The Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia, Volume 1 of 28
Chapter 7
there. The kings of the Ist dynasty, and some of the IInd dynasty, were also buried here, and the temple was renewed and enlarged by them. Great forts were built on the desert behind the town by three kings of the IInd dynasty. The temple and town continued to be rebuilt at intervals down to the times of the XXXth dynasty, and the cemetery was used continuously. In the XIIth dynasty a gigantic tomb was cut in the rock by Senwosri (or Senusert) III. Seti I. in the XIXth dynasty founded a great new temple to the south of the town in honour of the ancestral kings of the early dynasties; this was finished by Rameses (or Ramessu) II., who also built a lesser temple of his own. Mineptah (Merenptah) added a great Hypogeum of Osiris to the temple of Seti. The latest building was a new temple of Nekhtnebf in the XXXth dynasty. From the Ptolemaic times the place continued to decay and no later works are known (Petrie, Abydos, i. and ii.).
The worship here was of the jackal god Upuaut (Ophols, Wepwoi), who ``opened the way'' to the realm of the dead, increasing from the Ist dynasty to the time of the XIIth dynasty and then disappearing after the XVIIIth. Anher appears in the XIth dynasty; and Khentamenti, the god of the western Hades, rises to importance in the middle kingdom and then vanishes in the XVIIIth. The worship here of Osiris in his various forms begins in the XIIth dynasty and becomes more important in later times, so that at last the whole place was considered as sacred to him (Abydos, ii. 47).
The temples successively built here on one site were nine or ten in number, from the Ist dynasty, 5500 B.C. to the XXVIth dynasty, 500 B.C.. The first was an enclosure, about 30X 50 ft., surrounded by a thin wall of unbaked bricks. Covering one wall of this came the second temple of about 40 ft. square in a wall about 10 ft. thick. An outer temenos (enclosure) wall surrounded the ground. This outer wall was thickened about the IInd or IIIrd dynasty. The old temple entirely vanished in the IVth dynasty, and a smaller building was erected behind it, enclosing a wide hearth of black ashes. Pottery models of offerings are found in the ashes, and these were probably the substitutes for sacrifices decreed by Cheops (Khufu) in his temple reforms. A great clearance of temple offerings was made now, or earlier, and a chamber full of them has yielded the fine ivory carvings and the glazed figures and tiles which show the splendid work of the Ist dynasty. A vase of Menes with purple inlaid hieroglyphs in green glaze and the tiles with relief figures are the most important pieces. The noble statuette of Cheops in ivory, found in the stone chamber of the temple, gives the only portrait of this greatest ruler. The temple was rebuilt entirely on a larger scale by Pepi I. in the VIth dynasty. He placed a great stone gateway to the temenos, an outer temenos wall and gateway, with a colonnade between the gates. His temple was about 40X50 ft. inside, with stone gateways front and back, showing that it was of the processional type. In the XIth dynasty Menthotp (Mentuhotep) III. added a colonnade and altars. Soon after, Sankhkere entirely rebuilt the temple, laying a stone pavement over the area, about 45 ft. square, besides subsidiary chambers. Soon after Senwosri (Senusert) I. in the XIIth dynasty laid massive foundations of stone over the pavement of his predecessor. A great temenos was laid out enclosing a much larger area, and the temple itself was about three times the earlier size. .
The XVIIIth dynasty began with a large chapel of Amasis (Ahmosi, Aahmes) I., and then Tethmosis (Thothmes, Tahutmes) III. built a far larger temple, about 130X200 ft. He made also a processional way past the side of the temple to the cemetery beyond, with a great gateway of granite. Rameses III. added a large building; and Amasis II. in the XXVIth dynasty rebuilt the temple again, and placed in it a large monolith shrine of red granite, finely wrought. The foundations of the successive temples were comprised within about 18 ft. depth of ruins; these needed the closest examination to discriminate the various buildings, and were recorded by over 4000 measurements and 1000 levellings (Petrie, Abydos, ii.).
The temple of Seti I. was built on entirely new ground half a mile to the south of the long series of temples just described. This is the building best known as the Great Temple of Abydos, being nearly complete and an impressive sight. A principal object of it was the adoration of the early kings, whose cemetery, to which it forms a great funerary chapel, lies behind it. The long list of the kings of the principal dynasties carved on a wall is known as the ``Table of Abydos.'' There were also seven chapels for the worship of the king and principal gods. At the back were large chambers connected with the Osiris worship (Caulfield, Temple of the Kings); and probably from these led out the great Hypogeum for the celebration of the Osiris mysteries, built by Mineptah (Murray, Osireion.) The temple was originally 550 ft. long, but the forecourts are scarcely recognizable, and the part in good state is about 250 ft. long and 350 ft. wide, including the wing at the side. Excepting the list of kings and a panegyric on Rameses II., the subjects are not historical but mythological. The work is celebrated for its delicacy and refinement, but lacks the life and character of that in earlier ages. The sculptures have been mostly published in hand copy, not facsimile, by Mariette in his Abydos, i. The adjacent temple of Rameses II. was much smaller and simpler in plan; but it had a fine historical series of scenes around the outside, of which the lower parts remain. A list of kings, similar to that of Seti, formerly stood here; but the fragments were removed by the French consul and sold to the British Museum.
The Royal Tombs of the earliest dynasties were placed about a mile back on the great desert plain. The earliest is about 10X20ft. inside, a pit lined with brick walls, and originally roofed with timber and matting. Others also before Menes are 15X25 ft. The tomb probably of Menes is of the latter size. After this the tombs increase 111 size and complexity. The tomb-pit is surrounded by chambers to hold the offerings, the actual sepulchre being a great wooden chamber in the midst of the brick-lined pit. Rows of small tomb-pits for the servants of the king surround the royal chamber, many dozens of such burials being usual. By the end of the IInd dynasty the type changed to a long passage bordered with chambers on either hand, the royal burial heing in the middle of the length. The greatest of these tombs with its dependencies covered a space of over 3000 square yards. The contents of the tombs have been nearly destroyed by successive plunderers; enough remained to show that rich jewellery was placed on the mummies, a profusion of vases of hard and valuable stones from the royal table service stood about the body, the store-rooms were filled with great jars of wine, perfumed ointment and other supplies, and tablets of ivory and of ebony were engraved with a record of the yearly annals of the reigns. The sealings of the various officials, of which over 200 varieties have been found, give an insight into the public arrangements (Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. and ii.).
The cemetery of private persons begins in the Ist dynasty with some pit tombs in the town. It was extensive in the XIIth and XIIIth dynasties and contained many rich tombs. In the XVIIIth-XXth dynasties a large number of fine tombs were made, and later ages continued to bury here till Roman times. Many hundred funeral steles were removed by Mariette's workmen, without any record of the burials (Mariette, Abydos, ii. and iii.). Later excavations have been recorded by Ayrton, Abydos, iii.; Maclver, El Amrah and Abydos; and Garstang, El Arabah.
The forts lay behind the town. That known as Shunet ez Zebib is about 450X250 ft. over all, and still stands 30 ft. high. It was built by Rhasekhemui, the last king of the IInd dynasty. Another fort nearly as large adjoined it, and is probably rather older. A third fort of a squarer form is now occupied by the Coptic convent; its age cannot be ascertained (Ayrton, Abydos, iii.). (W. M. F. P.)
ABYSS (Gr. a-, privative, bussos, bottom), a bottomless depth; hence any deep place. From the late popular abyssimus (superlative of Lon Latin abyssus) through the French abisme (i.e. abime) is derived the poetic form abysm, pronounced as late as 1616 to rhyme with time. The adjective ``abyssal'' or ``abysmal'' has been used by zoologists to describe deep regions of the sea; hence abysmal zone, abysmal flora and fauna, abysmal accumulations, the deposit on the abysmal bed of the ocean. In heraldry, the abyss is the middle of an escutcheon. In the Greek version of the Old Testament the word represents (1) the,-original chaos (Gen. i. 2), (2) the Hebrew tehom (``a surging water-deep''), which is used also in apocalyptic and kabbalistic literature and in the New Testament for hell; the place of punishment (cf. Eurip. Phoen. for the ``yawning chasm of Tartarus''); in the Revised (not the Authorized) version abyss is generally used for this idea. Primarily in the Septuagint cosmography the word is applied (a) to the waters under the earth which originally covered it, and from which the springs and rivers are supplied, (b) to the waters of the firmament which were regarded as closely connected with those below. Derivatively, from the general idea of depth, it acquired the meaning of the place of the dead, though apparently never quite the same as Sheol. In Revelation it is the prison of evil spirits whence they may occasionally be let loose, and where Satan is doomed to spend 1000 years. Beneath the altar in the temple of Jerusalem there was believed to be a passage which led down to the abyss of the world, where the foundation-stone of the earth was laid. In rabbinical cosmography the abyss is a region of Gehenna situated below the ocean bed and divided into three or seven parts imposed one above the other. In the Kabbalah the abyss as the opening into the lower world is the abode of evil spirits, and corresponds to the opening of the abyss to the world above. In general the abyss is regarded vaguely as a place of indefinite extent, the abode of mystery and sorrow.
See G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in tha Old Testament (Eng. trans., Oxford, 1905).
ABYSSINIA (officially ETHIOPIA), an inland country and empire of N.E. Africa lying, chiefly, between 5 deg. and 15 deg. N. and 35 deg. and 42 deg. E. It is bounded N. by Eritrea (Italian). W. by the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, S. by British East Africa, S.E. and E. by' the British. Ita!ian and French possessions in Somaliland and on the Red Sea. The coast lands held by European powers, which cut off Abyssinia from access to the sea, vary in width from 40 to 250 miles. The country approaches nearest to the ocean on its N.E. border, where the frontier is drawn about 40 m. from the coast of the Red Sea. Abyssinia is narrowest in the north, being here 230 n1. across from east to west. It broadens out southward to a width of 900 m. along the line of 9 deg. N., and resembles in shape a triangle with its apex to the north. It is divided into Abyssinia proper (i.e. Tigre, Amhara, Gojam, &c.), Shoa, Kaffa and Galla land----all these form a geographical unit---and central Somaliland with Harrar. To the S.W. Abyssinia also includes part of the low country of the Sobat tributary of the Nile. The area of the whole state is about 350,000 sq. m., of which Abyssinian Somaliland covers fully a third.
(1) Physical Features.-- Between the valley of the Upper Nile and the low lands which skirt the south-western shores of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden is a region of elevated plateaus from which rise various mountain ranges. These tablelands and mountains constitute Abyssinia, Shoa, Kaffa and Galla land. On nearly every side the walls of the plateaus rise with considerable abruptness from the plains, constituting outer mountain chains. The Abyssinian highlands are thus a clearly marked orographic division. From Ras Kasar (18 deg. N.) to Annesley Bay (15 deg. N.) the eastern wall of the plateau runs parallel to the Red Sea. It then turns due S. and follows closely the line of 40 deg. E. for some 400 m. About 9 deg. N. there is a break in the wall, through which the river. Hawash flows eastward. The main range at this point trends S.W., while south of the Hawash valley, which is some 3000 ft. below the level of the mountains, another massif rises in a direct line south. This second range sends a chain (the Harrar hills) eastward to the Gulf of Aden. The two chief eastern ranges maintain a parallel course S. by W., with a broad upland valley between---in which valley are a series of lakes---to about 3 deg. N., the outer (eastern) spurs of the plateau still keeping along the line of 40 deg. E. The southern escarpment of the plateau is highly irregular, but has a general direction N.W. and S.E. from 6 deg. N. to 3 deg. N. It overlooks the depression in which is Lake Rudolf and---east of that lake--southern Somaliland. The western wall of the plateau from 6 deg. N. to 11 deg. N. is well marked and precipitous. North of 11 deg. N. the hills turn more to the east and fall more gradually to the plains at their base. On its northern face also the plateau falls in terraces to the level of the eastern Sudan. The eastern escarpment is the best defined of these outer ranges. It has a mean height of from 7000 to 8000 ft., and in many places rises almost perpendicularly from the plain. Narrow and deep clefts, through which descend mountain torrents to lose themselves in the sandy soil of the coast land, afford means of reaching the plateau, or the easier route through the Hawash valley may be chosen. On surmounting this rocky barrier the traveller finds that the encircling rampart rises little above the normal level of the plateau.
(2) The aspect of the highlands is most impressive. The northern portion, lying mainly between 10 deg. and 15 deg. N., consists of a huge mass of Archaean rocks with a mean height of from 7000 to 7500 ft. above the sea, and is fl00ded in a deep central depression by the waters of Lake Tsana. Above the plateau rise several irregular and generally ill-defined mountain ranges which attain altitudes of from 12,000 to over 15,000 ft. Many of the mountains are of weird and fantastic shape. Characteristic of the country are the enormous fissures which divide it, formed in the course of ages by the erosive action of water. They are in fact the valleys of the rivers which, rising on the uplands or mountain sides, have cut their way to the surrounding lowlands. Some of the valleys are of considerable width; in other cases the opposite walls of the gorges are but two or three hundred yards apart, and fall almost vertically thousands of feet, representing an erosion of hard rock of many millions of cubic feet. One result of the action of the water has been the formation of numerous isolated flat-topped hills or small plateaus, known as ambas, with nearly perpendicular sides. The highest peaks are found in the Simen (or Semien) and Gojam ranges. The Simen Mountains he N.E. of Lake Tsana and culminate in the snow-covered peak of Daschan (Dajan), which has an altitude of 15,160 ft. A few miles east and north respectively of Dajan are Mounts Biuat and Abba Jared, whose summits are a few feet only below that of Dajan. In the Chok Mountains in Gojam Agsias Fatra attains a height of 13,600 ft.
Parallel with the eastern escarpment are the heights of Baila (12,500 ft.), Abuna Josef (13,780 ft.), and Kollo (14,100 ft.), the last-named being S.W. of Magdala. The valley between these hills and the eastern escarpment is one of the longest and most profound chasms in Abyssinia. Between Lake Tsana and the eastern hills are Mounts Guna (13,800 ft.) and Uara Sahia (13,000 ft.). The figures given are, however, approximate only. The southern portion of the highlands---the 10 deg. N. roughly marks the division between north and south---has more open tableland than the northern portion and fewer lofty peaks. Though there are a few heights between 10,000 and 12,000 ft., the majority do not exceed 8000 ft. But the general character of the southern regions is the same as in the north---a much-broken hilly plateau.
Most of the Abyssinian uplands have a decided slope to the north-west, so that nearly all the large rivers find their way in that direction to the Nile. Such are the Takazze in the north, the Abai in the centre, and the Sobat in the south, and through these three arteries is discharged about four-fifths of the entire drainage. The rest is carried off, almost due north by the Khor Baraka, which occasionally reaches the Red Sea south of Suakin; by the Hawash, which runs out in the saline lacustrine district near the head of Taiura Bay; by the Webi Shebeli (Wabi Shebeyli) and Juba, which flow S.E. through Somaliland, though the Shebeli fails to reach the Indian Ocean; and by the Omo. the main feeder of the closed basin of Lake Rudolf.
The Takazze, which is the true upper course of the Atbara, has its head-waters in the central tableland; and falls from about 7000 to 2500 ft. in the tremendous crevasse through which it sweeps round west, north and west again down to the western terraces, where it passes from Abyssinian to Sudan territory. During the rains the Takazze (i.e. the ``Terrible'') rises some 18 ft. above its normal level, and at this time forms an impassable barrier between the northern and central provinces. In its lower course the river is known by the Arab name Setit. The Setit is joined (14 deg. 10' N., 36 deg. E.) by the Atbara, a river formed by several streams which rise in the mountains W. and N.W. of Lake Tsana. The Gash or Mareb is the most northerly of the Abyssinian rivers which flow towards the Nile valley. Its head-waters rise on the landward side of the eastern escarpment within 50 miles of Annesley Bay on the Red Sea. It reaches the Sudan plains near Kassala, beyond which place its waters are dissipated in the sandy soil. The Mareb is dry for a great part of the year, but like the Takazze is subject to sudden freshets during the rains. Only the left bank of the upper course of the river is in Abyssinian territory, the Mareb here forming the boundary between Eritrea and Abyssinia.
(3) The Abai---that is, the upper course of the Blue Nile--has its source near Mount Denguiza in the Goiam highlands (about 11 deg. N. and 37 deg. E.), and first flows for 70 m. nearly due north to the south side of Lake Tsana. Tsana (q.v.), which stands from 2500 to 3000 ft. below the normal level of the plateau, has somewhat the aspect of a flooded crater. It has an area of about 1100 sq. m., and a depth in some parts of 250 ft. At the south-east corner the rim of the crater is, as it were. breached by a deep crevasse through which the Abai escapes, and here dovelb. ps a great semicircular bend like that of the Takazzo, but in the reverse direction---east, south and north-west---down to the plains of Sennar, where it takes the name of Bahr-el-Azrak or Blue Nile. The Abai has many tributaries. Of these the Bashilo rises near Magdala and drains eastern Amhara; the Jamma rises near Ankober and drains northern Shoa; the Muger rises near Adis Ababa and drains south-western Shoa; the Didessa, the largest of the Abai's affluents, rises in the Kaffa hills and has a generally S. to N. course; the Yabus runs near the western edge of the plateau escarpment. All these are perennial rivers. The right-hand tributaries, rising mostly on the western sides of the plateau, have steep slopes and are generally torrential in character. The Bolassa, however, is perennial, and the Rahad and Dinder are important rivers in flood-time.
In the mountains and plateaus of Kaffa and Galla in the south-west of Abyssinia rise the Baro, Gelo, Akobo and other of the chief affluents of the Sobat tributary of the Nile. The Akobo, in about 7 deg. 50' N. and 33 deg. E., joins the Pibor, which in about 8 1/2 deg. N. and 33 deg. 20' E. unites with the Baro, the river below the confluence taking the name of Sobat. These rivers descend from the mountains in great falls, and like the other Abyssinian streams are unnavigable in their upper courses. The Baro on reaching the plain becomes, however, a navigable stream affording an open waterway to the Nile. The Baro, Pibor and Akobo form for 250 m. the W. and S.W. frontiers of Abyssinia (see NILE, SOBAT and SUDAN.)
The chief river of Abyssinia flowing east is the Hawash (Awash, Awasi), which rises in the Shoan uplands and makes a semicircular bend first S.E. and then N.E. It reaches the Afar (Danakil) lowlands through a broad breach in the eastern escarpment of the plateau, beyond which it is joined on its left bank by its chief affluent, the Germama (Kasam), and then trends round in the direction of Tajura Bay. Here the Hawash is a copious stream nearly 200 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep, even in the dry season, and during the floods rising 50 or 60 ft. above low-water mark, thus inundating the plains for many miles along both its banks. Yet it fails to reach the coast, and after . a winding course of about 500 m. passes (in its lower reaches) through a series of badds (lagoons) to Lake Aussa, some 60 or 70 m. from the head.of Tajura Bay. In this lake the river is lost. This remarkable phenomenon is explained by the position of Aussa in the centre of a saline lacustrine depression several hundred feet below sea-level. While most of the other lagoons are highly saline, with thick incrustations of salt round their margins, Aussa remains fresh throughout the year, owing to the great body of water discharged into it by the Hawash.
Another lacustrine region extends from the Shoa heights south-west to the Samburu (Lake Rudolf) depression. In this chain of lovely upland lakes, some fresh, some brackish, some completely closed, others connected by short channels, the chief links in their order from north to south are:---Zwai, communicating southwards with Hara and Lamina, all in the Arusi Galla territory; then Abai with an outlet to a smaller tarn in the romantic Baroda and Gamo districts, skirted on the west sides by grassy slopes and wooded ranges from 6000 to nearly 9000 ft. high; lastly, in the Asille country, Lake Stefanie, the Chuwaha of the natives, completely closed and falling to a level of about 1800 ft. above the sea. To the same system obviously belongs the neighbouring Lake Rudolf (q.v.), which is larger than all the rest put together. This lake receives at its northern end the waters of the ()mo, which rises in the Shoa highlands and is a perennial river with many affluents. In its course of some 370 m. it has a total fall of about 6000 ft. (from 7600 at its source to 1600 at lake-level), and is consequently a very rapid stream, being broken by the Kokobi and other falls, and navigable only for a short distance above its mouth. The chief rivers of Somaliland (q.v.), the Webi Shebeli and the Juba (q.v.), have their rise on the south-eastenn slopes of the Abyssinian escarpment, and the greater part of their course is through territory belonging to Abyssinia. There are numerous hot springs in Abyssinia, and earthquakes, though of no great severity, are not uncommon.
(4) Geology.----The East African tableland is continued into Abyssinia. Since the visit of W. T. Blanford in 1870 the geology has received little attention from travellers. The following formations are represented:--
Sedimentary and Metamorphic. Recent. Coral, alluvium, sand. Tertiary. (?) Limestones of Harrar. Jurassic. Antalo Limestones. Triassic (?). Adigrat Sandstones. Archaean. Gneisses, schists, slaty rocks.
Igneous. Recent. Aden Volcanic Series. Tertiary, Cretaceous (?). Magdala group. Jurassic. Ashangi group.
Archaean.--The metamorphic rocks compose the main mass of the tableland, and are exposed in every deep valley in Tigre and along the valley of the Blue Nile. Mica schists form the prevalent rocks. Hornblende schist also occur and a compact felspathic rock in the Suris defile. The foliae of the schists strike north and south.
Triassic (?).---In the region of Adigrat the metamorphic rocks are invariably overlain by white and brown sandstones, unfossiliferous, and attaining a maximum thickness of 1000 feet. They are overlain by the fossiliferous limestones of the Antalo group. Around Chelga and Adigrat coal-bearing beds occur, which Blanford suggests may be of the same age as the coal-bearing strata of India. The Adigrat Sandstone possibly represents some portion of the Karroo formation of South Africa.
Jurassic.---The fossiliferous limestones of Antalo are generally horizontal, but are in places much disturbed when interstratified with trap rocks. The fossils are all characteristic Oolite forms and include species of Hemicidaris, Pholadomya, Ceromya, Trigonia and Alaria.
Igneous Rocks.---Above a height of 8000 ft. the country consists of bedded traps belonging to two distinct and unconformable groups. The lower (Ashangi group) consists of basalts and dolerites often amygdaloidal. Their relation to the Antalo limestones is uncertain, but Blanford considers them to be not later in age than the Oolite. The upper (Magdala group) contains much trachytic rock of considerable thickness, lying perfectly horizontally, and giving rise to a series of terraced ridges characteristic of central Abyssinia. They are interbedded with unfossiliferous sandstones and shales. Of more recent date (probably Tertiary) are some igneous rocks, rich in alkalis, occurring in certain localities in southern Abyssinia. Of still more recent date are the basalts and ashes west of Massawa and around Annesley Bay and known as the Aden Volcanic Series. With regard to the older igneous rocks, the enormous amount they have suffered from denudation is a prominent feature. They have been worn into deep and narrow ravines, sometimes to a depth of 3000 to 4000 ft.
(5) Climate.---The climate of Abyssinia and its dependent territories varies greatly. Somaliland and the Danakil lowlands have a hot, dry climate producing semi-desert conditions; the country in the lower basin of the Sobat is hot, swampy and malarious. But over the greater part of Abyssinia as well as the Galla highlands the climate is very healthy and temperate. The country lies wholly within the tropics, but its nearness to the equator is counterbalanced by the elevation of the land. In the deep valleys of the Takazze and Abai, and generally in places below 4000 ft., the conditions are tropical and fevers are prevalent. On the uplands, however, the air is cool and bracing in summer, and in winter very bleak. The mean range of temperature is between 60 deg. and 80 deg. F. On the higher mountains the climate is Alpine in character. The atmosphere on the plateaus is exceedingly clear, so that objects are easily recognizable at great distances. In addition to the variation in climate dependent on elevation, the year may be divided into three seasons. Winter, or the cold season, lasts from October to February, and is followed by a dry hot period, which about the middle of June gives place to the rainy season. The rain is heaviest in the Takazze basin in July and August. In the more southern districts of Gojam and Wallega heavy rains continue till the middle of September, and occasionally October is a wet month. There are also spring and winter rains; indeed rain often falls in every month of the year. But the rainy season proper, caused by the south-west monsoon, lasts from June to mid-September, and commencing in the north moves southward. In the region of the Sobat sources the rains begin earlier and last longer. The rainfall varies from about 30 in. a year in Tigre and Amhara to over 40 in. in parts of Galla land. The rainy season is of great importance not only to Abyssinia but to the countries of the Nile valley, as the prosperity of the eastern Sudan and Egypt is largely dependent upon the rainfall. A season of light rain may be sufficient for the needs of Abyssinia, but there is little surplus water to find its way to the Nile; and a shortness of rain means a low Nile, as practically all the flood water of that river is derived from the Abyssinian tributaries (see NILE.)
(6) Flora and Fauna.--As in a day's journey the traveller may pass from tropical to almost Alpine conditions of climate, so great also is the range of the flora and fauna. In the valleys and lowlands the vegetation is dense, but the general appearance of the plateaus is of a comparatively bare country with trees and bushes thinly scattered over it. The glens and ravines on the hillside are often thickly wooded, and offer a delightful contrast to the open downs. These conditions are particularly characteristic of the northern regions; in the south the vegetation on the uplands is more luxuriant. Among the many varieties of trees and plants found are the date palm, mimosa, wild olive, giant sycamores, junipers and laurels, the myrrh and Other gum trees (gnarled and stunted, these flourish most on the eastern foothills), a magnificent pine (the Natal yellow pine, which resists the attacks of the white ant), the fig, orange, lime, pomegranate, peach, apricot, banana and other fruit trees; the grape vine (rare), blackberry and raspberry; the cotton and indigo Plants, and occasionally the sugar cane. There are in the south large forests of valuable timber trees; and the coffee plant is indigenous in the Kaffa country, whence it takes its name. Many kinds of grasses and flowers abound. Large areas are covered by the kussa, a hardy member of the rose family, which grows from 8 to 10 ft. high and has abundant pendent red blossoms. The flowers and the leaves of this plant are highly prized for medicinal purposes. The fruit of the hurarina, a tree found almost exclusively in Shoa, yields a black grain highly esteemed as a spice. On the tableland a great variety of grains and vegetables are cultivated. A fibrous plant, known as the sanseviera, grows in a wild state in the semi-desert regions of the north and south-east.
In addition to the domestic animals enumerated below (sec. 8) the fauna is very varied. Elephant and rhinoceros are numerous in certain low-lying districts, especially in the Sobat valley. The Abyssinian rhinoceros has two horns and its skin has no folds. The hippopotamus and crocodile inhabit the larger rivers flowing west, but are not found in the Hawash, in which, however, otters of large size are plentiful. Lions abound in the low countries and in Somaliland. In central Abyssinia the lion is no longer found except occasionally in the river valleys. Leopards, both spotted and black, are numerous and often of great size; hyaenas are found everywhere and are hardy and fierce; the lynx, wolf, wild dog and jackal are also common. Boars and badgers are more rarely seen. The giraffe is found in the western districts, the zebra and wild ass frequent the lower plateaus and the rocky hills of the north. There are large herds of buffalo and antelope, and gazelles of many varieties and in great numbers are met with in most parts of the country. Among the varieties are the greater and lesser kudu (both rather rare); the duiker, gemsbuck, hartebeest, gerenuk (the most common--it has long thin legs and a camel-like neck); klipspringer, found on the high plateaus as well as in the lower districts; and the dik-dik, the smallest of the antelopes, its weight rarely exceeding 10 lb. , common in the low countries and the foothills. The civet is found in many parts of Abyssinia, but chiefly in the Galla regions. Squirrels and hares are numerous, as are several kinds of monkeys, notably the guereza, gelada, guenon and dog-faced baboon. They range from the tropical lowlands to heights of 10,000 ft.
Birds are very numerous, and many of them remarkable for the beauty of their plumage. Great numbers of eagles, vultures, hawks, bustards and other birds of prey are met with; and partridges, duck, teal, guinea-fowl, sand-grouse, curlews, woodcock, snipe, pigeons, thrushes and swallows are very plentiful. A fine variety of ostrich is commonly found. Among the birds prized for their plumage are the marabout, crane, heron, blacks bird, parrot, jay and humming-birds of extraordinary brilliance, Among insects the most numerous and useful is the bee, honey everywhere constituting an important part of the food of the inhabitants. Of an opposite class is the locust. Serpents are not numerous, but several species are poisonous. There are thousands of varieties of butterflies and other insects.
(7) Provinces and Towns.--Politically, Abyssinia is divided into provinces or kingdoms and dependent territories. The chief provinces are Tigro, which occupies the N.E. of the country; Amhara or Gondar, in the centre; Gojam, the district enclosed by the great semicircular sweep of the Abai; and Shoa (q.v.), which lies east of the Abai and south of Amhara. Besides these ancient provinces and several others of smaller size, the empire includes the Wallega region, lying S.W. of Gojam; the Harrar province in the east; Kaffa (q.v.) and Galla land, S.W. and S. of Shoa; and the central part of Somaliland.
With the exception of Harrar (q.v.), a city of Arab foundation, there are no large towns in Abyssinia. Harrar is some 30 m. S.E. of Dire Dawa, whence there is a railway (188 m. long) to Jibuti on the Gulf of Aden. The absence of large towns in Abyssinia proper is due to the provinces into which the country is divided having been for centuries in a state of almost continual warfare, and to the frequent change of the royal residences on the exhaustion of fuel supplies. The earliest capital appears to have been Axum (q.v.) in Tigre, where there are extensive ruins. In the middle ages Gondar in Amhara became the capital of the country and was so regarded up to the middle of the 19th century. Since 1892 the capital has been Adis Ababa in the kingdom of Shoa.
The other towns of Abyssinia worthy of mention may be grouped according to their geographical position. None of them has a permanent population exceeding 6000, but at several large markets are held periodically. In Tigre there are Adowa or Adua ( 17 m. E. by N. of Axum), Adigrat, Macalle and Antalo The three last-named places are on the high plateau near its eastern escarpment and on the direct road south from Massawa to Shoa. West of Adigrat is the monastery of Debra-Domo, one of the most celebrated sanctuaries in Abyssinia.
In Amhara there are:---Magdala (q.v.), formerly the residence of King Theodore, and the place of imprisonment of the British captives in 1866. Debra-Tabor (``Mount Tabor''), the chief royal residence during the reign of King John, occupies a strong strategic position overlooking the fertile plains east of Lake Tsana, at a height of about 8,620 ft. above the sea; it has a population of 3000, including the neighbouring station of Samara, headquarters of the Protestant missionaries in the time of King Theodore. Ambra-Mariam, a fortified station midway between Gondar and Debra-Tabor near the north-east side of Lake Tsana, with a population of 3000; here is the famous shrine and church dedicated to St Mary, whence the name of the place, ``Fort St Mary.'' Mahdera-Mariam (``Mary's Rest''), for some time a royal residence, and an important market and great place of pilgrimage, a few miles south-west of Debra-Tabor; its two churches of the ``Mother'' and the ``Son'' are held in great veneration by all Abyssinians; it has a permanent population estimated at over 4000, Gallas and Amharas, the former mostly Mahommedan. Sokota, one of the great central markets, and capital of the province of Waag in Amhara, at the converging point of several main trade routes; the market is numerously attended, especially by dealers in the salt blocks which come from Lake Alalbed. The following towns are in Shoa:---Ankober, formerly the capital of the kingdom; Aliu-Amba, east of Ankober on the trade route to the Gulf of Aden; Debra-Berhan (Debra-Bernam) (``Mountain of Light''), once a royal residence; Liche (Litche), one of the largest market towns in southern Abyssinia. Licka, the largest market in Galla land, has direct communications with Gojam, Shoa and other parts of the empire. Bonga, the commercial centre of Kaffa, and Jiren, capital of the neighbouring province of Jimma, are frequented by traders from all the surrounding provinces, and also by foreign merchants from the seaports on the Gulf of Aden. Apart from these market-places there are no settlements of any size in southern Abyssinia.
Communications.--The J'buti-Dire Dawa railway has been mentioned above. The continuation of this railway to the capital was begun in 1906 from the Adis Ababa end. There are few roads in Abyssinia suitable for wheeled traffic. Transport is usually carried on by mules, donkeys, pack-horses and (in the lower regions) camels. From Dire Dawa to Harrar there is a well-made carriage road, and from Harrar to Adis Ababa the caravan track is kept in good order, the river Hawash being spanned by an iron bridge. There is also a direct trade route from Dire Dawa to the capital. Telegraph lines connect Adis Ababa and several important towns in northern Abyssinia with Massawa, Harrar and Jibuti. There is also a telephonic service, the longest line being from Harrar to the capital.
(8) Agriculture.--The soil is exceedingly fertile, as is evident from the fact that Egypt owes practically all its fertility to the sediment carried into the Nile by its Abyssinian tributaries. Agriculture is extensively followed, chiefly by the Gallas, the indolence of the Abyssinians preventing them from being good farmers. In the lower regions a wide variety of crops are grown --among them maize, durra, wheat, barley, rye, teff, pease, cotton and sugar-cane---and many kinds of fruit trees are cultivated. Teff is a kind of millet with grains about the size of an ordinary pin-head, of which is made the bread commonly eaten. The low grounds also produce a grain, tocussa, from which black bread is made. Besides these, certain oleaginous plants, the suf, nuc and selite (there are no European equivalents for the native names), and the ground-nut are largely grown. The castor bean grows wild, the green castor in the low, damp regions, the red castor at medium altitudes. The kat plant, a medicinal herb which has a tonic quality, is largely grown in the Harrar province. On the higher plateaus the hardier cereals only are cultivated. Here the chief crops are wheat, barley, teff, peppers, vegetables of all kinds and coffee. Above 10,000 ft. the crops are confined practically to barley, oats, beans and occasionally wheat.
Coffee is one of the most important products of the country, and its original home is believed to be the Kaffa highlands. It is cultivated in the S., S.E. and S.W. provinces, and to a less extent in the central districts. Two qualities of coffee are cultivated, one known as Abyssinian, the other as Harrar-Mocha. The ``Abyssinian'' coffee is grown very extensively throughout the southern highlands. Little attention is paid to the crop, the berries being frequently gathered from the ground, and consequently the coffee is of comparatively low grade. ``Harrar-Mocha'' is of first-class quality. It is grown in the highlands of Harrar, and cultivated with extreme care. The raising of cotton received a considerable impetus in the early years of the 20th century. The soil of the Hawash valley proved particularly suitable for raising this crop. In the high plateaus the planting of seeds begins in May, in the lower plateaus and the plains in June, but in certain parts where the summer is long and rain abundant sowing and reaping are going on at the same time. Most regions yield two, many three crops a year. The methods of culture are primitive, the plough commonly used being a long pole with two vertical iron teeth and a smaller pole at right angles to which oxen are attached. This implement costs about four shillings. The ploughing is done by the men, but women and girls do the reaping. The grain is usually trodden out by cattle and is often stored in clay-lined pits. Land comparatively poor yields crops eight to tenfold the quantity sown; the major part of the land yields twenty to thirtyfold. In the northern parts of the empire very little land is left uncultivated. The hillsides are laid out in terraces and carefully irrigated in the dry season, the channels being often two miles or more long. Of all the cereals barley is the most widely grown. The average rate of pay to an agricultural labourer is about threepence a day in addition to food, which may cost another penny a day.
The Abyssinians keep a large number of domestic animals. Among cattle the Sanga or Galla ox is the most common. The bulls are usually kept for ploughing, the cow being preferred for meat. Most of the cattle are of the zebu or hump-backed variety, hut there are also two breeds----one large, the other resembling the Jersey cattle---which are straight-backed. The horns of the zebu variety are sometimes four feet long. Sheep, of which there are very large flocks, belong to the short and fat-tailed variety. The majority are not wool-bearing, but in one district a very small black sheep is raised for wool. The small mountain breed of sheep weigh no more than 20 to 30 lb. apiece. Goats are of both the long and short-haired varieties. The horns of the large goats are often thirty inches in length and stand up straight from the head. The goats from the Arusi Galla country have fine silky hair which is sometimes sixteen inches long. The meat of both sheep and goats is excellent; that of the latter is preferred by the natives. In 1904 the estimated number of sheep and goats in the country was 20,000,000. Large quantities of butter, generally rancid, are made from the milk of cows, goats and sheep. In the Leka province small black pigs are bred in considerable numbers. The horses (very numerous) are small hut strong; they are generally about 14 hands in height. The best breeds come from the Shoa uplands. The ass is also small and strong; and the mule, bred in large numbers, is of excellent quality, and both as a transport animal and as a mount is preferred to the horse. The mule thrives in every condition of climate, is fever-proof, travels over the most difficult mountain passes with absolute security, and can carry with ease a load of 200 lb. The average height of a mule is 124 hands. The country is admirably adapted for stock-raising.
(9) Minerals.---In the south and south-west provinces placer gold mines by the banks of watercourses are worked by Gallas as an industry subsidiary to tending their flocks and fields. In the Wallega district are veins of gold-bearing quartz, mined to a certain extent. There are also gold mines in southern Shoa The annual output of gold is worth not less than L. 500,000. Only a small proportion is exported. Besides gold, silver, iron, coal and other minerals are found. Rock-salt is obtained from the province of Tigre.
Trade and Currency.---Abyssinia being without seaports, the external trade is through Massawa (Italian) in the north, Jibuti (French), Zaila and Berbera (British) in the south, and for all these ports Aden is a distributing centre. For Tigre and Amhara products Massawa is the best port, for the rest of the empire, Jibuti. For southern Abyssinia, Kaffa and Galla lands, Harrar is the great entrepot, goods being forwarded thence to Jibuti and the other Somaliland ports. There is also a considerable trade with the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan through the frontier towns of Rosaires and Gallabat. At the French and British ports thore is freedom of trade, but on goods for Abyssinia entering Massawa a discriminating tax is levied if they are not imported from Italy.
The chief articles of export are coffee, skins, ivory, civet, ostrich feathers, gum, pepper, kat plant (used by Moslems for its stimulating properties), gold (in small quantities) and live stock. The trade in skins is mainly with the L 1ited States through Aden; America also takes a large proportion of the coffee exported. For live stock there is a good trade with Madagascar. The chief imports are cotton goods, the yearly value of this trade being fully L. 250,000; the sheetings are largely American; the remainder English and Indian. No other article of import approaches cotton in importance, but a considerable trade is done in arms and ammunition, rice, sugar, flour and other foods, and a still larger trade in candles and matches (from Sweden), oil, carpets (oriental and European), hats and umbrellas. Commerce long remained in a backward condition; but under the Emperor Menelek II. efforts were made to develop the resources of the country, and in 1905 the total volume of trade exceeded
Until the end of the 19th century the usual currency was the Maria Theresa dollar, bars of rock-salt and cartridges. In 1894 a new coinage was introduced, with the Menelek dollar or talari, worth about two shillings, as the standard. This new coinage gradually superseded the older currency. In 1905 the Bank of Abyssinia, the first banking house in the country, was founded, with its headquarters at Adis Ababa. The bank, which was granted a monopoly of banking business in the empire for fifty years, has a capital of L. 500,000, has the power to issue notes, to mint the Abyssinian coinage, and to engage in commercial operations. It was founded under Egyptian law by the National Bank of Egypt, which institution had previously obtained a concession from the emperor Menelek.
(10) Government.---The political institutions are of a feudal character. Within their provinces the rases (princes) exercise large powers. The emperor, styled negus negusti (king of kings), is occasionally assisted by a council of rases. In October 1907 an imperial decree announced the constitution of a cabinet on European lines, ministers being appointed to the portfolios of foreign affairs, war, commerce, justice and finance. The legal system is said to be based on the Justinian code. From the decisions of the judges there is a right of appeal to the emperor. The chief judicial official is known as the affh-negus (breath of the king). The Abyssinian church (q.v.) is presided over by an abuna, or archbishop. The land is not held in fee simple, but is subject to the control of the emperor or the church. Revenue is derived from an ad valorem tax on all imports; the purchase and sale of animals; from royalties on trading concessions, and in other ways, including fees for the administration of justice. Education, of a rudimentary character, is given by the clergy. In 1907 a system of compulsory education ``of all male children over the age of 12'' was decreed. The education was to be state provided, Coptic teachers were brought from Egypt and school buildings were erected.
The Abyssinian calendar is as follows:---The Abyssinian year of 365 days (366 in leap-year) begins on the 1st of Maskarram, which corresponds to about the 10th of September. The months have thirty days each, and are thus named: Maskarram, Tekemt, Hadar, Tahsas, Tarr, Yekatit, Magawit, Miaziah, Genbot, Sanni, Hamle, Nas'hi. The remaining five days in the year, termed Pagmen or Quaggimi (six in leap-year, the extra day being named Kadis Yohannis), are put in at the end and treated as holidays. Abyssinian reckoning is about seven years eight months behind the Gregorian. Festivals, such as Easter, fall a week later than in western Europe.
Army.--A small standing army is maintained in each province of Abyssinia proper. Every able-bodied Abyssinian is expected to join the army in case of need, and a force, well armed with modern weapons, approaching 250,000 can be placed in the field. The cavalry is chiefly composed of Galla horsemen. (F. R. C.)
ETHNOLOGY (i1) The population of the empire is estimated at from 3,500,000 to 5,000,000. The inhabitants consist mainly of the Abyssinians, the Galla and the Somali (the two last-named peoples are separately noticed). Of non-African races the most numerous are Armenians, Indians, Jews and Greeks. There is a small colony of British, French, Italians and Russians. The following remarks apply solely to Abyssinia proper and its inhabitants. It should be remembered that the term ``Abyssinian'' is purely geographical, and has little or no ethnical significance; it is derived from the Arabic Habesh, ``mixed,'' and was a derisive name applied by the Arabs to the heterogeneous inhabitants of the Abyssinian plateau.
Abyssinia appears to have been originally peopled by the eastern branch of the Hamitic family, which has occupied this region from the remotest times, and still constitutes the great bulk of its inhabitants, though the higher classes are now strongly Semitized. The prevailing colour in the central provinces (Amhara, Gojam) is a deep brown, northwards (Tigre, Lasta) it is a pale olive, and here even fair complexions are seen. Southwards (Shoa, Kobbo, Amuru) a decided chocolate and almost sooty black is the rule. Many of the people are distinctly negroid, with big lips, small nose, broad at the base, and frizzly or curly black hair. The negroid element in the population is due chiefly to the number of negro women who have been imported into the harems of the Abyssinians. The majority, however, may be described as a mixed Hamito-Semitic people, who are in general well formed and handsome, with straight and regular features, lively eyes, hair long and straight or somewhat curled and in colour dark olive, approaching to black. The Galla, who came originally from the south, are not found in many parts of the country, but predominate in the Wollo district, between Shoa and Amhara. It is from the Galla that the Abyssinian army is largely recruited, and, indeed, there are few of the chiefs who have not an admixture of Galla blood in their veins.
As regards language, several of the indigenous groups, such as the Khamtas of Lasta, the Agau or Agaos of Agaumeder (``Agao land'') and the Falashas (q.v.), the so-called ``Jews'' of Abyssinia, still speak rude dialects of the old Hamitic tongue. But the official language and that of all the upper classes is of Semitic origin, derived from the ancient Himyaritic, which is the most archaic member of the Semitic linguistic family. Geez, as it is called, was introduced with the first immigrants from Yemen, and although no longer spoken is still studied as the liturgical language of the Abyssinian Christians. Its literature consists of numerous translations of Jewish, Greek and Arabic works, besides a valuable version of the Bible. (See ETHIOPIA.) The best modern representative of Geez is the Tigrina of Tigre and Lasta, which is much purer but less cultivated than the Amharic dialect, which is used in state documents, is current in the central and southern provinces and is much affected by Hamitic elements. All are written in a peculiar syllabic script which, un- like all other Semitic forms, runs from left to right, and is derived from that of the Sabaeans and Minaeans, still extant in the very old rock-inscriptions of south Arabia.
The hybridism of the Abyssinians is reflected in their political and social institutions, and especially in their religious beliefs and practices. On a seething mass of African heathendom, already in early times affected by primitive Semitic ideas, was suddenly imposed a form of Christianity which became the state religion. While the various ethnical elements have been merged in the composite Abyssinian nation, the primitive and more advanced religious ideas have nowhere been fused in a uniform Christian system. Foreigners are often surprised at the strange mixture of savagery and lofty notions in a Christian community which, for instance, accounts accidental manslaughter as wilful murder. Recourse is still had to dreams as a means of detecting crime. A priest is summoned, and, if his prayers and curses fail, a small boy is drugged, and ``whatever person he dreams of is fixed on as the criminal. . . . If the boy does not dream of the person whom the priest has determined on as the criminal, he is kept under drugs until he does what is required of him'' (Count Gleichen, With the Mission to Menelik, chap. xvi., 1898).
The Abyssinian character reflects the country's history. Murders and executions are frequent, yet cruelty is not a marked feature of their character; and in war they seldom kill their prisoners. When a man 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 natural indolence of the people has been fostered by the constant wars, which have discouraged peaceful occupations. The soldiers live by plunder, the monks by alms. The haughtiest Abyssinian is not above begging, excusing himself with the remark, ``God has given us speech for the purpose of begging.'' The Abyssinians are vain and selfish, irritable but easily appeased; and are an intelligent bright people, fond of gaiety. 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 eaten in this way is considered to be very superior in taste and much more tender than when cold. The statement by James 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. Mutton and goat's flesh are the meats most eaten: pork is avoided on religious grounds, and the hare is never touched, possibly, as in other countries, from superstition. Many forms of game are forbidden; for example, all water-fowl. The principal drinks are me'mse, a kind of mead, and bousa, a sort of beer made from fermented cakes. The Abyssinians are heavy eaters and drinkers, and any occasion is seized as an excuse for a carouse. Old and young, of both sexes, pass days and nights in these symposia, at which special customs and rules prevail. Little bread is eaten, the Abyssinian preferring a thin cake of durra meal or teE, kneaded with water and exposed to the sun till the dough begins to rise, when it is baked. Salt is a luxury; ``he eats salt'' being said of a spendthrift. Bars of rock-salt, after serving as coins, are, when broken up, used as food. There is a general looseness of morals: marriage is a very slight tie, which can be dissolved at any time by either husband or wife. Polygamy is by no means uncommon. Hence there is little family affection, and what exists is only between 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.'' (Samuel Gobat's Journal of a Three Years' Residence in Abyssinia, 1834.)
