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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 + "Arundel, Thomas" to "Athens" + +Author: Various + +Release Date: November 4, 2010 [EBook #34209] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. BRITANNICA, VOL 2, SLICE 7 *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #696969; " summary="Transcriber's note"> +<tr> +<td style="width:25%; vertical-align:top"> +Transcriber’s note: +</td> +<td class="norm"> +One typographical error has been corrected. It +appears in the text <span class="correction" title="explanation will pop up">like this</span>, and the +explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked +passage. Sections in Greek will yield a transliteration +when the pointer is moved over them, and words using diacritic characters in the +Latin Extended Additional block, which may not display in some fonts or browsers, will +display an unaccented version. <br /><br /> +<a name="artlinks">Links to other EB articles:</a> Links to articles residing in other EB volumes will +be made available when the respective volumes are introduced online. +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<div style="padding-top: 3em; "> </div> + +<h2>THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA</h2> + +<h2>A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION</h2> + +<h3>ELEVENTH EDITION</h3> +<div style="padding-top: 3em; "> </div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>VOLUME II SLICE VII<br /><br /> +Arundel, Thomas to Athens</h3> +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="padding-top: 3em; "> </div> + +<p class="center1" style="font-size: 150%; font-family: 'verdana';">Articles in This Slice</p> +<table class="reg" style="width: 90%; font-size: 90%; border: gray 2px solid;" cellspacing="8" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar1">ARUNDEL, THOMAS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar116">ASSAB</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar2">ARUNDEL</a> (town)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar117">ASSAM</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar3">ARUNDELL OF WARDOUR, THOMAS ARUNDELL</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar118">ASSAMESE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar4">ARUSIANUS MESSIUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar119">ASSAROTTI, OTTAVIO GIOVANNI BATTISTA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar5">ARVAL BROTHERS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar120">ASSARY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar6">ARVALS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar121">ASSASSIN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar7">ARVERNI</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar122">ASSAULT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar8">ARYAN</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar123">ASSAYE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar9">ARYA SAMAJ</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar124">ASSAYING</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar10">ARYTENOID</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar125">ASSEGAI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar11">ARZAMAS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar126">ASSELIJN, HANS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar12">AS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar127">ASSEMANI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar13">ASA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar128">ASSEMBLY, UNLAWFUL</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar14">ASAFETIDA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar129">ASSEN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar15">ASAF-UD-DOWLAH</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar130">ASSER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar16">ASAPH</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar131">ASSESSMENT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar17">ASBESTOS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar132">ASSESSOR</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar18">ASBJÖRNSEN, PETER CHRISTEN</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar133">ASSETS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar19">ASBURY, FRANCIS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar134">ASSIDEANS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar20">ASBURY PARK</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar135">ASSIGNATS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar21">ASCALON</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar136">ASSIGNMENT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar22">ASCANIUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar137">ASSINIBOIA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar23">ASCENSION</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar138">ASSINIBOIN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar24">ASCENSION, FEAST OF THE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar139">ASSISE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar25">ASCETICISM</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar140">ASSISI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar26">ASCHAFFENBURG</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar141">ASSIUT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar27">ASCHAM, ROGER</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar142">ASSIZE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar28">ASCHERSLEBEN</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar143">ASSMANNSHAUSEN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar29">ASCIANO</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar144">ASSOCIATE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar30">ASCITANS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar145">ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar31">ASCITES</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar146">ASSONANCE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar32">ASCLEPIADES</a> (Greek physician)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar147">ASSUAN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar33">ASCLEPIADES</a> (of Samos)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar148">ASSUMPSIT</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar34">ASCLEPIODOTUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar149">ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar35">ASCOLI, GRAZIADIO ISAIA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar150">ASSUR</a> (land of Assyria)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar36">ASCOLI PICENO</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar151">ASSUR</a> (capital of Assyria)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar37">ASCONIUS PEDIANUS, QUINTUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar152">ASSUR</a> (god of Assyria)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar38">ASCOT</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar153">ASSUR-BANI-PAL</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar39">ASCUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar154">ASSUS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar40">ASELLI, GASPARO</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar155">ASSYRIA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar41">ASGILL, JOHN</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar156">AST, GEORG ANTON FRIEDRICH</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar42">ASH</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar157">ASTARA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar43">A‘SHĀ</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar158">ASTARABAD</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar44">ASHANTI</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar159">ASTARTE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar45">ASH‘ARĪ</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar160">ASTELL, MARY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar46">ASHBOURNE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar161">ASTER</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar47">ASHBURNHAM, JOHN</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar162">ASTERIA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar48">ASHBURTON, ALEXANDER BARING</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar163">ASTERID</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar49">ASHBURTON, JOHN DUNNING</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar164">ASTERISK</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar50">ASHBURTON</a> (river)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar165">ASTERIUS</a> (of Cappadocia)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar51">ASHBURTON</a> (town)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar166">ASTERIUS</a> (bishop of Amasia)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar52">ASHBY, TURNER</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar167">ASTHMA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar53">ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar168">ASTI</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar54">A-SHE-HO</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar169">ASTLEY, JACOB ASTLEY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar55">ASHER</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar170">ASTLEY, SIR JOHN DUGDALE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar56">’ASHER BEN-YEHIEL</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar171">ASTON, ANTHONY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar57">ASHEVILLE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar172">ASTON MANOR</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar58">ASHFORD</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar173">ASTOR, JOHN JACOB</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar59">‘ASHI</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar174">ASTORGA, EMANUELE D’</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar60">ASHINGTON</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar175">ASTORGA</a> (city)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar61">’ASHKENAZI, SEBI</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar176">ASTORIA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar62">ASHLAND</a> (Kentucky, U.S.A.)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar177">ASTRAEA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar63">ASHLAND</a> (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar178">ASTRAGAL</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar64">ASHLAND</a> (Virginia, U.S.A.)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar179">ASTRAKHAN</a> (government of Russia)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar65">ASHLAND</a> (Wisconsin, U.S.A.)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar180">ASTRAKHAN</a> (town of Russia)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar66">ASHLAR</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar181">ASTROLABE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar67">ASHLEY, WILLIAM JAMES</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar182">ASTROLOGY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar68">ASHMOLE, ELIAS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar183">ASTRONOMY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar69">ASHRAF</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar184">ASTROPALIA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar70">ASHREF</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar185">ASTROPHYSICS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar71">ASHTABULA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar186">ASTRUC, JEAN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar72">ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar187">ASTURA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar73">ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar188">ASTURIAS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar74">ASH WEDNESDAY</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar189">ASTYAGES</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar75">ASHWELL, LENA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar190">ASTYLAR</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar76">ASIA</a> (continent)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar191">ASUNCIÓN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar77">ASIA</a> (Roman province)</td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar192">ASVINS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar78">ASIA MINOR</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar193">ASYLUM</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar79">ASIENTO</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar194">ASYLUM, RIGHT OF</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar80">ASIR</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar195">ATACAMA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar81">ASISIUM</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar196">ATACAMA, DESERT OF</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar82">ASKABAD</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar197">ATACAMITE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar83">ASKAULES</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar198">ATAHUALLPA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar84">ASKE, ROBERT</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar199">ATALANTA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar85">ASKEW, ANNE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar200">ATARGATIS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar86">AṢMA‘Ī</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar201">ATAULPHUS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar87">ASMARA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar202">ATAVISM</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar88">ASMODEUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar203">ATBARA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar89">ASMONEUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar204">ATCHISON</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar90">ASNIÈRES</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar205">ATE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar91">ASOKA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar206">ATELLA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar92">ASOLO</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar207">ATELLANAE FABULAE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar93">ASOR</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar208">ATESTE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar94">ASP</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar209">ATH</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar95">ASPARAGINE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar210">ATHABASCA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar96">ASPARAGUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar211">ATHALARIC</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar97">ASPASIA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar212">ATHALIAH</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar98">ASPASIUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar213">ATHAMAS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar99">ASPEN</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar214">ATHANAGILD</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar100">ASPENDUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar215">ATHANARIC</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar101">ASPER, AEMILIUS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar216">ATHANASIUS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar102">ASPER, HANS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar217">ATHAPASCAN</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar103">ASPERGES</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar218">ATHARVA VEDA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar104">ASPERN-ESSLING</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar219">ATHEISM</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar105">ASPHALT</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar220">ATHELM</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar106">ASPHODEL</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar221">ATHELNEY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar107">ASPHYXIA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar222">ATHENA</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar108">ASPIC</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar223">ATHENAEUM</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar109">ASPIDISTRA</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar224">ATHENAEUS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar110">ASPIROTRICHACEAE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar225">ATHENAGORAS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar111">ASPIROZ, MANUEL DE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar226">ATHENODORUS</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar112">ASPROMONTE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar227">ATHENRY</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar113">ASQUITH, HERBERT HENRY</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar228">ATHENS</a> (Greece)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar114">ASS</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar229">ATHENS</a> (Georgia, U.S.A.)</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar115">ASS, FEAST OF THE</a></td> <td class="tcl"><a href="#ar230">ATHENS</a> (Ohio, U.S.A.)</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page709" id="page709"></a>709</span></p> +<p><span class="bold">ARUNDEL, THOMAS<a name="ar1" id="ar1"></a></span> (1353-1414), archbishop of Canterbury, +was the third son of Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel and +Warenne, by his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of Henry +Plantagenet, earl of Lancaster. His family was an old and +influential one, and when Thomas entered the church his preferment +was rapid. In 1373 he became archdeacon of Taunton, +and in April 1374 was consecrated bishop of Ely. During the +early years of the reign of King Richard II. he was associated +with the party led by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, Henry, earl +of Derby, afterwards King Henry IV., and his own brother +Richard, earl of Arundel, and in 1386 he was sent with Gloucester +to Eltham to persuade Richard to return to parliament. This +mission was successful, and Arundel was made lord chancellor +in place of Michael de la Pole, duke of Suffolk, and assisted to +make peace between the king and the supporters of the commission +of regency. In April 1388 he was made archbishop of York, +and, when Richard declared himself of age in 1389, he gave up +the office of chancellor, to which, however, he returned in 1391. +During his second tenure of this office he removed the courts of +justice from London to York, but they were soon brought back +to the metropolis. In September 1396 he was translated from +York to Canterbury, and again resigned the office of chancellor. +He began his new rule by a vigorous attempt to assert his rights, +warned the citizens of London not to withhold tithes, and decided +appeals from the judgments of his suffragans during a thorough +visitation of his province. In November 1396 he had officiated +at the marriage of Richard and Isabella, daughter of Charles VI., +king of France, and his fall was the sequel of the king’s sudden +attack upon the lords appellant in 1397. After the arrest of +Gloucester, Warwick and Arundel, the archbishop was impeached +by the Commons with the king’s consent, although Richard, +who had not yet revealed his hostility, held out hopes of safety +to him. He was charged with assisting to procure the commission +of regency in derogation of the royal authority, and sentence +of banishment was passed, forty days being given him during +which to leave the realm. Towards the end of 1397 he started +for Rome, and Pope Boniface IX., at the urgent request of the +king, translated him to the see of St Andrews, a step which the +pope afterwards confessed he repented bitterly. This translation +virtually deprived Arundel of all authority, as St Andrews did +not acknowledge Boniface. He then became associated with +Henry of Lancaster, but did not return to England before 1399, +and the account which Froissart gives telling how he was sent by +the Londoners to urge Henry to come and assume the crown is +thought to refer to his nephew and namesake, Thomas, earl of +Arundel. Landing with Henry at Ravenspur, he accompanied +him to the west. He took his place at once as archbishop of +Canterbury, witnessed the abdication of Richard in the Tower +of London, led the new king, Henry IV., to his throne in presence +of the peers, and crowned him on the 13th of October 1399.</p> + +<p>The main work of his later years was the defence of the church, +and the suppression of heresy. To put down the Lollards, he +called a meeting of the clergy, pressed on the statute <i>de haeretico +comburendo</i>, and passed sentence of degradation upon William +Sawtrey. He resisted the attempt of the parliament of 1404 to +disendow the church, but failed to induce Henry to pardon +Archbishop Scrope in 1405. In 1407 he became chancellor for +the fourth time, and in 1408 summoned a council at Oxford, +which drew up constitutions against the Lollards. These he +published in January 1409, and among them was one forbidding +the translation of the Bible into English without the consent of +the bishop of the diocese, or of a provincial synod. In 1411 he +went on an embassy abroad, and in 1412 became chancellor +again, his return to power being accompanied by a change in the +foreign policy of Henry IV. In 1397 he had sought to vindicate +his right of visitation over the university of Oxford, but the +dispute remained unsettled until 1411 when a bull was issued by +Pope John XXIII. recalling one issued by Pope Boniface IX., +which had exempted the university from the archbishop’s +authority. In 1413 he took a leading part in the proceedings +against Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, and in the following +year he died on the 19th of February, and was buried at Canterbury. +A legend of a later age tells how, just before his death, +he was struck dumb for preventing the preaching of the word of +God.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The chief authorities are T. Walsingham, <i>Historia Anglicana</i>, ed. +by H.T. Riley (London, 1863-1864); <i>Eulogium historiarum sive +temporis</i>, ed. by F.S. Haydon (London, 1858-1863); the Monk +of Evesham, <i>Historia vitae et regni Ricardi II.</i>, ed. by T. Hearne +(Oxford, 1729); W.F. Hook, <i>Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury</i>, +vol. iv. (London, 1860-1876).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARUNDEL,<a name="ar2" id="ar2"></a></span> a market town and municipal borough in the +Chichester parliamentary division of Sussex, England, 58 m. +S.S.W. from London by the London, Brighton & South Coast +railway. Pop. (1901) 2739. It is pleasantly situated on the +slope of a hill above the river Arun, which is navigable for small +vessels to Littlehampton at the mouth, 6 m. south. From the +summit of the hill rises Arundel Castle, which guarded the passage +along the river through the hills. For its connexion with the +title of earl of Arundel see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Arundel, Earldom of</a></span>. A castle +existed in the time of King Alfred, and at the time of the Conquest +it was rebuilt by Roger de Montgomerie, but it was taken from +his son, who rebelled against the reigning monarch, Henry I. +In 1397 it was the scene of a conspiracy organized by the earl +of Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury and duke of Gloucester, +to dethrone Richard II. and murder the lords of his council, a +plot which was discovered before it could be carried into execution. +During the civil wars of the 17th century, the stronghold +was frequently assaulted by the contending parties, and consequently +greatly damaged; but it was restored by Charles, 11th +duke of Norfolk (d. 1815), who made it what it now is, one of +the most splendid baronial mansions in England. Extensive +reconstruction, in the style of the 13th century, was undertaken +towards the close of the 19th century. The town, according +to the whimsical etymology shown on the corporation seal, takes +its name from <i>hirondelle</i> (a swallow). The town hall is a castellated +building, presented to the corporation by the duke of +Norfolk. The church of St Nicholas, founded about 1375, is +Perpendicular with a low tower rising from the centre. In the +north aisle of the chancel there are several ancient monuments of +the earls of Arundel. The church is otherwise remarkable for +its reredos and iron work. The chancel is the property of the +duke of Norfolk and is screened from the rest of the building, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page710" id="page710"></a>710</span> +although in 1880 this exercise of right by the owner was made +the subject of an action at law and subsequent appeal. The +Roman Catholic church of St Philip Neri was built by the duke +of Norfolk (1873). Some remains of a <i>Maison Dieu,</i> or hospital, +erected in the time of Richard II., still exist. The borough is +under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors. Area, 2053 acres.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The first mention of Arundel (Harundell) comes as early as 877, +when it was left by King Alfred in his will to his nephew Æthelm. +In the time of Edward the Confessor the town seems to have consisted +of the mill and a fortification or earthwork which was probably +thrown up by Alfred as a defence against the Danes; but it had +increased in importance before the Conquest, and appears in Domesday +as a thriving borough and port. It was granted by the Conqueror +to Roger de Montgomery, who built the castle on the site of the +ancient earthwork. From very early times markets were held +within the borough on Thursday and Saturday, and in 1285 Richard +Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, obtained a grant of two annual fairs on +the 14th of May and the 17th of December. The borough returned +two members to parliament from 1302 to 1832 when the Reform +Act reduced the membership to one; in 1868 it was disfranchised +altogether. There are no early charters extant, but in 1586 Elizabeth +acknowledged the right of the mayor and burgesses to be a body +corporate and to hold a court for pleas under forty shillings, two +weekly markets and four annual fairs—which rights they claimed +to have exercised from time immemorial. James II. confirmed in +1688 a charter given two years before, and incorporated the borough +under the title of a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 burgesses. The +town was half destroyed by fire in 1338, but was soon rebuilt. +Arundel was formerly a thriving seaport, and in 1813 was connected +by canal with London.</p> + +<p>See M.A. Tierney, <i>The History and Antiquities of the Castle and +Town of Arundel</i> (London, 1834); +<i>Victoria County History—Sussex.</i></p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARUNDELL OF WARDOUR, THOMAS ARUNDELL,<a name="ar3" id="ar3"></a></span> <span class="sc">1st +Baron</span> (<i>c.</i> 1562-1639), son of Sir Mathew Arundell of Wardour +Castle in Wiltshire, a member of the ancient family of Arundells +of Lanherne in Cornwall, and of Margaret, daughter of Sir Henry +Willoughby, was born about 1562. In 1579 he was personally +recommended by Queen Elizabeth to the emperor Rudolph II. +He greatly distinguished himself while serving with the imperial +troops against the Turks in Hungary, and at the siege of Gran or +Esztergom on the 13th of August 1595, he captured the enemy’s +banner with his own hand. He was created by Rudolph II. a +count of the Holy Roman Empire in December 1595, and returned +to England after suffering shipwreck and barely preserving his +life in January 1596. His assumption of the foreign title created +great jealousy among the English peers, who were wont to give a +precedence by courtesy to foreign nobles, and he incurred the +resentment of his father, who objected to his superior rank and +promptly disinherited him. The queen, moreover, was seriously +displeased, declared that “as chaste wives should have no glances +but for their own spouses, so should faithful subjects keep their +eyes at home and not gaze upon foreign crowns,” and committed +him to the Fleet immediately on his arrival, while she addressed +a long letter of remonstrance on the subject to the emperor. +Arundell remained under arrest till April, when he was liberated +after an examination. In April 1597, however, he was again +confined, but declared innocent of any charge save that of +“practising to contrive the justification of his vain title with +Ministers beyond the seas.” In December he was liberated and +placed under the care of his father, but next year he was again +arrested and accused of a conspiracy against the government. +His petitions for a licence to undertake an expedition by sea, +wherein he declared “his end was honour which some base +minds call ambition,” were refused, but in 1599 he was apparently +again restored to favour. On the 4th of May 1605 he was +created by James I. Baron Arundell of Wardour, but fell again +under temporary suspicion at the time of the Gunpowder Plot. +In 1623 he once more got into trouble by championing the cause +of the recusants, of whom he was himself one, on the occasion of +the visit of the Spanish envoys, and he was committed to custody, +and in 1625 all the arms were removed by the government from +Wardour Castle. After the accession of Charles I. he was +pardoned, and attended the sittings of the House of Lords. He +was indicted in the king’s bench about the year 1627 for not +paying some contribution, and in 1632 he was accused of harbouring +a priest. In 1637 he was declared exempt from the +recusancy laws by the king’s order, but in 1639 he again +petitioned for relief. The same year he paid £500 in lieu of +attending the king at York. He died on the 7th of November +1639. Arundell was an earnest Roman Catholic, but the suspicions +of the government as to his loyalty were probably unfounded +and stifled a career destined by nature for successful +adventure. He married (1) Mary, daughter of Henry Wriothesley, +2nd earl of Southampton, by whom besides other children +he had Thomas, who succeeded him as 2nd baron; and (2) Anne, +daughter of Miles Philipson, by whom he had several daughters.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Henry Arundell</span>, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour (<i>c.</i> 1607-1694), +son of Thomas, 2nd baron, and of Blanche, daughter of +Edward, earl of Worcester, was born on the 21st of July 1607, +and succeeded on his father’s death in 1643 to the family title +and estates. A strong royalist and Roman Catholic, he supported +the king’s cause, and distinguished himself in 1644 by the recapture +of his castle at Wardour from the parliamentarians, who +had taken it in the previous year in spite of his mother’s brave +defence of the place. In 1648 he was one of the delinquents +exempted from pardon in the proposals sent to Charles in the +Isle of Wight. His estates had been confiscated, but he was +permitted about 1653 to compound for them in the sum of +£35,000. In 1652, in consequence of his being second at a duel +in which one of the combatants was killed, he was arrested, and +tried in 1653; he pleaded his peerage, but the privilege was +disallowed as the House of Lords had been abolished. At the +Restoration he regained possession of the family estates, and in +1663 was made master of the horse to Henrietta Maria. He was +one of the few admitted to the king’s confidence concerning the +projects for the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion and +the alliance with France. In 1669 he took part in the secret +council assembled by Charles II., and in October was sent to +France, ostensibly for the funeral of Henrietta Maria, but in +reality to negotiate with Louis XIV. the agreement which took +shape in 1670 in the treaties of Dover (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Charles II</a></span>.). In +1676 he was privy to James’s negotiations with Rome through +Coleman. He was accused in 1678 by Titus Oates of participation +in the popish plot, and was one of the five Roman Catholic +peers arrested and imprisoned in the Tower in October, found +guilty by the Middlesex grand jury of high treason, and +impeached subsequently by the parliament. Lord Stafford was +found guilty and executed in December 1680, but after the +perpetration of this injustice the proceedings were interrupted, +and the three surviving peers were released on bail on the 12th +of February 1684. On the 22nd of May 1685, after James II.’s +accession, the charge was annulled, and on the 1st of June 1685 +they obtained their full liberty. In February 1686, with other +Roman Catholics, Arundell urged upon the king the removal +of his mistress, Lady Dorchester, on account of her strong +Protestantism. In spite of his religion he was made a privy councillor +in August 1686, and keeper of the privy seal in 1687, being +excused from taking the oaths by the king’s dispensation. He +presented the thanks of the Roman Catholics to James in June +1687 for the declaration of indulgence. His public career ended +with the abdication of the king, and he retired to Breamore, the +family residence since the destruction of Wardour Castle. He +died on the 28th of December 1694. He was the author of five +religious poems said to be composed during his confinement in +the Tower in 1679, published the same year and reprinted in +<i>A Collection of Eighty-six Loyal Poems</i> in 1685. His piety and +benevolence to his unfortunate co-religionists were conspicuous. +Evelyn calls him “very good company” and he was a noted +sportsman, the Quorn pack being descended from his pack of +hounds at Breamore. He married Cecily, daughter of Sir Henry +Compton, by whom besides other children he had Thomas, who +succeeded him as 4th baron.