow in its various dialects is the language of the people in some provinces almost exclusively, and in others, where it has been superseded by the language of the dominant race, it still exists among the lowest classes. This last is believed to be the original language of the people; and from the affinity of the Geez, Amharic, and cognate dialects, to the Arabic, it seems probable that they were introduced by conquerors or settlers from the opposite shores of the Red Sea. The Gallas, who have overrun a great part of Abyssinia, have introduced their own language into various parts of the country, but in many cases they have adopted the language of the people among whom they have come. The literature of Abyssinia is very poor, and contains nothing of much value. During the late war the libraries in connection with the religious communities were found to contain only modern works of little interest. On the capture of Magdala, a large number of MSS. were found there, which had been brought by Theodore from Gondar and other parts. Of these 359 were brought home for examination, and are now deposited in the British Museum. The oldest among them belong to the 15th and 16th centuries, but the great bulk of them are of the 17th and 18th, and some are of the present century. They are mostly copies of the Holy Scriptures, canonical and apocryphal, including the Book of Enoch, prayer and hymn books, missals, lives of saints, and translations of various of the Greek fathers.
The trade and manufactures of Abyssinia are insignificant, the people being chiefly engaged in agriculture and pastoral pursuits. Cotton cloths, the universal dress of the country, are made in large quantities. The preparation of leather and parchment is also carried on to some extent, and manufactures of iron and brass. “The Abyssinians are, I think,” says Mr Markham, “capable of civilisation. Their agriculture is good, their manufactures are not to be despised; but the combined effects of isolation, Galla inroads, and internal anarchy, have thrown them back for centuries.” The foreign trade of Abyssinia is carried on entirely through Massowah. Its principal imports are lead, [9:1:65] tin, copper, silk, gunpowder, glass wares, Persian carpets, and coloured cloths. The chief exports are gold, ivory, slaves, coffee, butter, honey, and wax.
Abyssinia, or at least the northern portion of it, was included in the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia. The connection between Egypt and Ethiopia was in early times very intimate, and occasionally the two countries were under the same ruler, so that the arts and civilisation of the one naturally found their way into the other. In early times, too, the Hebrews had commercial intercourse with the Ethiopians; and according to the Abyssinians, the Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, was a monarch of their country, and from her son Menilek the kings of Abyssinia are descended. During the captivity many of the Jews settled here, and brought with them a knowledge of the Jewish religion. Under the Ptolemies, the arts as well as the enterprise of the Greeks entered Ethiopia, and led to the establishment of Greek colonies. A Greek inscription at Adulis, no longer extant, but copied by Cosmos, and preserved in his Topographia Christiana, records that Ptolemy Euergetes, the third of the Greek dynasty in Egypt, invaded the countries on both sides of the Red Sea, and, having reduced most of the provinces of Tigré to subjection, returned to the port of Adulis, and there offered sacrifices to Jupiter, Mars, and Neptune. Another inscription, not so ancient, found at Axum, and copied by Salt and others, states that Aeizanas, king of the Axomites, the Homerites, &c., conquered the nation of the Bogos, and returned thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory. The ancient kingdom of Auxume flourished in the first or second century of our era, and was at one time nearly coextensive with the modern Abyssinia. The capital Auxume and the seaport Adulis were then the chief centres of the trade with the interior of Africa in gold dust, ivory, leather, aromatics, &c. At Axum, the site of the ancient capital, many vestiges of its former greatness still exist; and the ruins of Adulis, which was once a seaport on the Bay of Annesley, are now about 4 miles from the shore. Christianity was introduced into the country by Frumentius, who was consecrated first bishop of Abyssinia by St Athanasius of Alexandria about a.d. 330. Subsequently the monastic system was introduced, and between 470 and 480 a great company of monks appear to have entered and established themselves in the country. Since that time Monachism has been a power among the people, and not without its influence on the course of events. In 522 the king of the Homerites, on the opposite coast of the Red Sea, having persecuted the Christians, the Emperor Justinian requested the king of Abyssinia, Caleb or Elesbaan, to avenge their cause. He accordingly collected an army, crossed over into Arabia, and conquered Yemen, which remained subject to Abyssinia for 67 years. This was the most flourishing period in the annals of the country. The Ethiopians possessed the richest part of Arabia, carried on a large trade, which extended as far as India and Ceylon, and were in constant communication with the Greek empire. Their expulsion from Arabia, followed by the conquest of Egypt by the Mohammedans in the middle of the 7th century, changed this state of affairs, and the continued advances of the followers of the Prophet at length cut them off from almost every means of communication with the civilised world; so that, as Gibbon says, “encompassed by the enemies of their religion, the Ethiopians slept for near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten.” About a.d. 960, a Jewish princess, Judith, conceived the bloody design of murdering all the members of the royal family, and of establishing herself in their stead. During the execution of this project, the infant king was carried off by some faithful adherents, and conveyed to Shoa, where his authority was acknowledged, while Judith reigned for 40 years over the rest of the kingdom, and transmitted the crown to her descendants. In 1268 the kingdom was restored to the royal house in the person of Icon Imlac.
Towards the close of the 15th century the Portuguese missions into Abyssinia commenced. A belief had long prevailed in Europe of the existence of a Christian kingdom in the far east, whose monarch was known as Prester John, and various expeditions had been sent in quest of it. Among others who had engaged in this search was Pedro de Covilham, who arrived in Abyssinia in 1490, and, believing that he had at length reached the far-famed kingdom, presented to the Negus, or emperor of the country, a letter from his master the king of Portugal, addressed to Prester John. Covilham remained in the country, but in 1507 an Armenian named Matthew was sent by the Negus to the king of Portugal to request his aid against the Turks. In 1520 a Portuguese fleet, with Matthew on board, entered the Red Sea in compliance with this request, and an embassy from the fleet visited the country of the Negus, and remained there for about six years. One of this embassy was Father Alvarez, from whom we have the earliest and not the least interesting account of the country. Between 1528 and 1540 armies of Mohammedans, under the renowned general Mohammed Gragn, entered Abyssinia from the low country, and overran the kingdom, obliging the emperor to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses. In this extremity recourse was again had to the Portuguese, and Bermudez, who had remained in the country after the departure of the embassy, was ordained successor to the Abuna, and sent on this mission. In consequence a Portuguese fleet, under the command of Stephen de Gama, was sent from India and arrived at Massowah. A force of 450 musqueteers, under the command of Christopher de Gama, younger brother of the admiral, marched into the interior, and being joined by native troops were at first successful against the Turks, but were subsequently defeated, and their commander taken prisoner and put to death. Soon afterwards, however, Mohammed Gragn was shot in an engagement, and his forces totally routed. After this, quarrels arose between the Negus and the Catholic primate Bermudez, who wished the former publicly to profess himself a convert to Rome. This the Negus refused to do, and at length Bermudez was obliged to make his way out of the country. The Jesuits who had accompanied or followed Bermudez into Abyssinia, and fixed their head-quarters at Fremona, were oppressed and neglected, but not actually expelled. In the beginning of the following century Father Paez arrived at Fremona, a man of great tact and judgment, who soon rose into high favour at court, and gained over the emperor to his faith. He directed the erection of churches, palaces, and bridges in different parts of the country, and carried out many useful works. His successor Mendez was a man of much less conciliatory manners, and the feelings of the people became more strongly excited against the intruders, till at length, on the death of the Negus, and the accession of his son Facilidas in 1633, they were all sent out of the country, after having had a footing there for nearly a century and a half. The French physician Poncet, who went there in 1698, was the only European that afterwards visited the country before Bruce in 1769.
It was about the middle of the 16th century that the Galla tribes first entered Abyssinia from the south; and notwithstanding frequent efforts to dislodge them, they gradually extended and strengthened their positions till they had overrun the greater part of the country. The power of the emperor was thus weakened, independent chiefs set themselves up in different parts, until at length he became little better than a puppet in the hands of the most powerful of his chiefs. In 1805 the country was visited by Lord Valentia and Mr Salt, and again by Salt in 1810. In [9:1:66] 1829 Messrs Gobat and Kugler were sent out as missionaries by the Church Missionary Society, and were well received by the Ras of Tigré. Mr Kugler died soon after his arrival, and his place was subsequently supplied by Mr Isenberg, who was followed by Messrs Blumhardt and Krapf. In 1830 Mr Gobat proceeded to Gondar, where he also met with a favourable reception. In 1833 he returned to Europe, and published a journal of his residence here. In the following year he went back to Tigré, but in 1836 he was compelled to leave from ill health. In 1838 other missionaries were obliged to leave the country, owing to the opposition of the native priests. Messrs Isenberg and Krapf went south, and established themselves at Shoa. The former soon after returned to England, and Mr Krapf remained in Shoa till March 1842. Dr Rüppel, the German naturalist, visited the country in 1831, and remained nearly two years. MM. Combes and Tamisier arrived at Massowah in 1835, and visited districts which had not been traversed by Europeans since the time of the Portuguese. In 1839 the French Government sent out a scientific commission under Μ. Lefebvre. Its labours extended over five years, and have thrown great fight on the condition and productions of the country. In 1841 a political mission was sent by the Governor-General of India to Shoa, under the direction of Major Harris, who subsequently published an account of his travels. One who has done much to extend our geographical knowledge of this country is Dr Beke, who was there from 1840 to 1843. Mr Mansfield Parkyns was there from 1843 to 1846, and has written the most interesting book on the country since the time of Bruce. Bishop Gobat having conceived the idea of sending lay missionaries into the country, who would engage in secular occupations as well as carry on missionary work, Dr Krapf and Mr Flad arrived in 1855 as pioneers of that mission. Six came out at first, and they were subsequently joined by others. Their work, however, was more valuable to Theodore than their preaching, so that he employed them as workmen to himself, and established them at Gaffat, near his capital. Mr Stern arrived in Abyssinia in 1860, but returned to Europe, and came back in 1863, accompanied by Mr and Mrs Rosenthal.
Lij Kassa, who came subsequently to be known as the Emperor Theodore, was born in Kuara, a western province of Abyssinia, about the year 1818. His father was of noble family, and his uncle was governor of the provinces of Dembea, Kuara, and Chelga. He was educated in a convent, but, preferring a wandering life, he became leader of a band of malcontents. On the death of his uncle he was made governor of Kuara, but, not satisfied with this, he seized upon Dembea, and having defeated several generals sent against him, peace was restored on his receiving Tavavitch, daughter of Ras Ali, in marriage. This lady is said to have been his good genius and counsellor, and during her life his conduct was most exemplary. He next turned his arms against the Turks, but was defeated; and the mother of Ras Ali having insulted him in his fallen condition, he proclaimed his independence. The troops sent against him were successively defeated, and eventually the whole of the possessions of Ras Ali fell into his hands. He next defeated the chief of Godjam, and then turned his arms against the governor of Tigré, whom he totally defeated in February 1855. In March of the same year he took the title of Theodore III., and caused himself to be crowned king of Ethiopia by the. Abuna. Theodore was now in the zenith of his career. He is described as being generous to excess, free from cupidity, merciful to his vanquished enemies, and strictly continent, but subject to violent bursts of anger, and possessed of unyielding pride and fanatical religious zeal. He was also a man of education and intelligence, superior to those among whom he lived, with natural talents for governing, and gaining the esteem of others He had further a noble bearing and majestic walk, a frame capable of enduring any amount of fatigue, and is said to have been “the best shot, the best spearman, the best runner, and the best horseman in Abyssinia.” Had he contented himself with what he now possessed, the sovereignty of Amhara and Tigré, he might have maintained his position; but he was led to exhaust his strength against the Gallas, which was probably one of the chief causes of his ruin. He obtained several victories over that people, ravaged their country, took possession of Magdala, which he afterwards made his principal stronghold, and enlisted many of the chiefs and their followers in his own ranks. He shortly afterwards reduced the kingdom of Shoa, and took Ankobar, the capital; but in the meantime his own people were groaning under his heavy exactions, rebellions were breaking out in various parts of his provinces, and his good queen was now dead. He lavished vast sums of money upon his army, which at one time amounted to 100,000 or 150,000 fighting men; and in order to meet this expenditure, he was forced to exact exorbitant tributes from his people. The British consul, Plowden, who was strongly attached to Theodore, having been ordered by his Government in 1860 to return to Massowah, was attacked on his way by a rebel named Garred, mortally wounded, and taken prisoner. Theodore attacked the rebels, and in the action the murderer of Mr Plowden was slain by his friend and companion Mr Bell, but the latter lost his life in preserving that of Theodore. The deaths of the two Englishmen were terribly avenged by the slaughter or mutilation of nearly 2000 rebels. Theodore soon after married his second wife Terunish, the proud daughter of the late governor of Tigré, who felt neither affection nor respect for the upstart who had dethroned her father, and the union was by no means a happy one. In 1862 he made a second expedition against the Gallas, which was stained with atrocious cruelties. Theodore had now given himself up to intoxication and lust. When the news of Mr Plowden’s death reached England, Captain Cameron was appointed to succeed him as consul, and arrived at Massowah in February 1862. He proceeded to the camp of the king, to whom he presented a rifle, a pair of pistols, and a letter in the Queen’s name. In October Captain Cameron was dismissed by Theodore, with a letter to the Queen of England, which reached the Foreign Office on the 12th of February 1863. For some reason or other this letter was put aside and no answer returned, and to this in no small degree is to be attributed the difficulties that subsequently arose with that country. After forwarding the letter, Captain Cameron, hearing that the Christians of Bogos had been attacked by the Shangallas and other tribes under Egyptian rule, proceeded to that district, and afterwards went to Kassala, the seat of the Egyptian administration in that quarter. Thence he went to Metemeh, where he was taken ill, and in order to recruit his health he returned to Abyssinia, and reached Jenda in August 1863. In November despatches were received from England, but no answer to the emperor’s letter, and this, together with the consul’s visit to Kassala, greatly offended him, and in January 1864 Captain Cameron and his suite, with Messrs Stern and Rosenthal, were cast into prison. When the news of this reached England, the Government resolved, when too late, to send an answer to the emperor’s letter, and selected Mr Hormuzd Rassam to be its bearer. He arrived at Massowah in July 1864, and immediately despatched a messenger requesting permission to present himself before the emperor. Neither to this nor a subsequent application was any answer returned till August 1865, when a curt note was received, stating that Consul Cameron had been released, and if Mr Rassam still [9:1:67] desired to visit the king, he was to proceed by the route of Metemeh. They reached Metemeh on 21st November, and five weeks more were lost before they heard from the emperor, whose reply was now courteous, informing them that the governors of all the districts through which they had to march had received orders to furnish them with every necessary. They left Metemeh on the 28th December, and on 25th January following arrived at Theodore’s camp in Damot. They were received with all honour, and were afterwards sent to Kuarata, on Lake Dembea, there to await the arrival of the captives. The latter reached this on 12th March, and everything appeared to proceed very favourably. A month later they started for the coast, but had not proceeded far when they were all brought back and put into confinement. Theodore then wrote a letter to the Queen, requesting European workmen and machinery to be sent to him, and despatched it by Mr Flad. The Europeans, although detained as prisoners, were not at first unkindly treated; but in the end of June they were sent to Magdala, where they were soon afterwards put in chains. They suffered hunger, cold, and misery, and were in constant fear of death, till the spring of 1868, when they were relieved by the British troops. In the meantime the power of Theodore in the country was rapidly waning. In order to support his vast standing army, the country was drained of its resources: the peasantry abandoned the fertile plains, and took refuge in the fastnesses, and large fertile tracts remained uncultivated. Rebellions broke out in various parts of the country, and desertions took place among his troops, till his army became little more than a shadow of what it once was. Shoa had already shaken off his yoke; Godjam was virtually independent; Walkeit and Samen were under a rebel chief; and Lasta Waag and the country about Lake Ashangi had submitted to Wagsham Gobaze, who had also overrun Tigré, and appointed Dejach Kassai his governor. The latter, however, in 1867 rebelled against his master, and assumed the supreme power of that province. This was the state of matters when the English troops made their appearance in the country. With a view if possible to effect the release of the prisoners by conciliatory measures, Mr Flad was sent back, with some artisans and machinery, and a letter from the Queen, stating that these would be handed over to his Majesty on the release of the prisoners and their return to Massowah. This, however, failed to influence the emperor, and the English Government at length saw that they must have recourse to arms. In July 1867, therefore, it was resolved to send an army into Abyssinia to enforce the release of the captives, and Sir Robert Napier was appointed commander-in-chief. A reconnoitring party was despatched beforehand, under Colonel Merewether, to select the landingplace and anchorage, and explore the passes leading into the interior. They also entered into friendly relations with the different chiefs in order to secure their co-operation. The landing-place selected was Mulkutto, on Annesley Bay, the point of the coast nearest to the site of the ancient Adulis, and we are told that “the pioneers of the English expedition followed to some extent in the footsteps of the adventurous soldiers of Ptolemy, and met with a few faint traces of this old world enterprise.”— C. R. Markham. The force amounted to upwards of 16,000 men, besides 12,640 belonging to the transport service, and followers, making in all upwards of 32,000 men. The task to be accomplished was to march over 400 miles of a mountainous and little-known country, inhabited by savage tribes, to the camp or fortress of Theodore, and compel him to deliver up his captives. The commander-in-chief landed on 7th January 1868, and soon after the troops began to move forward through the pass of Senafé, and southward through the districts of Agamé, Tera, Endarta, Wojerat, Lasta, and
Wadela. In the meantime Theodore had been reduced to great straits. His army was rapidly deserting him, and he could hardly obtain food for his followers. He resolved to quit his capital Debra Tabor, which he burned, and set out with the remains of his army for Magdala. During this march he displayed an amount of engineering skill in the construction of roads, of military talent, and fertility of resource, that excited the admiration and astonishment of his enemies. On the afternoon of the 10th of April a force of about 3000 men suddenly poured down upon the English in the plain of Arogié, a few miles from Magdala. They advanced again and again to the charge, but were each time driven back, and finally retired in good order. Early next morning Theodore sent Lieut. Prideaux, one of the captives, and Mr Flad, accompanied by a native chief, to the English camp to sue for peace. Answer was returned, that if he would deliver up all the Europeans in his hands, and submit to the Queen of England, he would receive honourable treatment. The captives were liberated and sent away, and along with a letter to the English general was a present of 1000 cows and 500 sheep, the acceptance of which would, according to Eastern custom, imply that peace was granted. Through some misunderstanding, word was sent to Theodore that the present would be accepted, and he felt that he was now safe; but in the evening he learned that it had not been received, and despair again seized him. Early next morning he attempted to escape with a few of his followers, but subsequently returned. The same day (13th April) Magdala was stormed and taken, and within they found the dead body of the emperor, who had fallen by his own hand. The inhabitants and troops were subsequently sent away, the fortifications destroyed, and the town burned. The queen Terunish having expressed her wish to go back to her own country, accompanied the British army, but died during the march, and her son Alam-ayahu, the only legitimate son of the emperor, was brought to England, as this was the desire of his father. The success of the expedition was in no small degree owing to the aid afforded by the several native chiefs through whose country it passed, and no one did more in this way than Prince Kassai of Tigré. In acknowledgment of this several pieces of ordnance, small arms, and ammunition, with much of the surplus stores, were handed over to him, and the English troops left the country in May 1868. Soon after this Prince Kassai declared his independence; and in a war which broke out between him and Wagsham Gobaze, the latter was defeated, and his territory taken possession of by the conqueror. In 1872 Kassai was crowned king of Abyssinia with great ceremony at Axam, under the title of King Johannes. In that year the governor of Massowah, Munzinger Bey, a Swiss, by command of the Viceroy of Egypt, marched an armed force against the Bogos country. The king solicited the aid of England, Germany, and Russia against the Egyptians, whose troops, however, were after a time withdrawn. Sir Bartie Frere, in the blue-book published respecting his mission to Zanzibar, is of the opinion that England, having regard to the passage to India by the Red Sea, should not have wholly abandoned Abyssinia. (d. k.)
(See Travels of Bruce, 1768-73; Lord Valentia, Salt, 1809-10; Combes et Tamisier, 1835-37; Ferret et Galinier, 1839-43; Rüppell, 1831-33; MM. Th. Lefebvre, A. Petit, et Quartin-Dillon, 1839-43; Major Harris; Gobat; Dr C. Beke; Isenberg and Krapf, 1839-42; Mansfield Parkyns; Von Heuglin, 1861-62; H. A. Stern, 1860 and 1868; Dr Blanc, 1868; A. Rassam, 1869; C. R. Markham, 1869; W. T. Blanford, 1870; Record of the Expedition to Abyssinia, compiled by order of the Secretary of State for War, by Major T. J. Holland and Captain H. Hozier, 2 vols. 4to, and plates, 1870; various Parliamentary Papers, 1867-68.) [9:1:68] | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-006801-0083m | ACACIA, a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the natural family Leguminosae and the section Mimoseae. The Cowers are small, arranged in rounded or elongated clusters. The leaves are compound pinnate in general· In some instances, however, more especially in the Australian species, the leaf-stalks become flattened, and serve the purpose of leaves; the plants are hence called leafless Acacias, and as the leaf-stalks are often placed with their edges towards the sky and earth, they do not intercept light so fully as ordinary trees. There are about 420 species of Acacias widely scattered over the warmer regions of the globe. They abound in Australia and Africa. Various species, such as Acacia υera, arabica, Ehrenbergii, and tortilis, yield gum arabic; while Acacia Verek, Seyal, and Adansonii furnish a similar gum, called gum Senegal. These species are for the most part natives of Arabia, the northeastern part of Africa, and the East Indies. The wattles of Australia are species of Acacia with astringent barks. Acacia dealbata is used for tanning. An astringent medicine, called catechu or cutch, is procured from several species, but more especially from Acacia Catechu, by boiling down the wood and evaporating the solution so as to get an extract. The bark of Acacia arabica, under the name of Babul or Babool, is used in Scinde for tanning. Acacia formosa supplies the valuable Cuba timber called sabicu. Acacia Segal is the plant which is supposed to be the shittah tree of the Bible, which supplied shittim-wood. The pods of Acacia nilotica, under the name of neb-neb, are used by tanners. The seeds of Acacia Niopo are roasted and used as snuff in South Ameriea. The seeds of all the varieties of Acacia in South Australia to the west, called Nundo, are used as food after being roasted. Acacia melanoxylon, black wood of Australia, sometimes called light wood, attains a great size; its wood is used for furniture, and receives a high polish. Acacia homalophylla, myall wood, yields a fragrant timber, used for ornamental purposes. A kind of Acacia is called in Australia Bricklow. In common language the term Acacia is often applied to species of the genus Robinia, which belongs also to the Leguminous family, but is placed in a different section. Robinia Pseudo-acacia, or false Acacia, is cultivated in the milder parts of Britain, and forms a large tree, with beautiful pink pea-like blossoms. The tree is sometimes called the Locust tree. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 68 [9:1:68] | |
kp-eb0901-006802-0083m | ACADEMY | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 68 [9:1:68] | |
kp-eb0901-006803-0083m | ACADEMY, ἀκαδήμεια,^[1. The bye-form έηαδηία, which occurs in Diogenes Laertius, is probably a rationalistic attempt to interpret the word, such as we commonly meet with in the writings of Plato. ] a suburb of Athens to the north, forming part of the Ceramicus, about a mile beyond the gate named Dypilum. It was said to have belonged to the hero Academus, but the derivation of the word is unknown. It was surrounded with a wall by Hipparchus, and adorned with walks, groves, and fountains by Cimon, the son of Miltiades, who at his death bequeathed it as a public pleasure-ground to his fellow-citizens. The Academy was the resort of Plato, who possessed a small estate in the neighbourhood. Here he taught for nearly fifty years, till his death in 348 B.o.; and from these “groves of the Academy where Plato taught the truth,”^[2. Horace, Ep. ii. 2, 45. ] his school, as distinguished from the Peripatetics, received the name of the Academics.
The same name (Academia) was in after times given by Cicero to his villa or country-house near Puteoli. There was composed his famous dialogue, The Academic Questions.
Of the academic school of philosophy, in so far as it diverged from the doctrines of its great master (see Plato), we must treat very briefly, referring the reader for particulars to the founders of the various schools, whose names we shall have occasion to mention.
The Academy lasted from the days of Plato to those of Cicero. As to the number of successive schools, the critics are not agreed. Cicero himself and Varro recognised only two, the old and the new; Sextus Empiricus adds a third, the middle; others a fourth, that of Philo and Charmidas; and some even a fifth, the Academy of Antiochus.