The dress of the Abyssinians is much like that of the Arabs. It consists of close-fitting drawers reaching below the knees, with a sash to hold them, and a large white robe. The Abyssinian, however, is beginning to adopt European clothes on the upper part of the body, and European hats are becoming common. The Christian Abyssinians usually go barehead and barefoot, in contrast to the Mahommedans, who wear turbans and leather sandals. The women's dress is a smock with sleeves loose to the wrist, where they fit tightly. The priests wear a white jacket with loose sleeves, a head-cloth like a turban and a special type of shoe with turned-up toes and soles projecting at the heel. In the Woldeba district hermits dress in ochre-yellow cloths, while the priests of some sects wear hides dyed red. Clothes are made of cotton, though the nobles and great people wear silk robes presented by the emperor as a mark of honour. The possessor of one of these is allowed to appear in the royal presence wearing it instead of having one shoulder bared, as is the usual Abyssinian method of showing respect. A high-born man covers himself to the mouth in the presence of inferiors. The men either cut their hair short or plait it; married women plait their hair and wind round the head a black or parti-coloured silk handkerchief; girls wear their hair short. In the hot season no Abyssinian goes without a flag-shaped fan of plaited rushes. The Christian Abyssinians, men and women, wear a blue silk cord round the neck, to which is often attached a crucifix. For ornament women wear silver ankle-rings with bells, silver necklaces and silver or gold rosettes in the ears. Silver rings on fingers and also on toes are common. The women are very fond of strong scents, which are generally oils imported from India and Ceylon. The men scarcely ever appear without a long curved knife, generally they carry shield and spear as well. Although the army has been equipped with modern rifles, the common weapon of the people is the matchlock, and slings are still in use. The original arms were a sickle-shaped sword, spear and shield. The Abyssinians are great hunters and are also clever at taming wild beasts. The nobles hunt antelopes with leopards, and giraffes and ostriches with horse and greyhound. In elephant-hunting iron bullets weighing a quarter of a pound are used; throwing-clubs are employed for small game, and lions are hunted with the spear. Lion skins belong to the emperor, but the slayer keeps a strip to decorate his shield.
Stone and mortar are used in building, but the Abyssinian houses are of the roughest kind, being usually circular huts, ill made and thatched with grass. These huts are sometimes made simply of straw and are surrounded by high thorn hedges, but, in the north, square houses, built in stories, flat-roofed, the roof sometimes laid at the same slope as the hillside, and some with pitched thatched roofs, are common. The inside walls are plastered with cow-dung, clay and finely chopped straw. None of the houses have chimneys, and smoke soon colours the interior a dark brown. Generally the houses are filthy and ill ventilated and swarm with vermin. Drainage and sanitary arrangements do not exist. The caves of the highlands are often used as dwellings. The most remarkable buildings in Abyssinia are certain churches hewn out of the solid rock. The chief native industries are leather-work, embroidery and filigree metal-work; and the weaving of straw mats and baskets is extensively practised. The baskets are particularly well made, and are frequently used to contain milk.
Abyssinian art is crude and is mainly reserved for rough frescoes in the churches. These frescoes, however, often exhibit considerable skill, and are indicative of the lively imagination of their painters. They are in the Byzantine style and the colouring is gaudy. Saints and good people are always depicted full face, the devil and all bad folk are shown in profile. Among the finest frescoes are those in the church of the Holy Trinity at Adowa and those in the church at Kwarata, on the shores of Lake Tsana. The churches are usually circular in form, the walls of stone, the roof thatched.
The chief musical instruments are rough types of trumpets and flutes, drums, tambourines and cymbals, and quadrangular harps.
HISTORY
(12) Abyssiania, or at least the northern portion of it, was included in the tract of country known to the ancients as Ethiopia, the northern limits of which reached at one time to about Syene. The connexion 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 civilization 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 Abyssinian tradition the queen of Sheba who visited Solomon was a monarch of their country, and from their son Menelek the kings of Abyssinia claim descent. 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 Cosmas of Alexandria, 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 Tigre 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, states that Aizanas, king of the Axumites, the Homerites, &c., conquered the nation of the Bogos, and returned thanks to his father, the god Mars, for his victory. Out of these Greek colonies appears to have arisen the kingdom of Auxume which flourished from the ist to the 7th century A.D. and was at one time nearly coextensive with Abyssinia proper. 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 m. from the shore (see ETHIOPIA, The Axumite Kingdom.)
Introduction of Christianity.
(13) Christianity was introduced into the country by Frumentius (q.v.), who was consecrated first bishop of Ethiopia by St Athanasius of Alexandria about A.D. 330. From the scanty evidence available it would appear that the new religion at first made little progress, and the Axumite kings seem to have been among the latest converts. Towards the close of the 5th century a great company of monks are believed to have 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 the early part of the 6th century the king of the Homerites, on the opposite coast of the Red Sea, having persecuted the Christians, the emperor Justinian I. requested the king of Auxume, Caleh or El-Esbaha, to avenge their cause. He accordingly collected an army, crossed over into Arabia, and conquered Yemen (c. 525), which remained subject to Ethiopia for about fifty 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 Mahommedans 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 civilized 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. 1000, a Jewish princess, Judith, conceived the 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 carded off by some faithful adherents, and conveyed to Shoa, where his authority was acknowledged, while Judith reigned for forty 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 Yekunu Amlak.
Portuguese Influence.
(14) Towards the close of the 15th century the Portuguese missions into Abyssinia began. 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 Mahommedans. 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 negus, Lebna Dengel Dawit (David) II., and remained in Abyssinia for about six years. One of this embassy was Father Francisco Alvarez, from whom we have the earliest and not the least interesting account of the country. Between 1528 and 1540 armies of Mahommedans, under the renowned general Mahommed Gran (or Granye, probably a Somali or a Galla), entered Abyssinia from the low country to the south-east, and overran the kingdom, obliging the emperor to take refuge in the mountain fastnesses. In this extremity recourse was again had to the Portuguese. John Bermudez, a subordinate member of the mission of 1520, who had remained in the country after the departure of the embassy, was, according to his own statement (which is untrustworthy), ordained successor to the abuna (archbishop), and sent to Lisbon. Bermudez certainly came to Europe, but with what credentials is not known. Be that as it may, a Portuguese fleet, under the command of Stephen da Gama, was sent from India and arrived at Massawa in February 1541. Here he received an ambassador from the negus beseeching him to send help against the Moslems, and in the July following a force of 450 musqueteers, under the command of Christopher da Gama, younger brother of the admiral, marched into the interior, and being joined by native troops were at first successful against the enemy; but they were subsequently defeated, and their commander taken prisoner and put to death (August 1542). On the 21st of February 1543, however, Mahommed Granye was shot in an engagement and his forces totally routed. After this, quarrels arose between the negus and Bermudez, who had returned to Abyssinia with Christopher da Gama and who now wished the emperor 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 the da Gama expedition into Abyssinia, and fixed their headquarters at Fremona (near Adowa), were oppressed and neglected, but not actually expelled. In the beginning of the 17th century Father Pedro 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 strongly excited against the intruders, till at length, on the death of the negus Sysenius, Socinius or Seged I., and the accession of his son Fasilidas in 1633, they were all sent out of the country, after having had a footing there for nearly a century and a half.
Visits of Poncet and Bruce.
The French physician C. J. Poncet, who went there in 1698, via Sennar and the Blue Nile, was the only European that afterwards visited the country before Bruce in 1769. James Bruce's main object was to discover the sources of the Nile, which he was convinced lay in Abyssinia. Accordingly, leaving Massawa in September 1769, he travelled via Axum to Gondar, where he was well received by King Tekla Haimanot II. He accompanied the king on a warlike expedition round Lake Tsana, moving S. round the eastern shore, crossing the genuine Blue Nile (Abai) close to its point of issue from the lake and returning via the western shore. On a second expedition of his own he proved to his own satisfaction that the river originated some 4o miles S.W. of the lake at a place called Geesh (4th of November 1770). He showed that this river flowed into the lake, and left it by its now well-known outlet. Bruce subsequently returned to Egypt (end of 1772) via Gondar, the upper Atbara, Sennar, the Nile, and the Korosko desert (see BRUCE, JAMES).
(15) In order to attain a clear view of native Abyssinian history, as distinct from the visits and influence of Europeans, it must be borne in mind that during the last three hundred years, and indeed for a longer period, for the old chroniclers may be trusted to have given a somewhat distorted view of the importance of the particular chieftains with whom they came in contact, the country has been merely a conglomeration of provinces and districts, ill defined, loosely connected and generally at war with each other. Of these the chief provinces have been Tigre (northern), Amhara (central) and Shoa (southern). The seat of government, or rather of overlordship, has usually been in Amhara, the ruler of which, calling himself negus negusti (king of kings, or emperor), has exacted tribute, when he could, from the other provinces. The title of negus negusti has been to a considerable extent based on the blood in the veins of the claimant. All the emperors have based their claims on their direct descent from Solomon and the queen of Sheba; but it is needless to say that in many, if not in most, cases their success has been due more to the force of their arms than to the purity of their lineage. Some of the rulers of the larger provinces have at times been given, or have given themselves, the title of negus or king, so that on occasion as many as three, or even more, neguses have been reigning at the same time; and this must be borne in mind by the student of Abyssinian history in order to avoid confusion of rulers. The whole history of the country is in fact one gloomy record of internecine wars, barbaric deeds and unstable governments, of adventurers usurping thrones, only to be themselves unseated, and of raids, rapine and pillage. Into this chaos enter from time to time broad rays of sunshine, the efforts of a few enlightened monarchs to evolve order from disorder, and to supply to their people the blessings of peace and civilization. Bearing these matters in mind, we find that during the 18th century the most prominent and beneficent rulers were the emperor Yesu of Gondar, who died about 1720, Sebastie, negus of Shoa (1703-1718), Amada Yesus of Shoa, who extended his kingdom and founded Ankober (1743-1774), Tekla Giorgis of Amhara (1770-1798?) and Asfa Nassen of Shoa (1774-1807), the latter being especially renowned as a wise and benevolent monarch. The first years of the 19th century were disturbed by fierce campaigns between Guxa, ras of Gondar, and Wolda Selassie, ras of Tigre, who were both striving for the crown of Guxa's master, the emperor Eguala Izeion. Wolda Selassie was eventually the victor, and practically ruled the whole country till his death in 1816 at the age of eighty.
British mission and missionary enterprise.
(16) Mention must here be made of the first British mission, under Lord Valentia and Mr Henry Salt, which was sent in 1805 to conclude an alliance with Abyssinia, and obtain a port on the Red Sea in case France secured Egypt by dividing up the Turkish empire with Russia. This mission was succeeded by many travellers, missionaries and merchants of all countries, and the stream of Europeans continued until well into Theodore's reign. For convenience' sake we insert at this point a partial list of missionaries and others who visited the country during the second third of the 19th century---merely calling attention to the fact that their visits were distributed over widely different parts of the country, ruled by distinct lines of monarchs or governors. In 1830 Protestant missionary enterprise was begun by Samuel Gobat and Christian Kugler, who were sent out by the Church Missionary Society, and were well received by the ras of Tigre. Mr Kugler died soon after his arrival, and his place was subsequently supplied by Mr C. W. Isenberg, who was followed by Dr Ludwig Krapf, the discoverer of Mount Kenya, and others. Mr (afterwards Bishop) 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 in Abyssinia. In 1834 Gobat went back to Tigre, but in 1836 ill health compelled him to leave. 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, but Mr Krapf remained in Shoa till March 1842, when he removed to Mombasa. Dr E. Ruppell, the German naturalist, visited the country in 1831, and remained nearly two years. M. E. Combes and M. Tamisier arrived at Massawa in 1835, and visited districts which had not been traversed by Europeans since the time of the Portuguese. One who did much at the time to extend our geographical knowledge of the country was Dr C. T. Boke (q.v.), who was there from 1840 to 1843. Mr Mansfield Parkyns was there from 1843 to 1846, and wrote 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 returned to Abyssinia in 1855 with Mr Flad as pioneers of that mission; Krapf, however, was not permitted to remain in the country. Six lay workers came out at first, and they were subsequently joined by others. Their secular work, however, appears to have been 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, and after a visit to Europe returned in 1863, accompanied by Mr and Mrs Rosenthal.1
Rivalry of British and French factions
(17) Wolda Selassie of Tigre was succeeded in 1817, through force of arms, by Sabagadis of Agame, and the latter, as ras of Tigre, introduced various Englishmen, whom he much admired, into the country. He increased the prosperity of his land considerably. but by so doing roused the jealousy of Ras Marie of Amhara--to whom he had refused tribute--and Ubie, son of Hailo Mariam, a governor of Simen. In an ensuing battle (in January 1831), both Sabagadis and Marie were killed, and Ubie retired to watch events from his own province. Marie was shortly succeeded in the ras-ship of Amhara by Ali, a nephew of Guxa and a Mahommedan. But Ubie, who was aiming at the crown, soon attacked Ras Ali, and after several indecisive campaigns proclaimed himself negus of Tigre. To him came many French missionaries and travellers, chief of whom were Lieut. Lefebvre, charged (1839) with political and geographical missions, and Captains Galinier and Ferret, who completed for him a useful triangulation and survey of Tigre and Simen (1840-1842). The brothers Antoine and Arnaud d'Abbadie (q.v.) spent ten years (1838-1848) in the country, making scientific investigations of great value, and also involving themselves in the stormy politics of the country. Northern Abyssinia was now divided into two camps, the one, Amhara and Ras Ali, under Protestant British, and the other, Tigre and Ubie, under Roman Catholic French, influence. The latent hostility between the two factions threatened at one time to develop into a religious war, but no serious campaigns took place until Kassa (later Theodore) appeared on the scene.
Rise of the emperor Theodore.
(18) Lij (= Mr) Kassa was born in Kwara, a small district of Western Amhara, in 1818. His father was a small local chief, and his uncle was governor of the districts of Dembea, Kwara and Chelga between Lake Tsana and the undefined N.W. frontier. He was educated in a monastery, but preferred a more active life, and by his talents and energy came rapidly to the front. On the death of his uncle he was made chief of Kwara, but in consequence of the arrest of his brother Bilawa by Ras Ali, he raised the standard of revolt against the latter, and, collecting a large force, repeatedly beat the troops that were sent against him by the ras (1841-1847). On one occasion peace was restored by his receiving Tavavich, daughter of Ras Ali, in marriage; and this lady is said to have been a good and wise counsellor during her lifetime. He next turned his arms against the Turks, in the direction of Massawa, but was defeated; and the mother of Ras Ali having insulted him in his fallen condition, he proclaimed his independence. As his power was increasing, to the detriment of both Ras Ali and Ubie, these two princes combined against him, but were heavily defeated by him at Gorgora (on the southern shore of Lake Tsana) in 1853. Ubie retreated to Tigre, and Ras Ali fled to Begemeder, where he eventually died. Kassa now ruled in Amhara, but his ambition was to attain to supreme power, and he turned his attention to conquering the remaining chief divisions of the country, Gojam, Tigre and Shoa, which still remained unsubdued. Berro, ras of Gojam, in order to save himself, attempted to combine with Tigre, but his army was intercepted by Kassa and totally destroyed, himself being taken prisoner and executed (May 1854). Shortly afterwards Kassa moved against Tigre, defeated Ubie's forces at Deragie, in Simen (February 1855), took their chief prisoner and proclaimed himself negus negusti of Ethiopia under the name of Theodore III. He now turned his attention to Shoa.
Growing power of Shoa
(19) Retracing our steps for a moment in that direction, we find that in 1813 Sahela (or Sella) Selassie, younger son of the preceding ras, Wassen Seged, had proclaimed himself negus or king. His reign was long and beneficent. He restored the towns of Debra-Berhan and Angolala, and founded Entotto, the strong stone-built town whose ruins overlook the modern capital, Adis Ababa. In the terrible ``famine of St Luke'' in 1835, Selassie still further won the hearts of his subjects by his wise measures and personal generosity; and by extending his hospitality to Europeans, he brought his country within the closer ken of civilized European powers. During his reign he received the missions of Major W. Cornwallis Harris, sent by the governor-general of India (1841), and M. Rochet d'Hericourt, sent by Louis Philippe (1843), with both of whom he concluded friendly treaties on behalf of their respective governments. He also wrote to Pope Pius IX., asking that a Roman Catholic bishop should be sent to him. This request was acceded to, and the pope despatched Monsigneur Massaja to Shoa. But before the prelate could reach the country, Selassie was dead (1847), leaving his eldest son, Haeli Melicoth, to succeed him. Melicoth at once proclaimed himself negus, and by sending for Massaja, who had arrived at Gondar, gave rise to the suspicion that he wished to have himself crowned as emperor. By increasing his dominions at the expense of the Gallas, he still further roused the jealousy of the northerners, and a treaty which he concluded with Ras Ali against Kassa in 1850 determined the latter to crush him at the earliest opportunity.
Thus it was that in 1855 Kassa, under the name of the emperor Theodore, advanced against Shoa with a large army. Dissensions broke out among the Shoans, and after a desperate and futile attack on Theodore at Debra-Berhan, Haeli Melicoth died of exhaustion and fever, nominating with his last breath his eleven-year-old son Menelek2 as successor (November 1855). Darge, Haeli's brother, took charge of the young prince, but after a hard fight with Angeda, one of Theodore's rases, was obliged to capitulate. Menelek was handed over to the negus, taken to Gondar, and there trained in Theodore's service.
(20) 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 the sovereignty of Amhara and Tigre, he might have maintained his position; but he was led to exhaust his strength against the Wollo 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. As has been shown, he also reduced the kingdom of Shoa, and took Ankober, 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 Tavavich was now dead.
Theodore's quarrel with great Britain
The British consul, Walter C. Plowden, who was strongly attached to Theodore, having been ordered by his government in 1860 to return to Massawa, 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 J. T. Bell, an engineer, 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 wite Terunish, the proud daughter of the late governor of Tigre, 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 C. D. Cameron was appointed to succeed him as consul, and arrived at Massawa 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 sent home by Theodore, with a letter to the queen of England, which reached the Foreign Office on the 12th of February 1863. This letter was put aside and no answer returned, and to this in no small degree are to be attributed the difficulties that subsequently arose with that country. In November despatches were received from England, but no answer to the emperor's letter, and this, together with a visit paid by Captain Cameron to the Egyptian frontier town of Kassala, greatly offended him; accordingly 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 Massawa 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 desired to visit the king, he was to proceed by the route of Gallabat. Later in the year Theodore became more civil, and the British party on arrival at the king's camp in Damot, on the 25th of January 1866, were received with all honour, and were afterwards sent to Kwarata, on Lake Tsana, there to await the arrival of the captives. The latter reached Kwarata on the 12th of March, and everything appeared to proceed favourably. A month later they started for the coast, but had not proceeded far when they were ail 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 1869 when they were relieved by the British troops.
Sir Robert Napier's expedition. (21) In the meantime the power of Theodore in the country was rapidly waning. Shoa had already shaken off his yoke; Gojam was virtually independent; Walkeit and Simen were under a rebel chief; and Lasta, Waag and the country about Lake Ashangi had submitted to Wagshum Gobassie, who had also overrun Tigre and appointed Dejaj 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 Massawa. 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, under Sir Robert Napier (1st Baron Napier of Magdala). The landingplace selected was Mulkutto (Zula), 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 the 7th of January 1868, and soon after the troops began to move forward through the pass of Senafe, and southward through the districts of Agame, Tera, Endarta, Wojerat, Lasta and Wadela. In the meantime Theodore had been reduced to great straits. His army, which at one time numbered over 100,000 men, was rapidly deserting him, and he could hardly obtain food for his followers. He resolved to quit his captial 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 Arogie, 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 accompanying 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, practically without loss, 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 Alamayahu, the only legitimate son of the emperor, was brought to England, as this was the desire of his father.3 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 Dejaj Kassa or Kassai of Tigre. 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.
Menelek II., king of Shoa (22) It is now time to return to the story of the young prince Menelek, who, as we have seen, had been nominated by his late father as ruler of Shoa, but was in Theodore's power in Tigre. The following table shows his descent since the beginning of the 19th century:--
Asfa Nassen, d. 1807 | Wassan Seged = Woizero Zenebe Work d. 1811 | | --------------------------------- | | Becurraye Sella Selassie = Woizero Betsabesh (1795-1847) | | --------------------------------------------------- | | | Haeli Melicoth = Ejigayu Siefu Darge (1825-1855) | (1826-1860) b. 1827 | | Menelek II. = Taitu Mashasha b. 1844 | | ---------------------------------------- | | | 1 son Zauditu Tanina Work (dead) (Judith) (daughter)
On the retirement of Theodore's forces from Shoa in 1855, Siefu, brother of Haeli Melicoth, proclaimed himself negus of Shoa at Ankober, and beat the local representatives of the northern government. The emperor returned, however, in 1858, and after several repulses succeeded in entering Ankober, where he behaved with great cruelty, murdering or mutilating all the inhabitants. Siefu kept up a gallant defence for two more years, but was then killed by Kebret, one of his own chiefs. Thus chaos again reigned supreme in Shoa. In 1865, Menelek, now a desjazmach 4 of Tigre, took advantage of Theodore's difficulties with the British government and escaped to Workitu, queen of the Wollo Galla country. The emperor, who held as hostage a son of Workitu, threatened to kill the boy unless Menelek were given up; but the gallant queen refused, and lost both her son and her throne. The fugitive meanwhile arrived safely in Shoa, and was there acclaimed as negus. For the next three years Menelek devoted himself to strengthening and disciplining his army, to legislation, to building towns, such as Liche (near Debra-Berhan), Worra Hailu (Wollo Galla country), &c., and to repelling the incursions of the Gallas.
King John attains supreme power.
On the death of Theodore (13th April 1868) many Shoans, including Ras Darge, were released, and Menelek began to feel himself strong enough, after a few preliminary minor campaigns, to undertake offensive operations against the northern princes. But these projects were of little avail, for Kassai of Tigre, as above mentioned, had by this time (1872) risen to supreme power in the north. With the help of the rifles and guns presented to him by the British, he had beaten Ras Bareya of Tigre, Wagshum Gobassie of Amhara and Tekla Giorgis of Condar, and after proclaiming himself negus negusti under the name of Johannes or John, was now preparing to march on Shoa. Here, however, Menelek was saved from probable destruction through the action of Egypt. This power had, by the advice of Werner Munzinger (q.v.), their Swiss governor of Massawa, seized and occupied in 1872 the northern province of Bogos; and, later on, insisted on occupying Hamasen also, for fear Bogos should be attacked. John, after futile protests, collected an army, and with the assistance of Ras Walad Michael, hereditary chief of Bogos, advanced against the Egyptian forces, who were under the command of one Arendrup, a Dane. Meeting near the Mareb, the Egyptians were beaten in detail, and almost annihilated at Gundet (13th November 1875). An avenging expedition was prepared in the spring of the following year, and, numbering 14,000 men under Ratib Pasha, Loring (American), and Prince Hassan, advanced to Gura and fortified a position in the neighbouthood. Although reinforced by Walad Michael, who had now quarrelled with John, the Egyptians were a second time (25th March 1876) heavily beaten by the Abyssinians, and retired, losing an enormous quantity of both men and rifies. Colonel C. G. Gordon, governor-general of the Sudan, was now ordered to go and make peace with John, but the king had moved south with his army, intending to punish Menelek for having raided Gondar whilst he, John, was engaged with the Egyptians.
(23) Menelek's kingdom was meanwhile torn in twain by serious dissensions, which had been instigated by his concubine Bafana. This lady, to whom he was much attached, had been endeavouring to secure the succession of one of her own sons to the throne of Shoa, and had almost succeeded in getting rid of Mashasha, son of Siefu and cousin of Menelek, who was the apparent heir. On the approach of John, the Shoans united for a time against their common enemy. But after a few skirmishes they melted away, and Menelek was obliged to submit and do obeisance to John. The latter behaved with much generosity, but at the same time imposed terms which effectually deprived Shoa of her independence (March 1878). In 1879 Gordon was sent on a fresh mission to John on behalf of Egypt; but he was treated with scant courtesy, and was obllgcd to leave the country without achieving anything permanent.
Beginning of Italian influence.
The Italians now come on the scene. Assab, a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea, had been bought from the focal sultan in March 1870 by an Italian company, which, after acquiring more land in 1879 and 1880, was bought out by the Italian government in 1882. In this year Count Pietro Antonelli was despatched to Shoa in order to improve the prospects of the colony by treaties with Menelek and the sultan of Aussa. Several missions followed upon this one, with more or less successful results; but both John and Menelek became uneasy when Beilul, a port to the north of Assab Bay, was occupied by the Italians in January 1885, and Massawa taken over by them from Egypt in the following month. This latter act was greatly resented by the Abyssinians, for by a treaty concluded with a British and Egyptian mission under Admiral Hewett and Mason Pasha 5 in the previous year, free transit of goods was to be allowed through this port. Matters came to a head in January 1887, when the Abyssinians, in consequence of a refusal from General Gene to withdraw his troops, surrounded and attacked a detachment of 500 Italian troops at Dogali, killing more than 400 of them. Reinforcements were sent from Italy, whilst in the autumn the British government stepped in and tried to mediate by means of a mission under Mr (afterwards Sir Gerald) Portal. His mission, however proved abortive, and after many difficulties and dangers he returned to Egypt at the end of the year. In April 1888 the Italian forces, numbering over 20,000 men, came into touch with the Abyssinian army; but negotiations took the place of fighting, with the result that both forces retired, the Italians only leaving some 5000 troops in Eritrea, as their colony was now called. Meanwhile John had not been idle with regard to the dervishes, who had in the meantime become masters of the Egyptian Sudan. Although he had set his troops in motion too late to relieve Kassala, Ras Alula, his chief general, had succeeded in inflicting a handsome defeat on Osman Digna at Kufit in September 1885. Fighting between the dervishes and the Abyssinians continued, and in August 1887 the dervishes entered and sacked Gondar. After some delay, King John took the field in force against the enemy, who were still harassing the north-west of his territory. A great battle ensued at Gallabat, in which the dervishes, under Zeki Tumal, were beaten. But a stray bullet struck the king, and the Abyssinians decided to retire. The king died during the night, and his body fell into the hands of the enemy (9th March 1889).
Menelek emperor.
(24) Immediately the news of John's death reached Menelek, he proclaimed himself emperor, and received the submission of Gondar, Gojam and several other provinces. In common with other northern princes, Mangasha, reputed son and heir of King John, with the yellow-eyed Ras Alula,6 refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Menelek; but, on the latter marching against them in the following January with a large army, they submitted. As it happened, Count Antonelli was with Menelek when he claimed the throne, and promptly concluded (2nd of May 1889) with him on behalf of Italy a friendly treaty, to be known hereafter as the famous Uccialli treaty. In consequence of this the Italians occupied Asmara, made friends with Mangasha and received Ras Makonnen7, Menelek's nephew, as his plenipotentiary in Italy. Thus it seemed as though hostilities between the two countries had come to a definite end, and that peace was assured in the land. For the next three years the land was fairly quiet, the chief political events being the convention (6th February 1891) between Italy and Abyssinia, protocols between Italy and Great Britain (24th March and 15th April 1891) and a proclamation by Menelek (10th April 1891), all on the subject of boundaries. As, however, the Italians became more and more friendly with Mangasha and Tigre the apprehensions of Menelek increased, till at last, in February 1893, he wrote denouncing the Uccialli treaty, which differed in the Italian and Amharic versions. According to the former, the negus was bound to make use of Italy as a channel for communicating with other powers, whereas the Amharic version left it optional. Meanwhile the dervishes were threatening Eritrea. A fine action by Colonel Arimondi gained Agordat for Italy (21st December 1893), and a brilliant march by Colonel Baratieri resulted in the acquisition of Kassala (17th July 1894).
On his return Baratieri found that Mangasha was intriguing with the dervishes, and had actually crossed the frontier with a large army. At Koatit and Senafe (13th to 15th January 1895) Mangasha was met and heavily defeated by Baratieri, who occupied Adrigat in March. But as the year wore on the Italian commander pushed his forces unsupported too far to the south. Menelek was advancing with a large army in national support of Mangasha, and the subsequent reverses at Amba Alagi (7th December 1895) and Macalle (23rd January 1896) forced the Italians to fall back.
Battle of Adowa. Reinforcements of many thousands were meanwhile arriving at Massawa, and in February Baratieri took the field at the head of over 13,000 men. Menelek's army, amounting to about 90,000, had during this time advanced, and was occupying a strong position at Abba Garima, near Adua (or Adowa). Here Baratieri attacked him on the 1st of March, but the difficulties of the country were great, and one of the four Italian brigades had pushed too far forward. This brigade was attacked by overwhelming numbers, and on the remaining brigades advancing in support, they were successively cut to pieces by the encircling masses of the enemy. The Italians lost over 4500 white and 2000 native troops killed and wounded, and over 2500 prisoners, of which 1600 were white, whilst the Abyssinians owned to a loss of over 3000. General Baldissera advanced with a large body of reinforcements to avenge this defeat, but the Abyssinians, desperately short of supplies, had already retired, and beyond the peaceful relief of Adrigat no further operations took place. It may here be remarked that the white prisoners taken by Menelek were exceedingly well treated by him, and that he behaved throughout the struggle with Italy with the greatest humanity and dignity. On the 26th of October following a provisional treaty of peace was concluded at Adis Ababa, annulling the treaty of Uccialli and recognizing the absolute independence of Abyssinia. This treaty was ratified, and followed by other treaties and agreements defining the Eritrean-Abyssinian and the Abyssinian-Italian Somaliland frontiers (see ITALY, History, and SOMALILAND, Italian
Menelek as independent monarch.
(25) The war, so disastrous to Italy, attracted the attention of all Europe to Abyssinia and its monarch, and numerous missions, two Russian, three French and one British, were despatched to the country, and hospitably received by Menelek. The British one, under Mr (afterwards Sir) Rennell Rodd, concluded a friendly treaty with Abyssinia (15th of May 1897), but did not, except in the direction of Somaliland, touch on frontier questions, which for several years continued a subject of discussion. During the same year (1897) a small French expedition under Messrs Clochette and de Bonchamps endeavoured to reach the Nile, but, after surmounting many difficulties, stuck in the marshes of the Upper Sobat, and was obliged to return. Another expedition of Abyssinians, under Dejaj Tasamma and accompanied by three Europeans---Faivre (French), Potter (Swiss) and Artomonov (Russian)--started early in 1898, and reached the Nile at the Sobat mouth in June, a few days only before Major Marchand and his gallant companions arrived on the scene. But no contact was made, and the expedition returned to Abyssinia.
In the same year Menelek proceeded northwards with a large army for the purpose of chastising Mangasha, who was again rebelling against his authority. After some trifling fighting Mangasha submitted, and Ras Makonnen despatched a force to subdue Beni Shangul, the chief of which gold country, Wad Tur el Guri, was showing signs of disaffection. This effected, the Abyssinians almost came into contact with the Egyptian troops sent up the Blue Nile (after the occupation of Khartum) to Famaka and towards Gallabat; but as both sides were anxious to avoid a collision over this latter town, no hostile results ensued. An excellent understanding was, in fact, established between these two contiguous countries, in spite of occasional disturbances by bandits on the frontier. On this frontier question, a treaty was concluded on the 15th of May 1902 between England and Abyssinia for the delimitation of the Sudan-Abyssinian frontier. Menelek, in addition, agreed not to obstruct the waters of Lake Tsana, the Blue Nile or the Sobat, so as not to interfere with the Nile irrigation question, and he also agreed to give a concession, if such should be required, for the construction of a British railway through his dominions, to connect the Sudan with Uganda. A combined British-Abyssinian expedition (Mr A. E. Butter's) was despatched in 1901 to propose and survey a boundary between Abyssinia on the one side and British East Africa and Uganda on the other; and the report of the expedition was made public by the British government in November 1904. It was followed in 1908 by an agreement defining the frontiers concerned.
Co-operation with Britain against the Somali mullah.
(26) In 1899 the rebellion of the so-called ``mad'' mullah (Hajji Mahommed Abdullah) began on the borders of British Somaliland. An Abyssinian expedition was, at Great Britain's request, sent against the mullah, but without much effect. In the spring and summer of 1901 a fresh expedition from Harrar was undertaken against the mullah, who was laying waste the Ogaden country. Two British officers accompanied this force, which was to co-operate with British troops advancing from Somaliland; but little was achieved by the Abyssinians, and after undergoing considerable privations and losses, and harassing the country generally, including that of some friendly tribes, it returned to Harrar. During the 1902-3 campaign of General (Sir) W. H. Manning, Menelek provided a force of 5000 to co-operate with the British and to occupy the Webi Shebeli and south-western parts of the Hand. This time the Abyssinians were more successful, and beat the rebels in a pitched fight; but the difficulties of the country again precluded effective co-operation. During General Egerton's campaign (1903-4) yet another force of 5000 Abyssinians was despatched towards Somaliland. Accompanied by a few British officers, it worked its way southward, but did not contribute much towards the final solution. In any case, however, it is significant that the Abyssinians have repeatedly been willing to co-operate with the British away from their own country.
Growth of European influence. Regarding the question of railways, the first concession for a railway from the coast at Jibuti (French Somaliland) to the interior was granted hy Menelek to a French company in 1894. The company having met with numberless difficulties and financial troubles, the French government, on the extinction of the company's funds, came to the rescue and provided money for the construction. (In the alternative British capitalists interested in the company would have obtained control of the line.) The French government's help enabled the railway to be completed to Dire Dawa, 28 m. from Harrar, by the last day of 1902. Difficulties arose over the continuation of the railway to Adis Ababa and beyond, and the proposed internationalization of the line. These difficulties, which hindered the work of construction for years, were composed (so far as the European Powers interested were concerned) in 1906. By the terms of an Anglo-French-Italian agreement, signed in London on the 13th of December of that year, it was decided that the French company should fund the railway as far as Adis Ababa, while railway construction west of that place should be under British auspices, with the stipulation that any railway connecting Italy's possessions on the Red Sea with its Somaliland protectorate should be built under Italian auspices. A British, an Italian and an Abyssinian representative were to be appointed to the board of the French company, and a French director to the board of any British or Italian company formed. Absolute equality of treatment on the railway and at Jibuti was guaranteed to the commerce of all the Powers.
Meanwhile the country slowly developed in parts and opened out cautiously to European influences. Most of the Powers appointed representatives at Menelek's capital--the British minister-plenipotentiary and consul-general, Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. L. Harrington, having been appointed shortly after the British mission in 1897. In December 1903 an American mission visited Adis Ababa, and a commercial treaty between the United States and Abyssinia was signed. A German mission visited the country early in 1905 and also concluded a treaty of commerce with the negus. Later in the year a German minister was appointed to the court of the emperor.
After 1897 British influence in Abyssinia, owing largely no doubt to the conquest of the Sudan, the destruction of the dervish power and the result of the Fashoda incident, was sensibly on the increase. Of the remaining powers France occupied the most important position in the country. Ras Makonnen, the most capable and civilized of Menelek's probable successors, died in March 1906, and Mangasha died later in the same year; the question of the succession therefore opened up the possibility that, in spite of recent civilizing influences, Abyssinia might still relapse in the future into its old state of conflict. The Anglo-French-Italian agreement of December 1906 contained provisions in view of this contingency. The preamble of the document declared that it was the common interest of the three Powers ``to maintain intact the integrity of Ethiopia,'' and Article I. provided for their co-operation in maintaining ``the political and territorial status quo in Ethiopia.'' Should, however, the status quo be disturbed, the powers were to concert to safeguard their special interests. The terms of the agreement were settled in July 1906, and its text forthwith communicated to the negus. After considerable hesitation Menelek sent, early in December, a note to the powers, in which, after thanking them for their intentions, he stipulated that the agreement should not in any way limit his own sovereign rights. In June 1908, by the nomination of his grandson, Lij Yasu (b. 1896), as his heir, the emperor endeavoured to end the rivalry between various princes claiming the succession to the throne. (See MENELEK.) A convention with Italy, concluded in the same year, settled the frontier questions outstanding with that country. (G.*)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For general information see A. B. Wylde's Modern Abyssinia (London, 1901), a volume giving the result of many years' acquaintance with the country and people; Voyage en Abyssinie . . . 1839-43, par une commission scientifique, by Th. Lefebvre and others (6 vols. and atlas, 3 vols., Paris, 1845--54); Elisee Reclus, Nouvelle geographie universelle, vol. x. chap. v. (Paris, 1885). For latest geographical and kindred information consult the Geographical Journal (London), especially ``A Journey through Abyssinia,'' vol. xv. (1900), and ``Exploration in the Abai Basin,'' vol. xxvii. (1906), both by H. Weld Blundell, and ``From the Somali Coast through S. Ethiopia to the Sudan,'' vol. xx. (1902), by C. Neumann; Antoine d'Abbadie, Geographie de l'Ethiopie (Paris, 1890). The British parliamentary paper Africa, No. 13 (1904), is a report on the survey of the S.E. frontier by Capt. P. Maud, R.E., and contains a valuable map. For geology, &c., see W. T. Blanford, Observations on the Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia (London, 1870); C. Futterer, ``Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Jura in Ost-Afrika,'' Zeit. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell. xlix. p. 568 (1897); C. A. Raisin, ``Rocks from Southern Abyssinia,'' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. lix. pp. 292-306 (1903).
Among works by travellers describing the country are---James Bruce's Travels to discover the Source of the Nile 1768-1773 (Edinburgh, 1813, 3rd ed., 8 vols.); The Highlands of Aethiopia (3 vols., London, 1844), by Sir W. Cornwallis Harris, dealing with the Danakil country, Harrar and Shoa; Mansfield Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia; being notes collected during three years' residence and travels (2nd ed., London, 1868); Antoine d'Abbadie, Douze ans dans La Haute Ethiopie (Paris, 1868); P. H. G. Powell-Cotton, A Sporting Trip through Abyssinia (London, 1902); A. Donaldson Smith, Through Unknown African Countries (London, 1897); M. S. Wellby, Twixt Sirdar and Menelik (London, 1901). For history see -- A. M. H. J. Stokvis' Manuel d'histoire, vol. i. pp. 439-46, and vol. ii. pp. lxxiv-v (Leiden, 1888-89), which contains lists of the sovereigns of Abyssinia, Shoa and Harrar, from the earliest times, with brief notes. Texts of treaties between Abyssinia and the European Powers up to 1896 will be found in vol. i. of Sir E. Hertslet's The Map of Africa by Treaty (London, 1896). L. J. Morie's Histoire de l'Ethiopie: Tome ii, ``L'Abyssinie'' (Paris, 1904), is a comprehensive survey (the views on modern affairs being coloured by a strong anti-British bias). For more detailed historical study consult C. Beccari's Notizia e Saggi di opere e documenti inediti riguardanti la Storia di Etiopia durante i Secoli XVI., XVII. e XVIII. (Rome. 1903), a valuable guide to the period indicated; E. Glaser, Die Abessinier in Arabien und Afrika (Munich, 1895); The Portuguese Expedition to Abysinnia in 1541-1543 as narrated by Castanhoso (with the account of Bermudez), translated and edited by R. S. Whiteway (London, Hakluyt Society, 1902), which contains a bibliography; Futu el-Habacha, a contemporary Arab chronicle of the wars of Mahommed Gran, translated into French by Antoine d'Abbadie and P. Paulitschke (Paris,1898); A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Jerome Lobo, from the French [by Samuel Johnson] (London, 1735); Record of the Expedition to Abyssinia, 3 vols., an official history of the war of 1868, by Major T. J. Holland and Capt. H. Hosier (London, 1870); Hormuzd Rassam, Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore [1865-1868] (2 vols., London, 1869); Henry Blanc, A Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia (London, 1868 ), by one of Theodore's prisoners; Sir Gerald H. Portal, My Mission to Abyssinia (London, 1892), an account of the author's embassy to King John in 1887; Count A. E. W. Gleichen, With the Mission to Menelik, 1897 (London, 1898), containing the story of the Rennell Rodd mission; R. P. Skinner, Abyssinia of To-Day (London, 1906), a record of the first American mission to the country; G. F. H. Berkeley, The Campaign of Adowa and the Rise of Menelik (London, 1902). Books dealing with missionary enterprise are---Journal of a Three Years' Residence in Abyssinia, by Bishop Samuel Gobat (London, 1834); J. L. Krapf, Travels, Researches and Missionary Labours during an 18 years' residence in Eastern Africa (London, 1860); Cardinal G. Massaja, I miei Trentacinque anni di Missione nell' Alta Etiopia (10 vols., Milan, 1886-1893). Political questions are referred to by T. Lennox Gilmour, Abyssinia: the Ethiopian Railway and the Powers (London, 1906); H. le Roux, Menelik et nous (Paris, 1901); Charles Michel, La question d'Ethiopie (Paris, 1905). (F. R. C.)
1 Since Theodore's time Protestant missionary work, except by natives, has been stopped.
2 Menelek means ``a second self.''
3 He was subsequently sent to school at Rugby, but died in his nineteenth year, on the 14th of Nnvember 1879. He was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
4 A title variously translated. A dejazmach (dejaj) is a high official, ranking immediately belaw a ras,
5 The main object of this mission was to seek John's assistance in evacuating the Egyptian garrisons in the Sudan, which were threatened by the dervishes.
6/0 Ras Alula died February 1897, aged about 52. He had raised himself by his military talents from being a groom and private soldier to the position of generalissimo of the army.
7 Ras of Harrar, which province had been conquered and occupied by Menelek in January 1887.
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. As the chronicle of Axum relates, Christianity was adopted in Abyssinia in the 4th century. About A.D. 330 Frumentius was made first bishop of Ethiopia by Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria. Cedrenus and Nicephorus err in dating Abyssinian Christianity from Justinian, c. 542. From Frumentius to the present day, with one break, the Metropolitan (Abuna) has always been appointed from Egypt, and, oddly enough, he is always a foreigner. Little is known of church history down to the period of Jesuit rule, which broke the connexion with Egypt from about 1500 to 1633. But the Abyssinians rejected the council of Chalcedon, and still remain monophysites. Union with the Coptic Church (q.v.) continued after the Arab conquest in Egypt. Abu Sallh records (12th century) that the patriarch used always to send letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia and Nubia, till Al Hakim stopped the practice. Cyril, 67th patriarch, sent Severus as bishop, with orders to put down polygamy and to enforce observance of canonical consecration for all churches. These examples show the close relations of the two churches in the Middle Ages. But early in the 16th century the church was brought under the influence of a Portuguese mission. In 1439, in the reign of Zara Yakub, a religious discussion between an Abyssinian, Abba Giorgis, and a Frank had led to the despatch of an embassy from Abyssinia to the Vatican; but the initiative in the Roman Catholic missions to Abyssinia was taken, not by Rome, but by Portugal, as an incident in the struggle with the Mussulmans for the command of the trade route to India by the Red Sea. In 1507 Matthew, or Matheus, an Armenian, had been sent as Abyssinian envoy to Portugal to ask aid against the Mussulmans, and in 1520 an embassy under Dom Rodrigo de Lima landed in Abyssinia. An interesting account of this mission, which remained for several years, was written by Francisco Alvarez, the chaplain. Later, Ignatius Loyola wished to essay the task of conversion, but was forbidden. Instead, the pope sent out Joao Nunez Barreto as patriarch of the East Indies, with Andre de Oviedo as bishop; and from Goa envoys went to Abyssinia, followed by Oviedo himself, to secure the king's adherence to Rome. After repeated failures some measure of success was achieved, but not till 1604 did the king make formal submission to the pope. Then the people rebelled and the king was slain. Fresh Jesuit victories were followed sooner or later by fresh revolt, and Roman rule hardly triumphed when once for all it was overthrown. In 1633 the Jesuits were expelled and allegiance to Alexandria resumed.
There are many early rock-cut churches in Abyssinia, closely resembling the Coptic. After these, two main types of architecture are found--one basilican, the other native. The cathedral at Axum is basilican, though the early basilicas are nearly all in ruin -e.g. that at Adulis and that of Martula Mariam in Gojam, rebuilt in the 16th century on the ancient foundations. These examples show the influence of those architects who, in the 6th century, built the splendid basilicas at Sanaa and elsewhere in Arabia. Of native churches there are two forms---one square or oblong, found in Tigre; the other circular, found in Amhara and Shoa. In both, the sanctuary is square and stands clear in the centre. An outer court, circular or rectangular, surrounds the body of the church. The square type may be due to basilican influence, the circular is a mere adaptation of the native hut: in both, the arrangements are obviously based on Jewish tradition. Church and outer court are usually thatched, with wattled or mud-built walls adorned with rude frescoes. The altar is a board on four wooden pillars having upon it a small slab (tabut) of alabaster, marble, or shittim wood, which forms its essential part. At Martula Mariam, the wooden altar overlaid with gold had two slabs of solid gold, one 500, the other 800 ounces in weight. The ark kept at Axum is described as 2 feet high, covered with gold and gems. The liturgy was celebrated on it in the king's palace at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and Feast of the Cross.
Generally the Abyssinians agree with the Copts in ritual and practice. The LXX. version was translated into Geez, the literary language, which is used for all services, though hardly understood. Saints and angels are highly revered, if not adored, but graven images are forbidden. Fasts are long and rigid. Confession and absolution, strictly enforced, give great power to the priesthood. The clergy must marry, but once only. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a religious duty and covers many sins.
AUTHORITIES.--Tellez, Historia de Ethiopia (Coimbra, 1660); Alvarez, translated and edited for the Hakluyt Soc. by Lord Stanley of Aderley, under the title Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia (London, 1881); Ludolphus, History of Ethiopia (London, 1684, and other works); T. Wright, Christianity of Arabia (London, 1855); C. T. Beke, ``Christianity among the Gallas,'' Brit. Mag. (London, 1847); J. C. Hotten, Abyssinia Described (London, 1868); ``Abyssinian Church Architecture,'' Royal Inst. Brit. Arch. Transactions, 1869; Ibid. Journal, March 1897; Archaeologia, vol. xxxii.; J. A. de Graca Barreto, Documenta historiam ecclesiae Habessinarum illustrantia (Olivipone, 1879); E. F. Kromrei, Glaubenlehre und Gebrauche der alteren Abessinischen Kirche (Leipzig, 1895); F. M. E. Pereira, Vida do Abba Samuel (Lisbon, 1894); Idem, Vida do Abba Daniel (Lisbon, 1897); Idem, Historia dos Martyres de Nagran (Lisbon, 1899); Idem, Chronica de Susenyos (Lisbon, text 1892, tr. and notes 1900); Idem, Martyrio de Abba Isaac (Coimbra, 1909); Idem, Vida de S. Paulo de Thebas (Coimbra, 1904); Archdeacon Dowling, The Abyssinian Church, (London, 1909); and periodicals as under COPTIC CHURCH. (A. J. B.)