</p> + +<p>The barony is still held in the Arundell family, which has +never ceased to be Roman Catholic. The 14th baron (b. 1859) +was a direct descendent of the 6th.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARUSIANUS MESSIUS,<a name="ar4" id="ar4"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Messus</span>, Latin grammarian, +flourished in the 4th century <span class="scs">A.D.</span> He was the author of a small +extant work <i>Exempla Elocutionum,</i> dedicated to Olybrius and +Probinus, consuls for the year 395. It contains an alphabetical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page711" id="page711"></a>711</span> +list, chiefly of verbs admitting more than one construction, with +examples from each of the four writers, Virgil, Sallust, Terence +and Cicero. Cassiodorus, the only writer who mentions Arusianus, +refers to it by the term Quadriga.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Keil, <i>Grammatici Latini</i>, vii.; Suringar, <i>Historia +Critica Scholiastarum Latinorum</i> (1834-1835); Van der Hoeven, +<i>Specimen Literarium</i> (1845).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARVAL BROTHERS<a name="ar5" id="ar5"></a></span> (Fratres Arvales), in Roman antiquities, +a college or priesthood, consisting of twelve members, elected +for life from the highest ranks in Rome, and always apparently, +during the empire, including the emperor. Their chief duty was +to offer annually public sacrifice for the fertility of the fields +(Varro, <i>L. L.</i> v. 85). It is generally held that the college was +founded by Romulus (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Acca Larentia</a></span>). This legend probably +arose from the connexion of Acca Larentia, as <i>mater Larum</i>, +with the Lares who had a part in the religious ceremonies of the +Arvales. But apart from this, there is proof of the high antiquity +of the college, which was said to have been older than Rome itself, +in the verbal forms of the song with which, down to late times, +a part of the ceremonies was accompanied, and which is still +preserved. It is clear also that, while the members were themselves +always persons of distinction, the duties of their office were +held in high respect. And yet it is singular that no mention of +them occurs in Cicero or Livy, and that altogether literary +allusions to them are very scarce. On the other hand, we possess +a long series of the <i>acta</i> or minutes of their proceedings, drawn +up by themselves, and inscribed on stone. Excavations, commenced +in the 16th century and continued to the 19th, in the +grove of the Dea Dia about 5 m. from Rome, have yielded 96 of +these records from <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 14 to 241. The brotherhood appears +to have languished in obscurity during the republic, and +to have been revived by Augustus. In his time the college +consisted of a master (<i>magister</i>), a vice-master (<i>promagister</i>), +a <i>flamen</i>, and a <i>praetor</i>, with eight ordinary members, attended +by various servants, and in particular by four chorus boys, sons +of senators, having both parents alive. Each wore a wreath of +corn, a white fillet and the praetexta. The election of members +was by co-optation on the motion of the president, who, with a +flamen, was himself elected for one year. The great annual +festival which they had to conduct was held in honour of the +anonymous Dea Dia, who was probably identical with Ceres. +It occupied three days in May. The ceremony of the first day +took place in Rome itself, in the house of the magister or his +deputy, or on the Palatine in the temple of the emperors, where +at sunrise fruits and incense were offered to the goddess. A +sumptuous banquet took place, followed by a distribution of +doles and garlands. On the second and principal day of the +festival the ceremonies were conducted in the grove of the Dea +Dia. They included a dance in the temple of the goddess, at +which the song of the brotherhood was sung, in language so +antiquated that it was hardly intelligible (see the text and +translation in Mommsen, <i>Hist, of Rome</i>, bk. i. ch. xv.) even to +Romans of the time of Augustus, who regarded it as the oldest +existing document in their mother-tongue. Especial mention +should be made of the ceremony of purifying the grove, which +was held to be defiled by the felling of trees, the breaking of a +bough or the presence of any iron tools, such as those used by +the lapidary who engraved the records of the proceedings on +stone. The song and dance were followed by the election of +officers for the next year, a banquet and races. On the third day +the sacrifice took place in Rome, and was of the same nature as +that offered on the first day. The Arvales also offered sacrifice +and solemn vows on behalf of the imperial family on the 3rd of +January and on other extraordinary occasions. The brotherhood +is said to have lasted till the time of Theodosius. The British +Museum contains a bust of Marcus Aurelius in the dress of a +Frater Arvalis.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Marini, <i>Atti e Monumenti de’ Fratri Arvali</i> (1795); Hoffmann, +<i>Die A.</i> (1858): Oldenberg, <i>De Sacris Fratrum A</i>. (1875); +Bergk, <i>Das Lied der Arvalbrüder</i> (1856); Bréal, “Le Chant des +Arvals” in <i>Mém. de la Soc. de Linguistique</i> (1881); Edon, +<i>Nouvelle Étude sur le Chant Lémural</i> (1884); <i>Corpus +Inscriptionum Latinarum</i>, vi. 2023-2119; Henzen, <i>Acta Fratrum +Arvalium</i> (1874).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARVALS,<a name="ar6" id="ar6"></a></span> <span class="sc">Arvels</span> or <span class="sc">Arthels</span> (O. Norse <i>Arfr</i>, inheritance, +and <i>öl</i>, A.S. Ale, a banquet), primarily the funeral dinner, and +later, especially in the north of England, a thin, light, sweet cake, +spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, served to the poor at such +feasts. The funeral meal was called the Arvel-dinner. The +custom seems to have been to hold on such occasions an informal +inquest, when the corpse was publicly exposed, to exculpate the +heir and those entitled to the property of the dead from all +accusations of foul play.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARVERNI,<a name="ar7" id="ar7"></a></span> the name of an ancient Gaulish tribe in the +Auvergne, which still bears its name. It resisted Caesar longer +than most of Gaul; when once vanquished it adopted Roman +civilization readily. Its tribal deity, the god of the mountain, +the Puy de Dôme, rechristened in Roman phrase Mercurius +Dumias, was famous far beyond its territory. Part of his temple +has been excavated recently.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARYAN,<a name="ar8" id="ar8"></a></span> a term which has been used in a confusing variety +of significations by different philologists. By Max Müller +especially it was employed as a convenient short term for the +whole body of languages more commonly known as Indo-European +(<i>q.v.</i>) or Indo-Germanic. In the same way Max Müller +used Aryas as a general term for the speakers of such languages, +as in his book published in 1888, <i>Biographies of Words and the +Home of the Aryas</i>. “Aryas are those who speak Aryan languages, +whatever their colour, whatever their blood. In calling +them Aryas we predicate nothing of them except that the +grammar of their language is Aryan” (p. 245). It is to be +observed, therefore, that Max Müller is careful to avoid any +ethnological signification. The Aryas are those who speak +Aryan without regard to the question whether Aryan is their +<i>hereditary</i> language or not. As he says still more definitely +elsewhere in the same work (p. 120), “I have declared again and +again that if I say Aryas, I mean neither blood nor bones, nor +hair nor skull; I mean simply those who speak an Aryan +language. The same applies to Hindus, Greeks, Romans +Germans, Celts and Slaves. When I speak of them I commit +myself to no anatomical characteristics. The blue-eyed and +fair-haired Scandinavians may have been conquerors or conquered, +they may have adopted the language of their darker +lords or their subjects, or vice versa. I assert nothing beyond +their language when I call them Hindus, Greeks, Romans, +Germans, Celts and Slaves; and in that sense, and in that sense +only, do I say that even the blackest Hindus represent an earlier +stage of Aryan speech and thought than the fairest Scandinavians.... +To me an ethnologist who speaks of Aryan race, Aryan +blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is as great a sinner as a linguist +who speaks of a dolichocephalic dictionary or a brachycephalic +grammar.”</p> + +<p>From the popularity of Max Müller’s works on comparative +philology this is the use of the word which is most familiar to +the general public. The arguments in support of this use are +set forth by him in the latter part of lecture vi. of the <i>Lectures +on the Science of Language</i> (first series) and as an appendix to +chap. vii. of the final edition (i. pp. 291 ff.). The Sanskrit usage +of the word is fully illustrated by him from the early Sanskrit +writings in the article “Aryan” in the ninth edition of this +encyclopaedia. From the earliest occurrences of the word it is +clear that it was used as a national name not only in India but +also in Bactria and Persia (in Sanskrit <i>árya</i>- and <i>ārya</i>, in Zend +<i>airya</i>-, in Old Persian <i>ariya</i>-). That it is in any way connected +with a Sanskrit word for earth, <i>ira</i>, as Max Müller asserts, is far +from certain. As Spiegel remarks (<i>Die arische Periode</i>, p. 105), +though it is easy enough to connect the word with a root <i>ar</i>-, +there are several roots of that form which have different meanings, +and there is no certain criterion whereby to decide to which of +them it is related. Nor are the other connexions for the word +outside this group free from doubt. It is, however, certain that +the connexion with <i>Erin</i> (Ireland), which Pictet in his article +“Iren and Arier” (Kuhn and Schleicher’s <i>Beiträge</i>, i. 1858, +pp. 81 ff.) sought to establish, is impossible (Whitley Stokes in +Max Müller’s <i>Lectures</i>, 1891, i. pp. 299 f.), though the word may +have the same origin as the <i>Ario</i>- of names like <i>Ariovistus</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page712" id="page712"></a>712</span> +which is found in both Celtic and Germanic words (Uhlenbeck, +<i>Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der altindischen Sprache,</i> +s.v.). The name of Armenia (Old Persian <i>Armina-</i>), which has +often been connected, is of uncertain origin. Within Sanskrit +itself probably two words have to be distinguished: (1) <i>árya</i>, +the origin of Aryan, from which the usual term <i>ārya</i> is a +derivative; (2) <i>aryá</i>, which frequently appears in the <i>Rig Veda</i> as +an epithet of deities. In many passages, however, <i>aryás</i> may +equally well be the genitive of <i>arí</i>, which is explained as “active, +devoted, pious.” Even in this word probably two originally +separate words have to be distinguished, for the further meanings +which Grassmann in his dictionary to the <i>Rig Veda</i> attaches +to it, viz. “greedy” (for treasure and for battle), “godless,” +“enemy,” seem more appropriately to be derived from the same +source as the Greek <span class="grk" title="eri-s">ἔρι-ς</span>, “strife.” The word <i>árya-</i> is not +found as a national name in the <i>Rig Veda</i>, but appears in the +<i>Vājasaneyi-sainhita</i>, where it is explained by Mahīdhara as +<i>Vaisya-</i>, a cultivator or a man of the third among the original +four classes of the population. So in the <i>Atharva Veda</i> (iv. 20. 4; +xix. 62. 1) it is contrasted with the Śudra or fourth class (Spiegel, +<i>Arische Periode</i>, p. 102). In the <i>Avesta, airya-</i> is found both as +adjective and substantive in the sense of Aryan, but no light is +thrown upon the history of the word. Darius describes himself +in an inscription as of Aryan stock, <i>Dāraya<span class="sp">h</span>va<span class="sp">h</span>uš ariya<span class="sp">h</span>čiv<span class="sp">r</span>a<span class="sp">h</span></i>. +In the <i>Avesta</i> the derivative <i>airyana-</i> is also found in the sense +of Aryan. In both India and Persia a word is found (Skt. +<i>aryaman-</i>; Zend <i>airya<span class="sp">h</span>man-</i>) which is apparently of the same origin. +In both Sanskrit and Zend it means something like “comrade” +or “bosom friend,” but in Zend is used of the priestly or highest +class. In Sanskrit, besides this use in which it is contrasted +with the <i>Dāsa</i> or <i>Dāsyu</i>, the enemies, the earlier inhabitants, the +word is often used for the bridegroom’s spokesman, and in both +languages is also employed as the name of a divine being. In the +<i>Rig Veda, Aryaman-</i> as a deity is most frequently coupled with +Mitra and Varuna (Grassmann, <i>Wörterbuch</i>, s.v.); in Zend, +according to Bartholomae (<i>Altiranisches Wörterbuch</i>, s.v.), from +the earliest literature, the Gathas, there is nothing definite to be +learnt regarding <i>Airyaman</i>.</p> + +<p>Whatever the origin of <i>arya-</i>, however, it is clear that it is a +word with dignified associations, by which the peoples belonging +to the Eastern section of the Indo-Europeans were proud to call +themselves. It is now used uniformly by scholars to indicate +the Eastern branch as a whole, a compound, <i>Indo-Aryan</i>, being +employed for that part of the Eastern branch which settled in +India to distinguish them from the Iranians (<i>Iran</i> is of the same +origin), who remained in Bactria and Persia, while <i>Aryo-Indian</i> +is sometimes employed to distinguish the Indian people of this +stock from the Dravidian and other stocks which also inhabit +parts of the Indian peninsula. Of the stages in the occupation +of the Iranian table-land by the Aryan people nothing is known, +the people themselves having apparently no tradition of a time +when they did not hold these territories (Spiegel, <i>Arische Periode</i>, +p. 319). Though the Hindus have no tradition of their invasion +of India, it is certain that they are not an indigenous people, +and, if they are not, it is clear that they could have come in no +other direction save from the other side of the Hindu Kush. At +the period of their earliest literature, which may be assigned +roughly to about 1000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, they were still settled in the valley +of the Indus, and at this time the separation probably had not +long taken place, the Eastern portion of the stock having pushed +their way along the Kabul valley into the open country of the +Indus. According to Professor E.W. Hopkins (<i>India Old and +New</i>, 1901, p. 31) the <i>Rig Veda</i> was composed in the district +about Umballa. He argues that the people must have been then +to the west of the great rivers, otherwise the dawn could not be +addressed as one who “in shining light, before the wind arises, +comes gleaming over the waters, making good paths.” The +vocabulary is still largely the same; whole sentences can be +transliterated from one language to the other merely by making +regular phonetic changes and without the variation of a single +word (for examples see Bartholomae, <i>Handbuch der altiranischen +Dialekte</i>, 1883, p. v.; Williams Jackson, <i>Avesta Grammar</i>, 1892, +pp. xxxi. f.; <i>Grundriss der iranischen Philologie</i>, 1895, i. p. 1). +It is noteworthy that it is those who remain behind whose +language has undergone most change.</p> + +<p>By four well-marked characteristics the Aryan group is easily +distinguishable from the other Indo-European languages. (1) +By the confusion of original <i>e</i> and <i>o</i>, both long and short, with +the original long and short <i>a</i> sound; (2) the short schwa-sound ə +is represented here, and in this group only, by <i>i</i> (<i>pita</i>, “father,” +as compared with <span class="grk" title="pataer">πατήρ</span>, &c.); (3) original <i>s</i> after <i>i</i>, <i>u</i> and some +consonants becomes ṣ; (4) the genitive plural of stems ending +in a vowel has a suffix-<i>nām</i> borrowed by analogy from the stems +ending in <i>-n</i> (Skt. <i>ásvānām</i>, “of horses”; Zend <i>aspānām</i>; +Old Persian <i>aspānām</i>). The distinctions between Sanskrit and +Iranian are also clear, (1) The Aryan voiced aspirates <i>gh, dh, bh,</i> +which survive in Sanskrit, are confused in Iranian with original +<i>g, d, b,</i> and further changes take place in the language of the +later parts of the Avesta; (2) the Aryan breathed aspirates +<i>kh, th, ph,</i> except in combination with certain consonants, +become spirants in Iranian; (3) Aryan <i>s</i> becomes <i>h</i> initially +before vowels in Iranian and also in certain cases medially, +Iranian in these respects resembling Greek (cf. Skt. <i>saptá</i>; +Zend <i>hapta</i>; Gr. <span class="grk" title="hepta">ἑπτά</span>, “seven”); (4) in Zend there are many +vowel changes which it does not share with Old Persian. Some +of these arise from the umlaut or epenthesis which is so prevalent, +and which we have already seen in <i>airya-</i> as compared with the +Skt. <i>árya</i>. In other respects the languages are remarkably alike, +the only striking difference being in the numeral “one”—Skt. +<i>eka-</i>; Zend <i>aeva-</i>; Old Persian <i>aiva-</i>, where the Iranian group +has the same stem as that seen in the Greek <span class="grk" title="oi(f)o-s">οἶ(<i>F</i>)ο-ς</span>, “alone.”</p> + +<p>For the subdivisions of the two groups see the articles on +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Persia</a></span>: <i>Language</i>, and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Indo-Aryan Languages</a></span>. Dr Grierson +has shown in his monograph on “The Pisaca Languages of +North-Western India” (Royal Asiatic Society, 1906) that there +is good reason for regarding various dialects of the north-western +frontier (Kafiristan, Chitral, Gilgit, Dardistan) as a separate +group descended from Aryan but independent of either Sanskrit +or Iranian.</p> + +<p>The history of the separation of the Aryan from the other +Indo-European languages is not yet clear (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Indo-European +Languages</a></span>). Various attempts have been made, with little +success, to identify fragments of unknown languages in cuneiform +inscriptions with members of this group. The investigation has +entered a new and more favourable stage as the result of the +discoveries made by German excavators at Boghaz Keui (said +to be identical with Herodotus’ Pteria in Cappadocia), where +treaties between the king of the Hittites and the king of Mitanni, +in the beginning of the 14th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, seem almost certainly +to contain the names of the gods Mitra, Varuna and Indra, +which belong to the early Aryan mythology (H. Winckler, +<i>Mitteilungen der deutschen Orientgesellschaft</i>, No. 35; E. Meyer, +<i>Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie</i>, 1908, pp. 14 ff.; +<i>Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung</i>, 42, 1908, pp. 24 ff.). +Still further light is to be expected when the vast collections of the +German expedition to Turfan (Turkestan) have been sifted. Up +to 1909 only a preliminary account had been given of Tocharish, +a hitherto unknown Indo-European language, which is reported +to be in some respects more akin to the Western groups than to +Aryan. But further investigation is still required (see E. Sieg +and W. Siegling, “Tocharisch, die Sprache der Indoskythen,” in +<i>Sitzungsberichte der Berl. Akad.</i> (July 1908, pp. 915 ff.).</p> +<div class="author">(P. Gi.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARYA SAMAJ,<a name="ar9" id="ar9"></a></span> a Hindu religious association with reforming +tendencies, which was founded by a Guzerati Brahman named +Dayanand Saraswati. This man was born of a Saivite family +about 1825, but in early manhood grew dissatisfied with +idol-worship. He undertook many pilgrimages and studied the Vedic +philosophy in the hope of solving the old problem of the +Buddha,—how to alleviate human misery and attain final liberation. +About 1866, when he had begun to teach and to gather disciples, +he first saw the Christian scriptures, which he vehemently +assailed, and the <i>Rig Veda</i>, which he correspondingly exalted, +though in the conception which he ultimately formed of God the +former was much more influential than the latter. Dayanand’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page713" id="page713"></a>713</span> +treatment of the Vedas was peculiar, and consisted of +reading into them his own beliefs and modern scientific +discoveries. Thus he explains the <i>Yajna</i> (sacrificial cult) as “the +entertainment of the learned in proportion to their worth, the +business of manufacture, the experiment and application of +chemistry, physics and the arts of peace; the instruction of the +people, the purification of the air, the nourishment of vegetables +by the employment of the principles of meteorology, called +<i>Agni-Notri</i> in Sanskrit.” He denied that the <i>Vedas</i> warranted +the caste system, but wished to retain the four grades as orders +of learning to which admission should be won by examination.</p> + +<p>These views naturally met with scanty acceptance among the +Brahmans to whom he introduced them, and Dayanand turned +to the masses and established <i>Samajes</i> in various parts of India, +the first being at Bombay in 1875. He chose the epithet Arya +as being more dignified than the slightly contemptuous term +Hindu. After a successful series of tours, during which he +debated publicly with orthodox pundits and with Christian +missionaries, he died at Ajmere in 1883.</p> + +<p>The Arya Samaj is not an eclectic system like the Brahma +Samaj, which strives to find the common basis underlying all +the great religions, and its narrower scope and corresponding +intensity of conviction have won it a greater strength. It +seemed to meet the feeling of many educated natives whose faith +in current Hinduism was undermined, but who were predisposed +against any foreign religious influence. Their patriotic ardour +gladly seized on “a view of the original faith of India that +seemed to harmonize with all the discoveries of modern science +and the ethics of European civilization,” and they cheerfully +supported their leader’s strange polemic with the agnostic and +rationalist literature of Europe. By 1890 their numbers had +increased to 40,000, by 1900 to over 92,000. Divisions had, +however, set in, especially a cleavage into the <i>Ghasi</i> or vegetarian, +and the <i>Mansi</i> or flesh-eating sections. To the latter belong +those Rajputs who though generally in sympathy with the +movement declined to adhere to the tenet of the <i>Samaj</i> which +forbade the destruction of animal life and the consumption of +animal food. The age of admission to the Samaj is eighteen, +and members are expected to contribute to its funds at least +1% of their income.</p> + +<p>The ten articles of their creed may be summarized thus:—</p> + +<div class="list f90"> + <p>1. The source of all true knowledge is God.</p> + + <p>2. God is “all truth, all knowledge, all bliss, boundless, almighty, + just, merciful, unbegotten, without a beginning, incomparable, + the support and Lord of all, all-pervading, omniscient, + imperishable, immortal, eternal, holy, and the cause of the + universe; worship is due to him alone.”</p> + + <p>3. The medium of true knowledge is the <i>Vedas</i>.</p> + + <p>4. and 5. The truth is to be accepted and to become the guiding + principle.</p> + + <p>6. The object of the Samaj is to benefit the world by improving + its physical, social, intellectual and moral conditions.</p> + + <p>7. Love and justice are the right guides of conduct.</p> + + <p>8. Knowledge must be spread.</p> + + <p>9. The good of others must be sought.</p> + + <p>10. In general interests members must subordinate themselves to + the good of others; in personal interests they should retain + independence.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">The sixth clause comprehends a wide programme of reform, +including abstinence from spirituous liquors and animal food, +physical cleanliness and exercise, marriage reform, the promotion +of female education, the abolition of caste and of idolatry.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARYTENOID<a name="ar10" id="ar10"></a></span> (or <i>arytaenoid</i>; from Gr. <span class="grk" title="arytaina">ἀρύταινα</span>, a funnel or +pitcher), a term, meaning funnel-shaped, applied to cartilages +such as those of the larynx.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ARZAMAS,<a name="ar11" id="ar11"></a></span> a town of Russia, in the government of, and 76 m. +by rail S. of the town of, Nizhniy-Novgorod, on the Tesha river, +at its junction with the Arsha. It is an important centre of +trade, and has tanneries, oil, flour, tallow, dye, soap and iron +works; knitting is an important domestic industry. Sheepskins +and sail-cloth are articles of trade. The town has several +churches. Pop. (1897) 10,591.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">AS,<a name="ar12" id="ar12"></a></span> the Roman unit of weight and measure, divided into +12 <i>unciae</i> (whence both “ounce” and “inch”); its fractions +being deunx <span class="spp">11</span>⁄<span class="suu">12</span>, dextrans <span class="spp">5</span>⁄<span class="suu">6</span>, dodrans ¾, bes <span class="spp">2</span>⁄<span class="suu">3</span>, septunx <span class="spp">7</span>⁄<span class="suu">12</span>, +semis ½, quincunx <span class="spp">5</span>⁄<span class="suu">12</span>, triens <span class="spp">1</span>⁄<span class="suu">3</span>, quadrans ¼, sextans <span class="spp">1</span>⁄<span class="suu">6</span>, sescuncia <span class="spp">1</span>⁄<span class="suu">8</span>, +uncia <span class="spp">1</span>⁄<span class="suu">12</span>. <i>As</i> really denoted any integer or whole; whence the +English word “ace.” The unit or <i>as</i> of weight was the <i>libra</i> +(pound: = about 11<span class="spp">4</span>⁄<span class="suu">5</span> oz. avoirdupois); of length, <i>pes</i> (foot: += about 11<span class="spp">3</span>⁄<span class="suu">5</span> in.); of surface, <i>jugerum</i> (= about <span class="spp">2</span>⁄<span class="suu">3</span> acre); of +measure, liquid <i>amphora</i> (about 5<span class="spp">3</span>⁄<span class="suu">5</span> gal.), dry <i>modius</i> (about +<span class="spp">9</span>⁄<span class="suu">10</span> peck). In the same way <i>as</i> signified a whole inheritance; +whence <i>heres ex asse</i>, the heir to the whole estate, <i>heres ex semisse</i>, +heir to half the estate. It was also used in the calculation of +rates of interest.</p> + +<p><i>As</i> was also the name of a Roman coin, which was of different +weight and value at different periods (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Numismatics</a></span>, +§ <i>Roman</i>). The first introduction of coined money is ascribed to +Servius Tullius. The old <i>as</i> was composed of the mixed metal +<i>aes</i>, an alloy of copper, tin and lead, and was called <i>as libralis</i>, +because it nominally weighed 1 ℔ or 12 ounces (actually 10). +Its original shape seems to have been an irregular oblong bar, +which was stamped with the figure of a sheep, ox or sow. This, +as well as the word <i>pecunia</i> for money (<i>pecus</i>, cattle), indicates +the fact of cattle having been the earliest Italian medium of +exchange. The value was indicated by little points or globules, +or other marks. After the round shape was introduced, the one +side was always inscribed with the figure of a ship’s prow, and +the other with the double head of Janus. The subdivisions of +the <i>as</i> had also the ship’s prow on one side, and on the other the +head of some deity. The First Punic War having exhausted +the treasury, the <i>as</i> was reduced to 2 oz. In the Second Punic +War it was again reduced to half this weight, viz. to 1 oz. +And lastly, by the Papirian law (89 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) it was further reduced +to the diminutive weight of half an ounce. It appears to have +been still more reduced under Octavian, Lepidus and Antony, +when its value was <span class="spp">1</span>⁄<span class="suu">3</span> of an ounce. Before silver coinage was +introduced (269 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) the value of the <i>as</i> was about 6d., in the +time of Cicero less than a halfpenny. In the time of the emperor +Severus it was again lowered to about <span class="spp">5</span>⁄<span class="suu">24</span> of an ounce. During +the commonwealth and empire <i>aes grave</i> was used to denote the +old as in contradistinction to the existing depreciated coin; +while <i>aes rude</i> was applied to the original oblong coinage of +primitive times.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASA,<a name="ar13" id="ar13"></a></span> in the Bible, son (or, perhaps, rather brother) of Abijah, +the son of Rehoboam and king of Judah (1 Kings xv. 9-24). Of +his long reign, during which he was a contemporary of Baasha, +Zimri and Omri of Israel, little is recorded with the exception +of some religious reforms and conflicts with the first-named. +Baasha succeeded in fortifying Ramah (<i>er-Rām</i>), 5 m. north of +Jerusalem, and Asa was compelled to use the residue of the +temple-funds (cf. 1 Kings xiv. 26) to bribe the king of Damascus +to renounce his league with Baasha and attack Israel. Galilee +was invaded and Baasha was forced to return; the building +material which he had collected at Ramah being used by Asa to +fortify Geba, and Mizpah to the immediate north of Jerusalem. +The Book of Chronicles relates a story of a sensational defeat of +Zerah the “Cushite,” and a great religious revival in which Judah +and Israel took part (2 Chron. xiv.-xv. 15) (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Chronicles</a></span>). +Asa was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.</p> + +<p>“Cushite” may designate an Ethiopian or, more probably, +an Arabian (Cush, the “father” of the Sabaeans, Gen. x. 7). +“If by Zerah the Ethiopian or Sabaean prince be meant, the +only real difficulty of the narrative is removed. No king Zerah +of Ethiopia is known at this period, nor does there seem to be +room for such a person.” (W.E. Barnes, <i>Cambridge Bible</i>, +Chronicles, p. xxxi.). The identification with Osorkon I. or II. +is scarcely tenable considering Asa’s weakness; but inroads by +desert hordes frequently troubled Judah, and if the tradition +be correct in locating the battle at Mareshah it is probable that +the invaders were in league with the Philistine towns. Similar +situations recur in the reigns of Ahaz and Jehoram.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See also Wellhausen, <i>Prolegomena</i>, 208; S.A. Cook, +<i>Expositor</i> (June 1906), p. 540 sq.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(S. A. C.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASAFETIDA<a name="ar14" id="ar14"></a></span> (<i>asa</i>, Lat. form of Persian <i>aza</i> = mastic, and +fetidus, stinking, so called in distinction to <i>asa dulcis</i>, which was +a drug highly esteemed among the ancients as <i>laser cyrenaicum</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page714" id="page714"></a>714</span> +and is supposed to have been a gummy exudation from <i>Thapsis +garganica</i>), a gum-resin obtained principally from the root of +<i>Ferula fetida,</i> and probably also from one or two other closely +allied species of umbelliferous plants. It is produced in eastern +Persia and Afghanistan, Herat and Kandahar being centres of +the trade. <i>Ferula fetida</i> grows to a height of from 5 to 6 ft., and +when the plant has attained the age of four years it is ready for +yielding asafetida. The stems are cut down close to the root, +and the juice flows out, at first of a milky appearance, but quickly +setting into a solid resinous mass. Fresh incisions are made as +long as the sap continues to flow, a period which varies according +to the size and strength of the plant. A freshly-exposed surface +of asafetida has a translucent, pearly-white appearance, but it +soon darkens in the air, becoming first pink and finally reddish-brown. +In taste it is acrid and bitter; but what peculiarly +characterizes it is the strong alliaceous odour it emits, from +which it has obtained the name asafetida, as well as its German +name <i>Teufelsdreck</i> (devil’s dung). Its odour is due to the presence +of organic sulphur compounds. Asafetida is found in commerce +in “lump” or in “tear,” the latter being the purer form. +Medicinally, asafetida is given in doses of 5 to 15 grains and acts +as a stimulant to the intestinal and respiratory tracts and to +the nervous system. An enema containing it is useful in relieving +flatus. It is sometimes useful in hysteria, which is essentially +a lack of inhibitory power, as its nasty properties induce sufficient +inhibitory power to render its readministration superfluous. +It may also be used in an effervescing draught in cases of +malingering, the drug “repeating” in the mouth and making +the malingering not worth while. The gum-resin is relished as a +condiment in India and Persia, and is in demand in France for +use in cookery. In the regions of its growth the whole plant is +used as a fresh vegetable, the inner portion of the full-grown stem +being regarded as a luxury.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASAF-UD-DOWLAH,<a name="ar15" id="ar15"></a></span> nawab wazir of Oudh from 1775 to 1797, +was the son of Shuja-ud-Dowlah, his mother and grandmother +being the begums of Oudh, whose spoliation formed one of the +chief counts in the charges against Warren Hastings. When +Shuja-ud-Dowlah died he left two million pounds sterling buried +in the vaults of the zenana. The widow and mother of the +deceased prince claimed the whole of this treasure under the +terms of a will which was never produced. When Warren +Hastings pressed the nawab for the payment of debt due to the +Company, he obtained from his mother a loan of 26 lakhs of +rupees, for which he gave her a <i>jagir</i> of four times the value; +he subsequently obtained 30 lakhs more in return for a full +acquittal, and the recognition of her <i>jagirs</i> without interference +for life by the Company. These <i>jagirs</i> were afterwards confiscated +on the ground of the begum’s complicity in the rising +of Chai Singh, which was attested by documentary evidence. +The evidence now available seems to show that Warren Hastings +did his best throughout to rescue the nawab from his own +incapacity, and was inclined to be lenient to the begums.