Of the old Academy, the principal leaders were Speusippus, Plato’s sister’s son, and his immediate successor; Xenocrates of Chalcedon, who with Speusippus accompanied Plato in his journey to Sicily; Polemo, a dissolute young
Athenian, who came to laugh at Xenocrates, and remained to listen (Horace, Sat., ii. 3, 253); Crates, and Crantor, the latter of whom wrote a treatise, π ε ρί π έ vθovς, praised by Cicero. Speusippus, like the Pythagoreans, with whom Aristotle compares him, denied that the Platonic Good could be the first principle of things, for (he said) the Good is not like the germ which gives birth to plants and animals, but is only to be found in already existing things. He therefore derived the universe from a primeval indeterminate unit, distinct from the Good; from this unit he deduced three principles—one for numbers, one for magnitude, and one for the soul. The Deity he conceived as that living force which rules all and resides everywhere. Xenocrates, though like Speusippus infected with Pytha-goreanism, was the most faithful of Plato’s successors. He distinguished three essences: the sensible, the intelligible, and a third, compounded of the other two. The sphere of the first is all below the heavens, of the second all beyond the heavens, of the third heaven itself. To each of these three spheres one of our faculties corresponds. To the sensible, sense; to the intelligible, intellect or reason; to the mixed sphere, opinion (δ όξα ). So far he closely follows the psychology and cosmogeny of his master; but Cicero notes as the characteristic of both Speusippus and Xenocrates, the abandonment of the Socratic principle of hesitancy.
Of the remaining three, the same writer (who is our principal authority for the history of the Academic school) tells us that they preserved the Platonic doctrine, but emphasised the moral part. On the old Academy he pronounces the following eulogium (De Fin. v. 3); “Their writings and method contain all liberal learning, all history, all polite discourse; and besides, they embrace such a variety of arts, that no one can undertake any noble career without their aid In a word, the Academy is, as it were, the workshop of every artist.” Modern criticism has not endorsed this high estimate. They preserved, it is true, and [9:1:69] elaborated many details of the Platonic teaching, which we could ill have spared; but of Plato’s originality and speculative power, of his poetry and enthusiasm, they inherited nothing; “nor amid all the learning which has been profusely lavished upon investigating their tenets, is there a single deduction calculated to elucidate distinctly the character of their progress or regression.”^[3. Archer Butler. Lect. on Anc. Phil. ii. 315. ] There is a saying of Polemo’s, which will illustrate their virtual abandonment of philosophy proper: “We should exercise ourselves in business, not in dialectical speculation.”
Arcesilaus, the successor of Crates, the disciple of Theophrastus and Polemo, was the founder of the second or middle Academy. He professed himself the strict follower of Plato, and seems to have been sincerely of opinion that his was nothing but a legitimate development of the true Platonic system. He followed the Socratic method of teaching in dialogues; and, like Socrates, left no writings,—at least the ancients were not acquainted with any. But we have no evidence that he maintained the ideal theory of Plato, and from the general tendency of his teaching it is probable that he overlooked it. He affirmed that neither our senses nor our mind can attain to any certainty; in all we must suspend our judgment; probability is the guide of life. Cicero tells us that he was more occupied in disputing the opinions of others than in advancing any of his own. Arcesilaus is, in fact, the founder of that academic scepticism which was developed and systematised by Carneades, the founder of the third or new Academy. He was the chief opponent of the Stoics and their doctrine of certitude. This is attested by a well-known saying of his: “If there had been no Chrysippus, there would have been no Carneades.” To the Stoical theory of perception, the φαντασία καταληπτική, by which they expressed a conviction of certainty arising from impressions so strong as to amount to science, he opposed the doctrine of ακαταληψία, which denied any necessary correspondence between perceptions and the objects perceived. But while denying the possibility of any knowledge of things in themselves, he saved himself from absolute scepticism by the doctrine of probability or verisimilitude, which may serve as a practical guide in life. Thus he announced as his criterion of truth an imagination or impression (φαντασία) at once credible, irrefragable, and attested by comparison with other impressions. The wise man might be permitted to hold an opinion, though he allowed that that opinion might be false. In ethics, however, he appeared as the pure sceptic. On his visit to Rome as an ambassador from Athens, he alternately maintained and denied in his public disputations the existence of justice, to the great scandal of Cato and all honest citizens.
On the fourth and fifth Academies, we need not dwell long. Philo and Antiochus both taught Cicero, and without doubt communicated to him that mild scepticism, that eclecticism compounded of almost equal sympathy with Plato and Zeno, which is the characteristic of his philosophical writings. The Academy exactly corresponded to the moral and political wants of Rome. With no genius for speculation, the better Romans of that day were content to embrace a system which, though resting on no philosophical basis, and compounded of heterogeneous dogmas, offered notwithstanding a secure retreat from religious scepticism and political troubles. “My words,” says Cicero, speaking as a true Academician, “do not proclaim the truth, like a Pythian priestess; but I conjecture what is probable, like a plain man; and where, I ask, am I to search for anything more than verisimilitude ?” And again: “The characteristic of the Academy is never to interpose one’s judgment, to approve what seems most probable, to compare together different opinions, to see what may be advanced on either side, aud to leave one's listeners free to judge without pretending to dogmatise.”
Academy, in its modern acceptation, signifies a society or corporate body of learned men, established for the advancement of science, literature, or the arts.
The first institution of this sort we read of in history was that founded at Alexandria by Ptolemy Soter, which he named the Museum, μ oυσε ί ov . After completing his conquest of Egypt, he turned his attention to the cultivation of letters and science, and gathered about him a large body of literary men, whom he employed in collecting books and treasures of art. This was the origin of the library of Alexandria, the most famous of the ancient world. Passing by the academies which were founded by the Moors at Grenada, Corduba, and as far east as Samarcand, the next instance of an academy is that founded by Charlemagne at the instigation of the celebrated Alcuin, for promoting the study of grammar, orthography, rhetoric, poetry, history, and mathematics. In order to equalise all ranks, each member took the pseudonym of some ancient author or celebrated person of antiquity. For instance, Charlemagne himself was David, Alcuin became Flaccus Albinus. Though none of the labours of this academy have come down to us, it undoubtedly exerted considerable influence in modelling the language and reducing it to rules.
In the following century Alfred founded an academy at Oxford. This was rather a grammar school than a society of learned men, and from it the University of Oxford originated.
But the academy which may be more justly considered as the mother of modern European academies is that of Floral Games, founded at Toulouse in the year 1325, by Clemens Isaurus. Its object was to distribute prizes and rewards to the troubadours. The prizes consisted of flowers of gold and silver. It was first recognised by the state in 1694, and confirmed by letters-patent from the king, and its numbers limited to thirty-six. It has, except during a few years of the republic, continued to the present day, and distributes annually the following prizes :—An amaranth of gold for the best ode, a silver violet for a poem of sixty to one hundred Alexandrine lines, a silver eglantine for the best prose composition, a silver marigold for an elegy, and a silver lily presented in the last century by Μ. de Malpeyre for a hymn to the Virgin.
It was the Renaissance which was par excellence the era of academies, and as the Italians may be said to have discovered anew the buried world of literature, so it was in Italy that the first and by far the most numerous academies arose. The earliest of these was the Platonic Academy, founded at Florence by Cosmo de Medici for the study of the works of Plato, though subsequently they added the explanation of Dante and other Italian authors.
Marsilius Ficinus, its principal ornament, in his Theologica Platonica, developed a system, chiefly borrowed from the later Platonists of the Alexandrian school, which, as it seemed to coincide with some of the leading doctrines of Christianity, was allowed by the church. His Latin translation of Plato is at once literal, perspicuous, and correct; and as he had access to MSS. of Plato now lost, it has in several places enabled us to recover the original reading. After the expulsion of the Medici from Florence, the Platonic Academy was dissolved.
In giving some account of the principal academies of Europe, which is all that this article professes to do, we shall, as far as possible, arrange them under different heads, according to—1 st, The object which they were designed to promote; 2 d , The countries to which they belong. This classification, though, perhaps, the best available, is [9:1:70] necessarily imperfect, inasmuch as several of those we shall mention were at once literary and scientific, and many associations for similar objects were known by some other name. Thus, with the doubtful exception of the Royal Academy of Arts, England has no academies in the proper sense of the word. For those institutions in England which answer to Italian academies, we must refer the reader to the article Society.
I. Scientific Academies.— Italy.— The first society for the prosecution of physical science was that established at Naples, 1560, under the presidency of Baptista Porta. It was called Academia Secretorum Naturae or de Secreti. It arose from a meeting of some scientific friends, who assembled at Porta’s house, and called themselves the Otiosi. No member was admitted who had not made some useful discovery in medicine or natural philosophy. The name suggested to an ignorant public the prosecution of magic and the black arts. Porta went to Rome to justify himself before Paul III. He was acquitted by the Pope, but the academy was dissolved, and he was ordered to abstain for the future from the practice of all illicit arts.
At Rome he was admitted to the Lincei, an academy founded by Federigo Cesi, the Marcese di Monticelli. The device of the Lincei was a lynx with its eyes turned towards heaven tearing a Cerberus with its claws, intimating that they were prepared to do battle with error and falsehood. Their motto was the verse of Lucretius describing rain dropping from a cloud—“Redit agmine dulci.” Besides Porta, Galileo and Colonna were enrolled among its members. The society devoted itself exclusively to physical science. Porta, under its auspices, published his great work, Magiae Naturalis libri xx., 1589, in fol.; his Phytogno-monica, or, the occult virtue of plants; his De Humana Physiognomia, from which Lavater largely borrowed; also various works on optics and pneumatics, in which he approached the true theory of vision. He is even said by some to have anticipated Galileo in the invention of the telescope.
But the principal monument still remaining of the zeal and industry of Cesi and his academy is the Phytobasanos, a compendium of the natural history of Mexico, written by a Spaniard, Hernendez. During fifty years the MS. had been neglected, when Cesi discovered it, and employed Terentio, Fabro, and Colonna, all Lynceans, to edit it and enrich it with notes and emendations. Cesi’s own great work, Theatrum Naturae, was never published. The MS. still exists in the Albani Library at Rome. After Cesi’s death, 1630, the academy languished for some years under the patronage of Urban VIII. An academy of the same name was inaugurated at Rome 1784, and still flourishes. It numbers among its members some of our English philosophers. But the fame of the Lincei was far outstripped by that of the Accademia del Cimento , established in Florence 1657, under the patronage of the Grand Duke Ferdinand II., at the instigation of his brother Leopold, acting under the advice of Viviani, one of the greatest geometers of Europe. The object of this academy was (as the name implies) to make experiments and relate them, abjuring all preconceived notions. Unfortunately for science, it flourished for only ten years. Leopold in 1667 was made a cardinal, and the society languished without its head. It has, however, left a record of its labours in a volume containing an account of the experiments, published by the secretary in 1667. It is in the form of a beautifully printed folio, with numerous full print pages of illustrations. It contains, among others, those on the supposed incompressibility of water, on the pressure of the air, and on the universal gravity of bodies. Torricelli, the inventor of the barometer, was one of its members.
Passing by numerous other Italian Academies of Science, we come to those of modern times.
The Royal Academy of Sciences at Turin originated in 1757 as a private society; in 1759 it published a volume of Miscellanea Philosophico-Mathematica Societatis privatae Taurinensis; shortly after it was constituted a Royal Society by Charles Emanuel III., and in 1783 Victor Amadeus III. made it a Royal Academy of Sciences. It consists of 40 members, residents of Turin, 20 nonresident, and 20 foreign members. It publishes each year a quarto volume of proceedings, and has crowned and awarded prizes to many learned works.
France.— The Old Academy of Sciences originated in much the same way as the French Academy. A private society of scientific men had for some thirty years been accustomed to meet first at the house of Montmort, the mâitre des requêtes, afterwards at that of Thevenot, a great traveller and man of universal genius, in order to converse on their studies, and communicate their discoveries. To this society belonged, among others, Descartes, Gassendi, Blaise Pascal, and his father. Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury, was presented to it during his visit to Paris in 1640. Colbert, just as Richelieu in the case of the French Academy, conceived the idea of giving an official status to this body of learned men. Seven eminent mathematicians, among whom were Huyghens and De Bessy, the author of a famous treatise on magic squares, were chosen to form the nucleus of the new society. A certain number of chemists, physicians, and anatomists were subsequently added. Pensions were granted by Louis XIV. to each of the members, and a fund for instruments and experimentations placed at their disposal. They commenced their session the 22d December 1666 in the Royal Library. They met twice a week—the mathematicians on the Wednesdays, the physicists (as the naturalists and physiologists were then called) on the Saturdays. Duhamel was appointed secretary by the king. This post he owed more to his polished Latinity than to his scientific attainments, all the proceedings of the society being recorded in Latin. A treasurer was also nominated, who, notwithstanding his pretentious title, was nothing more than conservator of the scientific instruments, &c. At first the academy was rather a laboratory and observatory than an academy proper. Experiments were undertaken in common and results discussed. Several foreign savants, in particular the Danish astronomer Roemer, joined the society, attracted by the liberality of the Grand Monarque; and the German physician and geometer Tschirnhausen and Sir Isaac Newton were made foreign associates. The death of Colbert, who was succeeded by Louvois, exercised a disastrous effect on the fortunes of the academy. The labours of the academicians were diverted from the pursuit of pure science to such works as the construction of fountains and cascades at Versailles, and the mathematicians were employed to calculate the odds of the games of lansquenet and bassett. In 1699 the academy was reconstituted by Μ. de Pontchartrain, under whose department as secretary of state the academies came. By its new constitution it consisted of ten honorary members, men of high rank, who interested themselves in science, fifteen pensionaries, who were the working members, viz., three geometricians, and the same number of astronomers, mechanicians, anatomists, and chemists. Each section of three had two associates attached to it, and besides, each pensionary had the power of naming a pupil. There were eight foreign and four free associates. The officers were, a president and a vice-president, named by the king from among the honorary members, and a secretary and treasurer chosen from the pensionaries, who held their offices for life. Fontenelle, a man of wit, and rather a populariser of sciences than an original investigator, succeeded Duhamel as [9:1:71] secretary. The constitution, as is evident, was purely aristocratical, and unlike that of the French Academy, in which the principle of equality among the members was never violated. Science was not yet strong enough to dispense with the patronage of the great. The two leading spirits of the academy at this period were Clairaut and Reaumur. Clairaut was the first to explain capillary attraction, and predicted within a few days of the correct time the return of Halley’s comet. His theory on the figure of the earth was only superseded by Laplace’s Mécanique Céleste. Reaumur was principally distinguished by his practical discoveries, and a thermometer in common use at the present day bears his name.
To trace the subsequent fortunes of this academy would far exceed our limits, being equivalent to writing the history of the rise and progress of science in France. It has reckoned among its members Laplace, Buffon, Lagrange, D’Alembert, Lavoisier, and Jussieu, the father of modern botany. Those of our readers who wish for further information we would refer to Μ. Alfred Maury’s excellent history.
On 21st December 1792, the old Academy of Sciences met for the last time. Many of the members fell by the guillotine, many were imprisoned, more reduced to indigence. The aristocracy of talent was almost as much detested and persecuted by the Revolution as that of rank.
In 1795 the Convention decided on founding an Institute, which was to replace all the academies. The first class of the Institute corresponded closely to the old academy. See Institute.
In 1816 the Academy was reconstituted as a branch of the Institute. The new academy has reckoned among its members, besides many other brilliant names, Carnot the engineer, the physicians Fresnel, Ampère, Arago, Biot, the chemists Gay-Lussac and Thénard, the zoologists G. Cuvier and the two Geoffroy Saint-Hilaires.
The French had also considerable academies in most of their large towns. Montpellier, for example, had a Royal Academy of Sciences, founded in 1706 by Louis XIV., on nearly the same footing as that at Paris, of which, indeed, it was in some measure the counterpart. It was reconstituted in 1847, and organised under three sections— medicine, science, and letters. It has continued to publish annual reports of considerable value. Toulouse also had an academy under the denomination of Lanternists; and there were analogous institutions at Nîmes, Arles, Lyons, Dijon, Bordeaux, and other places. Of these several, we believe, are still in existence, if not in activity.
Before passing on to German academies, we may here notice a private scientific and philosophical society, the precursor of the French Academy of Sciences. It does not appear to have had any distinguishing name; but the promoter of it was Eusebius Renaudot, Counsellor and Physician in Ordinary to the King of France, and Doctor Regent of the Faculty of Physic at Paris, by whom a full account of its conferences was published, translated into English by G. Havers, 1664. In the preface it is said to be “a production of an assembly of the choicest wits of France.” We will quote a few of the subjects of these discussions in order to show the character of the society :— “Why the loadstone draws iron;” “Whether the soul’s immortality is demonstrable by natural reason;” “Of the little hairy girl lately seen in this city.” On subjects of popular superstition their views were far in advance of the time. Of judicial astrology it is said, “Why should we seek in heaven the causes of accidents which befall us if we can find them on earth?” Of the philosopher’s stone— “This most extravagant conceit, that it is the panacea, joined to the other absurdities of that chimerical art, makes us believe that it is good for nothing but to serve for imaginary consolation to the miserable.”
Germany.— The Collegium Curiosum was a scientific society, founded by J. C. Sturm, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the University of Altorff, in Franconia, in 1672, on the plan of the Accademia del Cimento. It originally consisted of 20 members, and continued to flourish long after the death of its founder. The early labours of the society were devoted to the repetition (under varied conditions) of the most notable experiments of the day, or to the discussion of the results. Two volumes of proceedings were published by Sturm in 1676 and 1685 respectively. The Programma Invitatorium is dated June 3, 1672; and Sturm therein urges that, as the day of disputatious philosophy had given way to that of experimental philosophy, and as, moreover, scientific societies had been founded at Florence, London, and Rome, it would therefore seem desirable to found one in Germany, for the attainment of which end he requests the co-operation of the learned.
The work of 1676, entitled Collegium Experimentale sive Curiosum, commences with an account of the diving-bell,. “a new invention;” next follow chapters on the camera obscura, the Torricellian experiment, the air-pump, microscope, telescope, &c. The two works have been pronounced by a competent authority^[4. Mr G. F. Rodwell, in the Chemical News, June 21, 1867. ] to constitute a nearer approach to a text-book of the physics of the period than any pre ceding work.
The Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin was founded in 1700 by Frederic I. after Leibnitz’ comprehensive plan, but was not opened till 1711. Leibnitz was the first president. Under Maupertuis, who succeeded him, it did good service. Its present constitution dates from January 24, 1812. It is divided into four sections—physical, mathematical, philosophical, and historical. Each section is under a paid secretary elected for life; each secretary presides in turn for a quarter of a year. The members are—1 st , Regular members who are paid; these hold general meetings every Thursday, and sectional meetings every Monday. 2 d , Foreign members, not to exceed 24 in number. 3 d , Honorary members and correspondents. Since 1811 it has published yearly, Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres à Berlin. For its scientific and philosophical attainments the names of W. and A. v. Humboldt, Ideles, Savigny, Schleiermacher, Bopp, and Ranke, will sufficiently vouch.
The Academy of Sciences at Mannheim was established by Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine, in the year 1755. The plan of this institution was furnished by Schaepflin, according to which it was divided into two classes, the historical and physical. In 1780 a sub-division of the latter took place into the physical, properly so-called, and the meteorological. The meteorological observations are published separately, under the title of Ephemerides Societatis Meteorologicae Palatinoe. The historical and physical memoirs are published under the title of Acta Academiae Theodoro-Palatin ae .
The Electoral Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich was established in 1759, and publishes its memoirs under the title of Abhandlungen der Baierischen Akademie. Soon after the Elector of Bavaria was raised to the rank of king, the Bavarian government, by his orders, directed its attention to a new organisation of the Academy of Sciences of Munich. The design of the king was, to render its labours more extensive than those of any similar institution in Europe, by giving to it, under the direction of the ministry, the immediate superintendence over all the establishments for public instruction in the kingdom of Bavaria. The Privy-Councillor Jacobi, a man of most excellent character, and of considerable scientific attainments, was appointed president [9:1:72] The Electoral Academy at Erfurt was established by the Elector of Mentz, in the year 1754. It consists of a protector, president, director, assessors, adjuncts, and associates. Its object is to promote the useful sciences. The memoirs were originally published in Latin, but afterwards in German. The Hessian Academy of Sciences at Giessen publish their transactions under the title of Acta Philo-sophico-Medica Academioe Scientiarum Principalis H essiacoe. In the Netherlands there are scientific academies at Flushing and Brussels, both of which have published their transactions.
Russia.— The Imperial Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg was projected by the Czar Peter the Great. Having in the course of his travels observed the advantage of public societies for the encouragement and promotion of literature, he formed the design of founding an academy of sciences at St Petersburg. By the advice of Wolff and Leibnitz, whom he consulted on this occasion, the society was accordingly regulated, and several learned foreigners were invited to become members. Peter himself drew the plan, and signed it on the 10th of February 1724; but he was prevented, by the suddenness of his death, from carrying it into execution. His decease, however, did not prevent its completion; for on the 21st of December 1725, Catharine I. established it according to Peter’s plan, and on the 27th of the same month the society assembled for the first time. On the 1st of August 1726, Catharine honoured the meeting with her presence, when Professor Bulfinger, a German naturalist of great eminence, pronounced an oration upon the advances made in the theory of magnetic variations, and also on the progress of research in so far as regarded the discovery of the longitude. A short time afterwards the empress settled a fund of £4982 per annum for the support of the academy; and 15 members, all eminent for their learning and talents, were admitted and pensioned, under the title of professors in the various branches of science and literature. The most distinguished of these professors were Nicholas and Daniel Bernouilli, the two De Lisles, Bulfinger, and Wolff.
During the short reign of Peter II. the salaries of the members were discontinued, and the academy utterly neglected by the Court; but it was again patronised by the Empress Anne, who even added a seminary for the education of youth under the superintendence of the professors. Both institutions flourished for some time under the direction of Baron Korf; but upon his death, towards the end of Anne’s reign, an ignorant person being appointed president, many of the most able members quitted Russia. At the accession of Elizabeth, however, new life and vigour were infused into the academy. The original plan was enlarged and improved; some of the most learned foreigners were again drawn to St Petersburg; and, what was considered as a good omen for the literature of Russia, two natives, Lomonosof and Rumovsky, men of genius and abilities, who had prosecuted their studies in foreign universities, were enrolled among its members. Lastly, the annual income was increased to £10,659, and sundry other advantages were conferred upon the institution.
The Empress Catharine II., with her usual zeal for promoting the diffusion of knowledge, took this useful society under her immediate protection. She altered the court of directors greatly to the advantage of the whole body, corrected many of its abuses, and infused a new vigour and spirit into their researches. By Catharine’s particular recommendation the most ingenious professors visited the various provinces of her vast dominions; and as the funds of the academy were not sufficient to defray the whole expense of these expeditions, the empress supplied the deficiency by a grant of £2000, which was renewed as occasion required.
The purpose and object of these travels will appear from the instructions given by the academy to the several persons who engaged in them. They were ordered to institute inquiries respecting the different sorts of earths and waters; the best methods of cultivating barren and desert spots; the local disorders incident to men and animals, together with the most efficacious means of relieving them; the breeding of cattle, particularly of sheep; the rearing of bees and silk-worms; the different places and objects for fishing and hunting; minerals of all kinds; the arts and trades; and the formation of a Flora Russica, or collection of indigenous plants. They were particularly instructed to rectify the longitude and latitude of the principal towns; to make astronomical, geographical, and meteorological observa tions; to trace the courses of rivers; to construct the most exact charts; and to be very distinct and accurate in re marking and describing the manners and customs of the different races of people, their dresses, languages, antiquities, traditions, history, religion; in a word, to gain every information which might tend to illustrate the real state of the whole Russian empire. More ample instructions cannot well be conceived; and they appear to have been very zealously and faithfully executed. The consequence was that, at that time, no country could boast, within the space of so few years, such a number of excellent publcations on its internal state, its natural productions, its topography, geography, and history, and on the manners, customs, and languages of the different tribes who inhabit it, as issued from the press of this academy. In its researches in Asiatic languages, and general knowledge of Oriental customs and religions, it proved itself the worthy rival of our own Royal Asiatic Society.
The first transactions of this society were published in 1728, and entitled Commentarii Academioe Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanoe ad annum 1726, with a dedication to Peter II. The publication was continued under this form until the year 1747, when the transactions were called Novi Commentarii Academioe, &c.; and in 1777, the academy again changed the title into Acta Academioe Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanoe, and likewise made some alteration in the arrangements and plan of the work. The papers, which had been hitherto published in the Latin language only, were now written indifferently either in that language or in French, and a preface added, entitled Partie Historique, which contains an account of its proceedings, meetings, the ' admission of new members, and other remarkable occurrences. Of the Commentaries, 14 volumes were published: the first of the New Commentaries made its appearance in 1750, and the twentieth in 1776. Under the new title of Acta Academioe, a number of volumes have been given to the public; and two are printed every year. These transactions abound with ingenious and elaborate disquisitions upon various parts of science and natural history; and it may not be an exaggeration to assert, that no society in Europe has more distinguished itself for the excellence of its publications, particularly in the more abstruse parts of pure and mixed mathematics.