ACACIA, a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the family Leguminosae and the sub-family Mimoseae. The small flowers are arranged in rounded or elongated clusters. The leaves are compound pinnate in general (see fig.). In some instances, however, more especially in the Australian species, the leaflets are suppressed and the leaf-stalks become vertically flattened, and serve the purpose of leaves. The vertical position protects the structure from the intense sunlight, as with their edges towards the sky and earth they do not intercept light so fully as ordinary horizontally placed leaves. There are about 450 species of acacia widely scattered over the warmer regions of the globe. They abound in Australia and Africa. Various species yield gum. True gum-arabic is the product of Acacia Senegal, abundant in both east and west tropical Africa. Acacia arabica is the gum-arabic tree of India, but yields a gum inferior to the true gum-arabic. An astringent medicine, called catechu (q.v.) 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. The bark of various Australian species, known as wattles, is also very rich in tannin and forms an important article of export. Such are Acacia pycnantha, golden wattle, A. decurrens, tan wattle, and A. dealbata, silver wattle. The pods of Acacia nilotica, under the name of neb-neb, and of other African species
Acacia Senegal, flowering branch, natural size (after A. Meyer and Schumann). From Strasburger's Lehrbuch der Botanik.
is rich in tannin and used by tanners. The seeds of Acacia niopo are roasted and used as snuff in South America. Some species afford valuable timber; such are Acacia melanoxylon, black wood of Australia, which attains a great size; its wood is used for furniture, and takes a high polish; and Acacia homalophylla (also Australian), myall wood, which yields a fragrant timber, used for ornamental purposes. Acacia formosa supplies the valuable Cuba timber called sabicu. Acacia seyal is supposed to be the shittah tree of the Bible, which supplied shittim-wood. Acacia heterophylla, from Mauritius and Bourbon, and Acacia koa from the Sandwich Islands are also good timber trees. The plants often bear spines, especially those growing in arid districts in Australia or tropical and South Africa. These sometimes represent branches which have become short, hard and pungent, or sometimes leaf-stipules. Acacia armata is the kangaroo-thorn of Australia, A. giraffae, the African camelthorn. In the Central American Acacia sphaerocephala (bullthorn acacia) and A. spadicigera, the large thorn-like stipules are hollow and afford shelter for ants, which feed on a secretion of honey on the leaf-stalk and curious food-bodies at the tips of the leaflets; in return they protect the plant against leaf-cutting insects. In common language the term Acacia is often applied to species of the genus Robinia (q.v.) which belongs also to the Leguminous family, but is placed in a different section. Robinia Pseud-acacia, or false acacia, is cultivated in the milder parts of Britain, and forms a large tree, with beautiful pea-like blossoms. The tree is sometimes called the locust tree.
ACADEMIES. The word ``academy'' is derived from ``the olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement,'' the birthplace of the Academic school of philosophy (see under ACADEMY, GREEK). The schools of Athens after the model of the Academy continued to flourish almost without a break for nine centuries till they were abolished by a decree of Justinian. It was not without significance in tracing the history of the word that Cicero gave the name to his villa near Puteoli. It was there that he entertained his cultured friends and held the symposia which he afterwards elaborated in Academic Questions and other philosophic and moral dialogues.
``Academy,'' in its modern acceptation, may be defined as a society or corporate body having for its object the cultivation and promotion of literature, of science and of art, either severally or in combination, undertaken for the pure love of these pursuits, with no interested motive. Modern academies, moreover, have, almost without exception, some form of public recognition; they are either founded or endowed, or subsidized, or at least patronized, by the sovereign of the state. The term ``academy'' is very loosely used in modern times; and, in essentials, other bodies with the title of ``society'' or ``college,'' or even ``school,'' often embody the same idea; we are only concerned here, however, with those which, bearing the title of academy, are of historical importance in their various spheres.
Early History.---The first academy, as thus defined, though it might with equal justice claim to be the first of universities, was the museum of Alexandria founded at the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. by the first of the Ptolemies. There all the sciences then known were pursued, and the most learned men of Greece and of the East gathered beneath its spacious porticos. Here, too, was the nucleus of the famous library of Alexandria.
Passing over the state institute for the promotion of science founded at Constantinople by Caesar Bardas in the 9th century, and the various academies established by the Moors at Granada, at Corduba and as far east as Samarkand, we come to the academy over which Alcuin presided, a branch of the School of the Palace established by Charlemagne in 782. This academy was the prototype of the learned coteries of Paris which Moliere afterwards satirized. It took all knowledge for its province; it included the learned priest and the prince who could not write his own name, and it sought to solve all problems by witty definitions.
The David of Alcuin's academy (such was the name that the emperor assumed) found no successors or imitators, and the tradition of an Oxford academy of Alfred the Great has been proved to rest on a forgery. The academy of arts founded at Florence in 1270 by Brunetto Latini was short-lived and has left no memories, and modern literary academies may be said to trace their lineage in direct descent from the troubadours of the early 14th century. The first Floral Games were held at Toulouse in May 1324, at the summons of a gild of troubadours, who invited ``honourable lords, friends and companions who possess the science whence spring joy, pleasure, good sense, merit and politeness'' to assemble in their garden of the ``gay science'' and recite their works. The prize, a golden violet, was awarded to Vidal de Castelnaudary for a poem to the glory of the Virgin. In spite of the English invasion and other adversities the Floral Games survived till, about the year 1500, their permanence was secured by the munificent bequest of Clemence Isaure, a rich lady of Toulouse. In 1694 the Academie des Jeux Floraux was constituted an academy by letters patent of Louis XIV.; its statutes were reformed and the number Of members raised to 36. Suppressed during the Revolution it was revived in 1806, and still continues to award amaranths of gold and sliver lilies, for which there is keen competition.
Provence led the way, but Italy of the Renaissance is the soil in which academies most grew and flourished. The Accademia Pontaniana, to give it its subsequent title, was founded at Florence in 1433 by Antonio Beccadelli of Palermo and fostered by Laurentius Valla. Far more famous was the Accademia Platonica, founded c. 1442 by Cosimo de' Medici, which numbered among its members Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Machiavelli and Angelo Poliziano. It was, as the name implies, chiefly occupied with Plato, but it added to its objects the study of Dante and the purification of the Italian language, and though it lived for barely half a century, yet its influence as a model for similar learned societies was great and lasting.
Modern Academies.--Academies have played an important part in the revival of learning and in the birth of scientific inquiry. They mark an age of aristocracies when letters were the distinction of the few and when science had not been differentiated into distinct branches, each with its own specialists. Their interest is mainly historical, and it cannot be maintained that at the present day they have much direct influence on the advancement of learning either by way of research or of publication. For example, the standard dictionaries of France, Germany and England are the work, not of academies, but of individual scholars, of Littre, Grimm and Murray. Matthew Arnold's plea for an English academy of letters to save his countrymen from the note of vulgarity and provinciality has met with no response. Academies have been supplanted, socially by the modern club, and intellectually by societies devoted to special branches of science. Those that survive from the past serve, like the Heralds' College, to set an official stamp on literary and scientific merit. The principal academies of Europe, past and present, may be dealt with in various classes, according to the subjects to which they are devoted.
I. SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIES Austria.---The Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften at Vienna, originally projected by Leibnitz, was founded by the emperor Ferdinand I. in 1846, and has two classes---mathematics and natural science, and history and philology.
Belgium and the Netherlands.-A literary society was founded at Brussels in 1769 by Count Cobenzl, the prime minister of Maria Theresa, which after various changes of name and constitution became in 1816 the Academie imperiale et royale des sciences et belles-lettres, under the patronage of William I. of the Netherlands. It has devoted itself principally to natural history and antiquities. The Royal Institute of the Low Countries was founded in 1808 by King Louis Bonaparte. It was replaced in 1851 by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, to which in 1856 a literary section was added.
Denmark.---The Kongelige danske videnskabernes selskab (Royal Academy of Sciences) at Copenhagen owes its origin to Christian VI., who in 1742 invited six Danish numismatists to arrange his cabinet of medals. Historians and antiquaries were called in to assist at the sittings, and the commission developed into a sort of learned club. The king took it under his protection, enlarged its scope by the addition of natural history, physics and mathematics, and in 1743 constituted it a royal academy with an endowment fund.
France.---The old Academie des sciences had the same origin as the more celebrated Academie francaise. A number of men of science had for some thirty years met together, first at the house of P. Marsenne, then at that of Montmort, a member of the Council of State, afterwards at that of Melchisedec Thevenot, the learned traveller. It included Descartes, Gassendi, Blaise and Etienne Pascal. Hobbes, the author of Leviathan, was presented to it during his visit to Paris in 1640. Colbert conceived the idea of giving an official status to this learned club. A number of chemists, physicians, anatomists and eminent mathematicians, among whom were Christian Huyghens and Bernard Frenicle de Bessy (1605-1675), the author of a famous treatise on magic squares, were chosen to form the nucleus of the new society. Pensions were granted by Louis XIV. to each of the members, and a fund for instruments and experiment was placed at their disposal. They began their session on the 22nd of December 1666 in the Royal Library, meeting twice a week--the mathematicians on Wednesdays, the physicists on Saturdays. Duhamel was appointed permanent secretary, a post he owed more to his polished Latinity than to his scientific attainments, all the proceedings of the society being recorded in Latin, and C. A. Couplet was made treasurer. 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 hy 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 basset. In 1699 the academy was reconstituted by Louis Phelypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, under whose department as secretary of state the academies came. By its new constitution it consisted of twenty-five members, ten honorary, men of high rank interested in science, and fifteen pensionaries, who were the working members. Of these three were geometricians, three astronomers, three mechanicians, three anatomists, and three chemists. Each of these three had two associates, and, besides, each pensionary had the privilege 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 office for life. Fontenelle, a man of wit, and rather a popularizer of science than an original investigator, succeeded Duhamel as secretary. The constitution was purely aristocratical, differing in that respect from 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 Clairault and Reaumur. To trace the subsequent fortunes of this academy would be to write 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. On the 21st of December 1792 it met for the last time, and it was suppressed with its sister academies by the act of the Convention on the 8th of April 1793. Some of its members were guillotined, some were imprisoned, more were reduced to poverty. 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 Institut National which was to replace all the academies, and its first class corresponded closely to the old academy of sciences. In 1816 the Academie des sciences was reconstituted as a branch of the Institute. The new academy has reckoned among its members, besides many other brilliant men, Carnot the engineer, the physicists Fresnel, Ampere, Arago, Blot, the chemists Gay-Lussac and Thenard, the zoologists G. Cuvier and the two Geoffroy Saint-Hilaires. In France there were also considerable academies in most of the large towns. Montpellier, for example, had a royal academy of sciences, founded in 1706 by Louis XIV., on nearly the same footing as that of Paris, of which, indeed, it was in some measure the counterpart. It was reconstituted in 1847, and organized under three sections--medicine, science and letters. Toulouse also has an academy, founded in 1640, under the name of Soeiete de lanternistes; and there were analogous institutions at Nimes, Arles, Lyons, Dijon, Bordeaux and elsewhere.
Germany.---The Collegium Curiosum was a scientific society, founded by J. C. Sturm, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the university of Altorf, in Franconia, in 1672, on the plan of the Accademia del Cimento. It originally consisted of twenty 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 (1676-1685) of proceedings were published by Sturm. The former, Collegium Experimentale sive Curiosum, begins 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 Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, if judged by the work it has produced, holds the first place in Germany. Its origin was the Societas Regia Scientiarum, constituted in 1700 by Frederick I. on the comprehensive plan of Leibnitz, who was its first president. Hampered and restricted under Frederick William I., it was reorganized under Frederick II. on the French model furnished by Maupertuis, and received its present constitution in 1812. It is divided into two classes and four sections --physical and mathematical, philosophical and historical. Each section has a permanent secretary with a salary of 1200 marks, and each of the 50 regular members is paid 600 marks a year. Among the contributors to its transactions (first volume published in 1710), to name only the dead, we find Immanuel Bekker, Bockling, Bernoulli, F. Bopp, P. Buttmann, Encke (of comet fame), L. Euler, the brothers Grimm, the two Humboldts, Lachmann, Lagrange, Leibnitz, T. Mommsen, J. Muller, G. Niebuhr, C. Ritter (the geographer), Savigny and Zumpt. Frederick II. presented in 1768 A Dissertation on Ennui. To the Berlin Academy we owe the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
The Akademie der Wissenschaflen zu Mannheim was founded by the elector Palatine in 1755. Since 1780 it has devoted itself specially to meteorology, and has published valuable observations under the title of Ephemerides Societatis Meteorologicae Theodoro-Palatinae.
The Bavarian Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Munchen was founded in 1759. It is distinguished from other academies by the part it has played in national education. Maximilian Joseph, the enlightened elector (afterwards king) of Bavaria, induced the government to hand over to it the organization and superintendence of public instruction, and this work was carried out by Privy-councillor Jacobi, the president of the academy. In recent years the academy has specially occupied itself with natural history.
The Konigliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, at Erfurt, which dates from 1754 and devotes itself to applied science, and the Hessian academy of sciences at Giessen, which publishes medical transactions, also deserve mention.
Great Britain and Ireland.--- In 1616 a scheme for founding a royal academy was started by Edmund Bolton, an eminent scholar and antiquary, who in his petition to King James I., 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.'' A list of the proposed original members is still extant, and includes the names of George Chapman, Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, John Selden, Sir Kenelm Digby and Sir Henry Wotton. The constitution is of interest as reflecting the mind of the learned king. The academy was to consist of three classes,---tutelaries, who were to be Knights of the Garter, auxiliaries, all noblemen or ministers of state, and the essentials, ``called from out of the most famous lay gentlemen of England, and either living in the light of things, or without any title of profession or art of life for lucre.'' Among other duties to be assigned to this academy was the licensing of all books other than theological. The death of King James put an end to the undertaking. In 1635 a second attempt to found an academy was made under the patronage of Charles I., with the title of ``Minerva's Museum,'' for the instruction of young noblemen in the liberal arts and sciences, but the project was soon dropped. (For the ``British Academy'' see III. below.) About 1645 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 original of the Royal Society (q.v.), which received its charter in 1662.
A society was formed in Dublin, similar to the Royal Society in London, as early as 1683; but the distracted state of the country proved unpropitious to the cultivation of philosophy and literature. The Royal Irish Academy grew from a society established in Dublin about 1782 by a number of gentlemen, most of whom belonged to the university. They held weekly meetings and read, in turn, essays on various subjects. They professed to unite the advancement of science with the history of mankind and polite literature. The first volume of transactions appeared in 1788.
Hungary.--The Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) was founded in 1825 by Count Stephen Szechenyi for the encouragement of the study of the Hungarian Ianguage and the various sciences. It has about 300 members and a fine building in Budapest containing a picture gallery and housing various national collections.
Italy.--The Academia Secretorum Natarae was founded at Naples in 1560 by Giambattista della Porta. It arose like the French Academy from a little club of friends who met at della Porta's house and called themselves the Otiosi. The condition of membership was to have made some discovery in natural science. Della Porta was suspected of practising the black arts and summoned to Rome to justify himself before the papal court. He was acquitted by Paul V., but commanded to close his academy.
The Accademia dei Lincei, to which della Porta was admitted when at Rome, and of which he became the chief ornament, had been founded in 1603 by Federigo Cesi, the marchese di Monticelli. Galileo and Colonna were among its earliest members. Its device was a lynx with upturned eyes, tearing a Cerberus with its claws. As a monument the Lincei have left the magnificent edition of Fernandez de Oviedo's Natural History of Mexico (Rome, 1651, fol.), printed at the expense of the founder and elaborately annotated by the members. This academy was resuscitated in 1870 under the title of Reale Accademia dei Lincei, with a literary as well as a scientific side, endowed in 1878 by King Humbert; and in 1883 it received official recognition from the Italian government, being lodged in the Corsini palace, whose owner made over to it his library and collections.
The Accademia del Cimento was founded at Florence in 1657 by Leopold de' Medici, brother of the grand duke Ferdinand II., at the instigation of Vincenzo Viviani, the geometrician. It was an academy of experiment, a deliberate protest against the deductive science of the quadrivium. Its founder left it when he was made a cardinal, and it lasted only ten years, but the grand folio published in Italian (afterwards translated into Latin) in 1667 is a landmark in the history of science. It contains experiments on the pressure of the air (Torricelli and Borelli were among its members), on the incompressibility of water and on universal gravity.
Science in Italy is now represented by the Reale Accademia delle Scienze (Royal Academy of Sciences), founded in 1757 as a private society, and incorporated under its present name by royal warrant in 1783. It consists of 40 full members, who must be residents of Turin, 20 non-resident, and 20 foreign members. It publishes a yearly volume of proceedings and awards prizes to learned works. There are, besides, royal academies of science at Naples, Lucca and Palermo.
Portugal.--The Academia Real das Sciencias (Royal Academy of Sciences) at Lisbon dates from 1779. It was reorganized in 1851 and since then has been chiefly occupied in the publication of Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.
Russia.--The Academie Imperiale des sciences de Saint-Petersbourg, Imperatorskaya Akademiya nauk, was projected by Peter the Great. The advice of Wolff and Leibnitz was sought, and several learned foreigners were invited to become members. Peter himself drew the plan, and signed it on the 10th of February 1724; but his sudden death delayed its fulfilment. On the 21st of December 1725, however, Catherine I. established it according to his plan, and on the 27th the society met for the first time. On the 1st of August 1726, Catherine honoured the meeting with her presence, when Professor G. B. Bilfinger, a German scientist, delivered an oration upon the determination of magnetic variations and longitude. Shortly afterwards the empress settled a fund of L. 4982 per annum for the support of the academy; and 15 eminent members were admitted and pensioned, under the title of professors in the various branches of science and literature. The most distinguished of these were Nicholas and Daniel Bernouilli, the two Delisles, Bilfinger, and Wolff.
During the short reign of Peter II. the salaries of members were discontinued, and the academy neglected by the Court; but it was again patronized by the empress Anne, who added a seminary under the superintendence of the professors. Both institutions flourished for some time under the direction of Baron Johann Albrecht Korin (1697--1766). At the accession of Elizabeth the original plan was enlarged and improved; learned foreigners were drawn to St Petersburg; and, what was considered a good omen for the literature of Russia, two natives, Lomonosov and Rumovsky, men of genius who had prosecuted their studies in foreign universities, were enrolled among its members. The annual income was increased to L. 10,659, and sundry other advantages were conferred upon the institution. Catherine II. utilized the academy for the advancement of national culture. She altered the court of directors greatly to the advantage of the whole body, corrected many of its abuses, added to its means, and infused a new vigour and spirit into its researches. By her recommendation the most intelligent professors visited all the provinces of her vast dominions, with most minute and ample instructions to investigate the natural resources, conditions and requirements, and report on the real state of the empire. The result was that no country at that time could boast, within so few years, such a number of excellent official publications on its internal state, its natural productions, its topography, geography and history, and on the manners, customs and languages of the different tribes that inhabited it, as came from the press of this academy. In its researches in Asiatic languages, oriental customs and religions, it proved itself the worthy rival of the Royal Asiatic Society in England. The first transactions, Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae ad annum 1726, with a dedication to Peter II., were published in 1728. This was continued until 1747, when the transactions were called Novi Commentarii Academiae, &c.; and in 1777, Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae, with some alteration in the arrangements and plan of the work. The papers, hitherto in Latin only, were now written indifferently in Latin or in French, and a preface added, Partie Historique, which contains an account of the society's meetings. Of the Commentaries, fourteen volumes were published: of the New Commentaries (1750--1776) twenty. Of the Acta Academiae two volumes are printed every year. In 1872 there was published at St Petersburg in 2 vols., Tableau general des matieres contenues dans les publieations de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St Petersbourg. The academy is composed, as at first, of fifteen professors, besides the president and director. Each of the professors has a house and an annual stipend of from L. 200 to L. 600. Besides the professors, there are four pensioned adjuncts, who are present at the meetings of the society, and succeed to the first vacancies. The buildings and apparatus of this academy are on a vast scale. There is a fine library, of 36,000 books and manuscripts; and an extensive museum, considerably augmented by the collections made by Pallas, Gmelin, Guldenstadt and other professors, during their expeditions through the Russian empire. The motto of the society is Paulatim.
Spain.---The Real Academia Espanola at Madrid (see below) had a predecessor in the Academia Naturae curiosorum (dating from 1657) modelled on that of Naples. It was reconstituted in 1847 after the model of the French academy.
Sweden.--The Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien owes its institution to six persons of distinguished learning, among whom was Linnaeus. They met on the 2nd of June 1739, and formed a private society, the Collegium Curiosorum; and at the end of the year their first publication made its appeamnce. As the meetings continued and the members increased the society attracted the notice of the king; and on the 31st of March 1741 it was incorporated as the Royal Swedish Academy. Though under royal patronage and largely endowed, it is, like the Royal Society in England, entirely self-governed. Each of the members resident at Stockholm becomes in turn president, and continues in office for three months. The dissertations read at each meeting are published in the Swedish language, quarterly, and make an annual volume. The first forty volumes, octavo, completed in 1779, are called the Old Transactions.
United States of America.--The oldest scientific association in the United States is the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge. It owed its origin to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1743 published ``A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America,'' which was so favourably received that in the same year the society was organized, with Thomas Hopkinson (1709-1751) as president and Franklin as secretary. In 1769 it united with another scientific society founded by Franklin, called the American Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, and adopted its present name, adding the descriptive phrase from the title of the American Society, and elected Franklin president, an office which he held until his death (1790). The American Philosophical Society is national in scope and is exclusively scientific; its Transactions date from 1771, and its Proceedings from 1838. It has a hall in Philadelphia, with meeting-rooms and a valuable library and collection of interesting portraits and relics. David Rittenhouse was its second and Thomas Jefferson was its third president. In 1786 John Hyacinth de Magellan, of London, presented a fund, the income of which was to supply a gold medal for the author of the most important discovery ``relating to navigation, astronomy or natural philosophy (mere natural history excepted).'' An annual general meeting is held.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston), the second oldest scientific organization in the United States, was chartered in Massachusetts in 1780 by some of the most prominent men of that time. James Bowdoin was its first president, John Adams its second. The Academy published Memoirs beginning in 1785, and Proceedings from 1846. The Rumford Premium awarded through it for the most ``important discovery or useful improvement on Heat, or on Light'' is the income of $5000 given to the Academy by Count Rumford.
The National Academy of Sciences (1863) was incorporated by Congress with the object that it ``shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art.'' Its membership was first limited to 50; after the amendment of the act of incorporation in 1870 the limit was placed at 100; and in 1907 it was prescribed that the resident membership should not exceed 150 in number, that not more than 10 members be elected in any one year, and that the number of foreign associates be restricted to 50. The Academy is divided into six committees: mathematics and astronomy; physics and engineering; chemistry; geology and palaeontology; biology; and anthropology. It gives several gold medals for meritorious researches and discoveries. It publishes scientific monographs (at the expense of the Federal Government). Its presidents have been Alexander D. Bache, Joseph Henry, Wm. B. Rogers, Othuiel C. Marsh, Wolcott Gibbs, Alexander Agassiz and Ira Remsen.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia was organized in 1812. It has a large library, very rich in natural history, and its museum, with nearly half a million specimens, is particularly strong in conchology and ornithology. The society has published Journals since 1817, and Proceedings since 1841; it also has published the American Journal of Conchology. The American Entomological Society (in 1859-1867 the EntomoIogical Society of Philadelphia, and since 1876 part of this academy) has published Proceedings since 1861, and the Entomological news (a monthly).
There are also other scientific organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science (chartered in 1874, as a continuation of the American Association of Geologists, founded in 1840 and becoming in 1842 the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists), which publishes its proceedings annually; the American Geographical Society (1852), with headquarters in New Ynrk: the National Geographic Society (1888), with headquarters in Washington, D.C.; the Geological Society of America (1888), the American Ornithologists' Union (1883), the American Society of naturalists (1883), the Botanical Society of America (1893), the American Academy of Medicine (1876); and local academies of science, or of special sciences, in many of the larger cities. The Smithsonian Institution at Washington is treated in a separate article.
II. ACADEMIES OF BELLES LETTRES 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. It is at least certain that numerous Chambers of Rhetoric (so academies were then called) existed in the first years of the rule of the house of Burgundy.
France.---The French Academy (l'Academie Francaise) was established by order of the king in the year 1635, but in its original form existed four or five years earlier. About the year 1629 certain literary friends in Paris agreed to meet informally each week at the house of Valentin Courart, the king's secretary. The conversation turned mostly on literary topics; and when one of the number had finished some literary work, he read it to the rest, and they gave their opinions upon it. The fame of these meetings, though the members were bound to secrecy, reached the ears of Cardinal Richelieu, who promised his protection and offered to incorporate the society 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 were prohibited, they expressed their gratitude for the high honour the cardinal thought fit to confer on them, proceeded at once to organize their body, settle their laws and constitution, appoint officers and choose a name. Letters patent were granted by the king on the 29th of January 1635. The officers consisted of a director and a chancellor, chosen by lot, and a permanent secretary, chosen by vote. They elected also a publisher, not a member of the body. The director presided at the meetings, being considered as primus inter pares. The chancellor kept the seals and sealed all the official documents of the academy. The cardinal was ex officio protector. The meetings were held weekly as before.
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) .
The number of members was fixed at forty. The original members formed a nucleus of eight, and it was not till 1639 that the full number was completed. Their first undertaking consisted of essays written by 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 epideixeis of the Greek rhetoricians. Next, at the instance of Cardinal Richelieu, they 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 criticized except at the author's request, and fear of incurring the cardinal's displeasure wrung from Corneille an unwilling consent. The critique of the academy was re-written several times before it met with the cardinal's approbation. After six months of elaboration, it was published under the title, Sentiments de l'academie francaise 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, begun 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. Jean 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 approved words and phrases were to be marked for incorporation in the dictionary. For this they resolved themselves into two committees, which sat on other than the regular days. C. F. de Vaugelas 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 sixth and last in 1835, since when complements have been added.
This old Academie francaise perished with the other prerevolutionary academies in 1793, and it has little but the name in common with the present academy, a section of the Institute. That Jean Baptiste Suard, the first perpetual secretary of the new, had been a member of the old academy, is the one connecting link.
The chronicles of the Institute down to the end of 1895 have been given in full by the count de Franqueville in Le premier siecle de l'Institut de France, and from it we extract a few leading facts and dates. Before the Revolution there were in existence the following institutions--(1) the Academie de poesie et de musique, founded by Charles IX. in 1570 at the instigation of Baif, which counted among its members Ronsard and most of the Pleiade; (2) the Academie des inscriptions et medailles, founded in 1701; (3) the Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres; (4) the old Academie des sciences; (5) the Academie de peinture et de sculpture, a school as well as an academy; (6) the Academie d'architecture.
The object of the Convention in 1795 was to rebuild all the institutions that the Revolution had shattered and to combine them in an organic whole; in the words of the preamble:--`` Il y a pour toute la Republique un Institut national charge de recueiller les deconvertes, de perfectionner les arts et les sciences.'' As Renan has remarked, the Institute embodied two ideas, one disputable, the other of undisputed truth--that science and art are a state concern, and that there is a solidarity between all branches of knowledge and human activities. The Institute was at first composed of 184 members resident in Paris and an equal number living in other parts of France, with 24 foreign members, divided into three classes, (1) physical and mathematical science, (2) moral and political science, (3) literature and the fine arts. It held its first sitting on the 4th of April 1796. Napoleon as first consul suppressed the second class, as subversive of government, and reconstituted the other classes as follows: (1) as before, (2) French language and literature, (3) ancient history and literature, (4) fine arts. The class of moral and political science was restored on the proposal of M. Guizot in 1832, and the present Institute consists of the five classes named above. Each class or academy has its own special jurisdiction and work, with special funds; but there is a general fund and a common library, which, with other common affairs, are managed by a committee of the Institute---two chosen from each academy, with the secretaries. Each member of the Institute receives an annual allowance of 1200 francs, and the secretaries of the different academies have a salary of 6000 francs.
The class of the Institute which deals with the language and literature takes precedence, and is known as the Academie francaise. There was at first no perpetual secretary, each secretary of sections presiding in turn. Shortly afterwards J. B. Suard was elected to the post, and ever since the history of the academy has been determined by the reigns of its successive perpetual secretaries. The secretary, to borrow an epigram of Sainte-Beuve, both reigns and governs. There have been in order: Suard (13 years), Francois Juste Raynouard (9 years), Louis Simon Auger, Francois Andrieux, Arnault, Villemain (34 years), Henri Joseph Patin, Charles Camille Doucet (19 years), Gaston Boissier. Under Raynouard the academy ran a tilt against the abbe Delille and his followers. Under Auger it did battle with romanticism, ``a new literary schism.'' Auger did not live to see the election of Lamartine in 1829, and it needed ten more years for Victor Hugo after many vain assaults to enter by the breach. The academy is professedly non-political. It accepted and even welcomed in succession the empire, the restoration and the reign of Louis Phillppe, and it tolerated the republic of 1848; but to the second empire it offered a passive resistance, and no politician of the second empire, whatever his gifts as an orator or a writer, obtained an armchair. The one seeming exception, Emile Ollivier, confirms the rule. He was elected on the eve of the Franco-German war, but his discours de reception, a eulogy of the emperor, was deferred and never delivered. The Institute appears in the annual budget for a grant of about 700,000 fr. It has also large vested funds in property, including the magnificent estate and library of Chantilly bequeathed to it by the duc d'Aumale. It awards various prizes, of which the most considerable are the Montyon prizes, each of 20,000 fr., one for the poor Frenchman who has performed the most virtuous action during the year, and one for the French author who has published the book of most service to morality. The conditions are liberally interpreted; the first prize is divided among a number of the deserving poor, and the second has been assigned for lexicons to Moliere, Corneille and Madame de Sevigne.
One alteration in the methods of the French Academy has to be chronicled: in 1869 it became the custom to discuss the claims of the candidates at a preliminary meeting of the members. In 1880, on the instance of the philosopher Caro, supported by A. Dumas fils, and by the aged Desire Nisard, it was decided to abandon this method.
A point of considerable interest is the degree in which, since its foundation, the French Academy has or has not represented the best literary life of France. It appears from an examination of the lists of members that a surprising number of authors of the highest excellence have, from one cause or another, escaped the honour of academic ``immortality.'' When the academy was founded in 1634, the moment was not a very brilliant one in French letters. Among the forty original members we find only ten who are remembered in literary history; of these four may reasonably be considered famous still--Balzac, Chapelain, Racan and Voiture. In that generation Scarron was never one of the forty, nor do the names of Descartes, Malebranche or Pascal occur; Descartes lived in Holland, Scarron was paralytic, Pascal was best known as a mathematician--(his Lettres provinciales was published anonymously)---and when his fame was rising he retired to Port Royal, where he lived the life of a recluse. The duc de la Rochefoucauld declined the honour from a proud modesty, and Rotrou died too soon to be elected. The one astounding omission of the 17th century, however, is the name of Moliere, who was excluded by his profession as an actor.1 On the other hand, the French Academy was never more thoroughly representative of letters than when Boileau, Corneille, La Fontaine, Racine, and Quinault were all members. Of the great theologians of that and the subsequent age, the Academy contained Bossuet, Flechier, Fenelon, and Massillon, but not Bourdaloue. La Bruyere and Fontenelle were among the forty, but not Saint-Simon, whose claims as a man of letters were unknown to his contemporaries. Early in the 18th century almost every literary personage of eminence found his place naturally in the Academy. The only exceptions of importance were Vauvenargues, who died too early for the honour, and two men of genius but of dubious social position, Le Sage and the abbe Prevost d'Exiles. The approach of the Revolution affected gravely the personnel of the Academy. Montesquieu and Voltaire belonged to it, but not Rousseau or Beaumarchais. Of the Encyclopaedists, the French Academy opened its doors to D'Alembert, Condorcet, Volney, Marmontel and La Harpe, but not to Diderot, Rollin, Condillac, Helvetius or the Baron d'Holbach. Apparently the claims of Turgot and of Quesnay did not appear to the Academy sufficient, since neither was elected. In the transitional period, when the social life of Paris was distracted and the French Academy provisionally closed, neither Andre Chenier nor Benjamin Constant nor Joseph de Maistre became a member. In the early years of the 19th century considerations of various kinds excluded from the ranks of the forty the dissimilar names of Lamennais, Prudhon, Comte and Beranger. Critics of the French Academy are fond of pointing out that neither Stendhal, nor Balzac, nor Theophile Gautier, nor Flaubert, nor Zola penetrated into the Mazarine Palace. It is not so often remembered that writers so academic as Thierry and Michelet and Quinet suffered the same exclusion. In later times neither Alphonse Daudet nor Edmond de Goncourt, neither Guy de Maupassant nor Ferdinand Fabre, has been among the forty immortals. The non-election, after a long life of distinction, of the scholar Fustel de Coulanges is less easy to account for. Verlaine, although a poet of genius, was of the kind that no academy can ever be expected to recognize.
Concerning the influence of the French Academy on the language and literature, 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 Matthew Arnold, in his Essay on the Literary Influence of Academies, has pronounced a glowing panegyric on the French Academy as a high court of letters, and a 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, are barely compensated by English genius. Thus, too, Renan, one of its most distinguished 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 a instruire le proces des mots, a peser les syllables. Ils ont fait un chef-d'oeuvre--la langue francaise.'' On the other hand, its inherent defects have been well summed up by P. Lanfrey in his Histoire de Napoleon: ``This institution 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 legitimize 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 a 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 introduce a man of talent whom it has not demoralized. 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 brilliance, 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 centralization 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.''
On the whole the influence of the French Academy has been conservative rather than creative. It has done much by its example for style, but its attempts to impose its laws on language have, from the nature of the case, failed. For, however 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.
Germany.---Of the German literary academies the most celebrated was Die Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (the Fruitful Society), established at Weimar in 1617. Five princes were 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.
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 ludicrous names, or names expressive of ignorance. Such were the Lunatici of Naples, the Estravaganti, the Fulminales, the Trapessati, the Drowsy, the Sleepers, the Anxious, the Confused, the Unstable, the Fantastic, the Transformed, the Ethereal. ``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.'' s 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. Far the most celebrated was the Accademia della Crusca or Furfuratorum; that is, of bran, or of the sifted, founded in 1582. The title was borrowed from a previous society at Perugia, the Accademia degli Scossi, of the well-shaken. Its device was a sieve; its motto, ``Il piu bel fior ne coglie'' (it collects the finest flower); its principal object the purification of the language. Its great work was the Vocabulario della Crusca, printed at Venice in 1612. It was composed avowedly on Tuscan principles, and regarded the 14th century as the Augustan period of the language. Paul Beni assailed it in his Anti-Crusca, and this exclusive Tuscan purism 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 Florentina.
Among the numerous other literary academies of Italy we may mention the academy of Naples, founded about 1440 by Alphonso, the king; the Academy of Florence, founded 1540, to illustrate and perfect the Tuscan tongue, especially by the close study of Petrarch; the Intronati of Siena, 1525; the Infiammati of Padua, 1534; the Rozzi of Siena, suppressed by Cosimo, 1568.
The Academy of Humorists arose from a casual meeting of witty noblemen at the marriage of Lorenzo Marcini, a Roman gentleman. It was carnival time, and to give the ladies some diversion they recited verses, sonnets and speeches, first impromptus and afterwards set compositions. This gave them the name, Beni Humori, which, after they resolved to form an academy of belles lettres, they changed to Humoristi.
In 1690 the Accademia degli Arcadi was founded at Rome, for the purpose of reviving the study of poetry, by Crescimbeni, the author of a history of Italian poetry. Among its members were princes, cardinals and other ecclesiastics; and, to avoid disputes about pre-eminence, all came to its meetings masked and dressed like Arcadian shepherds. Within ten years from its establishment the number of academicians was 600.
The Royal Academy of Savoy dates from 1719, and was made a royal academy by Charles Albert in 1848. Its emblem is a gold orange tree full of flowers and fruit; its motto ``Flores fructusque oerennes,'' the same as that 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.
Spain.--The Real Academia Espanola at Madrid held its first meeting in July 1713, in the palace of its founder, the duke d'Fscalona. 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 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 Svenska Akademien was founded in 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.
III. ACADEMIES OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY France.---The old Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (or ``Petite Academie,'' founded in 1663) was an offshoot of the French Academy, which then at least contained the elite 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 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; the abbe Amable de Bourzeis (1606-1671); Francois Charpentier (1620-1702), an antiquary of high repute among his contemporaries; and the abbe Jacques de Cassagnes (1636-1679), who owed his appointment more to the fulsome flattery of his odes than to 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 summer, generally on Wednesdays, to serve the convenience of the minister, who was always present. Their meetings were principally occupied with discussing the inscriptions, statues and pictures intended for the decoration of Versailles; but 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. Felibien, the learned architect, and the two great poets Racine and Boileau, were added to their number. A series of medals was commenced, entitled Medailles de la Grande Histoire, or, in other words, the history of the Grand Monarque.
But it was to M. de Pontchartrain, comptroller-general of finance and secretary of state, that the academy owed its institution. He added to the company Renaudot and Jacques Tourreil, both men of vast learning, the latter tutor to his son, and put at its head his nephew, the abbe Jean Paul Bignou. librarian to the king. By a new regulation, dated the 16th of July 1701, the Academie royale des inscriptions et medailles was instituted, being composed of ten honorary members, ten pensioners, ten associates, and ten pupils. Its constitution was an almost exact copy of that of the Academy of Sciences. 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 metallique du roi, of which Saint-Simon was asked to write the preface. In 1716 the regent changed its title to that of the Academie des inscriptions et belleslettres, 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 22nd of January 1793, the day after the death of Louis XVI, we find in the Proceedinigs that M. Brequigny read a paper on the projects of marriage between Queen Elizabeth and the dukes of Anjou and Alencon. In the same year were published the 45th and 46th vols. of the Memoires de l'academie. On the 2nd of August of the same year the last seance 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, it should be added that all three were distinguished by their moderation.
In the first draft 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 class of moral and political science, under which history and geography were included as sections, or more generally under the 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 (1750-1805) the philologist, Anquetil du Perron the traveller, Guillaume J. de C. L. Sainte-Croix and du Theil the antiquaries, and Le Beau, who has been named the last of the Romans. The new academy has inscribed on its lists the names of Champollion, A. Remusat, Raynouard, Burnout and Augustin Thierry.
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 1805. 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 societe nationale des antiquaires de France.
Great Britain.---The British Academy was the outcome of a meeting of the principal European and American academies, held at Wiesbaden in October 1899. A scheme was drawn up for an international association of the academies of the world under the two sections of natural science and literary science, but while the Royal Society adequately represented England in science there was then no existing institution that could claim to represent England in literature, and at the first meeting of the federated academies this chair was vacant. A plan was proposed by Professor H. Sidgwick to add a new section to the Royal Society, but after long deliberation this was rejected by the president and council. The promoters of the plan thereupon determined to form a separate society, and invited certain persons to become the first members of a new body, to be cailed ``The British Academy for the promotion of historical, philosophical and philological studies.'' The unincorporated body thus formed petitioned for a charter, and on the 8th of August 1902 the royal charter was granted and the by-laws were allowed by order in council. The objects of the academy are therein defined--``the promotion of the study of the moral and political sciences, including history, philosophy, law, politics and economics, archaeology and philology.'' The number of ordinary fellows (so all members are entitled) is restricted to one hundred, and the academy is governed by a president (the first being Lord Reay) and a council of fifteen elected annually by the fellows.
Italy.--Under this class the Accademia Ercolanese (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., discovered at those places. For this purpose the members met every fortnight, and at each meeting three paintings were submitted to three academicians, who made their report at their next sitting. The first volume of their labours appeared in 1775, and they have been continued under the title of Antichita di Ercolano. They contain engravings of the principal paintings, statues, bronzes, marble figures, medals, utensils, &c., 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 needed 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.
IV. ACADEMIES OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY Austria.---The defunct Academy of Surgery at Vienna was instituted in 1784 by the emperor Joseph II. under the direction of the distinguished surgeon, Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla ( 1728- 1800) . For many years it did important work, and though closed in 1848 was reconstituted by the emperor Francis Joseph in 1854. In 1874 it ceased to exist; its functions had become mainly military, and were transferred to newer schools.
France.---Academie de Medecine. 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 Acadimie de medecine succeeded to the old Academie royale de chirurgie et societe royale de medecine. 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 Academie des sciences. 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.
Germany.--The Academia Naturae Curiosi, afterwards called the Academia Caesaraea Leopoldina, was founded in 1662 by J. L. Bausch, a physician of Leipzig, who 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 in 1770 a new arrangement was planned for publishing a volume of observations annually. From some cause, however, the first volume did not make its appearance until 1784, when it was published under the title of Ephemerides. In 1687 the emperor Leopold took the society under his protection, and its name was changed in his honour. This academy has no fixed abode, but follows the home of its president. Its library remains at Dresden. By its constitution the Leopoldine Academy consists of a president, two adjuncts or secretaries and unlimited colleagues or members. At their admission the last come under a twofold obligation--first, to choose some subject for discussion out of the animal, vegetable or mineral kingdoms, not previously treated by any colleague of the academy; and, secondly, to apply themselves to furnish materials for the annual Ephemerides.
V. ACADEMIES OF THE FINE ARTS France.---The Academie royale de peinture et de sculpture at Paris was founded by Louis XIV. in 1648, under the title of Academie royale des beaux arts, to which was afterwards united the Academie d'architecture, founded 1671. It 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 Academie 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, 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 Academie nationale de musique is the official and administrative name given in France to the grand opera. In 1570 the poet Baif established in his house a 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 gave Jules Strozzi's Achille in Sciro, the first opera performed in France. After Moliere's death in 1673, his theatre in the Palais Royal was given to Sulu, and there were performed all Gluck's great operas; there Vestris danced, and there was produced Jean Jacques Rousseau's Devin du Village.
Great Britain.--The Royal Academy of Arts in London, founded in 1768, is described in a separate article. (See ACADEMY, ROYAL.)
The Academy of Ancient Music was established in London in 1710, with the view of promoting the study and practice of vocal and instrumental harmony. This institution had a fine musical library, and 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, and continued to flourish for many years. About 1734 the academy became a seminary for the instruction of youth in the principias of music and the laws of harmony. The Royal Academy of Music was formed for the performance of operas, composed by Handel, and conducted by him at the theatre in the Haymarket. The subscription amounted to L. 50,000, and the king, besides subscribing L. 1000, allowed the society to assume the title Royal. 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 existed with honour for more than nine years. The present Royal Academy of Music dates from 1822, and was incorporated in 1830. It instructs pupils of both sexes in music. (See also the article CONSERVATOIRE for colleges of music. )
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 1380, by Gian Galeazzo Visconti. About the middle of the 18th 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 by competent judges annually. The prize for painting was a gold medal. 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 examples of Correggio, as well as several statues of great merit, particularly a small bust of Vitellins, and a torso of Agrippina, of most exquisite beauty. The academy of the arts, which had been long established at Florence, fell into decay, but was restored in the end of the 18th century. In it there are halls for nude and plaster figures, for the use of the sculptor and the painter, with models of all the finest statues in Italy. But the treasures of this and the other institutions for the fine arts were greatly diminished during the occupancy of Italy by the French. The academy of the arts at Modena, after being plundered by the French, dwindled into a petty school for drawing from living models. There is also an academy of the fine arts in Mantua, and another at Venice.
Russia.--The academy of St Petersburg was established in 1757 by the empress Elizabeth, at the suggestion of Count Shuvalov, and annexed to the academy of sciences. The fund for its support was L. 4000 per annum, and the foundation admitted forty scholars. Catherine II. formed it into a separate institution, augumented the annual revenue to L. 12,000, and increased the number of scholars to three hundred; she built for it 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 instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, French, German and drawing. At the age of fourteen they are at liberty to choose any of the following arts; first, painting in all its branches, architecture, mosaic, enamelling, &c.; second, engraving on copper-plates, sealcutting, &c.; third, carving on wood, ivory and amber; fourth, watch-making, 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, 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 during four years an annual salary of L. 60. The academy has a small gallery 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 full-size models of the best antique statues in Italy.
South America.---There are several small academies in the various towns of South America, the only one of note being that of Rio de Janeiro, founded by John VI. of Portugal in 1816 and now known as the Escola Nacional de Bellas Artes.
Spain.---In Madrid an academy for painting, sculpture and architecture, the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, 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.
Austria.--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.
United States of America.--In America the institution similar to the Royal Academy of Arts in London is the National Academy of Design (1826), which in 1906 absorbed the Society of American Artists, the members of the society becoming members of the academy.
The volume of excerpts from the general catalogue of books in the British Museum, ``Academies,'' 5 parts and index, furnishes a complete bibliography. (F. S.)
1 The Academy has made the amende honorable by placing in the Salle des seances a bust of Moliere, with the inscription ``Rienne manque a sa gloire, it manquait a la notre.''
2 Hallam's Int. to Lit. of Europe, vol. i. p. 654, and vol. ii. p. 502.
ACADEMY, GREEK or ACADEME (Gr. akademeia or ekademia), the name given to the philosophic successors of Plato. The name is derived from a pleasure-garden or gymnasium situated in the suburb of the Ceramicus on the river Cephissus about a mile to the north-west of Athens from the gate called Dipylum. It was said to have belonged to the ancient Attic hero Academus, who, when the Dioscuri invaded Attica to recover their sister Helen, carried off by Theseus, revealed the place where she was hidden. Out of gratitude the Lacedaemonians, who reverenced the Dioscuri, always spared the Academy during their invasions of the country. It was walled in by Hipparchus and was adorned with walks, groves and fountains by Cimon (Plut. Cim. 13), who bequeathed it as a public pleasure-ground to his fellow-citizens. Subsequently the garden became the resort of Plato (q.v.), who had a small estate in the neighbourhood. Here he taught for nearly fifty years till his death in 348 B.C., and his followers continued to make it their headquarters. It was closed for teaching by Justinian in A.D. 529 along with the other pagan schools. Cicero borrowed the name for his villa near Puteoll, where he Composed his dialogue The Academic Questions.
The Platonic Academy (proper) lasted from the days of Plato to those of Cicero, and during its whole course there is traceable a distinct continuity of thought which justifies its examination as a real intellectual unit. On the other hand, this continuity of thought is by no means an identity. The Platonic doctrine was so far modified in the hands of successive scholarchs that the Academy has been divided into either two, three or five main sections (Sext. Empir. Pyrrh. Hyp. i. 220). Finally,in the days of Philo, Antiochus and Cicero, the metaphysical dogmatism of Plato had been changed into an ethical syncretism which combined elements from the Scepticism of Carneades and the doctrines of the Stoics; it was a change from a dogmatism which men found impossible to defend, to a probabilism which afforded a retreat from Scepticism and intellectual anarchy. Cicero represents at once the doctrine of the later Academy and the general attitude of Roman society when he says, ``My words 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 and to leave one's listeners free to judge without pretending to dogmatize.''