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>The Administration of Warren Hastings, 1772-1785,</i> by G.W. +Forrest (1892).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASAPH,<a name="ar16" id="ar16"></a></span> the eponym of the Asaphite gild of singers, one of the +hereditary choirs that superintended the musical services of the +temple at Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The names occur +in the titles of certain Psalms, and the writer of the Book of +Chronicles makes Asaph a seer (2 Chron. xxix. 30), contemporary +with David and Solomon, and chief of the singers of his time.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASBESTOS,<a name="ar17" id="ar17"></a></span> a fibrous mineral from Gr. <span class="grk" title="asbestos">ἄσβεστος</span>, unquenchable, +by transference, incombustible, in allusion to its power of +resisting the action of fire. The word was applied by Dioscorides +and other Greek authors to quicklime, but Pliny evidently used +it in its modern sense. It was occasionally woven by the ancients +into handkerchiefs, and, it has been said, into shrouds which were +used in cremation to prevent the ashes of the corpse from +mingling with the wood-ashes of the pyre.</p> + +<p>In different varieties of asbestos the fibres vary greatly in +character. When silky and flexible they are sometimes known +as mountain flax. The finer kinds are often termed amianthus +(<i>q.v.</i>). When the fibres are naturally interwoven, so as to form +a felted mass, the mineral passes under such trivial names as +mountain leather, mountain cork, mountain paper, &c. The +asbestos formerly used in the arts was generally a fibrous form +of some kind of amphibole, like tremolite, or anthophyllite, +though occasionally perhaps a pyroxene. In recent years, +however, most of the asbestos in the market is a fibrous variety +of serpentine, known mineralogically as chrysotile, and probably +some of the ancient asbestos was of this character (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Amianthus</a></span>). +Both minerals possess similar properties, so far as +resistance to heat is concerned. The amphibole-asbestos, or +hornblende-asbestos, is usually white or grey in colour, and may +present great length of fibre, some of the Italian asbestos reaching +exceptionally a length of 5 or 6 ft., but it is often harsh and +brittle. The serpentine-asbestos occurs in narrow veins, yielding +fibres of only 2 or 3 in. in length, but of great tensile strength: +they are usually of a delicate silky lustre, very flexible and elastic, +and of yellowish or greenish colour.</p> + +<p>The Canadian asbestos, which of all kinds is at present the +most important industrially, occurs in a small belt of serpentine +in the province of Quebec, principally near Black Lake and +Thetford, where it was first recognized as commercially valuable +about 1877. The rock is generally quarried, cobbed by hand, +dried if necessary, crushed in rock-breakers, and then passed +between rollers; it is reduced to a finer state of division by +so-called fiberizers, and graded on a shaking screen, where the +loosened fibres are sorted. The process varies in different mills.</p> + +<p>In the United States asbestos is worked only to a very limited +extent. An amphibole-asbestos is obtained from Sall Mountain, +Georgia; and asbestos has also been worked in the serpentine +of Vermont. It occurs also in South Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts, +Arizona and elsewhere. Dr G.P. Merrill has shown +that some asbestos results from a process of shearing in the rocks.</p> + +<p>Formerly asbestos was obtained almost exclusively from Italy +and Corsica, and a large quantity is still yielded by Italian +workings. This is mostly an amphibole. It is in some cases +associated with nodules of green garnet known as “seeds”— +<i>Semenze dell’ amianto.</i> Asbestos is widely distributed, but only +in a few localities does it occur in sufficient abundance and purity +to be worked commercially; it is found, for example, to a limited +extent, at many localities in Tirol, Hungary and Russia; +Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand. In the British +Isles it is not unknown, being found among the old rocks of North +Wales and in parts of Ireland. Byssolite or asbestoid is a blue +or green fibrous amphibole from Dauphiny.</p> + +<p>The Asbestos Mountains in Griqualand West, Cape Colony, +yield a blue fibrous mineral which is worked under the name of +Cape asbestos. This is referable to the variety of amphibole +called crocidolite (<i>q.v.</i>). It occurs in veins in slaty rocks, +associated with jaspers and quartzites rich in magnetite and +brown iron-ore. Their geological position is in the Griqua Town +series, belonging to what are known in South Africa as the +Pre-Cape rocks.</p> + +<p>Asbestos was formerly spun and woven into fabrics as a rare +curiosity. Charlemagne is said to have possessed a tablecloth +of this material, which when soiled was purified by being thrown +into the fire. At a meeting of the Royal Society in 1676 a +merchant from China exhibited a handkerchief of “salamander’s +wool,” or <i>linum asbesti.</i> By the Eskimos of Labrador asbestos +has been used as a lamp-wick, and it received a similar application +in some of the sacred lamps of antiquity. In recent times +asbestos has been applied to a great variety of uses in the +industrial arts, and its applications are constantly increasing. +Its economic value depends not only on its power of withstanding +a high temperature, but also on its low thermal conductivity +and its partial resistance to the attack of acids: hence it is used +for jacketing boilers and steam-pipes, and as a filtering medium +for corrosive liquids. It has also come into use as an electric +insulator. It is made into yarn, felt, millboard, &c., and is +largely employed as packing for joints, glands and stopcocks +in machinery. Fire-proof sheathing and felt are used for flooring +and roofing; fire-proof curtains have been made for the +stage, and even clothing for firemen. Asbestos enters into the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page715" id="page715"></a>715</span> +composition of fire-proof cements, plasters and paints: it is used +for packing safes; and is made into balls with fire-clay for gas-stoves. +Various preparations of asbestos with other materials +pass in trade under such names as uralite, salamandrite, asbestolith, +gypsine, &c. “Asbestic” is the name given to a Canadian +product formed by crushing the serpentine rock containing thin +seams of asbestos, and mixing the result with lime so as to form +a plaster.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">References</span>.—Fritz Cirkel, <i>Asbestos, its Occurrence, Exploitation +and Uses</i> (Ottawa, 1905); J.H. Pratt and J.S. Diller in Annual Reports +on Mineral Resources, U.S. Geol. Survey; G.P. Merrill, <i>The Non-metallic +Minerals</i> (New York, 1904); R.H. Jones, <i>Asbestos and +Asbestic</i> (London, 1897).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(F. W. R.*)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASBJÖRNSEN, PETER CHRISTEN<a name="ar18" id="ar18"></a></span> (1812-1885), and <b>MOE, +JÖRGEN ENGEBRETSEN</b> (1813-1882), collectors of Norwegian +folklore, so closely united in their life’s work that it is unusual +to name them apart. Asbjörnsen was born in Christiania on +the 15th of January 1812; he belonged to an ancient family of +the Gudbrandsdal, which is believed to have died with him. +He became a student at the university in 1833, but as early as +1832, in his twentieth year, he had begun to collect and write +down all the fairy stories and legends which he could meet with. +Later he began to wander on foot through the length and breadth +of Norway, adding to his stores. Moe, who was born at Mo i +Hole parsonage, in Sigdal Ringerike, on the 22nd of April 1813, +met Asbjörnsen first when he was fourteen years of age. A close +friendship began between them, and lasted to the end of their +lives. In 1834 Asbjörnsen discovered that Moe had started +independently on a search for the relics of national folklore; the +friends eagerly compared results, and determined for the future to +work in concert. By this time, Asbjörnsen had become by profession +a zoologist, and with the aid of the university made a +series of investigating voyages along the coasts of Norway, +particularly in the Hardanger fjord. Moe, meanwhile, having +left Christiania University in 1839, had devoted himself to the +study of theology, and was making a living as a tutor in +Christiania. In his holidays he wandered through the mountains, in +the most remote districts, collecting stories. In 1842-1843 +appeared the first instalment of the great work of the two friends, +under the title of <i>Norwegian Popular Stories</i> (<i>Norske Folkeeventyr</i>), +which was received at once all over Europe as a most valuable +contribution to comparative mythology as well as literature. +A second volume was published in 1844, and a new collection in +1871. Many of the <i>Folkeeventyr</i> were translated into English +by Sir George Dasent in 1859. In 1845 Asbjörnsen published, +without help from Moe, a collection of Norwegian +fairy tales (<i>huldreeventyr og folkesagn</i>). In 1856 the attention +of Asbjörnsen was called to the deforestation of Norway, +and he induced the government to take up this important +question. He was appointed forest-master, and was sent +by Norway to examine in various countries of the north of +Europe the methods observed for the preservation of timber. +From these duties, in 1876, he withdrew with a pension; he +died in Christiania on the 6th of January 1885. From 1841 to +1852 Moe travelled almost every summer through the southern +parts of Norway, collecting traditions in the mountains. In +1845 he was appointed professor of theology in the Military +School of Norway. He had, however, long intended to take holy +orders, and in 1853 he did so, becoming for ten years a resident +chaplain in Sigdal, and then (1863) parish priest of Bragernes. +He was moved in 1870 to the parish of Vestre Aker, near Christiania, +and in 1875 he was appointed bishop of Christiansand. +In January 1882 he resigned his diocese on account of failing +health, and died on the following 27th of March. Moe has a special +claim on critical attention in regard to his lyrical poems, of which +a small collection appeared in 1850. He wrote little original +verse, but in his slender volume are to be found many pieces of +exquisite delicacy and freshness. Moe also published a delightful +collection of prose stories for children, <i>In the Well and the Churn</i> +(<i>I Bronde og i Kjærnet</i>), 1851; and <i>A Little Christmas Present</i> +(<i>En liden Juleegave</i>), 1860. Asbjörnsen and Moe had the advantage +of an admirable style in narrative prose. It was usually +said that the vigour came from Asbjörnsen and the charm from +Moe, but the fact seems to be that from the long habit of writing +in unison they had come to adopt almost precisely identical modes +of literary expression.</p> +<div class="author">(E. G.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASBURY, FRANCIS<a name="ar19" id="ar19"></a></span> (1745-1816), American clergyman, was +born at Hamstead Bridge in the parish of Handsworth, near +Birmingham, in Staffordshire, England, on the 20th of August +1745. His parents were poor, and after a brief period of study in +the village school of Barre, he was apprenticed at the age of +fourteen to a maker of “buckle chapes,” or tongues. It seems +probable that his parents were among the early converts of +Wesley; at any rate, Francis became converted to Methodism +in his thirteenth year, and at sixteen became a local preacher. +He was a simple, fluent speaker, and was so successful that in +1767 he was enrolled, by John Wesley himself, as a regular +itinerant minister. In 1771 he volunteered for missionary work +in the American colonies. When he landed in Philadelphia in +October 1771, the converts to Methodism, which had been introduced +into the colonies only three years before, numbered +scarcely 300. Asbury infused new life into the movement, and +within a year the membership of the several congregations was +more than doubled. In 1772 he was appointed by Wesley +“general assistant” in charge of the work in America, and +although superseded by an older preacher, Thomas Rankin +(1738-1810), in 1773, he remained practically in control. After +the outbreak of the War of Independence, the Methodists, who +then numbered several thousands, fell, unjustly, under suspicion +of Loyalism, principally because of their refusal to take the +prescribed oath; and many of their ministers, including Rankin, +returned to England. Asbury, however, feeling his sympathies +and duties to be with the colonies, remained at his post, and +although often threatened, and once arrested, continued his +itinerant preaching. The hostility of the Maryland authorities, +however, eventually drove him into exile in Delaware, where he +remained quietly, but not in idleness, for two years. In 1782 +he was reappointed to supervise the affairs of the Methodist +congregations in America. In 1784 John Wesley, in disregard +of the authority of the Established Church, took the radical step +of appointing the Rev. Thomas Coke (1747-1814) and Francis +Asbury superintendents or “bishops” of the church in the United +States. Dr Coke was ordained at Bristol, England, in September, +and in the following December, in a conference of the churches +in America at Baltimore, he ordained and consecrated Asbury, +who refused to accept the position until Wesley’s choice had been +ratified by the conference. From this conference dates the actual +beginning of the “Methodist Episcopal Church of the United +States of America.” To the upbuilding of this church Asbury +gave the rest of his life, working with tireless devotion and +wonderful energy. In 1785, at Abingdon, Maryland, he laid the +corner-stone of Cokesbury College, the project of Dr Coke and +the first Methodist Episcopal college in America; the college +building was burned in 1795, and the college was then removed +to Baltimore, where in 1796, after another fire, it closed, and in +1816 was succeeded by Asbury College, which lived for about +fifteen years. Every year Asbury traversed a large area, +mostly on horseback. The greatest testimony to the work that +earned for him the title of the “Father of American Methodism” +was the growth of the denomination from a few scattered bands +of about 300 converts and 4 preachers in 1771, to a thoroughly +organized church of 214,000 members and more than 2000 +ministers at his death, which occurred at Spottsylvania, +Virginia, on the 31st of March 1816.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>His <i>Journals</i> (3 vols., New York, 1852), apart from their importance +as a history of his life work, constitute a valuable commentary +on the social and industrial history of the United States during the +first forty years of their existence. Consult also F.W. Briggs, +<i>Bishop Asbury</i> (London, 1874); W.P. Strickland, <i>The Pioneer +Bishop; or, The Life and Times of Francis Asbury</i> (New York, +1858); J.B. Wakeley, <i>Heroes of Methodism</i> (New York, 1856): +W.C. Larrabee, <i>Asbury and His Co-Laborers</i> (2 vols., Cincinnati, +1853); H.M. Du Bose, <i>Francis Asbury</i> (Nashville, Tenn., 1909); +see also under <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Methodism</a></span>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASBURY PARK,<a name="ar20" id="ar20"></a></span> a city of Monmouth county, New Jersey, +U.S.A., on the Atlantic Ocean, about 35 m. S. of New York City +(50 m. by rail). Pop. (1900) 4148; (1905) 4526; (1910) 10,150. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page716" id="page716"></a>716</span> +It is served by the Central of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania +railways, and by electric railway lines connecting it with other +New Jersey coast resorts both north and south. Fresh-water +lakes, one of which, Deal Lake, extends for some distance into +the wooded country, form the northern and southern boundaries. +It is one of the most popular seaside resorts on the Atlantic coast, +its numerous hotels and cottages accommodating a summer +population that approximates 50,000, and a large transient +population in the autumn and winter months. There is an +excellent beach, along which extends a board-walk about 1 m. +long; the beach is owned and controlled by the municipality. +The municipality owns and operates its water-works, water being +obtained from artesian wells. Asbury Park was founded in 1869, +was named in honour of the Rev. Francis Asbury, was incorporated +as a borough in 1874, and was chartered as a city in 1897. +In 1906 territory to the west with a population estimated at +6000 was annexed.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCALON,<a name="ar21" id="ar21"></a></span> now <span class="sc">‘Asḳalān</span>, one of the five chief cities of +the Philistines, on the coast of the Mediterranean, 12 m. N. of +Gaza. The place is mentioned several times in the Tell +el-Amarna correspondence. It revolted from Egypt on two +occasions, but was reconquered, and a sculpture at Thebes +depicts the storming of the city. Ascalon was a well-fortified +town, and the seat of the worship of the fish-goddess Derketo. +Though situated in the nominal territory of the tribe of Judah, +it was never for any length of time in the possession of the +Israelites. The only incident in its history recorded in the Bible +(the spoliation by Samson, Judg. xiv. 19) may possibly have +actually occurred at another place of the same name, in the hill +country of Judaea. Sennacherib took it in 701 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The +conquest of Alexander hellenized its civilization, and after his +time it became tributary alternately to Syria and Egypt. Herod +the Great was a native of the city, and added greatly to its +beauty; but it suffered severely in the later wars of the Romans +and Jews. In the 4th century it again rose to importance; +and till the 7th century, when it was conquered by the Moslems, +it was the seat of a bishopric and a centre of learning. During +the first crusade a signal victory was gained by the Christians in +the neighbouring plain on the 15th of August 1099; but the city +remained in the hands of the caliphs till 1157, when it was taken +by Baldwin III., king of Jerusalem, after a siege of five months. +By Baldwin IV. it was given to his sister Sibylla, on her marriage +with William of Montferrat in 1178. When Saladin (1187) had +almost annihilated the Christian army in the plain of Tiberias, +Ascalon offered but a feeble resistance to the victor. At first he +repaired and strengthened its fortifications, but afterwards, +alarmed at the capture of St Jean d’Acre (Acre) by Richard +Cœur de Lion in 1191, he caused it to be dismantled. It was +restored in the following year by the English king, but only to +be again abandoned. From this time Ascalon lost much of its +importance, and at length, in 1270, its fortifications were almost +totally destroyed by Sultan Bibars, and its port was filled up +with stones. The place is now a desolate heap of ruins, with +remains of its walls and fragments of granite pillars. The +surrounding country is well watered and very fertile.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See a paper by Guthe, “Die Ruinen Ascalons,” in the <i>Zeitschrift</i> +of the Deutsche Palastina-Verein, ii. 164 (translated in Palestine +Exploration Fund <i>Quarterly Statement,</i> 1880, p. 182). See also +C.R. Conder in the latter journal, 1875, p. 152.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(R. A. S. M.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCANIUS,<a name="ar22" id="ar22"></a></span> in Roman legend, the son of Aeneas by Creüsa or +Lavinia. From Livy it would appear that tradition recognized +two sons of Aeneas called by this name, the one the son of his +Trojan, the other of his Latin wife. According to the usual +account, he accompanied his father to Italy on his flight from +Troy. On the death of Aeneas, the government of Latium was +left in the hands of Lavinia, Ascanius being too young to undertake +it. After thirty years he left Lavinium, and founded Alba +Longa. Ascanius was also called Ilus and Iulus, and the +Julian gens claimed to be descended from him. Several more +or less contradictory traditions may be found in Dionysius of +Halicarnassus, Strabo and other writers.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Virg. <i>Aen</i>. ii. 666; Livy i. 3; see also Klausen. <i>Aeneas und die +Penaten</i> (1840).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCENSION,<a name="ar23" id="ar23"></a></span> an island in the Atlantic Ocean, between 7° 53′ +and 8° S., and 14° 18′ and 14° 26′ W., 800 m. N.W. of St Helena, +about 7½ m. in length and 6 in breadth, with an area of 38 sq. m. +and a circumference of about 22 m. The island lies within the +immediate influence of the south-east trade-wind. The lee side of +the island is subject to the visitation of “rollers,” which break +on the shore with very great violence. Ascension is a volcanic +mass erected on a submarine platform. Numerous cones exist. +Green Mountain, the principal elevation, is a huge elliptical +crater, rising 2820 ft. above the sea, while the plains or table-lands +surrounding it vary in height from 1200 to 2000 ft. On the +north side they sweep gradually down towards the shore, but +on the south they terminate in bold and lofty precipices. Steep +and rugged ravines intersect the plains, opening into small bays +or coves on the shore, fenced with masses of compact and cellular +lava; and all over the island are found products of volcanic +action. Ascension was originally destitute of vegetation save +on the summit of Green Mountain, which owes its verdure to +the mists which frequently enshroud it, but the lower hills have +been planted with grasses and shrubs. The air is clear and light, +and the climate remarkably healthy, notwithstanding the high +temperature—the average day temperature on the shore being +85° F., on Green Mountain 75° F. The average rainfall is about +20 in., March and April being the rainy months. Ascension is +noted for the number of turtles and turtle eggs found on its +shores, the season lasting from December to May or June. The +turtles are caught and kept in large ponds. The coasts abound +with a variety of fish of excellent quality, of which the most +important are the rock-cod, the cavalli, the conger-eel and the +“soldier.” Numbers of sheep are bred on the island, and there +are a few cattle and deer, besides goats and wild cats. Feathered +game is abundant. Like St Helena, the island does not possess +any indigenous vertebrate land fauna. The “wideawake” +birds frequent the island in large numbers, and their eggs are +collected and eaten. Beetles and land-shells are well represented. +Flies, ants, mosquitoes, scorpions, centipedes and crickets abound. +The flora includes purslane, rock roses and several species of +ferns and mosses.</p> + +<p>The island was discovered by the Portuguese navigator, João +da Nova, on Ascension Day 1501, and was occasionally visited +thereafter by ships. In 1701 William Dampier was wrecked on +its coast, and during his detention discovered the only spring of +fresh water the island contains. Ascension remained uninhabited +till after the arrival of Napoleon at St Helena (1815), when it +was taken possession of by the British government, who sent +a small garrison thither. A settlement, named George Town +(locally known as Garrison), was made on the north-west coast, +water being obtained from “Dampier’s” springs in the Green +Mountain, 6 m. distant. The island is under the rule of the +admiralty, and was likened by Darwin to “a huge ship kept in +first-rate order.” It is governed by a naval captain borne on the +books of the flagship of the admiral superintendent at Gibraltar. +A depot of stores for the navy is maintained, but the island is used +chiefly as a sanatorium. Ascension is connected by cable with +Europe and Africa, and is visited once a month by mail steamers +from the Cape. Formerly letters were left by passing ships in a +crevice in one of the rocks. The population, about 300, consists +of seamen, marines, and Krumen from Liberia.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>Africa Pilot</i>, part ii., 5th ed. (London, 1901); C. Darwin, +<i>Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands visited during the +Voyage of H.M.S. “Beagle”</i> (London, 1844); <i>Report of the Scientific +Results of the Voyage of the “Challenger,”</i> vol. i. part 2 (London, +1885); and <i>Six Months in Ascension</i>, by Mrs Gill (London, 1878), an +excellent sketch of the island and its inhabitants. It was at Ascension +that Mr, afterwards Sir, David Gill determined, in 1877, the +solar parallax.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCENSION, FEAST OF THE,<a name="ar24" id="ar24"></a></span> one of the oecumenical festivals +of the Christian Church, ranking in solemnity with those of +Christmas, of Easter and of Pentecost. It is held forty days after +Easter, or ten days before Whitsunday, in celebration of Christ’s +ascension into heaven forty days after the resurrection. It +always falls on a Thursday, and the day is known as Ascension +Day, or Holy Thursday. The festival is of great antiquity; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page717" id="page717"></a>717</span> +though there is no discoverable trace of it before the middle of +the 4th century, subsequent references to it assume its long +establishment. Thus St Augustine (<i>Ep.</i> 54 <i>ad Januar.</i>) mentions +it as having been kept from time immemorial and as probably +instituted by the apostles. Chrysostom, in his homily on the +ascension, mentions a celebration of the festival in the church +of Romanesia outside Antioch, and Socrates (<i>Hist. eccles.</i> vii. 26) +records that in the year 390 the people of Constantinople “of +old custom” (<span class="grk" title="ex ethous">ἐξ ἔθους</span>) celebrated the feast in a suburb of the +city. As these two references suggest, the festival was associated +with a professional pilgrimage, in commemoration of the passing +of Christ and his apostles to the Mount of Olives; such a procession +is described by Adamnan, abbot of Iona, as taking place +at Jerusalem in the 7th century, when the feast was celebrated +in the church on Mount Olivet (<i>de loc. sanct.</i> i. 22). The <i>Peregrinatio</i> +of Etheria (Silvia), which dates from <i>c.</i> <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 385, says +that the festival was held in the Church of the Nativity at +Bethlehem (Duchesne, <i>Chr. Worship</i>, p. 515). In the West, +however, in the middle ages, the procession with candles and +banners outside the church was taken as symbolical of Christ’s +triumphant entry into heaven.</p> + +<p>In the East the festival is known as the <span class="grk" title="analaepsis">ἀνάληψις</span>, “taking +up,” or <span class="grk" title="episozomenae">ἐπισωζομένη</span>, a term first used in the Cappadocian +church, and of which the meaning has been disputed, but which +probably signifies the feast “of completed salvation.” The +word <i>ascensio</i>, adopted in the West, implies the ascension of +Christ by his own power, in contradistinction to the <i>assumptio</i>, +or taking up into heaven of the Virgin Mary by the power of God.</p> + +<p>In the Roman Catholic Church the most characteristic ritual +feature of the festival is now the solemn extinction of the paschal +candle after the Gospel at high mass. This candle, lighted at +every mass for the forty days after Easter, symbolizes the +presence of Christ with his disciples, and its extinction his parting +from them. The custom dates from 1263, and was formerly +confined to the Franciscans; it was prescribed for the universal +church by the Congregation of Rites on the 19th of May 1697. +Other customs, now obsolete, were formerly associated with the +liturgy of this feast; <i>e.g.</i> the blessing of the new beans after the +Commemoration of the Dead in the canon of the mass (Duchesne, +p. 183). In some churches, during the middle ages, an image +of Christ was raised from the altar through a hole in the roof, +through which a burning straw figure representing Satan was +immediately thrown down.</p> + +<p>In the Anglican Church Ascension Day and its octave continue +to be observed as a great festival, for which a special +preface to the consecration prayer in the communion service is +provided, as in the case of Christmas, Easter, Whitsunday, and +Trinity Sunday. The celebration of the Feast of the Ascension +was also retained in the Lutheran churches as warranted by +Holy Scripture.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Herzog-Hauck, <i>Realencyklopädie</i> (1900), s. <i>”Himmelfahrtsfest”</i>; +L. Duchesne, <i>Christian Worship</i> (2nd Eng. ed., London, 1904); +<i>The Catholic Encyclopaedia</i> (London and New York, 1907).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCETICISM,<a name="ar25" id="ar25"></a></span> the theory and practice of bodily abstinence +and self-mortification, generally religious. The word is derived +from the Gr. verb <span class="grk" title="askeo">ἀσκέω</span>, “I practise,” whence the noun <span class="grk" title="askaesis">ἄσκησις</span> +and the adjective <span class="grk" title="askaetikos">ἀσκητικός</span>; and it embodies a metaphor taken +from the ancient wrestling-place or palaestra, where victory +rewarded those who had best trained their bodies. Not a few +other technical terms of Greek philosophic asceticism, used in +the first instance by Cynics and Neo-pythagoreans, and then +continued among the Greek Jews and Christians, were metaphors +taken from athletic contests—but only metaphors, for all +asceticism, worthy of the name, has a moral purport, and is +based on the eternal contrast of the proposition, “This is right,” +with the proposition, “That is pleasant.” The ascetic instinct +is probably as old as humanity, yet we must not forget that early +religious practices are apt to be deficient in lofty spiritual meaning, +many things being esteemed holy that are from a modern +point of view trifling and even obscene. We may therefore +expect in primitive asceticism to find many abstentions and +much self-torture apparently valueless for the training of +character and discipline of the feelings, which are the essence of +any healthy asceticism. Nevertheless these non-moral <i>taboos</i> or +restraints may have played a part in building up in us that +faculty of preferring the larger good to the impulse of the moment +which is the note of real civilization. Aristotle in his <i>Ethics</i> +defines, as the barbarian’s ideal of life, “the living as one likes.” +Yet nothing is less true; for the savage, more than the civilized +man, is tied down at every step with superstitious scruples and +restrictions barely traceable in higher civilizations except as +primitive survivals. It is not that savages are devoid of the +ascetic instinct. It is on the contrary over-developed in them, +but ill-informed and working in ways unessential or even morally +harmful. It is the note of every great religious reformer, Moses, +Buddha, Paul, Mani, Mahomet, St Francis, Luther, to enlighten +and direct it to higher aims, substituting a true personal holiness +for a ritual purity or <i>taboo</i>, which at the best was viewed as a +kind of physical condition and contagion, inherent as well in +things and animals as in man.</p> + +<p>It is useful, therefore, in a summary sketch of asceticism, to +begin with the facts as they can be observed among less advanced +races, or as mere survivals among people who have reached the +level of genuine moral reflection; and from this basis to proceed +to a consideration of self-denial consciously pursued as a method +of ethical perfection. The latter is as a rule less cruel and +rigorous than primitive forms of asceticism. Under this head +fall the following:—Fasting, or abstention from certain meats +and drinks; denial of sexual instinct; subjection of the body +to physical discomforts, such as nakedness, vigils, sleeping on +the bare ground, tattooing, deformation of skull, teeth, feet, &c., +vows of silence to be observed throughout life or during pilgrim-ages, +avoidance of baths, of hair-cutting and of clean raiment, +living in a cave; actual self-infliction of pain, by scourging, +branding, cutting with knives, wearing of hair shirts, fire-walking, +burial alive, hanging up of oneself by hooks plunged into the +skin, suspension of weights by such hooks to the tenderer parts +of the body, self-mutilation and numerous other, often ingenious, +modes of torture. Such customs repose on various superstitions; +for example, the self-mutilation of the Galli or priests of Cybele +was probably a magical ceremony intended to fertilize the soil +and stimulate the crops. Others of the practices enumerated, +probably the greater part of them, spring from demonological +beliefs.</p> + +<p>Fasting (<i>q.v.</i>) is used in primitive asceticism for a variety of +reasons, among which the following deserve notice. Certain +animals and vegetables are <i>taboo</i>, <i>i.e.</i> too holy, or—what among +Semites and others was the same thing—too defiling and unclean, +to be eaten. Thus in Leviticus xi. the Jews are forbidden to +eat animals other than cloven-footed ruminants; thus the +camel, coney, hare and swine were forbidden; so also any water +organisms that had not fins and scales, and a large choice of +birds, including swan, pelican, stork, heron and hoopoe. All +winged creeping things that have four feet were equally abominable. +Lastly, the weasel, mouse and most lizards were <i>taboo</i>. +All or nearly all of these were at one time totem animals among +one or another of the Semitic tribes, and were not eaten because +primitive men will not eat animals between which and themselves +and their gods they believe a peculiar tie of kinship to exist. +Men do not eat an animal for which they have a reverential +dread, or if they eat it at all, it is only in a sacramental feast and +in order to absorb into themselves its life and holy properties. +Such abstinences as the above, though based on <i>taboo</i>, that is, on +a reluctance to eat the totem or sacred animal, are yet ascetic +in so far as they involve much self-denial. No flesh is more +wholesome or succulent than beef, yet the Egyptians and +Phoenicians, says Porphyry (<i>de Abst.