The academy is still composed, as at first, of 15 professors, besides the president and director. Each of these professors has a house and an annual stipend of from £200 to £600. Besides the professors, there are four adjuncts, with pensions, who are present at the sittings of the society, and succeed to the first vacancies. The direction of the academy is generally entrusted to a person of distinction.
The buildings and apparatus of this academy are on a vast scale. There is a fine library, consisting of 36,000 curious books and manuscripts; together with an extensive museum, in which the various branches of natural history, &c., are distributed in different apartments. The latter is extremely rich in native productions, having been considerably[9:1:73] augmented by the collections made by Pallas, Gmelin, Guldenstaedt, and other professors, during their expeditions through the various parts of the Russian empire. The stuffed animals and birds occupy one apartment. The chamber of rarities, the cabinet of coins, &c., contain innumerable articles of the highest curiosity and value. The motto of the society is exceedingly modest; it consists of only one word, Paulatim. Sweden.— The Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, or the Royal Swedish Academy, owes its institution to six persons of distinguished learning, among whom was the celebrated Linnaeus. They originally met on the 2d of June 1739, when they formed a private society, in which some dissertations were read; and in the end of the same year their first publication made its appearance. As the meetings continued and the members increased, the society attracted the notice of the king; and, accordingly, on the 31st of March 1741, it was incorporated under the name of the Royal Swedish Academy. Not receiving any pension from the crown, it is merely under the protection of the king, being directed, like our Royal Society, by its own members. It has now, however, a large fund, which has chiefly arisen from legacies and other donations; but a professor of experimental philosophy, and two secretaries, are still the only persons who receive any salaries. Each of the members resident at Stockholm becomes president by rotation, and continues in office during three months. There are two kinds of members, native and foreign; the election of the former take places in April, that of the latter in July; and no money is paid at the time of admission. The dissertations read at each meeting are collected and published four times in the year: they are written in the Swedish language, and printed in octavo, and the annual publications make a volume. The first 40 volumes, which were completed in 1779, are called the Old Transactions. Denmark.— The Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen owes its institution to the zeal of six individuals, whom Christian VI., in 1742, ordered to arrange his cabinet of medals. These persons were John Gram, Joachim Frederic Ramus, Christian Louis Scheid, Mark Woldickey, Erie Pontopidan, and Bernard Moelman, who, occasionally meeting for this purpose, extended their designs; associated with them others who were eminent in several branches of science; and forming a kind of literary society, employed themselves in searching into, and explaining the history and antiquities of their country. The Count of Holstein, the first president, warmly patronised this society, and recommended it so strongly to Christian VI. that, in 1743, his Danish majesty took it under his protection, called it the Royal Academy of Sciences, endowed it with a fund, and ordered the members to join to their former pursuits natural history, physics, and mathematics. In consequence of the royal favour the members engaged with fresh zeal in their pursuits; and the academy has published 15 volumes in the Danish language, some of which have been translated into Latin.
England.— In 1616 a scheme for founding a Royal Academy was started by Edmund Bolton, an eminent scholar and antiquary. Bolton, in his petition to King James, which was supported by George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, proposed that the title of the academy should be “King James, his Academe or College of honour.” In the list of members occurs the name of Sir Kenelm Digby, one of the original members of the Royal Society. The death of the king proved fatal to the undertaking. In 1635 a second attempt was made to found an academy, under the patronage of Charles I., with the title of "Minerva’s Musaeum,” for the instruction of young noblemen in the liberal arts and sciences, but the project was soon dropped. About 1645 some of the more ardent followers of Bacon used to meet, some in London, some at Oxford, for the discussion of subjects connected with experimental science. This was the origin of the Royal Society, which received its charter in 1662. See Royal Society. Ireland.— The Royal Irish Academy arose out of a society established at Dublin about the year 1782, and consisting of a number of gentlemen, most of whom belonged to the university. They held weekly meetings, and read essays in turn on various subjects. The members of this society afterwards formed a more extensive plan, and, admitting only such names as might add dignity to their new institution, became the founders of the Royal Irish Academy. They professed to unite the advancement of science with the history of mankind and polite literature. The first volume of their transactions (for 1787) appeared in 1788, and seven volumes were afterwards published. A society was formed in Dublin, similar to tho Royal Society in London, as early as the year 1683; but the distracted state of the country proved unpropitious to the cultivation of philosophy and literature.
Holland.— The Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, erected by a royal ordinance 1852, succeeded the Royal Institute of the Low Countries, founded by Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, 1808. In 1855 it had published 192 volumes of proceedings, and received an annual subsidy of 14,000 florins from the state.
Spain.— The Academy of Sciences at Madrid, founded 1774, after the model of the French Academy.
Portugal.— The Academy of Sciences at Lisbon is divided into three classes—natural history, mathematics, and national literature. It consists of 24 ordinary and 36 extraordinary members. Since 1779 it has published Memorias de Letteratura Portugueza; Memorias Economicas; Collecçao de Livros ineditos di Historia Portugueza.
II. Academies of Belles Lettres.— Italy.— Italy in the 16th century was remarkable for the number of its literary academies. Tiraboschi, in his History of Italian Literature, has given a list of 171; and Jarkius, in his Specimen Historiae Academiarum Conditarum, enumerates nearly 700. Many of these, with a sort of Socratic irony, gave themselves names expressive of ignorance or simply ludicrous. Such were the Lunatici of Naples, the Estravaganti, the Fulminates, the Trapessati, the Drowsy, the Sleepers, the Anxious, the Confused, the Unstable, the Fantastic, the Transformed, the Aetherial. “The first academies of Italy chiefly directed their attention to classical literature; they compared manuscripts; they suggested new readings, or new interpretations; they deciphered inscriptions or coins; they sat in judgment on a Latin ode, or debated the propriety of a phrase. Their own poetry had, perhaps, never been neglected; but it was not till the writings of Bembo furnished a new code of criticism in the Italian language, that they began to study it with the same minuteness as modern Latin.” “They were encouragers of a numismatic and lapidary erudition, elegant in itself, and throwing for ever little specks of light on the still ocean of the past, but not very favourable to comprehensive observation, and tending to bestow on an unprofitable pedantry the honours of real learning.”^[5. Hallam’s Int. to Lit. of Europe, vol. i. 654, and vol. ii. 502. ] The Italian nobility, excluded as they mostly were from politics, and living in cities, found in literature a consolation and a career. Such academies were oligarchical in their constitution; they encouraged culture, but tended to hamper genius and extinguish originality. Of their academies, by far the most celebrated was the Accademia della C rusca or Fur-furatorum; that is, of Bran, or of the Sifted. The title was borrowed from a previous society at Perugia, the Accademia degli Scossi, of the Well-shaken. Its device [9:1:74] was a sieve; its motto, “Il più bel fior ne coglie,” it collects the finest flour of it; its principal object the purification of the language. Its great work was the Vocabu-lario della Crusca, the first edition of which was published 1613. It was composed avowedly on Tuscan principles, and regarded the 14th century as the Augustan period of the language. Beni assailed it in his Anti-Crusca, and this exclusive Tuscan spirit has disappeared in subsequent editions. The Accademia della Crusca is now incorporated with two older societies—the Accademia degli Apatici (the Impartials) and the Accademia Fiorentina.
Among the numerous other literary academies of Italy we may mention the Academy of Naples, founded about 1440 by Alfonso, the king; the Academy of Flor ence, founded 1540, to illustrate and perfect the Tuscan tongue, especially by a close study of Petrarch; the Intronati of Siena, 1525; the Inflammati of Padua, 1534; the Rozzi of Siena, suppressed by Cosmo, 1568.
The Academy of Humourists, Umoristi, had its origin at Rome in the marriage of Lorenzo Marcini, a Roman gentleman, at which several persons of rank were guests. It was carnival time, and so to give the ladies some diversion, they betook themselves to the reciting of verses, sonnets, speeches, first extempore, and afterwards premeditately, which gave them the denomination of Belli Humori. After some experience, and coming more and more into the taste of these exercises, they resolved to form an academy of belles lettres, and changed the title of Belli Humori for that of Humoristi.
In 1690 the Academy or Society of Arcadians was established at Rome, for the purpose of reviving the study of poetry. The founder Crescimbeni is the author of a well-known history of Italian poetry. It numbered among its members many princes, cardinals, and other ecclesiastics; and, to avoid disputes about pre-eminence, all appeared masked after the manner of Arcadian shepherds. Within ten years from its first establishment the number of academicians amounted to 600.
The Royal Academy of Savoy dates from 1719, and was made a royal academy by Charles Felix in 1848. Its emblem is a gold orange tree full of flowers and fruit; its motto “Flores fructusque perennes,” being the same as those of the famous Florimentane Academy, founded at Annecy by St Francis de Sales. It has published valuable memoirs on the history and antiquities of Savoy.
Germany. — Of the German literary academies, the most celebrated was Die Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, the Fruitful Society, established at Weimar 1617. Five princes enrolled their names among the original members. The object was to purify the mother tongue. The German academies copied those of Italy in their quaint titles and petty ceremonials, and exercised little permanent influence on the language or literature of the country.
France.— The French Academy was established by order of the king in the year 1635, but in its original form it came into existence some four or five years earlier. About the year 1629 certain literary friends in Paris agreed to meet weekly at the house of one of their number. These meetings were quite informal, but the conversation turned mostly on literary topics; and when, as was often the case, one of the number had composed some work, he read it to the rest, and they gave their opinions upon it. The place of meeting was the house of Μ. Conrard, which was chosen as being the most central. The fame of these meetings, though the members were bound over to secrecy, reached at length the ears of Cardinal Richelieu, who conceived so high an opinion of them, that he at once promised them his protection, and offered to incorporate them by letters patent. Nearly all the members would have preferred the charms of privacy, but, considering the risk they would run in incurring the cardinal’s displeasure, and that by the letter of the law all meetings of any sort or kind were prohibited, they expressed their gratitude for the high honour the cardinal thought fit to confer on them. They proceeded at once to organise their body, settle their laws and constitution, appoint officers, and choose their name. Their officers consisted of a director and a chancellor, both chosen by lot, and a permanent secretary, chosen by votes. They elected besides a publisher, not a member of the body. The director presided at the meetings, being considered as primus inter pares, and performing much the same part as the speaker in the English House of Commons. The chancellor kept the seals, and sealed all the official documents of the academy. The office of the secretary explains itself. The cardinal was ex officio protector. The meetings were weekly as before.
The letters patent were at once granted by the king, but it was only after violent opposition and long delay that the president, who was jealous of the cardinal’s authority, consented to grant the verification required by the old constitution of France.
The object for which the academy was founded, as set forth in its statutes, was the purification of the French language. “The principal function of the academy shall be to labour with all care and diligence to give certain rules to our language, and to render it pure, eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and sciences” (Art. 24). They proposed “to cleanse the language from the impurities it has contracted in the mouths of the common people, from the jargon of the lawyers, from the misusages of ignorant courtiers, and the abuses of the pulpit.”— Letter of Academy to Cardinal Richelieu.
Their numbers were fixed at forty. The original members who formed the nucleus of the body were eight, and it was not till 1639 that the full number was completed. Their first undertaking consisted of essays written by all the members in rotation. To judge by the titles and specimens which have come down to us, these possessed no special originality or merit, but resembled the επιδείξεις of the Greek rhetoricians. They next, at the instance of Cardinal Richelieu, undertook a criticism of Corneille’s Cid, the most popular work of the day. It was a rule of the academy that no work could be criticised except at the author’s request. It was only the fear of incurring the cardinal’s displeasure which wrung from Corneille an unwilling consent. The critique of the academy was rewritten several times before it met with the cardinal’s approbation. After six months of elaboration, it was published under the title, Sentiments de l' Académie Françoise sur le Cid. This judgment did not satisfy Corneille, as a saying attributed to him on the occasion shows. “Horatius ,” he said, referring to his last play, “was condemned by the Duumviri, but he was absolved by the people.” But the crowning labour of the academy, commenced in 1639, was a dictionary of the French language. By the twenty-sixth article of their statutes, they were pledged to compose a dictionary, a grammar, a treatise on rhetoric, and one on poetry. Μ. Chapelain, one of the original members and leading spirits of the academy, pointed out that the dictionary would naturally be the first of these works to be undertaken, and drew up a plan of the work, which was to a great extent carried out. A catalogue was to be made of all the most approved authors, prose and verse: these were to be distributed among the members, and all words and phrases of which they approved to be marked by them in order to be incorporated in the dictionary. For this they resolved themselves iuto two committees, which sat on other than the regular days. Μ. de Vaugelas^[6. A bon mot of his is worth recording. When returning thanks for his pension, the cardinal remarked, “Well, Monsieur, you will not forget the word >pension in your dictionary.” “No, Monseigneur,” replied Vaugelas, “and still less the word gratitude ." ]
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was appointed editor in chief. To remunerate him for his labours, he received from the cardinal a pension of 2000 francs. The first edition of this dictionary appeared in 1694, the last Complément in 1854.
Instead of following the history of the French Academy,— which, like its two younger sisters, the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Inscriptions, was suppressed in 1793, and reconstituted in 1795, as a class of the Institute,—a history which it would be impossible to treat adequately in the limit of an article, we will attempt briefly to estimate its influence on French literature and language, and point out its principal merits and defects. To begin with its merits, it may justly boast that there is hardly a single name of the first rank among French litterateurs that it has not enrolled among its members. Molière, it is true, was rejected as a player; but we can hardly blame the academy for a social prejudice which it shared with the age; and it is well known that it has, as far as was in its power, made the amende honorable. In the Salle des Séances is placed the bust of the greatest of modern comedians, with the inscription, “Rien ne manque à sa gloire; il manquait à la notre.” Descartes was excluded from the fact of his residing in Holland. Scarron was confined by paralysis to his own house. Pascal is the only remaining exception, and Pascal was better known to his contemporaries as a mathematician than a writer. His Lettres Provinciales were published anonymously; and just when his fame was rising he retired to Port-Royal, where he lived the life of a recluse. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the fauteuils have often been occupied by men of no mark in literature. Nor is the academy wholly exonerated by Μ. Livet’s ingenious defence, that there are but eight marshals in the French army, and yet the number has never appeared too restricted; for its most ardent admirers will not assert that it has, as a rule, chosen the forty most distinguished living authors. Court intrigue, rank, and finesse have too often prevailed over real merit and honesty. Though his facts are incorrect, there is much truth in Courier’s caustic satire :—“Dans une compagnie de gens faisant profession d’esprit ou de savoir, nul ne veut près de soi un plus habile que soi, mais bien un plus noble, un plus riche: un duc et pair honore l'Académie Française, qui ne veut point de Boileau,^[7. Boileau was elected to the French Academy 1684, La Bruyère in 1693. ] refuse la Bruyère, fait attendre Voltaire, mais reçoit tout d’abord Chapelain et Conrart.”
We have next to consider the influence of the French Academy on the language and literature, a subject on which the most opposite opinions have been advanced. On the one hand, it has been asserted that it has corrected the judgment, purified the taste, and formed the language of French writers, and that to it we owe the most striking characteristics of French literature, its purity, delicacy, and flexibility. Thus Mr Matthew Arnold, in his well-known Essay on the Literary Influence of Academies, has pronounced a glowing panegyric on the French Academy as a high court of letters, and rallying point for educated opinion, as asserting the authority of a master in matters of tone and taste. To it he attributes in a great measure that thoroughness, that openness of mind, that absence of vulgarity which he finds everywhere in French literature; and to the want of a similar institution in England he traces that eccentricity, that provincial spirit, that coarseness, which, as he thinks, is barely compensated by English genius. Thus, too, Μ. Renan, one of its most distinguished living members, says that it is owing to the academy “qu’on peut tout dire sans appareil scholastique avec la langue des gens du monde.” “Ah ne dites,” he exclaims, “qu’ils n’ont rien fait, ces obscures beaux esprits dont la vie se passe à instruire le procès des mots, à peser les syllables. Ils ont fait un chef-d’oeuvre—la langue française.” On the other hand, its inherent defects have been so well summed up by Μ. Lanfrey, that we cannot do better than quote from his recent History of Napoleon. “This institution,” he says, speaking of the French Academy, “had never shown itself the enemy of despotism. Founded by the monarchy and for the monarchy, eminently favourable to the spirit of intrigue and favouritism, incapable of any sustained or combined labour, a stranger to those great works pursued in common which legitimise and glorify the existence of scientific bodies, occupied exclusively with learned trifles, fatal to emulation, which it pretends to stimulate, by the compromises and calculations to which it subjects it, directed in everything by petty considerations, and wasting all its energy in childish tournaments, in which the flatteries that it showers on others are only the foretaste of the compliments it expects in return for itself, the French Academy seems to have received from its founders the special mission to transform genius into bel esprit, and it would be hard to produce a man of talent whom it has not demoralised. Drawn in spite of itself towards politics, it alternately pursues and avoids them; but it is specially attracted by the gossip of politics, and whenever it has so far emancipated itself as to go into opposition, it does so as the champion of ancient prejudices. If we examine its influence on the national genius, we shall see that it has given it a flexibility, a brilliancy, a polish, which it never possessed before,; but it has done so at the expense of its masculine qualities, its originality, its spontaneity, its vigour, its natural grace. It has disciplined it, but it has emasculated, impoverished, and rigidified it. It sees in taste, not a sense of the beautiful, but a certain type of correctness, an elegant form of mediocrity. It has substituted pomp for grandeur, school routine for individual inspiration, elaborateness for simplicity, fadeur and the monotony of literary orthodoxy for variety, the source and spring of intellectual life; and in the works produced under its auspices we discover the rhetorician and the writer, never the man. By all its traditions the academy was made to be the natural ornament of a monarchical society. Richelieu conceived and created it as a sort of superior centralisation applied to intellect, as a high literary court to maintain intellectual unity, and protest against innovation. Bonaparte, aware of all this, had thought of re-establishing its ancient privileges; but it had in his eyes one fatal defect— esprit. Kings of France could condone a witticism even against themselves, a parvenu could not.”
In conclusion, we would briefly state our own opinion. The influence of the French Academy has been conservative rather than creative. While it has raised the general standard of writing, it has tended to hamper and crush originality. It has done much by its example for style, but its attempts to impose its laws on languag have, from the nature of the case, failed. For, howeve. perfectly a dictionary or a grammar may represent the existing language of a nation, an original genius is certain to arise—a Victor Hugo, or an Alfred de Musset, who will set at defiance all dictionaries and academic rules.
Spain.— The Royal Spanish Academy at Madrid held its first meeting in July 1713, in the palace of its founder, the Duke d’Escalona. It consisted at first of 8 academicians, including the duke; to which number 14 others were afterwards added, the founder being chosen president or director. In 1714 the king granted them the royal confirmation and protection. Their device is a crucible in [9:1:76] the middle of the fire, with this motto, Limpia, fixa, y da esplendor —“It purifies, fixes, and gives brightness.” The number of its members was limited to 24; the Duke d’Escalona was chosen director for life, but his successors were elected yearly, and the secretary for life. Their object, as marked out by the royal declaration, was to cultivate and improve the national language. They were to begin with choosing carefully such words and phrases as have been used by the best Spanish writers; noting the low, barbarous, or obsolete ones; and composing a dictionary wherein these might be distinguished from the former.
Sweden.— The Royal Swedish Academy was founded in the year 1786, for the purpose of purifying and perfecting the Swedish language. A medal is struck by its direction every year in honour of some illustrious Swede. This academy does not publish its transactions.
Belgium.— Belgium has always been famous for its literary societies. The little town of Diest boasts that it possessed a society of poets in 1302, and the Catherinists of Alost date from 1107. Whether or not there is any foundation for these claims, it is certain that numerous Chambers of Rhetoric (so academies were then called) existed in the first years of the rule of the house of Burgundy.
The present Royal Academy of Belgium was founded by the Count of Coblenzl at Brussels, 1769. Count Stahren-berg obtained for it in 1772 letters patent from Maria Theresa, who also granted pensions to all the members, and a fund for printing their works. All academicians were ipso facto ennobled. It was reorganised, and a class of fine arts added in 1845 through the agency of Μ. Van de Weyer, the learned Belgian ambassador at London. It has devoted itself principally to national history and antiquities.
III. Academies of Archaeology and History.— Italy.— Under this class the Academy of Herculaneum properly ranks. It was established at Naples about 1755, at which period a museum was formed of the antiquities found at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other places, by the Marquis Tanucci, who was then minister of state. Its object was to explain the paintings, &c., which were discovered at those places; and for this purpose the members met every fortnight, and at each meeting three paintings were submitted to three academicians, who made their report on them at their next sitting. The first volume of their labours appeared in 1775, and they have been continued under tho title of Antichità di Ercolano. They contain engravings of the principal paintings, statues, bronzes, marble figures, medals, utensils, Ac., with explanations. In the year 1807, an Academy of History and Antiquities, on a new plan, was established at Naples by Joseph Bonaparte. The number of members was limited to forty; twenty of whom were to be appointed by the king, and these twenty were to present to him, for his choice, three names for each of those wanted to complete the full number. Eight thousand ducats were to be annually allotted for the current expenses, and two thousand for prizes to the authors of four works which should be deemed by the academy most deserving of such a reward. A grand meeting was to be held every year, when the prizes were to be distributed, and analyses of the works read. The first meeting took place on the 25th of April 1807; but the subsequent changes in the political state of Naples prevented the full and permanent establishment of this institution. In the same year an academy was established at Florence for the illustration of Tuscan antiquities, which published some volumes of memoirs.
France.— The old Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres was an off-shoot from the French Academy, which then at least contained the élite of French learning. Louis XIV. was of all French kings the one most occupied with his own aggrandisement. Literature, and even science, he only encouraged so far as they redounded to his own glory. Nor were literary men inclined to assert their independence. Boileau well represented the spirit of the age when, in dedicating his tragedy of Berenice to Colbert, he wrote— “The least things become important if in any degree they can serve the glory and pleasure of the king.” Thus it was that the Academy of Inscriptions arose. At the suggestion of Colbert, a company (a committee we should now call it) had been appointed by the king, chosen from the French Academy, charged with the office of furnishing inscriptions, devices, and legends for medals. It consisted of four academicians: Chapelain, then considered the poet laureate of France, one of the authors of the critique on the Cid (see above); l’abbé de Bourzeis; François Carpentier, an antiquary of high repute among his contemporaries; and l’abbé de Capagnes, who owed his appointment more to the fulsome flattery of his odes than his really learned translations of Cicero and Sallust. This company used to meet in Colbert’s library in the winter, at his country-house at Sceaux in the smnmer, generally on Wednesdays, to serve the convenience of the minister, who was constantly present. Their meetings were principally occupied with discussing the inscriptions, statues, and pictures intended for the decoration of Versailles; but Μ. Colbert, a really learned man and an enthusiastic collector of manuscripts, was often pleased to converse with them on matters of art, history, and antiquities. Their first published work was a collection of engravings, accompanied by descriptions, designed for some of the tapestries at Versailles. Louvois, who succeeded Colbert as a superintendent of buildings, revived the company, which had begun to relax its labours. Félibien, the learned architect, and the two great poets Racine and Boileau, were added to their number. A series of medals was commenced, entitled Médailles de la Grande Histoire, or, in other words, the history of le Grand Monarque.
But it was to Μ. de Portchartrain, comptroller-general of finance and secretary of state, that the academy owed its institution. He added to the company Renaudot and Tourreil, both men of vast learning, the latter tutor to his son, and put at its head his nephew, l’abbé Bignon, librarian to the king. By a new regulation, dated the 16th July 1701, the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Medals was instituted, ’being composed of ten honorary members, ten pensioners, ten associates, and ten pupils. On its constitution we need not dwell, as it was an almost exact copy of that of the Academy of Science. Among the regulations we find the following, which indicates clearly the transition from a staff of learned officials to a learned body :—“The academy shall concern itself with all that can contribute to the perfection of inscriptions and legends, of designs for such monuments and decorations as may be submitted to its judgment; also with the description of all artistic works, present and future, and the historical explanation of the subject of such works; and as the knowledge of Greek and Latin antiquities, and of these two languages, is the best guarantee for success in labours of this class, the academicians shall apply themselves to all that this division of learning includes, as one of the most worthy objects of their pursuit.”
Among the first honorary members we find the indefatigable Mabillon (excluded from the pensioners by reason of his orders), Pere La Chaise, the king’s confessor, and Cardinal Rohan; among the associates Fontenelle, and Rollin, whose Ancient History was submitted to the academy for revision. In 1711 they completed L’Histoire Métallique du Roi, of which Saint-Simon was asked to [9:1:77] write the preface. In 1716 the regent changed its title to that of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, a title which better suited its new character.