The passage from Sextus Empiricus, cited above, gives the general view that there were three academies: the first, or Old, academy under Speusippus and Xenocrates; the second, or Middle, academy under Arcesilaus and Polemon; the third, or New, academy under Carneades and Clitomachus. Sextus notices also the theory that there was a fourth, that of Philo of Larissa and Charmidas, and a fifth, that of Antiochus. Diogenes Laertius says that Lacydes was the founder of the New Academy (i. 19, iv. 59). Cicero (de Orat. iii. 18, &c.) and Varro insist that there were only two academies, the Old and the New. Those who maintain that there is no justification for the five-fold division hold that the agnosticism of Carneades was really latent in Plato, and became prominent owing to the necessity of refuting the Stoic criterion.
The general tendency of the Academic thinkers was towards practical simplicity, a tendency due in large measure to the inferior intellectual capacity of Plato's immediate successors. Cicero (de Fin. v. 3) says generally of the Old Academy: ``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.'' It is true that these men turned to scientific investigation, but in so doing they escaped from the high altitudes in which Plato thought, and tended to lay emphasis on the mundane side of philosophy. 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'' (Archer Butler, Lect. on Anc. Phil. ii. 515).
The modification of Academic doctrine from Plato to Cicero may be indicated briefly under four heads.
(1) Plato's own theory of Ideas was not accepted even by Speusirinus and Xenocrates. They argued that the Good cannot be the origin of things, inasmuch as Goodness is only found as an attribute of things. Therefore, the idea of Good must be secondary to some other more fundamental principle of existence. This unit Speusippus attempted to find in the Pythagorean number-theory. From it he deduced three principles, one for numbers, one for magnitude, one for the soul. The Deity he conceived as that living force which rules all and resides everywhere. Xenocrates, though like Speusippus infected with Pythagoreanism, was the most faithful of Plato's successors. He distinguished three spheres, the sensible, the intelligible, and a third compounded of the two, to which correspond respectively, sense, intellect and opinion (doxa). Cicero notes, however, that both Speusippus and Xenocrates abandon the Socratic principle of hesitancy.
(2) Up to Arcesilaus, the Academy accepted the principle of finding a general unity in all things, by the aid of which a principle of certainty might be found. Arcesilaus, however, broke new ground by attacking the very possibility of certainty. Socrates had said, ``This alone I know, that I know nothing.'' But Arcesilaus went farther and denied the possibility of even the Socratic minimum of certainty: ``I cannot know even whether I know or not.'' Thus from the dogmatism of the master the Academy plunged into the extremes of agnostic criticism.
(3) The next stage in the Academic succession was the moderate scepticism of Carneades, which owed its existence to his opposition to Chrysippus, the Stoic. To the Stoical theory of perception, the fantasia kataleptike, by which they expressed a conviction of certainty arising from impressions so strong as to amount to science, he opposed the doctrine of acatalepsia, which denied any necessary correspondence between perceptions and the objects perceived. He saved himself, however, from absolute scepticism by the doctrine of probability or verisimilitude, which may serve as a practical guide in life. Thus his criterion of imagination (fantasia) is that it must be credible, irrefutable and attested by comparison with other impressions; it may be wrong, but for the person concerned it is valid. In ethics he was an avowed sceptic. During his official visit to Rome, he gave public lectures, in which he successively proved and disproved with equal ease the existence of justice.
(4) In the last period we find a tendency not only to reconcile the internal divergences of the Academy itself, but also to connect it with parallel growths of thought. Philo of Larissa endeavours to show that Carneades was not opposed to Plato, and further that the apparent antagonism between Plato and Zeno was due to the fact that they were arguing from different points of view. From this syncretism emerged the prudent non-committal eclecticism of Cicero, the last product of Academic development.
For detailed accounts of the Academicians see SPEUSIPPUS, XENOCRATES, &c.; also STOICS and NEOPLATONISM. Consult histories of philosophy by Zeller and Windelband, and Th. Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, ii. 270 (Eng. tr., London, 1905).
ACADEMY, ROYAL. The Royal Academy of Arts in London, to give it the original title in full, was founded in 1768, ``for the purpose of cultivating and improving the arts of painting, sculpture and architecture.'' Many attempts had previously been made in England to form a society which should have for its object the advancement of the fine arts. Sir Jumes Thornbill, his son-in-law Hogarth, the Dilettanti Society, made efforts in this direction, but their schemes were wrecked by want of means. Accident solved the problem. The crowds that attended an exhibition of pictures held in 1758 at the Foundling Hospital for the benefit of charity, suggested a way of making money hitherto unsuspected. Two societies were quickly formed, one calling itself the ``Society of Artists'' and the other the ``Free Society of Artists.'' The latter ceased to exist in 1774. The former flourished, and in 1765 was granted a royal charter under the title of the ``Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain.'' But though prosperous it was not united. A number of the members, including the most eminent artists of the day, resigned in 1768, and headed by William Chambers the architect, and Benjamin West, presented on 28th November in that year to George III., who had already shown his interest in the fine arts, a memorial soliciting his ``gracious assistance, patronage and protection,'' in ``establishing a society for promoting the arts of design.', The memorialists stated that the two principal objects they had in view were the establishing of ``a well-regulated school or academy of design for the use of students in the arts, and an annual exhibition open to all artists of distinguished merit; the profit arising from the last of these institutions'' would, they thought, ``fully answer all the expenses of the first,'' and, indeed, leave something over to be distributed ``in useful charities.'' The king expressed his agreement with the proposal, but asked for further particulars. These were furnished to him on the 7th of December and approved, and on the 10th of December they were submitted in form, and the document embodying them received his signature, with the words, ``I approve of this plan; let it be put into execution.'' This document, known as the ``Instrument,'' defined under twenty-seven heads the constitution and government of the Royal Academy, and contained the names of the thirty-six original members nominated by the king. Changes and modifications in the laws and regulations laid down in it have of course been made, but none of them without the sanction of the sovereign, and the ``Instrument'' remains to this day in all essential particulars the Magna Charta of the society. Four days after the signing of this document--on the 14th of Decemben--twentyeight of the first nominated members met and drew up the Form of Obligation which is still signed by every academician on receiving his diploma, and also elected a president, keeper, secretary, council and visitors in the schools; the professors being chosen at a further meeting held on the 17th. No time was lost in establishing the schools, and on the 2nd of January 1769 they were opened at some rooms in Pall Mall, a little eastward of the site now occupied by the Junior United Service Club, the president, Sir Joshua Reynolds, delivering on that occasion the first of his famous ``discourses.'' The opening of the first exhibition at the same place followed on the 26th of April.
The king when founding the Academy undertook to supply out of his own privy purse any deficiencies between the receipts derived from the exhibitions and the expenditure incurred on the schools, charitable donations for artists, &c. For twelve years he was called upon to do so, and contributed in all something over L. 5000, but in 1781 there was a surplus, and no further call has ever been made on the royal purse. George III. also gave the Academy rooms in what was then his own palace of Somerset House, and the schools and offices were removed there in 1771, but the exhibition continued to be held in Pall Mall, till the completion in 1780 of the new Somerset House. Then the Academy took possession of the apartments in it which the king, on giving up the palace for government offices, had expressly stipulated should be provided. Here it remained till 1837, when the government, requiring the use of these rooms, offered in exchange a portion of the National Gallery, then just erected in Trafalgar Square. The offer, which contained no conditions, was accepted. But it was not long before the necessity for a further removal became imminent. Already in 1850 notice was given by the government that the rooms occupied by the Academy would be required for the purposes of the National Gallery, and that they proposed to give the academy L. 40,000 to provide themselves with a building elsewhere. The matter slumbered, however, till 1858, when the question was raised in the house of Commons as to whether it would not be justifiable to turn the Academy out of the National Gallery without making any provision for it elsewhere. Much discussion followed, and a royal commission was appointed in 1863 ``to inquire into the present position of the Royal Academy in relation to the fine arts, and into the circumstances and conditions under which it occupies a portion of the National Gallery, &c.'' In their report, which contained a large number of proposals and suggestions, some of them since carried out, the commissioners stated that they had ``come to the clear conclusion that the Royal Academy have no legal, but that they have a moral claim to apartments at the public expense.'' Negotiations had been already going on between the government and the Academy for the appropriation to the latter of a portion of the site occupied by the recently purchased Burlington House, on which the Academy offered to erect suitable buildings at its own expense. The negotiations were renewed in 1866, and in March in the following year a lease of old Burlington House, and a portion of the garden behind it, was granted to the Academy for 999 years at a peppercorn rent, subject to the condition that ``the premises shall be at all times exclusively devoted to the purpose of the cultivation of the fine arts.'' The Academy immediately proceeded to erect, on the garden portion of the site thus acquired, exhibition galleries and schools, which were opened in 1869, further additions being made in 1884. An upper storey was also added to old Burlington House, in which to place the diploma works, the Gibson statuary and other works of art. Altogether the Academy, out of its accumulated savings, has spent on these buildings more than L. 160,000. They are its own property, and are maintained entirely at its expense.
The government of the Academy was by the ``Instrument'' vested in ``a president and eight other persons, who shall form a council.'' Four of these were to retire every year, and the seats were to go by rotation to every academician. The number was increased in 1870 to twelve, and reduced to ten in 1875. The rules as to retirement and rotation are still in force. Newly elected academicians begin their two years' service as soon as they have received their diploma. The council has, to quote the ``Instrument'', ``the entire direction and management of the business'' of the Academy in all its branches; and also the framing of new laws and regulations, but the latter, before coming into force, must be sanctioned by the general assembly and approved by the sovereign. The general assembly consists of the whole body of academicians, and meets on certain fixed dates and at such other times as the business may require; also at the request to the president of any five members. The principal executive officers of the Academy are the president, the keeper, the treasurer, the librarian and the secretary, all now elected by the general assembly, subject to the approval of the sovereign. The president is elected annually on the foundation day, 10th December, but the appointment is virtually for life. No change has ever been made in the conditions attached to this office, with the exception of its being now a salaried instead of an unsalaried post. The treasurership and librarianship, both offices originally held not by election but by direct appointment from the sovereign, are now elective, the holders being subject to re-election every five years, and the keepership is also held upon the same terms; while the secretaryship, which up to 1873 had always been filled like the other offices by an academician, has since then been held by a layman. Other officers elected by the general assembly are the auditors (three academicians, one of whom retires every year), the visitors in the schools (academicians and associates), and the professors of painting, sculpture and architecture---who must be members---and of anatomy and chemistry. There are also a registrar, and curators and teachers in the schools, who are appointed by the council.
The thirty-six original academicians were named by George III. Their successors have been elected, up to 1867, by academicians only---since that date by academicians and associates together. The original number was fixed in the ``Instrument'' at forty, and has so remained. Each academician on his election has to present an approved specimen of his work---called his diploma work---before his diploma is submitted to the sovereign for signature. On receiving his diploma he signs the Roll of Institution as an academician, and takes his seat in the general assembly. The class of associates, out of whom alone the academicians can be elected, was founded in 1769---they were ``to be elected from amongst the exhibitors, and be entitled to every advantage enjoyed by the royal academicians, excepting that of having a voice in the deliberations or any share in the government of the Academy.'' Those exhibitors who wished to become candidates had to give in their names at the close of the exhibition. This condition no longer exists, candidates having since 1867 merely to be proposed and seconded by members of the Academy. On election, they attend at a council meeting to sign the Roll of Institution as an associate, and receive a diploma signed by the president and secretary. In 1867 also associates were admitted to vote at all elections of members; in 1868 they were made eligible to serve as visitors in the schools, and in 1886 to become candidates for the professorships of painting, sculpture and architecture. At first the number of associates was limited to twenty; in 1866 the number was made indefinite with a minimum of twenty, and in 1876 the minimum was raised to thirty. Vacancies in the lists of academicians and associates caused by death or resignation can be filled up at any time within five weeks of the event, except in the months of August, September and October, but a vacancy in the associate list caused by election only dates from the day on which the new academician receives his diploma. The mode of election is the same in both cases, first by marked lists and afterwards by ballot. All who at the first marking have four or more votes are marked for again, and the two highest then go to the ballot. Engravers have always constituted a separate class, and up to 1855 they were admitted to the associateship only, the number, six, being in addition to the other associates; now the maximum is four, of whom not more than two may be academicians. A class of honorary retired academicians was established in 1862, and of honorary retired associates in 1884. The first honorary foreign academicians were elected in 1869. The honorary members consist of a chaplain, an antiquary, a secretary for foreign correspondence, and professors of ancient history and ancient literature. These posts, which date from the foundation of the Academy, have always been held by distinguished men.
Academy Schools.--One of the most important functions of the Royal Academy, and one which for nearly a century it discharged alone, was the instruction of students in art. The first act, as has been shown, of the newly founded Academy was to establish schools ---``an Antique Academy,'' and a ``School for the Living Model'' for painters, sculptors and architects. In the first year, 1769, no fewer than seventy-seven students entered. A school of painting was added in 1815, and special schools of sculpture and architecture in 1871. It would occupy too much space to follow the various changes that have been made in the schools since their establishment. In one important respect, however, they remain the same, viz. in the instruction being gratuitous--no fees have ever been charged. Up to the removal of the Academy to its present quarters the schools could not be kept permanently open, as the rooms occupied by them were wanted for the exhibition. They are now open all the year round with the exception of a fortnight at Christmas, and the months of August and September. They consist of an antique school, upper and lower schools of painting, a school of drawing from the life, a school of modelling from the life and an architectural school. Admission is gained by submitting certain specimens of drawing or modelling, and the successful candidates, called probationers, have then to undergo a further test in the schools, on passing which they are admitted as students for three years. At the end of that time they are again examined, and if qualified admitted for a further term of two years. These examinations are held twice a year, in January and July. Female students were first admitted in 1860. There are many scholarships, money prizes and medals to be gained by the various classes of students during the time of studentship, including travelling studentships of the value of L. 200 for one year, gold and silver medals, and prizes varying from L. 50 to L. 10. There are permanent curators and teachers in all the schools, but the principal teaching is done by the visitors, academicians and associates, elected to serve in each school. The average cost of maintaining these schools, including salaries, fees, cost of models, prizes, books, maintenance of building, &c., is from L. 5000 to L. 6000 a year, apart from certain scholarships and prizes derived from moneys given or bequeathed for this purpose, such as the Landseer scholarships, the Creswick prize, the Armitage prizes and the Turner scholarship and gold medal.
Charities. -- Another of the principal objects to which the profits of the Royal Academy have been devoted has been the relief of disiressed artists and their families. From the commencement of the institution a fund was set apart for this purpose, and subsequently a further sum was allotted to provide pensions for necessitous members of the Academy and their widows. Both these funds were afterwards merged in the general fund, and various changes have from time to time been made in the conditions under which pensions and donations have been granted and in their amount. At the present time pensions not exceeding a certain fixed amount may be given to academicians and associates, sixty years of age, who have retired and whose circumstances show them to be in need, provided the sum given does not make their total annual income exceed a certain limit, and the same amounts can be given to their widows subject to the same conditions. No pensions are granted without very strict inquiry into the circumstances of the applicant, who is obliged to make a yearly declaration as to his or her income. The average annual amount of these pensions has been latterly about L. 2000. Pensions are also given according to the civil service scale to certain officers on retirement. lt may be stated here that with the exception of these pensions and of salaries and fees for official services, no member of the Academy derives any pecuniary benefit from the funds of the institution. Donations to distressed artists who are or have been exhibitors at the Royal Academy, their widows and children under twenty-one years of age, are made twice a year in February and August. The maximum amount that can be granted to any one applicant in one donation is L. 100, and no one can receive a grant more than once a year. The average yearly amount thus expended is from L. 1200 to L. 1500. In addition to these charities from its general funds, the Academy administers for the benefit of artists, not members of the Academy, certain other funds which have been bequeathed to it for charitable purposes, viz. the Turner fund, the Cousins fund, the Cooke fund, the Newton bequest and the Edwards fund (see below).
Exhibitions. -- The source from which have been derived the funds for carrying on the varied work of the Royal Academy, its schools, its charities and general cost of administration, and which has enabled it to spend large sums on building, and provided it with the means of maintaining the buildings, has been the annual exhibitions. With the exception of the money left by John Gibson, R.A., some of which was spent in building the gallery containing the statues and bas-reliefs bequeathed by him, these exhibitions have provided the sole source of revenue, all other moneys that have come to the Academy having been either left in trust, or been constituted trusts, for certain specific purposes. The first exhibition in 1769 contained 136 works, of which more than one-half were contributed by members, and brought in L. 699: 17: 6. In 1780, the first year in which the receipts exceeded the expenditure, the number of works was 489, of which nearly one-third were by members, and the sum received was L. 3069: 1s. This increase continued gradually with fluctuations, and in 1836, the last year at Somerset House, the number of works was 1154, and the receipts were L. 5179: 19s. No great addition to the number of works exhibited took place at Trafalgar Square, but the receipts steadily grew, and their careful management enabled the Academy, when the time came for moving, to erect its own buildings and become no longer dependent on the government for a home. The greater space afforded by the galleries at Burlington House rendered it possible to increase the number of works exhibited, which of late years has reached a total of over 2000, while the receipts have also been such as to provide the means for further building, and for a largely increased expenditure of all kinds. It may be noted that the number of works sent for exhibition soon began to exceed the space available. In 1868, the last year at Trafalgar Square, the number sent was 3011. This went on increasing, with occasional fluctuations, at Burlington House, and in the year 1900 it reached the number of 13,462. The annual winter exhibition of works by old masters and deceased British artists was begun in 1870. It was never intended to be a source of revenue, but appreciation by the public has so far prevented it from being a cause of loss. The summer exhibition of works by living artists opens on the first Monday in May, and closes on the first Monday in August. The winter exhibition of works by deceased artists opens on the first Monday in Januaty. and closes on the second Saturday in March. The galleries containing the diploma works, the Gibson statuary and other works of art are open daily, free.
Presidents of the Royal Academy.--Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1768-1792; Benjamin West (resigned), 1792-1805; James Wyatt (president-elect), 1805; Benjamin West (re-elected), 1806-1820; Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1820--1830; Sir Martin Archer Shee, 1830-1850; Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, 1850--1865; Sir Francis Grant, 1866-1878; Frederick, Lord Leighton of Stretton, 1878--1896; Sir John Everett Millais, 1896; Sir Edward John Poynter, 1896.
The library contains about 7000 volumes, dealing with the history, the theory and the practice of the various branches of the fine arts, some of them of great rarity and value. It is open daily to the students and members, and to other persons on a proper introduction.
The trust funds administered by the Royal Academy are --
The Turner fund (J. M. W. Turner, R.A.), which provides sixteen annuities of L. 50 each, for artists of repute not members of the Academy, also a biennial scholarship of L. 50 and a gold medal for a landscape painting.
The Chantrey fund (Sir Francis Chantrey, R.A.), the income of which, paid over by the Chantrey trustees, is spent on pictures and sculpture. (See CHANTREY.)
The Creswick fund (Thomas Creswick, R.A.), which provides an annual prize of L. 30 for a landscape painting in oil.
The Cooke fund (E.W. Cooke, R.A.), which provides two annuities of L. 35 each for painters not members of the Academy, over sixty years of age and in need.
The Landseer fund (Charles Landseer, R.A.), which provides four scholarships of L. 40 each, two in painting and two in sculpture, tenable for two years, open to students at the end of the first two years of studentship, and given for the best work done during the second year.
The Armitage fund (E. Armitage, R.A.), which provides two annual prizes of L. 30 and L. 10, for a design in monochrome for a figure picture.
The Cousins fund (S. Cousins, R.A.), which provides seven annuities of L. 80 each for deserving artists, not members of the Academy, in need of assistance.
The Newton bequest (H. C. Newton), which provides an annual sum of L. 60 for the indigent widow of a painter.
The Bizo.fund (John Bizo), to be used in the scientific investigation into the nature of pigments and varnishes, &c.
The Edwards fund (W. J. Edwards), producing L. 40 a year for the benefit of poor artists or artistic engravers.
The Leighton bequest (Lord Leighton, P.R.A.), received from Mrs Orr and Mrs Matthews in memory of their brother, the income from which, about L. 300, is expended on the decoration of public places and buildings.
The literature concerning the Royal Academy consists chiefly of pamphlets and articles of more or less ephemeral value. More serious works are: William Sandby, The History of the Royal Academy of Arts (London, 1862) (withdrawn from circulation on a question of copyright); Report from the Select Committee on Arts and their Connexion with Manufactures, with the Minutes of Evidence and Appendix (London, 1836 ); Report of the Royal Commission on the Royal Academy, with Minutes of Evidence and Appendix (London, 1863); Martin Archer Shee, The Life of Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A. (London, 1860); C. R. Leslie, R.A., and Tom Taylor, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (London, 1865); J. E. Hodgson, R.A. (the late), and Fred. A. Eaton, Sec. R.A., ``The Royal Academy in the Last Century,'' Art Journal, 1889-1901. But the chief sources of information on the subject are the minute-books of the council and of the general assembly, and the annual reports, which, however, only date from 1859. (F. A. E.)
ACADIAN, in geology, the name given by Sir J. W. Dawson in 1867 to a series of black, red and green shales and slates, with dark grey limestones, which are well developed at St John, New Brunswick; Avalon in E. Newfoundland, and Braintree in E. Massachusetts. These rocks are of Middle Cambrian age and possess a Paradoxides fauna. They have been correlated with limestone beds in Tennessee, Alabama, central Nevada and British Columbia (St Stephen).
See CAMBRIAN SYSTEM; also C. D. Walcott, Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey, No. 81, 1891; and Sir J. W. Dawson, Acadian Geology, 1st ed. 1855, 3rd ed. 1878.
ACADIE, or ACADIA, a name given by the French in 1603 to that part of the mainland of North America lying between the latitudes 40 deg. and 46 deg. . In the treaty of Utrecht (1713) the words used in transferring the French possessions to Britain were ``Nova Scotia or Acadia.'' See NOVA SCOTIA for the limits included at that date under the term.
ACAMTHOCEPHALA, a compact group of cylindrical, parasitic worms, with no near allies in the animal kingdom. Its members are quite devoid of any mouth or alimentary canal, but have a well-developed body cavity into which the eggs are dehisced and which communicates with the exterior by
From Cambridge Natural History, vol. ii., ``Worms, &c.,'' by permission of Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
Fig. 1. A, Five specimens of Echinorhynchus acus, Rud., attached to a piece of intestinal wall, X 4.
B, The proboscis of one still more highly magnified.
means of an oviduct. The size of the animals varies greatly, from forms a few millimetres in length to Gigantorhynchus gigas, which measures from 10 to 65 cms. The adults live in great numbers in the alimentary canal of some vertebrate, usually fish, the larvae are as a rule encysted in the body cavity of some invertebrate, most often an insect or crustacean, more rarely a small fish. The body is divisible into a proboscis and a trunk with sometimes an intervening neck region. The proboscis bears rings of recurved hooks arranged in horizontal rows, and it is by means of these hooks that the animal attaches itself to the tissues of its host. The hooks may be of two or three shapes. Like the body, the proboscis is hollow, and its cavity is separated from the body cavity by a septum or proboscis sheath. Traversing the cavity of the proboscis are muscle-strands inserted into the tip of the proboscis at one end and into the septum at the other. Their contraction causes the proboscis to be invaginated into its cavity (fig. 2). But the whole proboscis apparatus can also be, at least partially, withdrawn into the body cavity, and this is effected by two retractor muscles which run from the posterior aspect of the septum to the body wall (fig. 3).
The skin is peculiar. Externally is a thin cuticle; this covers the epidermis, which consists of a syncytium with no cell limits. The syncytium is traversed by a series of branching tubules containing fluid and is controlled by a few wandering, amoeboid nuclei (fig. 2). Inside the syncytium is a not very regular layer of circular muscle fibres, and within this again some rather scattered longitudinal fibres; there is no endothelium. In their minute structure the muscular fibres resemble those of Nematodes. Except for the absence of the longitudinal fibres the skin of the proboscis resembles that of the body, but the fluid-containing tubules of the latter are shut off from those of the body. The canals of the proboscis open ultimately into a circular vessel which runs round its base. From the circular canal two sac-like diverticula called the
From Cambridge Natural History, vol. ii., ``Worms, &c.,'' by permission of Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
FIG. 2.--A longitudinal section through the anterior end of Echinorhynchus haeruca, Rud. (from
a, The proboscis not fully expanded. b, Proboscis-sheath. c, Retractor muscles of the proboscis. d, Cerebral ganglion. e, Retinaculum enclosing a nerve f, One of the retractors of the sheath. g, A lemniscus. h, One of the spaces in the sub-cuticular tissue. i, Longitudinal muscular layer. j, Circular muscular laver. k, Line of division between the sub-cuticular tissue of the trunk and that of the proboscis with the lemnisci.
``lemnisci'' depend into the cavity of the body (fig. 2). Each consists of a prolongation of the syncytial material of the proboscis skin, penetrated by canals and sheathed with a scanty muscular coat. They seem to act as reservoirs into which the fluid of the tense, extended proboscis can withdraw when it is retracted, and from which the fluid can be driven out when it is wished to expand the proboscis.
There are no alimentary canal or specialized organs for circulation or for respiration. Food is imbibed through the skin from the digestive juices of the host in which the Acanthocephala live.
J. Kaiser has described as kidneys two organs something like minute shrubs situated dorsally to the generative ducts into which they open. At the end of each twig is a membrane pierced by pores, and a number of cilia depend into the lumen of the tube; these cilia maintain a constant motion.
The central ganglion of the nervous system lies in the proboscis sheath or septum. It supplies the proboscis with nerves and gives off behind two stout trunks which supply the body (fig. 2). Each of these trunks is surrounded by muscles, and the complex retains the old name of ``retinaculum.'' In the male at least there is also a genital ganglion. Some scattered papillae may possibly be sense-organs.
The Acanthocephala are dioecious. There is a ``stay'' called the ``ligament'' which runs from the hinder end of the proboscis sheath to the posterior end of the body. In this the two testes lie (fig. 3). Each opens in a vas deferens which bears three diverticula or vesiculae seminales, and three pairs of cement glands also are found which pour their secretions through a duct into the vasa deferentia. The latter unite and end in a penis which opens posteriorly.
Fig. 3.---An optical section through a male Neorhynchus clavaeceps, Zed. (from Hamann).
a, Proboscis. b, Proboscis sheath. c, Retractor of the proboscis. d, Cerebral ganglion. f, f, Petractors of the proboscis sheath. g, g, Lemnisci, each with two giant nuclei. h, Space in sub-cuticular layer of the skin. l, Ligament. m, m, Testes. o, Glands on vas deferens. p, Giant nucleus in skin. q, Opening of vas deferens.
The ovaries arise like the testes as rounded bodies in the ligament. From these masses of ova dehisce into the body cavity and float in its fluid. Here the eggs are fertilized and here they segment so that the young embryos are formed within their mother's body. The embryos escape into the uterus through the ``bell,'' a funnel like opening continuous with the uterus. Just at the junction of the ``bell'' and the uterus there is a second small opening situated dorsally. The ``bell'' swallows the matured embryos and passes them on into the uterus, and thus out of the body via the oviduct, which opens at one end into the uterus and at the other on to the exterior at the posterior end of the body. But should the ``bell'' swallow any of the ova, or even one of the younger embryos, these are passed back into the body cavity through the second and dorsal opening.
The embryo thus passes from the body of the female into the alimentary canal of the host and leaves this with the faeces. It is then, if lucky, eaten by some crustacean, or insect, more rarely by a fish. In the stomach it casts its membranes and becomes mobile, bores through the stomach walls and encysts usually in the cavity of its first and invertebrate host. By this time the embryo has all the organs of the adult perfected save only the reproductive; these develop only when the first host is swallowed by the second or final host, in which case the parasite attaches itself to the wall of the alimentary canal and
A curious feature shared by both larva and adult is the large size of many of the cells, e.g. the nerve cells and the bell.
O. Hamann has divided the group into three families, to which a fourth must be added.
(i.) Fam. Echinorhynchidae.This is by far the largest family and contains the commonest species; the larva of Echinorhynchus proteus lives in Gammarus pulex and in small fish, the adult is common in many fresh-water fish: E. polymorphus, larval host the crayfish, adult host the duck: E. angustotus occurs as a larva in Asellus aquaticus, as an adult in the perch, pike and barbel: E. moniliformis has for its larval host the larvae of the beetle Blaps mucronata, for its final host certain mice, if introduced into man it lives well: E. acus is common in whiting: E. porrigeus in the fin-whale, and E. strumosus in the seal. A species named E. hominis has been described from a boy. (ii.) Fam. Gigantorhynchidae. A small family of large forms with a ringed and flattened body. Gigantorhynchus gigas lives normally in the pig, but is not uncommon in man in South Russia, its larval host is the grub of Melolontha vulgaris, Cetonis auratus, and in America probably of Lachnosterna arcuata: G. echinodiscus lives in the intestine of ant-eaters: G. spira in that of the
Fig. 4. A, The larva of Echinorhynchus proteus from the body cavity of Phoxinus laevis, with the proboscis retracted and the whole still enclosed in a capsule. B, A section through the same; a, the invaginated proboscis; b, proboscis sheath; c, beginning of the neck; d, lemniscus. Highlymagnified (both from Hamann). king vulture, Sarcorhampus papa, and G. taeniodes in Dicholopus cristatus, a cariama.
(iii.) Fam. Neorhynchidae. Sexually mature whilst still in the larval stage. Neorhynchus clavaeceps in Cyprinus carpio has its larval form in the larva of Sialis lularia and in the leech Nephelis octcculii: tact K. agilis is found in Mugil auratus and M. cephalus.
(iv.) Apororhynchidae. With no proboscis. This family contains the single species Apororhynchus hemignathi, found near the anus of Hemignathiis procerus, a Sandwich Island bird.
Fig. 5. -- Fully formed larva of Echinorhynchus proteus from the body cavity of Phoxinus laevis (from Hamann). Highly magnified. a, Proboscis; b, bulla; c, neck; d, trunk; e, e, lemnisci.
AUTHORITIES. - O. Hamann, O. Jen. Zeitschr. xxv., 1891, p. 113; Zool. Anz. xv., 1892, 195; J. Kaiser, Bibl. Zool. ii., 1893: A. E. Shipley, Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. Villot, Zool. Anz. viii., 1885, p. 19. (A. E. S.)
ACANTHUS (the Greek and Latin name for the plant, connected with ake, a sharp point), a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Acanthaceae. The species are natives of the southern parts of Europe and the warmer parts of Asia and Africa. The best-known is Acanthus mollis (brank-ursine, or bears' breech), a common species throughout the Mediterranean region, having large, deeply cut, hairy, shining leaves. Another species, Acanthus spinosus, is so called from its spiny heaves. They are bold, handsome plants, with stately spikes, 2 to 3 ft. high, of flowers with spiny bracts. A. mollis, A. lalifolius and A. longifolius are broad-leaved species; A. spinosus and A. spinosissimus have narrower, spiny toothed leaves. In decoration, the acanthus was first reproduced in metal, and subsequently carved in stone by the Greeks. It was afterwards, with various changes, adopted in all succeeding styles of architecture as a basis of ornamental decoration. There are two types, that found in the Acanthus spinosus, which was followed by the Greeks, and that in the Acanthus mollis, which seems to have been preferred by the Romans.
ACAPULCO, a city and port of the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 190 m. S.S.W. of the city of Mexico, Pop. (1900) 4932. It is located on a deep, semicircular bay, almost land-locked, easy of access, and with so secure an anchorage that vessels can safely lie alongside the rocks that fringe the shore. It is the best harbour on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and it is a port of Call for steamship lines running between Panama and San Francisco. The town is built on a narrow strip of low land, scarcely half a mile wide, between the shore line and the lofty mountains that encircle the bay. There is great natural beauty in the surroundings, but the mountains render the town difficult of access from the interior, and give it an exceptionally hot and unhealthy climate. The effort to admit the cooling sea breezes by cutting through the mountains a passage called the Abra de San Nicolas had some beneficial effect. Acapulco was long the most important Mexican port on the Pacific, and the only depot for the Spanish fleets plying between Mexico and Spain's East Indian colonies from 1778 until the independence of Mexico, when this trade was lost. The town has been chosen as the terminus for two railway lines seeking a Pacific port--the Interoceanic and the Mexican Central. The town suffered considerably from earthquakes in July and August 1909. There are exports of hides, cedar and fruit, and the adjacent district of Tabares produces cotton, tobacco, cacao, sugar cane, Indian corn, beans and coffee.
ACARNANIA, a district of ancient Greece, bounded on the W. by the Ionian Sea, on the N. by the Ambracian Gulf, on the E. and S. by Mt. Thyamus and the Acholous. The Echinades islands, off the S.W. coast, are gradually being joined up to the mainland. Its most populous region was the plain of the Acholous, commanded by the principal town Stratus; communication with the coast was impeded by mountain ridges and lagoons. Its people long continued in semi-barbarism, having little intercourse with the rest of Greece. In the 5th century B.C. with the aid of Athens they subdued the Corinthian factories on their coast. In 391 they submitted to the Spartan king Agesilaus; in 371 they passed under Theban control. In the Hellenistic age the Acarnanians were constantly assailed by their Aetolian neighbours. On the advice of Cassander they made effective their ancient cantonal league, apparently after the pattern of Aetolla. In the 3rd century they obtained assistance from the Illyrians, and formed a close alliance with Philip V. of Macedonia, whom they supported in his Roman wars, their new federal capital, Lencas, standing a siege in his interest. For their sympathy with his successor Perseus they were deprived of Lencas and required to send hostages to Rome (167). The country was finally desolated by Augustus, who drafted its inhabitants into Nicopoiis and Patrae. Acarnania took a prominent part in the national uprising of 1821; it is now joined with Aetolia as a nome. The sites of several ancient towns in Acarnania are marked by well preserved walls, especially those of Stratus, Oeniadae and Limnaea.
AUTHORITIES.-Strabo vii. 7, x. 2; Thucydides; Polybius iv. 40; Livy xxxiii. 16-17; Corpus Inscr. Graecarum, no. 1739; E. Oberhummer, Akarnanien im Altertum (Munich, 1887); Heuzey, Mt. Olympe et l'Acarnanie (Paris, 1860). (M. O. B. C.; E. GR.)
ACARUS (from Gr. akari, a mite), a genus of Arachnids, represented by the cheese mite and other forms.
ACASTUS, in Greek legend, the son of Pohas, king of Iolcus in Thessaly (Ovid, Metam. vili. 306; Apollonius Rhodius i. 224; Pindar, Nemea, iv. 54, v. 26). He was a great friend of Jason, and took part in the Calydonian boar-hunt and the Argonautic expedition. After his father's death he instituted splendid funeral games in his honour, which were celebrated by artists and poets, such as Stesichorus. His wife Astydameia (called Hippolyte in Horace, Odes, iii. 7. 17) fell in love with Peleus (q.v.), who had taken refuge at Iolcus, but when her advances were rejected accused him falsely to her husband. Acastus, to avenge his fancied wrongs, left Peleus asleep on Mount Pellon, having first hidden his famous sword. On awaking, Peleus was attacked by the Centaurs, but saved by Cheiron. Having re-covered his sword he returned to Iolcus and slew Acastus and Astydameia. Acastus was represented with his famous horses in the painting of the Argonautic expedition by Micon in the temple of the Dioscuri at Athens.
ACATALEPSY (Gr. a-, privative, and katalambanein, to seize), a term used in Scepticism to denote incomprehensibility.
ACAULESCENT (Lat. acaulescens, becoming stemless, from a, not, and caulis, a stem), a term used of a plant apparently stemless, as dandelion, the stem being almost suppressed.
ACCA LARENTIA (not Laurentia), in Roman legend, the wife of the shepherd Faustulus, who saved the lives of the twins Romulus and Remus after they had been thrown into the Tiber. She had twelve sons, and on the death of one of them Romulus took his place, and with the remaining eleven founded the college of the Arval brothers (Fratres Arvales). The tradition that Romulus and Remus were suckled by a wolf has been explained by the suggestion that Larentia was called lupa (``courtesan'', literally ``she-wolf'') on account of her immoral character (Livy i. 4; Ovid, Fasti, iii. 55). According to another account, Larentia was a beautiful girl, whom Hercules won in a game of dice (Macrobius i. 10; Plutarch, Romulus, 4, 5, Quaest. Rom. 35; Aulus Genius vi. 7). The god advised her to marry the first man she met in the street, who proved to be a wealthy Etruscan named Tarutius. She inherited all his property and bequeathed it to the Roman people, who out of gratitude instituted in her honour a yearly festival called Larentalia (Dec. 23). According to some, Acca Larentia was the mother of the Lares, and, like Ceres, Teilus, Flora and others, symbolized the fertility of the earth--in particular the city lands and their crops.
See Mommsen, ``Die echte und die falsche Larentia,'' in Romische Forschungen, ii. 1879; E. Pais, Ancient Legends of Roman History (Eng. trans. 1906) whose views on the subject are criticized by W. W. Fowler in W. H. D. Rouse's The Year's Work in Classical Studies (1907); C. Pascal, Studii di alntichita e Mitologia (1896).
ACCELERATION (from Lat. accelerare, to hasten, celer, quick), hastening or quickening; in mechanics, a term employed to denote the rate at which the velocity of a body, whose motion is not uniform, either increases or decreases. (See MECHANICS and HODOGRAPH.)
ACCENT. The word ``accent'' has its origin in the Lat. accentus, which in its turn is a literal translation of the Gr. prosodia. The early Greek grammarians used this term for the musical accent which characterized their own language, but later the term became specialized for quantity in metre, whence comes the Eng. prosody. Besides various later developments of usage it is important to observe that ``accent'' is used in two different and often contrasted senses in connexion with language. In all languages there are two kinds of accent: (1) musical chromatic or pitch accent; (2) emphatic or stress accent. The former indicates differences in musical pitch between one sound and another in speech, the latter the difference between one syllable and another which is occasioned by emitting the breath in the production of one syllable with greater energy than is employed for the other syllables of the same word. These two senses, it is to be noticed, are different from the common usage of the word in the statement that some one talks with a foreign or with a vulgar accent. In these cases, no doubt, both differences of intonation and differences of stress may be included in the statement, but other elements are frequently no less marked, e.g. the pronunciation of t and d as real dentals, whereas the English sounds so described are really produced not against the teeth but against their sockets, the inability to produce the interdental th whether breathed as in thin or voiced as in this and its representation by d or z, the production of o as a uniform sound instead of one ending as in English in a slight u sound, or such dialect changes as lydy (laidy) for lady, or toime for time (taime).
In different languages the relations between pitch and stress differ very greatly. In some the pitch or musical accent predominates. In such languages if signs are employed to mark the position of the chief accent in the word it will be the pitch and not the stress accent which will be thus indicated. Amongst the languages of ancient times Sanskrit and Greek both indicate by signs the position of the chief pitch accent in the word, and the same method has been employed in modern times for languages in which pitch accent is welf marked, as it is, for example in Lithuanian, the language still spoken by some two millions of people on the frontier between Prussia and Russia in the neighbourhood of Konigsberg and Vilna. Swedish also has a well-marked musical accent. Modern Greek has changed from pitch to stress, the stress being generally laid upon the same syllable in modern as bore the pitch accent in ancient Greek.
In the majority of European languages, however, stress is more conspicuous than pitch, and there is plenty of evidence to show that the original language from which Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages of Europe are descended, possessed stress accent also in a marked degree. To the existence of this accent must be attributed a large part of the phenomena known as Ablaut or Gradation (see INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES). In modern languages we can see the same principle at work making Acton out of the O. Eng. (Anglo-Saxon) ac-tun (oak-town), and in more recent times producing the contrast between New Town and Newton. In French, stress is less marked than it is in English, but here also there is evidence to show that in the development from Latin to French a very strong stress accent must have existed. The natural result of producing one syllable of a word with greater energy than the others is that the other syllables have a less proportion of breath assigned to them and therefore tend to become indistinct or altogether inaudible. Thus the strong stress accent existing in the transition period between Latin and French led to the curtailing of long Latin words like latrocinium or hospitale into the words which we have borrowed from French into English as larceny and hotel. It will be observed that the first syllable and that which bears the accent are the two which best withstand change, though the strong tendency in English to stress heavily the first syllable bids fair ultimately to oust the e in the pronunciation of larceny. No such changes arise when a strong pitch accent is accompanied by a weaker stress accent, and hence languages like ancient Sanskrit and ancient Greek, where such conditions existed, preserve fuller forms than their sister languages or than even their own descendants, when stress takes the place of pitch as the more important element in accent.
In both pitch and stress accent different gradations may be observed. In pitch, the accent may be uniform, rising or falling. Or there may be combinations of rising and falling or of falling and rising accents upon the same syllable. In ancient Greek, as is well known, three accents are distinguished--(1) the acute ('), a rising accent; (2) the grave (`), apparently merely the indication that in particular positions in the sentence the acute accent is not used where it would occur in the isolated word; and (3) the circumflex, which, as its form (^) shows, and as the ancient grammarians inform us, is a combination of the rising and the falling accent upon the same syllable, this syllable being always long. Different Greek dialects, however, varied the syllables of the word on which the accent occurred, Aeolic Greek, for example, never putting the acute on the last syllable of a word, while Attic Greek had many words so accented.
The pitch accent of the Indo-European languages was originally free, i.e. might occur on any syllable of a word, and this condition of things is still found in the earliest Sanskrit literature. But in Greek before historical times the accent had become limited to the last three syllables of a word, so that a long word like the Homeric genitive feromenoio could in no circumstances be accented on either of its first two syllables, while if the final syllable was long, as in the accusative plural feromenous, the accent could go back only to the second syllable from the end. As every vowel has its own natural pitch, and a frequent interchange between e ( a high vowel) and o (a low vowel) occurs in the Indo-European languages, it has been suggested that e originally went with the highest pitch accent, while o appeared in syllables of a lower pitch. But if there is any foundation for the theory, which is by no means certain, its effects have been distorted and modified by all manner of analogical processes. Thus poimen with acute accent and daimon with the acute accent on the preceding syllable would correspond to the rule, so would aletes and epos, but there are many exceptions like odos where the acute accent accompanies an o vowel. Somewhat similar distinctions characterize syllables which are stressed. The strength of the expiration may be greatest either at the beginning, the end or the middle of the syllable, and, according as it is so, the accent is a failing, a rising, or a rising and falling one. Syllables in which the stress is produced continuously whether increasing or decreasing are called single-pointed syllables, those in which a variation in the stress occurs without being strong enough to break the syllable into two are called double-pointed syllables. These last occur in some English dialects, but are commonest in languages like Swedish and Lithuanian, which have a ``sing-song'' pronunciation. It is often not easy to decide whether a syllable is double-pointed or whether what we hear is really two-single-pointed syllables. There is no separate notation for stress accent, but the acute (') is used for the increasing, the grave (`) for the decreasing stress, and the circumflex (^) for the rising and falling (increasing and decreasing) and (@) for the opposite. A separate notation is much to be desired, as the nature of the two accents is so different, and could easily be devised by using (@) for the falling, (') for the rising stress, and (@) for the combination of the two in one syllable. This would be clearer than the upright stroke (|) preceding the stressed syllable, which is used in some phonetic works.
The relation between the two accents in the same language at the same time is a subject which requires further investigation. It is generally assumed that the chief stress and the chief pitch in a word coincide, but this is by no means certain for all cases, though the incidence of the chief stress accent in modern Greek upon the same syllable as had the chief pitch accent in ancient times suggests that the two did frequently fall upon the same syllable. On the other hand, in words like the Sanskrit sapta, the Gr. epta, the pitch accent which those languages indicate is upon a syllable which certainly, in the earliest times at least, did not possess the principal stress. For forms in other languages, like the Lat. septem or the Gothic sibun, show that the a of the final syllables in Sanskrit and Greek is the representative of a reduced syllable in which, even in the earliest times, the nasal alone existed (see under N for the history of these so-called sonant nasals). It is possible that sporadic changes of accent, as in the Gr. meter compared with the Sanskrit mata, is owing to the shifting of the pitch accent to the same syllable as the stress occupied.
There is no lack of evidence to show that the stress accent also may shift its position in the history of a language from one syllable to another. In prehistoric times the stress in Latin must have rested upon the first syllable in all cases. Only on this hypothesis can be explained forms like peperci (perfect of parco) and collido (a compound of laedo). In historical times, when the stress in Latin was on the second syllable from the end of the word if that syllable was long, or on the third syllable from the end if the second from the end was short, we should have expected to find *peparci and *collaedo, for throughout the historical period the stress rested in these words upon the second syllable from the end. The causes for the change of position are not always easy to ascertain. In words of four syllables with a long penult and words of five syllables with a short penult there probably developed a secondary accent which in course of time replaced the earlier accent upon the first syllable. But the number of such long words in Latin is comparatively small. It is no less possible that relations between the stress and pitch accents were concerned. For unless we are to regard the testimony of the ancient Latin grammarians as altogether untrustworthy there was at least in classical Latin a well-marked pitch as well as a stress accent. This question, which had long slumbered, has been revived by Dr J. Vendryes in his treatise entitled Recherches sur l'histoire et les effets de l'intensite initiale en latin (Paris, 1902).
In English there is a tendency to throw the stress on to the first syllable, which leads in time to the modification of borrowed words. Thus throughout the 18th century there was a struggle going on over the word balcony, which earlier was pronounced balcony. Swift is the first author quoted for the pronunciation balcony. and Cowper's balcony in ``John Gilpin'' is among the latest instances of the old pronunciation. Disregarding the Latin quantity of orator and senator, English by throwing the stress on the first syllable has converted them into orator and senator, while Scots lawyers speak also of a curator. How far French influence plays a part here is not easy to say.
Besides the accent of the syllable and of the word, which have been already discussed, there remains the accent of the sentence. Here the problem is much more complicated. The accent of a word, whether pitch or stress, may be considerably modified in the sentence. From earliest times some words have become parasitic or enclitic upon other words. Pronouns more than most words are modified from this cause, but conjunctions like the Gr. te (``and''), the Lat. qiie, have throughout their whole history been enclitic upon the preceding word. A very important word may be enclitic, as in English don't, shan't. It is to be remembered that the unit of language is rather the sentence than the word, and that the form which is given to the word in the dictionary is very often not the form which it takes in actual speech. The divisions of words in speech are quite different from the divisions on the printed page. Sanskrit alone amongst languages has consistently recognized this, and preserves in writing the exact combinations that are spoken.
Accent, whether pitch or stress, can be utilized in the sentence to express a great variety of meanings. Thus in English a sentence like You rode to Newmarket yesterday, which contains five words, may be made to express five different statements by putting the stress upon each of the words in turn. By putting the stress on you the person addressed is marked out as distinct from certain others, by putting it upon rode other means of locomotion to Newmarket are excluded, and so on. With the same order of words five interrogative sentences may also be expressed, and a third series of exclamatory sentences expressing anger, incredulity, &c., may be obtained from the same words. It is to be noticed that for these two series a different intonation, a different musical (pitch) accent appears from that which is found in the same words when employed to make a matter-of-fact statement.