</i> ii. 11), would rather eat +human flesh than that of the cow, and so would two hundred and +fifty millions of modern Hindus. The privation involved in +abstention from the flesh of the swine, a <i>taboo</i> hardly less widespread, is obvious.</p> + +<p>Similar prohibitions are common in Africa, where fetish priests +are often reduced to a diet of herbs and roots. That such dietary +restrictions were merely ceremonial and superstitious, and not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page718" id="page718"></a>718</span> +intended to prevent the consumption of meats which would revolt +modern tastes, is certain from the fact that the Levitical law +freely allowed the eating of locusts, grasshoppers, crickets and +cockroaches, while forbidding the consumption of rabbits, hares, +storks, swine, &c. The Pythagoreans were forbidden to eat beans.</p> + +<p>Another widespread reason for avoiding flesh diet altogether +was the fear of absorbing the irrational soul of the animal, +which especially resided in the blood. Hence the rule not to eat +meats strangled, except in sacramental meals when the god +inherent in the animal was partaken of. It is equally a soul or +spirit in wine which inspires the intoxicated; the old Egyptian +kings avoided wine at table and in libations, because it was the +blood of rebels who had fought with the gods, and out of whose +rotting bodies grew the vines; to drink the blood was to imbibe +the soul of these rebels, and the frenzy of intoxication which +followed was held to be possession by their spirits. The medieval +Jews also held that there is a cardiac demon in wine which +takes possession of drunken men; and the Mahommedan +prohibition of wine-drinking is based on a similar superstition. +The avoidance of wine, therefore, by Rechabites, Nazirites, Arab +dervishes and Pythagoreans, and also of leaven in bread, is +parallel to and explicable in the same way as abstention from +flesh. Porphyry (<i>de Abst.</i> i. 19) acquaints us with another widespread +scruple against flesh diet. It was this, that the souls of +men transmigrated into animals, so that if you ate these, you +might consume your own kind, cannibal-wise. Contemporary +meat-eaters set themselves to combat this prejudice, and argued +that it was a pious duty to kill animals and so release the human +souls imprisoned. In the same tract Porphyry relates (ii. 48) +how wizards acquired the mantic powers of certain birds, such +as ravens and hawks, by swallowing their hearts. The soul of +the bird, he explains, enters them with its flesh, and endows +them with power of divination. The lover of wisdom, who is +priest of the universal God, rather than risk the taking into +himself of inferior souls and polluting demons, will abstain from +eating animals. Such is Porphyry’s argument.</p> + +<p>The same fear of imbibing the irrational soul of animals, and +thereby reinforcing the lower appetites and instincts of the +human being, inspired the vegetarianism of Apollonius of Tyana +and of the Jewish Therapeutae, who in their sacred meals were +careful to have a table free from blood-containing meats; and +the fear of absorbing the animal’s psychic qualities equally +motived the Jewish and early Christian rule against eating +things strangled. It was an early belief, which long survived +among the Manichaean sects, that fish, being born in and of the +waters, and without any sexual connexion on the part of other +fishes are free from the taint which pollutes all animals <i>quae +copulatione generantur</i>. Fish, therefore, unlike flesh, could be +safely eaten. Here we have the origin of the Catholic rule of +fasting, seldom understood by those who observe it. The same +scruple against flesh-eating is conveyed in the beautiful +confession, in the <i>Cretans</i> of Euripides, of one who had been initiated +in the mysteries of Orpheus and became a “Bacchos.” The last +lines of this, as rendered by Dr Gilbert Murray, are as follows:—</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> <div class="poemr"> +<p>“Robed in pure white, I have borne me clean</p> +<p class="i05">From man’s vile birth and coffined clay,</p> +<p class="i05">And exiled from my lips alway</p> +<p class="i05">Touch of all meat where life hath been.”</p> +</div> </td></tr></table> + +<p class="noind">This Orphic fast from meat was only broken by an annual +sacramental banquet, originally, perhaps, of human, but later of +raw bovine flesh.</p> + +<p>The Manichaeans held that in every act of begetting, human or +otherwise, a soul is condemned afresh to a cycle of misery by +imprisonment in flesh—a thoroughly Indian notion, under the +influence of which their perfect or elect ones scrupulously +abstained from flesh. The prohibition of taking life, which +they took over from the Farther East, in itself entailed fasting +from flesh. A fully initiated Manichaean would not even cut his +own salad, but employed a catechumen to commit on his behalf +this act of murder, for which he subsequently shrived him.</p> + +<p>We come to a third widespread reason for fasting, common +among savages. Famished persons are liable to morbid excitement, +and fall into imaginative ecstasies, in the course of which +they see visions and spectres, converse with gods and angels, +and are the recipients of supernatural revelations. Accordingly +King Saul “ate no bread all the day nor all the night” in which +the witch of Endor revealed to him the ghost of Samuel. Weak +and famished, he hardly wanted to eat the fatted calf when the +vision was over. Among the North American Indians ecstatic +fasting is regularly practised. A faster writes down his visions +and revelations for a whole season. They are then examined by +the elders of the tribe, and if events have verified them, he is +recognized as a supernaturally gifted being, and rewarded with +chieftaincy. All over the world fasting is a recognized mode of +evoking, consulting and also of overcoming the spirit world. +This is why the Zulus and other primitive races distrust a +medicine man who is not an ascetic and lean with fasting. In +the Semitic East it is an old belief that a successful fast in the +wilderness of forty days and nights gives power over the Djinns. +The Indian <i>yogi</i> fasts till he sees face to face all the gods of his +Pantheon; the Indian magician fasts twelve days before producing +rain or working any cure. The Bogomils fasted till they +saw the Trinity face to face. From the first, fasting was practised +in the church for similar reason. In the <i>Shepherd of Hermas</i> a +vision of the church rewards frequent fasts and prayer; and it is +related in extra-canonical sources that James the Less vowed +that he would fast until he too was vouchsafed a vision of the +risen Lord. After a long and rigorous fast the Lord appeared +to him. Not a few saints were rewarded for their fasting by +glimpses of the beatific vision. Dr Tylor writes on this point as +follows (<i>Prim. Cult.</i> ii. 415): “Bread and meat would have +robbed the ascetic of many an angel’s visit: the opening of the +refectory door must many a time have closed the gates of heaven +to his gaze.”</p> + +<p>Among the Semites and Tatars worshippers lacerate themselves +before the god. So in I Kings xviii. 28 the priests of Baal +engaged in a rain-making ceremony, gashed themselves with +knives and lances till the blood gushed out upon them. The +Syriac word <i>ethkashshaph</i>, which means literally to “cut +oneself,” is the regular equivalent of to “make supplication.” +Among Greeks and Arabs, mourners also cut themselves with +knives and scratched their faces; the Hebrew law forbade such +mourning, and we find the prohibition repeated in many canons +of the Eastern churches. At first sight these rites seem intended +to call down the pity of heaven on man, but as Robertson Smith +points out, their real import was by shedding blood on a holy +stone or in a holy place to tie or renew a blood-bond between +the God and his faithful ones. We have no clear information +about the mind of the Flagellants, who in 1259, and again in +1349, swarmed through the streets of European cities, naked +and thrashing themselves, till the blood ran, with leather thongs +and iron whips. They were penitents, and no doubt imbued +with the ancient belief that without the shedding of blood there +is no remission of sins.</p> + +<p>Asceticism then in its origin was usually not ascetic in a +modern sense, that is, not ethical. It was rather of the nature +of the savage <i>taboo</i> (<i>q.v.</i>), the outcome of totemistic beliefs or a +mode of averting the contaminating presence of djinns and +demons. Above all, fasting was a mode of preparing oneself +for the sacramental eating of a sacred animal, and as such often +assisted by use of purgatives and aperients. It was essential +in the old Greek rites of averting the <i>Kêres</i> or djinns, the ill +regulated ghosts who return to earth and molest the living, to +abstain from flesh. The Pythagoreans and Orphic <i>mystae</i> so +abstained all their life long, and Porphyry eloquently insists on +such a discipline for all who “are not content merely to talk +about Reason, but are really intent on casting aside the body +and living through Reason with Truth. Naked and without +the tunic of the flesh these will enter the arena and strive in the +Olympic contest of the soul.”</p> + +<p>It is time to pass on to Buddhist asceticism, in its essence +a more ethical and philosophical product than some of the +forms so far considered. The keynote of Buddhist asceticism is +deliverance from life and its inevitable suffering. Once at a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page719" id="page719"></a>719</span> +village where he rested the Blessed One (Buddha) addressed +his brethren and said: “It is through not understanding and +grasping four Noble Truths, O brethren, that we have had to +run so long, to wander so long in this weary path of transmigration, +both you and I.” These noble truths were about sorrow, +its cause, its cessation and the path which leads to that cessation. +Once they are grasped the craving for existence is rooted out, +that which leads to renewed existence is destroyed, and there +is no more birth. The Buddha believed he had a way of Truth, +which if an elect disciple possessed he might say of himself, +“Hell is destroyed for me, and rebirth as an animal, or a ghost, +or in any place of woe. I am converted, I am no longer liable +to be reborn in a state of suffering, and am assured of final +salvation.”</p> + +<p>Suffering, said the sage in his great sermon at Benares, is +inseparable from birth and old age. Sickness is suffering, so is +death, so is union with the unloved, and separation from the +loved; not to obtain what one desires is suffering; the entire +fivefold clinging to the earthly is suffering. Its origin is the +thirst for being which leads from birth to birth, together with +lust and desire, which find gratification here and there; the +thirst for pleasures, for being, for power. This thirst must be +extinguished by complete annihilation of desire, by letting it +go, expelling it, separating oneself from it, giving it no room. +This extinction is achieved in eight ways, namely rectitude of +faith, resolve, speech, action, living, effort, thought, +self-concentration.</p> + +<p>In this gospel we must be done with the outer world, participation +in which is not the self, yet means for the self birth +and death, appetites, longings, emotions, change and suffering, +pleasure and pain. He that has put off all lust and desire, all +hope and fear, all will to exist as a sinful, because a sentient, +being, has won to the heaven of extinction or Nirvana. He may +still tread the earth, but he is a saint or Brahman, is in heaven, +has quitted the transient and enjoys eternity.</p> + +<p>Such was the Buddha’s gospel, as his most ancient scriptures +enunciate it. Nirvana is constantly defined in them as supreme +happiness. It is not even clear how far, if we interpret it strictly, +this philosophy leaves any self to be happy. However this be, +its practical expression is the life of the monk who has separated +himself from the world. Five commandments must be observed +by him who would even approach the higher life of saint and +ascetic. They are these: to kill no living thing; not to lay +hands on another’s property; not to touch another’s wife; +not to speak what is untrue; not to drink intoxicating drinks.</p> + +<p>Though couched in the negative, these rules must be interpreted +in the amplest and widest sense by all believers. The +Order, however, which the would-be ascetic can enter by regular +initiation, when he is twenty years of age, entails a discipline +much more severe. He has gone forth from home into homelessness, +and has not where to lay his head. He must eat only the +morsels he gets by begging; must dress in such rags as he can +pick up; must sleep under trees. Mendicancy is his recognized +way of life. Furthermore, he must abstain all his life from +sexual intercourse; he may not take even a blade of grass +without permission of the owner; he must not kill even a worm +or ant; he must not boast of his perfection. In practice the +lives of Buddhist monks are not so squalid as these rules would +lead us to suppose. Thanks to the reverent charity of the +laymen, they do not live much worse than Benedictine monks; +and the prohibition to live in houses does not extend to caves. +Everywhere in India and Ceylon they hollowed out cells and +churches in the cliffs and rocks, which are the wonder of the +European tourist.</p> + +<p>But long before the advent of Buddhism, the hermit, or +wandering beggar, was a familiar figure in India. No formal +initiation was imposed on the would-be ascetic, save (in the case +of young men) the duty to live at first in his teacher’s house. +One who had thus fulfilled the duties of the student order must +“go forth remaining chaste,” says the <i>Āpastamba</i>, ii. 9. 8. He +shall then “live without a fire, without a house, without pleasures, +without protection; remaining silent and uttering speech only +on the occasion of the daily recitation of the Veda; begging so +much food only in the village as will sustain his life, he shall +wander about, neither caring for this world nor for heaven. +He shall only wear clothes thrown away by others. Some +declare that he shall even go naked. Abandoning truth and +falsehood, pleasure and pain, the Vedas, this world and the next, +he shall seek the Universal Soul, in knowledge of which standeth +eternal salvation.”</p> + +<p>Such a life was specially recommended for one who has lived +the life of a householder, and, having begotten sons according +to the sacred law and offered sacrifices, desires in his old age to +abandon worldly objects and direct his mind to final liberation. +He leaves his wife, if she will not accompany him, and goes +forth into the forest, committing her and his house to his sons. +He must indeed take with him the sacred fire and implements +for domestic sacrifice, but until death overtakes him he must +wander silent, alone, possessing no hearth nor dwelling, begging +his food in the villages, firm of purpose, with a potsherd for an +alms bowl, the roots of trees for a dwelling, and clad in coarse +worn out garments. “Let him not desire to die, let him not +desire to live; let him wait for his appointed time, as a servant +waits for the payment of his wages. Let him drink water +purified by straining with a cloth, let him utter speech purified +by truth, let him keep his heart pure. Let him patiently bear +hard words, let him not insult anybody, let him not become any +one’s enemy for the sake of this perishable body.... Let him +reflect on the transmigrations of men, caused by their sinful +deeds, on their falling into hell, and on their torments in the +world of Yama.... A twice-born man who becomes an +ascetic thus shakes off sin here below and reaches the highest +Brahman” (<i>Laws of Manu</i>, by G. Bühler, vi. 85).</p> + +<p>This old-world wisdom of the Hindus, a thousand years before +our era, is worthily to be paralleled from the Manichaeism of +about the year 400. Augustine has preserved (<i>contra Faustum</i>, +v. 1) the portraiture of a Manichaean elect as drawn by himself:—</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>“I have given up father and mother, wife, children and all else +that the gospel bids us, and do you ask if I accept the gospel? +Are you then still ignorant of what the word gospel means? It is +nothing else than the preaching and precept of Christ. I have cast +away gold and silver, and have ceased to carry even copper in my +belt, being content with my daily bread, nor caring for the morrow, +nor anxious how my belly shall be filled or my body clothed; and +do you ask me if I accept the gospel? You behold in me those +beatitudes of Christ which make up the gospel, and you ask me if +I accept it. You behold me gentle, a peacemaker, pure of heart, +a mourner, hungering, thirsting, bearing persecutions and hatreds +for righteousness’ sake, and do you doubt whether I accept the +gospel.... All that was mine I have given up, father, mother, +wife, children, gold, silver, eating, drinking, delights, pleasures. +Deem this a sufficient answer to your question and deem yourself +on the way to be blessed, if you have not been scandalized in me.”</p> +</div> + +<p>The Greek Cynics (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Cynics</a></span>) played a great part in the +history of Asceticism, and they were so much the precursors of +the Christian hermits that descriptions of them in profane +literature have been mistaken for pictures of early monasticism. +In striving to imitate the rugged strength and independence of +their master Socrates, they went to such extremes as rather +to caricature him. They affected to live like beggars, bearing +staff and wallet, owning nothing, renouncing pleasures, riches, +honours. For older thinkers like Plato and Aristotle the perfect +life was that of the citizen and householder; but the Cynics +were individualists, citizens of the world without loyalty or +respect for the ancient city state, the decay of which was +coincident with their rise. Their zeal for renunciation often +extended not to pleasures, marriage and property alone, but to +cleanliness, knowledge and good manners as well, and in this +respect also they were the forerunners of later monks.</p> + +<p>Philo (20 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>-<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 40) has left us many pictures of the life +which to his mind impersonated the highest wisdom, and they +are all inspired by the more respectable sort of cynicism, which +had taken deep root among Greek Jews of the day. One such +picture merits citation from his tract <i>On Change of Names</i> (vol. +i. 583, ed. Mangey): “All this company of the good and wise +have of their own free will divested themselves of too copious +wealth; nay, have spurned the things dear to the flesh. For of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page720" id="page720"></a>720</span> +good habit and lusty are athletes, since they have fortified +against the soul the body which should be its servant; but the +disciples of wisdom are pale and wasted, and in a manner reduced +to skeletons, because they have sacrificed the whole of their +bodily strength to the faculties of the soul.”</p> + +<p>His own favourite ascetics, the Therapeutae, whose chief +centre was in Egypt, had renounced property and all its temptations, +and fled, irrevocably abandoning brothers, children, wives, +parents, throngs of kinsmen, intimacy of friends, the fatherlands +where they were born and bred (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Therapeutae</a></span>). Here we +have the ideal of early Christian renunciation at work, but apart +from the influence of Jesus. In the pages of Epictetus the same +ideal is constantly held up to us.</p> + +<p>In the Christian Church there was from the earliest age a +leaning to excessive asceticism, and it needed a severe struggle +on the part of Paul, and of the Catholic teachers who followed +him, to secure for the baptized the right to be married, to own +property, to engage in war and commerce, or to assume public +office. One and all of the permanent institutions of society were +condemned by the early enthusiasts, especially by those who +looked forward to a speedy advent of the millennium, as alien to +the kingdom of God and as impediments to the life of grace.</p> + +<p>Marriage and property had already been eschewed in the +Jewish Essene and Therapeutic sects, and in Christianity the +name of Encratite was given to those who repudiated marriage +and the use of wine. They did not form a sect, but represented +an impulse felt everywhere. In early and popular apocryphal +histories the apostles are represented as insisting that their +converts should either not contract wedlock or should dissolve +the tie if already formed. This is the plot of the <i>Acts of Thecla</i>, +a story which probably goes back to the first century. Repudiation +of the tie by fervent women, betrothed or already wives, +occasioned much domestic friction and popular persecution. +In the Syriac churches, even as late as the 4th century, the married +state seems to have been regarded as incompatible with the +perfection of the initiated. Renunciation of the state of wedlock +was anyhow imposed on the faithful during the lengthy, often +lifelong, terms of penance imposed upon them for sins committed; +and later, when monkery took the place, in a church become +worldly, partly of the primitive baptism and partly of that +rigorous penance which was the rebaptism and medicine of the +lapsed, celibacy and virginity were held essential thereto, no +less than renunciation of property and money-making.</p> + +<p>Together with the rage for virginity went the institution of +<i>virgines subintroductae</i>, or of spiritual wives; for it was often +assumed that the grace of baptism restored the original purity +of life led by Adam and Eve in common before the Fall. Such +rigours are encouraged in the <i>Shepherd of Hermas</i>, a book which +emanated from Rome and up to the 4th century was read in +church. They were common in the African churches, where they +led to abuses which taxed the energy even of a Cyprian. They +were still rife in Antioch in 260. We detect them in the Celtic +church of St Patrick, and, as late as the 7th century, among the +Celtic elders of the north of France. In the Syriac church as late +as 340, such relations prevailed between the “Sons and daughters +of the Resurrection.” It continued among the Albigenses and +other dissident sects of the middle ages, among whom it served +a double purpose; for their elders were thus not only able to +prove their own chastity, but to elude the inquisitors, who were +less inclined to suspect a man of the catharism which regarded +marriage as the “greater adultery” (<i>maius adulterium</i>) if they +found him cohabiting (in appearance at least) with a woman. +There was hardly an early council, great or small, that did not +condemn this custom, as well as the other one, still more painful +to think of, of self-emasculation. In the Catholic church, however, +common sense prevailed, and those who desired to follow the +Encratite ideal repaired to the monasteries.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—E.B. Tylor, <i>Primitive Culture</i> (London, 1903); +Robertson Smith, <i>Religion of the Semites</i> (London, 1901); J.E. +Harrison, <i>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion</i>; F. Max Müller, +<i>The Sacred Books of the East</i>; Victor Henry, <i>La Magie dans l’Inde +antique</i>; J.G. Frazer, <i>The Golden Bough</i> (London, 1900), and +<i>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</i> (London, 1906); Georges Lafay, <i>Culte des +divinitês d’Alexandrie</i> (Paris, 1884); Döllinger, <i>Sectengeschichte des +Mittelalters</i> (Munich, 1890); Fr. Cumont, <i>Mysteries of Mithra</i> +(Chicago, 1903); Zöckler, <i>Gesch. der Ascese</i> (1863). See also under +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Purification</a></span>. Goldziher, “De l’ascetisme aux premiers temps +de l’Islam,” in <i>Revue de l’histoire des religions</i> (1898), p. 314; +Muratori, <i>De Synisactis et Agapetis</i> (Pavia, 1709); Jas. Martineau, +<i>Types of Ethical Theory</i> (Oxford, 1885); T.H. Green, <i>Prolegomena +to Ethics</i> (Oxford, 1883); Franz Cumont, <i>Les Religions orientales +dans le paganisme romain</i> (Paris, 1907); Porphyrius, <i>De Abstinentia</i>; +Plutarchus, <i>De Carnium Esu</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(F. C. C.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCHAFFENBURG,<a name="ar26" id="ar26"></a></span> a town of Germany, in the kingdom of +Bavaria, on the right bank of the Main, at its confluence with the +Aschaff, near the foot of the Spessart, 26 m. by rail S.E. of +Frankfort-On-Main. Pop. (1900) 18,091; (1905) 25,275. Its +chief buildings are the Johannisburg, built (1605-1614) by +Archbishop Schweikard of Cronberg, which contains a library +with a number of <i>incunabula</i>, a collection of engravings and +paintings; the <i>Stiftskirche</i>, or cathedral, founded in 980 by Otto +of Bavaria, but dating in the main from the early 12th and the +13th centuries, in which are preserved various monuments by +the Vischers, and a sarcophagus, with the relics of St Margaret +(1540); the Capuchin hospital; a theatre, which was formerly +the house of the Teutonic order; and several mansions of the +German nobility. The town, which has been remarkable for its +educational establishments since the 10th century, has a +gymnasium, lyceum, seminarium and other schools. There is an +archaeological museum in the old abbey buildings. The graves +of Klemens Brentano and his brother Christian (d. 1851) are in +the churchyard; and Wilhelm Heinse is buried in the town. +Coloured and white paper, ready-made clothing, cellulose, +tobacco, lime and liqueurs are the chief manufactures, while +a considerable export trade is done down the Main in wood, +cattle and wine.</p> + +<p>Aschaffenburg, called in the middle ages Aschafaburg and also +Askenburg, was originally a Roman settlement. The 10th and +23rd Roman legions had their station here, and on the ruins of +their <i>castrum</i> the Frankish mayors of the palace built a castle. +Bonifacius erected a chapel to St Martin, and founded a +Benedictine monastery. A stone bridge over the Main was built by +Archbishop Willigis in 989. Adalbert increased the importance +of the town in various ways about 1122. In 1292 a synod was +held here, and in 1474 an imperial diet, preliminary to that of +Vienna, in which the concordat was decided which has therefore +been sometimes called the <i>Aschaffenburg Concordat</i>.</p> + +<p>The town suffered greatly during the Thirty Years’ War, +being held in turn by the various belligerents. In 1842-1849, +King Louis built himself to the west of the town a country house, +called the <i>Pompeianum</i>, from its being an imitation of the house +of Castor and Pollux at Pompeii. In 1866 the Prussians inflicted +a severe defeat on the Austrians in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>The principality of Aschaffenburg, deriving its name from the +city, comprehended an area of 654 English sq. m. It formed part +of the electorate of Mainz, and in 1803 was made over to the +archchancellor, Archbishop Charles of Dalberg. In 1806 it was +annexed to the grand-duchy of Frankfort; and in 1814 was +transferred to Bavaria, in virtue of a treaty concluded on the +19th of June between that power and Austria. With lower +Franconia, it now forms a district of the kingdom of Bavaria.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCHAM, ROGER<a name="ar27" id="ar27"></a></span> (<i>c.</i> 1515-1568), English scholar and writer, +was born at Kirby Wiske, a village in the North Riding of +Yorkshire, near Northallerton, about the year 1515. His name +would be more properly spelt Askham, being derived, doubtless, +from Askham in the West Riding. He was the third son of John +Ascham, steward to Lord Scrope of Bolton. The family name +of his mother Margaret is unknown, but she is said to have been +well connected. The authority for this statement, as for most +others concerning Ascham’s early life, is Edward Grant, headmaster +of Westminster, who collected and edited his letters and +delivered a panegyrical oration on his life in 1576.</p> + +<p>Ascham was educated not at school, but in the house of Sir +Humphry Wingfield, a barrister, and in 1533 speaker of the +House of Commons, as Ascham himself tells us, in the <i>Toxophilus</i>, +p. 120 (not, as by a mistake which originated with Grant and has +been repeated ever since, Sir Anthony Wingfield, who was nephew +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page721" id="page721"></a>721</span> +of the speaker). Sir Humphry “ever loved and used to have +many children brought up in his house,” where they were under +a tutor named R. Bond. Their sport was archery, and Sir +Humphry “himself would at term times bring down from +London both bows and shafts and go with them himself to the +field and see them shoot.” Hence Ascham’s earliest English +work, the <i>Toxophilus</i>, the importance which he attributed to +archery in educational establishments, and probably the +provision for archery in the statutes of St Albans, Harrow and +other Elizabethan schools. From this private tuition Ascham +was sent “about 1530,” at the age, it is said, of fifteen, to St +John’s College, Cambridge, then the largest and most learned +college in either university. Here he fell under the influence of +John Cheke, who was admitted a fellow in Ascham’s first year, +and Sir Thomas Smith. His guide and friend was Robert +Pember, “a man of the greatest learning and with an admirable +facility in the Greek tongue.” On his advice he practised +seriously the precept embodied in the saying, “I know nothing +about the subject, I have not even lectured on it,” and “to +learn Greek more quickly, while still a boy, taught Greek to +boys.” In Latin he specially studied Cicero and Caesar. He +became B.A. on the 18th of February 1534/5. Dr Nicholas +Metcalfe was then master of the college, “a papist, indeed, and +yet if any young man given to the new learning as they termed +it, went beyond his fellows,” he “lacked neither open praise, +nor private exhibition.” He procured Ascham’s election to a +fellowship, “though being a new bachelor of arts, I chanced +among my companions to speak against the Pope ... after +grievous rebuke and some punishment, open warning was given +to all the fellows, none to be so hardy, as to give me his voice at +that election.” The day of election Ascham regarded as his +“birthday,” and “the whole foundation of the poor learning I +have and of all the furtherance that hitherto elsewhere I have +obtained.” He took his M.A. degree on the 3rd of July 1537. +He stayed for some time at Cambridge taking pupils, among +whom was William Grindal, who in 1544 became tutor to Princess +Elizabeth. Ascham himself cultivated music, acquired fame +for a beautiful handwriting, and lectured on mathematics. +Before 1540, when the Regius professorship of Greek was +established, Ascham “was paid a handsome salary to profess the +Greek tongue in public,” and held also lectures in St John’s +College. He obtained from Edward Lee, then archbishop of +York, a pension of £2 a year, in return for which Ascham +translated Oecumenius’ Commentaries on the Pauline Epistles. But +the archbishop, scenting heresy in some passage relating to the +marriage of the clergy, sent it back to him, with a present indeed, +but with something like a reprimand, to which Ascham answered +with an assurance that he was “no seeker after novelties,” as +his lectures showed. He was on safer ground in writing in +1542-1543 a book, which he told Sir William Paget in the summer +of 1544 was in the press, “on the art of Shooting.” This was +no doubt suggested partly by the act of parliament 33 Henry +VIII. c. 9, “an acte for mayntenaunce of Artyllarie and debarringe +of unlawful games,” requiring every one under sixty, of good +health, the clergy, judges, &c., excepted, “to use shooting in the +long bow,” and fixing the price at which bows were to be sold. +Under the title of <i>Toxophilus</i> he presented it to Henry VIII. at +Greenwich soon after his triumphant return from the capture of +Boulogne, and promptly received a grant of a pension of £10 a +year, equal to some £200 a year of our money. A novelty of the +book was that the author had “written this Englishe matter +in the Englishe tongue for Englishe men,” though he thought it +necessary to defend himself by the argument that what “the +best of the realm think it honest to use” he “ought not to suppose +it vile for him to write.” It is a Platonic dialogue between Toxophilus +and Philologus, and nowadays its chief interest lies in its +incidental remarks. It may probably claim to have been the +model for Izaak Walton’s <i>Compleat Angler.</i></p> + +<p>From 1541, or earlier, Ascham acted as letter-writer to the +university and also to his college. Perhaps the best specimen +of his skill was the letter written to the protector Somerset in +1548 on behalf of Sedbergh school, which was attached to St +John’s College by the founder, Dr Lupton, in 1525, and the +endowment of which had been confiscated under the Chantries +Act. In 1546 Ascham was elected public orator by the university +on Sir John Cheke’s retirement.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the beginning of the reign of Edward VI., Ascham +made public profession of Protestant opinions in a disputation +on the doctrine of the Mass, begun in his own college and then +removed for greater publicity to the public schools of the +university, where it was stopped by the vice-chancellor. Thereon +Ascham wrote a letter of complaint to Sir William Cecil. This +stood him in good stead. In January 1548, Grindal, the princess +Elizabeth’s tutor, died. Ascham had already corresponded with +the princess, and in one of his letters says that he returns her +pen which he has mended. Through Cecil and at the princess’s +own wish he was selected as her tutor against another candidate +pressed by Admiral Seymour and Queen Katherine. Ascham +taught Elizabeth—then sixteen years old—for two years, chiefly +at Cheshunt. In a letter to Sturm, the Strassburg schoolmaster, +he praises her “beauty, stature, wisdom and industry. She +talks French and Italian as well as English: she has often talked +to me readily and well in Latin and moderately so in Greek. +When she writes Greek and Latin nothing is more beautiful than +her handwriting ... she read with me almost all Cicero and +great part of Titus Livius: for she drew all her knowledge of +Latin from those two authors. She used to give the morning +to the Greek Testament and afterwards read select orations of +Isocrates and the tragedies of Sophocles. To these I added +St Cyprian and Melanchthon’s Commonplaces.” In 1550 Ascham +quarrelled with Elizabeth’s steward and returned to Cambridge. +Cheke then procured him the secretaryship to Sir Richard +Morrison (Moryson), appointed ambassador to Charles V. It +was on his way to join Morrison that he paid his celebrated +morning call on Lady Jane Grey at Bradgate, where he found +her reading Plato’s <i>Phaedo</i>, while every one else was out hunting.