In the great battle between the Ancients and the Moderns which divided the learned world in the first half of the 18th century, the Academy of Inscriptions naturally espoused the cause of the Ancients, as the Academy of Sciences did that of the Moderns. During the earlier years of the French Revolution the academy continued its labours uninterruptedly; and on the 22d of January 1793, the day after the death of Louis XVI., we find in the Proceedings that Μ. Bréquigny read a paper on the projects of marriage between Queen Elizabeth and the Dukes of Anjou and Alençon. In the same year were published the 45th and 46th vols. of the Mémoires de l’ Académie. On the 2d of August of the same year the last séance of the old academy was held. More fortunate than its sister Academy of Sciences, it lost only three of its members by the guillotine. One of these was the astronomer Sylvain Bailly. Three others sat as members of the Convention; but for the honour of the academy, we must add that all three were distinguished by their moderation.
In the first draught of the new Institute, October 25, 1795, no class corresponded exactly to the old Academy of Inscriptions; but most of the members who survived found themselves re-elected either in the 2d class of moral and political science, under which history and geography were included as sections, or more generally under the 3d class of literature and fine arts, which embraced ancient languages, antiquities, and monuments.
In 1816 the academy received again its old name. The Proceedings of the Society embrace a vast field, and are of very various merits. Perhaps the subjects on which it has shown most originality are comparative mythology, the history of science among the ancients, and the geography and antiquities of France. The old academy has reckoned among its members De Sacy the Orientalist, Dansse de Villoison the philologist, Du Perron the traveller, Sainte-Croix and Du Theil the antiquarians, and Le Beau, who has been named the last of the Romans. The new academy has already inscribed on its lists the well-known names of Champollion, A. Rémusat, Raynouard, Burnouf, and Augustin Thierry.
Celtic Academy.— In consequence of the attention of several literary men in Paris having been directed to Celtic antiquities, a Celtic Academy was established in that city in the year 1800. Its objects were, first, the elucidation of the history, customs, antiquities, manners, and monuments of the Celts, particularly in France; secondly, the etymology of all the European languages, by the aid of the Celto-British, Welsh, and Erse; and, thirdly, researches relating to Druidism. The attention of the members was also particularly called to the history and settlements of the Galatae in Asia. Lenoir, the keeper of the museum of French monuments, was appointed president. The academy still exists as La Société Royale des Antiquaires de France.
IV. Academies of Medicine and Surgery.— Germany. —The Academy of Naturae Curiosi, called also the Leo-poldine Academy, was founded in 1662, by J. L. Bausch, a physician of Leipsic, who, imitating the example of the English, published a general invitation to medical men to communicate all extraordinary cases that occurred in the course of their practice. The works of the Naturae Curiosi were at first published separately; but this being attended with considerable inconvenience, a new arrangement was formed, in 1770, for publishing a volume of observations annually. From some cause, however, the first volume did not make its appearance until 1784, when it came forth under the title of Ephemerides. In 1687, the Emperor Leopold took the society under his protection, and established it at Vienna; hence the title of Leopoldine which it in consequence assumed. But though it thus acquired a name, it had no fixed place of meeting, and no regular assemblies; instead of which there was a kind of bureau or office, first established at Breslau, and afterwards removed to Nuremberg, where communications from correspondents were received, and persons properly qualified admitted as members. By its constitution the Leopoldine Academy consists of a president, two adjuncts or secretaries, and colleagues or members, without any limitation as to numbers. At their admission the last come under a twofold obligation—first, to choose some subject for discussion out of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, provided it has not been previously treated of by any colleague of the academy; and, secondly, to apply themselves to furnish materials for the annual Ephemerides. Each member also bears about with him the symbol of the academy, consisting of a gold ring, whereon is represented a book open, with an eye on one side, and on the other the academical motto of Nunquam otiosus.
The Academy of Surgery at Vienna was instituted by the present emperor, under the direction of the celebrated Brambella. In it there were at first only two professors; and to their charge the instruction of a hundred and thirty young men was committed, thirty of whom had formerly been surgeons in the army. But latterly the number both of teachers and pupils was considerably increased. Gabrielli was appointed to teach pathology and practice; Boecking, anatomy, physiology, and physics; Streit, medical and pharmaceutical surgery; Hunczowsky, surgical operations, midwifery, and chirurgia forensis; and Plenk, chemistry and botany. To these was also added Beindel, as proseβutor and extraordinary professor of surgery and anatomy. Besides this, the emperor provided a large and splendid edifice in Vienna, which affords accommodation both for the teachers, the students, pregnant women, patients for clinical lectures, and servants. For the use of this academy the emperor also purchased a medical library, which is open every day; a complete set of chirurgical instruments; an apparatus for experiments in natural philosophy; a collection of natural history; a number of anatomical and pathological preparations; a collection of preparations in wax, brought from Florence; and a variety of other useful articles. Adjoining the building there is also a good botanical garden. With a view to encourage emulation among the students of this institution, three prize medals, each of the value of 40 florins, are annually bestowed on those who return the best answers to questions proposed the year before. These prizes, however, are not entirely founded by the emperor, but are in part owing to the liberality of Brendellius, formerly protochirurgus at Vienna.
France.—Royal Academy of Medicine.— Medicine is a science which has always engaged the attention of the kings of France. Charlemagne established a school of medicine in the Louvre, and various societies have been founded, and privileges granted to the faculty by his successors. The Royal Academy of Medicine succeeded to the old Royal Society of Medicine and the Academy of Surgery. It was erected by a royal ordinance, dated December 20, 1820. It was divided into three sections—medicine, surgery, and pharmacy. In its constitution it closely resembled the Academy of Sciences (vid. sup.) Its function was to preserve or propagate vaccine matter, and answer inquiries addressed to it by the Government on the subject of epidemics, sanitary reform, and public health generally. It has maintained an enormous correspondence in all quarters of the globe, and published extensive minutes.
V. Academies of the Fine Arts.— Russia.— The [9:1:78] academy at St Petersburg was established by the Empress Elizabeth, at the suggestion of Count Shuvaloff, and annexed to the Academy of Sciences. The fund for its support was £4000 per annum, and the foundation admitted forty scholars. Catharine II. formed it into a separate institution, augmented the annual revenue to £12,000, and increased the number of scholars to three hundred; she also constructed, for the use and accommodation of the members, a large circular building, which fronts the Neva. The scholars are admitted at the age of six, and continue until they have attained that of eighteen. They are clothed, fed, and lodged at the expense of the crown; and are all instructed in reading and writing, arithmetic, the French and German languages, and drawing. At the age of fourteen they are at liberty to choose any of the following arts, divided into four classes, viz., first, painting in all its branches of history portraits, warpieces, and landscapes, architecture, mosaic, enamelling, &c.; secondly, engraving on copperplates, seal-cutting, &c.; thirdly, carving on wood, ivory, and amber; fourthly, watchmaking, turning, instrument making, casting statues in bronze and other metals, imitating gems and medals in paste and other compositions, gilding, and varnishing. Prizes are annually distributed to those who excel in any particular art; and, from those who have obtained four prizes, twelve are selected, who are sent abroad at the charge of the crown. A certain sum is paid to defray their travelling expenses; and when they are settled in any town, they receive an annual salary of £60, which is continued during four years. There is a small assortment of paintings for the use of the scholars; and those who have made great progress are permitted to copy the pictures in the imperial collection. For the purpose of design, there are models in plaster, all done at Rome, of the best antique statues in Italy, and of the same size with the originals, which the artists of the academy were employed to cast in bronze.
France. — The Academy of Painting and Sculpture at Paris was founded by Louis XIV. in 1648, under the title of Académie Royale des Beaux Arts, to which was afterwards united the Academy of Architecture, erected 1671. The academy is composed of painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, and musical composers. From among the members of the society, who are painters, is chosen the director of the French Académie des Beaux Arts at Berne, also instituted by Louis XIV. in 1677. The director’s province is to superintend the studies of the painters, sculptors, &c., who, having been chosen by competition, are sent to Italy at the expense of the Government, to complete their studies in that country. Most of the celebrated French painters have begun their career in this way.
The Royal Academy of Music is the name which, by a strange perversion of language, is given in France to the grand opera. In 1571 the poet Baif established in his house an academy or school of music, at which ballets and masquerades were given. In 1645 Mazarin brought from Italy a troupe of actors, and established them in the Rue du Petit Bourbon, where they executed Jules Strozzi’s “Achille in Sciro,” the first opera performed in France. After Molière’s death in 1673, his theatre in the Palais Royal was given to Sulli, and there were performed all Gluck’s great operas; there Vestris danced, and there was produced Jean Jacques Rousseau’s “Devin du Village.”
Italy. — In 1778 an Academy of Painting and Sculpture was established at Turin. The meetings were held in the palace of the king, who distributed prizes among the most successful members. In Milan an Academy of Architecture was established so early as the year 1380, by Galeas Visconti. About the middle of the last century an Academy of the Arts was established there, after the example of those at Paris and Rome. The pupils were furnished with originals and models, and prizes were distributed annually. The prize for painting was a gold medal, and no prize was bestowed till all the competing pieces had been subjected to the examination and criticism of competent judges. Before the effects of the French Revolution reached Italy this was one of the best establishments of the kind in that kingdom. In the hall of the academy were some admirable pieces of Correggio, as well as several ancient paintings and statues of great merit,— particularly a small bust of Vitellius, and a statue of Agrippina, of most exquisite beauty, though it wants the head and arms. The Academy of the Arts, which had been long established at Florence, fell into decay, but was restored in the end of last century. In it there are halls for nude and plaster figures, for the use of the sculptor and the painter. The hall for plaster figures had models of all the finest statues in Italy, arranged in two lines; but the treasures of this and the other institutions for the fine arts were greatly diminished during the occupancy of Italy by the French. In the saloon of the Academy of the Arts at Modena there are many casts of antique statues; but after being plundered by the French it dwindled into a petty school for drawings from living models; it contains the skull of Correggio. There is also an Academy of the Fine Arts in Mantua, and another at Venice.
Spain.— In Madrid an Academy for Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, was founded by Philip V. The minister for foreign affairs is president. Prizes are distributed every three years. In Cadiz a few students are supplied by Government with the means of drawing and modelling from figures; and such as are not able to purchase the requisite instruments are provided with them.
Sweden.— An Academy of the Fine Arts was founded at Stockholm in the year 1733 by Count Tessin. In its hall are the ancient figures of plaster presented by Louis XIV. to Charles XI. The works of the students are publicly exhibited, and prizes are distributed annually. Such of them as display distinguished ability obtain pensions from Government, to enable them to reside in Italy for some years, for the purposes of investigation and improvement. In this academy there are nine professors, and generally about four hundred students. In the year 1705 an Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture was established at Vienna, with the view of encouraging and promoting the fine arts.
England.— The Royal Academy of Arts in London was instituted for the encouragement of designing, painting, sculpture, &c., in the year 1768, with Sir J. Reynolds for its president. This academy is under the immediate patronage of the queen, and under the direction of forty artists of the first rank in their several professions. It furnishes, in winter, living models of different characters to draw after; and in summer, models of the same kind to paint after. Nine of the ablest academicians are annually elected out of the forty, whose business it is to attend by rotation, to set the figures, to examine the performance of the students, and to give them necessary instructions. There are likewise professors of painting, sculpture, architecture, anatomy, and chemistry, who annually read public lectures on the subjects of their several departments; besides a president, a council, and other officers. The admission to this academy is free to all students properly qualified to reap advantage from the studies cultivated in it; and there is an annual exhibition at Burlington House of paintings, sculptures, and designs, open to all artists of distinguished meint.
The Academy of Ancient Music was established in London in 1710, by several persons of distinction, and other [9:1:79] amateurs, in conjunction with the most eminent masters of the time, with the view of promoting the study and practice of vocal and instrumental harmony. This institution, which had the advantage of a library, consisting of the most celebrated compositions, both foreign and domestic, in manuscript and in print, and which was aided by the performances of the gentlemen of the chapel royal, and the choir of St Paul’s, with the boys belonging to each, continued to flourish for many years. In 1731 a charge of plagiarism brought against Bononcini, a member of the academy, for claiming a madrigal of Lotti of Venice as his own, threatened the existence of the institution. Dr Greene, who had introduced the madrigal into the academy, took part with Bononcini, and withdrew from the society, taking with him the boys of St Paul’s. In 1734 Mr Gates, another member of the society, and master of the children of the royal chapel, also retired in disgust; so that the institution was thus deprived of the assistance which the boys afforded it in singing the soprano parts. From this time the academy became a seminary for the instruction of youth in the principles of music and the laws of harmony. Dr Pepusch, who was one of its founders, was active in accomplishing this measure; and by the expedient of educating boys for their purpose, and admitting auditor members, the subsistence of the academy was continued. The Royal Academy of Music was formed by the principal nobility and gentry of the kingdom, for the performance of operas, composed by Handel, and conducted by him at the theatre in the Haymarket. The subscription amounted to £50,000, and the king, besides subscribing £1000, allowed the society to assume the title of Royal Academy. It consisted of a governor, deputy-governor, and twenty directors. A contest between Handel and Senesino, one of the performers, in which the directors took the part of the latter, occasioned the dissolution of the academy, after it had subsisted with reputation for more than nine years. The present Royal Academy of Music dates from 1822, and was incorporated in 1830 under the patronage of the queen. It instructs pupils of both sexes in music, charging 33 guineas per annum; but many receive instruction free. It also gives public concerts. In this institution the leading instrumentalists and vocalists of England have received their education. (See Musical Directory published by Rudall, Carte, and Co.)
Academy is a term also applied to those royal collegiate seminaries in which young men are educated for the navy and army. In our country there are three colleges cf this description—the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
(f. s.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007901-0094m | ACADIE, or Acadia, the name borne by Nova Scotia while it remained a French settlement. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007902-0094m | ACALEPHAe (from ακαλ ή φη , a nettle), a name given to the animals commonly known as jelly-fish, sea-blubber, Medusae, sea-nettles, &c. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007903-0094m | ACANTHOCEPHALA (from άκανθο, a thorn, and κεφάλ ή , the head), a group of parasitic worms, having the heads armed with spines or hooks. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007904-0094m | ACANTHOPTERYGII (from άκανθο., a thorn, and πτ έ ρvξ, a wing), an order of fishes, having bony skeletons with prickly spinous processes in the dorsal fins. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007905-0094m | ACANTHUS, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Acanthaceae. The species are natives of the southern parts of Europe. The most common species is the Acanthus mollis or Brankursine. It has large, deeply-cut, hairy, shining leaves, which are supposed to have suggested the decoration of the Corinthian column. Another species, Acanthus spinosus, is so called from its spiny leaves. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007906-0094m | ACAPULCO, a town and port in Mexico, on a bay of the Pacific Ocean, about 190 miles S.S.W. of Mexico, in N. lat. 16° 50', W. long. 99° 46'. The harbour, which is the beet on the Pacific coast, is almost completely landlocked. It is easy of access, and the anchorage is so secure that heavily-laden ships can lie close to the rocks which surround it. The town lies N.W. of the harbour, and is defended by the castle of San Diego, which stands on an eminence. During a part of the dry season the air is infected with the putrid effluvia of a morass eastward of the town. This, together with the heat of the climate, aggravated by the reflection of the sun’s rays from the granite rocks that environ the town, renders it very unhealthy, especially to Europeans, though a passage cut through the rocks, to let in the sea breeze, has tended to improve its salubrity. Acapulco was in former times the great depot of the trade of Spain with the East Indies. A galleon sailed from this port to Manilla in the Philippine Islands, and another returned once a year laden with the treasures and luxuries of the East. On the arrival of this galleon a great fair was held, to which merchants resorted from all parts of Mexico. The trade between Acapulco and Manilla was annihilated when Mexico became independent; and, from this cause, and also on account of the frequent earthquakes by which the town has been visited, it had sunk to comparative insignificance, when the discovery of gold in California gave its trade a fresh impetus. It is now the most important seaport in Mexico, and is regularly touched at by the Pacific mail steamers. Besides having a large transit trade, it exports wool, skins, cocoa, cochineal, and indigo; and the imports include cottons, silks, and hardware. Population about 5000. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007907-0094m | ACARN ΑΝΙΑ, a province of ancient Greece, now called Carnia. It was bounded on the N. by the Ambracian gulf, on the N.E. by Amphilochia, on the W. and S.W. by the Ionian Sea, and on the E. by Aetolia. It was a hilly country, with numerous lakes and tracts of rich pasture, and its hills are to the present day crowned with thick wood. It was celebrated for its excellent breed of horses. The Acarnanians, according to Mr Grote, though admitted as Greeks to the Pan-Hellenic games, were more akin in character and manners to their barbarian neighbours of Epirus. Up to the time of the Peloponnesian war, they are mentioned only as a race of rude shepherds, divided into numerous petty tribes, and engaged in continual strife and rapine. They were, however, favourably distinguished from their Aetolian neighbours by the fidelity and steadfastness of their character. They were good soldiers, and excelled as slingers. At the date above mentioned they begin, as the allies of the Athenians, to make a more prominent figure in the history of Greece. The chief town was Stratos, and subsequently Leucas. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007908-0094m | ACARUS (from άκαρι, a mite), a genus of Arachnides, represented by the cheese mite and other forms. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-007909-0094m | ACCELERATION is a term employed to denote generally the rate at which the velocity of a body, whoso motion is not uniform, either increases or decreases. As the velocity is continually changing, and cannot therefore be estimated, as in uniform motion, by the space actually passed over in a certain time, its value at any instant has to be measured by the space the body would describe in the unit of time, supposing that at and from the instant in [9:1:80] question the motion became and continued uniform. If the motion is such that the velocity, thus measured, increases or decreases by equal amounts in equal intervals of time, it is said to be uniformly accelerated or retarded. In that ease, if f denote the amount of increase or decrease of velocity corresponding to the unit of time, the whole of such increase or decrease in t units of time will evidently be ft, and therefore if u be the initial and v the final velocity for that interval, v = u ∓ ft,— the upper sign applying to accelerated, the lower to retarded, motion. To find the distance or space, s, gone over in t units of time, let t be divided into n equal intervals. The velocities at the t end of the successive intervals will be u ± f t / n , u ±f 2t / n 'n
3$
w = fc ∕ —, &c. Let it now be supposed that during each of these small intervals the body has moved uniformly with its velocity at the end of the interval, then (since a body moving uniformly for x seconds with a velocity of y feet per second will move through xy feet) the spaces described in the successive intervals would be the product of the velocities given above by , and the whole space in the time t would be the sum of these spaces; i.e ., t . t 2 s = u-(l + 1.... repeated n times) ± f· -j(l + 2 + 3 + n)
= "' j ∙∕v≈∙ ι ⅛- 1 - l≠ i *(1+ i)∙
It is evident, however, that as the increase or decrease of velocity takes place continuously, this sum will be too large; but the greater n is taken, or (which is the same thing) the smaller the intervals are during which the velocity is supposed to be uniform, the nearer will the result be to the truth. Hence making n as large as possible, or as small as possible, i.e., = 0 , we obtain as the correct expression s = ut ∓ 1 / 2 ft 2 . In the case of motion from rest, u = 0, and the above formulae become v = ft, s=
We have a familiar instance of uniformly accelerated and uniformly retarded motion in the case of bodies falling and rising vertically near the earth’s surface, where, if the resistance of the air be neglected, the velocity of the body is increased or diminished, in consequence of the earth’s attraction, by a uniform amount in each second of time. To this amount is given the name of the acceleration of gravity (usually denoted by the letter g), the value of which, in our latitudes and at the surface of the sea, is very nearly 32⅙ feet per second. Hence the space a body falls from rest in any number of seconds is readily found by multiplying 16 1 / 12 ∙ feet by the square of the number of seconds. For a fuller account of accelerating force,—expressed in the notation of the Differential Calculus by cZv cZ⅜j e
∕= ± - τ - or f— ± - r ⅛-,—the reader is referred to the article ' at ' at 2 Dynamics. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008001-0095m | ACCENT, in reading or speaking, is the stress or pressure of the voice upon a syllable of a word. The derivation of the term (Lat. accentus, quasi adcantus) clearly shows that it was employed by the classical grammarians to express the production of a musical effect. Its origin is therefore to be sought in the natural desire of man to gratify the ear by modulated sound, and probably no language exists in which it does not play a more or less important part. “Only a machine,” says Professor Blackie (Place and Power of Accent in Language, in the Transactions of the Loyal Society of Edinburgh, 1871), “could produce a continuous series of sounds in undistinguished monotonous repetitions like the turn, turn, turn, of a drum; a rational being using words for a rational purpose to manifest his thoughts and feelings, necessarily accents both words and sentences in some way or other.” That tho accentuation of some languages is more distinct, various, aud effective than that of others is beyond question, but there are none, so far as we know, in which its power is not felt. The statement sometimes made, that the French have no accent in their words, can only mean that their accent is less emphatic or less variously so than that of certain other nations. If it means more, it is not merely an error, but an absurdity. From this conception of the subject, it is obvious that accent must be fundamentally the same thing in all languages, and must aim more or less successfully at the same results, however diverse the rules by which it is governed. But there are, nevertheless, important differences between the conditions under which accent operated in the classical, and those in which it operates in modern tongues. It did not wholly determine the rhythm, nor in the least affect the metre of classical verse; it did not fix the quantity or length of classical syllables. It was a musical element superadded to the measured structure of prose and verse.
Passing over the consideration of the accentual system of the Hebrews with the single remark, that it exhibits, though with more elaborate and complicated expression, most of the characteristics both of Greek and English accent, we find that the Greeks employed three grammatical accents, viz., the acute accent ('), which shows when the tone of the voice is to be raised; the grave accent ('), when it is to be depressed; and the circumflex accent (^), composed of both the acute and the grave, and pointing out a kind of undulation of the voice. The Latins have made the same use as the Greeks of these three accents, and various modern nations, French, English, &c., have also adopted them. As to the Greek accents, now seen both in manuscripts and printed books, there has been great dispute about their antiquity and use. But the following things seem to be undoubtedly taught by the ancient grammarians and rhetoricians:—(1.) That by accent (προσωδία, τόνος) the Greeks understood the elevation or falling of the voice on a particular syllable of a word, either absolutely, or in relation to its position in a sentence, accompanied with an intension or remission of the vocal utterance on that syllable (∈ πί τασιs , ἃ v ε σις), occasioning a marked predominance of that syllable over the other syllables of the word. The predominance thus given, however, had no effect whatever on the quantity —long or short—of the accented syllable. The accented syllable in Greek as in English, might be long or it might be short; elevation and emphasis of utterance being one thing, and prolongation of the vocal sound quite another thing, as any one acquainted with the first elements of music will at once perceive. The difficulty which many modern scholars have experienced in conceiving how a syllable could be accented and not lengthened, has arisen partly from a complete want of distinct ideas on the nature of the elements of which human speech is composed, and partly also from a vicious practice which has long prevailed in the English schools, of reading Greek, not according to the laws of its own accentuation, but according to the accent of Latin handed down to us through the Roman Catholic Church. For the rules of Latin accentuation are, as Quintilian and Cicero and the grammarians expressly mention, very different from the Greek; and the long syllable of a word has the accent in Latin in a hundred cases, where the musical habit of the Greek ear placed it upon the short. There is, besides, a vast number of words in Greek accented on the last syllable (like voluntee'r, ambusca'de , in English), of which not a single instance occurs in the Latin language[9:1:81]. Partly, however, from ignorance, partly from carelessness, and partly perhaps from stupidity, our scholars transferred the pronunciation of the more popular learned language to that which was less known; and with the help of time and constant usage, so habituated themselves to identify the accented with the long syllable, according to the analogy of the Latin, that they began seriously to doubt the possibility of pronouncing otherwise. English scholars have long ceased to recognise its existence, and persist in reading Greek as if the accentual marks meant nothing at all. Even those who allow (like Mr W. G. Clark and Professor Munro) that ancient Greek accent denoted an elevation of voice or tone, are still of opinion that it is impossible to reproduce it in modern times. “Here and there,” says the former (Cambridge Journal of Philology, vol. i. 1868), “a person may be found with such an exquisite ear, and such plastic organs of speech, as to be able to reproduce the ancient distinction between the length and tone of syllables accented and unaccented, and many not so gifted may fancy that they reproduce it when they do nothing of the kind. For the mass of boys and men, pupils as well as teachers, the distinction is practically impossible.” But, in spite of such pessimist views, it may, on the whole, be safely asserted that since the appearance of a more philosophical spirit in philology, under the guidance of Hermann, Boeckh, and other master-minds among the Germans, the best grammarians have come to recognise the importance of this element of ancient Hellenic enunciation, while not a few carry out their principles into a consistent practice. The only circumstance, indeed, that prevents our English scholars from practically recognising the element of accent in classical teaching, is the apprehension that this would interfere seriously with the practical inculcation of quantity; an apprehension in which they are certainly justified by the practice of the modern Greeks, who have given such a predominance to accent, as altogether to subordinate, and in many cases completely overwhelm quantity; and who also, in public token of this departure from the classical habit of pronunciation, regularly compose their verses with a reference to the spoken accent only, leaving the quantity —as in modern language generally— altogether to the discretion of the poet. But, as experiment will teach any one that there is no necessity whatever in the nature of the human voice for this confusion of two essentially different elements, it is not unlikely that English scholars will soon follow the example of the Germans, and read Greek prose at least systematically according to the laws of classical speech, as handed down to us by the grammarians of Alexandria and Byzantium. In the recitation of classical verse, of course, as it was not constructed on accentual principles, the skilful reader will naturally allow the musical accent, or the emphasis of the rhythm to overbear, to a great extent, or altogether to overwhelm, the accent of the individual word; though with regard to the recitation of verse, it will always remain a problem how far the ancients themselves did not achieve an “ accentuum cum quantitate apta conciliatio,” such as that which Hermann (De emendanda ratione, & c.) describes as the perfection of a polished classical enunciation. A. historic survey of the course of learned opinion on the subject of accent, from the age of Erasmus down to the present day, forms an interesting and important part of Professor Blackie’s essay quoted above. See Pennington’s work on Greek Pronunciation, Cambridge, 1844; the German work on Greek Accent by Göttling (English), London, 1831; and Blackie’s essay on the Place and Power of Accent, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1870-71.