In languages like Chinese, which have neither compound words nor inflection, accent plays a very important part. As the words are all monosyllabic, stress could obviously not be so important as pitch as a help to distinguish different senses attached to the same syllable, and in no other language is variety of pitch so well developed as in Chinese. In languages which, like English, show comparatively little pitch accent it is to be noticed that the sentence tends to develop a more musical character under the influence of emotion. The voice is raised and at the same time greater stress is generally employed when the speaker is carried away by emotion, though the connexion is not essential and strong emotion may be expressed by a lowering as well as by a raising of the voice. In either case, however, the stress will be greater than the normal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--H. Sweet, Primer of Phonetics (1890, now in 3rd edition), sec. 96 ff., History of English Sounds (1888), sec. 110 ff., and other works; E. Sievers, Grundzuge der Phonetik (1893), sec. 532 ff.; O. Jespersen, Lehrbuch der Phonetik (1904), an abbreviated German translation of the author's larger work in Danish, sec. 216 ff. The books of Sievers and Jespersen give (especially Sievers) full references to the literature of the subject. For the accent system of the Indo-European languages see ``Betonung'' in Brugmann's Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen, vol. i. (1897), or, with considerable modifications, his Kurze vergleichende Grammatik der idg. Sprachen (1902), sec. sec. 32-65 and 343-350. (P. Gi.)
ACCEPTANCE (Lat. acceptare, frequentative form of accipere, to receive), generally, a receiving or acknowledgment of receipt; in law, the act by which a person binds himself to comply with the request contained in a bill of exchange (q.v.), 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 recognizing an acceptance in which the promise is to pay in some other way, e.g. partly in money and partly by another bill. Acceptance may be either general or qualified. A general 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. Qualified acceptance may be a promise to pay on a contingency occurring, e.g. 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 qualified acceptance is quite legal, and equally binding with a general acceptance upon the acceptor when the contingency bas occurred. It is also qualified acceptance 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. As a qualified acceptance is so far a disregard of the drawer's order, the holder is not obliged to take it; and if he chooses to take it he must give notice to antecedent parties, acting at his own risk if they dissent. In all cases acceptance involves the signature of the acceptor either by himself or by some person duly authorized 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 some one else ``supra protest,'' for the sake of the honour of one or more of the parties concerned in it, and he thereupon acquires a claim against the drawer and all those to whom he could have resorted.
ACCEPTILATION (from Lat. acceptilatio), in Roman and Scots law, a verbal release of a verbal obligation. This formal mode of extinguishing an obligation contracted verbally received its name from the book-keeping term acceptilatio, entering a receipt, i.e. carrying it to credit. The words conveying the release had to correspond to, or strictly cover, the expressed obligation. Figuratively, in theology, the word acceptilation means free remission or forgiveness of sins.
ACCESS (Lat. accessus), approach, or the means of approaching. In law, the word is used in various connexions. The presumption of a child's legitimacy is negatived if it be proved that a husband has not had access to his wife within such a period of time as would admit of his being the father. (See LEGITIMACY.) In the law of easements, every person who has land adjoining a public road or a public navigable river has a right of access to it from his land. So, also, every person has a right of access to air and light from an ancient window. For the right of access of parents to children under the guardianship of the court, see INFANT.
ACCESSION (from Lat. accedere, to go to, to approach), in law, a method of acquiring property adopted from Roman law, by which, in things that have a close connexion 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. Accession may take place either in a natural way, such as the growth of fruit or the pregnancy of animals, or in an artificial way. The various methods may be classified as (1) land to land by accretion or alluvion; (2) moveables to land (see FIXTURES); (3) moveables to moveables; (4) moveables added to by the art or industry of man; this may be by specification, as when wine is made out of grapes, or by confusion, or commixture, which is the mixing together of liquids or solids, respectively. In the case of industrial accession ownership is determined according as the natural or manufactured substance is of the more importance, and, in general, compensation is payable to the person who has been dispossessed of his property.
In a historical or constitutional sense, the term ``accession'' is applied to the coming to the throne of a dynasty or line of sovereigns or of a single sovereign.
``Accession'' sometimes likewise signifies consent or acquiescence. Thus, in the bankruptcy law of Scotland, where there is a settlement by a trust-deed, it is accepted on the part of each creditor by a ``deed of accession.''
ACCESSORY, a person guilty of a felonious offence, not as principal, but by participation; as by advice, command, aid or concealment. In certain crimes, there can be no accessories; all concerned being principals, whether present or absent at the time of their commission. These are treason, and all offences below the degree of felony, as specified in the Offences against the Person Act 1861.
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, harbours, 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. Accessories after the fact are in general punishable with imprisonment (with or without hard labour) for a period not exceeding two years, but in the case of murder punishable by penal servitude for life, or not less than three years, or by imprisonment (with or without hard labour) to the extent of two years. The law of Scotland makes no distinction between the accessory to any crime and the principal (see ART AND PART). 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.
ACCIAJUOLI, DONATO (1428-1478), Italian scholar, 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 entrusted 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 XI. 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 Argyropulus.
ACCIDENCE (a mis-spelling of ``accidents,'' from the Latin neuter plural accidentia, casual events), the term for the grammatical changes to which words are subject in their inflections as to gender, number, tense and case. It is also used to denote a book containing the first principles of grammar, and so of the rudiments of any subject or art.
ACCIDENT (from Lat. accidere, to happen), a word of widely variant meanings, usually something fortuitous and unexpected; a happening out of the ordinary course of things. In the law of tort, it is defined as ``an occurrence which is due neither to design nor to negligence''; in equity, as ``such an unforeseen event, misfortune, loss, act or omission, as is not the result of any negligence or misconduct.'' So, in criminal law, ``an effect is said to be accidental when the act by which it is caused is not done with the intention of causing it, and when its occurrence as a conseiguence of such act is not so probable that a person of ordinary prudence ought, under the circumstances, to take reasonable precaution against it'' (Stephen, Digest of Criminal Law, art. 210).The word may also have in law the more extended meaning of an unexpected occurrence, whether caused by any one's negligence or not, as in the Fatal Accidents Act 1846, Notice of Accidents Act 1894. See also CONTRACT, CRIMINAL LAW, EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY, INSURANCE, TORT, &c.
In logic an ``accident'' is a quality which belongs to a subject but not as part of its essence (in Aristotelian language kata sumbebekos, the scholastic per accidens). Essential attributes are necessarily, or causally, connected with the subject, e.g. the sum of the angles of a triangle; accidents are not deducible from the nature, or are not part of the necessary connotation, of the subject, e.g. the area of a triangle. It follows that increased knowledge, e.g. in chemistry, may show that what was thought to be an accident is really an essential attribute, or vice versa. It is very generally held that, in reality, there is no such thing as an accident, inasmuch as complete knowledge would establish a causal connexion for all attributes. An accident is thus merely an unexplained attribute. Accidents have been classed as (1) ``inseparable,'' i.e. universally present, though no causal connexion is established, and (2) ``separable,'' where the connexion is neither causally explained nor universal. Propositions expressing a relation between a subject and an accident are classed as ``accidental,'' ``real'' or ``ampliative,'' as opposed to ``verbal'' or ``analytical,'' which merely express a known connexion, e.g. between a subject and its connotation (q.v.).
ACCIDENTALISM, a term used (1) in philosophy for any system of thought which denies the causal nexus and maintains that events succeed one another haphazard or by chance (not in the mathematical but in the popular sense). In metaphysics, accidentalism denies the doctrine that everything occurs or results from a definite cause. In this connexion it is synonymous with Tychism (tuchu, chance), a term used by C. S. Peirce for the theories which make chance an objective factor in the process of the Universe. Opponents of this accidentalism maintain that what seems to be the result of chance is in reality due to a cause or causes which, owing to the lack of imagination, knowledge or scientific instruments, we are unable to detect. In ethics the term is used, like indeterminism, to denote the theory that mental change cannot always be ascribed to previously ascertained psychological states, and that volition is not causally related to the motives involved. An example of this theory is the doctrine of the liberum arbitrium indifferentiae (``liberty of indifference''), according to which the choice of two or more alternative possibilities is affected neither by contemporaneous data of an ethical or prudential kind nor by crystallized habit (character). (2) In painting, the term is used for the effect produced by accidental lights (Ruskin, Modern Painters, I. II. 4, iii. sec. 4, 287). (3) In medicine, it stands for the hypothesis that disease is only an accidental modification of the healthy condition, and can, therefore, be avoided by modifying external conditions.
ACCIUS, a Latin poet of the 16th century, to whom is attributed a paraphrase of Aesop's Fables, of which Julius Scaliger speaks with great praise.
ACCIUS, LUCIUS, Roman tragic poet, the son of a freedman, was born at Pisaurum in Umbria, in 170 B.C. The year of his death is unknown, but he must have lived to a great age, since Cicero (Brutus, 28) speaks of having conversed with him on literary matters. He was a prolific writer and enjoyed a very high reputation (Horace, Epistles, ii. 1, 56; Cicero, Pro Plancio, 24). The titles and considerable fragments (about 700 lines) of some fifty plays have been preserved. Most of these were free translations from the Greek, his favourite subjects being the legends of the Trojan war and the house of Pelops. The national history, however, furnished the theme of the Brutus and Decius, ---the expulsion of the Tarquins and the self-sacrifice of Publius Decius Mus the younger. The fragments are written in vigorous language and show a lively power of description.
Accius wrote other works of a literary character: Didascalicon and Pragmaticon libri, treatises in verse on the history of Greek and Roman poetry, and dramatic art in particular; Parerga and Praxidica (perhaps identical) on agriculture; and an Annales. He also introduced innovations in orthography and grammar.
See Boissier, Le Poete Accius, 1856; L. Muller, De Accii fabulis Disputatio (1890); Ribbeck, Geschichte der romischen Dichtung (1892); editions of the tragic fragments by Ribbeck (1897), of the others by Bahrens (1886); Plessis, Poesue Latine (1909).
ACCLAMATION (Lat. acclamatio, a shouting at), in deliberative or electoral assemblies, a spontaneous shout of approval or praise. Acclamation is thus the adoption of a resolution or the passing of a vote of confidence or choice unanimously, in direct distinction from a formal ballot or division. In the Roman senate opinions were expressed and votes passed by acclamation in such forms as Omnes, omnes, Aequum est, Justum 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. In ecclesiastical councils vote by acclamation is very common, the question being usually put in the form, placet or non placet. The Sacred College has sometimes elected popes by acclamation, when the cardinals simultaneously and without any previous consultation ``acclaimed'' one of their number as pontiff. A further ecclesiastical use of the word is in its application to set forms of praise or thanksgiving in church services, the stereotyped responses of the congregation. In modern parliamentary usage a motion is carried by acclamation when, no amendment being proposed, approval is expressed by shouting such words as Aye or Agreed.
ACCLIMATIZATION, 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 at first injurious to them.
The subject of acclimatization is very little understood, and some writers have even denied that it can ever take place. It is often confounded with domestication or with naturalization; but these are both very different phenomena. A domesticated animal or a cultivated plant need not necessarily be acclimatized; that is, it need not be capable of enduring the severity of the seasons without protection. The canary bird is domesticated but not acclimatized, and many of our most extensively cultivated plants are in the same category. A naturalized 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 if must have become acclimatized. But in many, perhaps most cases of naturalization (see Appendix below) there is no evidence of a gradual adaptation to new conditions which were at first injurious, and this is essential to the idea of acclimatization. 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 L. Agassiz (in his work on Lake Superior) tells us that the roadside 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 T. Kirk (Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, vol. ii. p. 131), no less than 250 species of naturalized 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 naturalized in New Zealand, where they multiply to such an extent as to injure and probably exterminate many native productions. In none of these cases is there any indication that acclimatization was necessary or ever took place.
On the other hand, the fact that an animal or plant cannot be naturalized is no proof that it is not acclimatized. It has been shown by C. 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 naturalize them usually fail. Alphonse de Candolle (Geographic botanique, p. 798) informs us that several botanists of Patis, 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 naturalized. Attempts have also been made to naturalize continental insects in Britain, in places where the proper food-plants 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 live 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 A. C. 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 Amur, and to the isothermal of 32 deg. Fahr. The mountain sparrow (Fasser montana) is abundant in Java and Singapore in a uniform equatorial climate, and also inhabits Britain 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 suppllad 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 Charles Buxton, of the naturalization of parrots at Northrops Hall, Norfolk. A considerable number of African and Amazonian parrots, Bengal parroquets, four species of white and rose crested cockatoos, and two species of crimson lories, remained at large for many years. Several of these birds bred, and they almost all lived in the woods the whole year through, refusing to take shelter in a house constructed for their use. Even when the thermometer fell 6 deg. below zero, all appeared in good spirits and vigorous health. Some of these birds have lived thus exposed for many years, enduring the English cold easterly winds, rain, hail and snow, all through the winter--a marvellous contrast to the equable equatorial temperature (hardly ever less than 70 deg. ) to which many of them had been accustomed for the first year or years of their existence. Similarly the recent experience of zoological gardens, particularly in the case of parrots and monkeys, shows that, excluding draughts, exposure to changes of temperature without artificial heat is markedly beneficial as compared with the older method of strict protection from cold.
Hardly any group of Mammalia is more exclusively tropical than the Quadrumana, yet, if other conditions are favourable, some of them can withstand a considerable degree of cold. 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 was observed by W. T. Blanford 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 acclimatization 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 deg. . 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 naturalize the former class in countries not extremely differing from that from which the species was brought, it will not be necessary to acclimatize, in the strict sense of the word. In the case of the latter class, however, acclimatization is a necessary preliminary to naturalization, and in many cases to useful domestication, and we have therefore to inquire whether it is possible.
Acclimatization by Individual Adaptation.---It is evident that acclimatization 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. C. Darwin believed, however, that there were indications that it occasionally occurred 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 adduced 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 acclimatization 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 acclimatized 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 an acclimatization would take place.
Acclimatization 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 C. 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. Seed-wheat from India produced a miserable crop when planted by the Rev. M. 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 home-grown 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 1860-1861 if was observed that in a large bed of araucarias some plants stood quite unhurt among numbers killed around them. In C. 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 E. R. 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 Vu-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.'' Huc adds his testimony that this kind of rice flourishes in Manchuria, where no other will grow. We have here, therefore, a perfect example of acclimatization 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. Sir J. Hooker ascertained the average vertical range of flowering plants in the Himalayas to be 4000 ft., while in some cases if extended to 8000 ft. The same species can thus endure a great difference of temperature; but the important fact is, that the individuals have become acclimatized 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 Hooker to be the case with Himalayan conifers and rhododendrons, raised in Britain from seed gathered at different altitudes.
Among animals exactly analogous facts occur. 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. C. Darwin adduced 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. C. Darwin also called 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 if originated has always been recognized.
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. C. Darwin collected a large number of cases in his Animals and Plants under Domestication.
In his Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection (p. 167), A. R. Wallace has recorded cases of simultaneous variation among insects, apparently due to climate or other strictly local causes. He found that the butterflies of the family Papilionidae, and some others, became 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 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.
Selection and Survival of the Fittest as Agents in Naturalization. ---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. 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 C. 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 C. Darwin (Animals and Plants under Domestication).
The Method of Acclimatization.--Taking into consideration the foregoing facts and illustrations, it may be considered as proved---1st, 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; 2nd, 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 acclimatizing 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 without acclimatization, 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 ail the vicissitudes of the Climate. It can hardly be doubted that in most cases this plan would succeed. It has been recommended by C. Darwin, and at one of the early meetings of the Societe Zoologique d' Acclimatation, at Paris, Isodore Geoffroy St Hillaire insisted that it was the only method by which acclimatization 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 acclimatization 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 acclimatize 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 acclimatized 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 acclimatized.
Acclimatization 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 acclimatization 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 Tierra 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 acclimatized 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, believed that there is no such thing as acclimatization. Dr Hunt, in a report to the British Association in 1861, argued that ``time is no agent,'' and--``if there is no sign of acclimatization in one generation, there is no such process.'' But he entirely ignored the effect of favourable variations, as well as the direct influence of climate acting on the organization from infancy.
Professor Theodor Waitz, in his Introduction to Anthropology, adduced 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 acclimatized in North America, on returning to Africa become subject to the same local diseases as other unacclimatized individuals. He well remarked 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 acclimatization under proper conditions. They only show that acclimatization is in most cases necessary, not that it cannot take place. The best examples of partial or complete acclimatization 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 acclimatization, 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 Jewish immigrants from other lands cannot seriously affect the local purity of the race. They have, for instance, attained a population of millions in such severe climates as Poland and Russia; in the towns of Algeria they have succeeded so conspicuously as to bring about an outburst of anti-semitism; and in 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 acclimatized, and where the race is kept pure it seems to be even improved. Some very valuable notes on this subject were furnished to the present writer by the well-known botanist, Richard Spruce, who resided many years in South America, but who was prevented by ill health from publishing his researches (see A. R. Wallace, Notes of a Botannist, 1908). As a careful, judicious and accurate observer, both of man and nature, he had few superiors. He says:
The white inhabitants of Guayaquil (lat. 2 deg. 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 ftom 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 Guavaquil 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 deg. 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 deg. during the whole month, the usual lowest night temperature being 85 deg. . 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 1863-1864) 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 Spruce, seem to demonstrate the complete acclimatization of Spaniards in some of the hottest parts of South America. Although we have here nothiog 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 consequence 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 acclimatization of the same race to hot and cold zones is very interesting, and will conclude our extracts from 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 acclimatizing 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 barelegged 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 cf 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 the staff of resident Indian labourers, such as exists in the farms of the sierra, cannot be kept up in the Fungas, 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 acclimatized 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 is the same in both, or (if not) that the white man possesses it in a higher degree.
The observations of Spruce are of themselves almost conclusive as to the possibility of Europeans becoming acclimatized 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. In South Africa the Dutch have been settled and nearly isolated for over 200 years, and have kept themselves almost or quite free from native intermixture. They are still preponderatingly fair in complexion, while physically they are 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 of ``Dutch, German or French origin, mostly descendants of original settlers.'' In more recent times, the conditions have been so greatly changed by immigration, that the later statistics cease to have a definite meaning with regard to acclimatization. We have here a population which 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 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 is obvious that the rapid increase of English-speaking populations in the United States and in Australia is far greater than can be explained by immigration, and shows two conspicuous examples of acclimatization.
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 acclimatized with at least as much certainty and rapidity (counting by generations rather than by years) as any of the lower animals. The greatest difficulty in his way is not temperature, but the presence of parasitic diseases to resist which his body has not been prepared, and modern knowledge is rapidly defining these dangers and the modes of avoiding them. (A. R. W.)
APPENDIX The task of collecting information as to animals which have become permanently naturalized away from their native haunts is anything but easy, as few regular records have been kept by acclimatizers. Moreover, recorders of local fauna have been almost unanimous in ignoring the introduced forms, except when they have had occasion to comment on the effects, real or supposed, of these immigrants on aboriginal faunas.
Mammals.---It is unnecessary here to dwell upon the world-wide distribution of the two rats Mus rattus and M. decumanus, and of the house-mouse M. musculus; their introduction has always been involuntary. Similarly nearly all our domestic mammals except the sheep have become feral somewhere or other, whether by intentional liberation or by escape; but the smaller ones more than the larger, such as pigs, goats, dogs and cats. This has been especially the case in Hawaii and New Zealand; in America, Australia and Hawaii, horses and cattle are also feral. Feral pigs are numerous in New Zealand.
The domestic Indian buffalo (Bos bubalus) exists as a wild animal in North Australia; it is very liable to revert to a wild state, being little altered from its still-existing wild ancestor. A more curious case is that of the one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius), a beast only known in domestication, and that in arid countties; yet a number of these have become feral in the Spanish marshes, where they wade about like quadrupedal flamingoes.
The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is now widely distributed as a wild animal over New Zealand, where also the fallow-deer (C. dama) and the Indian sambar (C. aristotelis or unicolor) have been introduced locally. The sambar, or one or other of its subspecies, has also been naturalized in Mauritius, and in the Marianne Islands in the open Pacific.
The wide introduction of the rabbit, as a wild animal, is well known. Amounting to a serious pest in Australasian colonies, it is also established in the Falklands and Kerguelen; its presence in much of Europe is attributed to early acclimatization, as it seems anciently to have been confined to the Iberian peninsula.
The hare has been established in New Zealand and Barbadoes. Few other rodents have been designedly naturalized, but the North American grey squirrel (Sciurus einereus) appears to be established as a wild animal in Woburn Park, Bedfordshire, England, and may probably spread thence.
To check the increase of the rabbit, stoats, weasels and polecats (the last in the form of the domesticated ferret) were introduced into New Zealand on a very large scale in the last quarter of the 19th century. They have spread widely, and have not confined their depredations to the rabbits, so that the indigenous flightless birds have suffered largely.
Another carnivore of very similar habits, the Indian mongoose (Herpestus griseus or H. mungo), has been naturalized in Jamaica, whence it has been carried to other West Indian Islands, and in the Hawaiian group. It has also been tried, but unsuccessfully, in Australia. The first introduction into Jamaica took place in 1872, and ten years later the animal was credited with saving many thousands of pounds annually by its destruction of rats. But before an equal space of time had further elapsed, it had itself become a pest; the most recent information, however, is to the effect that its numbers are now on the decline, and that the disturbed faunal equilibrium is being readjusted.
The civets, being celebrated for their odoriferous secretion, are likely animals to have been naturalized. W. T. Blanford (Fauna of British India, ``Mammals'') thinks that the presence of the Indian form, Viverricula malaccensis, in Socotra, the Comoro Islands and Madagascar is due to the assistance of man.
The common fox of Europe has been introduced into Australia, where it is destructive to the native fauna and to lambs.
Among primates, a Ceylonese monkey (Macacus pileatus) has been naturalized in Mauritius for centuries, the circumstances of introduction being unknown.
The Common Australian ``opossum'' or phalanger (Trichosurus vulpecula) has been naturalized in New Zealand, although very destructive to fruit trees; the value of its fur being probably the motive. It is said that the pelage of the New Zealand specimens is superior, as might be expected from the colder climate.
Birds.---The introduction of mammals has been largely influenced by economic conditions, when, indeed, it was not absolutely accidental and unavoidable; but in the case of birds it has been more gratuitous, so to speak, in many cases, and hence is looked upon with especial dislike by naturalists. The domestic birds have comparatively seldom become feral, doubtless, as C. Darvdn points out, from the reduction of their powers of flight in many cases. The guinea-fowl, however, has long been in this condition in Jamaica and St Helena, and the fowl in Hawaii and other Polynesian islands. The pheasant has been naturalized in the United States, New Zealand, Hawaii and St Helena. Its naturalization in western Europe is very ancient, but the race supposed to have been introduced by the Romans (Phasianus colchicus) has been much modified within the last century or two by the introduction of the ring-necked Chinese form (P. torquatus), which produces fertile hybrids with the old breed. Thus those acclimatized were usually, no doubt, of mixed blood, and further introductions of pure Chinese stock have tended to make the latter the dominant form, at any rate in the United States (where it is erroneously called Mongolian1) and in New Zealand. In Hawaii and St Helena the ring-neck appears to have been the only pheasant introduced pure, but in the former the Japanese race (P. versicolor) is also naturalized.
1 The true Mongolian pheasant (P. mongolicus), a very different bird, has recently been introduced into England.
The golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pietus) is locally established in the United States, as appear to be other pheasants of less common species. The Reeves' pheasant (P. reevesi) is at large on some English estates. Of the partridges, the continental red-leg (Caccabis rnfo) is established in England, and its ally, the Asiatic chukore (C. chukar), in St Helena, as is the Californian quail (Lophortyx californica ) in New Zealand and Hawaii. The latter, however, though thriving as an aviary bird, has failed at large in England, as did the bob-white (Ortyx virginianus) both there and in New Zealand.
The desirable character of the grouse as game-birds has led to many attempts at their acclimatization, but usually these have been unsuccessful; the red grouse (Lagopus scoticus), however, the only endemic British bird, is naturalized in some parts of Europe.
Of waterfowl, the Canada goose (Brantd eanadensis) is naturalized to a small extent in Britain, and also, to a less degree, the Egyptian goose (Chenalopex aegyptiacus); the latter bird also occurs wild in New Zealand. The modern presence of the black swan of Australia (Chenopis atrata) in New Zealand appears to be due to a natural irruption of the species about half a century ago as much as to acclimatization by man, if not more so.
Birds of prey are, unjustly enough, regarded with so little favour that few attempts have been made to naturalize them; the continental little owl (Athene noctua), however, has for some time been well established in England, where it has hardly, if ever, appeared naturally.
Pigeons have been very little naturalized; the tame bird has become feral locally in various countries, and the Chinese turtledove (Turtur chinensis) is established in Hawaii, as is the small East Indian zebra dove (Geopelia striata) in the Seychelles, and the allied Australian (G. tranquilla) in St Helena. There has also been very little naturalization of parrots, but the rosella parrakeet of Australia (Platycercus eximius) is being propagated by escaped captives in the north island of New Zealand, and its ally the mealy rosella (P. pallidiceps) is locally wild in Hawaii, the stock in this case having descended from a single pair intentionally liberated. Attempts to naturalize that well-known Australian grass-parrakeet the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) in England have so far proved abortive, and none of the species experimented with in Norfolk and Bedfordshire effected a settlement. The greyheaded love-bird (Agapornis cana) of Madagascar is established in the Seychelles. Some of the passerine birds have been the most widely distributed, especially the house-sparrow (Passer domesticus), which is now an integral, and very troublesome, part of the fauna in the Australasian States and in North America. It is, in fact, as notorious an example of over-successful acclimatization as the rabbit, but in Hutton and Drummond's recent work on the New Zealand animals (London, 1905) it is not regarded in this light, considering that some very common exotic birds were needed to keep down the insects, which it certainly did. Even in the United States also, it has been found a useful destroyer of weed-seeds. The house-sparrow is also feral in Argentina, some of the West Indian islands, Hawaii and the Andamans.
The allied tree-sparrow (P. montanus) has been locally naturalized in the United States; it is a more desirable bird, being less prolific and pugnacious, but it is expelled from towns by the house-sparrow.
The so-called Java sparrow (Munia orysivora), although a destructive bird to rice, has been widely distributed by accident or design, and is now found in several East Indian islands besides Java, in south China, St Helena, India, Zanzibar and the east African coast. An allied but much smaller weaver-finch, a form of the spice-bird (Munia nisoria punctata), is introduced and well distributed over the Hawaiian islands. The little rooibek of South Africa (Estrilda astrild) has been so long and well established in St Helena that it is known in the bird trade as the St Helena waxbill, and the brilliant scarlet weaver of Madagascar (Fondia madagascariensis) inhabits as an imported bird Mauritius, the Seychelles and even the remote Chagos Islands.
Returning to the true finches, the only one which can compete with the house-sparrow in the extent of its distribution by man is the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), now established all over New Zealand, as well as in Australia, the United States and Jamaica. It bears a good character, and is one of the marked successes of naturalization. The redpoll (Acanthis linaria), chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and greenfinch (Chloris chloris) are established in New Zealand, the last named being a pest there, as is also the cirl-bunting (Emberiza cirlus)---the yellow-hammer (E. citrinella) being perhaps confused with this also.
Among starlings, the Indian mynah (generally the house mynah, Acridotheros tristis, but some other species seem to have been confused with this) has been naturalized in the Andamans, Seychelles, Reunion, Australia, Hawaii and parts of New Zealand. Its alleged destructiveness to the Hawaiian avifauna seems open to doubt.
The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is naturalized in New Zealand, Australia and to some extent in the United States. Thrushes have not been widely introduced, but the song-thrush and blackbird (Turdus musicus and Merula merula) are common in New Zealand; attempts were made, but unsuccessfully, to establish the latter in the United States. The so-called hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis), really a member of this group, is one of the successful introductions into New Zealand. The robin (Erithacus rubecula) failed there.
Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) and the Australian ``magpie'' or piping crow (Gymnorhina) are to be found in New Zealand, but only locally, especially the former.
Reptiles and Amphibians.---Very little naturalization has been effected, or indeed apparently attempted, in regard to these groups, but the occurrence of the edible frog of the continent of Europe (Rana esculenta) as an introduced animal in certain British localities is well known. An Australian tree-frog (Hyla peronii) is naturalized in many parts of the north island of New Zealand.
Fish.--The instances of naturalization in this class are few, but important. The common carp (Cyprinus carpio), originally a Chinese fish, has for centuries been acclimatized in Europe, where indeed it is in places a true domestic creature, with definite variations. It is, however, quite feral also, and has been introduced into North America.
The Prussian carp (Carassius vulgaris) is established in New Zealand, and the nearly-allied goldfish, a domestic form (C. auratus) of Chinese origin, has been widely distributed as a pet, and is feral in some places.
The gourami (Osphromenus olfax) of the East Indies has been established in Mauritius and Cayenne, being a valuable foodfish.
The most important case of naturalization of fish is, however, the establishment of some Salmonidae in Tasmania and New Zealand. These are the common trout and sea-trout (Salmo fario and S. trutta); they attain a great size. So far, attempts to establish the true salmon in alien localities have been unsuccessful, but the American rainbow trout (S. irideus) has thriven in New Zealand, and the brook char of the same continent (S. fontinalis) inhabits at least one stream there to the exclusion of the common trout.
Invertebrates.---Many insects and other invertebrates, mostly noxious, have been accidentally naturalized, and some have been deliberately introduced, like the honey-bee, now feral in Australasia and North America, and the humble-bee, imported into New Zealand to effect the fertilization of red clover.
The spread of the European house-fly has been deliberately encouraged in New Zealand, as wherever it penetrates the native flesh-fly, a more objectionable pest, disappears.
The wide distribution of three common cockroaches (Feriplaneta americana, Blatta orientalis and Ectobia germanica) is well known, but these are chiefly house-insects.
The common small white butterfly of Europe (Pontia or Pieris rapae) is now established in North America; and the march of the jigger, or foot-infesting flea (Sarcopsylla penetrans) of tropical America, across Africa, has taken place in quite recent years.
The Romans are credited with having purposely introduced the edible snail (Helix pomatia) into England, and the common garden snail and slugs (Helix aspersa, Limax agrestis and Arion hortensis) have been unwittingly established in New Zealand. In that country, also, the earthworms of Europe are noticed to replace native forms as the ground is broken.
General Remarks.--A great deal has been said about the upsetting of the balance of nature by naturalization, and as to the ill-doing of exotic forms. But certain considerations should be borne in mind in this connexion. In the first place, naturalization experiments fail at least as often as they succeed, and often quite inexplicably. Thus, the linnet and partridge have failed to establish themselves in New Zealand. This may ultimately throw some light on the disappearance of native forms; for these have at times declined without any assignable cause.
Secondly, native forms often disappear with the clearing off of the original forest or other vegetation, in which case their recession is to a certain extent unavoidable, and the fauna which has established itself in the presence of cultivation is needed to replace them.
Thirdly, the ill effect of introduced forms on existing ones may often be due rather to the spread of disease and parasites than to actual attack; thus, in Hawaii the native birds have been found suffering from a disease which attacks poultry. And the recession of the New Zealand earthworms and flies before exotic forms probably falls under this category. As man cannot easily avoid introducing parasites, and must keep domestic animals and till the land, a certain disturbance in aboriginal faunas is absolutely unavoidable. Under certain circumstances, however, the native animals may recover, for in some cases they even profit by man's advent, and at times themselves become pests, like the Kea parrot (Nestor notabilis), which attacks sheep in New Zealand, and the bobolink or rice-bird (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) in North America. Finally, it should never be forgotten that the worst enemies of declining forms have been collectors who have not given these species the chance of recovering themselves. (F. FN.)
ACCOLADE (from Ital. accolata, derived from Lat. collum, the neck), a ceremony anciently used in conferring knighthood; but whether it was an actual 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 with the flat of the sword on the side of the neck, or on either shoulder as well. In Great Britain the sovereign, in conferring knighthood, still employs this latter form of accolade.
``Accolade'' is also a technical term in music-printing for a sort of brace joining separate staves; and in architecture it denotes a form of decoration on doors and windows.
ACCOLTI, BENEDETTO (1415-1466), Italian jurist and historian, was born 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 at Florence. In conjunction with his brother Leonardo, he wrote in Latin a history of the first crusade, entitled De Fello a Christianis contra Barbaros gesto pro Ghristi Sepulehro et Iudaea recuperandis libri tres (Venice, 1432, translated into Italian, 1543, and into French, 1620), which, though itself of little interest, is said to have furnished Tasso with the historic basis for his Jerusalem Delivered. Another work of Accolti's-De Praestantia Virorum sui Aevi--was published at Parma in 1689. His brother Francesco (1418-1483) was also a distinguished jurist, and was the author of Conrilia seu responsa (Pisa, 1481); Commentaria super lib. ii. decretalium (Bologna, 1481); Gommentaria (Pavia, 1493); de Balneis Puleolanis (1475).
ACCOLTI, BERNARDO (1465--1536), Italian poet, born at Arezzo, was the son of Benedetto Accolti. Known in his own day as l'Unico Aretino, he 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 Bombo 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.
ACCOLTI, PIETRO (1455--1532), brother of the preceding, known as the cardinal of Ancona, was born in Florence on the 15th of March 1455, and died at Rome on the 12th of December 1532 (Ciaconi, Vitae Pontificum, 1677, iii. 295). He was made bishop of Ancona, in 1505, and cardinal on the 17th of March 1511, by Julius II. He was abbreviator under Leo X., and in that capacity drew up in 1520 the bull against Luther (L. Cardella, Memorie Storiche de' Cardinali, 1793, iii. 450). He held successively the suburban sees of Albano and Sabina, also the sees of Cadiz, Maillezais, Arras and Cremona, and was made archbishop of Ravenna, 1524, by Clement VII.
F. Cristofori (Storia dei Cardinali, 1888) and others have confused him with his nephew BENEDETTO (1497-1549), son of Michaele; who followed him in several of his preferments, was made cardinal, 1527, by Clement VII., and is known as a writer in behalf of papal claims and as a Latin poet.
ACCOMMODATION (Lat. accommodare, to make fit, from ad, to, cum, with, and modus, measure), the process of fitting, adapting, adjusting or supplying with what is needed (e.g. housing).
In theology the term ``accommodation'' is used rather loosely to describe the employment of a word, phrase, sentence or idea, in a context other than that in which it originally occurred; the actual wording of the quotation may be modified to a greater or lesser extent. Such accommodation, though sometimes purely literary or stylistic, generally has the definite purpose of instruction, and is frequently used both in the New Testament and in pulpit utterances in all periods as a means of producing a reasonably accurate impression of a complicated idea in the minds of those who are for various reasons unlikely to comprehend it otherwise. There are roughly three main kinds. (1) A later Biblical passage quotes from an earlier, partly as a literary device, but also with a view to demonstration. Sometimes it is plain that the writer deliberately ``accommodates'' a quotation (cf. John xviii. 8, 9 with xvii. 12). But New Testament quotations of Old Testament predictions are often for us accommodations---striking or forced as the case may be --while the New Testament writer, ``following the exegetical methods current among the Jews of his time, Matthew ii. 15, 18, xxvi. 31, xxvii. 9'' (S. R. Driver in Zechariah in Century Bible, pp. 259, 271), puts them forward as arguments. To say that he is merely ``describing a New Testament fact in Old Testament phraseology'' may be true of the result rather than of his design. (2) Much beeides in the Bible--parable, metaphor, &c.--has been called an ``accommodation,'' or divine condescension to human weakness. (3) German 18th-century rationalism (see APOLOGETICS) held that the Biblical writers made great use of conscious accommodation--intending moral commonplaces when they seemed to be enunciating Christian dogmas. Another expression for this, used, e.g., by J. S. Semler, is ``economy,'' which also occurs in the kindred sense of ``reserve'' (or of Disciplina Arcani--a modern term for the supposed early Catholic habit of reserving esoteric truths). Isaac Williams on Reserve in Religious Teaching, No. 80 of Tracts for the Times, made a great sensation; see R. W. Church's comments in The Oxford Movement. Strictly, accommodation (2) or (3) modifies, in form or in substance, the content of religious belief; reserve, from prudence or cunning, withholds part. ``Economy'' is used in both senses.
ACCOMMODATION BILL. An accommodation bill, as its name implies, is a bill of exchange accepted and sometimes endorsed without any receipt of value in order to afford temporary pecuniary aid to the person accommodated. (See BILL OF EXCHANGE.)
ACCOMPANIMENT (i.e. that which ``accompanies''), a musical term for that part of a vocal or instrumental composition added to support and heighten the principal vocal or instrumental part; either by means of other vocal parts, single instruments or the orchestra. The accompaniment may be obbligato or ad libitum, according as it forms an essential part of the composition or not. The term obbligato or obbligato accompaniment is also used for an independent instrumental solo accompanying a vocal piece. Owing to the early custom of only writing the accompaniment in outline, by means of a ``figured bass,'' to be filled in by the performer, and to the changes in the number, quality and types of the instruments of the orchestra, ``additional'' accompaniments have been written for the works of the older masters; such are Mozart's ``additional'' accompaniments to Handel's Messiah or those to many of the elder Bach's works by Robert Franz. In common parlance any support given, e.g. by the piano, to a voice or instrument is loosely called an accompaniment, which may be merely ``vamped'' by the introduction of a few chords, or may rise to the dignity of an artistic composition. In the history of song the evolution of the art side of an accompaniment is important, and in the higher forms the vocal and instrumental parts practically constitute a duet, in which the instrumental part may be at least as important as that of the voice.
ACCOMPLICE (from Fr. complice, conspirator, Lat. complex, a sharer, associate, complicare, to fold together; the ac- is possibly due to confusion with ``accomplish,'' to complete, Lat. complere, to fill up), in law, one who is associated with another or others in the commission of a crime, whether as principal or accessory. The term is chiefly important where one of those charged with a crime turns king's evidence in the expectation of obtaining a pardon for himself. Accordingly, as his evidence is tainted with self-interest, it is a rule of practice to direct a jury to acquit, where the evidence of an accomplice is not corroborated by independent evidence both as to the circumstances of the offence and the participation of the accused in it. An accomplice who has turned king's evidence usually receives a pardon, but has no legal right to exemption from punishment till he has actually received it.
ACCORAMBONI, VITTORIA (1557--1585), an Italian lady famous for her great beauty and accomplishments and for her tragic history. She was born in Rome of a family belonging to the minor noblesse of Gubbio, which migrated to Rome with a view to bettering their fortunes. After refusing several offers of marriage for Vittoria, her father betrothed her to Francesco Peretti (1573), a man of no position, but a nephew of Cardinal Montalto, who was regarded as likely to become pope. Vittoria was admired and worshipped by all the cleverest and most brilliant men in Rome, and being luxurious and extravagant although poor, she and her husband were soon plunged in debt. Among her most fervent admirers was P. G. Orsini, duke of Bracciano, one of the most powerful men in Rome, and her brother Marcello, wishing to see her the duke's wife, had Peretti murdered (1581). The duke himself was suspected of complicity, inasmuch as he was believed to have murdered his first wife, Isabella de' Medici. Now that Vittoria was free he made her an offer of marriage, which she willingly accepted, and they were married shortly after. But her good fortune aroused much jealousy, and attempts were made to annul the marriage; she was even imprisoned, and only liberated through the interference of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. On the death of Gregory XIII., Cardinal Montalto, her first husband's uncle, was elected in his place as Sixtus V. (1585); he vowed vengeance on the duke of Bracciano and Vittoria, who, warned in time, fled first to Venice and thence to Salo in Venetian territory. Here the duke died in November 1585, bequeathing all his personal property (the duchy of Bracciano he left to his son by his first wife) to his widow. Vittoria, overwhelmed with grief, went to live in retirement at Padua, where she was followed by Lodovico Orsini, a relation of her late husband and a servant of the Venetian republic, to arrange amicably for the division of the property. But a quarrel having arisen in this connexion Lodovico hired a band of bravos and had Vittoria assassinated (22nd of December 1585). He himself and nearly all his accomplices were afterwards put to death by order of the republic.
About Vittoria Accoramboni much has been written, and she has been greatly maligned by some biographers. Her story formed the basis of Webster's drama, The Tragedy of Paolo Giordano Ursini (1612), and of Ludwig Tieck's novel, Vittoria Accoramboni (1840); it is told more accurately in D. Gnoli's volume, Vittoria Accoramboni (Florence, 1870), and an excellent sketch of her life is given in Countess E. Martinengo-Cesaresco's Lombard Studies (London, 1902). (L. V.*)
ACCORD (from Fr. accorder, to agree), in law, an agreement between two parties, one of whom has a right of action against the other, to give and accept in substitution for such Iight any good legal consideration. Such an agreement when executed discharges the cause of action and is called Accord and Satisfaction.
ACCORDION (Fr. aeeordeoni Ger. Handharmonica, Ziehharmonica), a small portable reed wind instrument with keyboard, the smallest representative of the organ family, invented in 1829 by Damian, in Vienna.
The accordion consists of a bellows of many folds, to which is attached a keyboard with from 5 to 50 keys. The keys on being depressed, while the bellows are being worked, open valves admitting the wind to free reeds, consisting of narrow tongues of metal riveted some to the upper, some to the lower board of the bellows, having their free ends bent, some inwards, some outwards. Each key produces two notes, one from the inwardly bent reed when the bellows are compressed, the other from the outwardly bent reed by suction (as in the American organ; see HARMONIUM) when the bellows are expanded. The pitch of the note is determined by the length and thickness of the reeds, reduction of the length tending to sharpen the note, while reduction of the thickness lowers it. The right hand plays the melody on the keyboard, while the left works the bellows and manipulates the two or three bass harmony keys, which sound the simple chords of the tonic and dominant. The archetype of the accordion is the cheng (q.v.), or Chinese organ, between which and the harmonium it forms a connecting link structurally, although not invented for some thirty years after the harmonium. The timbre of the accordion is coarse and devoid of beauty, but in the hands of a skilful performer the best instruments are not entirely without artistic merit. Improvements in the construction of the accordion produced the concertina (q.v.), melodion and melophone. las Accordion in kurzer Zeit richtig spielen zu erlernen (Wien, 1834). See also FREE REED VIBRATOR. (K. S.)
ACCORSO (ACCURSIUS), MARIANOELO (c. 1490-1544), Italian critic, was born at Aquila, in the kingdom of Naples. 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 Diatribae in Ausonium, Solinum et Ovidium (1524) is a monument of erudition and critical skill. He was the first editor of the Letters of Gassiodorus, with his Treatise on the Soul (1538); 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 in which an Oscan, a Volscian and a Roman are introduced as interlocutors (1531). Accorso was accused of plagiarism in his notes on Ausonius, a charge which he most solemnly and energetically repudiated.
ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, computare, to calculate), counting, reckoning, especially of moneys paid and received, hence a statement made as to the receipt and payment of moneys; also any statement as to acts or conduct, or quite simply any narrative report of events, &c. A further sense-development is that of esteem, consideration.
As a stock-exchange term ``account'' is used in several senses. (1) The periodical settlements occurring, in London, monthly for British government and a few other first-class securities, and fortnightly for all others. The settlement extends over four days in mining shares and three days in other securities. The first day is the carry-over, ``contango,'' or making-up, day, on which speculative commitments are carried over, or continued: that is, the bulls, who have bought stock for the rise, arrange the rate of interest that they have to give on their stock to a moneylender, or bear, who will pay for it or take it in for them; and the bears, who have sold for the fall, arrange the rate that they receive from the bulls or, if the stock is scarce and oversold, the backwardation or rate that they have to pay to holders of the stock who will lend it them to enable them to complete their bargains. On the second day, called ticket-day or name day, a ticket giving the name and address of the ultimate buyer and the firm which will pay for the stock is passed through the various intermediaries to the ultimate seller, so that the actual transfer of the stock can be made directly. In the mining market the passing of names takes two days. On the last day, account day, pay day or settling day, cheques are paid to meet speculative differences, or against the delivering of stock. (2) The period between two settlements. A nineteen-day account is one in which nineteen days elapse between one pay-day and another. (3) The volume or condition of commitments. A speculator is said to have a large account open when he has dealt heavily either for the rise or fall. A bull account exists in a stock or group of stocks when it or they have been bought for the rise by a Iarge number of operators; in the contrary case, when there have been heavy sales for the fall, a bear account is developed.
ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, formerly an officer in the English Court of Chancery, who received all moneys lodged in court, and by whom they were deposited in bank and disbursed. The office was abolished by the Chancery Funds Act 1872, and the duties transferred to the paymaster-general (q.v.).
ACCOUNTANTS. The term ``accountant'' is one to which, of late years, its original meaning has been more generally attributed---that of an expert in the science of book-keeping. It is sometimes adopted by book-keepers, but this is an erroneous application of the term; it properly describes those competent to design and control the systems of accounts required for the record of the multifarious and rapid transactions of trade and finance. It assumes the possession of a wide knowledge of the principles upon which accountancy is based, which may be shortly described as constituting a science by means of which all mercantile and financial transactions, whether in money or in money's worth, including operations completed and engagements undertaken to be fulfilled at once or in a future, however remote, may be recorded; and this science comprises a knowledge of the methods of preparing statistics, whether relating to finance or to any transactions or circumstances which can be stated by numeration, and of ascertaining or estimating on correct bases the cost of any operation whether in money, in commodities, in time, in life or in any wasting property. Generally, accountancy may be described as being the science by means of which all operations, as far as they are capable of being shown in figures, are accurately recorded and their results ascertained and stated.
History.