</p> + +<p>The embassy went to Louvain, where he found the university +very inferior to Cambridge, then to Innsbruck and Venice. +Ascham read Greek with the ambassador four or five days a week. +His letters during the embassy, which was recalled on Mary’s +accession, were published in English in 1553, as a “Report” +on Germany. Through Bishop Gardiner he was appointed Latin +secretary to Queen Mary with a pension of £20 a year. His +Protestantism he must have quietly sunk, though he told Sturm +that “some endeavoured to hinder the flow of Gardiner’s +benevolence on account of his religion.” Probably his never +having been in orders tended to his safety. On the 1st of June +1554 he married Margaret Howe, whom he described as niece of +Sir R. (? J., certainly not, as has been said, Henry) Wallop. By +her he had two sons. From his frequent complaints of his +poverty then and later, he seems to have lived beyond his income, +though, like most courtiers, he obtained divers lucrative leases +of ecclesiastical and crown property. In 1555 he resumed his +studies with Princess Elizabeth, reading in Greek the orations of +Aeschines and Demosthenes’ <i>De Corona</i>. Soon after Elizabeth’s +accession, on the 5th of October 1559, he was given, though a +layman, the canonry and prebend of Wetwang in York minster. +In 1563 he began the work which has made him famous, +<i>The Scholemaster</i>. The occasion of it was, he tells us (though +he is perhaps merely imitating Boccaccio), that during the +“great plague” at London in 1563 the court was at Windsor, +and there on the 10th of December he was dining with Sir +William Cecil, secretary of state, and other ministers. Cecil +said he had “strange news; that divers scholars of Eaton be +run away from the schole for fear of beating”; and expressed +his wish that “more discretion was used by schoolmasters in +correction than commonly is.” A debate took place, the party +being pretty evenly divided between floggers and anti-floggers, +with Ascham as the champion of the latter. Afterwards Sir +Richard Sackville, the treasurer, came up to Ascham and told +him that “a fond schoolmaster” had, by his brutality, made him +hate learning, much to his loss, and as he had now a young son, +whom he wished to be learned, he offered, if Ascham would name +a tutor, to pay for the education of their respective sons under +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page722" id="page722"></a>722</span> +Ascham’s orders, and invited Ascham to write a treatise on “the +right order of teaching.” <i>The Scholemaster</i> was the result. It +is not, as might be supposed, a general treatise on educational +method, but “a plaine and perfite way of teachyng children to +understand, write and speake in Latin tong”; and it was not +intended for schools, but “specially prepared for the private +brynging up of youth in gentlemen and noblemens houses.” +The perfect way simply consisted in “the double translation of +a model book”; the book recommended by this professional +letter-writer being “Sturmius’ <i>Select Letters of Cicero</i>.” As a +method of learning a language by a single pupil, this method +might be useful; as a method of education in school nothing +more deadening could be conceived. The method itself seems +to have been taken from Cicero. Nor was the famous plea for +the substitution of gentleness and persuasion for coercion and +flogging in schools, which has been one of the main attractions +of the book, novel. It was being practised and preached at that +very time by Christopher Jonson (<i>c</i>. 1536-1597) at Winchester; +it had been enforced at length by Wolsey in his statutes for his +Ipswich College in 1528, following Robert Sherborne, bishop +of Chichester, in founding Rolleston school; and had been repeatedly +urged by Erasmus and others, to say nothing of William +of Wykeham himself in the statutes of Winchester College in +1400. But Ascham’s was the first definite demonstration in +favour of humanity in the vulgar tongue and in an easy style +by a well-known “educationist,” though not one who had any +actual experience as a schoolmaster. What largely contributed +to its fame was its picture of Lady Jane Grey, whose love of +learning was due to her finding her tutor a refuge from pinching, +ear-boxing and bullying parents; some exceedingly good +criticisms of various authors, and a spirited defence of English +as a vehicle of thought and literature, of which it was itself an +excellent example. The book was not published till after +Ascham’s death, which took place on the 23rd of December +1568, owing to a chill caught by sitting up all night to finish a +New Year’s poem to the queen.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>His letters were collected and published in 1576, and went through +several editions, the latest at Nuremberg in 1611; they were re-edited +by William Elstob in 1703. His English works were edited +by James Bennett with a life by Dr Johnson in 1771, reprinted in +8vo in 1815. Dr Giles in 1864-1865 published in 4 vols. select letters +with the <i>Toxophilus</i> and <i>Scholemaster</i> and the life by Edward Grant. +<i>The Scholemaster</i> was reprinted in 1571 and 1589. It was edited +by the Rev. J. Upton in 1711 and in 1743, by Prof. J.E.B. Mayor +in 1863, and by Prof. Edward Arber in 1870. The <i>Toxophilus</i> was +republished in 1571, 1589 and 1788, and by Prof. Edward Arber in +1868 and 1902.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. F. L.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCHERSLEBEN,<a name="ar28" id="ar28"></a></span> a town of Germany, in the Prussian province +of Saxony, 36 m. by rail N.W. from Halle, and at the junction +of lines to Cothen and Nienhagen. Pop. (1900) 27,245; (1905) +27,876. It contains one Roman Catholic and four Protestant +churches, a synagogue, a fine town-hall dating from the 16th +century, and several schools. The discovery of coal in the +neighbourhood stimulated and altered its industries. In addition +to the manufacture of woollen wares, for which it has long been +known, there is now extensive production of vinegar, paraffin, +potash and especially beetroot-sugar; while the surrounding +district, which was formerly devoted in great part to market-gardening, +is now turned almost entirely into beetroot fields. +There are also iron, zinc and chemical manufactures, and the +cultivation of agricultural seeds is carried on. In the neighbourhood +are brine springs and a spa (Wilhelmsbad). Aschersleben +was probably founded in the 11th century by Count Esico of +Ballenstedt, the ancestor of the house of Anhalt, whose grandson, +Otto, called himself count of Ascania and Aschersleben, deriving +the former part of the title from his castle in the neighbourhood +of the town. On the death of Otto III. (1315) Aschersleben +passed into the hands of the bishop of Halberstadt, and at the +peace of 1648 was, with the bishopric, united to Brandenburg.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCIANO,<a name="ar29" id="ar29"></a></span> a town of Tuscany, in the province of Siena, 19 m. +S.E. of the town of Siena by rail. Pop. (1901) 7618. It is +surrounded by walls built by the Sienese in 1351, and has some +14th-century churches with paintings of the same period. Six +miles to the south is the large Benedictine monastery of Monte +Oliveto Maggiore, founded in 1320, famous for the frescoes by +Luca Signorelli (1497-1498) and Antonio Bazzi, called Sodoma +(1505), in the cloister, illustrating scenes from the legend of St +Benedict; the latter master’s work is perhaps nowhere better +represented than here. The church contains fine inlaid choir +stalls by Fra Giovanni da Verona. The buildings, which are +mostly of red brick, are conspicuous against the gray clayey and +sandy soil. The monastery is described by Aeneas Sylvius +Piccolomini (Pope Pius II.) in his <i>Commentaria</i>. Remains of +Roman baths, with a fine mosaic pavement, were found within +the town in 1898 (G. Pellegrini in <i>Notizie degli scavi</i>, 1899, 6).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCITANS<a name="ar30" id="ar30"></a></span> (or <span class="sc">Ascitae</span>; from <span class="grk" title="askos">ἀσκός</span>, the Greek for a wine-skin), +a peculiar sect of 2nd-century Christians (Montanists), who +introduced the practice of dancing round a wine-skin at their +meetings.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCITES,<a name="ar31" id="ar31"></a></span> (<span class="grk" title="askitaes">ἀσκίτης</span> dropsical, from <span class="grk" title="askosaskos">ἀσκός</span> <i>sc</i>. +<span class="grk" title="nosos">νόσος</span> disease), the term in medicine applied to an effusion +of non-inflammatory fluid within the peritoneum. It is not a +disease in itself, but is one of the manifestations of disease +elsewhere—usually in the kidneys, heart, or in connexion with +the liver (portal obstruction). Portal obstruction is the +commonest cause of well-marked ascites. It is produced by +(1) diseases within the liver, as cirrhosis (usually alcoholic) and +cancer; (2) diseases outside the liver, as cancer of stomach, +duodenum or pancreas, causing pressure on the portal vein, +or enlarged glands in the fissure of the liver producing the same +effect. Ascites is one of the late symptoms in the disease, and +precedes dropsy of the leg, which may come on later, due to +pressure on the large veins in the abdominal cavity by the +ascitic fluid. In ascites due to heart disease, the dropsy of the +feet and legs precedes the ascites, and there will be a history of +palpitation, shortness of breath, and perhaps cough. In the +ascites of kidney troubles there will be a history of general +oedema—puffiness of face and eyes on rising in the morning probably +having attracted the attention of the patient or his friends +previously. Other less common causes of ascites are chronic +peritonitis, either tuberculous in the young, or due to cancer in +the aged, and more rarely still pernicious anaemia.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCLEPIADES,<a name="ar32" id="ar32"></a></span> Greek physician, was born at Prusa in Bithynia +in 124 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and flourished at Rome in the end of the 2nd century +<span class="scs">B.C.</span> He travelled much when young, and seems at first to have +settled at Rome as a rhetorician. In that profession he did not +succeed, but he acquired great reputation as a physician. He +founded his medical practice on a modification of the atomic or +corpuscular theory, according to which disease results from an +irregular or inharmonious motion of the corpuscles of the body. +His remedies were, therefore, directed to the restoration of +harmony, and he trusted much to changes of diet, accompanied +by friction, bathing and exercise, though he also employed +emetics and bleeding. He recommended the use of wine, and +in every way strove to render himself as agreeable as possible +to his patients. His pupils were very numerous, and the school +formed by them was called the Methodical. Asclepiades died +at an advanced age.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCLEPIADES,<a name="ar33" id="ar33"></a></span> of Samos, epigrammatist and lyric poet, friend +of Theocritus, flourished about 270 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> He was the earliest +and most important of the convivial and erotic epigrammatists. +Only a few of his compositions are actual “inscriptions”; +others sing the praises of the poets whom he specially +admired, but the majority of them are love-songs. It is doubtful +whether he is the author of all the epigrams (some 40 in number) +which bear his name in the Greek Anthology. He possibly gave +his name to the Asclepiadean metre.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCLEPIODOTUS, G<a name="ar34" id="ar34"></a></span>reek military writer, flourished in the +1st century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Nothing is known of him except that he was +a pupil of Poseidonius the Stoic (d. 51 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>). He is the supposed +author of a treatise on Graeco-Macedonian tactics (<span class="grk" title="Taktika +Kephalaia">Τακτικὰ Κεφάλαια</span>), which, however, is probably not his own work, but +the skeleton outline of the lectures delivered by his master, who +is known to have written a work on the subject.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCOLI, GRAZIADIO ISAIA<a name="ar35" id="ar35"></a></span> (1820-1907), Italian philologist; +of Jewish family, was born at Görz at an early age showed a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page723" id="page723"></a>723</span> +marked linguistic talent. In 1854 he published his <i>Studii +orientali e linguistici</i>, and in 1860 was appointed professor of +philology at Milan. He made various learned contributions to +the study of Indo-European and Semitic languages, and also of +the gipsy language, but his special field was the Italian dialects. +He founded the <i>Archivio glottologico italiano</i> in 1873, publishing +in it his <i>Saggi Ladini</i>, and making it in succeeding years the +great organ of original scholarship on this subject. He was +universally recognized as the greatest authority on Italian +linguistics, and his article in the <i>Encyclopaedia Britannica</i> +(9th ed., revised for this edition) became the classic exposition +in English. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Italy</a></span>: <i>Language</i>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCOLI PICENO<a name="ar36" id="ar36"></a></span><a name="fa1a" id="fa1a" href="#ft1a"><span class="sp">1</span></a> (anc. <i>Ausculum</i>) a town and episcopal see +of the Marches, Italy, the capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, +17 m. W. of Porto d’ Ascoli (a station on the coast railway, 56 m. +S.S.E. of Ancona), and 53 m. S. of Ancona direct, situated on +the S. bank of the Tronto (anc. <i>Truentus</i>) at its confluence with +the Castellano, 500 ft. above sea-level, and surrounded by lofty +mountains. Pop. (1901) town, 12,256; commune, 28,608. The +Porta Romana is a double-arched Roman gate; adjacent are +remains of the massive ancient city walls, in rectangular blocks +of stone 2 ft. in height, and remains of still earlier fortifications +have been found at this point (F. Barnabei in <i>Notizie degli scavi</i>, +1887, 252). The church of S. Gregorio is built into a Roman +tetrastyle Corinthian temple, two columns of which and the +<i>cella</i> are still preserved; the site of the Roman theatre can be +distinguished; and the church and convent of the Annunziata +(with two fine cloisters and a good fresco by Cola d’ Amatrice +in the refectory) are erected upon large Roman substructures +of concrete, which must have supported some considerable +building. Higher up is the castle, which now shows no traces of +fortifications older than medieval; it commands a fine view of +the town and of the mountains which encircle it. The town +has many good pre-Renaissance buildings; the picturesque +colonnaded market-place contains the fine Gothic church of +S. Francesco and the original Palazzo del Comune, now the +prefecture (Gothic with Renaissance additions). The cathedral +is in origin Romanesque,<a name="fa2a" id="fa2a" href="#ft2a"><span class="sp">2</span></a> but has been much altered, and was +stored in 1888 by Count Giuseppe Sacconi (1855-1905). The +frescoes in the dome, of the same date, are by Cesare Mariani. +The cope presented to the cathedral treasury by Pope Nicholas +IV. was stolen in 1904, and sold to Mr J. Pierpont Morgan, who +generously returned it to the Italian government, and it was +then placed for greater safety in the Galleria Corsini at Rome. +The baptistery still preserves its ancient character; and the +churches of S. Vittore and SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio are also +good Romanesque buildings. The fortress of the Malatesta, +constructed in 1349, has been in the main destroyed; the part +of it which remains is now a prison. The present Palazzo +Comunale, a Renaissance edifice, contains a fine museum, +chiefly remarkable for the contents of prehistoric tombs found +in the district (including good bronze fibulae, necklaces, amulets, +&c., often decorated with amber), and a large collection of +acorn-shaped lead missiles (<i>glandes</i>) used by slingers, belonging +to the time of the siege of Asculum during the Social War (89 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>). +There is also a picture gallery containing works by local masters, +Pietro Alamanni, Cola d’ Amatrice, Carlo Crivelli, &c. The +bridges across the ravines which defend the town are of considerable +importance; the Ponte di Porta Cappucina is a very fine +Roman bridge, with a single arch of 71 ft. span. The Ponte di +Cecco (so named from Cecco d’ Ascoli), with two arches, is also +Roman and belongs to the Via Salaria; the Ponte Maggiore +and the Ponte Cartaro are, on the other hand, medieval, though +the latter perhaps preserves some traces of Roman work. Near +Ascoli is Castel Trosino, where an extensive Lombard necropolis +of the 7th century was discovered in 1895; the contents of the +tombs are now exhibited in the Museo Nazionale delle Terme +at Rome (<i>Notizie degli scavi</i>, 1895, 35).</p> + +<p>The ancient Asculum was the capital of Picenum, and it +occupied a strong position in the centre of difficult country. +It was taken in 268 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> by the Romans, and the Via Salaria was +no doubt prolonged thus far at this period; the distance from +Rome is 120 m. It took a prominent part in the Social War +against Rome, the proconsul Q. Servilius and all the Roman +citizens within its walls being massacred by the inhabitants +in 90 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> It was captured after a long siege by Pompeius +Strabo in 89 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The leader, Judacilius, committed suicide, the +principal citizens were put to death, and the rest exiled. The +Roman general celebrated his triumph on the 25th of December +of that year. Caesar occupied it, however, as a strong position +after crossing the Rubicon; and it received a Roman colony, +perhaps under the triumvirs, and became a place of some importance. +In <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 301 it became the capital of Picenum Suburbicarium. +In 545 it was taken by Totila, but is spoken of by +Paulus Diaconus as the chief city of Picenum shortly afterwards. +From the time of Charlemagne it was under the rule of its +bishops, who had the title of prince and the right to coin money, +until 1185, when it became a free republic. It had many struggles +with Fermo, and in the 15th century came more directly under +the papal sway.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See N. Persichetti in <i>Romische Mitteilungen</i> (1903), 295 seq.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(T. As.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1a" id="ft1a" href="#fa1a"><span class="fn">1</span></a> The +epithet distinguishes it from Ascoli Satriano (anc. <i>Ausculum</i>), +which lies 19 m. S. of Foggia by rail.</p> + +<p><a name="ft2a" id="ft2a" href="#fa2a"><span class="fn">2</span></a> It +contains a fine polyptych by Carlo Crivelli (1473).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCONIUS PEDIANUS, QUINTUS<a name="ar37" id="ar37"></a></span> (9 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>-<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 76; or <span class="scs">A.D.</span> +3-88), Roman grammarian and historian, was probably a native +of Patavium (Padua). In his later years he resided at Rome, +where he died, after having been blind for twelve years, at the +age of eighty-five. During the reigns of Claudius and Nero he +compiled for his sons, from various sources—<i>e.g.</i> the Gazette (<i>Acta +Publica</i>), shorthand reports or “skeletons” (<i>commentarii</i>) of +Cicero’s unpublished speeches, Tiro’s life of Cicero, speeches and +letters of Cicero’s contemporaries, various historical writers, <i>e.g</i>. +Varro, Atticus, Antias, Tuditanus and Fenestella (a contemporary +of Livy whom he often criticizes)—historical commentaries on +Cicero’s speeches, of which only five, viz. <i>in Pisonem</i>, <i>pro Scauro</i>, +<i>pro Milone</i>, <i>pro Cornelio</i> and <i>in toga Candida</i>, in a very mutilated +condition, are preserved. In a note upon the speech <i>pro Scauro</i>, +he speaks of Longus Caecina (d. <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 57) as still living, while his +words imply that Claudius (d. 54) was not alive. This statement, +therefore, must have been written between <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 54 and 57. +These valuable notes, written in good Latin, relate chiefly to +legal, historical and antiquarian matters. A commentary, of +inferior Latinity and mainly of a grammatical character, on +Cicero’s Verrine orations, is universally regarded as spurious. +Both works were found by Poggio in a MS. at St Gallen in 1416. +This MS. is lost, but three transcripts were made by Poggio, +Zomini (Sozomenus) of Pistoia and Bartolommeo da Montpulciano. +That of Poggio is now at Madrid (Matritensis x. 81), +and that of Zomini is in the Forteguerri library at Pistoia (No. 37). +A copy of Bartolommeo’s transcript exists in Florence (Laur. +liv. 5). The later MSS. are derived from Poggio’s copy. Other +works attributed to Asconius were: a life of Sallust, a defence +of Virgil against his detractors, and a treatise (perhaps a +symposium in imitation of Plato) on health and long life.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Editions by Kiessling-Schöll (1875), and A.C. Clark (Oxford, +1906), which contains a previously unpublished collation of Poggio’s +transcript. See also Madvig, <i>De Asconio Pediano</i> (1828).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCOT<a name="ar38" id="ar38"></a></span>, a village in the Wokingham parliamentary division +of Berkshire, England, famous for its race-meetings. Pop. of +parish of Ascot Heath (1901), 1927. The station on the Southwestern +railway, 29 m. W.S.W. of London, is called Ascot and +Sunninghill; the second name belonging to an adjacent township +with a population (civil parish) of 4719. The race-course is +on Ascot Heath, and was laid out by order of Queen Anne in +1711, and on the 11th of August in that year the first meeting +was held and attended by the queen. The course is almost +exactly 2 m. in circumference, and the meetings are held in June. +The principal race is that for the Ascot Gold Cup, instituted in +1807. The meeting is one of the most fashionable in England, +and is commonly attended by members of the royal family. +The royal procession, for which the meeting is peculiarly famous, +was initiated by George IV. in 1820.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See R. Herod, <i>Royal Ascot</i> (London, 1900).</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page724" id="page724"></a>724</span></p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASCUS<a name="ar39" id="ar39"></a></span> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="askos">ἀσκός</span>, a bag), a botanical term for the membranous +sacs containing the reproductive spores in certain +lichens and fungi. Various compounds of the word are used, +<i>e.g.</i> <i>ascophorous</i>, producing asci; <i>ascospore</i>, the spore (or sporule) +developed in the ascus; <i>ascogonium</i>, the organ producing it, &c.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASELLI<a name="ar40" id="ar40"></a></span> [<span class="sc">Asellius</span>, or <span class="sc">Asellio</span>], <b>GASPARO</b> (1581-1626), +Italian physician, was born at Cremona about 1581, became +professor of anatomy and surgery at Pavia, and practised at +Milan, where he died in 1626. To him is due the discovery of +the lacteal vessels, published in <i>De Lactibus</i> (Milan, 1627).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASGILL, JOHN<a name="ar41" id="ar41"></a></span> (1659-1738), English writer, was born at +Hanley Castle, in Worcestershire, in 1659. He was bred to the +law, and gained considerable reputation in his profession, +increased by two pamphlets—the first (1696) advocating the +establishment of some currency other than the usual gold and +silver, the second (1698) on a registry for titles of lands. In +1699, when a commission was appointed to settle disputed claims +in Ireland, he set out for that country, attracted by the hopes +of practice. Before leaving London he put in the hands of the +printer a tract, entitled <i>An Argument proving that, according to +the Covenant of Eternal Life revealed in the Scripture, Man may +be translated from hence into that Eternal Life without passing +through Death</i> (1700). Coleridge has highly praised the “genuine +Saxon English,” the “irony” and “humour” of this +extraordinary pamphlet, which interpreted the relation between God +and man by the technical rules of law, and insisted that, Christ +having wiped out Adam’s sin, the penalty of death must consequently +be illegal for those who claim exemption. How far it +was meant seriously was doubted at the time, and may be +doubted now. But its fame preceded the author to Ireland, +and was of material service in securing his professional success, +so that he amassed money, purchased an estate, and married +a daughter of the second Lord Kenmare. He was returned both +to the Irish and English parliaments, but was expelled from +both on account of his “blasphemous” pamphlet. He was also +involved in money difficulties, and litigation about his Irish estate, +and these circumstances may have had something to do with his +trouble in parliament. In 1707 he was arrested for debt, and +the remainder of his life was spent in the Fleet prison, or within +the rules of the king’s bench. He died in 1738. Asgill also +wrote in 1714-1715 some pamphlets defending the Hanoverian +succession against the claims of the Pretender.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASH<a name="ar42" id="ar42"></a></span><a name="fa1b" id="fa1b" href="#ft1b"><span class="sp">1</span></a> (Ger. <i>Esche</i>), a common name (Fr. <i>fréne</i>) given to certain +trees. The common ash (<i>Fraxinus excelsior</i>) belongs to the +natural order Oleaceae, the olive family, an order of trees and +shrubs which includes lilac, privet and jasmine. The Hebrew +word <i>Oren</i>, translated “ash” in Isaiah xliv. 14, cannot refer to +an ash tree, as that is not a native of Palestine, but probably +refers to the Aleppo pine (<i>Pinus halepensis</i>). The ash is a native +of Great Britain and the greater part of Europe, and also extends +to Asia. The tree is distinguished for its height and contour, +as well as for its graceful foliage. It attains a height of from +50 to 80 ft., and flowers in March and April, before the leaves +are developed. The reddish flowers grow in clusters, but are +not showy. They are naked, that is without sepals or petals, +and generally imperfect, wanting either stamens or pistil. The +large leaves, which are late in appearing, are pinnately compound, +bearing four to seven pairs of gracefully tapering toothed leaflets +on a slender stalk. The dry winged fruits, the so-called keys, +are a characteristic feature and often remain hanging in bunches +long after the leaves have fallen in autumn. The leaves fall +early, but the greyish twigs and black buds render the tree +conspicuous in winter and especially in early spring.</p> + +<p>The ash is in Britain next in value to the oak as a timber-tree. +It requires a good deep loam with gravelly subsoil, and a situation +naturally sheltered, such as the steep banks of glens, rivers or +lakes; in cold and wet clay it does not succeed. As the value of +the timber depends chiefly on its toughness and elasticity, it is +best grown in masses where the soil is good; the trunk is thus +drawn up free from large side-branches. The tree is easily +propagated from seeds; it throws up strong root shoots. The +ash requires much light, but grows rapidly, and its terminal +shoots pierce easily through thickets of beech, with which it is +often associated. Unmixed ash plantations are seldom satisfactory, +because the foliage does not sufficiently cover the ground; +but when mixed with beech it grows well, and attains great +height and girth. Owing to the dense mass of roots which it +sends out horizontally a little beneath the surface of the ground, +the ash does much harm to vegetation beneath its shade, and +is therefore obnoxious as a hedgerow tree. Coppice shoots yield +excellent hop-poles, crates, hoops, whip-handles, &c. The +timber is much used for agricultural implements, and by coach-builders +and wheelwrights.</p> + +<p>A variety of the common species, known as var. <i>heterophylla</i>, +has simple leaves. It occurs wild in woods in Europe and +England. Another variety of ash (<i>pendula</i>) is met with in which +the branches are pendulous and weeping. Sometimes this +variety is grafted on the tall stem of the common ash, so as to +produce a pleasing effect. It is said that the weeping variety +was first observed at Gamlingay, in Cambridgeshire. A variety +(<i>crispa</i>) occurs with curled leaves, and another with warty stems +and branches, called <i>verrucosa</i>. <i>F. Ornus</i> is the manna ash (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Manna</a></span>), a handsome tree with greenish-white flowers and native +in south Europe. In southern Europe there is a small-leaved +ash, called <i>Fraxinus parvifolia</i>. <i>F. floribunda</i>, a large tree with +terminal panicles of white flowers, is a native of the Himalayas. +In America there are several species—such as <i>Fraxinus americana</i>, +the white ash; <i>F. pubescens</i>, the red ash; and <i>F. sambucifolia</i>, +the black ash.</p> + +<p>The “mountain ash” belongs to a totally different family +from the common ash. It is called <i>Pyrus Aucuparia</i>, and belongs +to the natural order Rosaceae, and the tribe <i>Pomeae</i>, which +includes also apples, pears, &c. Its common name is probably +due to its resemblance to the true ash, in its smooth grey bark, +graceful ascending branches, and especially the form of the leaf, +which is also pinnately compound but smaller than in the true +ash. Its common name in Scotland is the rowan tree; it is +well known by its clusters of white blossoms and succulent +scarlet fruit. The name of poison ash is given to <i>Rhus venenata</i>, +the North American poison elder or sumach, belonging to the +Anacardiaceae (Cashew family). The bitter ash of the West +Indies is <i>Simaruba excelsa</i>, which belongs to the natural order +Simarubaceae. The Cape ash is <i>Ekebergia capensis</i>, belonging +to the natural order Meliaceae, a large tree, a native of the Cape +of Good Hope. The prickly ash, <i>Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis</i> +(nat. ord. Xanthoxyleae), a native of the south-eastern United +States, is a small tree, the trunk of which is studded with corky +tubercles, while the branches are armed with stout, sharp, +brown prickles.</p> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1b" id="ft1b" href="#fa1b"><span class="fn">1</span></a> The homonym, ash or (pl.) ashes, the residue (of a body, &c.) +after burning, is a common Teutonic word, Ger. <i>Asche</i>, connected +with the root found in Lat. <i>ardere</i>, to burn.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">A‘SHĀ<a name="ar43" id="ar43"></a></span> [<span class="sc">Maimūn ibn Qais</span>], Arabian poet, was born before +Mahomet, and lived long enough to accept the mission of the +prophet. He was born in Manfuha, a village of al-Yemāma in +the centre of Arabia, and became a wandering singer, passing +through all Arabia from Hadramut in the south to al-Hīra in +the north, and naturally frequenting the annual fair at Okaz +(Ukāz). His love poems are devoted to the praise of Huraira, +a black female slave. Even before the time of Mahomet he is +said to have believed in the resurrection and last judgment, +and to have been a monotheist. These beliefs may have been +due to his intercourse with the bishop of Nejran (Najrān) and the +‘Ibādites (Christians) of al-Hīra. His poems were praised for +their descriptions of the wild ass, for the praise of wine, for their +skill in praise and satire, and for the varieties of metre employed. +His best-known poem is that in praise of Mahomet.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>His poems have been collected from various sources in L. Cheikho’s +<i>Les Poètes arabes chrétiens</i> (Jesuit press, Beirut, 1890), pp. 357-399. +His eulogy of Mahomet has been edited by H. Thorbecke, <i>Al AšSa’s +Lobgedicht auf Muhammad</i> (Leipzig, 1875).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(G. W. T.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHANTI,<a name="ar44" id="ar44"></a></span> a British possession in West Africa, bounded W. +by the (French) Ivory Coast colony, N. by the British +Protectorate known as Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (see +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page725" id="page725"></a>725</span> +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Gold Coast</a></span>), and E. by the river Volta (which separates it from +the German colony of Togoland); the southern frontier is +conterminous with the northern frontier of the (British) Gold +Coast colony. It forms an irregular oblong, with a triangular +projection (the country of the Adansi) southward. It has an +area of 23,000 sq. m., and a population estimated (1907) at +500,000.</p> + +<p><i>Physical Features; Flora and Fauna.</i>—A great part of Ashanti +is covered with primeval and almost impenetrable forest.