If there is any perplexity regarding the nature or influence of classical accent, there is none about English. It does not conflict or combine with the modulations of quantity. It is the sole determining element in our metrical system. Almost the very earliest of our authors, the Venerable Bede, notices this. In defining rhythm he says—“It is a modulated composition of words, not according to the laws of metre, but adapted in the number of its syllables to the judgment of the ear, as are the verses of our vulgar poets” (Bede, Op. vol. i. p. 57, ed. 1553). We have, of course, long vowels and short, like the Greeks and the Romans, but we do not regulate our verse by them; and our mode of accentuation is sufficiently despotic to occasionally almost change their character, so that a long vowel shall seem short, and vice versa. In reality this is not so. The long vowel remains long, but then its length gives it no privilege of place in a verse. It may modify the enunciation, it may increase the roll of sound, but a short vowel could take its place without a violation of metre. Take the word far, for example; there the vowel a is long, yet in the line
“O Moon, far-spooming Ocean bows to thee,”
it is not necessary that the a in far should be long; a short vowel would do as well for metrical purposes, and would even bring out more distinctly the accentuation of the syllable spoom.
Originally English accent was upon the root, and not upon inflectional syllables. Göttling finds the same principle operating in Greek, but in that language it certainly never exercised the universal sway it does in the earlier forms of English. In the following passage from Beowulf, the oldest monument of English literature, belonging, in its first form, to a period even anterior to the invasion of Britain by the Angles and Saxons, we shall put the accented or emphatic syllables in italics:—
[table]
It will be observed that in these verses the accent (not to be confounded with the mark which is used in Anglo-Saxon to show that the vowel over which it is placed is long) is invariably on a monosyllable, or on the root part of a word of more than one syllable. The passage is also a good illustration of what has previously been stated, that the metre or rhythm in English is determined not by the vowel-quantity of a syllable, but by the stress of the voice on particular syllables, whether the vowels are long or short. In the older forms of English verse the accent is somewhat irregular; or, to put it more accurately, the number of syllables intervening between the recurrent accents is not definitely fixed. Sometimes two or more intervene, sometimes none at all. Take, for example, the opening lines of Langland’s poem, entitled the Vision of Piers the Plowman:—
“In a so mer se son
Whan soft was the sonne,
I shope me in shroudes,
As I a shepe were,
In ha bit as an he remite
Un ho ly of workes,
Went wide in this world
Wonders to here.
Ac on a May morn ynge
On Ma luerne hulles,
Me by fel a fer ly ,
Of fairy, me thoughte;
I was wery for wand red ,
And went me to reste
Under a brode banke
By a bornes side.
And as I lay and Zoned,
And lok ed in the waters,
I slom bred in a slep yng ,
It sweyu ed so merye,”
But no matter how irregular the time elapsing between the [9:1:82] recurrence of the accents, they are always on the rootsyllables.
The Norman Conquest, however, introduced a different system, which gradually modified the rigid uniformity of the native English accentuation. The change is visible as early as the end of the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th, that is to say, in the age of Chaucer, it is in full operation. Its origin is thus explained by Mr Marsh, in his Origin and History of the English Language (Lond., 1862) :—“The vocabulary of the French language is derived, to a great extent, from Latin words deprived of their terminal inflections. The French adjectives mortal and fatal are formed from the Latin mortalis and fatalis, by dropping the inflected syllable; the French nouns nation and condition from the Latin accusatives nationem, conditionem, by rejecting the em final. In most cases, the last syllable retained in the French derivatives was prosodically long in the Latin original; and either because it was also accented, or because the slight accent which is perceivable in the French articulation represents temporal length, the stress of the voice was laid on the final syllable of all these words. When we borrowed such words from the French we took them with their native accentuation; and as accent is much stronger in English than in French, the final syllable was doubtless more forcibly enunciated in the former than in the latter language.” The new mode of accentuation soon began to affect even words of pure English origin— e.g., in Robert of Gloucester we find fals hede instead of fals hede, tid inge instead of tid inge, trewe hede instead of trewe hede, glad dore instead of glad dore , wis liche instead of wis liche, begynn yny instead of beg ynn yng, end yng instead of end yng. In the Proverbs of Hendyng we haveh no- thyng for noth ing, hab ben for hab ben, f omon for fo mon; in Robert of Brunne, haly dom for hal ydom, cloth yng for cloth- ing, gret and for gret and. Chaucer furnishes numerous instances of the same foreign influence revolutionising the native accent; fre dom for fre dom, hethen esse for heth enesse, worthin esse for worth inesse, low ly for low ly , wynn ynge for wynn ynge, wedd ynge for wedd ynge, com ynge for com ynge ; and it is traceable even in Spenser. On the other hand, a contrary tendency must not be overlooked. We see an effort, probably unconscious, to compel words of French origin to submit to the rule of English accentuation. It is noticeable in the century before Chaucer: in Chaucer himself it begins to work strongly; mort al becomes mortal; tem pest , tem pest; sub stance , sub stance ; amy able, am yable; mor sel , mor sel; ser vise, ser vise; duch esse , duchesse ; co syn , cos yn, &c.; while a multitude of words oscillate between the rival modes of accentuation, now following the French and now the English. Before and during the Elizabethan period, the latter began to prove the stronger, and for the last 300 years it may be said to have, for the most part, Anglicised the accent and the nature of the foreign additions to our vocabulary. Nevertheless, many French words still retain their own accent. Morris (Historical Outlines of English Accidence, p. 75) thus classifies these :—
“(1.) Nouns in -ade, -ier(-eer), -e', -ee, or -oon, -ine, (-in), as cascade', crusade', &c.; cavalier', chandelier' , &c.; gazetteer', pioneer', & c. (in conformity with these we say harpooneer', mountaineer',); legatee', payee', &c.; balloon', cartoon', &c.; chagrin', violin', &c.; routine', marine' , &c.
“Also the following words:— cadet', brunette', gazette', cravat’, canal', control', gazelle', amateur', fatigue', antique', police', &c.
“(2.) Adjectives (a ) from Lat. adj. in us, as august', benign', robust, &c.; (b ) in -ose, as morose', verbose', &c.; (c ) -esque, as burlesque, grotesque’, &c.
“ (3.) Some verbs, as baptize', cajole’, caress', carouse’, chastise’, escape’, esteem’, &c.”
To these may be added the Greek and Latin words which have been introduced into English for scientific and other learned purposes, and which, not having been altered in form, retain their original accentuation—as auro'ra, corona, colossus, ide'a, hypothesis, caesu'ra, diaeresis, diagno'sis, diluvium, diploma, efflu'vium, elys'ium, &c.; besides the still larger number that have suffered a slight modification of form, but no change of accent, as dialec'tic, diagnostic, efflores' cent, elliptic, emer'sion, emol'lient, Ac. The Italian contributions to our tongue retain their original accent when the form is untouched, as mulat'to, sona'ta, vol-ca'no, but lose it when the form is shortened, as bandit (It. bandi'to).
A change in the position of the accent serves a variety of purposes in English. It distinguishes (1.) a noun from a verb, as accent, accent'; augment, augment'; tor'ment, torment'; com'ment, comment'; con'sort, consort'; con'test, contest'; con'trast, contrast'; digest, digest'; discount, discount'; in'sult, insult', &c.; (2.) an adjective from a verb, as ab'sent, absent'; fre'quent, frequent'; pre'sent, present'; com'pound, compound', &c.; (3.) an adjective from a noun, as ex'pert, expert'; com'pact, compact'. It also denotes a difference of meaning, e.g., conjure, conjure'; in'cense, incense'; au'gust, august'; su'pine, supine'.
Accent has exercised a powerful influence in changing the forms of words. The unaccented syllables in the course of time frequently dropped off. This process was necessarily more rapid and thorough in English than in many other languages which were not subjected to equal strain. The Norman Conquest made havoc of the English tongue for a time. It was expelled from the court, the schools, the church, and the tribunals of justice; it ceased to be spoken by priests, lawyers, and nobles; its only guardians were churls, ignorant, illiterate, indifferent to grammar, and careless of diction. Who can wonder if, in circumstances like these, it suffered disastrous eclipse? The latter part of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle furnishes melancholy evidence of the chaos into which it had fallen, yet out of this chaos it rose again into newness of life, reforming and re-accenting its half-ruined vocabulary, and drawing from the very agent of its destruction the elements of a richer and more plastic expression. For it cannot be doubted that the irregularities now existing in English accent, though perplexing to a foreigner, copiously vary the modulation, and so increase the flexibility and power of the language. The older forms of English, those in use before the Conquest, and down to the period of Chaucer, are stiff, monotonous, and unmusical. A hard strength is in the verse, but no liquid sweetness or nimble grace. Now, it is possible, in spite of our deficiency in vowel endings, to produce the noblest melody in accent words known to the modern world. Almost every kind of metre, swift or slow, airy or majestic, has been successfully attempted since the age of the Canterbury Tales. When we compare the drone of Caedmon with the aerial melody of the Skylark, the Cloud, and the Arethusa of Shelley, we see what an infinite progress has been made by the development of accent in the rhythm of our native tongue.
See Lectures on the English Language, by G. P. Marsh (Lond. 1861); the Origin and History of the English Language, Ac., by G. P. Marsh (Lond. 1862); Historische Grammatik der Englische Sprache, von. C. Friedrich Koch (1863-69); The English Language, by R. G. Latham (1855); Philological Essays, by the Rev. Richard Garnett (Lond. 1859); On Early English Pronunciation, with especial reference to Shakspere and Chaucer, by A. J. Ellis (Lond. 1867-71); Historical Outlines of English Accidence, by Dr R. Morris (Lond. 1872). (j. μ. r.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008201-0097m | ACCEPTANCE is the act by which a person binds himself to comply with the request contained in a bill of exchange addressed to him by the drawer. In all cases it is understood to be a promise to pay the bill in money, the law not recognising an acceptance in which the promise is [9:1:83] to pay in some other way, as, for example, partly in money and partly by another bill. Acceptance may be absolute, conditional, or partial· Absolute acceptance is an engagement to pay the bill strictly according to its tenor, and is made by the drawee subscribing his name, with or without the word “accepted,” at the bottom of the bill, or across the face of it. Conditional acceptance is a promise to pay on a contingency occurring, as, for example, on the sale of certain goods consigned by the drawer to the acceptor. No contingency is allowed to be mentioned in the body of the bill, but a contingent acceptance is quite legal, and equally binding with an absolute acceptance upon the acceptor when the contingency has occurred. Partial acceptance is where the promise is to pay only part of the sum mentioned in the bill, or to pay at a different time or place from those specified. In all cases acceptance involves the signature of the acceptor either by himself or by some person duly authorised on his behalf. A bill can be accepted in the first instance only by the person or persons to whom it is addressed; but if he or they fail to do so, it may, after being protested for non-acceptance, be accepted by another “supra protest,” for the sake of the honour of one or more of the parties concerned in it. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008301-0098m | ACCESSION is applied, in a historical or constitutional sense, to the coming to the throne of a dynasty or line of sovereigns, as the accession of the House cf Hanover. The corresponding term, when a single sovereign is spoken of, is “succession.” In law, accession is a method of acquiring property, by which, in things that have a close connection with or dependence on one another, the property of the principal draws after it the property of the accessory, according to the principle, accessio cedet principali, or accessorium sequitur principale. Thus, the owner of a cow becomes likewise the owner of the calf, and a landowner becomes proprietor of what is added to his estate by alluvion. Accession produced by the art or industry of man has been called industrial accession, and may be by specification, as when wine is made out of grapes, or by confusion or commixture. Accession sometimes likewise signifies consent or acquiescence. Thus, in the bankrupt law of Scotland, when there is a settlement by a trust-deed, it is accepted on the part of each creditor by a deed of accession. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008302-0098m | ACCESSORY, a person guilty of a felonious offence, not as principal, but by participation; as by advice, command, aid, or concealment. In treason, accessories are excluded, every individual concerned being considered as a principal. In crimes under the degree of felony, also, all persons concerned, if guilty at all, are regarded as principals. (See 24 and 25 Vict. c. 94. s. 8.) There are two kinds of accessories— before the fact, and after it. The first is he who commands or procures another to commit felony, and is not present himself; for if he be present, he is a principal. The second is he who receives, assists, or comforts any man that has done murder or felony, whereof he has knowledge. An accessory before the fact is liable to the same punishment as the principal; and there is now indeed no practical difference between such an accessory and a principal in regard either to indictment, trial, or punishment (24 and 25 Vict. c. 94). Accessories after the fact are in general punishable with imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years (ib. s. 4). The law of Scotland makes no distinction between the accessory to any crime (called art and part) and the principal. Except in the case of treason, accession after the fact is not noticed by the law of Scotland, unless as an element of evidence to prove previous accession. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008303-0098m | ACCIAJUOLI, Donato, was born at Florence in 1428. He was famous for his learning, especially in Greek and mathematics, and for his services to his native state. Having previously been intrusted with several important embassies, he became Gonfalonier of Florence in 1473. He died at Milan in 1478, when on his way to Paris to ask the aid of Louis XL on behalf of the Florentines against Pope Sixtus IV. His body was taken back to Florence, and buried in the church of the Carthusians at the public expense, and his daughters were portioned by his fellow-citizens, the fortune he left being, owing to his probity and disinterestedness, very small. He wrote a Latin translation of some of Plutarch’s Lives (Florence, 1478); Commentaries on Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics; and the lives of Hannibal, Scipio, and Charlemagne. In the work on Aristotle he had the co-operation of his master Argyropylus. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008304-0098m | ACCIDENT. An attribute of a thing or class of things, which neither belongs to, nor is in any way deducible from, the essence of that thing or class, is termed its accident. An accident may be either inseparable or separable: the former, when we can conceive it to be absent from that with which it is found, although it is always, as far as we know, present, i.e., when it is not necessarily but is universally present; the latter, when it is neither necessarily nor universally present. It is often difficult to determine whether a particular attribute is essential or accidental to the object we are investigating, subsequent research frequently proving that what we have described as accidental ought to be classed as essential, and vice versa. Practically, and for the time being, an attribute, which neither directly nor indirectly forms part of the signification of the term used to designate the object, may be considered an accident; and many philosophers look upon this as the only intelligible ground for the distinction. Propositions expressing the relation between a thing or class and an accident, and also between a thing or class and its property (i.e ., something deducible from, but not strictly forming part of, its essence), are variously styled “accidental,” “synthetical,” “real,” “ampliative,” in contradistinction to “essential,” “analytical,” “verbal,” and “explicative” propositions. The former give us information that we could not have discovered from an analysis of the subject notion— e.g., “man is found in New Zealand;” the latter merely state what we already know, if we understand the meaning of the language employed, e.g., “man is rational.” | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008305-0098m | ACCIUS, a poet of the 16th century, to whom is attributed A Paraphrase of Aesop' s Fables, of which Julius Scaliger speaks with great praise. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008306-0098m | ACCIUS (or Attius), Lucius, a Latin tragic poet, was the son of a freedman, born, according to St Jerome, in the year of Rome 583, though this appears somewhat uncertain. He made himself known before the death of Pacuvius by a dramatic piece, which he exhibited the same year that Pacuvius brought one on the stage, the latter being then eighty years of age, and Accius only thirty. We do not know the name of this piece of Accius’s, but the titles of several of his tragedies are mentioned by various authors. He wrote on the most celebrated stories which had been represented on the Athenian stage; but he did not always take his subject from Grecian story; for he composed at least one dramatic piece wholly Roman, entitled Brutus, and referring to the expulsion of the Tarquins. Only fragments of his tragedies remain. He did not confine himself to dramatic writing, having left other productions, particularly his Annals, mentioned by Macrobius, Priscian, Festus, and Nonnius Marcellus. He has been censured for the harshness of his style, but in other respects he has been esteemed a great poet. He died at an advanced age; and Cicero, who evidently attaches considerable weight to his opinions, speaks of having conversed with him in his youth. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-008307-0098m | ACCLAMATION, the expression of the opinion, favourable or unfavourable, of any assembly by means of the voice. Applause denotes strictly a similar expression by [9:1:84] clapping of hands, but this distinction in the usage of the words is by no means uniformly maintained. Among the Romans acclamation was varied both in form and purpose. At marriages it was usual for the spectators to shout Io Hymen, Hymenaee, or Talassio; a victorious army or general was greeted with Io triumphe ; in the theatre acclamation was called for at the close of the play by the last actor, who said, Plaudite ; in the senate opinions were expressed and votes passed by acclamation in such forms as Omnes, omnes, Aequum est, J ustum est, &c; and the praises of the emperor were celebrated in certain pre-arranged sentences, which seem to have been chanted by the whole body of senators. The acclamations which authors and poets who recited their works in public received were at first spontaneous and genuine, but in time became very largely mercenary, it being customary for men of fortune who affected literary tastes to keep applauders in their service and lend them to their friends. When Nero performed in the theatre his praises were chanted, at a given signal, by five thousand soldiers, who were called Augustals. The whole was conducted by a music-master, mesochorus or pausarius. It was this case of Nero which, occurring to the recollection of the French poet Dorat, may be said to have originated the well-known Paris claque. Buying up a number of the tickets for a performance of one of his plays, he distributed them gratuitously to those who promised to express approbation. From that time the claque, or organised body of professional applauders, has been a recognised institution in connection with the theatres of Paris. In the early ages of the Christian church it was by no means uncommon for an audience to express their approbation of a favourite preacher during the course of his sermon. Chrysostom especially was very frequently interrupted both by applause and by acclamations. In ecclesiastical councils vote by acclamation is very common, the question being usually put in the form, placet or non placet. This differs from the acclamation with which in other assemblies a motion is said to be carried, when, no amendment being proposed, approval is expressed by shouting such words as Aye or Agreed. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 83 [9:1:83] | |
kp-eb0901-008401-0099m | ACCLIMATISATION is the process of adaptation by which animals and plants are gradually rendered capable of surviving and flourishing in countries remote from their original habitats, or under meteorological conditions different from those which they have usually to endure, and which are at first injurious to them.
The subject of acclimatisation is very little understood, and some writers have even denied that it can ever take place. It is often confounded with domestication or with naturalisation; but these are both very different phenomena. A domesticated animal or a cultivated plant need not necessarily be acclimatised; that is, it need not be capable of enduring the severity of the seasons without protection. The canary bird is domesticated but not acclimatised, and many of our most extensively cultivated plants are in the same category. A naturalised animal or plant, on the other hand, must be able to withstand all the vicissitudes of the seasons in its new home, and it may therefore be thought that it must have become acclimatised. But in many, perhaps most cases of naturalisation, there is no evidence of a gradual adaptation to new conditions which were at first injurious, and this is essential to the idea of acclimatisation. On the contrary, many species, in a new country and under somewhat different climatic conditions, seem to find a more congenial abode than in their native land, and at once flourish and increase in it to such an extent as often to exterminate the indigenous inhabitants. Thus Agassiz (in his work on Lake Superior) tells us that the road-side weeds of the north-eastern United States, to the number of 130 species, are all European, the native weeds having disappeared westwards; while in New Zealand there are, according to Mr T. Kirk (Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. ii. p. 131), no less than 250 species of naturalised plants, more than 100 of which spread widely over the country, and often displace the native vegetation. Among animals, the European rat, goat, and pig, are naturalised in New Zealand, where they multiply to such an extent as to injure and probably exterminate many native productions. In neither of these cases is there any indication that acclimatisation was necessary or ever took place.
On the other hand, the fact that an animal or plant cannot be naturalised is no proof that it is not acclimatised. It has been shown by Mr Darwin that, in the case of most animals and plants in a state of nature, the competition of other organisms is a far more efficient agency in limiting their distribution than the mere influence of climate. We have a proof of this in the fact that so few, comparatively, of our perfectly hardy garden plants ever run wild; and even the most persevering attempts to naturalise them usually fail. Alphonse de Candolle (Géographie Botanique, p. 798) informs us that several botanists of Paris, Geneva, and especially of Montpellier, have sown the seeds of many hundreds of species of exotic hardy plants, in what appeared to be the most favourable situations, but that in hardly a single case has any one of them become naturalised. Attempts have also been made to naturalise continental insects in this country, in places where the proper foodplants abound and the conditions seem generally favourable, but in no case do they seem to have succeeded. Even a plant like the potato, so largely cultivated and so perfectly hardy, has not established itself in a wild state in any part of Europe.
Different Degrees of Climatal Adaptation in Animals and Plants.— Plants differ greatly from animals in the closeness of their adaptation to meteorological conditions. Not only will most tropical plants refuse to five in a temperate climate, but many species are seriously injured by removal a few degrees of latitude beyond their natural limits. This is probably due to the fact, established by the experiments of Μ. Becquerel, that plants possess no proper temperature, but are wholly dependent on that of the surrounding medium.
Animals, especially the higher forms, are much less sensitive to change of temperature, as shown by the extensive range from north to south of many species. Thus, the tiger ranges from the equator to northern Asia as far as the river Amour, and to the isothermal of 32° Fahr. The mountain sparrow (Passer montana) is abundant in Java and Singapore in a uniform equatorial climate, and also inhabits this country and a considerable portion of northern Europe. It is true that most terrestrial animals are restricted to countries not possessing a great range of temperature or very diversified climates, but there is reason to believe that this is due to quite a different set of causes, such as the presence of enemies or deficiency of appropriate food. When supplied with food and partially protected from enemies, they often show a wonderful capacity of enduring climates very different from that in which they originally flourished. Thus, the horse and the domestic fowl, both natives of very warm countries, flourish without special protection in almost every inhabited portion of the globe. The parrot tribe form one of the most pre-eminently tropical groups of birds, only a few species extending into the warmer temperate regions; yet even the most exclusively tropical genera are by no means delicate birds as regards climate. In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for 1868 (p. 381) is a most interesting account, by Mr Charles Buxton, M.P., of the naturalisation of parrots at Northreps Hall, Norfolk. A considerable number of [9:1:85] African and Amazonian parrots, Bengal parroquets, four species of white and rose crested cockatoos, and two species of crimson lories, have been at large for many years. Several of these birds have bred, and they almost all live in the woods the whole year through, refusing to take shelter in a house constructed for their use. Even when the thermometer fell 6° below zero, all appeared in good spirits and vigorous health. Some of these birds have lived thus exposed for nearly twenty years, enduring our cold easterly winds, rain, had, and snow, all through the winter,—a marvellous contrast to the equable equatorial temperature (hardly ever less than 70°) which many of them had been accustomed to for the first year or years of their existence.
Mr Jenner Weir records somewhat similar facts in the Zoologist for 1865 (p. 9411). He keeps many small birds in an open aviary in his garden at Blackheath, and among these are the Java rice bird (Padda oryzivora), two West African weaver birds (Hyphantornis textor and Euplectes sanguinirostris), and the blue bird of the southern United States (Spiza cyanea). These denizens of the tropics prove quite as hardy as our native birds, having lived during the severest winters without the slightest protection against the cold, even when their drinking water had to be repeatedly melted.
Hardly any group of Mammalia is more exclusively tropical than the Quadrumana, yet there is reason to believe that, if other conditions are favourable, some of them can withstand a considerable degree of cold. The Semnopithecus schistaceus was found by Captain Hutton at an elevation of 11,000 feet in the Himalayas, leaping actively among fir-trees whose branches were laden with snow-wreaths. In Abyssinia a troop of dog-faced baboons were observed by Mr Blandford at 9000 feet above the sea. We may therefore conclude that the restriction of the monkey tribe to warm latitudes is probably determined by other causes than temperature alone.
Similar indications are given by the fact of closely allied species inhabiting very extreme climates. The recently extinct Siberian mammoth and woolly rhinoceros were closely allied to species now inhabiting tropical regions exclusively. Wolves and foxes are found alike in the coldest and hottest parts of the earth, as are closely allied species of falcons, owls, sparrows, and numerous genera of waders and aquatic birds.