The origin of the profession of accountancy in Great Britain is difficult to trace; auditors of accounts were naturally of very early existence, being mentioned as officers of importance in the statutes of Westminster in the reign of Edward I. The art of accountancy on a scientific principle must certainly have been understood in Italy before 1495, when Friar Luca dal Borgo published at Venice his treatise on book-keeping; but the first known English book on the science was published in London by John Gouge or Gough in 1543. It is described as A Profitable Treatyce called the Instrument or Boke to learn to knowe the good order of the kepyng of the famouse reconynge, called in Latin, Dare and Habere, and, in Englyshe, Debitor and Creditor. A short book of instruction was also published in 1588 by John Mellis of Southwark, in which he says, ``I am but the renuer and reviver of an auncient old copie printed here in London the 14 of August 1543: collected, published, made, and set forth by one Hugh Oldcastle, Scholemaster, who, as appeareth by his treatise, then taught Arithmetike, and this booke in Saint Ollaves parish in Marko Lane.'' John Melfis refers to the fact that the principle of accounts he explains (which is a simple system of double entry) is ``after the forme of Venice.'' The very interesting and able book described as The Merchants Mirrour, or directions for the perfect ordering and keeping af his accounts formed by way of Debitor and Creditor, after the (so termed) Italian manner, by Richard Dafforne, accountant, published in 1635, contains many references to early books on the science of accountancy. In a chapter in this book, headed ``Opinion of Book-keeping's Antiquity,'' the author states, on the authority of another writer, that the form of book-keeping referred to had then been in use in Italy about two hundred years, ``but that the same, or one in many parts very like this, was used in the time of Julius Caesar, and in Rome long before.'' He gives quotations of Latin book-keeping terms in use in ancient times, and refers to ``ex Oratione Ciceronis pro Roscio Comaedo''; and he adds: ``That the one side of their booke was used for Debitor, the other for Creditor, is manifest in a certaine place, Naturalis Historiae Plinii, lib. 2, cap. 7, where hee, speaking of Fortune, saith thus:
Huic Omnia Expensa. Huic Omnia Feruntur accepta et in tota Ratione mortalium sola Utramque Paginam facit.'' An early Dutch writer appears to have suggested that double-entry book-keeping was even in existence among the Greeks, pointing to scientific accountancy having been invented in remote times.
There were several editions of Richard Dafforne's book printed---the second edition having been published in 1636, the third in 1656, and another was issued in 1684. The book is a very complete treatise on scientific accountancy, it was beautifully prepared and contains elaborate explanations; the numerous editions tend to prove that the science was highly appreciated in the 17th century. From this time there has been a continuous supply of literature on the subject, many of the authors styling themselves accountants and teachers of the art, and thus proving that the professional accountant was then known and employed. Very early in the 18th century the services of an accountant practising in the city of London were made use of in the course of an investigation into the transactions of a director of the South Sea Company, who had been dealing in the company's stock. During this investigation the accountant appears to have examined the books of at least two firms of merchants. His report is described Observations made upon examining the books of Sawbridge and Company, by Charles Snell, Writing Master and Accountant in Foster Lane, London.
In 1799, when Holden's Triennial Directory of London, Westminster and Southwark was first published, 11 individuals and firms were therein described as accountants; in the same directory, for the period 1809-1811, the number had risen to 24; and in that for 1822--1824, there were 73 firms of practising accountants recorded.
Modern development.
The earliest English books dealing with scientific book-keeping were written at a time when the English and Dutch were very actively engaged in foreign trade, in succession to the Italian merchants of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries; but it was not until the beginning of the 19th century that, in consequence of the adoption of improved methods of manufacture and transit, resulting from the application of water and steam power to manufactures and methods of conveyance which largely increased the trade of Great Britain, the profession of an accountant became one which men of scientific knowledge and capacity adopted for their business career. Corporations and companies were formed to carry out large operations previously either left to the state or not undertaken, and for the development of trades and manufactures which were becoming less profitable when carried on by hand labour and with limited capital; and, for these, the services of public accountants were necessarily required to devise systems of accounts and methods of control, and to enable the results of the various transactions carried on to be ascertained with the least waste of power or chance of loss by negligence or fraud. The large number of companies formed in 1843 and 1844, when a great amount of capital was invested in railways and extensive speculation resulted, also added to the demand for the services of professional accountants. The Companies' Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 made provision for the audit of the accounts of companies regulated by act of parliament, and gave some extensive powers to the auditors, who are now, to a very large extent, selected from among professional accountants. The Companies Act of 1862 led to a large extension of the business of accountants, both as auditors and liquidators of companies; and the acts relating to bankruptcy passed between the years 1831 and 1883 added to the work devolving on professional accountants. The Companies Act 1879, which affected banking companies, made provision for the audit of their accounts, and it has been found desirable, in most cases, to appoint professional accountants to this duty. The experience and professional knowledge of trained accountants have, in fact, been utilized by their appointment as auditors in the majority of joint-stock companies, whether manufacturing, banking, trading or created for any other purpose. Until the Companies Act 1900 was passed there was no general obligation upon limited companies to have auditors; this act not only requires that auditors shall be appointed in all cases, but provides for their remuneration, and to a limited extent defines their rights and duties. The legislature evidently did not find it easy to formulate at all clearly the duties of auditors, and it seems reasonable to suppose that any general definition will prove an impossibility, as the work which auditors undertake must vary very widely, and depends largely upon the scope of the operations the accounts of which are to be examined.
Duties.
The duties of practising accountants cover a very wide area: they act as trustees, liquidators, receivers and managers of businesses, the owners of which are in default or their affairs in liquidation, both under the direction of the courts and by appointment of creditors and others; they are largely engaged as arbitrators, umpires and referees in differences relating to matters of account or finance; they prepare the accounts of executors and trustees, and the necessary statements of affairs in cases of bankruptcy, both of firms and companies; they prepare accounts for prosecutions in cases of fraud and misconduct; and they are constantly called upon to unravel and properly state the accounts of complicated transactions. Their services are commonly required to certify the profits of businesses intended to be sold, either privately or to companies by means of a published prospectus; and, in cases of compulsory purchases of businesses by railway companies and public bodies, the statements of the profits of the businesses to be acquired are generally made by them. In a very large number of financial operations they are called upon to give advice and prepare accounts, and in few business matters requiring arithmetical calculations or involving the investigation of figures, and particularly where a considerable acquaintanceship with the principles of law is needed, are their services not utilized.
Auditors.
One of the most important duties undertaken by accountants is the audit of accounts, and this duty has, of late years, been widely extended. Originally, auditors were appointed to examine and vouch statements of receipts and payments; but the provisions made in acts of parliament in relation to audit, and the requirements of most articles of association of limited companies, put much graver responsibilities on auditors, who are now generally required to certify to the accuracy of balance sheets and of revenue and other accounts, the performance of which duties involves far more knowledge of accounts than was once required. The efficiency, in most cases, of audits conducted by skilled accountants has led the public to attach exceptional value to their audit certificates, and to demand extensive knowledge and ability in the conduct of the audit of the accounts of public companies. One other requirement which is generally regarded as indispensable, is that the work of audit should be very expeditiously performed; for it is easy to understand that, were the presentation of the accounts of a company and the distribution of dividends materially delayed in consequence of the audit, much inconvenience would result, while the value of the criticism of the accounts of business operations would be much deteriorated if it could not be made very shortly after the accounts were closed. In these circumstances, in the cases of large concerns with wide ramifications and numerous transactions, it is necessary that auditors should have the help of trained assistants, and thus the personal examination of details by the auditor himself is, to a large extent, rendered unnecessary and the cost of audit materially reduced. This delegation of duty by auditors is generally well understood, and is in accordance with the requirements of those concerned; but there has been a tendency of late years to enlarge the responsibilities of auditors to an extent which, if persisted in, might render it dangerous for men of reputation and means to accept the duties.
Organization.
While the number of practising accountants has of late years been steadily increasing and their services are correspondingly appreciated, the necessity for controlling those exercising the profession and for improving its status has naturally become apparent. The first important steps in this direction were taken by the accountants in Scotland--the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh being incorporated by royal charter in 1854; similar societies in Glasgow and Aberdeen being also incorporated by charter in 1855 and 1867. The Institute of Accountants was formed in London in 1870, but did not receive a royal charter until the 11th May 1880, when all the then existing accountants' societies and institutes in England were incorporated as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and means were provided by which all the then practising accountants in these countries could claim membership thereof. In the year 1885 the Society of Accountants and Auditors was incorporated, but has obtained no charter; this body, while numbering among its members a considerable number of practising accountants in the United Kingdom, also includes treasurers and accountants to cities and boroughs in England, as well as clerks to chartered and other accountants. A large proportion of its members also consists of accountants practising abroad. In 1888 an Institute of Chartered Accountants was formed in Ireland, and a great many institutes and societies have been formed in the British colonies and in the United States, some of which have local charters. It is curious to note, however, that, outside the United Kingdom, it was only in the British colonies that associations of practising accountants existed, until, in 1895, an Institute of Accountants (Nederlands Instituut van Accountants) was founded in Utrecht for Dutch accountants; when, although the principles of accountancy have been well understood and practised in Holland since the 16th century, and probably earlier, it was found necessary to borrow the words ``accountant'' and ``accountancy'' from the English language to convey to the Dutch an idea of the meaning of the terms. Three others have since been formed, the Nederlandsche Academie van Accountants (1902); the Nationale Organisatie van Accountants (1903); and the Nederlandsche Bond van Accountants (1902). Sweden has a society, Svenska Revisorsamfundet, formed in 1899; Belgium, the Chambre Syndicate des Experts Comptables, founded in 1903. In South America, accountants have acquired a certain status in Argentina, Uruguay and Peru.
In the United States the organization of professional accountants is of quite recent growth. The first society formed in America was ``The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants,'' and shortly afterwards (in 1896) the New York state legislature passed an act authorizing the State university to confer the degree of certified public accountant (C.P.A.) on the members of the society, while requiring all subsequent entrants to pass an examination. This degree, however, can be obtained, like other university degrees, without being a member of the society. Other states, notably Pennsylvania, Maryland, California, Illinois, Washington and New Jersey, have followed the example of New York. In 1903 the various state societies formed themselves into a federation. There is also an independent society of practising accountants, the American Association of Public Accountants, with objects similar to those of the federation, but steps have been taken to bring about an amalgamation between the two in order to form one central society to look after their common interests, without, however, interfering with the individual organization of the various state societies.
See R. Brown, History of Accounting and Accountants (Edinburgh), 1905, the most comprehensive book upon the subject; also G. W. Haskins, Accountancy, its Past and Present (U.S.A., 1900); S. S. Dawson, Accountant's Compendium; G. Lisle, Accounting in Theory and Practice (1899); F. W. Pixley, Auditors and their Liabilities (1901). The professional periodicals, The Accountant (vol. i., 1877); Accountant's Journal (vol. i., 1883-1884); The Accountants' Magazine (vol. i., 1897); Incorporated Accountants' Journal (vol. i., 1889-1890); Accountics (U.S.A., vol. i., 1897) may also be consulted, and also the Year-books of the Society of Accountants and Auditors, and of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. (J. G. GR.)
ACCOUTREMENT (a French word, probably derived from a and coustre or coutre, an old word meaning one who has charge of the vestments in a church), clothing, apparel; a term used especially, in the plural, of the military equipment of a soldier other than his arms and clothing.
ACCRA, a port on the Gulf of Guinea in 5 deg. 31' N., 0 deg. 12' W., since 1876 capital of the British Gold Coast colony. Population about 20,000, including some 150 Europeans. Accra is about 80 m. E. of Cape Coast (q.v.), the former capital of the colony. The name is derived from the Fanti word Nkran (an ant), by which designation the tribe inhabiting the surrounding district was formerly known. The town grew up around three forts established in close proximity--St James (British), Crevecoeur (Dutch) and Christiansborg (Danish). The last named was ceded to Britain in 1850, Crevecoeur not till 1871. Fort St James is now used as a signal station, lighthouse and prison. Accra preserves the distinctions of James Town, Ussher Town and Christiansborg, indicative of its tripartite origin. Ussher Town represents Crevecoeur, the fort being renamed after H. T. Ussher, administrator of the Gold Coast (1867-1872). The sea frontage extends about three miles; there is, however, no harbour, and steamers have to lie about a mile out, goods and passengers being landed in surf boats. The streets formerly consisted largely of mud hovels, but since a great fire in 1894, which destroyed large parts of James Town and Ussher Town, more substantial buildings have been erected. Christiansborg, the finest of the three forts, is the official residence of the governor of the colony. Westwards of the landing-place, where is the customs house, lies James Town. Beyond the fort are various public buildings leading to Otoo Street, the main thoroughfare, which runs two miles in a straight line to Christiansborg. This street contains a fine stone church built in 1895 for the use of the Anglican community, a branch of the Bank of British West Africa, telegraph offices and the establishments of the principal trading firms. In Victoriaborg, a suburb of Ussher Town, are the residences of the principal officials, and here a racecourse has been laid out. (Accra is almost the only point along the Gold Coast where horses thrive.) Behind the town is rolling grass land, which gives place to the highlands of Aquapim and Akim. At Aburi in the Aquapim hills, 26 m. N. by E. of Accra, are the government sanatorium and botanical gardens.
Accra, the first town in the Gold Coast colony to be raised (July 1, 1896) to the rank of a municipality, is governed by a town council with power to raise and spend money. The council consists in equal proportions of nominated and elected members, no racial distinctions being made. Accra is connected by cable with Europe and South Africa, and is the sea terminus of a railway serving the districts N.E., where are flourishing cocoa plantations.
ACCRETION (from Lat. ad, to, and crescere, to grow), an addition to that which already exists; increase in any substance by the addition of particles from the outside. In law, the term is used for the increase of property caused by gradual natural additions, as on a river bank or seashore.
ACCRINGTON, a market town and municipal borough in the Accrington parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 208 m. N.W. by N. from London, and 23 m. N. by W. from Manchester, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1891) 38,603; (1901) 43,122. It lies in a deep valley on the Hindburn, a feeder of the Calder. Cotton spinning and printing works, cotton-mill machinery works, dye-works and chemical manufactures, and neighbouring collieries maintain the industrial population. The church of St James dates from 1763, and the other numerous places of worship and public buildings are all modern. The borough is under a mayor, 8 aldermen and 24 councillors. Area 3427 acres.
Accrington (Akerenton, Alkerington, Akerington) was granted by Henry de Lacy to Hugh son of Leofwine in Henry II.'s reign, but came again into the hands of the Lacys, and was given by them about 1200 to the monks of Kirkstall, who converted it into a grange. It again returned, however, to the Lacys in 1287, was granted in parcels, and like their other lands became merged in the duchy of Lancaster. In 1553 the commissioners of chantries sold the chapel to the inhabitants to be continued as a place of divine service. In 1836 Old and New Accrington were merely straggling villages with about 5000 inhabitants. By 1861 the population had grown to 17,688, chiefly owing to its position as an important railway junction. A charter of incorporation was granted in 1878. The date of the original chapel is unknown, but it was probably an oratory which was an offshoot of Kirkstall Abbey. Ecclesiastically the place was dependent on Altham till after the middle of the 19th century.
ACCUMULATION (from Lat. accumulare, to heap up), strictly a piling-up of anything; technically, in law, the continuous adding of the interest of a fund to the principal, for the benefit of some person or persons in the future. Previous to 1800, this accumulation of property was not forbidden by English law, provided the period during which it was to accumulate did not exceed that forbidden by the law against perpetuities, viz. the period of a life or lives in being, and twenty-one years afterwards. In 1800, however, the law was amended in consequence of the eccentric will of Peter Thellusson (1737--1797), an English merchant, who directed the income of his property, consisting of real estate of the annual value of about L. 5000 and personal estate amounting to over L. 600,000, to be accumulated during the lives of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, living at the time of his death, and the survivor of them. The property so accumulated, which, it is estimated, would have amounted to over L. 14,000,000, was to be divided among such descendants as might be alive on the death of the survivor of those lives during which the accumulation was to continue. The bequest was held valid (Thellusson v. Woodford, 1798, 4 Vesey, 237). In 1856 there was a protracted lawsuit as to who were the actual heirs. It was decided by the House of Lords (June 9, 1859) in favour of Lord Rendlesham and Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson. Owing, however, to the heavy expenses, the amount inherited was not much larger than that originally bequeathed.
To prevent such a disposition of property in the future, the Accumulations Act 1800 (known also as the ``Thellusson Act'') was passed, by which it was enacted that no property should be accumulated for any longer term than either (1) the life of the settlor; or (2) the term of twenty-one years from his death; or (3) during the minority of any person living or en ventre sa mere at the time of the death of the grantor; or (4) during the minority of any person who, if of full age, would be entitled to the income directed to be accumulated. The act, however, did not extend to any provision for payment of the debts of the grantor or of any other person, nor to any provision for raising portions for the children of the settlor, or any person interested under the settlement, nor to any direction touching the produce of timber or wood upon any lands or tenements. The act was extended to heritable property in Scotland by the Entail Amendment Act 1848, but does not apply to property in Ireland. The act was further amended by the Accumulations Act 1892, which forbids accumulations for the purpose of the purchase of land for any longer period than during the minority of any person or persons who, if of full age, would be entitled to receive the income. (See also TRUST and PERPETUITY.)
ACCUMULATOR, the term applied to a number of devices whose function is to store energy in one form or another, as, for example, the hydraulic accumulator of Lord Armstrong (see HYDRAULICS, sec. 179). In the present article the term is restricted to its use in electro-technology, in which it describes a special type of battery. The ordinary voltaic cell is made by bringing together certain chemicals, whose reaction maintains the electric currents taken from the cell. When exhausted, such cells can be restored by replacing the spent materials, by a fresh ``charge'' of the original substances. But in some cases it is not necessary to get rid of the spent materials, because they can be brought back to their original state by forcing a reverse current through the cell. The reverse current reverses the chemical action and re-establishes the original conditions, thus enabling the cell to repeat its electrical work. Cells which can thus be ``re-charged'' by the action of a reverse current are called accumulators because they ``accumulate'' the chemical work of an electric current. An accumulator is also known as a ``reversible battery,'' ``storage battery'' or ``secondary battery.'' The last name dates from the early days of electrolysis. When a liquid like sulphuric acid was electrolysed for a moment with the aid of platinum electrodes, it was found that the electrodes could themselves produce a current when detached from the primary battery. Such a current was attributed to an ``electric polarization'' of the electrodes, and was regarded as having a secondary nature, the implication being that the phenomenon was almost equivalent to a storage of electricity. It is now known that the platinum electrodes stored, not electricity, but the products of electro-chemical decomposition. Hence if the two names, secondary and storage cells, are used, they are liable to be misunderstood unless the interpretation now put on them be kept in mind. ``Reversible battery'' is an excellent name for accumulators.
Sir W. R. Grove first used ``polarization'' effects in his gas battery, but R. L. G. Plante (1834-1889) laid the foundation of modern methods. That he was clear as to the function of an accumulator is obvious from his declaration that the lead-sulphuric acid cell could retain its charge for a long time, and had the power d'emmagasiner ainsi le travail chimique de la pile voltaique: a phrase whose accuracy could not be excelled. Plante began his work on electrolytic polarization in 1859, his object being to investigate the conditions under which its maximum effects can be produced. He found that the greatest storage and the most useful electric effects were obtained by using lead plates in dilute sulphuric acid. After some ``forming'' operations described below, he obtained a cell having a high electromotive force, a low resistance, a large capacity and almost perfect freedom from polarization.
The practical value of the lead-peroxide-sulphuric-acid cell arises largely from the fact that not only are the active materials (lead and lead peroxide, PbO2) insoluble in the dilute acid, but that the sulphate of lead formed from them in the course of discharge is also insoluble. Consequently, it remains fixed in the place where it is formed; and on the passage of the charging current, the original PbO2 and lead are reproduced in the places they originally occupied. Thus there is no material change in the distribution of masses of active material. Lastly, the active materials are in a porous, spongy condition, so that the acid is within reach of all parts of them.
Plante's cell.
Plante carefully studied the changes which occur in the formation, charge and discharge of the cell. In forming, he placed two sheets of lead in sulphuric acid, separating them by narrow strips of caoutchouc (fig. 1). When a charging current is sent through the cell, the hydrogen liberated at one plate escapes, a small quantity possibly being spent in reducing the surface film of oxide generally found on lead. Some of the oxygen is always fixed on the other (positive) plate, forming a surface film of peroxide. After a few minutes the current is reversed so that the first plate is peroxidized, and the peroxide previously formed on the second plate is reduced to metallic lead in a spongy state. By repeated reversals, the surface of each plate is alternately peroxidized and reduced to metallic lead. In successive oxidations, the action penetrates farther into the plate, furnishing each time a larger quantity of spongy PbO2 on one plate and of spongy lead on the other. It follows that the duration of the successive charging currents also increases. At the beginning. a few minutes suffice; at the end, many hours are required.
Fig. 1 After the first six or eight cycles, Plante allowed a period of repose before reversing. He claimed that the PbO2 formed by reversal after repose was more strongly adherent, and also more crystalline than if no repose were allowed. The following figures show the relative amounts of oxygen absorbed by a given plate in successive charges (between one charge and the next the plate stood in repose for the time stated, then was reduced, and again charged as anode):-
Separate periods of Charge. Relative amount of Repose. Peroxide formed. . . First 1.0 18 hours Second 1.57 2 days Third 1.71 4 days Fourth 2.14 2 days Fifth 2.43
and so on for many days (Gladstone and Tribe, Chemistry of Secondary Batteries). Seeing that each plate is in turn oxidized and then reduced, it is evident that the spongy lead will increase at the same rate on the other plate of the cell. The process of ``forming'' thus briefly described was not continued indefinitely, but only till a fair proportion of the thickness of the plates was converted into the spongy material, PbO2 and Pb respectively. After this, reversal was not permitted, the cell being put into use and always charged in a given direction. If the process of forming by reversal be continued, the positive plate is ultimately all converted into PbO, and falls to pieces.
Plante made excellent cells by this method, yet three objections were urged against them. They required too much time to ``form''; the spongy masses (PbO2 more especially) fell off for want of mechanical supoort, and the separating strips of caoutchouc were not likely to have a long life. The first advance was made by C. A. Faure (1881), who greatly shortened the time required for ``forming'' by giving the plates a preliminary coating of red lead, whereby the slow precess of biting into the metal was avoided. At the first charging, the red lead on the + electrode is changed to PbO2, while that on the - etectrode is reduced to spongy lead. Thus one continuous operation, lasting perhaps sixty hours, takes the place of many reversals, which, with periods of repose, last as much as three months.
Fig. 2 Tudor positive plate.
Faure used felt as a separating membrane, but its use was soon abolished by methods of construction due to E. Volckmar, J. S. Sellon, J. W. Swan and others. These inventors put the paste not on to plates of lead, but into the holes of a grid, which, when carefully designed, affords good mechanical support to the spongy masses, and does away with the necessity for felt, &c. They are more satisfactory, however, as supporters or spongy lead than of the peroxide, since at the point of contact in the latter case the acid gives rise to a local action, which slowly destroys the grid. Disintegration follows sooner or later, though the best makers are able to defer the failure for a fairly long time. Efforts have been made by A. Tribe, D. G. Fitzgerald and others to dispense whin a supporting grid for the positive plate, but these attempts have not yet been successful enough to enable them to compete with the other forms.
For many years the battle between the ``Plante'' type and the Faure or ``pasted'' type has been one in which the issue was doubtful, but the general tendency is towards a mixed type at the present time. There are many good cells, the value of all resting on the care exercised during the manufacture and also in the choice of pure materials. Increasing emphasis is laid on the purity of the water used to replace that lost by evaporation, distilled water generally being specified. The following descriptions will give a good idea of modern practice.
Chloride cell.
The ``chloride cell'' has a Plante positive with a pasted negative. For the positive a lead casting is made, about 0.4 inch thick pierced by a number of circular holes about half an inch in diameter. Into each of these holes is thrust a roll or rosette of lead ribbon, which has been cut to the right breadth (equal to the thickness of the plate), then ribbed or gimped, and finally coiled into a rosette. The rosettes have sufficient spring to fix themselves in the holes of the lead plate, but are keyed in position by a hydraulic press. The plates are then ``formed'' by passing a current for a long time. In a later pattern a kind of discontinuous longitudinal rib is put in the ribbon, and increases the capacity and life by strengthening the mass
Fig. 3.--Tudor negative plate. without interfering with the diffusion of acid. The negative plate was formerly obtained by reducing pastilles of lead chloride, but by a later mode of construction it is made by casting a grid with thin vertical ribs, connected horizontally by small bars of triangular section. The bars on the two faces are ``staggered,'' that is, those on one face are not opposite those on the other. The grid is pasted with a lead oxide paste and afterwards reduced; this is known as the ``exide'' negative.
The larger sizes of negative plate are of a ``box'' type, formed by riveting together two grids and filling the intervening space
Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6 with paste. A feature of the ``chloride'' cells is the use of separators made of thin sheets of specially prepared wood, These prevent short circuits arising from scales of active material or from the formation of ``trees'' of lead which sometimes grow across in certain forms of battery.
Tudor cell.
The Tudor cell has positives formed of lead plates cast in one piece with a large surface of thin vertical ribs, intersected at intervals by horizontal ribs to give the plates strength to withstand buckling in both directions (fig. 2). The thickness of the plates is about 0.4 inch, and the developed surface is about eight times that of a smooth plate of the same size. A thoroughly adherent and homogeneous coating of peroxide of lead is formed on this large surface by an improved Plante process. The negative plate (fig. 3) is composed of two grids riveted together to form a shallow box; the outer surfaces are smooth sheets pierced with many small holes. The space between them is intersected by ribs and pasted (before riveting).
E.P.S. cell.
Many of the E.P.S. ceils, made by the Electrical Power Storage Company, are of the Faure or pasted type, but the Plante formation is used for the positives of two kinds of cell. The paste for the positive plates is a mixture of red lead with sulphuric acid; for the negative plates, litharge is substituted for red lead. Figs. 4 and
FIG. 7.
5 roughly represent the grids employed for the negative and positive plates respectively of a type used for lighting. Fig. 6 is the cross section of the casting used for the Plante positive of the larger cells for rapid discharge. Finer indentations on the side expose a large surface. Fig. 7 shows a complete cell.
Hart cell.
The Hart cell, as used for lighting, is a combination of the Plante and Faure (pasted) types. The plates hang by side lugs on glass slats, and are separated by three rows of glass tubes 3/8 inch diameter (fig. 8). The tubes rest in grooved teak wood blocks placed at the bottom of the glass boxes. The blocks also serve as base for a skeleton framework of the same material which surrounds and supports the section. Of course the wood has to be specially treated to withstand the acid. A special non-corrosive terminal is used. A coned bolt draws the lug ends of adjacent cells together, fitting in a corresponding tapered hole in the lugs, and thus increasing the contact area. The positive and negative tapers being different, a cell cannot be connected up in the wrong way.
FIG. 8.--Hart Accumulator.
Gould cell.
In America, in addition to some of the cells already described, there are types which are not found in England. Two may be described. The Gould cell is of the Plante type. A special effort is made to reduce local and other deleterious action by starting with perfectly homogeneous plates. They are formed from sheet lead blanks by suitable machines, which gradually raise the surface into a series of ribs and grooves. The sides and middle of the blank are left untouched and amply suffice to distribute the current over the surface of the plate. The grooves are very fine, and when the active material is formed in them by electro-chemical action, they hold it very securely.
Hatch cell.
The Hatch cell has its positive enclosed in an envelope. A very shallow porous tray (made of kaolin and silica) is filled with red lead paste, an electrode of rolled sheet lead is placed on its surface, and over this again is placed a second porous tray filled with paste. The whole then looks like a thin earthenware box with the lug of the electrode projecting from one end. The negatives consist of sheet lead covered by active material. On assembling the plates, each negative is held between two positive ``boxes,'' the outsides of which have protecting vertical ribs. These press against the active material on the negative plates, and help to keep it in position. At the same time, the clearance between the ribs allows room for acid to circulate freely between the negative plate and the outer face of the positive envelope. Diffusion of the acid through this envelope is easy, as it is very porous and not more than 1/32 inch thick.
Traction Cells.---Attempts to run tramcars by accumulators have practically all failed, but traction cells are employed for electric broughams and light vehicles for use in towns. There are no large deviations in manufacture except those imposed by limited space, weight and vibration. The plates are generally thinner and placed closer together. The Plante positive is not used so much as in lighting types. The acid is generally a little stronger in order to get a higher electromotive force (E.M.F.). To prevent the active material from being shaken out of the grids, corrugated and perforated ebonite separators are placed between the plates. The ``chloride'' traction cell uses a special variety of wood separator: the ``exide'' type of plate is used for both positive and negative. Cells are now made to run 3000 or more miles before becoming useless. The specific output can be made as high as 10 or 11 watt-hours per pound of cell, but this involves a chance of shorter life. The average working requirement for heavy vehicles is about 50 watt-hours per 1000 lb. per mile.
Ignition Cells for motor cars are made on the same lines as traction cells, though of smaller capacity. As a rule two cells are put up in ebonite or celluloid boxes and joined in series so as to give a 4-volt battery, the pressure for which sparking coils are generally designed. The capacity ranges from 20 to 100 ampere-hours, and the current for a single cylinder engine will average one to one and a half amperes during the running intervals.
General Features.--The tendency in stationary cells is to allow plenty of space below the plates, so that any active material which falls from the plates may collect there without risk of short-circuit, &c. More space is allowed between the plates, which means that (a) there is more acid within reach, and (b) a slight buckling is not so dangerous, and indeed is not so likely to occur. The plates are now generally made thicker than formerly, so as to secure greater mechanical rigidity. At the same time, the manufacturers aim at getting the active materials in as porous a state as possible.
The figures with regard to specific output are difficult to classify. It would be most interesting to give the data in the form of watt-hours per pound of active material, and then to compare them with the theoretical values, but such figures are impossible in the nature of the case except in very special instances. For many purposes, long life and trustworthiness are more important than specific output. Except in the case of traction cells, therefore, the makers have not striven to reduce weight to its lowest values. Table I. shows roughly the weight of given types of cells for a given output in ampere hours.
TABLE I. Capacity in ampere-hours if Type of cell. discharged in Weight of cell. 9 hrs. 6 hrs. 3 hrs. 1 hr. Ordinary light- ing . . . . . 200 182 153 101 100 pounds '' '' 420 380 300 210 200 pounds '' '' 1200 1080 880 600 670 pounds Central station and High Rate 3500 3100 2500 1700 2000 pounds '' '' 6000 5400 4400 3000 3200 pounds Traction . . . 220 185 155 125 40 pounds '' . . . .. 440 .. .. 90 pounds
Influence of Temperature on Capacity.---These figures are true only at ordinary temperatures. In winter the capacity is diminished, in summer it is increased. The differences are due partly to change of liquid resistance but more especially to the difference in the rate at which acid can diffuse into or out of the pores: obviously this is greater at higher temperatures. The increase in capacity on warming is appreciable, and may amount to as much as 3% per degree centigrade (Gladstone and Hibbert, Journ. Inst. Elec. Eng. xxi. 441; Helm, Electrician, NOV. 1901, i. 55; Liagre, L'Eclairage electrique, 1901,xxix. 150). Notwithstanding these results, it is not advisable to warm accumulators appreciably. At higher temperatures, local action is greatly increased and deterioration becomes more rapid. It is well, however, to avoid low winter temperatures.
Working of accumulators.--Whatever the type of cell may be, it is important to attend to the following working requirements--(1) The cells must be fully equal to the maximum demand, both in discharge rate and capacity. (2) All the cells in one series ought to be equal in discharge rate and capacity. This involves similarity of treatment. (3) The cells are erected on strong wooden stands. Where floor space is too expensive, they can be erected in tiers; but, if possible, this should be avoided. They ought to lie in rows, so arranged that it is easy to get to one side (at least) of every cell, for examination and testing, and if need be to detach and remove it or its plates. Where a second tier is plaeed over the first, sufficient clearance space must be allowed for the plates to be lifted out of the lower boxes. The cells are insulated by supporting them on glass or mushroom-shaped oil insulators. If the containing vessels are made of glass, it it desirable to put them in wooden trays which distribute the weight between the vessel and insulators. To prevent acid spray from filling the air of the room, a glass plate is arranged over each cell. The positive and negative sections are fixed in position with insulating forks or tubes, and the positive terminal of one cell is joined to the negative of the next by burning or bolting. If the latter method is adopted, the surfaces ought to be very clean and well pressed home. The joint ought to be covered by vaseline or varnish. When this has been done, examination ought to be made of each cell to see that the plates are evenly spaced, that the separators (glass tubes or ebonite forks between the plates) are in position and vertical, and that there are no scales or other adventitious matter connecting the plates. The floor of the cell ought to be quite clear; if anything lies there it must be removed. (4) To mix the solution a gentle stream of sulphuric acid must be poured into the water (not the other way, lest too great heating cause an accident). It is necessary to stir the whole as the mixing proceeds and to arrange that the density is about 1190, or according to the recommendation of the maker. About five volumes of water ought to be taken to one volume of acid. After mixing, allow to cool for two or three hours. The strong acid ought to be free from arsenic, copper and other similar impurities. The water ought to be as pure as can be obtained, distilled water being best; rain water is also good. If potable water be employed, it will generally be improved by boiling, which removes some of the lime held in solution. The impurity in ordinary drinking water is very slight; but as all cells lose by evaporation and require additions of water from time to time, there is a tendency for it to increase. The acid must not be put into the cells till everything is ready for charging. (5) A shunt-wound or separately-excited dynamo being ready and running so as to give at will 2.6 or 2.7 volts per cell, the acid is run into the cells. As soon as this is done, the dynamo must be switched on and charging commenced. The positive terminal of the dynamo must be joined to the positive terminal of the battery. If necessary, the + end of the machine must be found by a trial cell made of two plain lead sheets in dilute acid. It is important also to maintain this first charging operation for a long time without a break. Twelve hours is a minimum time, twenty-four not too much. The charging is not even then complete, though a short interval is not so injurious as in the earlier stage. The full charge required varies with the cells, but in all types a full and practically continuous first charge is imperatively necessary. During the early part of this charge the density of the acid may fall; but after a time ought to increase, and finally reach the value desired for permanent working. Towards the end of the ``formation'' vigilant observation must be exercised. It is important to notice whether any cells are appreciably behind the others in voltage, density or gassing. Such cells may be faulty, and in any case they must be charged and tended till their condition is like that of the others. They ought not to go on the discharge circuit till this is assured. The examination of the cells before passing them as ready for discharge includes:---(a) Density of acid as shown by the hydrometer. (b) Voltage. This may be taken when charging or when idle. In the first case it ought to be from 2.4 to 2.6 volts, according to conditions. In the second ease it ought to be just over 2 volts, provided that the observation is not taken too soon after switching in the charging current. For about half an hour after that is done, the E.M.F. has a transient high value, so that, if it be desired to get the proper E.M.F. of the cell, the observation must be taken thirty minutes after the charging ceases.
(c) Eye observations of the plates and the acid between them. The positive plates ought to show a rich dark brown colour, the negatives a dull slate-blue, and the space between ought to be quite clear and free from anything like solid matter. All the positives ought to be alike, and similarly all the negatives. If the cells show similarity in these respects they will probably be in good working order.
As to management, it is important to keep to certain simple rules, of which these are the chief:--(1) Never discharge below a potential difference of 1.85 (or in rapid discharge, 1.8) volt. (2) Never leave the cells discharged, if it be avoidable. (3) Give the cells a special full charging once a month. (4) Make a periodic examination of each cell, determining its E.M.F., density of acid, the condition of its plates and freedom from growth. Any incipient growth, however small, must be carefully watched. (5) If any cell shows signs of weakness, keep it off discharge till it has been brought back to full condition. See that it is free from any connexion between the plates which would cause short-circuiting; tne frame or support which carries the plates sometimes gets covered by a conducting layer. To restore the cell, two methods can be adopted. In private installations it may be disconnected and charged by one or two cells reserved for the purpose; or, as is preferable, it may be left in circuit, and a cell in good order put in parallel with it. This acts as a ``milking'' cell, not only preventing the faulty one from discharging, but keeping it supplied mith a charging current till its potential difference (P.D.) is normal. Every battery attendant should be provided with a hydrometer and a voltmeter. The former enables him to determine from time to time the density of the acid in the cells; instruments specially constructed for the purpose are now easily procurable, and it is desirable that one be provided for every 20 or 25 cells. The voltmeter should read up to about 3 volts and be fitted with a suitable connector to enable contacts to be made quickly with any desired cell. A portable glow lamp should also be available, so that a full light can be thrown into any cell; a frosted bulb is rather better than a clear one for this purpose. He must also have some form of wooden scraper to remove any growth from the plates. The scraping must be done gently, with as little other disturbance as possible. By the ordinary operations which go on in the cell, small portions of the plates become detached. It is important that these should fall below the plates, lest they short-circuit the cell, and therefore sufficient space ought to be left between the bottom of the plates and the floor of the cell for these ``scalings'' to accumulate without touching the plates. It is desirable that they be disturbed as little as possible till their increase seriously encroaches on the free space. It sometimes happens that brass nuts or bolts, &c., are dropped into a cell; these should be removed at once, as their partial solution would greatly endanger the negative plates. The level of the liquid must be kept above the top of the plates. Experience shows the advisability of using distilled water for this purpose. It may sometimes be necessary to replenish the solution with some dilute acid, but strong acid must never be added.
The chief faults are buckling, growth, sulphating and disintegration. Buckling of the plates generally follows excessive discharge, caused by abnormal load or by accidental short-circuiting. At such times asymmetry in the cell is apt to make some part of the plate take much more than its share of the current. That part then expands unduly, as explained later, and curvature is produced. The only remedy is to remove the plate, and press it back into shape as gently as possible. Growth arises generally from scales from one part falling on some other--say, on the negative. In the next charging the scale is reduced to a projecting bit of lead, which grows still further because other particles rest on it. The remedy is, gently to scrape off any incipient growth. Sulphating, the formation of a white hard surface on the active material, is due to neglect or excessive discharge. It often yields if a small quantity of sulphate of soda be added to the liquid in the cell. Disintegration is due to local action, and there is no ultimate remedy. The end can be deferred by care in working, and by avoiding strains and excessive discharge as much as possible.
Accumulators in repose.---Accumulators contain only three active substances---spongy lead on the negative plate, spongy lead peroxide on the positive, and dilute sulphuric acid between
TABLE
Substance. Colour. Density. Specific Resistance. Lead . . . . slate blue 11.3 0.0000195 ohm Peroxide of lead dark brown 9.28 5.6 to 6.8 '' Sulphuric acid after charge clear liquid 1.210 1.37 '' Sulphuric acid after discharge '' '' 1.170 1.28 '' Sulphuric acid below in pores . . . '' '' 1.03 8.0 '' Sulphate of lead white 6.3 non-conductor.
them. Sulphate of lead is formed on both plates during discharge and brought back to lead and lead peroxide again during charge, and there is a consequent change in the strength of acid during every cycle. The chief properties of these substances are shown in Table II.
The curve in fig. 9 shows the relative conductivity (reciprocal of resistance) of all the strengths of sulphuric acid solutions, and by its aid and the figures in the preceding table, the specific resistance of any given strength can be determined.
Fig 9 The lead accumulator is subject to three kinds of local action. First and chiefly, local action on the positive plate, because of the contact between lead peroxide and the lead grid which supports it. In carelessly made or roughly handled cells this may be a very serious matter. It would be so, in all circumstances if the lead sulphate formed on the exposed lead grid did not act as a covering for it. It explains why Plante found ``repose'' a useful help in ``forming,'' and also why positive plates slowly disintegrate; the lead support is gradually eaten through. Secondly, local action on the negative plate when a more electro-negative metal settles on the lead. This often arises when the original paste or acid contains metallic impurities. Similar impurity is also introduced by scraping copper wire, &c., near a battery. Thirdly, local action due to the acid varying in strength in different parts of a plate. This may arise on either plate and is set up because two specimens of either the same lead or the same peroxide give an E.M.F. when placed in acids of different strengths. J. H. Gladstone and W. Hibbert found that the E.M.F. depends on the difference of strength. With two head plates, a maximum of about quarter volt was obtained, the lead in the weaker acid being positive. With two peroxide plates the maximum voltage was about 0.64, the plate in stronger acid being positive to that in weaker. The electromotive force
FIG. 10. of a cell depends chiefly on the strength of the acid, as may be seen from fig. 10 taken from Gladstone and Hibbert's paper (Journ. Inst. Elec. Eng., 1892).The observations with very strong acid were difficult to obtain, though even that with 98% acid marked X is believed to be trustworthy. C. Heim (Elek. Zeit, 1889), F. Streintz (Ann. Phys. Chem. xlvi. p. 449) and F. Dolezalek (Theory of Lead Accumulators, p. 55) have also given tables.
It is only necessary to add to these results the facts illustrated by the following diffusion curves, in order to get a complete clue to the behaviour of an accumulator in active work. Fig. 11 shows the rate of diffusion from plates soaked in 1.175 acid and then placed in distilled water. It is from a paper by L. Duncan and H. Wiegand (Elec. World, N.Y., 1889), who were the first to show the importance of diffusion. About one half the acid diffused out in 30 minutes, a good illustration of the slowness of this process. The rate of diffusion is much the same for both positive and negative plates; but slower for discharged plates than for charged ones. Discharge affects the rate of diffusion on the lead plate more than on the peroxide plate. This is in accordance with the density values given in Table I. For while lead sulphate is formed in the pores of both plates, the consequent expansions (and obstructions) are different; 100 volumes of lead form 290 volumes of sulphate (a threefold
FIG. 11.
expansion), and 100 volumes of peroxide form 186 volumes of sulphate (a twofold expansion). The influence of diffusion on the electromotive force is illustrated by fig. 12. A cell was prepared with 20% acid. It also held a porous pot containing stronger acid, and into this the positive plate was suddenly transferred from the general body of liquid. The E.M.F. rose by diffusion of stronger acid into the pores. Curve I. in fig. 12 shows the rate of rise when the porous pot contained 34% acid; curve II. was obtained with the stronger (58%) acid (Gladstone and Hibbert, Phil. Mag., 1890). Of these two curves the first is more useful, because its conditions are nearer those which occur in practice.
At the end of a discharge it is a common thing for the plates to be standing in 25% acid, while inside the pores the acid may not exceed 8% or 10%. If the discharge be stopped, we have conditions somewhat like fig. 12, and the E.M.F. begins to rise. In one minute it has gone up by about 0.08 volt, &c.
Fig. 12.
Charge and Discharge.---The most important practical questions concerning an accumulator are:--its maximum rate of working; its capacity at various discharge rates; its efficiency; and its length of life. Apart from mechanical injury all these depend primarily on the way the cell is made, and then on the method of charging and discharging. For each type and size of cell there is a normal maximum discharging current. Up to this limit any current may be taken; beyond it, the cell may suffer if discharge be continued for any appreciable time. The most important point to attend to is the voltage at which discharge shall cease. The potential difference at terminals must not fall below 1.80 volt during discharge at ordinary rates (10 hours) or 1.75 to 1.70 volt for 1 or 2 hour rate. The reason underlying the figures is simple. These voltages indicate that the acid in the pores is not being renewed fast enough, and that if the discharge continue the chemical action will change: sulphate will not be formed in situ for want of acid. Any such change in action is fatal to reversibility and therefore to life and constancy in capacity. To illustrate: when at slow discharge rates the voltage is 1.80 volt, the acid in the pores has weakened to a mean value of about 2.5% (see fig. 11), which is quite consistent with some part of the interior being practically pure water. With high discharge rates, something like 0.1 volt may be lost in the cells, by ordinary ohmic fall, so that a voltage reading of 1.73 means an E.M.F. of a little over 1.8 volt, and a very weak density of the acid inside the pores. Guided by these figures, an engineer can determine what ought to be the permissible drop in terminal volts for any given working conditions. Messrs W. E. Ayrton, C. G. Lamb, E. W. Smith and M. W. Woods were the first to trace the working of a cell through varied conditions (Journ. Inst. Elec. Eng., 1890), and a brief resume of their results is given below.
They began by charging and discharging between the limits of 2.4 and 1.6 volts.
Fig. 13 shows a typical discharge curve. Noteworthy points are:--(1) At the beginning and at the end there is a rapid fall in P.D., with an intermediate period of fairly uniform value. (2) When the
Fig. 13.
P.D. reaches 1.6 volt the fall is so rapid that there is no advantage in continuing the action. When the P.D. had fallen to 1.6 volt the cell was automatically switched into a charging circuit, and with a current of 9 amperes yielded the curve in fig. 14. Here again there is a rapid variation in P.D. (in these cases a rise) at the beginning and end of the operation. The cells were now carried through the same cycle several times, giving almost identical values for each cycle. After some days, however, they became more and more difficult to charge, and the return on discharge was proportionately less. It became impossible to charge up to a P.D. of 2.4 volts, and finally the capacity fell away to half its first value. Examination showed that the plates were badly scaled, and that some of the scales had partially connected the plates. These scales were cleared away and the experiments resumed, limiting the fall of P.D. to 1.8 volt. The
Fig. 14.
difficulties then disappeared, showing that discharge to 1.6 volt caused injury that did not arise at a limit of 1.8. Before describing the new results it will be useful to examine these two cases in the light of the theory of E.M.F. already given.
(a) Fall in E.M.F. at beginning of discharge.--At the moment when previous charging ceases the pores of the positive plate contain strong acid, brought there by the charging current. There is consequently a high E.M.F. But the strong acid begins to diffuse away at once and the E.M.F. falls rapidly. Even if the cell were not discharged this fall would occur, and if it were allowed to rest for thirty minutes or so the discharge would have begun with the dotted line (fig. 13). (b) Final rapid fall.---The pores being clogged by sulphate the plugs cannot get acid by diffusion, and when 5% is reached the fall in E.M.F. is disproportionately large (see fig. 10). If discharge be stopped, there is an almost instantaneous diffusion inwards and a rapid rise in E.M.F. (c) The rise in E.M.F. at beginning and end of the charging is due to acid in the pores being strengthened, partly by diffusion, partly by formation of sulphuric acid from sulphate, and partly by electrolytic carrying of strong acid to the positive plate. The injurious results at 1.6 volt arise because then the pores contain water. The chemical reaction is altered, oxide or hydrate is formed, which will partially dissolve, to be changed to sulphate when the sulphuric acid subsequently diffuses in. But formed in this way it will not appear mixed with the active masses in the electrolytic paths, but more or less alone in the pores. In this position it will more or less block the passage and isolate some of the peroxide. Further, when forming in the narrow passage its disruptive action will tend to force off the outer layers. It is evident that limitation of P.D. to 1.8 volt ought to prevent these injuries, because it prevents exhaustion of acid in the plugs.
Fig. 15 shows the results obtained by study of successive periods of rest, the observations being taken between the limits of 2.4 and 1.8 volts. Curves A and B show the state and capacity at the beginning. After a 10 days' rest the capacity was smaller, but repeated cycles
Fig. 15.
of work brought it back to C and D. A second rest (10 days), followed by many cycles, then gave E and F. After a third rest (16 days) and many cycles, G and H were obtained. After a fourth rest (16 days) the first discharge gave I and the first charge J. Repeated cycles brought the cells back to K and L. Curves M and N show first cycle after a fifth rest (16 days); O and P show the final restoration brought about by repeated cycles of work. The numbers given by the integration of some of these curves are stated in Table III.
TABLE III.