<a name="fa1c" id="fa1c" href="#ft1c"><span class="sp">1</span></a> +Many of the trees, chiefly silk-cotton and hardwood, attain +splendid proportions, the bombax reaching a height of over 200 +ft., but the monotony is oppressive, and is seldom relieved by +the sight of flowers, birds or beasts. Ferns are abundant, and +the mimosa rises to heights of from 30 to 60 ft. All over the +forest spread lianas, or monkey-ropes, their usual position being +that of immense festoons hanging from tree to tree. To these +lianas (species of which yield one kind of the rubber of commerce) +is due largely the weird aspect of the forest. The country round +the towns, however, is cultivated with care, the fields yielding +in abundance grain, yams, vegetables and fruits. In the north-eastern +districts the primeval forest gives place to park-like +country, consisting of plains covered with high coarse grass, +and dotted with occasional baobabs, as well as with wild plum, +shea-butter, dwarf date, fan palms, and other small trees. Among +the wild animals are the elephant (comparatively rare), the +leopard, varieties of antelope, many kinds of monkeys and +numerous venomous snakes. Crocodiles and two kinds of +hippopotami, the ordinary and a pygmy variety, are found in +the rivers. Of birds, parrots are the most characteristic. Insect +life is abundant.</p> + +<p>About 25 m. south-east of Kumasi is Lake Busumchwi, the +sacred lake of the Ashanti. It is surrounded by forest-clad hills +some 800 ft. high, is nearly circular and has a maximum diameter +of 6 m. The Black Volta, and lower down the Volta (<i>q.v.</i>), form +the northern frontier, and various tributaries of the Volta, +running generally in a northerly direction, traverse the eastern +portion of the country. In the central parts are the upper +courses of the Ofin and of some tributaries of the Prah. Farther +west are the Tano and Bia rivers, which empty their waters into +the Assini lagoon. In their course through Ashanti, the rivers, +apart from the Volta, are navigable by canoes only. The +elevation of the country is generally below 2000 ft., but it rises +towards the north.</p> + +<p><i>Climate.</i>—The climate, although unsuited to the prolonged +residence of Europeans, is less unhealthy than that of the coast +towns of West Africa. The water-supply is good and abundant. +The rainy season lasts from the end of May until October; +storms are frequent and violent. The mean temperature at +Kumasi is 76° F., the mean annual rainfall 40 ins.</p> + +<p><i>Inhabitants.</i>—The most probable tradition represents the +Ashanti as deriving their origin from bands of fugitives, who in +the 16th or 17th century were driven before the Moslem tribes +migrating southward from the countries on the Niger and +Senegal. Having obtained possession of a region of impenetrable +forest, they defended themselves with a valour which, becoming +part of their national character, raised them to the rank of a +powerful and conquering nation. They are of the pure negro +type, and are supposed to be originally of the same race as the +Fanti, nearer the coast, and speak the same language. The +separation of Fanti and Ashanti has been ascribed to a famine +which drove the former south, and led them to live on <i>fan</i>, or +herbs, while the latter subsisted on <i>san</i>, or Indian corn, &c., +whence the names Fanti and Santi. The Ashanti are divided +into a large number of tribes, of whom a dozen may be +distinguished, namely, the Bekwai, Adansi, Juabin, Kokofu, +Kumasi, Mampon, Nsuta, Nkwanta, Dadiassi, Daniassi, Ofinsu +and Adjisu. Each tribe has its own king, but from the beginning +of the 18th century the king of Kumasi was recognized as king +paramount, and was spoken of as the king of Ashanti. As +paramount king he succeeded to the “golden stool,” the symbol +of authority among the Ashanti. After the deposition of +Prempeh (1896) no king of Kumasi was chosen; Prempeh +himself was never “enstooled.” The government of Ashanti +was formerly a mixture of monarchy and military aristocracy. +The confederate tribes were originally organized for purposes of +war into six great divisions or clans, this organization developing +into the main social fabric of the state. The chiefs of the clans, +with a few sub-chiefs having hereditary rights, formed the King’s +Council, and the king, unless of exceptionally strong character, +often exercised less power than the council of chiefs, each of +whom kept his little court, making a profuse display of barbaric +pomp. Land is held in common by the tribes, lands unallotted +being attached to the office of head chief or king and called +“stool lands.” Polygamy is practised by all who can afford it. +It is stated by the early chroniclers that the king of Ashanti was +bound to maintain the “fetish” number of 3333 wives; many +of these, however, were employed in menial services. The +crown descended to the king’s brother, or his sister’s son, not to +his own offspring. The queen mother exercised considerable +authority in the state, but the king’s wives had no power. The +system of human sacrifices, practised among the Ashanti until +the closing years of the 19th century, was founded on a sentiment +of piety towards parents and other connexions—the chiefs +believing that the rank of their dead relatives in the future +world would be measured by the number of attendants sent after +them. There were two periods, called the great Adai and little +Adai, at which human victims, chiefly prisoners of war or +condemned criminals, were immolated. There is reason to +believe that the extent of this practice was not so great as was +currently reported.</p> + +<p>There are a few Mahommedans in Ashanti, most of them +traders from other countries, and the Basel and Wesleyan +missionaries have obtained some converts to Christianity; but +the great bulk of the people are spirit-worshippers. Unlike many +West African races, the Ashanti in general show a repugnance to +the doctrines of Islam.</p> + +<p><i>Towns and Trade.</i>—Besides the capital, Kumasi (<i>q.v.</i>), +with a population of some 6000, there are few important towns in +Ashanti. Obuassi, in the south-west, is the centre of the gold-mining +industry. Wam is on the western border, Nkoranza, +Atabubu and Kintampo in the north. Kintampo is a town of +some size and is about 130 m. north-east of Kumasi. It is the +meeting-place of traders from the Niger countries and from +the coast. Formerly one of the great slave and ivory marts +of West Africa, it is now a centre of the kola-nut commerce +and a depot for government stores. The Ashanti are skilful in +several species of manufacture, particularly in weaving cotton. +Their pottery and works in gold also show considerable skill. +A large quantity of silver-plate and goldsmiths’ work of great +value and considerable artistic elaboration was found in 1874 +in the king’s palace at Kumasi, not the least remarkable +objects being masks of beaten gold. The influence of Moorish +art is perceptible.</p> + +<p>The vegetable products do not differ greatly from those found +on the Gold Coast; the most important commercially is the +rubber tree (<i>Funtumia elastica</i>). The nut of the kola tree +is in great demand, and since 1905 many cocoa plantations have been +established, especially in the eastern districts. Tobacco is +cultivated in the northern regions. Gum copal is exported. +Part of the trade of Ashanti had been diverted to the French port +of Assini in consequence of the wars waged between England and +the Ashanti, but on the suppression of the revolt of 1900 measures +were taken to improve trade between Kumasi and Cape Coast. +Kumasi is the distributing centre for the whole of Ashanti and +the hinterland. Gold exists in the western districts of the +country, and several companies were formed to work the mines +in the period 1895-1901. Most of the gold exported from the +Gold Coast in 1902 and following years came from the Obuassi +mines. The gold output from Ashanti amounted in 1905 to +68,259 oz., valued at £254,790. The railway to Kumasi from +Sekondi, which was completed in 1903, passes through the +auriferous region. As far as the trade goes through British +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page726" id="page726"></a>726</span> +territory southward, the figures are included in those of the Gold +Coast; but Ashanti does also a considerable trade with its +French and German neighbours, and northwards with the Niger +countries. Its revenue and expenditure are included in those of +the Gold Coast. Revenue is obtained principally from caravan +taxes, liquor licences, rents from government land and +contributions from the gold-mining companies.</p> + +<p><i>Communications.</i>—The railway to Kumasi, cut through one +of the densest forest regions, is described under <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Gold Coast</a></span>. +The usual means of communication is by tortuous paths through +the forest, too narrow to admit any wheeled vehicle. A wide +road, 141 m. long, has been cut through the bush from Cape +Coast to Kumasi, and from Kumasi ancient caravan routes go +to the chief trading centres farther inland. Where rivers and +swamps have to be crossed, ferries are maintained. A favourite +mode of travelling in the bush is in a palanquin borne on the +heads of four carriers. Telegraph lines connect Kumasi with the +coast towns and with the towns in the Northern Territories. +There is a well-organized postal service.</p> + +<p><i>History.</i>—The Ashanti first came under the notice of Europeans +early in the 18th century, through their successful wars with the +kingdoms bordering the maritime territory. Osai Tutu +may be considered as the real founder of the Ashanti +<span class="sidenote">Early relations with the British.</span> +power. He either built or greatly extended Kumasi; +he subdued the neighbouring state of Denkera (1719) +and the Mahommedan countries of Gaman (Jaman) and Banna, +and extended the empire by conquests both on the east and west. +At last he was defeated and slain (1731); but his successor, Osai +Apoko, made further acquisitions towards the coast. In 1800, +Osai Tutu Quamina, an enterprising and ambitious man, who +appears early to have formed the desire of opening a communication +with white nations, became king. About 1807, two chiefs +of the Assin, whom he had defeated in battle, sought refuge +among the Fanti, the ruling people on the coast. On the refusal +of the Fanti to deliver up the fugitives, Osai Tutu invaded their +country, defeated them and drove them towards the sea. The +Ashanti reached the coast near Anamabo, where there was then +a British fort. The governor exhorted the townsmen to come +to terms and offered to mediate; but they resolved to abide +the contest. The result was the destruction of the town, and the +slaughter of 8000 of the inhabitants. The Ashanti, who lost over +2000 men, failed, however, to storm the English fort, though the +garrison was reduced from twenty-four to eight men. A truce +was agreed to, and the king refusing to treat except with the +governor of Cape Coast, Colonel G. Torrane (governor 1805-1807) +repaired to Anamabo, where he was received with great pomp. +Torrane determined to surrender the fugitive Assin chiefs, but +one succeeded in escaping; the other, on being given up, was +put to death by the Ashanti. Torrane concluded an agreement +with the Ashanti, acknowledging their conquest of Fantiland, and +delivering up to them half the fugitives in Anamabo fort (most +of the remainder were sold by Torrane and the members of his +council as slaves). The governor also agreed to pay rent to the +Ashanti for Anamabo fort and Cape Coast castle. The character +of this man, who died on the coast in 1808, is indicated by Osai +Tutu’s eulogy of him. “From the hour Governor Torrane +delivered up Tchibbu [one of the Assin fugitives] I took the +English for my friends,” said the king of Ashanti, “because I +saw their object was trade only and they did not care for the +people. Torrane was a man of sense and he pleased me +much.”</p> + +<p>In consequence of repeated invasions of Fantiland by the +Ashanti, the British in 1817 sent Frederick James, commandant +of Accra fort, T.E. Bowdich and W. Hutchinson on a mission to +Kumasi. After one or two harmonious interviews, the king +advanced a claim for the payment of the quit rents for Anamabo +fort and Cape Coast castle, rents the major part of which the +Fanti had induced the British to pay to them, leaving only a +nominal sum for transmission to Kumasi. Mr James, the head +of the mission, volunteered no satisfactory explanation, whereupon +the king broke into uncontrollable rage, calling the emissaries +cheats and liars. Bowdich and Hutchinson, thinking +that British interests and the safety of the mission were endangered, +took the negotiation into their own hands. Mr James +was recalled, and a treaty was concluded, by which the king’s +demands were satisfied, and the right of the British to control +the natives in the coast towns recognized.</p> + +<p>The government at home, though they demurred somewhat +to the course that had been pursued, saw the wisdom of cultivating +intercourse with this powerful African kingdom. They sent +out, therefore, to Kumasi, as consul, Mr Joseph Dupuis, formerly +consul at Mogador, who arrived at Cape Coast in January 1819. +By that time fresh difficulties had arisen between the coast +natives, who were supported by the British, and the Ashanti. +Dupuis set out on the 9th of February 1820, and on the 28th +arrived at Kumasi. After several meetings with the king, a +treaty was drawn up, which acknowledged the sovereignty of +Ashanti over the territory of the Fanti, and left the natives of +Cape Coast to the mercy of their enemies. Mr J. Hope Smith, +the governor of Cape Coast, disowned the treaty, as betraying +the interests of the natives under British protection. Mr Hope +Smith was supported by the government in London, which in +<span class="sidenote">Sir Charles M‘Carthy’s fate.</span> +1821 assumed direct control of the British settlements. +Sir Charles M‘Carthy, the first governor appointed by +the crown, espoused the cause of the Fanti, but was +defeated in battle by the Ashanti, the 21st of January 1824, +at a place beyond the Prah called Essamako. The Ashanti +had 10,000 men to Sir Charles’s 500. Sir Charles and eight other +Europeans were killed. The skull of the governor was afterwards +used at Kumasi as a royal drinking-cup. It was asserted that +Sir Charles lost the battle through his ordnance-keeper bringing +up kegs filled with vermicelli instead of ammunition. The fact is +that the mistake, if made, only hastened the inevitable +catastrophe. On the very day of this defeat Osai Tutu Quamina +died and was succeeded by Osai Okoto. A state of chronic +warfare ensued, until the Ashanti sustained a signal defeat at +Dodowah on the 7th of August 1826. From this time the power +of the Ashanti over the coast tribes waned, and in 1831 the king +was obliged to purchase peace from Mr George Maclean, then +administrator of the Gold Coast, at the price of 600 oz. of +gold, and to send his son as a hostage to Cape Coast. The +payment of ground rent for the forts held by the British had +ceased after the battle of Dodowah, and by the treaty concluded +by Maclean the river Prah was fixed as the boundary of the +Ashanti kingdom, all the tribes south of it being under British +protection.</p> + +<p>The king (Kwaka Dua I.), who had succeeded Osai Okoto in +1838, was a peace-loving monarch who encouraged trade, but +in 1852 the Ashanti tried to reassert authority over the Fanti +in the Gold Coast protectorate, and in 1863 a war was caused by +the refusal of the king’s demand for the surrender by the British +of a fugitive chief and a runaway slave-boy. The Ashanti were +victorious in two battles and retired unmolested. The governor, +Mr Richard Pine, urged the advisability of an advance on +Kumasi, but this the British government would not allow. No +further fighting followed, but the prestige of the Ashanti greatly +increased. “The white men” (said Kwaka Dua) “bring many +cannon to the bush, but the bush is stronger than the cannon.” +In April 1867 Kwaka Dua died, and after an interval of civil +war was succeeded by Kofi Karikari, who on being enstooled +swore, “My business shall be war.” Thereafter preparations +were made throughout Ashanti to attack the Fanti tribes, and +the result was the war of 1873-74.</p> + +<p>Two distinct events were the immediate cause of the war. +The principal was the transference of Elmina fort from the +Dutch to the British, which took place on the 2nd of +April 1872. The Elmina were regarded by the Ashanti +<span class="sidenote">The war of 1873-1874.</span> +as their subjects, and the king of Ashanti held the +Elmina “custom-note,”—that is, he received from +the Dutch an annual payment, in its origin a ground rent for +the fort, but looked upon by the Dutch as a present for trade +purposes. The Ashanti greatly resented the occupation by +Britain of what they considered Ashanti territory. Another +but minor cause of the war was the holding in captivity by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page727" id="page727"></a>727</span> +Ashanti of four Europeans. An Ashanti force invaded Krepi, a +territory beyond the Volta, and in June 1869 captured Mr Fritz +A. Ramseyer, his wife and infant son (the child died of privation +shortly afterwards), and Mr J. Kühne, members of the Basel +mission. Monsieur M.J. Bonnat, a French trader, was also +captured at another place. The captives were taken to Kumasi. +Negotiations for their release were begun, but the Europeans +were still prisoners when the sale of Elmina occurred. The +Ashanti delayed war until their preparations were complete, +whilst the Gold Coast officials appear to have thought the risk of +hostilities remote. However, on the 22nd of January 1873 an +Ashanti force crossed the Prah and invaded the British protectorate. +They defeated the Fanti, stirred up disputes at +Elmina, and encamped at Mampon near Cape Coast, to the great +alarm of the inhabitants. Measures were taken for the defence +of the territory and the punishment of the assailants, which +culminated in the despatch of Sir Garnet (afterwards Viscount) +Wolseley as British administrator, £800,000 being voted by +parliament for the expenses of the expedition. On landing +(October 2) at Cape Coast, Wolseley found the Ashanti, who +had been decimated by smallpox and fever, preparing to +return home. He determined, however, to march to Kumasi, +whilst Captain (afterwards Sir) John Glover, R.N., administrator +of Lagos, was with a force of native levies to co-operate from +the east and take the Ashanti in rear. Meanwhile the enemy +broke up camp, and, although harassed by native levies raised +by the British, effected an orderly retreat. The Ashanti army +re-entered Kumasi on the 22nd of December. Wolseley asked +for the help of white troops, and the 2nd battalion Rifle +Brigade, the 23rd Fusiliers and 42nd Highlanders were despatched. +Seeing the preparations made by his enemy, Kofi +Karikari endeavoured to make peace, and in response to General +Wolseley’s demands the European captives were released +(January 1874). Sir Garnet determined that peace must be +signed in Kumasi and continued his advance. On the 20th of +January the river Prah was crossed by the European troops; +on the 24th the Adansi hills were reached; on the 31st there was +severe fighting at Amoaful; on the 1st of February Bekwai was +captured; and on the evening of the 4th the victorious army +was in Kumasi, after seven hours’ fighting. The king, who had +led his army, fled into the bush when he saw the day was lost. +As the 42nd Highlanders pushed forward to Kumasi, the town +was found full of Ashanti soldiers, but not a shot was fired at the +invaders. Sir Garnet Wolseley sent messengers to the king, +but Kofi Karikari refused to surrender. As his force was small, +provisions scarce, and the rainy season setting in, and as he was +encumbered with many sick and wounded, the British general +decided to retire. On the 6th, therefore, the homeward march +was commenced, the city being left behind in flames. In the +meantime Captain Glover’s force had crossed the Prah on the +15th of January, and the Ashanti opposition weakening after +the capture of Kumasi, Glover was able to push forward. On +the 11th of February, Captain (later General) R.W. Sartorius, +who had been sent ahead with twenty Hausa only, found Kumasi +still deserted. Captain Sartorius and his twenty men marched +50 m. through the heart of the enemy’s country. On the 12th +Glover and his force of natives entered the Ashanti capital. +The news of Glover’s approach induced the king, who feared also +the return of the white troops, to sue for peace. On the 9th of +February a messenger from Kofi Karikari overtook Sir Garnet, +who on the 13th at Fomana received the Ashanti envoys. A +treaty was concluded whereby the king agreed, among other +conditions, to pay 50,000 oz. of gold, to renounce all claim to +homage from certain neighbouring kings, and all pretensions of +supremacy over any part of the former Dutch protectorate, to +promote freedom of trade, to keep open a road from Kumasi to +the Prah, and to do his best to check the practice of human +sacrifice. Besides coloured troops, there were employed in this +campaign about 2400 Europeans, who suffered severely from +fever and otherwise, though the mortality among the men was +slight. Seventy-one per cent of the troops were on the sick +list, and more than forty officers died—only six from wounds. +The success of the expedition was facilitated by the exertions of +Captain (afterwards General Sir William) Butler and Captain +(afterwards General W. L.) Dalrymple, who effected diversions +with very inadequate resources.</p> + +<p>One result of the war of 1873-74 was that several states +dependent on Ashanti declared themselves independent, and +sought British protection. This was refused, and the +inaction of the colonial office contributed to the +<span class="sidenote">A British protectorate established.</span> +reconsolidation of the Ashanti power.<a name="fa2c" id="fa2c" href="#ft2c"><span class="sp">2</span></a> Shortly after +the war the Ashanti deposed Kofi Karikari, and +placed on the golden stool—the symbol of sovereignty—his +brother Mensa. This monarch broke almost every article of +the Fomana treaty, and even the payment of the indemnity +was not demanded. (In all, only 4000 oz. of gold, out of the +50,000 stipulated for, were paid.) Mensa’s rule was tyrannous +and stained with repeated human sacrifices. In 1883 a revolution +displaced that monarch, who was succeeded by Kwaka Dua II.—a +young man who died (June 1884) within a few months of his +election. In the same month died the ex-king Kofi Karikari, +and disruption threatened Ashanti. At length, after a desolating +civil war, Prince Prempeh—who took the name of Kwaka Dua +III.—was chosen king (March 26, 1888), the colonial government +having been forced to intervene in the dispute owing to the +troubles it occasioned in the Gold Coast. The election of +Prempeh took place in the presence and with the sanction of an +officer of the Gold Coast government. Prempeh defeated his +enemies, and for a time peace and prosperity returned to Ashanti. +However in 1893 there was fresh trouble between Ashanti and +the tribes of the protectorate, and the roads were closed to +traders by Prempeh’s orders. The British government was +forced to interfere, more especially as the country, by international +agreement, had been included in the British sphere of +influence. A mission was despatched to Prempeh, calling upon +him to fulfil the terms of the 1874 treaty, and further, to accept +a British protectorate and receive a resident at Kumasi. The +king declined to treat with the governor of the Gold Coast, and +despatched informal agents to England, whom the secretary of +state refused to receive. To the demands of the British mission +relative to the acceptance of a protectorate and other matters, +Prempeh made no reply in the three weeks’ grace allowed, which +expired on the 31st of October 1895. To enforce the British +demands, to put an end to the misgovernment and barbarities +carried on at Kumasi, and to establish law, order and security +for trade, an expedition was at length decided upon. The force, +placed under Colonel Sir Francis Scott, consisted of the 2nd West +Yorkshire regiment, a “special service corps,” made up of +detachments from various regiments in the United Kingdom, +under specially selected officers, the 2nd West India regiment, +and the Gold Coast and Lagos Hausa. The composition of the +special service corps was much criticized at the time; but as it +was not called upon for fighting purposes, no inferences as to its +efficiency are possible. The details of the expedition were carefully +organized. Before the arrival of the staff and contingent +from England (December 1895) the native forces were employed +in improving the road from Cape Coast to Prahsu (70 m.), and +in establishing road stations to serve as standing camps for the +troops. About 12,000 carriers were collected, the load allotted +to each being 50 ℔ In addition, a force of native scouts, which +ultimately reached a total of 860 men, was organized in eighteen +companies, and partly armed with Snider rifles, to cover the +advance of the main column, which started on the 27th of +December, and to improve the road. The king of Bekwai having +asked for British protection, a small force was pressed forward +and occupied this native town, about 25 m. from Kumasi, on the +4th of January 1896. The advance continued, and at Ordahsu +a mission arrived from King Prempeh offering unconditional +submission. On the 17th of January Kumasi was occupied, and +Colonel Sir F. Scott received the king. Effective measures +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page728" id="page728"></a>728</span> +were taken to prevent his escape, and on the 20th Prempeh +made submission to Mr (afterwards Sir W. E.) Maxwell, the +<span class="sidenote">Prempeh deposed.</span> +governor of Cape Coast, in native fashion. After this act +of public humiliation, the king and the queen mother +with the principal chiefs were arrested and taken as +prisoners to Cape Coast, where they were embarked on board +H.M.S. “Racoon” for Elmina. The fetish buildings at Bantama +were burned, and on the 22nd of January Bokro, a village 5 m. +from Kumasi, and Maheer, the king’s summer palace, were +visited by the native scouts and found deserted. On the same +day, leaving the Hausa at Kumasi, the expedition began the +return march of 150 m. to Cape Coast. The complete success +of the expedition was due to the excellent organization of the +supply and transport services, while the promptitude with which +the operations were carried out probably accounts in great +measure for the absence of resistance. Although no fighting +occurred, a heavy strain was thrown upon all ranks, and fever +claimed many victims, among whom was Prince Henry of +Battenberg, who had volunteered for the post of military +secretary to Colonel Sir F. Scott.</p> + +<p>After the deportation of Prempeh no successor was appointed +to the throne of Ashanti. A British resident, Captain Donald W. +Stewart, was installed at Kumasi, and whilst the +other states of the confederacy retained their king and +<span class="sidenote">Siege and relief of Kumasi.</span> +tribal system the affairs of the Kumasi were administered +by chiefs under British guidance. Mr and Mrs +Ramseyer (two of the missionaries imprisoned by King Kofi +Karikari for four and a half years) returned to Kumasi, and +other missionaries followed. A fort was built in Kumasi and +garrisoned with Gold Coast constabulary. Though outwardly +submissive, the Kumasi chiefs were far from reconciled to +British rule, and in 1900 a serious rebellion broke out. The +tribes involved were the Kumasi, Adansi and Kokofu; the +other tribes of the Ashanti confederation remained loyal. The +rebels were, however, able to command a force reported to +number 40,000. On the 28th of March, before the rebellion had +declared itself, the governor of the Gold Coast, Sir F. Hodgson, +in a public palaver at Kumasi, announced that the Ashanti +chiefs would have to pay the British government 4000 oz. of +gold yearly, and he reproached the chiefs with not having +brought to him the golden stool, which the Kumasi had kept +hidden since 1896. Three days afterwards the Kumasi warriors +attacked a party of Hausa sent with the chief object of discovering +the golden stool. (In the previous January a secret attempt to +seize the stool had failed.) The Kumasi, who were longing to +wipe out the dishonour of having let Prempeh be deported +without fighting, next threatened the fort of Kumasi. Mr +Ramseyer and the other Basel missionaries, and Sir F. and +Lady Hodgson, took refuge in the fort, and reinforcements +were urgently asked for. On the 18th of April 100 Gold Coast +constabulary arrived. On the 29th the Kumasi attacked in +force, but were repulsed. The same day a party of 250 Lagos +constabulary reached Kumasi. They had fought their way up, +and came in with little ammunition. On the 15th of May Major +A. Morris arrived from the British territory north of Ashanti, +also with 250 men. The garrison now numbered 700. The 29 +Europeans in the fort included four women. Outside the fort +were gathered 3000 native refugees. Famine and disease soon +began to tell their tale. Sir F. Hodgson sent out a message on +the 4th of June (it reached the relieving force on the 12th of +June), saying that they could only hold out to the 11th of June. +However, it was not till the 23rd of June that the governor and +all the Europeans save three, together with 600 Hausa of all +ranks, sallied out of the fort. Avoiding the main road, held by +the enemy in force, they attacked a weakly held stockade, and +succeeded in cutting their way through, with a loss of two +British officers mortally wounded, 39 Hausa killed, and double +that number wounded or missing. The governor’s party reached +Cape Coast safely on the 10th of July.</p> + +<p>A force of 100 Hausa, with three white men (Captain Bishop, +Mr Ralph and Dr Hay), was left behind in Kumasi fort with +rations to last three weeks. Meantime a relief expedition had +been organized at Cape Coast by Colonel James Willcocks. This +officer reached Cape Coast from Nigeria on the 26th of May. +The difficulties before him were appalling. Carriers could +scarcely be obtained, there were no local food supplies, the rainy +season was at its height, all the roads were deep mire, the bush +was almost impenetrable, and the enemy were both brave and +cunning, fighting behind concealed stockades. It was not until +the 2nd of July that Colonel Willcocks was able to advance to +Fumsu. On the next day he heard of the escape of the governor +and of the straits of the garrison left at Kumasi. He determined +to relieve the fort in time, and on the 9th of July reached Bekwai, +the king of which place had remained loyal. Making his final +dispositions, the colonel spread a report that on the 13th he +would attack Kokofu, east of Bekwai, and this drew off several +thousands of the enemy from Kumasi. After feinting to attack +Kokofu, Colonel Willcocks suddenly marched west. There was +smart fighting on the 14th, and at 4.30 <span class="scs">P.M.</span> on the 15th, after a +march since daybreak through roads “in indescribably bad +condition,” the main rebel stockade was encountered. It was +carried at the point of the bayonet by the Yoruba troops, who +proved themselves fully equal to the Hausa. “The charge +could not have been beaten in <i>élan</i> by any soldiers.” Kumasi +was entered the same evening, a bugler of the war-worn garrison +of the fort sounding the “general salute” as the relieving +column came in view. Most of the defenders were too weak to +stand. Outside the fort nothing was to be seen but burnt-down +houses and putrid bodies. The relieving force that marched +into Kumasi consisted of 1000 fighting men (all West Africans), +with 60 white officers and non-commissioned officers, two +75-millimetre guns, four seven-pounder guns and six Maxims.</p> + +<p>Kumasi relieved, there remained the task of crushing the +rebellion. Colonel Willcocks’s force was increased by Yaos and +a few Sikhs from Central Africa to a total of 3368 natives, with +134 British officers and 35 British non-commissioned officers. +In addition there were Ashanti levies. On the 30th of September +the Kumasi were completely beaten at Obassa. Thereafter +many of the rebel chiefs surrendered, and the only two remaining +in the field were captured on the 28th of December. Thus +1901 opened with peace restored. The total number of casualties +during the campaign (including those who died of disease) was +1007. Nine British officers were killed in action, forty-three +were wounded, and six died of disease. The commander, +Colonel Willcocks, was promoted and created a K.C.M.G.</p> + +<p>By an order in council, dated the 26th of September 1901, +Ashanti was formally annexed to the British dominions, and +given a separate administration under the control of +the governor of the Gold Coast. A chief commissioner +<span class="sidenote">Progress under British administration.</span> +represents the governor in his absence, and is assisted +by a staff of four commissioners and four assistant +commissioners. A battalion of the Gold Coast regiment +is stationed in the country with headquarters at Kumasi. The +order in council mentioned, which may be described as the first +constitution granted Ashanti by its British owners, provides +that the governor, in issuing ordinances respecting the administration +of justice, the raising of revenue, or any other matter, +shall respect any native laws by which the civil relations of any +chiefs, tribes or populations are regulated, “except so far as +they may be incompatible with British sovereignty or clearly +injurious to the welfare of the natives themselves.” After the +annexation of the country in 1901 the relations between the +governing power and the governed steadily improved. Mr F.C. +Fuller, who succeeded Sir Donald Stewart as chief commissioner +early in 1905, was able to report in the following year that +among the Ashanti suspicion of the “white man’s” ulterior +motives was speedily losing ground. The marked preference +shown by the natives to resort to the civil and criminal courts +established by the British demonstrated their faith in the impartial +treatment awarded therein. Moreover, the maintenance +of the tribal system and the support given to the lawful chiefs +did much to win the confidence and respect of a people naturally +suspicious, and mindful of their exiled king.