A consideration of these and many analogous facts might induce us to suppose that, among the higher animals at least, there is little constitutional adaptation to climate, and that in their case acclimatisation is not required. But there are numerous examples of domestic animals which show that such adaptation does exist in other cases. The yak of Thibet cannot long survive in the plains of India, or even on the hills below a certain altitude; and that this is due to climate, and not to the increased density of the atmosphere, is shown by the fact that the same animal appears to thrive well in Europe, and even breeds there readily. The Newfoundland dog will not live in India, and the Spanish breed of fowls in this country suffer more from frost than most others. When we get lower in the scale the adaptation is often more marked. Snakes, which are so abundant in warm countries, diminish rapidly as we go north, and wholly cease at lat. 62°. Most insects are also very susceptible to cold, and seem to be adapted to very narrow limits of temperature.
From the foregoing facts and observations we may conclude, firstly, that some plants and many animals are not constitutionally adapted to the climate of their native country only, but are capable of enduring and flourishing under a more or less extensive range of temperature and other climatic conditions; and, secondly, that most plants and some animals are, more or less closely, adapted to climates similar to those of their native habitats. In order to domesticate or naturalise the former class in countries not extremely differing from that from which the species was brought, it will not be necessary to acclimatise, in the strict sense of the word. In the case of the latter class, however, acclimatisation is a necessary preliminary to naturalisation, and in many cases to useful domestication, and we have therefore to inquire whether it is possible.
Acclimatisation by Individual Adaptation.— It is evident that acclimatisation may occur (if it occurs at all) in two ways, either by modifying the constitution of the individual submitted to the new conditions, or by the production of offspring which may be better adapted to those conditions than their parents. The alteration of the constitution of individuals in this direction is not easy to detect, and its possibility has been denied by many writers. Mr Darwin believes, however, that there are indications that it occasionally occurs in plants, where it can be best observed, owing to the circumstance that so many plants are propagated by cuttings or buds, which really continue the existence of the same individual almost indefinitely. He adduces the example of vines taken to the West Indies from Madeira, which have been found to succeed better than those taken directly from France. But in most cases habit, however prolonged, appears to have little effect on the constitution of the individual, and the fact has no doubt led to the opinion that acclimatisation is impossible. There is indeed little or no evidence to show that any animal to which a new climate is at first prejudicial can be so acclimatised by habit that, after subjection to it for a few or many seasons, it may live as healthily and with as little care as in its native country; yet we may, on general principles, believe that under proper conditions such acclimatisation would take place. In his Principles of Biology (chap. v.), Mr Herbert Spencer has shown that every organ and every function of living beings undergoes modification to a limited extent under the stimulus of any new conditions, and that the modification is almost always such as to produce an adaptation to those conditions. We may feel pretty sure, therefore, that if robust and healthy individuals are chosen for the experiment, and if the change they are subjected to is not too great, a real individual adaptation to the new conditions—that is, a more or less complete acclimatisation—will be brought about. If now animals thus modified are bred from, we know that their descendants will inherit the modification. They will thus start more favourably and being subject to the influence of the same or a slightly more extreme climate during their whole lives, the acclimatisation will be carried a step further; and there seems no reason to doubt that, by this process alone, if cautiously and patiently carried out, most animals which breed freely in confinement could in time be acclimatised in almost any inhabited country. There is, however, a much more potent agent, which renders the process of adaptation almost a certainty.
Acclimatisation by Variation.— A mass of evidence exists showing that variations of every conceivable kind occur among the offspring of all plants and animals, and that, in particular, constitutional variations are by no means uncommon. Among cultivated plants, for example, hardier and more tender varieties often arise. The following cases are given by Mr Darwin :—Among the numerous fruit-trees raised in North America, some are well adapted to the climate of the Northern States and Canada, while others only succeed well in the Southern States. Adaptation of this kind is sometimes very close, so that, for example, few English varieties of wheat will thrive in Scotland. Seedwheat from India produced a miserable crop when planted [9:1:86] by the Rev. Μ. J. Berkeley on land which would have produced a good crop of English wheat. Conversely, French wheat taken to the West Indies produced only barren spikes, while native wheat by its side yielded an enormous harvest. Tobacco in Sweden, raised from homegrown seed, ripens its seeds a month earlier than plants grown from foreign seed. In Italy, as long as orange trees were propagated by grafts, they were tender; but after many of the trees were destroyed by the severe frosts of 1709 and 1763, plants were raised from seed, and these were found to be hardier and more productive than the former kinds. Where plants are raised from seed in large quantities, varieties always occur differing in constitution, as well as others differing in form or colour; but the former cannot be perceived by us unless marked out by their behaviour under exceptional conditions, as in the following cases. After the severe winter of 1860-61, it was observed that in a large bed of araucarias some plants stood quite unhurt among numbers killed around them. In Mr Darwin’s garden two rows of scarlet runners were entirely killed by frost, except three plants, which had not even the tips of their leaves browned. A very excellent example is to be found in Chinese history, according to Μ. Huc, who, in his L'Empire Chinois (tom. ii. p. 359), gives the following extract from the Memoirs of the Emperor Khang :—“ On the 1st day of the 6th moon I was walking in some fields where rice had been sown to be ready for the harvest in the 9th moon. I observed by chance a stalk of rice which was already in ear. It was higher than all the rest, and was ripe enough to be gathered. I ordered it to be brought to me. The grain was very fine and well grown, which gave me the idea to keep it for a trial, and see if the following year it would preserve its precocity. It did so. All the stalks which came from it showed ear before the usual time, and were ripe in the 6th moon. Each year has multiplied the produce of the preceding, and for thirty years it is this rice which has been served at my table. The grain is elongate, and of a reddish colour, but it has a sweet smell and very pleasant taste. It is called Yu-mi, Imperial rice, because it was first cultivated in my gardens. It is the only sort which can ripen north of the great wall, where the winter ends late and begins very early; but in the southern provinces, where the climate is milder and the land more fertile, two harvests a year may be easily obtained, and it is for me a sweet reflection to have procured this advantage for my people.” Μ. Huc adds his testimony that this kind of rice flourishes in Mandtchuria, where no other will grow. We have here, therefore, a perfect example of acclimatisation by means of a spontaneous constitutional variation.
That this kind of adaptation may be carried on step by step to more and more extreme climates is illustrated by the following examples. Sweet-peas raised in Calcutta from seed imported from England rarely blossom, and never yield seed; plants from French seed flower better, but are still sterile; but those raised from Darjeeling seed (originally imported from England) both flower and seed profusely. The peach is believed to have been tender, and to have ripened its fruit with difficulty, when first introduced into Greece; so that (as Darwin observes) in travelling northward during two thousand years it must have become much hardier. Dr Hooker ascertained the average vertical range of flowering plants in the Himalayas to be 4000 feet, while in some cases it extended to 8000 feet. The same species can thus endure a great difference of temperature; but the important fact is, that the individuals have become acclimatised to the altitude at which they grow, so that seeds gathered near the upper limit of the range of a species will be more hardy than those gathered near the lower limit. This was proved by Dr Hooker to be the case with Himalayan conifers and rhododendrons, raised in this country from seed gathered at different altitudes.
Among animals exactly analogous facts occur. Μ. Boulin states that when geese were first introduced into Bogota they laid few eggs at long intervals, and few of the young survived. By degrees the fecundity improved, and in about twenty years became equal to what it is in Europe. The same author tells us that, according to Garcilaso, when fowls were first introduced into Peru they were not fertile, whereas now they are as much so as in Europe. Mr Darwin adduces the following examples. Merino sheep bred at the Cape of Good Hope have been found far better adapted for India than those imported from England; and while the Chinese variety of the Ailanthus silk-moth is quite hardy, the variety found in Bengal will only flourish in warm latitudes. Mr Darwin also calls attention to the circumstance that writers of agricultural works generally recommend that animals should be removed from one district to another as little as possible. This advice occurs even in classical and Chinese agricultural books as well as in those of our own day, and proves that the close adaptation of each variety or breed to the country in which it originated has always been recognised.
Constitutional Adaptation often accompanied by External Modification.— Although in some cases no perceptible alteration of form or structure occurs when constitutional adaptation to climate has taken place, in others it is very marked. Mr Darwin has collected a large number of cases in his Animals and Plants under Domestication (vol. ii. p. 277), of which the following are a few of the most remarkable. Dr Falconer observed that several trees, natives of cooler climates, assumed a pyramidal or fastigiate form when grown in the plains of India; cabbages rarely produce heads in hot climates; the quality of the wood, the medicinal products, the odour and colour of the flowers, all change in many cases when plants of one country are grown in another. One of the most curious observations is that of Mr Meehan, who “compared twenty-nine kinds of American trees belonging to various orders, with their nearest European allies, all grown in close proximity in the same garden, and under as nearly as possible the same conditions. In the American species Mr Meehan finds, with the rarest exceptions, that the leaves fall earlier in the season, and assume before falling a brighter tint; that they are less deeply toothed or serrated; that the buds are smaller; that the trees are more diffuse in growth, and have fewer branchlets; and, lastly, that the seeds are smaller;—all in comparison with the European species.” Mr Darwin concludes that there is no way of accounting for these uniform differences in the two series of trees than by the long-continued action of the different climates of the two continents.
In animals equally remarkable changes occur. In Angora, not only goats, but shepherd-dogs and cats, have fine fleecy hair; the wool of sheep changes its character in the West Indies in three generations; Μ. Costa states that young oysters, taken from the coast of England, and placed in the Mediterranean, at once altered their manner of growth and formed prominent diverging rays, like those on the shells of the proper Mediterranean oyster.
In his Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection (p. 167), Mr Wallace has recorded cases of simultaneous variation among insects, apparently due to climate or other strictly local causes. He finds that the butterflies of the family Papilionidoe, and some others, become similarly modified in different islands and groups of islands. Thus, the species inhabiting Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, are almost always much smaller than the closely allied species of Celebes and the Moluccas; the species or varieties of the small island of Amboyna are larger than the same [9:1:87] species or closely allied forms inhabiting the surrounding islands; the species found in Celebes possess a peculiar form of wing, quite distinct from that of the same or closely allied species of adjacent islands; and, lastly, numerous species which have tailed wings in India and the western islands of the Archipelago, gradually lose the tail as we proceed eastward to New Guinea and the Pacific.
Many of these curious modifications may, it is true, be due to other causes than climate only, but they serve to show how powerfully and mysteriously local conditions affect the form and structure of both plants and animals; and they render it probable that changes of constitution are also continually produced, although we have, in the majority of cases, no means of detecting them. It is also impossible to determine how far the effects described are produced by spontaneous favourable variations or by the direct action of local conditions; but it is probable that in every case both causes are concerned, although in constantly varying proportions.
The, Influence of Heredity.— Adaptation by variation would, however, be a slow and uncertain process, and might for considerable periods of time cease to act, did not heredity come into play. This is the tendency of every organism to produce its like, or more exactly, to produce a set of newforms varying slightly from it in many directions—a group of which the parent form is the centre. If now one of the most extreme of these variations is taken, it is found to become the centre of a new set of variations; and by continually taking the extreme in the same direction, an increasing variation in that direction can be effected, until checked by becoming so great that it interferes with the healthy action of the organism, or is in any other way prejudicial. It is also found that acquired constitutional peculiarities are equally hereditary; so that by a combination of those two modes of variation any desired adaptation may be effected with greater rapidity. The manner in which the form or constitution of an organism can be made to change continuously in one direction, by means of variations which are indefinite and in all directions, is often misunderstood. It may perhaps be illustrated by showing how a tree or grove of trees might, by natural causes, be caused to travel during successive generations in a definite course. The tree has branches radiating out from its stem to perhaps twenty feet on every side. Seeds are produced on the extremities of all these branches, drop to the ground, and produce seedlings, which, if untouched, would form a ring of young trees around the parent. But cattle crop off every seedling as soon as it rises above the ground, and none can ever arrive at maturity. If, however, one side is protected from the cattle, young trees will grow up on that side only. This protection may exist in the case of a grove of trees which we may suppose to occupy the whole space between two deep ravines, the cattle existing on the lower side of the wood only. In this case young trees would reach maturity on the upper side of the wood, while on the lower side the trees would successively die, fall, and rot away, no young ones taking their place. If this state of things continued unchanged for some centuries, the wood might march regularly up the side of the mountain till it occupied a position many miles away from where it once stood; and this would have taken place, not because more seed was produced on one side than the other (there might even be very much less), nor because soil or climate were better on the upper side (they might be worse), nor because any intelligent being chose which trees should be allowed to live and which should be destroyed;—but simply because, for a series of generations, the conditions permitted the existence of young trees on one side, and wholly prevented it on the other. Just in an analogous way animals or plants are caused to vary in definite directions, either by the influence of natural agencies, which render existence impossible for those that vary in any other direction, or by the action of the judicious breeder, who carefully selects favourable variations to be the parents of his future stock; and in either case the rejected variations may far outnumber those which are preserved.
Evidence has been adduced by Mr Darwin to show that the tendency to vary is itself hereditary; so that, so far from variations coming to an end, as some persons imagine, the more extensively variation has occurred in any species in the past, the more likely it is to occur in the future. There is also reason to believe that individuals which have varied largely from their parents in a special direction will have a greater tendency to produce offspring varying in that direction than in any other; so that the facilities for adaptation, that is, for the production and increase of favourable variations in certain definite directions, are far greater than the facilities for locomotion in one direction in the hypothetical illustration just given.
Selection and Survival of the Fittest as Agents in Naturalisation.— We may now take it as an established fact, that varieties of animals and plants occur, both in domesticity and in a state of nature, which are better or worse adapted to special climates. There is no positive evidence that the influence of new climatal conditions on the parents has any tendency to produce variations in the offspring better adapted to such conditions, although some of the facts mentioned in the preceding sections render it probable that such may be the case. Neither does it appear that this class of variations are very frequent. It is, however, certain that whenever any animal or plant is largely propagated constitutional variations will arise, and some of these will be better adapted than others to the climatal and other conditions of the locality. In a state of nature, every recurring severe winter or otherwise unfavourable season, weeds out those individuals of tender constitution or imperfect structure which may have got on very well during favourable years, and it is thus that the adaptation of the species to the climate in which it has to exist is kept up. Under domestication the same thing occurs by what Mr Darwin has termed “unconscious selection.” Each cultivator seeks out the kinds of plants best suited to his soil and climate, and rejects those which are tender or otherwise unsuitable. The farmer breeds from such of his stock as he finds to thrive best with him, and gets rid of those which suffer from cold, damp, or disease. A more or less close adaptation to local conditions is thus brought about, and breeds or races are produced which are sometimes liable to deterioration on removal even to a short distance in the same country, as in numerous cases quoted by Mr Darwin (Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. ii. p. 273).
The Method of Acclimatisation.— Taking into consideration the foregoing facts and illustrations, it may be considered as proved—1 st , That habit has little (though it appears to have some) definite effect in adapting the constitution of animals to a new climate; but that it has a decided, though still slight, influence in plants when, by the process of propagation by buds, shoots, or grafts, the individual can be kept under its influence for long periods; 2 d, That the offspring of both plants and animals vary in their constitutional adaptation to climate, and that this adaptation may be kept up and increased by means of heredity; and, 3cZ, That great and sudden changes of climate often check reproduction even when the health of the individuals does not appear to suffer. In order, therefore, to have the best chance of acclimatising any animal or plant in a climate very dissimilar from that of its native country, and in which it has been proved that the species in question cannot live and maintain itself [9:1:88] without acclimatisation, we must adopt some such plan as the following :—
1. We must transport as large a number as possible of adult healthy individuals to some intermediate station, and increase them as much as possible for some years. Favourable variations of constitution will soon show themselves, and these should be carefully selected to breed from, the tender and unhealthy individuals being rigidly eliminated.
2. As soon as the stock has been kept a sufficient time to pass through all the ordinary extremes of climate, a number of the hardiest may be removed to the more remote station, and the same process gone through, giving protection if necessary while the stock is being increased, but as soon as a large number of healthy individuals are produced, subjecting them to all the vicissitudes of the climate.
It can hardly be doubted that in most cases this plan would succeed. It has been recommended by Mr Darwin, and at one of the early meetings of the Société Zoologique d’Acclimatisation, at Paris, Μ. Geoffroy St Hilaire insisted that it was the only method by which acclimatisation was possible. But in looking through the long series of volumes of Reports published by this Society, there is no sign that any systematic attempt at acclimatisation has even once been made. A number of foreign animals have been introduced, and more or less domesticated, and some useful exotics have been cultivated for the purpose of testing their applicability to French agriculture or horticulture; but neither in the case of animals nor of plants has there been any systematic effort to modify the constitution of the species, by breeding largely and selecting the favourable variations that appeared.
Take the case of the Eucalyptus globulus as an example. This is a Tasmanian gum-tree of very rapid growth and great beauty, which will thrive in the extreme south of France. In the Bulletin of the Society a large number of attempts to introduce this tree into general cultivation in other parts of France are recorded in detail, with the failure of almost all of them. But no precautions such as those above indicated appear to have been taken in any of these experiments; and we have no intimation that either the Society or any of its members are making systematic efforts to acclimatise the tree. The first step would be, to obtain seed from healthy trees growing in the coldest climate and at the greatest altitude in its native country, sowing these very largely, and in a variety of soils and situations, in a part of France where the climate is somewhat but not much more extreme. It is almost a certainty that a number of trees would be found to be quite hardy. As soon as these produced seed, it should be sown in the same district and farther north in a climate a little more severe. After an exceptionally cold season, seed should be collected from the trees that suffered least, and should be sown in various districts all over France. By such a process there can be hardly any doubt that the tree would be thoroughly acclimatised in any part of France, and in many other countries of central Europe; and more good would be effected by one well-directed effort of this kind than by hundreds of experiments with individual animals and plants, which only serve to show us which are the species that do not require to be acclimatised. Acclimatisation of Man.— On this subject we have, unfortunately, very little direct or accurate information. The general laws of heredity and variation have been proved to apply to man as well as to animals and plants; and numerous facts in the distribution of races show that man must, in remote ages at least, have been capable of constitutional adaptation to climate. If the human race constitutes a single species, then the mere fact that man now inhabits every region, and is in each case constitutionally adapted to the climate, proves that acclimatisation has occurred. But we have the same phenomenon in single varieties of man, such as the American, which inhabits alike the frozen wastes of Hudson’s Bay and Terra del Fuego, and the hottest regions of the tropics,—the low equatorial valleys and the lofty plateaux of the Andes. No doubt a sudden transference to an extreme climate is often prejudicial to man, as it is to most animals and plants; but there is every reason to believe that, if the migration occurs step by step, man can be acclimatised to almost any part of the earth’s surface in comparatively few generations. Some eminent writers have denied this. Sir Ranald Martin, from a consideration of the effects of the climate of India on Europeans and their offspring, believes that there is no such thing as acclimatisation. Dr Hunt, in a report to the British Association in 1861, argues that “time is no agent,” and —“if there is no sign of acclimatisation in one generation, there is no such process.” But he entirely ignores the effect of favourable variations, as well as the direct influence of climate acting on the organisation from infancy.
Professor Waitz, in his Introduction to Anthropology, adduces many examples of the comparatively rapid constitutional adaptation of man to new climatic conditions. Negroes, for example, who have been for three or four generations acclimatised in North America, on returning to Africa become subject to the same local diseases as other unacclimatised individuals. He well remarks, that the debility and sickening of Europeans in many tropical countries are wrongly ascribed to the climate, but are rather the consequences of indolence, sensual gratification, and an irregular mode of life. Thus the English, who cannot give up animal food and spirituous liquors, are less able to sustain the heat of the tropics than the more sober Spaniards and Portuguese. The excessive mortality of European troops in India, and the delicacy of the children of European parents, do not affect the real question of acclimatisation under proper conditions. They only show that acclimatisation is in most cases necessary, not that it cannot take place. The best examples of partial or complete acclimatisation are to be found where European races have permanently settled in the tropics, and have maintained themselves for several generations. There are, however, two sources of inaccuracy to be guarded against, and these are made the most of by the writers above referred to, and are supposed altogether to invalidate results which are otherwise opposed to their views. In the first place, we have the possibility of a mixture of native blood having occurred; in the second, there have almost always been a succession of immigrants from the parent country, who continually intermingle with the families of the early settlers. It is maintained that one or other of these mixtures is absolutely necessary to enable Europeans to continue long to flourish in the tropics.
There are, however, certain cases in which the sources of error above mentioned are reduced to a minimum, and cannot seriously affect the results; such as those of the Jews, the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Moluccas, and the Spaniards in South America.
The Jews are a good example of acclimatisation, because they have been established for many centuries in climates very different from that of their native land; they keep themselves almost wholly free from intermixture with the people around them; and they are often so populous in a country that the intermixture with J ewish immigrants from other lands cannot seriously affect the local purity of the race. They have, for instance, attained a population of near two millions in such severe climates as Poland and Russia; and according to Mr Brace {Races of the Old World, p. 185), “their increase in Sweden is said to be greater than that of the Christian population; in the towns of Algeria they are the only race able to maintain its numbers; and in [9:1:89] Cochin China and Aden they succeed in rearing children and forming permanent communities.”
In some of the hottest parts of South America Europeans are perfectly acclimatised, and where the race is kept pure it seems to be even improved. Some very valuable notes on this subject have been furnished to the present writer by the well-known botanist Dr Richard Spruce, who resided many years in South America, but who has hitherto been prevented by ill health from giving to the world the results of his researches. As a careful, judicious, and accurate observer, both of man and nature, he has few superiors. He says—
“The white inhabitants of Guayaquil (lat. 2° 13' S.) are kept pure by careful selection. The slightest tincture of red or black blood bars entry into any of the old families who are descendants of Spaniards from the Provincias Vascongadas, or those bordering the Bay of Biscay, where the morals are perhaps the purest (as regards the intercourse of the sexes) of any in Europe, and where for a girl, even of the poorest class, to have a child before marriage is the rarest thing possible. The consequence of this careful breeding is, that the women of Guayaquil are considered (and justly) the finest along the whole Pacific coast. They are often tall, sometimes very handsome, decidedly healthy, although pale, and assuredly prolific enough. Their sons are big, stout men, but when they lead inactive lives are apt to become fat and sluggish. Those of them, however, who have farms in the savannahs, and are accustomed to take long rides in all weathers, and those whose trade obliges them to take frequent journeys in the mountainous interior, or even to Europe and North America, are often as active and as little burdened with superfluous flesh as a Scotch farmer.
“The oldest Christian town in Peru is Piura (lat. 5° S.), which was founded by Pizarro himself. The climate is very hot, especially in the three or four months following the southern solstice. In March 1843 the temperature only once fell as low as 83°, during the whole month, the usual lowest night temperature being 85°. Yet people of all colours find it very healthy, and the whites are very prolific. I resided in the town itself nine months, and in the neighbourhood seven months more. The population (in 1863-4) was about 10,000, of which not only a considerable proportion was white, but was mostly descended from the first emigrants after the conquest. Purity of descent was not, however, quite so strictly maintained as at Guayaquil. The military adventurers, who have often risen to high or even supreme rank in Peru, have not seldom been of mixed race, and fear or favour has often availed to procure them an alliance with the oldest and purest-blooded families.”
These instances, so well stated by Dr Spruce, seem to demonstrate the complete acclimatisation of Spaniards in some of the hottest parts of South America. Although we have here nothing to do with mixed races, yet the want of fertility in these has been often taken to be a fact inherent in the mongrel race, and has been also sometimes held to prove that neither the European nor his half-bred offspring can maintain themselves in the tropics. The following observation is therefore of interest :—
“At Guayaquil for a lady of good family—married or unmarried—to be of loose morals is so uncommon, that when it does happen it is felt as a calamity by the whole community. But here, and perhaps in most other towns in South America, a poor girl of mixed race—especially if good-looking—rarely thinks of marrying one of her own class until she has—as the Brazilians say—‘ approveitada de sua mocidade’ (made the most of her youth) in receiving presents from, gentlemen. If she thus bring a good dowry to her husband, he does not care to inquire, or is not sensitive, about the mode in which it was acquired. The consequences of this indiscriminate sexual intercourse, especially if much prolonged, is to diminish, in some cases to paralyse, the fertility of the female. And as among people of mixed race it is almost universal, the population of these must fall off both in numbers and quality.”
The following example of divergent acclimatisation of the same race to hot and cold zones is very interesting, and will conclude our extracts from Dr Spruce’s valuable notes :—
“One of the most singular cases connected with this subject that have fallen under my own observation, is the difficulty, or apparent impossibility, of acclimatising the Red Indian in a certain zone of the Andes. Any person who has compared the physical characters of the native races of South America must be convinced that these have all originated in a common stirps. Many local differences exist, but none capable of invalidating this conclusion. The warmth yet shade-loving Indian of the Amazon; the Indian of the hot, dry, and treeless coasts of Peru and Guayaquil, who exposes his bare head to the sun with as much zest as an African negro; the Indian of the Andes, for whom no cold seems too great, who goes constantly bare-legged and often bare-headed, through whose rude straw hut the piercing wind of the paramos sweeps, and chills the white man to the very bones;—all these, in the colour and texture of the skin, the hair, and other important features, are plainly of one and the same race.