Capacity and Efficiency under Various Conditions of Working. Discharge. Charge. Efficiency. Experiment. Ampere- Watt Ampere- Watt Quan- Energy. hours. hours. hours. hours. tity. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Normal cycle 102 201.7 104.5 230.7 97.2 87.4 Restoration after 1st rest 100 179 103.8 228.2 96.8 85.8 Restoration after 2nd rest 91 176.7 103.8 228.2 96.8 85.8 Restoration after 3rd rest 82.6 161.3 86.2 190.5 95.8 84.7 Discharge immediately 56.5 110.5 86.2 190.5 65.5 581 after rest . 56.5 110.5 71.1 158.3 79.6 69.6 Restoration after 8 cycles 80 156.9 83.8 184.6 95.5 85 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The table shows that the efficiency in a normal cycle may be as high as 87.4%; that during a rest of sixteen days the charged
1 This discharge is here compared with the charge that preceded the rest; in the next line the same discharge is compared with the charge following the rest.
accumulator is so affected that about 30% of its charge is not available, and in subsequent cycles it shows a diminished capacity and efficiency; and that by repeated charges and discharges the capacity may be partially restored and the efficiency more completely so. These changes might be due to--(a) leakage or short-circuit, (b) some of the active material having fallen to the bottom of the cell or (c) some change in the active materials. (a) is excluded by the fact that the subsequent charge is smaller, and (b) by the continued increase of capacity during the cycles that follow the rest. Hence the third hypothesis is the one which must be relied upon. The change in the active materials has already been given. The formation of
FIG. 16.
lead sulphate by local action on the peroxide plate and by diract action of acid on spongy metal on the lead plate explains the loss of energy shown in curve M, fig. 15, while the fact that it is probably formed, not in the path of the regular currents, but on the wall of the grid (remote from the ordinary action), gives a probable explanation of the subsequent slow recovery. The action of the acid on the lead during rest must not be overlooked.
We have seen that capacity diminishes as the discharge rate increases; that is, the available output increases as the current diminishes. R. E. B. Crompton's diagram illustrating this fact is given in fig. 16. At the higher rates the consumption of acid is too rapid, diffusion cannot maintain its strength in the pores, and the fall comes so much earlier.
The resistance varies with the condition of the cell, as shown by the curves in fig. 17. It may be unduly increased by long or narrow lugs, and especially by dirty joints between the lugs. It is interesting to note that it increases at the end of both charge and discharge, and
Fig. 17.
much more for the first than the second. Now the composition of the active materials near the end of charge is almost exactly the same as at the beginning of discharge, and at first sight there seems nothing to account for the great fall in resistance from 0.0115 to 0.004 ohm; that is, to about one-third the value. There is, however, one difference between charging and discharging---namely, that due to the strong acid near the positive, with a corresponding weaker acid near the negative electrode. The curve of conductivity for sulphuric acid shows that both strong and weak acid have much higher resistances than the liquid usually employed in accumulators, and it is therefore reasonable to suppose that local variations in strength of acid cause the changes in resistance. That these are not due to the constitution of the plugs is shown by the fact that, while the plugs are almost identical at end of discharge and beginning of charge, the resistance falls from 0.0055 to 0.0033 ohm.
While a current flows through a cell, heat is produced at the rate of C2RX0.24 calories (water-gram-degree) per second. As a consequence the temperature tends to rise. But the change of temperature actually observed is much greater during charge, and much less during discharge, than the foregoing expression would suggest; and it is evident that, besdies the heat produced according to Joule's law, there are other actions which warm the cell during charge and cool it during discharge. Duncan and Wiegand loc. cit.), who first observed the thermal changes, ascribe the chief influence to the electrochemical addition of H2SO4 to the liquid during charge and its removal during discharge. Fig. 18 gives some results obtained by Ayrton, Lamb, &c. This elevation of temperature (due to electrolytic strengthening of acid and local action) is a measure of the energy lost in a cycle, and ought to be minimized as much as possible.
Fig. 18.
Chemistry.---The chemical theory adopted in the foregoing pages is very simple. It declares that sulphate of lead is formed on both plates during discharge, the chemical action being reversed in charging. The following equations express the experimental results.
Condition before
+ plate Liquid - plate x. PbO2 + y. H2SO4 + z. Pb n. H2O
After
+ plate Liquid - plate (x-p). PbO2 (y-2p). H2SO4 (z-p). Pb { }+{ }+{ p. PbSO4 (n+2p). H2O p. PbSO4
During charge, the substances are restored to their original condition: the equation is therefore reversed. An equation of this general nature was published by Gladstone and Tribe in 1882, when Oley first suggested the ``sulphate', theory, which was based on very numerous analyses. Confirmation was given by E. Frankland in 1883, E. Reynier 1884, A. P. P. Crova and P. Garbe 1885, C. Heim and W. F. Kohlrausch 1889, W. E. Ayrton, &c., with G. H. Robertson 1890, C. H. J. B. Liebenow 1897, F. Dolezalek 1897, and M. Mugdan 1899. Yet there has been, as Dolezalek says, an incomprehensible unwillingness to accept the theory, though no suggested alternative could offer good verifiable experimental foundation. Those who seek a full discussion will find it in Dolezalek's Theory of the Lead Accumulator. We shall take it that the sulphate theory is proved, and apply it to the conditions of charge and discharge.
From the chemical theory it will be obvious that the acid in the pores of both plates will be stronger during charge than that outside. During discharge the reverse will be the case. Fig. 19 shows a curve
Fig. 19.
of potential difference during charge, with others showing the concurrent changes in the percentage of PbO2 and the density of acid. These increase almost in proportion to the duration of the current, and indicate the decomposition of sulphate and liberation of sulphuric acid. There are breaks in the P.D. curve at A, B, C, D where the current was stopped to extract samples for analysis, &c. The fall in E.M.F. in this short interval is noteworthy; it arises from the diffusion of stronger acid out of the pores. The final rise of pressure is due to increase in resistance and the effect of stronger acid in the pores, this last arising partly from reduced sulphate and partly from the electrolytic convection of SO4 (see also Dolezalek, Theory, p. 113) . Fig. 20 gives the data for discharge. The percentage of PbO2 and the density here fall almost in proportion to the duration of the current. The special feature is the rapid fall of voltage at the end.
Several suggestions have been made about this phenomenon. The writer holds that it is due to the exhaustion of the acid in the pores. Plante, and afterwards Gladstone and Tribe, found a possible cause in the formation of a film of peroxide on the spongy lead. E. J. Wade has suggested a sudden readjustment of the spongy mass into a complex sulphate. To rebut these hypotheses it is only necessary to say that the fall can be deferred for a long time by pressing fresh acid into the pores hydrostatically (see Liebenow, Zeits. fur Elektrochem., 1897, iv. 61), or by working at a higher temperature. This increases the diffusion inwards of strong acid, and like the increase due to hydrostatic pressure maintains the E.M.F. The other suggested causes of the fall therefore fail. Fig. 20 also shows that when the discharge current was stopped at points A, B, C, D to extract samples, the voltage immediately rose, owing to inward diffusion of stronger acid. The inward diffusion of fresh acid also accounts for the recuperation found after a rest which follows either complete discharge or a partial discharge at a very rapid rate. If the discharge be complete the recuperation refers only to the electromotive force; the pressure falls at once on closed circuit. If discharge has been rapid, a rest will enable the cell to resume work because it brings fresh acid into the active regions.
Fig. 20.
As to the effect of repose on a charged cell, Gladstone and Tribe's experiments showed that peroxide of lead lying on its lead supoort suffers from a local action, which reduces one molecule of PbO2 to sulphate at the same time that an atom of the grid below it is also changed to sulphate. There is thus not only a loss of the available peroxide, but a corrosion of the grid or plate. It is through this action that the supports gradually give way. On the negative plate an action arises between the finely divided lead and the sulphuric acid, with the result that hydrogen is set free-- Pb + H2SO4 = PbSO4 + H2. This involves a diminution of available spongy lead, or loss of capacity, occasionally with serious consequences. The capacity of the lead plate is reduced absolutely, of course, but its relative value is more seriously affected. In the discharge it gets sulphated too much, because the better positive keeps up the E.M.F. too long. In the succeeding charge, the positive is fully charged before the negative, and the differences between them tend to increase in each cycle.
Kelvin and Helmholtz have shown that the E.M.F. of a voltaic cell oan be calculated from the energy developed by the chemical action. For a dyad gram equivalent (= 2 grams of hydrogen, 207 grams of lead, &c.), the equation connecting them is E = H/46000 + T dE/dT, here E is the E.M.F. in volts, H is the heat developed by a dyad equivalent of the reacting substances, T is the absolute temperature, and dE/dT is the temperature coefficient of the E.M.F. If the E.M.F. does not change with temperature, the second term is zero. The thermal values for the various substances formed and decomposed are -For PbO2, 62400; for PbSO4, 216210; for H2SO4, 192920; and for H2O, 68400 calories. Writing the equation in its simplest form for strong acid, and ignoring the temperature coefficient term,
PbO2 + 2 H2SO4 + Pb = 2PbSO4 + 2 H2O -62440 - 385840 + 432420 + 136720 leaving a balance of 120860 calories. Dividing by 46000 gives 2.627 volts. The experimental value in strong acid, according to Gladstone and Hibbert, is 2.607 volts, a very close approximation. For other strengths of acid, the energy will be less by the quantity of heat evolved by dilution of the acid, because the chemical action must take the H2SO4 from the diluted liquid. The dotted curve in fig. 10 indicates the calculated E.M.F. at various points when this is taken into account. The difference between it and the continuous curve must, if the chemical theory be correct, depend on the second term in the equation. The figure shows that the observed E.M.F. is above the theoretical for all strengths from 100 down to 5%. Below 5 the position is reversed. The question remains, Can the temperature coefficient be obtained? This is difficult, because the value is so small, and it is not easy to secure a good cycle of observations. Streintz has given the following values:-- E 1.9223 1.9828 2.0031 2.0084 2.0105 2.078 2.2070 dE/dT.106 140 228 335 285 255 130 73 Unpublished experiments by the writer give dE/dT. 106 = 350 for anid of density 1.156. With stronger acid, a true cycle could not be obtained. Taking Streintz's value, 335 for 25% acid, the second term of the equation is TdE/dT = 290 X .000335 = 0.0971 volt. The first term gives 88800 calories = 1.9304 volt. Adding the second term, 1.9304 + 0.0971 = 2.2075 volts. The observed value is 2.030 volts (see fig. 10), a remarkably good agreement. This calculation and the general relation shown in fig. 10 render it highly probable that, if the temperature coefficient were known for all strengths of acid, the result would be equally good. It is worth observing that the reversal of relationship between the observed and calculated curves, which takes place at 5% or 6%, suggests that the chemistry must be on the point of altering as the acid gets weak, a conclusion which has been already arrived at on purely chemical grounds. The thermodynamical relations are thus seen to confirm very strongly the chemical and physical analyses.1
Accumulators in Central Stations.---As the efficiency of accumulators is not generally higher than 75%, and machines must be used to charge them, it is not directly economical to use cells alone for public supply. Yet they play an important and an increasing part in public work, because they help to maintain a constant voltage on the mains, and can be used to distribute the load on the running machinery over a much greater fraction of the day. Used in parallel with the dynamo, they quickly yield current when the load increases, and immediately begin to charge when the load diminishes, thus largely reducing the fluctuating stress on dynamo and engine for sudden variations in load. Their use is advantageous if they can be charged and discharged at a time when the steam plant would otherwise be working at an uneconomical load.
Fig. 21.
Regulation of the potential difference is managed in various ways. More cells may be thrown in as the discharge proceeds, and taken out during charge; but this method often leads to trouble, as some cells get unduly discharged, and the unity of the battery is disturbed. Sometimes the number of cells is kept fixed for supply, but the P.D. they put on the mains is reduced during charge by employing regulating cells in opposition. Both these plans have proved unsatisfactory, and the battery is now preferably joined across the mains in parallel with the dynamo. The cells take the peaks of the load and thus relieve the dynamo and engine of sudden changes, as shown in fig. 21. Here the line current (shown by the erratic curve) varied spasmodically from 0 to 375 amperes, yet the dynamo current varied from 100 to 150 amperes only (see line A). At the same time the line voltage (535 volts normal) was kept nearly constant. In the late evening the cells became exhausted and the dynamo charged them. Extra voltage was required at the end of a ``charge,' and was provided by a ``booster.'' Originally a booster was an auxiliary dynamo worked in series with the chief machine, and driven in any convenient way. It has
1 For the discussion of later electrolytic theories as apolied to accumulators, see Dolezalek, Theory of the Lead Accumulator.
developed into a machine with two or more exciting coils, and having its armature in series with the cells (see fig. 22). The exciting coils act in opposition; the one carrying the main current sets up an E.M.F. in the same direction as that of the cells, and helps the cells to discharge as the load rises. When the load is small, the voltage on the mains is highest and the shunt exciting current greatest. The booster E.M.F. now acts with the dynamo and against the cells, and causes them to take a full charge. Even this arrangement did not suffice to keep the line voltage as constant as seemed desirable in some cases, as where lighting and traction work were put on the same plant. Fig. 23 is a diagram of a complex booster which gives very good regulation. The booster B has its armature in series with the accumulators A, and is kept running in a given direction at a constant speed by means of a shunt-wound motor (not shown), so that the E.M.F. induced in the armature depends on the excitation. This is made
Fig. 22. to vary in value and in direction by means of four independent enciting coils, C1, C2, C3, C4. The last is not essential, as it merely compensates for the small voltage drop in the armature. It is obvious that the excitation C3 will be proportionate to the difference in voltage between the battery and the mains, and it is arranged that battery volts and booster volts shall equal the volts on the mains. Under this excitation there is no tendency for the battery to charge or discharge. But any additional excitation leads to strong currents one way or the other. Excitation C1 rises with the load on the line, and gives an E.M.F. helping the battery to discharge most when the load is greatest. C2 is dependent on the bus-bar voltage, and is greatest when the generator load is small: it opposes C1 and therefore excites the booster to charge the battery. The exact generator load at which the booster shall reverse its E.M.F. from a charging to a discharging value is adjusted by the resistance R2 in series with C2. A similar resistance R6 allows the excitation of C3 to be adjusted. Very remarkable regulation can be obtained by reversible boosters of this type. In traction and lighting stations it is quite possible to keep the variation of bus-bar pressure within 2% of the normal value, although the load may momentarily vary from a few amperes up to 200 or 300.
J. B. Entz has introduced an auxiliary device which enables him to use a much more simple booster. The Entz booster has no series coil and only one shunt coil, the direction and value of excitation due to this being controlled by a carbon regulator, it having two arms, the resistance of each of which can be varied by pressure due to the magnet- izing action of a solenoid. The main current from the generator passes through the solenoid and causes one or other of the two carbon arms to have the less
FIG. 23.
resistance. This change in resistance determines the direction of the exciter field current, and therefore the direction of the boost. A photograph of the switchboard at Greenock where this booster is in use shows the voltmeter needle as if it had been held rigid, although the exposure lasted 90 minutes. On the same photograph the ammeter needle does not appear, its incessant and large movements preventing any picture from being formed.
Alkaline Accumulators.--Owing to the high electro-chemical equivalent of lead, a great saving in weight would be secured by using almost any other metal. Unfortunately no other metal and its compounds can resist the acid. Hence inventors have been incited to try alkaline liquids as electrolytes. Many attempts have been made to construct accumulators in this way, though with only moderate success. The Lalande-Chaperon, Desmazures, Waddell-Ent2 and Edison are the chief cells. T. A. Edison's cell has been most developed, and is intended for traction work. He made the plates of very thin sheets of nickel-plated steel, in each of which 24 rectangular holes were stamped, leaving a mere framework of the metal. Shallow rectangular pockets of perforated nickel-steel were fitted in the holes and then burred over the framework by high pressures. The pockets contained the active material. On the positive plate this consisted of nickel peroxide mixed with flake graphite, and on the negative plate of finely divided iron mixed with graphite. Both kinds of active material were prepared in a special way. The graphite gives greater conductivity. The liquid was a 20% solution of caustic potash. During discharge the iron was oxidized, and the nickel reduced to a lower state of oxidation. This change was reversed during charge. Fig. 24 shows the general features.
Fig. 24.--Edison Accumulator.
The chief results obtained by European experts showed that the E.M.F. was 1.33 volt, with a transient higher value following charge. A cell weighing 17.8 lb. had a resistance of 0.0013 ohm, and an output at 60 amperes of 210 watt-hours, or at 120 amperes of 177 watt-hours. Another and improved cell weighiog 12.7 lb. gave 14.6 watt-hours per pound of cell at a 20-ampere rate, and 13.5 watt-hours per pound at a 60 ampere rate. The cell could be charged and discharged at almost any rate. A full charge could be given in 1 hour, and it would stand a discharge rate of 200 amperes (Journ. Inst. Elec. Eng., 1904, pp. 1-36).
Subsequently Edison found some degree of falling-off in capacity, due to an enlargement of the positive pockets by pressure of gas. Most of the faults have been overcome by altering the form of the pocket and replacing the graphite by a metallic conductor in the form of flakes.
REFERENCES.---G. Plante, Recherches sur L'electricite (Paris, 1879); Gladstone and Tribe, Chemistry of Secondary Batteries (London, 1884); Reynier, L'Accumulateur voltaique (Paris, 1888); Heim, Die Akkumulatoren (Berlin, 1889); Hoppe, Die Akk. fur Elektricitat (Berlin, 1892); Schoop, Handbuch fur Akk. (Stuttgart, 1898): Sir E. Frankland, ``Chemistry of Storage Batteries,'' Proc. Roy. Soc., 1883; Reynier, Jour. Soc. Franc. de Phys., 1884; Heim, ``U. d. Einfluss der Sauredichte auf die Kapazitat der Akk.,'' Elek. Zeits., 1889; Kohlrausch and Heim, ``Ergebnisse von Versuchen an Akk. fur Stationsbetrieb,'' Elek. Zeits., 1889; Darrieus, Bull. Soc. Intern. des Elect., 1892; F. Dolezalek, The Theory of the Lead Accumulator (London, 1906); Sir D. Salomons, Management of accumulators (London, 1906) E. J. Wade, Secondary Batteries (London, 1901); L. Jumau, Les Accumulateurs electriques (Paris, 1904). (W. HT.)
ACCURSIUS Ital. ACCORSO), FRANCISCUS (1182-1260), Italian jurist, was born at Florence about 1182. A pupil of Azo, he first practised law in his native city, and was afterwards 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. This compilation, bearing the title Glossa ordinaria or magistralis, but usually known as the Great Gloss, 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 Denis Godefroi (1549-1621), published at Lyons in 1589, in 6 vols. folio. When Accursius was employed in this work, it is said that, hearing of a similar one proposed and begun by Odoiced, another lawyer of Bologna, he feigned indisposition, interrupted his public lectures, and shut himself up, till with the utmost expedition he had accomplished his design. 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 disentangled the sense of many laws with much skill, but it is equally undeniable that his ignorance of history and antiquities often led him into absurdities, and was the cause of many defects in his explanations and commentaries. He died at Bologna in 1260. His eldest son Franciscus (1225-1293), who also filled the chair of law at Bologna, was invited to Oxford by King Edward I., and in 1275 or 1276 read lectures on law in the university.
ACCUSATION (Lat. accusatio, accusare, to challenge to a causa, a suit or trial at law), a legal term signifying the charging of another with wrong-doing, criminal or otherwise. An accusation which is made in a court of justice during legal proceedings is privileged (see PRIVILEGE), though, should the accused have been maliciously prosecuted, he will have a right to bring an action for malicious prosecution. An accusation made outside a court of justice would, if the accusation were false, render the accuser liable to an action for defamation of character, while, if the accusation be committed to writing, the writer of it is liable to indictment, whether the accusation be made only to the party accused or to a third person, A threat or conspiracy to accuse another of a crime or of misconduct which does not amount to a crime for the purpose of extortion is in itself indictable.
ACCUSATIVE (Lat. accusativus, sc. casus, a translation of the Gr. aitiatike ptosis, the case concerned with cause and effect, from aiti'a, a cause), in grammar, a case of the noun, denoting primarily the object of verbal action or the destination of motion.
ACE (derived through the Lat. as, from the Tarentine form of the Gr. eis) the number one at dice, or the single point on a die or card; also a point in the score of racquets, lawn-tennis, tennis and other court games.
ACELDAMA (according to Acts i. 19, ``the field of blood''), the name given to the field purchased by Judas Iscariot with the money he received for the betrayal of Jesus Christ. A different version is given in Matthew xxvii. 8, where Judas is said to have cast down the money in the Temple, and the priests who had paid it to have recovered the pieces, with which they bought ``the potter's field, to bury strangers in.'' The MS. evidence is greatly in favour of a form Aceldamach. This would seem to mean ``the field of thy blood,'' which is unsuitable. Since, however, we find elsewhere one name appearing as both Sirach and Sira (ch = aleph), Aceldamach may be another form of an original Aceldama (aleph kamatz mem shvah daleth lamedh tzareh qoph patach heth), the ``field of blood.'' A. Klostermann, however, takes the ch to be part of the Aramaic root demach, ``to sleep,'; the word would then mean ``field of sleep'' or cemetery (Probleme im Aposteltexte, 1-8, 1883), an explanation which fits in well with the account in Matthew xxvii. The traditional site (now Hak el-Dum), S. of Jerusalem on the N.E. slope of the ``Hill of Evil Counsel'' (Jebel Deir Abu Tor), was used as a burial place for Christian pilgrims from the 6th century A.D. till as late, apparently, as 1697, and especially in the time of the Crusades. Near it there is a very ancient charnelhouse, partly rock-cut, partly of masonry, said to be the work of Crusaders.
ACENAPHTHENE, C12H10, a hydrocarbon isolated from the fraction of coal-tar boiling at 260 deg. -270 deg. by M. P. E. Berthelot, who, in conjunction with Bardy, afterwards synthesized it from a-ethyl naphthalene (Ann. Chem. Phys., 1873, Yol. xxix.). It forms white needles (from alcohol), melts at 95 deg. and boils at 278 deg. . Oxidation gives naphthalic acid (1.8 naphthalene dicathoxylic acid).
Acenaphthalene, C12 H8, a hydrocarbon crystallizing in yellow tables and obtained by passing the vapour of acenaphthene over heated litharge. Sodium amalgam reduces it to acenaphthone; chromic acid oxidizes it to naphthalic acid.
ACEPHALI (from a'-, privative, and kefale, head), a term applied to several sects as having no head or leader; and in particular to a strict monophysite sect that separated itself, in the end of the 5th century, from the rule of the patriarch of Alexandria (Peter Mongus), and remained ``without king or bishop'' till they were reconciled by Mark I. (799-819).1 The term is also used to denote clerici vagrantes, i.e. clergy without title or benefice, picking up a living anyhow (cf. Hinschius i. p. 64). Certain persons in England during the reign of King Henry I. were called Acephali because they had no lands by virtue of which they could acknowledge a superior lord. The name is also given to certain legendary races described by ancient naturalists and geographers as having no heads, their mouths and eyes being in their breasts, generally identified with Pliny's Blemmyae.
ACEPHALOUS, headless, whether literally or metaphorically, leaderless. The word is used literally in biology; and metaphorically in prosody or grammar for a verse or sentence with a beginning wanting. In zoology, the mollusca are divided into cephalous and acephalous (Acephala), according as they have or have not an organized part of their anatomy as the seat of the brain and special senses. The Acephala, or Lamellibranchiata (q.v.), are commonly known as bivalve shell-fish. In botany the word is used for ovaries not terminating in a stigma. Acephalocyst is the name given by R. T. H. Laennec to the hydatid, immature or larval tapeworm.
ACERENZA (anc. Aceruntia), a town of the province of Potenza, Italy, the seat of an archbishop, 15 1/2 m. N.E. of the station of Pietragalla, which is 9 m. N.W. of Potenza by rail, 2730 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1901) 4499. Its situation is one of great strength, and it has only one entrance, on the south. It was occupied as a colony at latest by the end of the Republic, and its importance as a fortress was specially appreciated by the Goths and Lombards in the 6th and 7th centuries. It has a fine Norman cathedral, upon the gable of which is one of the best extant busts of Julian the Apostate.
ACEROSE (from Lat. acus, needle, or acer, sharp), needle-shaped, a term used in botany (since Linnaeus) as descriptive of the leaves, e.g., of pines. From Lat. aeus, chaff, comes also the distinct meaning of ``mixed with chaff.''
ACERRA, a town and episcopal see of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, 9 m. N.E. from Naples by rail. Pop. (1901) 16,443. The town lies on the right bank of the Agno, which divides the province of Naples from that of Caserta, 90 ft. above the sea, in a fertile but somewhat marshy district, which in the middle ages was very malarious. The ancient name (Acerrae) was also borne by a town in Umbria and another in Gallia Transpadana (the latter now Pizzighettone on the Adda, 13 m. W.N.W. of Cremona). It became a city with Latin rights in 332 B.C. and later a municipium. It was destroyed by Hannibal in 216 B.C., but restored in 210; in 90 B.C. it served as the Roman headquarters in the Social war, and was successfully held against the insurgents. It received a colony under Augustus, but appears to have suffered much from floods of the river Clams. Under the Empire we hear no more of it, and no traces of antiquity, beyond inscriptions, remain.
ACERRA, in Roman antiquity, a small box or pot for holding incense, as distinct from the turibulum (thurible) or censer in which incense was burned. The name was also given by the Romans to a little altar placed near the dead, on which incense was offered every day till the burial. In ecclesiastical Latin the term acerra is still applied to the incense boats used in the Roman ritual.
ACETABULUM, the Latin word for a vinegar cup, an ancient Roman vessel, used as a liquid measure (equal to about half a gill); it is also a word used technically in zoology, by analogy for certain cup-shaped parts, e.g. the suckers of a mollusc, the socket of the thigh-bone, &c.; and in botany for the receptacle of Fungi.
ACETIC ACID (acidum aceticum), CH3.CO2H, one of the most important organic acids. It occurs naturally in the juice of
1 See Gibbon, ch. xlvii. (vol. v. p. 129 in Pury's ed.).
many plants, and as the esters of n-hexyl and n-octyl alcohols in the seeds of Heracleum giganteum, and in the fruit of Heracleum sphondylium, 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 (q.v.). Acetic acid (in the form of vinegar) was known to the ancients, who obtained it by the oxidation of alcoholic liquors. Wood-vinegar was discovered in the middle ages. Towards the close of the 18th century, A. L. Lavoisier showed that air was necessary to the formation of vinegar from alcohol. In 1830 J. B. A. Dumas converted acetic acid into trichloracetic acid, and in 1842 L. H. F. Melsens reconverted this derivative into the original acetic acid by reduction with sodium amalgam. The synthesis of trichloracetic acid from its elements was accomplished in 1843 by H. Kolbe; this taken in conjunction with Melsens's observation provided the first synthesis of acetic acid. Anhydrous acetic acid--glacial acetic acid--is a leafy crystalline mass melting at 16.7 deg. C., and possessing an exceedingly pungent smell. It boils at 118 deg. , giving a vapour of abnormal specific gravity. It dissolves in water in all proportions with at first a contraction and afterwards an increase in volume. It is detected by heating with ordinary alcohol and sulphuric acid, which gives rise to acetic ester or ethyl acetate, recognized by its fragrant odour; or by heating with arsenious oxide, which forms the pungent and poisonous cacodyl oxide. It is a monobasic acid, forming one normal and two acid potassium salts, and basic salts with iron, aluminium, lead and copper. Ferrous and ferric acetates are used as mordants; normal lead acetate is known in commerce as sugar of lead (q.v.); basic copper acetates are known as verdigris (q.v.).
Pharmacology and Therapeutics.---Glacial acetic acid is occasionally used as a caustic for corns. The dilute acid, or vinegar, may be used to bathe the skin in fever, acting as a pleasant refrigerant. Acetic acid has no valuable properties for internal administration. Vinegar, however, which contains about 5% acetic acid, is frequently taken as a cure for obesity, but there is no warrant for this application. Its continued employment may, indeed, so injure the mucous membrane of the stomach as to interfere with digestion and so cause a morbid and dangerous reduction in weight.
The acetates constitute a valuable group of medicinal agents, the potassium salt being most frequently employed. After absorption into the blood, the acetates are oxidized to carbonates, and therefore are remote alkalies, and are administered whenever it is desired to increase the alkalinity of the blood or to reduce the acidity of the urine, without exerting the disturbing influence of alkanes upon the digestive tract. The citrates act in precisely similar fashion, and may be substituted. They are somewhat more pleasant but more expensive.
ACETO-ACETIC ESTER, C6H10O3 or CH3.CO.CH2.COOC2H5, a chemical substance discovered in 1863 by A. Geuther, who showed that the chief product of the action of sodium on ethyl acetate was a sodium compound of composition C6H9O3Na, which on treatment with acids gave a colourless, somewhat oily liquid of composition C6H10O3. E. Frankland and B. F. Duppa in 1865 examined the reaction and concluded that Geuther's sodium salt was a derivative of the ethyl ester of acetone carboxylic acid and possessed the constitution CH6CO.CHNa.COOC2H5. This view was not accepted by Geuther, who looked upon his compound C6H10O3 as being an acid. J. Wislicenus also investigated the reaction very thoroughly and accepted the Frankland-Duppa formula (Annalen, 1877, 186, p. 163; 1877, 190, p. 257).
The substance is best prepared by drying ethyl acetate over calcium chloride and treating it with sodium wire, which is best introduced in one operation; the liquid boils and is then heated on a water bath for some hours, until the sodium all dissolves. After the reaction is completed, the liquid is acidified with dilute sulphuric acid (1:5) and then shaken with salt solution, separated from the salt solution, washed, dried and fractionated. The portion boiling betbeen 175 deg. and 185 deg. C. is redistilled. The yield amounts to about 30% of that required by theory.
A. Ladenburg and J. A. Wanklyn have shown that pure ethyl acetate free from alcohol will not react with sodium to produce aceto-acetic ester. L. Claisen, whose views are now accepted, studied the reactions of sodium ethylate and showed that if sodium ethylate be used in place of sodium in the above reaction the same result is obtained. He explains the reactions
/ONa CH3.C==O + NaOC2H5 = CH3.C-OC2H5, \ OC2H5 \OC2H5
this reaction being followed by
/ONa H\ CH3.C-OC2H5 + CH.COOC2H5 = 2 C2 H5OH + \OC2H5 H/ CH3.C(ONa):CH.COOC2H5;
and on acidification this last substance gives aceto-acetic ester. Aceto-acetic ester is a colourless liquid boiling at 181 deg. C.; it is slightly soluble in water, and when distilled undergoes some decomposition forming dehydracetic acid C8H8O4. It undoubtedly contains a keto-group, for it reacts with hydrocyanic acid, hydroxylamine, phenylhydrazine and ammonia; sodium bisulphite also combines with it to form a crystalline compound, hence it contains the grouping CH 3/0.CO-. J. Wislicenus found that only one hydrogen atom in the--CH2- group is directly replaceable by sodium, and that if the sodium be then replaced by an alkyl group, the second hydrogen atom in the group can be replaced in the same manner. These alkyl substitution products are important, for they lead to the synthesis of many organic compounds, on account of the fact that they can be hydrolysed in two different ways, barium hydroxide or dilute sodium hydroxide solution giving the so-called ketone hydrolysis, whilst concentrated sodium hydroxide gives the acid
Ketone hydrolysis:- CH3.CO.C(XY).CO2C2H5 -> CH3.CO.CH(XY) + C2H5OH + CO2; Acid hydrolysis:- CH3.CO.C(XY).CO2C2H5 -> CH3.CO2H + C2H5OH + CH(XY).COOH;
(where X and Y = alkyl groups).
Both reactions occur to some extent simultaneously. Acetoacetic ester is a most important synthetic reagent, having been used in the production of pyridines (q.v.), quinolines (q.v.), pyrazolones, furfurane (q.v.), pyrrols (q.v.), uric acid (q.v.), and many complex acids and ketones.
For a discussion as to the composition, and whether it is to be regarded as possessing the ``keto', form CH3.CO.CH2.COOC2H6 or the ``enol'' form CH3.C(OH): CH.COOC2H5, see ISOMERISM, and also papers by J. Wislicenus (Ann., 1877, 186, p. 163; 1877, 190, p. 257), A. Michael (Journ. Prak. Chem., 1887, [2] 37, p. 473), L. Knorr (Ann., 1886, 238, p. 147), W. H. Perkin, senr. (Journ. of Chem. Soc., 1892, 61, p. 800) and J. U. Nef (Ann., 1891, 266, p. 70; 1892, 270, pp. 289, 333; 1893, 276, p. 212).
ACETONE, or DIMETHYL KETONE, CH3.CO.CH3, in chemistry, the simplest representative of the aliphatic ketones. It is present in very small quantity in normal urine, in the blood, and in larger quantities in diabetic patients. It is found among the products formed in the destructive distillation of wood, sugar, cellulose, &c., and for this reason it is always present in crude wood spirit, from which the greater portion of it may be re-covered by fractional distillation. On the large scale it is prepared by the dry distillation of calcium acetate (CH3CO2)2Ca = CaCO3 + CH3COCH3. E. R. Squibb (Journ. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1895, 17, p. 187) manufactures it by passing the vapour of acetic acid through a rotating iron cylinder containing a mixture of pumice and precipitated barium carbonate, and kept at a temperature of from 500 deg. C. to 600 deg. C. The mixed vapours of acetone, acetic acid and water are then led through a condensing apparatus so that the acetic acid and water are first condensed, and then the acetone is condensed in a second vessel. The barium carbonate used in the process acts as a contact substance, since the temperature at which the operation is carried out is always above the decomposition point of barium acetate. Crude acetone may be purified by converting it into the crystalline sodium bisulphite compound, which is separated by filtration and then distilled with sodium
CH3\ / OH CH3\ 2 C + Na2CO3 = 2 CO + 2 Na2SO3 + CH3/ \ SO3Na CH3/ CO2 + H2O
It is then dehydrated and redistilled.
Acetone is largely used in the manufacture of cordite (q.v.) For this purpose the crude distillate is redistilled over sulphuric acid and then fractionated.
Acetone is a colourless mobile liquid of pleasant smell, boiling at 56.53 deg. C., and has a specific gravity 0.819 (0 deg. /4 deg. C.). It is readily soluble in water, alcohol, ether, &c. In addition to its application in the cordite industry it is used in the manufacture of chloroform (q.v.) and sulphonal, and as a solvent. It forms a hydrazone with phenyl hydrazine, and an oxime with hydroxylamine. Reduction by sodium amalgam converts it into isopropyl alcohol; oxidation by chromic acid gives carbon dioxide and acetic acid. With ammonia it reacts to form di- and triacetoneamines. It also unites directly with hydrocyanic acid to form the nitrile of a-oxyisobutyric acid.
By the action of various reagents such as lime, caustic potash, hydrochloric acid, &c., acetone is converted into condensation products, mesityl oxide C6H10O, phorone C9H14O, &c., being formed. On distillation with sulphuric acid, it is converted into mesitylene C9H12 (symmetrical trimethyl benzene). Acetone has also been used in the artificial production of indigo. In the presence of iodine and an alkali it gives iodoform. Acetone has been employed medicinally in cases of dyspnoea. With potassium iodide, glycerin and water, it forms the preparation spirone, which has been used as a spray inhalation in paroxysmal sneezing and asthma.
ACETOPHENONE, or PHENYL-METHYL KETONE, C8H8O or C6H5CO.CH3, in chemistry, the simplest representative of the class of mixed aliphatic-aromatic ketones. It can be prepared by distilling a mixture of dry calcium benzoate and acetate, Ca(O2CC6H5)2 + (CH3CO2)2Ca = 2CaCO3 + 2 C6H5CO.CH3, or by condensing benzene with acetyl chloride in the presence of anhydrous aluminium chloride (C. Friedel and J. M. Crafts), C6H6+CH3COCl == HCl + C6H5COCH3. It crystallizes in colourless plates melting at 20 deg. C. and bolling at 202 deg. C.; it is insoluble in water, but readily dissolves in the ordinary organic solvents. It is reduced by nascent hydrogen to the secondary alcohol C6H5.CH.OH.CH3 phenyl-methyl-carbinol, and on oxidation forms benzoic acid. On the addition of phenylhydrazine it gives a phenylhydrazone, and with hydroxylamine furnishes an
C6H5\ C=N.OH CH3/
melting at 59 deg. C. This oxime undergoes a peculiar rearrangement when it is dissolved in ether and phosphorus pentachloride is added to the ethereal solution, the excess of ether distilled off and water added to the residue being converted into the isomeric substance acetanilide, C6H5NHCOCH3, a behaviour shown by many ketoximes and known as the Beckmann change (see Berichte, 1886, 19, p. 988). With sodium ethylate in ethyl acetate solution it forms the sodium derivative of benzoyl acetone, from which benzoyl acetone, C6H5.CO.CH2.CO.CH3, can be obtained by acidification with acetic acid. When heated with the halogens, acetophenone is substituted in the aliphatic portion of the nucleus; thus bromine gives phenacyl bromide, C6H6CO.CH2Br. Numerous derivatives of acetophenone have been prepared, one of the most important being orthoaminoacetophenone, NH2.C6H4.CO.CH3, which is obtained by boiling orthoaminophenylpropiolic acid with water. It is a thick yellowish oil bolling between 242 deg. C. and 250 deg. C. It condenses with acetone in the presence of caustic soda to a quinoline. Acetonyl-aeeto phenone, C6H5 . CO . CH2 . CH2. CO . CH3, is produced by condensing phenacyl bromide with sodium acetoacetate with subsequent elimination of carbon dioxide, and on dehydration gives aa-phenyl-methyl-furfurane. Oxazoles (q.v.) are produced on condensing phenacyl bromide with acid-amides (M. Lewy, Berichte, 1887, 20, p. 2578). K. L. Paal has also obtained pyrrol derivatives by condensing acetophenone-aceto- acetic-ester with substances of the type NH2R.
ACETYLENE, klumene or ethine, a gaseous compound of carbon and hydrogen, represented by the formula C2H2.
Physical properties.
It is a colourless gas, having a density of 0.92. When prepared by the action of water upon calcium carbide, it has a very strong and penetrating odour, but when it is thoroughly purified from sulphuretted and phosphuretted hydrogen, which are invariably present with it in minute traces, this extremely pungent odour disappears, and the pure gas has a not unpleasant ethereal smell. It can be condensed into the liquid state by cold or by pressure, and experiments by G. Ansdell show that if the gas be subjected to a pressure of 21.53 atmospheres at a temperature of 0 deg. C., it is converted into the liquid state, the pressure needed increasing with the rise of temperature, and decreasing with the lowering of the temperature, until at--82 deg. C. it becomes liquid under ordinary atmospheric pressure. The critical point of the gas is 37 C., at which temperature a pressure of 68 atmospheres is required for liquefaction. The properties of liquid and solid acetylene have been investigated by D. Mcintosh (Jour Chem. Soc., Abs., 1907, i. 458). A great future was expected from its use in the liquid state, since a cylinder fitted with the necessary reducing valves would supply the gas to light a house for a considerable period, the liquid occupying about 1/400 the volume of the gas, but in the United States and on the continent of Europe, where liquefied acetylene was made on the large scale, several fatal accidents occurred owing to its explosion under not easily explained conditions. As a result of these accidents M. P. E. Berthelot and L. J. G. Vieille made a series of valuable researches upon the explosion of acetylene under various conditions. They found that if liquid acetylene in a steel bottle be heated at one point by a platinum wire raised to a red heat, the whole mass decomposes and gives rise to such tremendous pressures that no cylinder would be able to withstand them. These pressures varied from 71,000 to 100,000 lb. per square inch. They, moreover, tried the effect of shock upon the liquid, and found that the repeated dropping of the cylinder from a height of nearly 20 feet upon a large steel anvil gave no explosion, but that when the cylinder was crushed under a heavy blow the impact was followed, after a short interval of time, by an explosion which was manifestly due to the fracture of the cylinder and the ignition of the escaping gas, mixed with air, from sparks caused by the breaking of the metal. A similar explosion will frequently follow the breaking in the same way of a cylinder charged with hydrogen at a high pressure. Continuing these experiments, they found that in acetylene gas under ordinary pressures the decomposition brought about in one portion of the gas, either by heat or the firing in it of a small detonator, did not spread far beyond the point at which the decomposition started, while if the acetylene was compressed to a pressure of more than 30 lb. on the square inch, the decomposition travelled throughout the mass and became in reality detonation. These results showed clearly that liquefied acetylene was far too dangerous for general introduction for domestic purposes, since, although the occasions would be rare in which the requisite temperature to bring about detonation would be reached, still, if this point were attained, the results would be of a most disastrous character. The fact that several accidents had already happened accentuated the risk, and in Great Britain the storage and use of liquefied acetylene are prohibited.
When liquefied acetylene is allowed to escape from the cylinder in which it is contained into ordinary atmospheric pressure, some of the liquid assumes the gaseous condition with such rapidity as to cool the remainder below the temperature of -90 deg. C., and convert it into a solid snow-like mass.
Solubility of acetylene.
Acetylene is readily soluble in water, which at normal temperature and pressure takes up a little more than its own volume of the gas, and yields a solution giving a purple-red precipitate with ammoniacal cuprous chloride and a white precipitate with silver nitrate, these precipitates consisting of acetylides of the metals. The solubility of the gas in various liquids, as given by different observers,
100 Volumes of Volumes of Acetylene. Brine absorb 5 Water '' 110 Alcohol '' 600 Paraffin '' 150 Carbon disulphide '' 100 Fusel oil '' 100 Benzene '' 400 Chloroform '' 400 Acetic acid '' 600 Acetone '' 2500
It will be seen from this table that where it is desired to collect and keep acetylene over a liquid, brine, i.e. water saturated with salt, is the best for the purpose, but in practice it is found that, unless water is agitated with acetylene, or the gas bubbled through, the top layer soon gets saturated, and the gas then dissolves but slowly. The great solubility of acetylene in acetone was pointed out by G. Claude and A. Hess, who showed that acetone will absorb twenty-five times its own volume of acetylene at a temperature of 15 deg. C. under atmospheric pressure, and that, providing the temperature is kept constant, the liquid acetone will go on absorbing acetylene at the rate of twenty-five times its own volume for every atmosphere of pressure to which the gas is subjected.
At first it seemed as if this discovery would do away with all the troubles connected with the storage of acetylene under pressure, but it was soon found that there were serious difficulties still to be overcome. The chief trouble was that acetone expands a small percentage of its own volume while it is absorbing acetylene; therefore it is impossible to fill a cylinder with acetone and then force in acetylene, and still more impracticable only partly to fill the cylinder with acetone, as in that case the space above the liquid would be filled with acetylene under high pressure, and would have all the disadvantages of a cylinder containing compressed acetylene only. This difficulty was overcome by first filling the cylinder with porous briquettes and then soaking them with a fixed percentage of acetone, so that after allowing for the space taken up by the bricks the quantity of acetone soaked into the brick will absorb ten times the normal volume of the cylinder in acetylene for every atmosphere of pressure to which the gas is subjected, whilst all danger of explosion is eliminated.
This fact having been fully demonstrated, acetylene dissolved in this way was exempted from the Explosives Act, and consequently upon this exemption a large business has grown up in the preparation and use of dissolved acetylene for lighting motor omnibuses, motor cars, railway carriages, lighthouses, buoys, yachts, &c., for which it is particularly adapted.
Poisonous properties.
Acetylene was at one time supposed to be a highly poisonous gas, the researches of A. Bistrow and O. Liebreich having apoarently shown that it acts upon the blood in the same way as carbon monoxide to form a stable compound. Very extensive experiments, however, made by Drs N. Grehant, A. L. Brociner, L. Crismer, and others, all conclusively show that acetylene is much less toxic than carbon monoxide, and indeed than coal gas.
Chemical properties.
When acetylene was first introduced on a Commercial scale grave fears were entertained as to its safety, it being represented that it had the power of combining with certain metals, more especially copper and silver, to form acetylides of a highly explosive character, and-that even with coal gas, which contains less than 1%, such copper compounds had been known to be formed in cases where the gas-distributing mains were composed of copper, and that accidents had happened from this cause. It was therefore predicted that the introduction of acetylene on a large scale would be followed by numerous accidents unless copper and its alloys were rigidly excluded from contact with the gas. These fears have, however, fortunately proved to be unfounded, and ordinary gas fittings can be used with perfect safety with this gas.
Acetylene has the property of inflaming spontaneously when brought in contact with chlorine. If a few pieces of carbide be dropped into saturated chlorine water the bubbles of gas take fire as they reach the surface, and if a jet of acetylene be passed up into a bottle of chlorine it takes fire and burns with a heavy red flame, depositing its carbon in the form of soot. If chlorine be bubbled up into a jar of acetylene standing over water, a violent explosion, attended with a flash of intense light and the deposition of carbon, at once takes place. When the gas is kept in a small glass holder exposed to direct sunlight, the surface of the glass soon becomes dimmed, and W. A. Bone has shown that when exposed for some time to the sun's rays it undergoes certain polymerization changes which lead to the deposition of a film of heavy hydrocarbons on the surface of the tube. It has also been observed by L. Cailletet and later by P. Villard that when allowed to stand in the presence of water at a low temperature a solid hydrate is formed.
The polymerization of acetylene.
Acetylene is readily decomposed by heat, polymerizing under its influence to form an enormous number of organic compounds; indeed the gas, which can itself be directly prepared from its constituents, carbon and hydrogen, under the influence of the electric arc, can be made the starting point for the construction of an enormous number of different organic compounds of a complex character. In contact with nascent hydrogen it bunds up ethylene; ethylene acted upon by sulphuric acid yields ethyl sulphuric acid; this can again be decomposed in the presence of water to yield alcohol, and it has also been proposed to manufacture sugar from this body. Picric acid can also be obtained from it by first treating acetylene with sulphuric acid, converting the product into phenol by solution in potash and then treating the phenol with fuming nitric acid.
Endothermic nature of acetylene.