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Bibliography</span>.—For a general survey of the country, see <i>Travels</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page729" id="page729"></a>729</span> +<i>in Ashanti and Jaman</i>, by R.A. Freeman (London, 1898); <i>Historical +Geography of the British Colonies</i>, vol. iii. “West Africa,” by C.P. +Lucas (Oxford, 1900); and the <i>Annual Reports, Ashanti</i>, issued from +1906 onward by the Colonial Office, London. <i>The Tshi-speaking +Peoples of the Gold Coast</i>, by Col. A.B. Ellis (London, 1887), deals +with ethnology. Of early works on the country the most valuable +are <i>A Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee</i>, by T.E. Bowdich +(London, 1819); and <i>Journal of a Residence in Ashantee</i> (London, +1824), by J. Dupuis. For history generally, see <i>A History of the +Gold Coast of West Africa</i>, by Col. A.B. Ellis (London, 1893); and +<i>History of the Gold Coast and Asante ... from about 1500 to 1860</i>, +by C.C. Reindorf, a native pastor of the Basel mission (Basel, 1895).</p> + +<p>For the British military campaigns, in addition to the official blue-books, +consult: <i>Narrative of the Ashantee War</i>, 2 vols., by (Sir) +Henry Brackenbury (London, 1874); <i>The Story of a Soldier’s Life</i> +by Viscount Wolseley, vol. ii. chs. xliii.-l. (London, 1903); <i>Coomassie</i>, +by (Sir) H.M. Stanley, being the story of the 1873-74 expedition +(new ed., London, 1896); <i>Life of Sir John Hawley Glover</i>, by Lady +Glover, chs. iii.-x. (London, 1897); <i>The Downfall of Prempeh</i>, by +(General) R.S.S. Baden-Powell, an account of the 1895-96 expedition +(London, 1896); <i>From Kabul to Kumassi</i> (chs. xv. to end), by +Sir James Willcocks, (London, 1904); <i>The Ashanti Campaign of +1900</i>, by Capt. C.H. Armitage and Lieut.-Col. A.F. Montanaro +(London, 1901); <i>The Relief of Kumasi</i>, by Capt. H.C.J. Biss +(London, 1901). The two bocks following are by besieged residents +in Kumasi: <i>The Siege of Kumasi</i>, by Lady Hodgson (London, +1901); <i>Dark and Stormy Days at Kumasi</i>, 1900, from the diary of +the Rev. Fritz Ramseyer (London, 1901). Many of the works +quoted under <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Gold Coast</a></span> deal also with Ashanti.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(F. R. C.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1c" id="ft1c" href="#fa1c"><span class="fn">1</span></a> The exact area of dense forest land is unknown, but +is estimated at fully 12,000 sq. m.</p> + +<p><a name="ft2c" id="ft2c" href="#fa2c"><span class="fn">2</span></a> An attempt was made late in 1875, by the despatch of Dr V.S. +Gouldsbury on a mission to Eastern Akim, Juabin and Kumasi, to +repair the effects of the previous inaction of the colonial government, +but without success.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASH‘ARĪ<a name="ar45" id="ar45"></a></span> [Abū-l Hasan ‘Ali ibn Isma‘īl ul-Ash‘arī], (873-935), +Arabian theologian, was born of pure Arab stock at Basra, but +spent the greater part of his life at Bagdad. Although belonging +to an orthodox family, he became a pupil of the great Mu‘tazalite +teacher al-Jubbā‘ī, and himself remained a Mu‘tazalite until +his fortieth year. In 912 he returned to the faith of his fathers +and became its most distinguished champion, using the philosophical +methods he had learned in the school of heresy. His +theology, which occupied a mediate position between the +extreme views on most points, became dominant among the +Shafi‘ites. He is said to have written over a hundred works, +of which only four or five are known to be extant.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See W. Spitta, <i>Zur Geschichte Abu ‘l-Hasan al Aš‘ari’s</i> (Leipzig, +1876); A.F. Mehren, <i>Exposé de la reforme de l’Islamisme commencée +par Abou. ‘l-Hasan Ali el-Ash‘ari</i> (Leiden, 1878); and D.B. Macdonald’s +<i>Muslim Theology</i> (London, 1903), especially the creed of +Ash‘ari in Appendix iii.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(G. W. T.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBOURNE,<a name="ar46" id="ar46"></a></span> a market-town in the western parliamentary +division of Derbyshire, England, 13 m. W.N.W. of Derby, on +the London & North-Western and the North Staffordshire +railways. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4039. It is pleasantly +situated on rising ground between two small valleys opening +into that of the Dove, and the most beautiful scenery of Dovedale +is not far distant. The church of St Oswald is cruciform, Early +English and later; a fine building with a central tower and +lofty octagonal spire. Its monuments and brasses are of much +interest. The town has a large agricultural trade and a manufacture +of corsets. The streams in the neighbourhood are in +favour with trout fishermen. Ashbourne Hall, an ancient +mansion, has associations with “Prince Charlie,” who occupied +it both before and after his advance on Derby in 1745. There +are also many connexions with Dr Johnson, a frequent visitor +here to his friend Dr Taylor, who occupied a house opposite +the grammar school.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBURNHAM, JOHN<a name="ar47" id="ar47"></a></span> (<i>c</i>. 1603-1671), English Royalist, was +the son of Sir John Ashburnham of Ashburnham in Sussex. +He early entered the king’s service. In 1627 he was sent to +Paris by his relative the duke of Buckingham to make overtures +for peace, and in 1628 he prepared to join the expedition to +Rochelle interrupted by the duke’s assassination. The same +year he was made groom of the bedchamber and elected member +of parliament for Hastings, which borough he also represented +in the Long Parliament of 1640. In this capacity he rendered +services by reporting proceedings to the king. He made a +considerable fortune and recovered the Ashburnham estates +alienated by his father. He became one of the king’s chief +advisers and had his full confidence. He attended Charles at +York on the outbreak of the war with Scotland. In the Civil +War he was made treasurer of the royal army, in which capacity +he aroused Hyde’s jealousy and remonstrances by infringing +on his province as chancellor of the exchequer. In 1644 he was +a commissioner at Uxbridge. He accompanied Charles in his +flight from Oxford in April 1646 to the Scots, and subsequently +escaped abroad, joining the queen at Paris, residing afterwards +at Rouen and being sent to the Hague to obtain aid from the +prince of Orange. After the seizure of Charles by the army, +Ashburnham joined him at Hampton Court in 1647, where he +had several conferences with Cromwell and other army officers. +When Charles escaped from Hampton Court on the 11th of +November, he followed Ashburnham’s advice in opposition to +that of Sir John Berkeley, who urged the king to go abroad, and +took refuge in the Isle of Wight, being placed by Ashburnham +in the hands of Robert Hammond, the governor. “Oh, Jack,” +the king exclaimed when he understood the situation, “thou +hast undone me!” when Ashburnham, “falling into a great +passion of weeping, offered to go and kill Hammond.” By this +fatal step Ashburnham incurred the unmerited charge of +treachery and disloyalty. Clarendon, however, who censures +his conduct, absolves him from any crime except that of folly +and excessive self-confidence, and he was acquitted both by +Charles I. and Charles II. He was separated with Berkeley from +Charles on the 1st of January 1648, waited on the mainland in +expectation of Charles’s escape, and was afterwards taken and +imprisoned at Windsor, and exchanged during the second Civil +War for Sir W. Masham and other prisoners. He was one of the +delinquents specially exempted from pardon in the treaty of +Newport. In November he was allowed to compound for his +estates, and declared himself willing to take the covenant. After +the king’s death he remained in England, an object of suspicion +to all parties, corresponded with Charles II., and underwent +several terms of imprisonment in the Tower and in Guernsey. +At the Restoration he was reinstated in his former place of +groom of the bedchamber and was compensated for his losses. +He represented Sussex in parliament from 1661 till the 22nd of +November 1667, when he was expelled the House for taking a +bribe of £500 from French merchants for landing their wines. +He died on the 15th of June 1671.</p> + +<p>He had eight children, the eldest of whom, William, left a +son John (1656-1710), who in 1689 was created Baron Ashburnham. +John’s second son, John (1687-1737), who became 3rd +Baron Ashburnham on his brother’s death in 1710, was created +Viscount St Asaph and earl of Ashburnham in 1730. The 5th +earl (b. 1840) was his direct descendant. Bertram (1797-1878), +the 4th earl, was the collector of the famous Ashburnham +library, which was dispersed in 1883 and 1884.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><i>A Letter from Mr Ashburnham to a Friend</i>, defending John Ashburnham’s +conduct with regard to the king, was published in 1648. +His longer <i>Narrative</i> was published in 1830 by George, 3rd earl of +Ashburnham (the latter’s championship of his ancestor, however, +being entirely uncritical and unconvincing); <i>A Letter to W. Lenthall</i> +(1647) repudiates the charge brought against the king of violating +his parole (<i>Thomason Tracts</i>, Brit. Museum, E 418 [4]).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBURTON, ALEXANDER BARING,<a name="ar48" id="ar48"></a></span> <span class="sc">1st Baron</span><a name="fa1d" id="fa1d" href="#ft1d"><span class="sp">1</span></a> (1774-1848), +English politician and financier, 2nd son of Sir Francis +Baring (the founder of the house of Baring Brothers & Co.) +and of Harriet, daughter of William Herring, was born on the +27th of October 1774, and was brought up in his father’s business. +He was sent by the latter to the United States; married Anne, +daughter of William Bingham, of Philadelphia, and formed wide +connexions with American houses. In 1810, by his father’s +death, he became head of the firm. He sat in parliament for +Taunton (1806-1826), Callington (1826-1831), Thetford (1831-1832), +North Essex (1832-1835). He regarded politics from the +point of view of the business man, opposed the orders in council, +and the restrictions on trade with the United States in 1812, +and in 1826 the act for the suppression of small bank-notes. +He was a strong antagonist of Reform. He accepted the post +of chancellor of the exchequer in the duke of Wellington’s +projected ministry of 1832; but afterwards, alarmed at the +scene in parliament, declared “he would face a thousand devils +rather than such a House of Commons,” and advised the recall +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page730" id="page730"></a>730</span> +of Lord Grey. In 1834 he was president of the board of trade +and master of the mint in Sir Robert Peel’s government, and on +the latter’s retirement was created Baron Ashburton on the 10th +of April 1835, taking the title previously held by John Dunning, +his aunt’s husband. In 1842 he was despatched to America, +and the same year concluded the Ashburton or Webster-Ashburton +treaty. A compromise was settled concerning the +north-east boundary of Maine, the extradition of certain criminals +was arranged, each state agreed to maintain a squadron of at +least eighty guns on the coast of Africa for the suppression of the +slave trade, and the two governments agreed to unite in an effort +to persuade other powers to close all slave markets within their +territories. Despite his earlier attitude, Lord Ashburton disapproved +of Peel’s free-trade projects, and opposed the Bank +Charter Act of 1844. He was a trustee of the British Museum +and of the National Gallery, a privy councillor and D.C.L. of +Oxford. He published, besides several speeches, <i>An Enquiry +into the Causes and Consequences of the Orders in Council</i> (1808), +and <i>The Financial and Commercial Crisis Considered</i> (1847). +He died on the 13th of May 1848, leaving a large family, his +eldest son becoming 2nd baron. The 5th baron (b. 1866) succeeded +to the title in 1889.</p> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1d" id="ft1d" href="#fa1d"><span class="fn">1</span></a> <i>i.e.</i> in the existing line; see below for the earlier creation.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBURTON, JOHN DUNNING,<a name="ar49" id="ar49"></a></span> <span class="sc">1st Baron</span><a name="fa1e" id="fa1e" href="#ft1e"><span class="sp">1</span></a> (1731-1783), +English lawyer, the second son of John Dunning of Ashburton, +Devonshire, an attorney, was born at Ashburton on the 18th of +October 1731, and was educated at the free grammar school of +his native place. At first articled to his father, he was admitted, +at the age of nineteen, to the Middle Temple, and called to the bar +in 1756, where he came very slowly into practice. He went the +western circuit for several years without receiving a single brief. +In 1762 he was employed to draw up a defence of the British East +India Company against the Dutch East India Company, which +had memorialized the crown on certain grievances, and the +masterly style which characterized the document procured him +at once reputation and emolument. In 1763 he distinguished +himself as counsel on the side of Wilkes, whose cause he conducted +throughout. His powerful argument against the validity of +general warrants in the case of <i>Leach</i> v. <i>Money</i> (June 18, 1763) +established his reputation, and his practice from that period +gradually increased to such an extent that in 1776 he is said to +have been in the receipt of nearly £10,000 per annum. In 1766 +he was chosen recorder of Bristol, and in December 1767 he was +appointed solicitor-general. The latter appointment he held till +May 1770, when he retired with his friend Lord Shelburne. In +1771 he was presented with the freedom of the city of London. +From this period he was considered as a regular member of the +opposition, and distinguished himself by many able speeches in +parliament. He was first chosen member for Calne in 1768, and +continued to represent that borough until he was promoted to +the peerage. In 1780 he brought forward a motion that the +“influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought +to be diminished,” which he carried by a majority of eighteen. +He strongly opposed the system of sinecure officers and pensions; +but his probity was not strong enough to prevent his taking +advantage of it himself. In 1782, when the marquis of Rockingham +became prime minister, Dunning was appointed chancellor of +the duchy of Lancaster, a rich sinecure; and about the same time +he was advanced to the peerage, with the title of Lord Ashburton. +Under Lord Shelburne’s administration he accepted a pension of +£4000 a year. He died at Exmouth on the 18th of August 1783. +Though possessed of an insignificant person, an awkward +manner and a provincial accent, Lord Ashburton was one of +the most fluent and persuasive orators of his time. He had +married Elizabeth Baring, and was succeeded as 2nd baron by +his son Richard, at whose death in 1823 the title became extinct, +being revived in 1835 by Alexander Baring.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Besides the answer to the Dutch memorial, Lord Ashburton is +supposed to have assisted in writing a pamphlet on the law of libel, +and to have been the author of <i>A Letter to the Proprietors of East +India Stock, on the subject of Lord Clive’s Jaghire, occasioned by his +Lordship’s Letter on that Subject</i> (1764, 8vo). He was at one time +suspected of being the author of the <i>Letters of Junius</i>.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1e" id="ft1e" href="#fa1e"><span class="fn">1</span></a> <i>i.e.</i> of the first creation; for the present title see above.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBURTON,<a name="ar50" id="ar50"></a></span> a river of Western Australia, rising in the +mountains west of the Great Sandy Desert, and following a +course north-westward for 400 m., into Exmouth Gulf. In its +upper reaches it flows through a rich gold-bearing district to +which it gives name, and nearer its mouth it traverses a vast +tract of fine pastoral country. The outlet for both these districts +is the port of Onslow, at the mouth of the river, near which there +are several pearl-fishing stations. The river is not navigable.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBURTON,<a name="ar51" id="ar51"></a></span> a market-town in the Ashburton parliamentary +division of Devonshire, England, 24 m. N.W. by W. of Plymouth, +on a branch of the Great Western railway. Pop. of urban +district (1901) 2628. It lies in a valley surrounded by hills, +at a short distance from the river Dart; the scenery, towards +Dartmoor and in the neighbourhood of Buckland and Holne +Chase, being unsurpassed in the county. The church of St. +Andrew is cruciform with a lofty tower. It was built early in +the 15th century, and contains a fine old oak roof over the north +aisle, and a tablet in memory of John Dunning, solicitor-general +and 1st Baron Ashburton (1731-1783). The inscription is by +Dr Johnson. Lord Ashburton was educated at the grammar +school, which was founded as a chantry in 1314. Serge is +manufactured in Ashburton, and there are breweries, paint +factories and saw-mills. A large deposit of umber is worked in +the neighbourhood. Slate quarries and copper and tin mines +were formerly valuable. A neighbouring centre of the serge +industry is the urban district of <span class="sc">Buckfastleigh</span> (pop. 2520), +3 m. S S.W. Between the two towns is Buckfast Abbey, +said to have been, before the Conquest, a Benedictine house, and +refounded for Cistercians in 1137. It was restored to use in 1882 +by a French Benedictine community, the fine Perpendicular +abbot’s tower remaining, while other parts have been rebuilt on +the original lines.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Ashburton (Essebretona, Asperton, Ashperton) is a borough by +prescription and an ancient stannary town. It was governed by a +portreeve and bailiff, elected annually at the court leet held by the +lord of the manor. According to Domesday, Ashburton was held +in chief by Osbern, bishop of Exeter, and rendered geld for six +hides. In 1552, as the two manors of Ashburton Borough and +Ashburton Foreign, it was sold by the bishop, and subsequently +became crown property. Finally, it was acquired in moieties by the +Clinton family, and the present Lord Clinton is joint lord of the +manor with Sir Robert Jardine. In 1298 and 1407 Ashburton +returned two members, from 1407 until 1640 one member only, +and then again two members, until deprived of one by the Reform +Act of 1832 and of the other by the Reform Act of 1885. In the +reign of Edward II. Bishop Stapledon obtained a Saturday market, +and two annual fairs lasting three days at the feasts of St Laurence +(August 10) and St Martin in winter (November 11). In 1672 John +Ford was granted a Tuesday market for the sale of wool and +woollen goods made from English yarn, and in 1705 Andrew Quicke +obtained two annual fairs, on the first Thursdays in March and +June, for the sale of cattle, corn and merchandise.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBY, TURNER<a name="ar52" id="ar52"></a></span> (1824-1862), American cavalry leader in +the Confederate army, was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, +in 1824. Before the Civil War he was a planter in Markham, +Fauquier county, and a local politician. When hostilities +began he raised a regiment of cavalry, which he led with conspicuous +success in the Valley campaigns of 1861-62, under +Joseph Johnston and Stonewall Jackson. He was promoted a +brigadier-general shortly before his death, which took place in +a cavalry skirmish at Harrisonburg, Va., on the 6th of June +1862. By his early death the Confederates lost one of the best +cavalry officers in their service.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH,<a name="ar53" id="ar53"></a></span> a market-town in the Bosworth +parliamentary division of Leicestershire, England; 118 m. +N.W. by N. from London by the Midland railway, on the +Leicester-Burton branch. Pop. of urban district (1901) 4726. +The church of St Helen is a fine Perpendicular building, restored +and enlarged (1880); it contains monuments of the Huntingdon +family, and an old finger-pillory for the punishment of misbehaviour +in church. The Ivanhoe baths, erected in 1826, are +frequented for their saline waters, which, as containing bromine, +are found useful in scrofulous and rheumatic complaints. The +springs are at Moira, 3 m. west. There is a Queen Eleanor cross +commemorating the countess of Loudoun, by Sir Gilbert Scott. +To the south of the town are the extensive remains of Ashby +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page731" id="page731"></a>731</span> +Castle. There are extensive coal-mines in the neighbouring +district, as at Moira, whence the Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal runs +south to the Coventry canal.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>At the time of the Domesday survey Ashby-de-la-Zouch formed +part of the estates of Hugh de Grentmaisnel. Soon after it was held +by Robert Beaumeis, from whom it passed by female descent to the +family of la Zouch, whence it derived the adjunct to its name, +having been hitherto known as Ashby or Essebi. The earliest record +of a grant of market rights is in 1219, when Roger la Zouch obtained +a grant of a weekly market and a two days’ fair at the feast of +St Helen, in consideration of a fine of one palfrey. In the 15th +century the manor was held by James Butler, earl of Ormond, after +whose attainder it was granted in 1461 to Lord Hastings, who in +1474 obtained royal licence to empark 3000 acres and to build and +fortify a castle. At this castle Mary queen of Scots was detained +in 1569 under the custody of the earls of Huntingdon and Shrewsbury. +During the Civil War Colonel Henry Hastings fortified +and held it for the king, and it was visited by Charles in 1645. In +1648, at the close of the war, it was dismantled by order of parliament. +It plays a great part in Sir Walter Scott’s <i>Ivanhoe</i>. In the +18th century Ashby was celebrated as one of the best markets for +horses in England, and had besides prosperous factories for woollen +and cotton stockings and for hats.</p> + +<p>See <i>Victoria County History—Leicestershire; History of +Ashby-de-la-Zouch</i> (Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 1852).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">A-SHE-HO<a name="ar54" id="ar54"></a></span> (Manch. <i>Alchuku</i>), a town of Manchuria, China, +125 m. N.E. of Kirin, and 30 m. S. of the Sungari. It is governed +by a mandarin of the second class. Pop. about 60,000.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHER,<a name="ar55" id="ar55"></a></span> a tribe of Israel, called after the son of Jacob and +Zilpah, Leah’s maid. The name is taken by the narrator of +Gen. xxx. 12 seq. (J) to mean happy or propitious, possibly an +allusion to the fertility of the tribe’s territory (with which cf. +Gen. xlix. 20, Deut. xxxiii. 24); on the other hand, like Gad, it +may have been originally a divine title. The district held by this +tribe bordered upon Naphtali, and lay to the north of Issachar +and Zebulun, and to the south of Dan. But the boundaries are +not definite and the references to its territory are obscure. +Asher is blamed for taking no part in the fight against Sisera +(Judg. v. 17), and although it shares with Zebulun and Naphtali +in Gideon’s defeat of the Midianites (Judg. vi. 35, vii. 23), the +narrative in question is not the older of the two accounts of the +event, and the incorporation of the name is probably due to a +late redactor. Lying as it did in the closest proximity to +Phoenicians and Aramaeans, its population must have been +exceptionally mixed, and the description of the occupation of +Palestine in Judg. i. 31 seq. shows that it contained a strong +Canaanite element. In the Blessing of Moses it is bidden to +defend itself—evidently against invasion (Deut. xxxiii. 25).</p> + +<p>Even in the time of Seti I. and Rameses II. (latter half of 14th +cent. <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) the district to the west of Galilee appears to have been +known to the Egyptians as Aser(u), so that it is possible to infer +either (<i>a</i>) that Asher was an Israelite tribe which, if it ever went +down into Egypt, separated itself from its brethren in Egypt +and migrated north, “an example which was probably followed +by some of the other tribes as well” (Hommel, <i>Ancient Hebrew +Tradition</i>, p. 228); or (<i>b</i>) it was a district which, if never closely +bound to Israel, was at least regarded as part of the national +kingdom, and treated as Israelite by the genealogical device of +making it a “son” of Jacob. It is possible that some of its +Israelite population had followed the example of Dan and moved +from an earlier home in the south. Two of the clans of Asher, +Heber and Malchiel, have been associated with Milk-ili and +Habiri, the names of a hostile chief and people in the Amarna +Tablets (Jastrow, <i>Journal Bibl. Lit.</i> xi. pp. 118 seq., xii. +pp. 61 seq., Hommel), but it is scarcely probable that events of +about 1400 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> should have survived only in this form. This +applies also to the suggestion that the name Asher has been +derived from a famous Abd-ashirta of the same period (Barton, +<i>ib.</i> xv. p. 174). Some connexion with the goddess Ashir(t)a, +however, is not unlikely.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See further H.W. Hogg, <i>Ency. Bibl.</i> col. 327 seq.; E. Meyer, +<i>Israeliten</i>, pp. 540 sqq.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(S. A. C.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">’ASHER BEN-YEHIEL<a name="ar56" id="ar56"></a></span> (known as <i>Rosh</i>), Jewish rabbi and +codifier, was born in the Rhine district <i>c.</i> 1250, and died in +Toledo 1327. Endangered by the persecutions inflicted on the +German Jews in the 13th century, ’Asher fled to Spain, where +he was made rabbi of Toledo. His enforced exile impoverished +him, and from this date begins an important change in the +status of medieval rabbis. Before the 14th century, rabbis had +obtained a livelihood by the exercise of some secular profession, +particularly medicine, and received no salary for performing +the rabbinic function. This was now changed. A disciple of +Meir of Rothenburg, ‘Asher’s sole interest was in the Talmud. +He was a man of austere piety, profound and narrow. He was +a determined opponent of the study of philosophy, and thus was +antipathetic to the Spanish spirit. The Jews of Spain continued, +nevertheless, devotees of secular sciences as well as of rabbinical +lore. ’Asher was the first of the German rabbis to display strong +talent for systematization, and his chief work partook of the +nature of a compendium of the Talmud. Compiled between +1307 and 1314, ’Asher’s <i>Compendium</i> resembled, and to a large +extent superseded, the work of ’Al-phasi (<i>q.v.</i>). ’Asher’s <i>Compendium</i> +is printed in most editions of the Talmud, and it differed +from previous Compendia in greater simplicity and in the +deference shown to German authorities. ’Asher’s son Jacob, +who died at Toledo before 1340, was the author of the four <i>Turim</i>, +a very profound and popular codification of rabbinical law. +This work was the standard code until Joseph Qaro directly +based on it his widely accepted Code of Jewish law, the <i>Shulḥan +‘Arukh</i>.</p> +<div class="author">(I. A.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHEVILLE,<a name="ar57" id="ar57"></a></span> a city and the county-seat of Buncombe county, +North Carolina, U.S.A., in the mountainous Blue Ridge region in +the west part of the state, about 210 m. W. of Raleigh. Pop. +(1890) 10,235; (1900) 14,692, of whom 4724 were negroes; +(1910, census) 18,762. Asheville is situated at the junction +of three branches of the Southern railway, on a high terrace on +the east bank of the French Broad river, at the mouth of the +Swannanoa, about 2300 ft. above the sea. The city is best known +as one of the most popular health and pleasure resorts in the +south, being a summer resort for southerners and a winter +resort for northerners. It has a dry and equable climate and +beautiful scenery. Among its social clubs are the Albemarle, +the Asheville, the Elks, the Tahkeeostee and the Swannanoa +Country clubs. An extensive system of city and suburban +parks, connected by a series of beautiful drives, adds to the +city’s attractiveness. There are great forests in the vicinity. +Among the public buildings are the city hall, the court house, +the Federal building, the public library and an auditorium. +In or near Asheville are a normal and collegiate institute for +young women (1892), and, occupying the same campus, a +home industrial school (1887) for girls, both under the control +of the Woman’s Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian +Church; the Asheville farm school for boys, an industrial +school for negroes; the Asheville school for boys (5 m. west of +Asheville); and the Bingham school (1793), founded at Pittsboro, +N.C., by William Bingham (d. 1826), and removed to its present +site (3 m. north-west of Asheville) in 1891. About 2 m. south-east +of the city is Biltmore, the estate of George W. Vanderbilt, +its 125,000 acres constituting what is probably the finest country +place in the United States. The central feature of the estate is +a château (375 × 150 ft.) of French Renaissance design, after the +famous château at Blois, France. In the neighbourhood is a +model village, with an elementary school, an industrial school +for whites, a hospital and a church, maintained by Mr Vanderbilt. +Both the château and the village were designed by Richard M. +Hunt; the landscape gardening was done by Frederick Law +Olmsted. A collection of woody plants, one of the largest and +finest in the world, and a broad forest and hunting preserve, +known as Pisgah Forest (100,000 acres), are also maintained by +the owner. Asheville is a market for live-stock, dairy products, +lumber and fruits, and has various manufactories (in which a +good water-power is utilized), including tanneries, cotton mills, +brick and tile factories, and a wood-working and veneer plant. +The value of the city’s factory products increased from $1,300,698 +in 1900 to $1,918,362 in 1905, or 47.5%. The city was named +in honour of Samuel Ashe (1725-1813), chief-justice of North +Carolina from 1777 to 1796, and John Ashe (1720-1781), a +North Carolina soldier who distinguished himself in the War of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page732" id="page732"></a>732</span> +Independence, was settled about 1790, and was incorporated in +1835. The city’s boundaries were enlarged in 1905.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHFORD,<a name="ar58" id="ar58"></a></span> a market-town in the Southern or Ashford parliamentary +division of Kent, England, 56 m. S.E. of London by +the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district +(1901) 12,808. It is pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence +near the confluence of the upper branches of the river Stour. It +has a fine Perpendicular church dedicated to St Mary, with a +lofty, well-proportioned tower and many interesting monuments. +The grammar school was founded by Sir Norman Knatchbull in +the reign of Charles I. Ashford has agricultural implement +works and breweries; and the large locomotive and carriage +works of the South-Eastern & Chatham railway are here. At +Bethersden, between Ashford and Tenterden, marble quarries +were formerly worked extensively, supplying material to the +cathedrals of Canterbury and Rochester, and to many local +churches. At Charing, north-west of Ashford, the archbishops +of Canterbury had a residence from pre-Conquest times, and +ruins of a palace, mainly of the Decorated period, remain. On +the south-eastern outskirts of Ashford is the populous village of +Willesborough (3602).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Ashford (Esselesford, Asshatisforde, Essheford) was held at the +time of the Domesday survey by Hugh de Montfort, who came to +England with William the Conqueror. A Saturday market and an +annual fair were granted to the lord of the manor by Henry III. in +1243. Further annual fairs were granted by Edward III. in 1349 +and by Edward IV. in 1466. In 1672 Charles II. granted a market +on every second Tuesday, with a court of pie-powder. James I. +in 1607, at the petition of the inhabitants of Ashford, gave Sir John +Smith, Kt., the right of holding a court of record in the town on every third Tuesday. The fertility of the pasture-land in Romney Marsh +to the south and east of Ashford caused the cattle trade to increase +in the latter half of the 18th century, and led to the establishment +of a stock market in 1784. The town has never been incorporated.</p> + +<p>See Edward Hasted, <i>History and Survey of Kent</i> (Canterbury, +1778-1799, 2nd ed. 1797-1801); <i>Victoria County History—Kent</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">’ASHI<a name="ar59" id="ar59"></a></span> (352-427), Jewish <i>’amora</i>, the first editor of the Talmud, +was born at Babylon. He was head of the Sura Academy, and +there began the Babylonian Talmud, spending thirty years of his +life at it. He left the work incomplete, and it was finished by his +disciple Rabina just before the year 500 <span class="scs">A.D.</span> (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Talmud</a></span>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHINGTON,<a name="ar60" id="ar60"></a></span> an urban district in the Wansbeck parliamentary +division of Northumberland, England, 4 m. E. of Morpeth, on the +Newbiggin branch of the North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) +13,956. The district, especially along the river Wansbeck, is not +without beauty, but there are numerous collieries, from the +existence of which springs the modern growth of Ashington. At +Bothal on the river (from which parish that of Ashington was +formed) is the castle originally belonging to the Bertram family, +of which Roger Bertram probably built the gatehouse, the only +habitable portion remaining, in the reign of Edward III. The +ruins of the castle are fragmentary, but of considerable extent. +The church of St Andrew here has interesting details from Early +English to Perpendicular date, and in the neighbouring woods +is a ruined chapel of St Mary. The mining centre of Ashington +lies 2 m. north-east, on the high ground north of the Wansbeck.