“Now there is a zone of the equatorial Andes, ranging between about 4000 and 6000 feet altitude, where the very best flavoured coffee is grown, where cane is less luxuriant but more saccharine than in the plains, and which is therefore very desirable to cultivate, but where the red man sickens and dies. Indians taken down from the sierra get ague and dysentery. Those of the plains find the temperature chilly, and are stricken down with influenza and pains in the limbs. I have seen the difficulty experienced in getting farms cultivated in this zone, on both sides of the Cordillera. The permanent residents are generally limited to the major domo and his family; and in the dry season labourers are hired, of any colour that can be obtained—some from the low country, others from the highlands—for three, four, or five months, who gather in and grind the cane, and plant for the harvest of the following year; but a staff of resident Indian labourers, such as exists in the farms of the sierra, cannot be kept up in the Yungas, as these half-warm valleys are called. White men, who take proper precautions, and are not chronically soaked with cane-spirit, stand the climate perfectly, but the creole whites are still too much caballeros to devote themselves to agricultural work.
“In what is now the republic of Ecuador, the only peopled portions are the central valley, between the two ridges of the Andes—height 7000 to 12,000 feet—and the hot plain at their western base; nor do the wooded slopes appear to have been inhabited, except by scattered savage hordes, even in the time of the Incas. The Indians of the highlands are the descendants of others who have inhabited that region exclusively for untold ages; and a similar affirmation may be made of the Indians of the plain. Now, there is little doubt that the progenitors of both these sections came from a temperate region (in North America); so that here we have one moiety acclimatised to endure extreme heat, and the other extreme cold; and at this day exposure of either to the opposite extreme (or even, as we have seen, to the climate of an intermediate zone) is always pernicious and often fataL But if this great difference has been brought about in the red man, might not the same have happened to the white man? Plainly it might, time being given; for one cannot doubt that the inherent adaptability[9:1:90] is the same in both, or (if not) that the white man possesses it in a higher degree.”
The observations of Dr Spruce are of themselves almost conclusive as to the possibility of Europeans becoming acclimatised in the tropics; and if it is objected that this evidence applies only to the dark-haired southern races, we are fortunately able to point to facts, almost equally well authenticated and conclusive, in the case of one of the typical Germanic races. At the Cape of Good Hope the Dutch have been settled and nearly isolated for about 200 years, and have kept themselves almost or quite free from native intermixture. They are described as being still perfectly fair in complexion, while physically they are the finest body of men in the colony, being very tall and strong. They marry young, and have large families. The population, according to a census taken in 1798, was under 22,000. In 1865 it was near 182,000, the majority being (according to the Statesman’s Year Book for 1873) of “Dutch, German, or French origin, mostly descendants of original settlers.” We have here a population which has doubled itself every twenty-two years; and the greater part of this rapid increase must certainly be due to the old European immigrants. In the Moluccas, where the Dutch have had settlements for nearly 250 years, some of the inhabitants trace their descent to early immigrants; and these, as well as most of the people of Dutch descent in the East, are quite as fair as their European ancestors, enjoy excellent health, and are very prolific. But the Dutch accommodate themselves admirably to a tropical climate, doing much of their work early in the morning, dressing very lightly, and living a quiet, temperate, and cheerful life. They also pay great attention to drainage and general cleanliness. In addition to these examples, it may be maintained that the rapid increase of English-speaking populations in the United States and in Australia, only a comparatively small portion of which can be due to direct immigration, is far from supporting the view of Dr Knox, that Europeans cannot permanently maintain themselves in those countries. Mr Brace expressly denies that the American physique has degenerated from the English type. He asserts that manufacturers and others find that “for labours requiring the utmost physical endurance and muscular power, such as iron-puddling and lumbering in the forests and on the streams, and pioneer work, foreigners are never so suitable as native Americans. The reports of the examining surgeons for volunteers—such as that of Dr W. H. Thomson to the Surgeon-General in 1862, who examined 9000 men —show a far higher average of physique in the Americans examined than in the English, Germans, or Irish. It is a fact well known to our fife insurance companies, that the average length of life here is greater than that of the English tables.”— The Races of the Old World, p. 375. Although the comparisons here instituted may not be quite fair or conclusive, they furnish good arguments against those who maintain that the Americans are physically deteriorating.
On the whole, we seem justified in concluding that, under favourable conditions, and with a proper adaptation of means to the end in view, man may become acclimatised with at least as much certainty and rapidity (counting by generations rather than by years) as any of the lower animals. (a. r. w.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009001-0105m | ACCOLADE (from collum, the neck), a ceremony anciently used in conferring knighthood; but whether it was an embrace (according to the use of the modern French word, accolade), or a slight blow on the neck or cheek, is not agreed. Both these customs appear to be of great antiquity. Gregory of Tours writes that the early kings of France, in conferring the gilt shoulder-belt, kissed the knights on the left cheek; and William the Conqueror is said to have made use of the blow in conferring the honour of knighthood on his son Henry. At first it was given with the naked fist, a veritable box on the ear, but for this was substituted a gentle stroke on the shoulder with the flat of the sword. A custom of a similar kind is still followed in bestowing the honour of knighthood. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009002-0105m | ACCOLTI, Benedict, was born in 1415 at Arezzo, in Tuscany, of a noble family, several members of which were distinguished like himself for their attainments in law. He was for some time professor of jurisprudence in the University of Florence, and on the death of the celebrated Poggio in 1459 became chancellor of the Florentine republic. He died in 1466. In conjunction with his brother Leonard, he wrote in Latin a history of the first crusade, entitled De Bello a Christianis contra Barbaros, pro Christi Sepulchro et Judaea recuperandis, libri tres, which, though itself of little interest, furnished Tasso with the historic basis for his Jerusalem Delivered. This work appeared at Venice in 1432, and was translated into Italian in 1543, and into French in 1620. Another work of Accolti’s— De Praestantia Virorum sui Aevi — was published at Parma in 1689. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009003-0105m | ACCOLTI, Bernard (1465-1535), son of the preceding, known in his own day as l’ Unico Aretino, acquired great fame as a reciter of impromptu verse. He was listened to by large crowds, composed of the most learned men and the most distinguished prelates of the age. Among others, Cardinal Bembo has left on record a testimony to his extraordinary talent. His high reputation with his contemporaries seems scarcely justified by the poems he published, though they give evidence of brilliant fancy. It is probable that he succeeded better in his extemporary productions than in those which were the fruit of deliberation. His works, under the title Virginia, Comedia, Capitoli e Strambotti di Messer Bernardo Accolti Aretino, were published at Florence in 1513, and have been several times reprinted. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009004-0105m | ACCOLTI, Pietro, brother of the preceding, was born at Florence in 1455, and died there in 1549. He was abbreviator under Leo X., and in that capacity drew up in 1520 the famous bull against Luther. In 1527 he was made a cardinal by Clement VII., who had employed him as his secretary. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009005-0105m | ACCOMMODATION, a term used in Biblical interpretation to denote the presentation of a truth not absolutely as it is in itself, but relatively or under some modification, with the view of suiting it either to some other truth or to the persons addressed. It is generally distinguished into formal and material,— the accommodation in the one case being confined to the method of teaching, and in the other being extended to the matter taught. To the former head may be referred teaching by symbols or parables, by progressive stages graduated according to the capacity of the learner, by the application of prophecy to secondary fulfilments, &c. To the latter head are to be referred the allegations of the anti-supranaturalistic school, that Christ and the writers of Scripture modified or perverted the truth itself in order to secure wider acceptance and speedier success, by speaking in accordance with contemporary ideas rather than with absolute and eternal truth. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009006-0105m | ACCOMMODATION, in commerce, denotes generally temporary pecuniary aid given by one trader to another, or by a banker to his customers, but it is used more particularly to describe that class of bills of exchange which represents no actual exchange of real value between the parties. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009007-0105m | ACCORAMBONI, Vittoria, an Italian lady remarkable for her extraordinary beauty and her tragic history. Her contemporaries regarded her as the most captivating woman that had ever been seen in Italy. She was sought in marriage by Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, who, it was generally believed, had murdered his wife, [9:1:91] Isabella de Medici, with his own hand; but her father gave her in preference to Francesco Peretti, nephew of Cardinal Montalto. Peretti was assassinated (1581), and a few days afterwards Vittoria fled from the house of the Cardinal, where she had resided, to that of the Duke of Bracciano. The opposition of Pope Gregory XIII., who even went so far as to confine Vittoria to Fort St Angelo for nearly a year, did not prevent her marriage with the duke. On the accession of Montalto to the papal throne as Sixtus V. (1585), the duke thought it prudent to take refuge with his wife in the territory of the Venetian republic. After a few months’ residence at Salò, on the Lake of Garda, he died, bequeathing nearly the whole of his large fortune to his widow. This excited the anger of Ludovico Orsini, a relative, who caused Vittoria to be murdered in her residence at Padau (Dec. 22, 1585). The history of this beautiful and accomplished but unfortunate woman has been written by Adry (1800), and recently by Count Gnoli, and forms the basis of Webster’s tragedy, The White Devil, and of Tieck’s romance, Vittoria Accoramboni. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009101-0106m | ACCORDION (from the French accord), a small musical instrument in the shape of a bellows, which produces sounds by the action of wind on metallic reeds of various sizes. It is played by being held in both hands and pulled backwards and forwards, the fingers being left free to touch the keys, which are ranged along each side. The instrument is akin to the concertina, but differs from it in having the chords fixed by a mechanical arrangement. It is manufactured chiefly in Paris. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009102-0106m | ACCORSO (in Latin Accursius), Francis, an eminent lawyer, born at Florence about 1182. After practising for some time in his native city, he was appointed professor at Bologna, where he had great success as a teacher. He undertook the great work of arranging into one body the almost innumerable comments and remarks upon the Code, the Institutes, and Digests, the confused dispersion of which among the works of different writers caused much obscurity and contradiction. When he was employed in this work, it is said that, hearing of a similar one proposed and begun by Odofred, another lawyer of Bologna, he feigned indisposition, interrupted his public lectures, and shut himself up, till he had, with the utmost expedition, accomplished his design. His work has the vague title of the Great Gloss, and, though written in barbarous Latin, has more method than that of any preceding writer on the subject. The best edition of it is that of Godefroi, published at Lyons in 1589, in 6 vols. folio. Accursius was greatly extolled by the lawyers of his own and the immediately succeeding age, and he was even called the Idol of Jurisconsults, but those of later times formed a much lower estimate of his merits. There can be no doubt that he has disentangled with much skill the sense of many laws; but it is equally undeniable that his ignorance of history and antiquities has often led him into absurdities, and been the cause of many defects in his explanations and commentaries. He died at Bologna in 1260. His eldest son Francis, who filled the chair of law at Bologna with great reputation, was invited to Oxford by King Edward I., and in 1275 or 1276 read lectures on law in that university. In 1280 he returned to Bologna, where he died in 1293. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009103-0106m | ACCORSO (or Accursius), Mariangelo, a learned and ingenious critic, was born at Aquila, in the kingdom of Naples, about 1490. He was a great favourite with Charles V., at whose court he resided for thirty-three years, and by whom he was employed on various foreign missions. To a perfect knowledge of Greek and Latin he added an intimate acquaintance with several modern languages. In discovering and collating ancient manuscripts, for which his travels abroad gave him special opportunities, he displayed uncommon diligence. His work entitled Diatriboe in Ausonium, Solinum, et Ovidium, printed at Rome, in folio, in 1524, is a singular monument of erudition and critical skill. He bestowed, it is said, unusual pains on Claudian, and made, from different manuscripts, above seven hundred corrections on the works of that poet. Unfortunately these criticisms were never published. He was the first editor of the Letters of Cassiodorus, with his Treatise on the Soul; and his edition of Ammianus Marcellinus (1533) contains five books more than any former one. The affected use of antiquated terms, introduced by some of the Latin writers of that age, is humorously ridiculed by him, in a dialogue published in 1531 (republished, with his name, in 1574), entitled Osco, Volsco, Romanaque Eloquentia Interlocu-toribus, Dialogus Ludis Romanis actus. Accorso was accused of plagiarism in his notes on Ausonius; and the determined manner in which he repelled, by a most solemn oath, this charge of literary theft, presents us with a singular instance of anxiety and care to preserve a literary reputation unstained. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009104-0106m | ACCOUNT, a Stock Exchange term: e.g., “To Buy or Sell for the Account,” &c. The word has different, though kindred, significations, all derived from the making up and settling of accounts on particular days, in which stricter sense the word “Settlement” is more specially used.
The financial importance of the Account may be gathered from the Clearing House returns. Confining ourselves to the six years, from the 30th of April 1867 to the 30th of April 1873, we have the following figures, furnished by the Clearing House to Sir John Lubbock, and communicated by him to the Times:—
[table]
During the year ending April 30, 1873, the total amount of bills, checks, &c., paid at the Clearing House showed an increase of£643,613,000 during the same period ending April 1872, and o: £2,745,924,000 over 1868. The amounts passing through on the 4ths of the month amounted to £265,965,000, showing an increase of £36,336,000 over 1872. The payments on Stock Exchange Account Days formed a sum of £1,032,474,600, being an increase of £90,028,000 over 1872. The payments on Consols Account Days for the same period amounted to £243,561,000, giving an increase of £9,718,000 over 1872.
In English and Indian Government Securities, the settle ments are monthly, and for foreign, railway, and other securities, generally speaking, they are fortnightly. It follows therefore that in 1867—1868, an ordinary Stock Exchange Account Day involved payments, on Stock Exchange accounts only, averaging about £10,000,000 sterling, and in 1872-3 something like £25,000,000 sterling; and these sums again, enormous as they are, represent for the most part only the balance of much largertransactions. The London Account is, in fact, probably the greatest and most important periodical event in the financial world. The great European centres have theirown Account Days and methods of settlement, but the amounts dealt in are very much less than on the London market. The leading cities in the United Kingdom have also their Stock Exchanges, but their practice follows more or less that of London, where the bulk of their business is transacted by means of post and telegraph.
The Account in Consols or other English Government Securities, or in the securities of the Government of India, or in Bank of England Stock, or other Stocks transferable at the Bank of England, extends over a month, the settlements being monthly, and in them the committee of the Stock Exchange does not take cognisance of any bargain for a future account, if it shall have been effected more [9:1:92] than eight days previously to the close of the existing account.
The Account in Securities to Bearer, and, with the above exceptions, in Registered Securities also, extends over a period of from twelve to nineteen days. This period is in each case terminated by the “settlement,” which occurs twice in each month (generally about the middle and end), on days fixed by the committee for general purposes of the Stock Exchange in the preceding month.
This “settlement” occupies three continuous days, which are all termed Account days, but the third day is the true Account, Settling, or Pay Day.
Continuation or Carrying-over is the operation by which the settlement of a bargain transacted for money, or for a given account, may for a consideration (called either a “Contango” or a “Backwardation”) be deferred for the period of another account. Such a continuation is equivalent to a sale “for the day,” and a repurchase for the succeeding account, or to a purchase “for the day,” and a re-sale for the succeeding account. The price at which such transactions are adjusted is the “Making-Up” price of the day.
Contango is a technical term which expresses the rate of interest charged for the loan of money upon the security of stock transferred for the period of an account or otherwise, or the rate of interest paid by the buyer to the seller to be allowed to defer paying for the stock purchased, until the next settlement day.
Backwardation, or, as it is more often called, Back (for brevity), in contradistinction to contango, is the amount charged for the loan of stock from one account to the other, and it is paid to the purchaser by the seller in order to allow the seller to defer the delivery of the stock.
A Bull Account is one in which either the purchases have predominated over the sales, or the disposition to purchase has been more marked than the disposition to sell.
A Bear Account is one in which either the sales have preponderated over the purchases, or in which the disposition to sell has been more strongly displayed than the disposition to buy.
Sometimes the Bull or the Bear disposition extends to the great majority of securities, as when there are general falls or general rises. Sometimes a Bull Account in one set of securities is contemporaneous with a Bear Account in another.— Vide Cracroft’s Slock Exchange Manual. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009201-0107m | ACCOUNTANT, earlier form Accomptant, in the most general sense, is a person skilled in accounts. It is applied to the person who has the charge of the accounts in a public office or in the counting-house of a large private business. It is also the designation of a distinct profession, which deals in any required way with mercantile accounts. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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and General Literature. 9th ed., 25 vols. NY: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 92 [9:1:92] | |
kp-eb0901-009202-0107m | ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, an officer in the English Court of Chancery, who receives all monies lodged in court, and by whom they are deposited in bank and disbursed. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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and General Literature. 9th ed., 25 vols. NY: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 92 [9:1:92] | |
kp-eb0901-009203-0107m | ACCRA or Acra, a town, or rather a collection of forts, in a territory of the same name, on the Gold Coast of Africa, about 75 miles east of Cape Coast Castle. Of the forts, Fort St James is a British settlement, Crèvecoeur was established by the Dutch, and Christianborg by the Danes; but the two last have since been ceded to Britain— Christianborg in 1850, and Crèvecoeur in 1871. Accra is considered to be one of the healthiest stations on the west coast of Africa, and has some trade in the productions of the interior,—ivory, gold dust, and palm-oil; while cotton goods, tobacco, rum, and beads are imported in exchange. It is the residence of a British civil commandant. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 92 [9:1:92] | |
kp-eb0901-009204-0107m | ACCRINGTON, an important manufacturing town of England, in Lancashire, lies on the banks of a stream called the Hindburn, in a deep valley, 19 miles N. from Manchester and 5 miles E. of Blackburn. It has increased rapidly in recent years, and is the centre of the Manchester cotton-printing trade. There are large cotton factories and printworks, besides bleach-fields, &c., employing many hands. Coal is extensively wrought in the neighbourhood. The town has a good appearance, and among the more handsome buildings are a fine church, in the Gothic style, erected in 1838, and the Peel Institution, an Italian structure, containing an assembly room, a lecture room, &c., The sanitary arrangements generally are good, and a reservoir capable of containing 140,000,000 gallons has been constructed for the water supply of the town. Accrington is a station on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The population of the two townships of Old and New Accrington was in 1861, 17,688; and in 1871, 21,788. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009205-0107m | ACCUM, Frederick, chemist, born at Bückeburg in 1769, came to London in 1793, and was appointed teacher of chemistry and mineralogy at the Surrey Institution in 1801. While occupying this position he published several scientific manuals (Chemistry, 1803; Mineralogy, 1808; Crystallography, 1813), but his name will be chiefly remembered in connection with gas-lighting, the introduction of which was mainly due to him and to the enterprising printseller, Ackermann. His excellent Practical Treatise on Gaslight appeared in 1815; and he rendered another valuable service to society by his Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Culinary Poisons (1820), which attracted much notice at the time it appeared. Both works, as well as a number of his smaller publications, were translated into German. In consequence of charges affecting his honesty, Accum left London for Germany, and in 1822 was appointed professor in the Industrial Institute and Academy of Architecture at Berlin. He died there in 1838. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
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kp-eb0901-009206-0107m | ACCUMULATOR, a term applied frequently to a powerful electrical machine, which generates or accumulates, by means of friction, electric currents of high tension,—manifested by sparks of considerable length. Accumulators have been employed in many places for exploding torpedoes and mines, for blasting, &c. An exceedingly powerful apparatus of this kind was employed by the Confederate authorities during the civil war in America for discharging submarine and river torpedoes. Whatever the nature of the materials employed in the construction of the accumulator, or the form which it may assume mechanically, it is simply a modification of, or an improvement upon, the ordinary cylindrical or the plate-glass frictional electrical machine, — the fundamental scientific principles being the same in nearly every case. The exciting body consists generally of a large disc or circular plate of vulcanite, —more frequently termed by electricians “ebonite,” in consequence of its resemblance, in point of hardness and of polish, to polished ebony,—the vulcanite disc taking the place of the ordinary circular plate of thick glass. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009207-0107m | ACE, the received name for the single point on cards or dice—the unit. Mr Fox Talbot has a speculation (English Etymologies, p. 262) that the Latins invented, if not the game of dice, at least the name for the single point, which they called unus. The Greeks corrupted this into ὂ voς , and at length the Germanic races, learning the game from the Greeks, translated the word into ass, which has now become ace. The fact, however, is, that the root of the word lies in the Latin as, the monetary unit, which is to be identified with the Greek ε i ς ; Doric, αἴς or ἃs. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009208-0107m | ACEPHALA, a name sometimes given to a section of the molluscous animals, which are divided into encephala and acephala, according as they have or want a distinctly differentiated head. The Acephala, or Lamellibranchiata, as they are also called, are commonly known as bivalve shell-fish. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009209-0107m | ACEPHALI (from ἀ privative, and κ ∈ φ αλ ή ), a head), a term applied to several sects as having no head or leader; and in particular to a sect that separated itself, in the end of the 5th century, from the rule of the patriarchs of Alexandria, and remained without king or bishop for more than 300 years (Gibbon, c. xlvii.)
Acephali was also the name given to the levellers in the reign of Henry I., who are said to have been so poor as to have no tenements, in virtue of which they might acknowledge a superior lord.
[9:1:93]
Acephali, or Acephalous Persons, fabulous monsters, described by some ancient naturalists and geographers as having no heads. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009301-0108m | ACER. See Maple. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009302-0108m | ACERBI, Giuseppe (Joseph), an Italian traveller, born at Castel-Goffredo, near Mantua, on the 3d May 1773, studied at Mantua, and devoted himself specially to natural science. In 1798 he undertook a journey through Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Lapland; and in the following year he reached the North Cape, which no Italian had previously visited. He was accompanied in the latter part of the journey by the Swedish colonel Skiöldebrand, an excellent landscape-painter. On his return Acerbi stayed for some time in England, and published his Travels through Sweden, &c. (London, 1802), which was translated into German (Weimar, 1803), and, under the author’s personal superintendence, into French (Paris, 1804). The French translation received numerous corrections, but even in this amended form the work contains many mistakes. Acerbi rendered a great service to Italian literature by starting the Biblioteca Italiana (1816), in which he opposed the pretensions of the Academy della Crusca. Being appointed Austrian consul-general to Egypt in 1826, he entrusted the management of the Biblioteca to Gironi, contributing to it afterwards a series of valuable articles on Egypt. While in the East he obtained for the museums of Vienna, Padua, Milan, and Pavia many objects of interest. He returned from Egypt in 1836, and took up his residence in his native place, where he occupied himself with his favourite study till his death in August 1846. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
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kp-eb0901-009303-0108m | ACERNUS, the Latinised name by which Sebastian Fabian Klonowicz, a celebrated Polish poet, is generally known, was born at Sulmierzyce in 1551, and died at Lublin in 1608. He was for some time burgomaster and president of the Jews’ civil tribunal in the latter town, where he had taken up his residence after studying at Cracow. Though himself of an amiable disposition, his domestic life was very unhappy, the extravagance and misconduct of his wife driving him at last to the public hospital of Lublin, where he ended his days. He wrote both Latin and Polish poems, and the genius they displayed won for him the name of the Sarmatian Ovid. The titles of fourteen of his works are known; but a number of these were totally destroyed by the Jesuits and a section of the Polish nobility, and copies of the others are for the same reason exceedingly rare. The Victoria Deorum ubi continetur Veri Herois Educatio, a poem in forty-four cantos, cost the poet ten years’ labour. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009304-0108m | ACERRA, in Antiquity, a little box or pot, wherein were put the incense and perfumes to be burned on the altars of the gods, and before the dead. It appears to have been the same with what was otherwise called thuribulum and pyxis. The censers of the Jews were acerrae; and the Romanists still retain the use of acerrae, under the name of incense pots.