Acetylene is one of those bodies the formation of which is attended with the disappearance of heat, and it is for this reason termed an ``endothermic'' compound, in contradistinction to those bodies which evolve heat in their formation, and which are called ``exothermic.'' Such endothermic bodies are nearly always found to show considerable violence in their decomposition, as the heat of formation stored up within them is then liberated as sensible heat, and it is undoubtedly this property of acetylene gas which leads to its easy detonation by either heat or a shock from an explosion of fulminating mercury when in contact with it under pressure. The observation that acetylene can be resolved into its constituents by detonation is due to Berthelot, who started an explosive wave in it by firing a charge of 0.1 gram of mercury fulminate. It has since been shown, however, that unless the gas is at a pressure of more than two atmospheres this wave soon dies out, and the decomposition is only propagated a few inches from the detonator. Heated in contact with air to a temperature of 480 deg. C., acetylene ignites and burns with a flame, the appearance of which varies with the way in which it is brought in contact with the air. With the gas in excess a heavy lurid flame emitting dense volumes of smoke results, whilst if it be driven out in a sufficiently thin sheet, it burns with a flame of intense brilliancy and ulmost perfect whiteness, by the light of which colours can be judged as well as they can by daylight. Having its ignition point below that of ordinary gas, it can be ignited by any red-hot carbonaceous matter, such as the brightly glowing end of a cigar. For its complete combustion a volume of acetylene needs approximately twelve volumes of air, forming as products of combustion carbon dioxide and water vapour. When, however, the air is present in much smaller ratio the combustion is incomplete, and carbon, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and water vapour are produced. This is well shown by taking a cylinder one-half full of acetylene and one-half of air; on applying a light to the mixture a lurid flame runs down the cylinder and a cloud of soot is thrown up, the cylinder also being thickly coated with it, and often containing a ball of carbon. If now, after a few moments' interval to allow some air to diffuse into the cylinder, a taper again be applied, an explosion takes place, due to a mixture of carbon monoxide and air. It is probable that when a flame is smoking badly, distinct traces of carbon monoxide are being produced, but when an acetylene flame burns properly the products are as harmless as those of coal gas, and, light for light, less in amount. Mixed with air, like every other combustible gas, acetylene forms an explosive mixture. F. Clowes has shown that it has a wider range of explosive proportions when mixed with air than any of the other combustible gases, the limiting percentages being as
Acetylene . . . . . . . 3 to 82 Hydrogen . . . . . . . 5 to 72 Carbon monoxide . . . . 13 to 75 Ethylene . . . . . . . 4 to 22 Methane . . . . . . . . 5 to 13
Methods of production.
The methods which can be and have been employed from time to time for the formation of acetylene in small quantities are exceedingly numerous. Before the commercial production of calcium carbide made it one of the most easily obtainable gases, the processes which were most largely adopted for its preparation in laboratories were:-first, the decomposition of ethylene bromide by dropping it slowly into a boiling solution of alcoholic potash, and purifying the evolved gas from the volatile bromethylene by washing it through a second flask containing a boiling solution of alcoholic potash, or by passing it over moderately heated soda lime; and, second, the more ordinarily adopted process of passing the products of incomplete combustion from a Bunsen burner, the flame of which had struck back, through an ammoniacal solution of cuprous chloride, when the red copper acetylide was produced. This on being washed and decomposed with hydrochloric acid yielded a stream of acetylene gas. This second method of production has the great drawback that, unless proper precautions are taken to purify the gas obtained from the copper acetylide, it is always contaminated with certain chlorine derivatives of acetylene. Edmund Davy first made acetylene in 1836 from a compound produced during the manufacture of potassium from potassium tartrate and charcoal, which under certain conditions yielded a black compound decomposed by water with considerable violence and the evolution of acetylene. This compound was afterwards fully investigated by J. J. Berzelius, who showed it to be potassium carbide. He also made the corresponding sodium compound and showed that it evolved the same gas, whilst in 1862 F. Wohler first made calcium carbide, and found that water decomposed it into lime and acetylene. It was not, however, until 1892 that the almost simultaneous discovery was made by T. L. Willson in America and H. Moissan in France that if lime and carbon be fused together at the temperature of the electric furnace, the lime is reduced to calcium, which unites with the excess of carbon present to form calcium carbide.
Manufacture of calcium carbide.
The cheap production of this material and the easy liberation by its aid of acetylene at once gave the gas a position of commercial importance. In the manufacture of calcium carbide in the electric furnace, lime and anthracite of the highest possible degree of purity are employed. A good working mixture of these materials may be taken as being 100 parts by weight of lime with 68 parts by weight of carbonaceous material. About 1.8 lb. of this is used up for each pound of carbide produced. The two principal processes utilized in making calcium carbide by electrical power are the ingot process and the tapping process. In the former, the anthracite and lime are ground and carefully mixed in the right proportions to suit the chemical actions involved. The arc is struck in a crucible into which the mixture is allowed to flow, partially filling it. An ingot gradually builds up from the bottom of the crucible, the carbon electrode being raised from time to time automatically or by hand to suit the diminution of resistance due to the shortening of the arc by the rising ingot. The crucible is of metal and considerably larger than the ingot, the latter being surrounded by a mass of unreduced material which protects the crucible from the intense heat. When the ingot has been made and the crucible is full, the latter is withdrawn and another substituted. The process is not continuous, but a change of crucibles only takes two or three minutes under the best conditions, and only occurs every ten or fifteen hours. The essence of this process is that the coke and lime are only heated to the point of combination, and are not ``boiled'' after being formed. It is found that the ingot of calcium carbide formed in the furnace, although itself consisting of pure crystalline calcium carbide, is nearly always surrounded by a crust which contains a certain proportion of imperfectly converted constituents, and therefore gives a lower yield of acetylene than the carbide itself. In breaking up and sending out the carbide for commercial work, packed in air-tight drums, the crust is removed by a sand blast. A statement of the amount made per kilowatt hour may be misleading, since a certain amount of loss is of necessity entailed during this process. For instance, in practical working it has been found that a furnace return of 0.504 lb. per kilowatt hour is brought down to 0.406 lb. per kilowatt hour when the material has been broken up, sorted and packed in air-tight drums. In the tapping process a fixed crucible is used, lined with carbon, the electrode is nearly as big as the crucible and a much higher current density is used. The carbide is heated to complete liquefaction and tapped at short intervals. There is no unreduced material, and the process is considerably simplified, while less expensive plant is required. The run carbide, however, is never so rich as the ingot carbide, since an excess of lime is nearly always used in the mixture to act as a flux, and this remaining in the carbide lowers its gas-yielding power. Many attempts have been made to produce the substance without electricity, but have met with no commercial success.
Properties of calcium carbide.
Calcium carbide, as formed in the electric furnace, is a beautiful crystalline semi-metallic solid, having a density of 2.22, and showing a fracture which is often shot with iridescent colours. It can be kept unaltered in dry air, but the smallest trace of moisture in the atmosphere leads to the evolution of minute quantities of acetylene and gives it a distinctive odour. It is infusible at temperatures up to 2000 deg. C., but can he fused in the electric arc. When heated to a temperature of 245 deg. C. in a stream of chlorine gas it becomes incandescent, forming calcium chloride and liberating carbon, and it can also be made to burn in oxygen at a dull red heat, leaving behind a residue of calcium carbonate. Under the same conditions it becomes incandescent in the vapour of sulphur, yielding calcium sulphide and carbon disulphide; the vapour of phosphorus will also unite with it at a red heat. Acted upon by water it is at once decomposed, yielding acetylene and calcium hydrate. Pure crystalline calcium carbide yields 5.8 cubic feet of acetylene per pound at ordinary temperatures, but the carbide as sold commercially, being a mixture of the pure crystalline material with the crust which in the electric furnace surrounds the ingot, yields at the best 5 cubic feet of gas per pound under proper conditions of generation. The volume of gas obtained; however, depends very largely upon the form of apparatus used, and while some will give the full volume, other apparatus will only yield, with the same carbide, 3 3/4 feet.
Impurities.
The purity of the carbide entirely depends on the purity of the material used in its manufacture, and before this fact had been fully grasped by manufacturers, and only the purest material obtainable employed, it contained notable quantities of compounds which during its decomposition by water yielded a somewhat high portion of impurities in the acetylene generated from it. Although at the present time a marvellous improvement has taken place all round in the quality of the carbide produced, the acetylene nearly always contains minute traces of hydrogen, ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen, phosphuretted hydrogen, silicon hydride, nitrogen and oxygen, and sometimes minute traces of carbon monoxide and dioxide. The formation of hydrogen is caused by small traces of metallic calcium occasionally found free in the carbide, and cases have been known where this was present in such quantities that the evolved gas contained nearly 20% of hydrogen. This takes place when in the manufacture of the carbide the material is kept too long in contact with the arc, since this overheating causes the dissociation of some of the calcium carbide and the solution of metallic calcium in the remainder. The presence of free hydrogen is nearly always accompanied by silicon hydride formed by the combination of the nascent hydrogen with the silicon in the carbide. The ammonia found in the acetylene is probably partly due to the presence of magnesium nitride in the carbide.
On decomposition by water, ammonia is produced by the action of steam or of nascent hydrogen on the nitride, the quantity formed depending very largely upon the temperature at which the carbide is decomposed. The formation of nitrides and cyanamides by actions of this kind and their easy conversion into ammonia is a useful method for fixing the nitrogen of the atmosphere and rendering it available for manurial purposes. Sulphuretted hydrogen, which is invariably present in commercial acetylene, is formed by the decomposition of aluminium sulphide. A. Mourlot has shown that aluminium sulphide, zinc sulphide and cadmium sulphide are the only sulphur compounds which can resist the heat of the electric furnace without decomposition or volatilization, and of these aluminium sulphide is the only one which is decomposed by water with the evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen. In the early samples of carbide this compound used to be present in considerable quantity, but now rarely more than 1/10 % is to be found. Phosphuretted hydrogen, one of the most important impurities, which has been blamed for the haze formed by the combustion of acetylene under certain conditions, is produced by the action of water upon traces of calcium phosphide found in carbide. Although at first it was no uncommon thing to find 1/2% of phosphuretted hydrogen present in the acetylene, this has now been so reduced by the use of pure materials that the quantity is rarely above 0.15%, and it is often not one-fifth of that amount.
Generation of acetylene from carbide.
In the generation of acetylene from calcium carbide and water, all that has to be done is to bring these two compounds into contact, when they mutually react upon each other with the formation of lime and acetylene, while, if there be sufficient water present, the lime combines with it to form calcium hydrate.
Calcium carbide. Water. Acetylene. Lime. CaC2 + H2O = C2H2 + CaO Lime. Water. Calcium hydrate. CaO + H2O = Ca(HO)2
The decomposition of the carbide by water may be brought about either by bringing the water slowly into contact with an excess of carbide, or by dropping the carbide into an excess of water, and these two main operations again may be varied by innumerable ingenious devices by which the rapidity of the contact may be modified or even eventually stopped. The result is that although the forms of apparatus utilized for this purpose are all based on the one fundamental principle of bringing about the contact of the carbide with the water which is to enter into double decomposition with it, they have been multiplied in number to a very large extent by the methods employed in order to ensure control in working, and to get away from the dangers and inconveniences which are inseparable from a too rapid generation.
Generators.
In attempting to classify acetylene generators some authorities have divided them into as many as six different classes, but this is hardly necessary, as they may be divided into two main classes---first, those in which water is brought in contact with the carbide, the carbide being in excess during the first portion of the operation; and, second, those in which the carbide is thrown into water, the amount of water present being always in excess. The first class may again be subdivided into generators in which the water rises in contact with the carbide, in which it drips upon the carbide, and in which a vessel full of carbide is lowered into water and again with-drawn as generation becomes excessive. Some of these generators are constructed to make the gas only as fast as it is consumed at the burner, with the object of saving the expense and room which would be involved by a storage-holder. Generators with devices for regulating and stopping at will the action going on are generally termed ``automatic.'' Another set merely aims at developing the gas from the carbide and putting it into a storageholder with as little loss as possible, and these are termed ``non-automatic.'' The points to be attained in a good generator are:--
1. Low temperature of generation. 2. Complete decomposition of the carbide. 3. Maximum evolution of the gas. 4. Low pressure in every part of the apparatus. 5. Ease in charging and removal of residues. 6. Removal of all air from the apparatus before generation of the gas. When carbide is acted upon by water considerable heat is evolved; indeed, the action develops about one-twentieth of the heat evolved by the combustion of carbon. As, however, the temperature developed is a function of the time needed to complete the action, the degree of heat attained varies with every form of generator, and while the water in one form may never reach the boiling-point, the carbide in another may become red-hot and give a temperature of over 800 deg. C. Heating in a generator is not only a source of danger, but also lessens the yield of gas and deteriorates its quality. The best forms of generator are either those in which water rises slowly in contact with the carbide, or the second main division in which the carbide falls into excess of water.
Purification
It is clear that acetylene, if it is to be used on a large scale as a domestic illuminant, must undergo such processes of purification as will render it harmless and innocuous to health and property, and the sooner it is recognized as absolutely essential to purify acetylene before consuming it the sooner will the gas acquire the popularity it deserves. The only one of the impurities which offers any difficulty in removal is the phosphuretted hydrogen. There are three substances which can be relied on more or less to remove this compound, and the gas to be purified may be passed either through acid copper salts, through bleaching powder or through chromic acid. In experiments with those various bodies it is found that they are all of them effective in also ridding the acetylene of the ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen, provided only that the surface area presented to the gas is sufficiently large. The method of washing the gas with acid solutions of copper has been patented by A. Frank of Charlottenburg, who finds that a concentrated solution of cuprous chloride in an acid, the liquid being made into a paste with kieselguhr, is the most effective. Where the production of acetylene is going on on a small scale this method of purification is undoubtedly the most convenient one, as the acid present absorbs the ammonia, and the copper salt converts the phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydrogen into phosphates and sulphides. The vessel, however, which contains this mixture has to be of earthenware, porcelain or enamelled iron on account of the free acid present; the gas must be washed after purification to remove traces of hydrochloric acid, and care must be taken to prevent the complete neutralization of the acid by the ammonia present in the gas. The second process is one patented by Fritz Ullmann of Geneva, who utilizes chromic acid to oxidize the phosphuretted and sulphuretted hydrogen and absorb the ammonia, and this method of purification has proved the most successful in practice, the chromic acid being absorbed by kieselguhr and the material sold under the name of ``Heratol.''
The third process owes its inception to G. Lunge, who recommends the use of bleaching powder. Dr P. Wolff has found that when this is used on the large scale there is a risk of the ammonia present in the acetylene forming traces of chloride of nitrogen in the purifying-boxes, and as this is a compound which detonates with considerable local force, it occasionally gives rise to explosions in the purifying apparatus. If, however, the gas be first passed through a scrubber so as to wash out the ammonia this danger is avoided. Dr Wolff employs purifiers in which the gas is washed with water containing calcium chloride, and then passed through bleaching-powder solution or other oxidizing material.
When acetylene is burnt from a 000 union jet burner, at all ordinary pressures a smoky flame is obtained, but on the pressure being increased to 4 inches a magnificent flame results, free from smoke, and developing an illuminating value of 240 candles per 5 cubic feet of gas consumed. Slightly higher values have been obtained, but 240 may be taken as the average value under these conditions.
Burners.
When acetylene was first introduced as a commercial illuminant in England, very small union jet nipples were utilized for its consumption, but after burning for a short time these nipples began to carbonize, the flame being distorted, and then smoking occurred with the formation of a heavy deposit of soot. While these troubles were being experienced in England, attempts had been made in America to use acetylene diluted with a certain proportion of air which permitted it to be burnt in ordinary flat flame nipples; but the danger of such admixture being recognized, nipples of the same class as those used in England were employed, and the same troubles ensued. In France, single jets made of glass were first employed, and then P. Resener, H. Luchaire, G. Ragot and others made burners in which two jets of acetylene, coming from two tubes placed some little distance apart, impinged and splayed each other out into a butterfly flame. Soon afterwards, J. S. Billwiller introduced the idea of sucking air into the flame at or just below the burner tip, and at this juncture the Naphey or Dolan burner was introduced in America, the principle employed being to use two small and widely separated jets instead of the two openings of the union jet burner, and to make each a minute bunsen, the acetylene dragging in from the base of the nipple enough air to surround and protect it while burning from contact with the steatite. This class of burner forms a basis on which all the later constructions of burner have been founded, but had the drawback that if the flame was turned low, insufficient air to prevent carbonization of the burner tips was drawn in, owing to the reduced flow of gas. This fault has now been reduced by a cage of steatite round the burner tip, which draws in sufficient air to prevent deposition.
Oxy-acetylene blowpipe. When acetylene was first introduced on a commercial scale attempts were made to utilize its great heat of combustion by using it in conjunction with oxygen in the oxyhydrogen blowpipe. It was found, however, that when using acetylene under low pressures, the burner tip became so heated as to cause the decomposition of some of the gas before combustion, the jet being choked up by the carbon which deposited in a very dense form; and as the use of acetylene under pressures greater than one hundred inches of water was prohibited, no advance was made in this direction. The introduction of acetylene dissolved under pressure in acetone contained in cylinders filled with porous material drew attention again to this use of the gas, and by using a special construction of blowpipe an oxy-acetylene flame is produced, which is far hotter than the oxy-hydrogen flame, and at the same time is so reducing in its character that it can be used for the direct autogenous welding of steel and many minor metallurgical processes.
REFERENCES.---F. H. Leeds and W. A. Butterfield, Calcium Carbide and Acetylene (1903); F. Dommer, L'Acetylene et ses applications (1896); V. B. Lewes, Acetylene (1900); F. Liebetanz, Calcium-carbid und Acetylen (1899); G. Pelissier, L'Eclairage a l'acetylene (1897); C. de Perrodil, Le carbure de calcium et l'acetylene (1897). For a complete list of the various papers and memoirs on Acetylene, see A. Ludwig's Fuhrer durch die gesammte Calcium carbid-und-Acetylen-Literatur, Berlin. (V. B. L.)
ACHAEA, a district on the northern coast of the Peloponnese, stretching from the mountain ranges of Erymanthus and Cyllene on the S. to a narrow strip of fertile land on the N., bordering the Corinthian Gulf, into which the mountain Panachaicus projects. Achaea is bounded on the W. by the territory of Elis, on the E. by that of Sicyon, which, however, was sometimes included in it. The origin of the name has given rise to much speculation; the current theory is that the Achaeans (q.v.) were driven back into this region by the Dorian invaders of the Peloponnese. Another Achaea, in the south of Thessaly, called sometimes Achaea Phthiotis, has been supposed to be the cradle of the race. In Roman times the name of the province of Achaea was given to the whole of Greece, except Thessaly, Epirus, and Acarnania. Herodotus (i. 145) mentions the twelve cities Of Achaea; three met as a religious confederacy in the temple of Poseidon Heliconius at Helice; for their later history see ACHAEAN LEAGUE. During the middle ages, after the Latin conquest of the Eastern Empire, Achaea was a Latin principality, the first prince being William de Champlitte (d. 1209). It survived, with various dismemberments, until 1430, when the last prince, Centurione Zaccaria, ceded the remnant of it to his son-in-law, Theodorus II., despot of Mistra. In 1460 it was conquered, with the rest of the Morea, by the Turks. In modern times the coast of Achaea is mainly given up to the currant industry; the currants are shipped from Patras, the second town of Greece, and from Aegion (Vostitza).
ACHAEAN LEAGUE, a confederation of the ancient towns of Achaea. Standing isolated on their narrow strips of plain, these towns were always exposed to the raids of pirates issuing from the recesses of the north coast of the Corinthian Gulf. It was no doubt as a protection against such dangers that the earliest league of twelve Achaean cities arose, though we are nowhere explicitly informed of its functions other than the common worship of Zeus Amarius at Aegium and an occasional arbitration between Greek belligerents. Its importance grew in the 4th century, when we find it fighting in the Theban wars (368-362 B.C.), against Philip (338) and Antipater (330). About 288 Antigonus Gonatas dissolved the league, which had furnished a useful base for pretenders against Cassander's regency; but by 280 four towns combined again, and before long the ten surviving cities of Achaea had renewed their federation. Antigonus' preoccupation during the Celtic invasions, Sparta's prostration after the Chremonidean campaigns, the wealth amassed by Achaean adventurers abroad and the subsidies of Egypt, the standing foe of Macedonia, all enhanced the league's importance. Most of all did it profit by the statesmanship of Aratus (q.v.), who initiated its expansive policy, until in 228 it comprised Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth and Aegina.
Aratus probably also organized the new federal constitution, the character of which, owing to the scanty and somewhat perplexing nature of our evidence, we can only approximately determine. The league embraced an indefinite number of city-states which maintained their internal independence practically undiminished, and through their several magistrates, assemblies and law-courts exercised all traditional powers of self-government. Only in matters of foreign politics and war was their competence restricted.
The central government, like that of the constituent cities, was of a democratic cast. The chief legislative powers resided in a popular assembly in which every member of the league over thirty years of age could speak and vote. This body met for three days in spring and autumn at Aegium to discuss the league's policy and elect the federal magistrates. Whatever the number of its attendant burgesses, each city counted but one on a division. Extraordinary assemblies could be convoked at any time or place on special emergencies. A council of 120 unpaid delegates, selected from the local councils, served partly as a committee for preparing the assembly's programme, partly as an administrative board which received embassies, arbitrated between contending cities and exercised penal jurisdiction over offenders against the constitution. But perhaps some of these duties concerned the dicastae and gerousia, whose functions are nowhere described. The chief magistracy was the strategia (tenable every second year), which combined with an unrestricted command in the field a large measure of civil authority. Besides being authorized to veto motions, the strategus (general) had practically the sole power of introducing measures before the assembly. The ten elective demiurgi, who presided over this body, formed a kind of cabinet, and pethaps acted as departmental chiefs. We also hear of an under-strategus, a secretary, a cavalry commander and an admiral. All these higher officers were unpaid. Philopoemen (q.v.) transferred the seat of assembly from town to town by rotation, and placed dependent communities on an equal footing with their former suzerains.
The league prescribed uniform laws, standards and coinage; it summoned contingents, imposed taxes and fined or coerced refractory members.
The first federal wars were directed against Macedonia; in 266-263 the league fought in the Chremonidean league, in 243-241 against Antigonus Gonatas and Aetolia, between 239 and 229 with Aetolia against Demetrius. A greater danger arose (227-223) from the attacks of Cleomenes III. (q.v.). Owing to Aratus's irresolute generalship, the indolence of the rich burghers and the inadequate provision for levying troops and paying mercenaries, the league lost several battles and much of its territory; but rather than compromise with the Spartan Gracchus the assembly negotiated with Antigonus Doson, who recovered the lost districts but retained Corinth for himself (223-221). Similarly the Achaeans could not check the incursions of Aetolian adventurers in 220-218, and when Philip V. came to the rescue he made them tributary and annexed much of the Peloponnese. Under Philopoemen the league with a reorganized army routed the Aetolians (210) and Spartans (207, 201). After their benevolent neutrality during the Macedonian war the Roman general, T. Quinctius Flamininus, restored all their lost possessions and sanctioned the incorporation of Sparta and Messene (191), thus bringing the entire Peloponnese under Achaean control. The league even sent troops to Pergamum against Antiochus (190). The annexation of Aetolia and Zacynthus was forbidden by Rome. Moreover, Sparta and Messene always remained unwilling members. After Philopoemen's death the aristocrats initiated a strongly philo-Roman policy, declared war against King Perseus and denounced all sympathizers with Macedonia. This agitation induced the Romans to deport 1000 prominent Achaeans, and, failing proof of treason against Rome, to detain them seventeen years. These hostages, when restored in 150, swelled the ranks of the proletariate opposition, whose leaders, to cover their maladministration at home, precipitated a war by attacking Sparta in defiance of Rome. The federal troops were routed in central Greece by Q. Caecilius Metellus Masedonicus, and again near Corinth by L. Mummius Achaicus (146). The Romans now dissolved the league (in effect, if not in name), and took measures to isolate the communities (see POLYBIUS). Augustus instituted an Achaean synod comprising the dependent cities of Peloponnese and central Greece; this body sat at Argos and acted as guardian of Hellenic sentiment.
The chief defect of the league lay in its lack of proper provision for securing efficient armies and regular payment of imposts, and for dealing with disaffected members. Moreover, owing to difficulties of travel, the assembly and magistracies were practically monopolized by the rich, who shaped the federal policy in their own interest. But their rule was mostly judicious, and when at last they lost control the ensuing mob-rule soon ruined the country. On the other hand, it is the glory of the Achaean league to have combined city autonomy with an organized central administration, and in this way to have postponed the entire destruction of Greek liberty for over a century.
CHIEF SOURCES.--Polybius (esp. bks. ii., iv., v., xxiii., xxviii.),who is followed by Livy (bks. xxxii.-xxxv., xxxviii., &c.); Pausanias vii. 9-24; Strabo viii. 384; F. Freeman, Federal Government, i. (ed. 1893, London), chs. v.-ix.; M. Dubois, Les lignes Etolienne et Acheenne (Paris, 1885); A. Holm, Greek History, iv.; G. Hertzberg, Geschichte Griechenlands unter den Romern, i. (Leipzig, 1866); L. Warren, Greek Federal Coinage (London, 1863); E. Hicks, Greek Historical Inscriptions (Oxford, 1892), 169, 187, 198, 201; W.. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionunn Graecarum (Leipzig, 1898--1901), 236, 282, 316; H. Francotte in Musee Belge (1906), pp. 4-20. See also art. ROME, History, ii. ``The Republic,'' sect. B(b). (M. O. B. C.)
ACHAEANS ('Achaioi, Lat. Achivi), one of the four chief divisions of the ancient greek peoples, descended, according to legend, from Achaeus, son of Xuthus, son of Hellen. This Hesiodic genealogy connects the Achaeans closely with the Ionians, but historically they approach nearer to the Aeolians. Some even hold that Aeolus is only a form of Achaeus. In the Homeric poems (1000 B.C.) the Achaeans are the master race in Greece; they are represented both in Homer and in all later traditions as having come into Greece about three generations before the Trojan war (1184 B.C.), i.e. about 1300 B.C. They found the land occupied by a people known by the ancients as Pelasgians, who continued down to classical times the main element in the population even in the states under Achaean and later under Dorian rule. In some cases it formed a serf class, e.g. the Penestae in Thessaly, the Helots in Laconia and the Gymnesii at Argos, whilst it practically composed the whole population of Arcadia and Attica, which never came under either Achaean or Dorian rule. This people had dwelt in the Aegean from the Stone Age, and, though still in the Bronze Age at the Achaean conquest, had made great advances in the useful and ornamental arts. They were of short stature, with dark hair and eyes, and generally dolichocephalic. Their chief centres were at Cnossus (Crete), in Argolis, Laconia and Attica, in each being ruled by ancient lines of kings. In Argolis Proetus built Tiryns, but later, under Perseus, Mycenae took the lead until the Achaean conquest. All the ancient dynasties traced their descent from Poseidon, who at the time of the Achaean conquest was the chief male divinity of Greece and the islands. The Pelasgians probably spoke an Indo-European language adopted by their conquerors with slight modifications. (See further PELASGIANS for a discussion of other views.)
The Achaeans, on the other hand, were tall, fair-haired and grey-eyed, and their chiefs traced their descent from Zeus, Who with the Hyperborean Apollo was their chief male divinity. They first appear at Dodona, whence they crossed Pindus into Phthiotis. The leaders of the Achaean invasion were Pelops, who took possession of Elis, and Aeacus, who became master of Aegina and was said to have introduced there the worship of Zeus Panhellenius, whose cult was also set up at Olympia. They brought with them iron, which they used for their long swords and for their cutting implements; the costume of both sexes was distinct from that of the Pelasgians; they used round shields with a central boss instead of the 8-shaped or rectaogular shields of the latter; they fastened their garments with brooches, and burned their dead instead of burying them as did the Pelasgians. They introduced a special style of ornament (``geometric'') instead of that of the Bronze Age, characterized by spirals and marine animals and plants. The Achaeans, or Hellenes, as they were later termed, were on this hypothesis one of the fair-haired tribes of upper Europe known to the ancients as Keltoi (Celts), who from time to time have pressed down over the Alps into the southern lands, successively as Achaeans, Gauls, Goths and Franks, and after the conquest of the indigenous small dark race in no long time died out under climatic conditions fatal to their physique and morale. The culture of the Homeric Achaeans corresponds to a large extent with that of the early Iron Age of the upper Danube (Hallstatt) and to the early Iron Age of upper Italy (Villanova).
See W. Ridgeway, The Early Age of Greece (1901), for a detailed discussion of the evidence; articles by Ridgeway and J. L. Myres in the Classical Review, vol. xvi. 1902, pp. 68-93, 135. See also J. B. Bury's History of Greece (1902) and art. in Journal of Hellenic Studies, xv., 1895, pp. 217 foll.; G. G. A. Murray, Rise of the Greek Epic (1907), chap. ii.; Andrew Lang, Homer and his Age (1906); G. Busolt, Griech. Gesch. ed. 2, vol. i. p. 190 (1893); D. B. Monro's ed. of the Iliad (1901), pp. 484-488. (W. RI.)
ACHAEMENES (HAKHAMANI), the eponymous ancestor of the royal house of Persia, the Achaemenidae, ``a clan fretre of the Pasargadae'' (Herod. i. 125), the leading Persian tribe. According to Darius in the Behistun inscription and Herod. iii. 75, vii. 11, he was the father of Teispes, the great-grandfather of Cyrus. Cyrus himself, in his proclamation to the Babylonians after the conquest of Babylon, does not mention his name. Whether he really was a historical personage, or merely the mythical ancestor of the family cannot be decided. According to Aelian (Hist. anim. xii. 21), he was bred by an eagle. We learn from Cyrus's proclamation that Teispes and his successors had become kings of Anshan, i.e. a part of Elam (Susiana), Where they ruled as vassals of the Median kings, until Cyrus the Great in 550 B.C. founded the Persian empire. After the death of Cambyses, the younger line of the Achaemenidae came to the throne with Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who was, like Cyrus, the great-grandson of Teispes. Cyrus, Darius and all the later kings of Persia call themselves Achaemenides (Hakhamanishiya). With Darius III. Codomannus the dynasty became extinct and the Persian empire came to an end (330). The adjective Achaemenius is used by the Latin poets as the equivalent of ``Persian'' (Horace, Odes, ii. 12, 21). See PERSIA.
The name Achaemenes is borne by a son of Darius I., brother of Xerxes. After the first rebellion of Egypt, he became satrap of Egypt (484 B.C.); he commanded the Persian fleet at Salamis, and was (460 B.C.) defeated and slain by Inarus, the leader of the second rebellion of Egypt.
ACHARD, FRANZ CARL (1753--1821), Prussian chemist, was born at Berlin on the 28th of April 1753, and died at Kunern, in Silesia, on the 20th of April 1821. He was a pioneer in turning to practical account A. S. Marggraf's discovery of the presence of sugar in beetroot, and by the end of the 18th century he was producing considerable quantities of beet-sugar, though by a very imperfect process, at Kunern, on an estate which was granted him about 1800 by the king of Prussia. There too he carried on a school of instruction in sugar-manufacture, which had an international reputation. For a time he was director of the physics class of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and he published several volumes of chemical and physical researches, discovering among other things a method of working platinum.
ACHARIUS, ERIK (1757-1819), Swedish botanist, was born On the 10th of October 1757, and in 1773 entered Upsala University, where he was a pupil of Linnaeus. He graduated M.D. at Lund in 1782, and in 1801 was appointed professor of botany at Wadstena Academy. He devoted himself to the study of lichens, and all his publications were connected with that class of plants, his Lichenographia Universalis (Gottingen, 1804) being the most important. He died at Wadstena on the 13th of August 1819.
ACHATES, the companion of Aeneas in Virgil's Aeneid. The expression ``fidus Achates'' has become proverbial for a loyal and devoted companion.
ACHELOUS (mod. Aspropotamo, ``white river''), the largest river in Greece (130 m.). It rises in Mt. Pindus, and, dividing Aetolla from Acarnania, falls into the Ionian Sea. In the lower part of its course the river winds through fertile, marshy plains. Its water is charged with fine mud, which is deposited along its banks and at its mouth, where a number of small islands (Echinades) have been formed. It was formerly called Thoas, from its impetuosity; and its upper portion was called by some Inachus, the name Acholous being restricted to the shorter eastern branch. Acholous is coupled with Ocean by Homer (Il. xxi. 193) as chief of rivers, and the name is given to several other rivers in Greece. The Dame appears in cult and in mythology as that of the typical river-god; a familiar legend is that of his contest with Heracles for Deianira.
ACHENBACH, ANDREAS (1815-- ), German landscape painter, was born at Cassel in 1815. He began his art education in 1827 in Dusseldorf under W. Schadow and at the academy. In his early work he followed the pseudo-idealism of the German romantic school, but on removing to Munich in 1835, the strooger influence of L. Gurlitt turned his talent into new channels, and he became the founder of the German realistic school. Although his landscapes evince too much of his aim at picture-making and lack personal temperament, he is a master of technique, and is historically important as a reformer. A number of his finest works are to be found at the Berlin National Gallery, the New Pinakothek in Munich, and the galleries at Dresden, Darmstadt, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Leipzig and Hamburg.
His brother, OSWALD ACHENBACH (1827--1905), was born at Dusseldorf and received his art education from Andreas. His landscapes generally dwell on the rich and glowing effects of colour which drew him to the Bay of Naples and the neighbourhood of Rome. He is represented at most of the important German galleries of modern art.
ACHENWALL, GOTTFRIED (1719-1772), German statisticiao, was born at Elbing, in East Prussia, in October 1719. He studied at Jena, Halle and Leipzig, 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 he was given a professorship at Gottingen, where he resided till his death in 1772. His chief works were connected with statistics. The Staatsverfassung der heutigen vornehmsten europaischen Reiche appeared first in 1749, and revised editions were published in 1762 and 1768.
ACHERON, in Greek mythology, the son of Gaea or Demeter. As a punishment for supplying the Titans with water in their contest with Zeus, he was turned into a river of Hades, over which departed souls were ferried by Charon. The name (meaning the river of ``woe'') was eventually used to designate the whole of the lower world (Stobaeus, Ecl. Phys. i. 41, sec. sec. 50, 54).
ACHIACHARUS, a name occurring in the book of Tobit (i. 21 f.) as that of a nephew of Tobit and an official at the court of Esarhaddon at Nineveh. There are references in Rumanian, Slavonic, Armenian, Arabic and Syriac literature to a legend, of which the hero is Ahikar (for Armenian, Arabic and Syriac, see The Story of Ahikar, F. C. Conybeare, Rondel Harris and Agnes Lewis, Camb. 1898), and it was pointed out by George Hoffmann in 1880 that this Ahikar and the Achiacharus of Tobit are identical. It has been contended that there are traces of the legend even in the New Testament, and there is a striking similarity between it and the Life of Aesop by Maximus Planudes (ch. xxiii.-xxxii.). An eastern sage Achaicarus is mentioned by Strabo. It would seem, therefore, that the legend was undoubtedly oriental in origin, though the relationship of the various versions can scarcely be recovered.
See the Jewish Encyclopaedia and the Encyclopaedia Biblica; also M. R. James in The Guardian, Feb. 2, 1898, p. 163 f.
ACHILL (``Eagle''), the largest island off Ireland, separated from the Curraun peninsula of the west coast by the narrow Achill Sound. Pop. (1901) 4929. It is included in the county Mayo, in the western parliamentary division. Its shape is triangular, and its extent is 15 m. from E. to W. and 12 from N. to S. The area is 57 sq. m. The island is mountainous, the highest points being Slieve Croaghaun (2192 ft.) in the west, and Shevemore (2204 ft.) in the north; the extreme western point is the bold and rugged promontory of Achill Head, and the northwestern and south-western coasts consist of ranges of magnificent cliffs, reaching a height of 800 ft. in the cliffs of Minaun, near the village of Keel on the south. The seaward slope of Croaghaun is abrupt and in parts precipitous, and its jagged flanks, together with the serrated ridge of the Head and the view over the broken coast-line and islands of the counties Mayo and Galway, attract many visitors to the island during summer. Desolate bogs, incapable of cultivation, alternate with the mountains; and the inhabitants earn a scanty subsistence by fishing and tillage, or by seeking employment in England and Scotland during the harvesting. The Congested Districts Board, however, have made efforts to improve the Condition of the people, and a branch of the Midland Great Western railway to Achill Sound, together with a swivel bridge across the sound, improved communications and make for prosperity. Dugort, the principal village, contains several hotels. Here is a Protestant colony. known as ``the Settlement'' and founded in 1834. There are antiquarian remains (cromlechs, stone circles and the like) at Slievemore and elsewhere.
ACHILLES (Gr. 'Achilleus), one of the most famous of the hegendary heroes of ancient Greece and the central figure of Homer's Iliad. He was said to have been the son of Peleus, king of the Myrmidones of Phthia in Thessaly, by Thetis, one of the Nereids. His grandfather Aeacus was, according to the legend, the son of Zeus himself. The story of the childhood of Achilles in Homer differs from that given by later writers. According to Homer, he was brought up by his mother at Phthia with his cousin and intimate friend Patroclus, and learned the arts of war and eloquence from Phoenix, while the Centaur Chiron taught him music and medicine. When summoned to the war against Troy, he set sail at once with his Myrmidones in fifty ships.
Post-Homeric sources add to the legend certain picturesque details which bear all the evidence of their primitive origin, and which in some cases belong to the common stock of Indo-Germanic myths. According to one of these stories Thetis used to lay the infant Achilles every night under live coals, anointing him by day with ambrosia, in order to make him immortal. Peleus, having surprised her in the act, in alarm snatched the boy from the flames; whereupon Thetis fled back to the sea in anger (Apollodorus iii. 13; Apollonius Rhodius iv. 869). According to another story Thetis dipped the child in the waters of the river Styx, by which his whole body became invulnerable, except that part of his heel by which she held him; whence the proverbial ``heel of Achilles'' (Statius, Achilleis, i. 269). With this may be compared the similar story told of the northern hero Sigurd. The boy was afterwards entrusted to the care of Chiron, who, to give him the strength necessary for war, fed him with the entrails of lions and the marrow of bears and wild boars. To prevent his going to the siege of Troy, Thetis disguised him in female apparel, and hid him among the maidens at the court of King Lycomedes in Scyros; but Odysseus, coming to the island in the disguise of a pedlar, spread his wares, including a spear and shield, before the king's daughters, among whom was Achilles. Then he caused an alarm to be sounded; whereupon the girls fled, but Achilles seized the arms, and so revealed himself, and was easily persuaded to follow the Greeks (Hyginus, Fab. 96; Statius, Ach. i.; Apollodorus, l.c.). This story may be compared with the Celtic legend of the boyhood of Peredur or Perceval.
During the first nine years of the war as described in the Iliad, Achilles ravaged the country round Troy, and took twelve cities. In the tenth year occurred the quarrel with Agamemnon. In order to appease the wrath of Apollo, who had visited the camp with a pestilence, Agamemnon had restored Chryseis, his prize of war, to her father, a priest of the god, but as a compensation deprived Achilles, who had openly demanded this restoration, of his favourite slave Briseis. Achilles withdrew in wrath to his tent, where he consoled himself with music and singing, and refused to take any further part in the war. During his absence the Greeks were hard pressed, and at last he so far relaxed his anger as to allow his friend Patroclus to personate him, lending him his chariot and armour. The slaying of Patroclus by the Trojan hero Hector roused Achilles from his indifference; eager to avenge his beloved comrade, he sallied forth, equipped with new armour fashioned by Hephaestus, slew Hector, and, after dragging his body round the walls of Troy, restored it to the aged King Priam at his earnest entreaty. The Iliad concludes with the funeral rites of Hector. It makes no mention of the death of Achilles, but hints at its taking place ``before the Scaean gates.'' In the Odyssey (xxiv. 36. 72) his ashes are said to have been buried in a golden urn, together with those of Patroclus, at a place on the Hellespont, where a tomb was erected to his memory; his soul dwells in the lower world, where it is seen by Odysseus. The contest between Ajax and Odysseus for his arms is also mentioned. The Aethiopis of Arctinus of Miletus took up the story of the Iliad. It told how Achilles, having slain the Amazon Penthesileia and Memnon, king of the Aethiopians, who had come to the assistance of the Trojans, was himself slain by Paris (Alexander), whose arrow was guided by Apollo to his vulnerable heel (Virgil, Aen. vi. 57; Ovid, Met. xii. 600). Again, it is said that Achilles, enamoured of Polyxena, the daughter of Priam, offered to join the Trojans on condition that he received her hand in marriage. This was agreed to; Achilles went unarmed to the temple of Apollo Thymbraeus, and was slain by Paris (Dietys iv. 11). According to some, he was slain by Apollo himself (Quint. Smyrn. iii. 61; Horace, Odes, iv. 6, 3). Hyginus (Fab. 107) makes Apollo assume the form of Paris.
Later stories say that Thetis snatched his body from the pyre and conveyed it to the island of Leuke, at the mouth of the Danube, where he ruled with Iphigeneia as his wife; or that he was carried to the Elysian fields, where his wife was Medea or Helen. He was worshipped in many places: at Leuke, where he was honoured with offerings and games; in Sparta, Elis, and especially Sigeum on the Hellespont, where his famous tumulus was erected.
Achilles is a typical Greek hero; handsome, brave, celebrated for his fleetness of foot, prone to excess of wrath and grief, at the same time he is compassionate, hospitable, full of affection for his mother and respect for the gods. In works of art he is represented, like Ares, as a young man of splendid physical proportions, with bristling hair like a horse's mane and a slender neck. Although the figure of the hero frequently occurs in groups---such as the work of Scopas showing his removal to the island of Leuke by Poseidon and Thetis, escorted by Neroids and Tritons, and the combat over his dead body in the Aeginetan sculptures--no isolated statue or bust can with certainty be identified with him; the statue in the Louvre (from the Villa Borghese), which was thought to have the best claim, is generally taken for Ares or possibly Alexander. There are many vase and wall paintings and bas-reliefs illustrative of incidents in his life. Various etymologies of the name have been suggested: ``without a lip'' (a', cheilos), Achilles being regarded as a river-god, a stream which overflows its banks, or, referring to the story that, when Thetis laid him in the fire, one of his lips, which he had licked, was consumed (Tzetzes on Lycophron, 178); ``restrainer of the people,' (eche-laos); ``healer of sorrow'' (ache-loios); ``the obscure'' (connected with achlus, ``mist''); ``snakeborn'' (echis), the snake being one of the chief forms taken by Thetis. The most generally received view makes him a god of light, especially of the sun or of the lightning.
See E. H. Meyer, Indogermanische Mythen, ii., Achilleis, 1887; F. G. Welcker, Der epische Cyclus, 1865--1882; articles in Pauly-Wissowa, Rcal-Encyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschait, Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des Antiquites and Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie; see also T. W. Allen in Classical Review, May 1906; A. E. Crawley, J. G. Frazer, A. Lang, Ibid., June, July 1893, on Achilles in Scyros. In the article GREEK ART, fig. 12 represents the conflict over the dead body of Achilles.
ACHILLES TATIUS, of Alexandria, Greek rhetorician, author of the erotic romance, the Adventures of Leucippe and Cleitophon, flourished about A.D. 450, perhaps later. Suidas, who alone calls him Statius, says that he became a Christian and eventually a bishop--like Hellodorus, whom he imitated--but there is no evidence of this. Photius, while severely criticizing his lapses into indecency, highly praises the conciseness and clearness of his style, which, however, is artificial and laboured. Many of the incidents of the romance are highly improbable, and the characters, except the heroine, fail to enlist sympathy. The descriptive passages and digressions, although tedious and introduced without adequate reasons, are the best part of the work. The large number of existing MSS. attests its popularity. (Editio princeps, 1601; first important critical edition by (Jacobs, 1821; litter editions by Hirschig, 1856; Hercher, 1858. There are translations in many languages; in English by Anthony Hodges], 1638, and R. Smith, 1855. See also ROMANCE.)
Suidas also ascribes to this author an Etymology, a Miscellaneous History af Famous Men, and a treatise On the Sphere. Part of the last is extant under the title of An Introduction to the Phaenomena of Aratus. But if the writer is the prudentissimus Achilles referred to by Firmicus Maternus (about 336) in his Matheseos libri, iv. 10, 17 (ed. Krolf), he must have lived long before the author of Leucippe. The fragment was first published in 1567, then in the Uranologion of Petavius, with a Latin translation, 1630. Nothing definite is known as to the authorship of the other works, which are lost.
ACHILLINI, ALESSANDRO (1463-1512), Italian philosopher, born on the 29th of October 1463 at Bologna, was celebrated as a lecturer both in medicine and in philosophy at Bologna and Padua, and was styled the second Aristotle. His philosophical works were printed in one volume folio, at Venice, in 1508, and reprinted with considerable additions in 1545, 1551 and 1568. He was also distinguished as an anatomist (see ANATOMY), among his writhigs being Corporis humani Anatomia (Venice, 1516-1524), and Anatomicae Annotationes (Bologna, 1520). He died at Bologna on the 2nd of August 1512.
His brother, GIOVANNI FILOTEO ACHILLINI (1466--1533), was the author of Il Viridario and other writings, verse and prose, and his grand-nephew, CLAUDIO ACHILLINI (1574--1640), was a lawyer who achieved some notoriety as a versifier of the school of the Secentisti.
ACHIMENES (perhaps from the Gr. achaimienis, an Indian plant used in magic), a genus of plants, natural order Gesneraceae (to which belong also Gloxinia and Streptocarpus), natives of tropical America, and well known in cultivation as stove or warm greenhouse plants. They are herbaceous perennials, generally with hairy serrated leaves and handsome flowers. The corolla is tubular with a spreading limb, and varies widely in colour, being white, yellow, orange, crimson, scarlet, blue or purple. A large number of hybrids exist in cultivation. The plants are grown in the stove till the flowering period, when they may be removed to the greenhouse. They are propagated by cuttings, or from the leaves, which are cut off and pricked in well-drained pots of sandy soil, or by the scales from the underground tubes, which are rubbed off and sown like seeds, or by the seeds, which are very small.
ACHIN (Dutch Atjeh), a Dutch government forming the northern extremity of the island of Sumatra, having an estimated area of 20,544 sq. m. The government is divided into three assistant-residencien--the east coast, the west coast and Great Achin. The physical geography (see SUMATRA) is imperfectly understood. Ranges of mountains, roughly parallel to the long axis of the island, and characteristic of the whole of it, appear to occupy the interior, and reach an extreme height of about 12,000 ft. in the south-west of the government. The coasts are low and the rivers insignificant, rising in the coast ranges and flowing through the coast states (the chief of which are Pedir, Gighen and Samalanga on the N.; Edi, Perlak and Langsar on the E.; Kluwah, Rigas and Melabuh on the W.). The chief ports are Olehleh, the port of Kotaraja or Achin (formerly Kraton, now the seat of the Dutch government), Segli on the N., Edi on the E., and Analabu or Melabuh on the W. Kotaraja lies near the northern extremity of the island, and consists of detached houses of timber and thatch, clustered ill enclosed groups called kampongs, and buried in a forest of fruit-trees. It is situated nearly 3 m. from the sea, in the valley of the Achin 1iver, which in its upper part, near Sehmun, is 3 m. broad, the river having a breadth of 99 ft. and a depth of 1 1/2 ft.; but in its lower course, north of its junction with the Krung Darn, the valley broadens to 12 1/2