The name acerra was also applied to an altar erected among the Romans, near the bed of a person recently deceased, on which his friends offered incense daily till his burial. The real intention probably was to fumigate the apartment. The Chinese have still a somewhat similar custom. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009305-0108m | ACERRA, a town of Italy, in the province of Terra di Lavoro, situated on the river Agno, 7 miles N.E. of Naples, with which it is connected by rail. It is the ancient Acerrae, the inhabitants of which were admitted to the privileges of Roman citizenship so early as 332 B.C., and which was plundered and burnt by Hannibal during the second Punic war. A few inscriptions are the only traces time has left of the ancient city. The town stands in a fertile district, but is rendered very unhealthy by the malaria rising from the artificial water-courses of the surrounding Campagna. It is the seat of a bishop, and has a cathedral and seminary. Flax is grown in the neighbourhood. Population, 11,717. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009306-0108m | ACETIC ACID, one of the most important organic acids. It occurs naturally in the juice of many plants, and in certain animal secretions; but is generally obtained, on the large scale, from the oxidation of spoiled wines, or from the destructive distillation of wood. In the former process it is obtained in the form of a dilute aqueous solution, in which also the colouring matters of the wine, salts, &c., are dissolved; and this impure acetic acid is what we ordinarily term vinegar. The strongest vinegar sold in commerce contains 5 per cent. of real acetic acid. It is used as a mordant in calico-printing, as a local irritant in medicine, as a condiment, and in the preparation of various acetates, varnishes, &c. Pure acetic acid is got from the distillation of wood, by neutralising with lime, separating the tarry matters from the solution of acetate of lime, evaporating off the water, and treating the dry residue with sulphuric acid. On applying heat, pure acetic acid distills over as a clear liquid, which, after a short time, if the weather is cold, becomes a crystalline mass known by the name of Glacial Acetic Acid. For synthesis, properties, &c., see Chemistry. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009307-0108m | ACHAIA. in Ancient Geography, a name differently applied at different periods. In the earliest times the name was borne by a small district in the south of Thessaly, and was the first residence of the Achaeans. At a later period Achaia Propria was a narrow tract of country in the north of the Peloponnesus, running 65 miles along the Gulf of Corinth, and bounded by the Ionian Sea on the W., by Elis and Arcadia on the S., and by Sicyonia on the E. On the south it is separated from Arcadia by lofty mountains, but the plains between the mountains and the sea are very fertile. Its chief town was Patrae. The name of Achaia was afterwards employed to denote collectively the states that joined the Achaean League. When Greece was subdued by the Romans, Achaia was the name given to the most southerly of the provinces into which they divided the country, and included the Peloponnesus, the greater part of Greece Proper, and the islands.
Achaeans and the Achaean League.— The early inhabitants of Achaia were called Achaeans. The name was given also in those times to some of the tribes occupying the eastern portions of the Peloponnesus, particularly Argos and Sparta. Afterwards the inhabitants of Achaia Propria appropriated the name. This republic was not considerable, in early times, as regards either the number of its troops, its wealth, or the extent of its territory, but was famed for its heroic virtues. The Crotonians and Sybarites, to re-establish order in their towns, adopted the laws and customs of the Achaeans. After the famous battle of Leuctra, a difference arose betwixt the Lacedaemonians and Thebant, who held the virtue of this people in such veneration, thai they terminated the dispute by their decision. The government of the Achaeans was democratical. They preserved their liberty till the time of Philip and Alexander; but in the reign of these princes, and afterwards, they were either subjected to the Macedonians, who had made themselves masters of Greece, or oppressed by domestic tyrants. The Achaean commonwealth consisted of twelve inconsiderable towns in Peloponnesus. About 280 years before Christ the republic of the Achaeans recovered its old institutions and unanimity. This was the renewal of the ancient confederation, which subsequently became so famous under the name of the Achaean League —having for its object, not as formerly a common worship, but a substantial political union. Though dating from the year b.c. 280, its importance[9:1:94] may be referred to its connection with Aratus of Sicyon, about 30 years later, as it was further augmented by the splendid abilities of Philopoemen. Thus did this people, so celebrated in the heroic age, once more emerge from comparative obscurity, and become the greatest among the states of Greece in the last days of its national independence. The inhabitants of Patrae and of Dyme were the first assertors of ancient liberty. The tyrants were banished, and the towns again made one commonwealth. A public council was then held, in which affairs of importance were discussed and determined; and a register was provided for recording the transactions of the council. This assembly had two presidents, who were nominated alternately by the different towns. But instead of two presidents, they soon elected but one. Many neighbouring towns, which admired the constitution of this republic, founded on equality, liberty, the love of justice, and of the public good, were incorporated with the Achaeans, and admitted to the full enjoyment of their laws and privileges. The Achaean League affords the most perfect example in antiquity of the federal form of government; and, allowing for difference of time and place, its resemblance to that of the United States government is very remarkable. (See Arts. Amphictyony and Federal Government; also Freeman’s Federal Government, 2 vols. 8vo. 1863, and Comparative Politics, Svo. 1873; Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismus, 2 vols.; Helwing, Geschichte des Achaiischen Bundes.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009401-0109m | ACHAN, the son of Carmi, of the tribe of Judah, at the taking of Jericho concealed two hundred shekels of silver, a Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold, contrary to the express command of God. This sin proved fatal to the Israelites, who were repulsed at the siege of Ai. In this emergency Joshua prostrated himself before the Lord, and begged that he would have mercy upon his people. Achan was discovered by casting lots, and he and his children were stoned to death. This expiation being made, Ai was taken by stratagem. (Josh. vii. viii.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009402-0109m | ACHARD, Franz Carl, a Prussian chemist, born at Berlin on the 28th April 1753, was the first to turn Marggraff’s discovery of the presence of sugar in beet-root to commercial account. He erected a factory on an estate in Silesia, granted to him about 1800 by the king of Prussia, and produced there large quantities of sugar to meet the scarcity occasioned by the closing of the West Indian ports to continental traders. In 1812 a similar establishment was erected by Napoleon at Rambouillet, although the Institute of France in 1800, while honouring Achard for his researches, had declared his process to have little practical value. At the close of the war the manufacture of beet-root sugar was protected by duties on other sugars that were almost prohibitive, so that the real worth of Achard’s discoveries could not be tested. Achard was a frequent contributor to the Memoirs of the Academy of Berlin, and published in 1780 Chymisch-Physische Schriften, containing descriptions and results of his very numerous and carefully conducted experiments on the adhesion of bodies. He died in 1821. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009403-0109m | ACHARIUS, Erik, a Swedish physician and botanist, born at Gefle in 1757. The son of a comptroller of customs, he studied first in his native town, and then in 1773 at the University of Upsal, where Linnaeus was one of his teachers. In 1782 he took the degree of M.D. at the University of Lund, and practised thereafter in various districts of Sweden. But the direction of his studies had been determined by his contact with Linnaeus, and he found his appropriate sphere when he was appointed Professor of Botany at the Wadstena Academy in 1801. Five years before he had been admitted a member of the Academy at Stockholm. He devoted himself to the study of the cryptogamic orders of plants, and especially of the family of lichens. All his publications were connected with this subject, the Lichenographia Universalis (Göttingen, 1804) being the most important. Acharius died of apoplexy in 1819. His name has been given by botanists to more than one species of plants. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009404-0109m | ACHATES, the faithful friend and companion of Aeneas, celebrated in Virgil's Aenid as fidus Achates. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009405-0109m | ACHEEN. See Ach í n. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009406-0109m | ACHELOUS, the largest river in Greece, rises in Mount Pindus, and dividing Aetolia from Acarnania, falls into the Ionian Sea. In the lower part of its course the river winds in an extraordinary manner through very fertile but marshy plains. Its water descends from the mountains, heavily charged with fine mud, which is deposited along its banks and in the sea at its mouth, where a number of small islands have gradually been formed. It was formerly called Thoas, from its impetuosity in its upper portion, and Homer gave it the name of king of rivers. It has a course of 130 miles. The epithet Acheloius is used for aqueus (Virgil), the ancients calling all water Achelous, according to Ephorus. The river is now called Aspro Potamo. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009407-0109m | ACHENWALL, Gottfried, a German writer, celebrated as having formulated and developed the science (Wissenschaft der Staaten), to which he was the first to apply the name scientia statistica, or statistics. Born at Elbing, in East Prussia, in October 1719, he studied at Jena, Halle, and Leipsic, and took a degree at the last-named university. He removed to Marburg in 1746, where for two years he read lectures on history, and on the law of nature and of nations. Here, too, he commenced those inquiries in statistics by which his name became known. In 1748, having been invited by Münchhausen, the Hanoverian minister, to occupy a chair at the university, he removed to Göttingen, where he resided till his death in 1772. His chief works were connected with statistics. The Staatsverfassungen der europäischen Reiche appeared first in 1752, and revised editions—corrected from information which he travelled through England, France, and other countries to collect—were published in 1762 and 1768. He was married in 1752 to a lady named Walther, who obtained some celebrity by a volume of poems published in 1750, and by other writings. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009408-0109m | ACHERON, in Classical Mythology, the son of Ceres, who, for supplying the Titans with drink when they were in contest with Jupiter, was turned into a river of Hades, over which departed souls were ferried on their way to Elysium. The name eventually was used to designate the whole of the lower world. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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This entry: 9th edition, volume 1, page 94 [9:1:94] | |
kp-eb0901-009409-0109m | ACHILL, or “Eagle” Island, off the west coast of Ireland, forms part of the county of Mayo. It is of triangular shape, and extends 15 miles from east to west, and 12 from north to south, its total area being 51,521 acres. The island is very mountainous; its extreme western point, Achill Head, is a bold and rugged promontory rising to a height of 2222 feet above the sea. Large bogs, incapable of cultivation, alternate with the hills of this desolate isle, of whose extensive surface not more than 500 acres have been reclaimed. The inhabitants earn a scanty subsistence by fishing and tillage; their dwellings are miserable hovels. There is a mission-station on the island, and remains of ancient churches are still extant. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009410-0109m | ACHILLES ('Aχιλλ∈ύς). When first taken up by the legendary history of Greece, the ancestors of Achilles were settled in Phthia and in Aegina. That their original seat, however, was in the neighbourhood of Dodona and the Achelous is made out from a combination of the following facts: That in the Iliad (xvi. 233) Achilles prays to Zeus of Dodona; that this district was the first to bear the name of Hellas; that the followers of Achilles at Troy were the only persons named Hellenes in the time of Homer [9:1:95] (Thucytd. i .3 ; of. Iliad, ii. 684, where the more usual name of Myrmidones also occurs); that in Aegina Zeus was styled “Hellanios;” and that the name of Selloi, applied to the priesthood at Dodona, is apparently identical with the name Hellenes. Whether from this local connection the derivation of the name of Achilles from the same root as 'Aχ∈λωoς should be preferred to the other derivations, such as 'Aχι-λεύs = 'Εχελαoς, “ruler,” or 'Αχ-ιλ∈ύς, = “the bane of the Ilians,” remains undecided. But this is gained, that we see in what manner the legend of Achilles had its root in the earlier Pelasgic religion, his adherence to which in the prayer just cited would otherwise appear very strange on the part of a hero who, through the influence of Homer and his successors, is completely identified with the Olympian system of gods. According to the genealogy, Aeacus had two sons, Peleus and Telamon, of whom the former became the father of Achilles—the latter, of Ajax; but of this relationship between Achilles and Ajax there is no sign in the Iliad. Peleus ruled in Phthia; and the gods remarking his piety, rewarded him with, among other presents, a wife in the person of the beautiful nereid Thetis. After her son was born, Thetis appears to have returned to her life in the sea. The boy was placed under his father’s friend, the centaur Cheiron. When six years old he slew lions and boars, and could run down a stag. When nine, he was removed from his instructor to the island of Scyrus, where, dressed as a girl, he was to be brought up among the daughters of Lycomedes, his mother preferring for him a long inglorious life to a brief but splendid career. The same desire for his safety is apparent in other legends, which describe her as trying to make him invulnerable when a child by placing him in boiling water or in a fire, and then salving him with ambrosia; or again, in later story, by dipping him in the river Styx, from which he came out, all but the heel which she held, proof against wounds. When the aid of Achilles was found indispensable to the expedition against Troy, Odysseus set out for Scyrus as a pedlar, spread his wares, including a shield and spear, before the king’s daughters, among whom was Achilles in disguise. Then he caused an alarm of danger to be sounded, upon which, while the girls fled, Achilles seized the arms, and thus revealed himself. Provided with a contingent of 50 ships, and accompanied by the aged Phoenix and Patroclus, he joined the expedition, which after occupying nine years in raids upon the towns in the neighbourhood of Troy and in Mysia, as detailed in the epic poem entitled the Cypria, culminated in the regular siege of Troy, as described in the Iliad, the grand object of which is the glorification of our hero. Estranged from his comrades, because his captive Briseis had been taken from him, Achilles remained inexorable in his tent, while defeat attended the Greeks. At length, at their greatest need, he yielded so far as to allow Patroclus to take his chariot and to assume his armour. Patroclus fell, and the news of his death roused Achilles, who, now equipped with new armour fashioned by Hephaestus, drove back the Trojans, slew Hector, and after dragging his body thrice round the Trojan walls, restored it to Priam. With the funeral rites of Patroclus the Iliad concludes, and the story is taken up by the Aethiopis, a poem by Arctinus of Miletus, in which is described the combat of Achilles first with the amazon Penthesilea, and next with Memnon. When the latter fell, Achilles drove back the Trojans, and, impelled by fate, himself advanced to the Scaean gate, where an arrow from the bow of Paris struck his vulnerable heel, and he fell, bewailed through the whole camp. (a. s. μ.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009501-0110m | ACHILLES TATIUS, a Greek writer, born at Alexandria. The precise time when he flourished is uncertain, but it cannot have been earlier than the 5th century, as in his principal work he evidently imitates Heliodorus. Suidas. who calls him Achilles Statius, says that he was converted from heathenism and became a Christian bishop, but this is doubtful, the more so that Suidas also attributes to him a work on the sphere ( περί σφαίρας) which is referred to by Firmicus (330-50), and must, therefore, have been written by another person. The erotic romance of Achilles Tatius, entitled The Loves of Clitophon and Leucippe, is almost certainly the work of a heathen writer. The style of the work is ornate and rhetorical, while the story is often unnatural, and sometimes coarse, and the development of the plot irregular and frequently interrupted. Its popularity at the time it appeared is proved by the many manuscripts of it which still exist, and the value attached to it by modern scholars and critics is seen in the frequency with which it has been reprinted and translated. A Latin translation by Annibal Crucceius was published, first in part at Leyden in 1544, and then complete at Basel in 1554. The Greek text was first printed by Commelin, at Heidelberg, in 1601. Other editions by Salmasius (Leyden, 1640), Mitscherlich (Biponti, 1792), and Jacobs (Leipsic, 1821), have been superseded by the editions of Hirschig (Paris, 1856), and Hercher (Leipsic, 1857). An English translation by A. H. (Anthony Hodges) appeared at Oxford in 1638. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009502-0110m | ACHILLINI, Alexander (1463-1512), a native of Bologna, was celebrated as a lecturer both in medicine and in philosophy, and was styled the second Aristotle. He and Mundinus were the first at Bologna to avail themselves of the permission given by Frederick II. to dissect dead bodies. His philosophical works were printed in one volume folio, at Venice, in 1508, and reprinted with considerable additions in 1545, 1551, and 1568. He also wrote several medical works, chiefly on anatomy. | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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kp-eb0901-009503-0110m | ÁCHÍN (pronounced Atcheen), a town and also a state of Northern Sumatra; the one state of that island which has been powerful at any time since the discovery of the Cape route to the East, and the only one that still remains independent of the Dutch, though that independence is now menaced.
De Barros names Achin among the twenty-nine states that divided the sea-board of Sumatra when the Portuguese took Malacca. Northern Sumatra had been visited by several European travellers in the Middle Ages, such as Marco Polo, Friar Odorico, and Nicolo Conti. Some of these as well as Asiatic writers mention Lambri, a state which must have nearly occupied the position of Achin. But the first voyager to visit Achin, by that name, was Alvaro Tellez, a captain of Tristan d’Acunha’s fleet, in 1506. It was then a mere dependency of the adjoining state of Pedir; and the latter, with Pasei, formed the only states on the coast whose chiefs claimed the title of Sultan. Yet before twenty years had passed Achin had not only gained independence, but had swallowed up all other states of Northern Sumatra. It attained its climax of power in the time of Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607-1636), under whom the subject coast extended from Aru opposite Malacca round by the north to Padang on the west coast, a sea-board of not less than 1100 miles; and besides this, the king’s supremacy was owned by the large island of Nyás, and by the continental Malay states of Johōr, Páháng, Quedah, and Perák.
The present limits of Achin supremacy in Sumatra are reckoned to be, on the east coast the River Tamiang, in about 4° 25' N. lat., which forms the frontier of territories tributary to Siák; and on the west coast a line in about 2° 48' N., the frontier of Trumon, a small modern state lying between Achin and the Dutch government of Padang. Even within these limits the actual power of Achin is precarious, and the interior boundary can be laid down only from conjecture. This interior country is totally unexplored. It is believed to be inhabited by tribes kindred [9:1:96] to the Battas, that remarkable race of anthropophagi who adjoin on the south. The whole area of Achin territory, defined to the best of our ability, will contain about 16,400 English square miles. A rate of 20 per square mile, perhaps somewhat too large an average, gives a probable population of 328,000.
The production of rice and pepper forms the chief industry of the Achin territory. From Pedir and other ports on the north coast large quantities of betel-nut are exported to continental India, to Burmah, and to Penang for China. Some pepper is got from Pedir, but the chief export is from a number of small ports and anchorages on the west coast, where vessels go from port to port making up a cargo. Achin ponies are of good repute, and are exported. Minor articles of export are sulphur, iron, sappan-wood, gutta-percha, dammer, rattans, bamboos, benzoin, and camphor from the interior forests. The camphor is that from the Dryabalanops camphora, for which so high a price is paid in China, and the whole goes thither, the bulk of that whole being, however, extremely small. Very little silk is now produced, but in the 16th century the quantity seems to have been considerable. What is now wanted for the local textures, which are in some esteem, is imported from China.
The chief attraction to the considerable trade that existed at Achin two centuries ago must have been gold. No place in the East, unless Japan, was so abundantly supplied with gold. We can form no estimate of the annual export, for it is impossible to accept Valentyn’s statement that it sometimes reached 80 bahars (512,000 ounces !). Crawford (1820), who always reckoned low, calculated the whole export of Sumatra at 35,530 ounces, and that of Achin at 10,450; whilst Anderson (1826), who tends to put figures too high, reckoned the whole Achin export alone at 32,000 ounces. The chief imports to Achin are opium (largely consumed), rice (the indigenous supply being inadequate), salt, iron ware, piece-goods, arms and ammunition, vessels of copper and pottery, China goods of sorts, and a certain kind of dried fish.
The great repute of Achin at one time as a place of trade is shown by the fact, that to this port the first Dutch (1599) and first English (1602) commercial ventures to the Indies were directed. Lancaster, the English commodore, carried letters from Queen Elizabeth to the king of Achin, and was well received by the prince then reigning, Aláuddín Shàh. Another exchange of letters took place between King James I. and Iskandar Muda in 1613. But native caprice and natural jealousy at the growing force of the European nations in those seas, the reckless rivalries of the latter and their fierce desire for monopoly, were alike destructive of sound trade; and the English factory, though several times set up, was never long maintained. The French made one great effort under Beaulieu (1621) to establish relations with Achin, but nothing came of it.
Still the foreign trade of Achin, though subject to spasmodic interruptions, was important. Dampier and others speak of the number of foreign merchants settled there,— English, Dutch, Danes, Portuguese, Chinese, Banyans from Guzerat, &c. Dampier says the roads were rarely without ten or fifteen sail of different nations, bringing vast quantities of rice, as well as silks, chintzes, muslins, and opium. Besides the Chinese merchants settled at Achin, others used to come annually with the junks, ten or twelve in number, which arrived in June. A regular fair was then established, which lasted two months, and was known as the China camp,—a lively scene, and great resort of foreigners.
The Achinese are not identical with the Malays proper either in aspect or language. They are said to be taller, handsomer, and darker, as if with a mixture of blood from India proper. Their language is little known; but though it has now absorbed much Malay, the original part of it ia said to have characteristics connecting it both with the Batta and with the Indo-Chinese tongues. The Achin literature, however, is entirely Malay; it embraces poetry, a good deal of theology, and several chronicles.
The name of the state is properly Ácheh. This the Portuguese made into Achem; whilst we, with the Dutch, learned to call it Achin. The last appears to have been a Persian or Indian form, suggested by jingling analogy with Máchín (China).
The town itself lies very near the north-west extremity of Sumatra, known in charts as Achin Head. Here a girdle of ten or twelve small islands affords protection to the anchorage. This fails in N.W. winds, but it is said that vessels may find safe riding at all seasons by shifting their berths. The town lies between two and three miles from the sea, chiefly on the left bank of a river of no great size. This forms a swampy delta, and discharges by three mouths. The central and chief mouth is about 100 yards wide, and has a depth of 20 to 30 feet within the bar. But the latter has barely 4 feet at low tide; at high tide it admits native craft of 20 or 30 tons, and larger craft in the rainy season. The town, like most Malay towns, consists of detached houses of timber and thatch, clustered in enclosed groups called kampongs, and buried in a forest of fruit-trees. The chief feature is the palace of the Sultan, which communicates with the river by a canal, and is enclosed, at least partially, by a wall of cut stone.
The valley or alluvial plain in which Achin lies is low, and subject to partial inundation; but it is shut in at a short distance from the town, on the three landward sides, by hills. It is highly cultivated, and abounds in small villages and kampongs, with white mosques interspersed. The hills to the eastward are the spurs of a great volcanic mountain, upwards of 6000 feet in height, called by natives Yamuria, by mariners “the Golden Mountain.”^[1. Several other great volcanic cones exist in the Achin territory, and two visible from seaward rise to a height of 11,000 feet or more in the unexplored interior. ] Of the town population we find no modern estimate.
The real original territory of the Achinese, called by them Great Achin (in the sense of Achin proper), consists of three districts immediately round the city, distinguished respectively as the 26, the 25, and the 22 múkims^[2. A múkim is said properly to embrace 44 households. ] (or hundreds, to use the nearest English term).
Each of these three districts has two heads, called pang- limas; and these, according to some modern accounts, constitute the council of state, who are the chief administrators, and in whose hands it lies to depose the sovereign or to sanction his choice of a successor. Late notices speak of a chief minister, apparently distinct from these; and another important member of the government is the Shábandar, who is over all matters of customs, shipping, and commerce.
The court of Achin, in the 17th century, maintained a good deal of pomp; and, according to Beaulieu, the king had always 900 elephants. These animals, though found throughout Sumatra, are now no longer tamed or kept.
Hostilities with the Portuguese began from the time of the first independent king of Áchín; and they had little remission till the power of Portugal fell with the loss of Malacca (1641). Not less than ten times before that event were armaments despatched from Achin to reduce Malacca, and more than once its garrison was very hard pressed. One of these armadas, equipped by Iskandar Muda in 1615, gives an idea of the king’s resources. It consisted of 500 sail, of which 250 were galleys, and [9:1:97] among these a hundred were greater than any then used in Europe. 60,000 men were embarked, with the king and his women.
On the death of Iskandar’s successor in 1641, the widow was placed on the throne; and as a female reign favoured the oligarchical tendencies of the Malay chiefs, three more queens were allowed to reign successively. Though this series of female sovereigns lasted only fifty-eight years altogether, so dense is apt to be the ignorance of recent history, that long before the end of that period it had become an accepted belief among foreign residents at Achin that there never had been any sovereigns in Achin except females; and hence, by an easy inference, that the Queen of Sheba had been Queen of Achin!
In 1699 the Arab or fanatical party suppressed female government, and put a chief of Arab blood on the throne. The remaining history of Achin is one of rapid decay. Thirty sovereigns in all have reigned from the beginning of the 16th century to the present day.
After the restoration of Java to the Netherlands in 1816, a good deal of weight was attached by the neighbouring English colonies to the maintenance of our influence in Achin; and in 1819 a treaty of friendship was concluded with the Calcutta Government, which excluded other European nationalities from fixed residence in Achin. When the home Government, in 1824, made a treaty with the Netherlands, surrendering our remaining settlements in Sumatra in exchange for certain possessions on the continent of Asia, no reference was made in the articles to the Indian treaty of 1819; but an understanding was exchanged that it should be modified by us, whilst no proceedings hostile to Achin should be attempted by the Dutch.
This reservation was formally abandoned by our Government in a convention signed at the Hague, November 2, 1871; and little more than a year elapsed before the government of Batavia declared war upon Achin. Doubtless there was provocation, as there always will be between such neighbours; but the necessity for war has been greatly doubted, even in Holland. A Dutch force landed at Áchín in April 1873, and attacked the palace. It was defeated with considerable loss, including that of the general (Köhler). The approach of the soutli-west monsoon was considered to preclude the immediate renewal of the attempt; but hostilities were resumed, and Achin fell in January 1874.
(De Barros; Faria y Souza; Valentyn, vol. v.; Beaulieu (in Thévenot’s Collection); Dampier; Marsden; Crawfurd’s Hist. and Decl. of the Ind. Archip.; J. of Ind. Archip.; Dulaurier in J. Asiatique, 3d s. vol. viii.; Anderson’s Acheen, 1840; Veth, Atchin, &c. Leyden, 1873, &c.) (h. y.) | ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, NINTH EDITION: A MACHINE-READABLE TEXT
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Sons, 1875-1889. (Authorized edition.) Image scans: Internet Archive.
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