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">’ASHKENAZI, SEBI<a name="ar61" id="ar61"></a></span> (1656-1718), known as Ḥakham Ṣebi, +for some time rabbi of Amsterdam, was a resolute opponent of +the followers of the pseudo-Messiah, Sabbatai Ṣebi (<i>q.v.</i>). He had +a chequered career, owing to his independence of character. He +visited many lands, including England, where he wielded much +influence. His <i>Responsa</i>, are held in high esteem.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHLAND,<a name="ar62" id="ar62"></a></span> a city of Boyd county, Kentucky, U.S.A., on the +Ohio river, about 130 m. E. by N. of Frankfort. Pop. (1890) +4195; (1900) 6800 (489 negroes); (1910) 8688. It is served by +the Chesapeake & Ohio (being a terminal of the Lexington and +Big Sandy Divisions) and the Norfolk & Western railways, and +is connected with Huntington, West Virginia, by an electric line. +The city has a fine natural park (Central Park) of about 30 +acres; and Clyffeside Park (maintained by a private corporation), +of about 75 acres, just east of the city, is a pleasure resort and a +meeting-ground (with a casino seating 3000 people) for the +Tri-State “Chautauqua” (for certain parts of Kentucky, Ohio +and West Virginia). The surrounding country abounds in coal, +iron ore, oil, clay, stone and timber, for which the city is a +distributing centre. Ashland has considerable river traffic, +and various manufactures, including pig iron, nails, wire rods, +steel billets, sheet steel, dressed lumber (especially poplar), +furniture, fire brick and leather. Ashland was settled in 1854, +and was chartered as a city in 1870.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHLAND,<a name="ar63" id="ar63"></a></span> a borough of Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, +U.S.A., about 50 m. N.E. of Harrisburg and about 100 m. N.W. +of Philadelphia. Pop. (1890) 7346; (1900) 6438 (969 foreign-born); +(1910) 6855. It is served by the Lehigh Valley and the +Philadelphia & Reading railways, and by the electric lines of +the Schuylkill Railway Company and the Shamokin & Mount +Carmel Transit Company. The borough is built on the slope +of Locust Mountain, about 885 ft. above sea-level. Its chief +industry is the mining of anthracite coal at several collieries +in the vicinity; and at Fountain Springs, 1 m. south-east, is +a state hospital for injured persons of the Anthracite Coal +Region of Pennsylvania, opened in 1883. The municipality +owns and operates the waterworks. Ashland was laid out as a +town in 1847, and was named in honour of Henry Clay’s home +at Lexington, Ky.; in 1857 it was incorporated.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHLAND,<a name="ar64" id="ar64"></a></span> a village of Hanover county, Virginia, U.S.A., +17 m. N.W. of Richmond. Pop. (1900) 1147; (1910) 1324. +It is served by the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac +railway, and is a favourite resort from Richmond. Here is +situated the Randolph-Macon College (Methodist Episcopal, +South), one of the oldest Methodist Episcopal colleges in the +United States. In 1832, two years after receiving its charter, +it opened near Boydton, Mecklenburg county, Virginia, and in +1868 was removed to Ashland. The college in 1907-1908 had +150 students and a faculty of 16; it publishes an endowed +historical series called <i>The John P. Branch Historical Papers +of Randolph-Macon College</i>; and it is a part of the “Randolph-Macon +System of Colleges and Academies,” which includes, +besides, Randolph-Macon Academy (1890) at Bedford City, +Virginia, and Randolph-Macon Academy (1892) at Front +Royal, Virginia, both for boys; Randolph-Macon Woman’s +College (1893) at Lynchburg, Virginia, which in 1907-1908 had +an enrolment of 390; and Randolph-Macon Institute, for girls, +Danville, Virginia, which was admitted into the “System” +in 1897. These five institutions are under the control of a single +board of trustees; the work of the preparatory schools is thus +correlated with that of the colleges. About 7 m. out of Ashland +is the birthplace of Henry Clay, and about 15 m. distant is the +birthplace of Patrick Henry. Ashland was settled in 1845 and +was incorporated in 1856.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHLAND,<a name="ar65" id="ar65"></a></span> a city and the county-seat of Ashland county, +Wisconsin, U.S.A., situated about 315 m. N.W. of Milwaukee, +and about 70 m. E. of Superior and Duluth, in the N. part of +the state, at the head of Chequamegon Bay, an arm of Lake +Superior. Pop. (1890) 9956; (1900) 13,074, of whom 4417 +were foreign-born; (1910, census) 11,594. It is served by +the Chicago & North-Western, the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, +St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha, and the Wisconsin Central +railways, and by several steamboat lines on the Great Lakes. +The city is attractively situated, has a dry, healthful climate, +and is a summer resort. It has a fine Federal building, one of +the best high-school buildings in Wisconsin, the Vaughn public +library (1895), a Roman Catholic hospital, and the Rinehart +hospital, and is the seat of the Northland College and Academy +(Congregational). Ashland has an excellent harbour, has large +iron-ore and coal docks, and is the principal port for the shipment +of iron ore from the rich Gogebic Range, the annual ore shipment +approximating 3,500,000 tons, valued at $12,000,000, and +it has also an extensive export trade in lumber. Brownstone +quarried in the vicinity is also an important export. The lake +trade amounts to more than $35,000,000 annually. Ashland +has large saw-mills, iron and steel rolling mills, foundries and +machine shops, railway repair shops (of the Chicago & North-Western +railway), knitting works, and manufactories of +dynamite, sulphite fibre, charcoal and wood-alcohol. In 1905 +its total factory product was valued at $4,210,265. Settled +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page733" id="page733"></a>733</span> +about 1854, Ashland was incorporated as a village in 1863 and +received a city charter in 1887.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHLAR,<a name="ar66" id="ar66"></a></span> also written <span class="sc">Ashler, Ashelere</span>, &c. (probably +from Lat. <i>axilla</i>, diminutive of <i>axis</i>, an axle), hewn or squared +stone, generally applied to that used for facing walls. In a +contract of date 1398 we read—“Murus erit exterius de puro +lapide vocato <i>achilar</i>, plane incisso, interius vero de lapide fracto +vocato <i>roghwall</i>.” “Clene hewen ashler” often occurs in medieval +documents; this no doubt means tooled or finely worked, +in contradistinction to rough-axed faces.</p> + +<p>An “ashlar piece” in building is an upright piece of timber +framed between the common rafters and the wall plate.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHLEY, WILLIAM JAMES<a name="ar67" id="ar67"></a></span> (1860-  ), English economist, +was born in London on the 25th of February 1860. He was +educated at St Olave’s grammar school and Balliol College, +Oxford, and became a fellow of Lincoln College. In 1888 he was +appointed professor of political economy and constitutional +history in Toronto University, a post which he resigned in 1892, +in order to become professor of economic history at Harvard +University. In 1901 he was appointed professor of commerce +and finance in Birmingham University and in 1902 dean of the +faculty of commerce. Professor Ashley became well known for +his work on the early history of English industry, and for his +prominence among those English economists who supported +Mr Chamberlain’s tariff reform movement. His most important +works are <i>Early History of the English Woollen Industry</i> (1887); +<i>Introduction to English Economic History and Theory</i> (2 parts, +1888-1893); <i>Surveys, Historic and Economic</i> (1900); <i>Adjustment +of Wages</i> (1903); the <i>Tariff Problem</i> (2nd ed. 1904); <i>Progress +of the German Working Classes</i> (1904).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHMOLE, ELIAS<a name="ar68" id="ar68"></a></span> (1617-1692), English antiquarian, and +founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, was born at +Lichfield on the 23rd of May 1617, the son of a saddler. In 1638 +he became a solicitor, and in 1644 was appointed commissioner +of excise. At Oxford, whither this brought him when the +Royalist Parliament was sitting there, he made friends with +Captain (afterwards Sir) George Wharton, through whose +influence he obtained the king’s commission as captain of horse +and comptroller of the ordnance. In 1646 he was initiated as a +Freemason—the first gentleman, or amateur, to be “accepted.” +In 1649 he married Lady Mainwaring, some twenty years his +senior and a relative of his first wife who had died eight years +before. This marriage placed him in a position of affluence that +enabled him to devote his whole time to his favourite studies. +His interest in astrology, aroused by Wharton, and by William +Lilly,—whom with other astrologers he met in London in 1646,—seems, +in the following years, to have subsided in favour of +heraldry and antiquarian research. In 1657 his wife petitioned +for a separation, but failing to gain her case returned to live with +him. Between this crisis in his domestic life and the time of her +death in 1668, Ashmole was in high favour at court. He was +made successively Windsor herald, commissioner, comptroller +and accountant-general of excise, commissioner for Surinam and +comptroller of the White Office. He afterwards refused the +office of Garter king-at-arms in favour of Sir William Dugdale, +whose daughter he had married in 1668. In 1672 he published +his <i>Institutions, Laws and Ceremonies of the Order of the Garter</i>, +a work which was practically exhaustive, and is an example of +his diligence and years of patient antiquarian research. Five +years later he presented the Ashmolean Museum, the first public +museum of curiosities in the kingdom, the larger part of which +he had inherited from a friend, John Tradescant, to the university +of Oxford. He made it a condition that a suitable building +should be erected for its reception, and the collection was not +finally installed until 1683. Subsequently he made the further +gift to the university of his library. He died on the 18th of +May 1692.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHRAF<a name="ar69" id="ar69"></a></span> (<span class="sc">Shurefa, Sherifs</span>), a small scattered tribe of +African “Arabs” settled near Tokar, in the valleys of the Gash +and Baraka, and in the Amarar country north of Suakin. They +call themselves Beni Hashin, and claim descent from Mahomet; +hence their name, <i>sherif</i> (plural <i>ashraf</i>) being the title applied to +descendants of the prophet. In the time of the khalifa Abdulla +(1885-1898), Ashraf was the name by which the family and +adherents of his late master the mahdi were known, the mahdi’s +family claiming to be Ashraf. The Ashraf of Tokar remained +loyal to Egypt during the Sudan troubles.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>Anglo-Egyptian Sudan</i>, edited by Count Gleichen (London, +1905); <i>Fire and Sword in the Sudan</i>, by Slatin Pasha (London, +1896); for the Ashraf or Sherifs in Arabia, see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Arabia</a></span>: <i>Geography</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHREF,<a name="ar70" id="ar70"></a></span> a town of Persia in the province of Mazandaran, +about 50 m. W. of Astarabad and 5 m. inland from the Caspian +Sea, in 36° 42′ N. and 53° 32′ E. The population is about 6000, +comprising descendants of some Georgians introduced by Shah +Abbas I. (1587-1629) and a number of Gudars, a peculiar pariah +race, probably of Indian origin. The place was without importance +until 1612, when Shah Abbas began building and laying +out the palaces and gardens in the neighbourhood now +collectively known as Bagh i Shah (the garden of the shah). The +palaces, completed in 1627, are now in ruins, but the gardens with +their luxuriant vegetation and gigantic cypress and orange trees +ate well worth a visit. There were originally six separate gardens, +all contained within one large wall but separated one from +another by high walls. The principal palace was the Chehel +Situn (forty pillars), destroyed by the Afghans in 1723, and, +although rebuilt by Nadir Shah in 1731, already in ruins in 1743. +About ¾ m. north of the town is the Safi-abad garden, with a +palace built by Shah Safi (1629-1642) for his daughter. It is +situated on a lovely wooded hill, and was repaired and in part +renovated about 1870 by Náṣiru’d-Din Shah.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHTABULA,<a name="ar71" id="ar71"></a></span> a city of Ashtabula county, Ohio, U.S.A., in +Ashtabula township, on the Ashtabula river and Lake Erie, +and 54 m. N.E. of Cleveland. Pop. (1890) 8338; (1900) 12,949, +of whom 3688 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 18,266. +There is a large Finnish-born population in the city and in Ashtabula +county, and the <i>Amerikan Sanomat</i>, established here in +1897, is one of the most widely read Finnish weeklies in the +country. Ashtabula is served by the Pennsylvania, the Lake +Shore & Michigan Southern, and the New York, Chicago & St +Louis railways, and by inter-urban electric lines. The city is +built on the high bank of the river about 75 ft. above the lake, +and commands good views of diversified scenery. There is a +public library. Ashtabula has an excellent harbour, to and from +which large quantities of iron ore and coal are shipped. More +iron ore is received at this port annually than at any other port +in the country, or, probably, in the world; the ore is shipped +thence by rail to Pittsburg, Youngstown and other iron manufacturing +centres. In 1907 the port received 7,542,149 gross tons +of iron ore, and shipped 2,632,027 net tons of soft coal. Among +the city’s manufactures are leather, worsted goods, agricultural +implements, and foundry and machine shop products; in 1905 +the total value of the factory product was $1,895,454, an increase +of 114.3% in five years. There are large green-houses in and +near Ashtabula, and quantities of lettuce, cucumbers and +tomatoes are raised under glass and shipped to Pittsburg and +other large cities. The first settlement here was made about +1801. Ashtabula township was created in 1808, and from it +the townships of Kingsville, Plymouth and Sheffield have +subsequently been formed. The village of Ashtabula was incorporated +in 1831, and received a city charter in 1891. The name +<i>Ashtabula</i> is an Indian word first applied to the river and said +to mean “fish river.”</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD,<a name="ar72" id="ar72"></a></span> an urban district in the Newton +parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 4 m. S. of Wigan, +on the Great Central railway. Pop. (1901) 18,687. The district +is rich in minerals, and has large collieries, and a colliery +company’s institute; iron goods are manufactured.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE,<a name="ar73" id="ar73"></a></span> a market-town and municipal and +parliamentary borough of Lancashire, England, on the river +Tame, a tributary of the Mersey, 185 m. N. W. by N. from London +and 6½ E. from Manchester. Area, 1346 acres. Pop. (1891) +40,486; (1901) 43,890. It is served by the London & North-Western +and the Lancashire & Yorkshire railways (Charlestown +station), and by the Great Central (Park Parade station). +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page734" id="page734"></a>734</span> +The church of St Michael is Perpendicular, but almost wholly +rebuilt. In the vicinity are barracks. The Old Hall, or manor +house of the Asshetons, remains in an altered form, with an +ancient prison adjoining, and the name of Gallows Meadow, still +preserved, recalls the summary execution of justice by the lords +of the manor. In the vicinity of Ashton a few picturesque old +houses remain among the numerous modern residences. Stamford +Park, presented by Lord Stamford, is shared by the towns +of Ashton and Stalybridge, which extends across the Tame into +Cheshire. A technical school, school of art and free library, and +several hospitals are maintained. Chief among industries are +cotton-spinning, hat-making and iron-founding and machinery +works; and there are large collieries in the neighbourhood. +The parliamentary borough, which returns one member, extends +into Cheshire. The corporation consists of a mayor, 8 aldermen +and 24 councillors.</p> + +<p>The derivation from the Saxon <i>æsc</i> (ash) and <i>tun</i> (an enclosed +place) accounts for the earliest orthography Estun. The addition +<i>subtus lineam</i> is found in ancient deeds and is due to the position +of the place below the line or boundary of Cheshire, which once +formed the frontier between the kingdoms of Northumbria and +Mercia. The manor was granted to Roger de Poictou by +William I., but before the end of his reign came to the Greslets +as part of the barony of Manchester. It was held by the +Asshetons from 1335 to 1515, when it passed by marriage to the +Booths of Dunham Massey, and is now held by the earl of +Stamford, the representative of that family. The lord of the +manor still holds the ancient court-leet and court-baron half-yearly +in May and November, in which cognizance is taken of +breaches of agreement among the tenants, especially concerning +the repair of roads and cultivation of lands. The place had long +enjoyed the name of borough, but it was not till 1847 that a +charter of incorporation was granted. Under the Reform Act +(1832) it returns one member. One of the markets dates back +to 1436. The ancient industry was woollen, but soon after the +invention of the spinning frame the cotton trade was introduced, +and as early as 1769 the weaving of ginghams, nankeens and +calicoes was carried on, and the weaving of cotton yarn by +machinery soon became the staple industry. A chapel or church +existed here as early as 1261-1262.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASH WEDNESDAY,<a name="ar74" id="ar74"></a></span> in the Western Church, the first day of +Lent (<i>q.v.</i>), so called from the ceremonial use of ashes, as a symbol +of penitence, in the service prescribed for the day. The custom, +which is ultimately based on the penance of “sackcloth and +ashes” spoken of by the prophets of the Old Testament, has been +dropped in those of the reformed Churches which still observe +the fast; but it is retained in the Roman Catholic Church, the +day being known as <i>dies cinerum</i> (day of ashes) or <i>dies cineris et +cilicii</i> (day of ash and sackcloth). The ashes, obtained by burning +the palms or their substitutes used in the ceremonial of the +previous Palm Sunday, are placed in a vessel on the altar before +High Mass. The priest, vested in a violet cope, prays that God +may send His angel to hallow the ash, that it become a <i>remedium +salubre</i> for all penitents. After another prayer the ashes are +thrice sprinkled with holy water and thrice censed. Then the +priest invites those present to approach and, dipping his thumb +in the ashes, marks them as they kneel with the sign of the cross +on the forehead (or in the case of clerics on the place of tonsure), +with the words: <i>Memento, homo, quid pulvis es et in pulverem +reverteris</i> (Remember, man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou +shall return). The celebrant himself either sprinkles the ash on +his own head in silence, or receives it from the priest of highest +dignity present.</p> + +<p>This ceremony is derived from the custom of public penance +in the early Church, when the sinner to be reconciled had to +appear in the congregation clad in sackcloth and covered with +ashes (cf. Tertullian, <i>De Pudicitia</i>, 13). At what date this use +was extended to the whole congregation is not known. The +phrase <i>dies cinerum</i> appears in the earliest extant copies of the +Gregorian Sacramentary, and it is probable that the custom +was already established by the 8th century. The Anglo-Saxon +homilist Aelfric, in his <i>Lives of the Saints</i> (996 or 997), refers to +it as in common use; but the earliest evidence of its authoritative +prescription is a decree of the synod of Beneventum in +1091.</p> + +<p>Of the reformed Churches the Anglican Church alone marks +the day by any special service. This is known as the Commination +service, its distinctive element being the solemn reading of +“the general sentences of God’s cursing against sinners, gathered +out of the seven and twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy, and +other places of Scripture.” The lections for the day are the +same as in the Roman Church (Joel ii. 12, &c., and Matt. vi. 16, +&c.). In the American Prayer Book the office of Commination +is omitted, with the exception of the three concluding prayers, +which are derived from the prayers and anthems said or sung +during the blessing and distribution of the ashes according to +the Sarum Missal. The ceremonial of the ashes was not proscribed +in England at the Reformation; it was indeed enjoined +by a proclamation of Henry VIII. (February 26, 1538) and +again in 1550 under Edward VI.; but it had fallen into complete +disuse by the beginning of the 17th century.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Wetzer and Welte, <i>Kirchenlexikon</i>, and Herzog-Hauck, +<i>Realencyklopädie</i> (3rd ed.), s. “<i>Aschermittuoch</i>”; L. Duchesne, +<i>Christian Worship</i>, trans. by M.L. McClure (London, 1904).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASHWELL, LENA<a name="ar75" id="ar75"></a></span> (1872-  ), English actress, was the +daughter of Commander Pocock, R.N. In 1896 she married +the actor Arthur Playfair, whom she divorced in 1908; later in +the latter year she married Dr Simson. In 1895 she played +Elaine in Sir Henry Irving’s production of <i>King Arthur</i> at +the Lyceum, and again acted with him in 1903 in <i>Dante</i>. +She made her first striking success, however, on the London +stage in <i>Mrs Dane’s Defence</i> with Sir Charles Wyndham in 1900, +and a few years later her acting in <i>Leah Kleschna</i> confirmed her +position as one of the leading actresses in London. In 1907 she +started under her own management at the Kingsway theatre.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASIA,<a name="ar76" id="ar76"></a></span> the name of one of the great continents into which the +earth’s surface is divided, embracing the north-eastern portion +of the great mass of land which constitutes what is generally +known as the Old World, of which Europe forms the north-western +and Africa the south-western region.</p> + +<p>Much doubt attaches to the origin of the name. Some of the +earliest Greek geographers divided their known world into two +portions only, Europe and Asia, in which last Libya (the Greek +name for Africa) was included. Herodotus, who ranks Libya +as one of the chief divisions of the world, separating it from Asia, +repudiates as fables the ordinary explanations assigned to the +names Europe and Asia, but confesses his inability to say whence +they came. It would appear probable, however, that the former +of these words was derived from an Assyrian or Hebrew root, +which signifies the west or setting sun, and the latter from a +corresponding root meaning the east or rising sun, and that they +were used at one time to imply the west and the east. There +is ground also for supposing that they may at first have been +used with a specific or restricted local application, a more +extended signification having eventually been given to them. +After the word Asia had acquired its larger sense, it was still +specially used by the Greeks to designate the country around +Ephesus. The idea of Asia as originally formed was necessarily +indefinite, and long continued to be so; and the area to which +the name was finally applied, as geographical knowledge increased, +was to a great extent determined by arbitrary and not very +precise conceptions, rather than on the basis of natural relations +and differences subsisting between it and the surrounding +regions.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">Geography</p> + +<p>The northern boundary of Asia is formed by the Arctic +Ocean; the coast-line falls between 70° and 75° N., and so lies +within the Arctic circle, having its extreme northern +point in Cape Sivero-Vostochnyi (<i>i.e.</i> north-east) +<span class="sidenote">Boundaries.</span> +or Chelyuskin, in 78° N. On the south the coast-line +is far more irregular, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and +the China Sea reaching about to the northern tropic at the +mouths of the Indus, of the Ganges and of the Canton river; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page735" id="page735"></a>735</span> +while the great peninsulas of Arabia, Hindostan and Cambodia +descend to about 10° N., and the Malay peninsula extends +within a degree and a half of the equator. On the west the +extreme point of Asia is found on the shore of the Mediterranean, +at Cape Baba, in 26° E., nor far from the Dardanelles. Thence +the boundary passes in the one direction through the Mediterranean, +and down the Red Sea to the southern point of Arabia, +at the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, in 45° E.; and in the other +through the Black Sea, and along the range of Caucasus, following +approximately 40° N. to the Caspian, whence it turns to the +north on a line not far from the 60th meridian, along the Ural +Mountains, and meets the Arctic Ocean nearly opposite the +island of Novaya Zemlya. The most easterly point of Asia is +East Cape (Vostochnyi, <i>i.e.</i> east, or Dezhnev), in 190° E., at the +entrance of Bering Strait. The boundary between this point +and the extremity of the Malay Peninsula follows the coast of +the Northern Pacific and the China Sea, on a line deeply broken +by the projection of the peninsulas of Kamchatka and Korea, +and the recession of the Sea of Okhotsk, the Yellow Sea, and the +Gulfs of Tongking and Siam.</p> + +<p>On the east and south-east of Asia are several important +groups of islands, the more southern of which link this continent +to Australia, and to the islands of the Pacific. The +Kurile islands, the Japanese group, Luchu, Formosa +<span class="sidenote">Islands.</span> +and the Philippines, may be regarded as unquestionable outliers +of Asia. Between the islands of the Malay archipelago from +Sumatra to New Guinea, and the neighbouring Asiatic continent, +no definite relations appear ever to have existed, and no distinctly +marked boundary for Asia has been established by the +old geographers in this quarter. Modern science, however, has +indicated a line of physical separation along the channel between +Borneo and Celebes, called the Straits of Macassar, which +follows approximately 120° E., to the west of which the flora +and fauna are essentially Asiatic in their type, while to the south +and east the Australian element begins to be distinctly marked, +soon to become predominant. To this boundary has been given +the name of Wallace’s line, after the eminent naturalist, A.R. +Wallace, who first indicated its existence.</p> + +<p>Owing to the great extent of Asia, it is not easy to obtain a +correct conception of the actual form of its outline from ordinary +maps, the distortions which accompany projections of +large spherical areas on a flat surface being necessarily +<span class="sidenote">Form of continent.</span> +great and misleading. Turning, therefore, to a globe, +Asia, viewed as a whole, will be seen to have the form of a great +isosceles spherical triangle, having its north-eastern apex at +East Cape (Vostochnyi), in Bering Strait; its two equal sides, +in length about a quadrant of the sphere, or 6500 m., extending +on the west to the southern point of Arabia, and on the east to +the extremity of the Malay peninsula; and the base between +these points occupying about 60° of a great circle, or 4500 m., +and being deeply indented by the Arabian Sea and the Bay of +Bengal on either side of the Indian peninsula. A great circle, +drawn through East Cape and the southern point of Arabia, +passes nearly along the coast-line of the Arctic Ocean, over the +Ural Mountains, through the western part of the Caspian, and +nearly along the boundary between Persia and Asiatic Turkey. +Asia Minor and the north-western half of Arabia lie outside such +a great circle, which otherwise indicates, with fair accuracy, the +north-western boundary of Asia. In like manner a great circle +drawn through East Cape and the extremity of the Malay +peninsula, passes nearly over the coasts of Manchuria, China +and Cochin-China, and departs comparatively little from the +eastern boundary.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Asia is divided laterally along the parallel of 40° north by a +depression which, beginning on the east of the desert of Gobi, extends +westwards through Mongolia to Chinese Turkestan. To +the west of Kashgar the central depression is limited by +<span class="sidenote">General physiography.</span> +the meridional range of Sarikol and the great elevation +of the Pamir, of which the Sarikol is the eastern face. +The level of this depression (once a vast inland sea) between the +mountains which enclose the sources of the Hwang-ho and the +Sarikol range probably never exceeds 2000 ft. above sea, and modern +researches tend to prove that in the central portions of the Gobi +(about Lop Nor) it may be actually below sea-level. A vast +proportion of the continent north of this central line is but a few hundred +feet in altitude. Shelving gradually upward from the low flats of +Siberia the general continental level rises to a great central water-parting, +or divide, which stretches from the Black Sea through the +Elburz and the Hindu Kush to the Tian-shan mountains in the +Pamir region, and hence to Bering Strait on the extreme north-east. +This great divide is not always marked by well-defined ranges facing +steeply either to the north or south. There are considerable spaces +where the strike, or axis, of the main ranges is transverse to the +water-parting, which is then represented by intermediate highlands +forming lacustrine regions with an indefinite watershed. Only a +part of this great continental divide (including such ranges as the +Hindu Kush, Tian-shan, Altai or Khangai) rises to any great height, +a considerable portion of it being below 5000 ft. in altitude. South +of the divide the level at once drops to the central depression of +Gobi, which forms a vast interior, almost waterless space, where +the local drainage is lost in deserts or swamps. South of this +enclosed depression is another great hydrographic barrier which +parts it from the low plains of the Amur, of China, Siam and India, +bordered by the shallows of the Yellow Sea and the shoals which +enclose the islands of Japan and Formosa, all of them once an integral +part of the continent. This second barrier is one of the most +mighty upheavals in the world, by reason both of its extent and +its altitude. Starting from the Amur river and reaching along the +eastern margin of the Gobi desert towards the sources of the Hwang-ho, +it merges into the Altyn-tagh and the Kuen-lun, forming the +northern face of the vast Tibetan highlands which are bounded on +the south by the Himalaya. The Pamir highlands between the base +of the Tian-shan mountains and the eastern buttresses of the Hindu +Kush unite these two great divides, enclosing the Gobi depression +on the west; and they would again be united on the east but for +the transverse valley of the Amur, which parts the Khingan mountains +from the Yablonoi system to the east of Lake Baikal.</p> + +<p>If we consider the whole continent to be divided into three sections, +viz. a northern section with an average altitude of less than 5000 ft. +above sea, where all the main rivers flow northward to the Mediterranean, +the Arctic Sea, or the Caspian; a central section of depression, +where the drainage is lost in swamps or <i>hamūns</i>, and of which +the average level probably does not exceed 2000 ft. above sea; and +a southern section divided between highly elevated table-lands from +15,000 to 16,000 ft. in altitude, and lowlands of the Arabian, Indian, +Siamese and Chinese peninsulas, with an ocean outlet for its drainage; +we find that there is only one direct connexion between northern +and southern sections which involves no mountain passes, and no +formidable barrier of altitudes. That one is afforded by the narrow +valley of the Hari Rud to the west of Herat. From the Caspian to +Karachi it is possible to pass without encountering any orographic +obstacle greater than the divide which separates the valley of the +Hari Rud from the Helmund <i>hamūn</i> basin, which may be represented +by an altitude of about 4000 ft. above sea-level. This fact +possesses great significance in connexion with the development of +Asiatic railways.</p> + +<p>If we examine the hydrographic basins of the three divisions of +Asia thus indicated we find that the northern division, +<span class="sidenote">Hydrography.</span> +including the drainage falling into the Arctic Sea, the Aralo-Caspian +depression, or the Mediterranean, embraces an area +of about 6,394,500 sq. m., as follows:—</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="width: 60%; clear: both;" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tcr">Sq. m.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Area of Arctic river basins</td> <td class="tcr">4,367,000</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">  ”   Aralo-Caspian basin</td> <td class="tcr">1,759,000</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">  ”   Mediterranean</td> <td class="tcr">268,500</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tcr">————</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcc">Total</td> <td class="tcr">6,394,500</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">The southern division is nearly equal in extent—</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="width: 60%;" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tcr">Sq. m.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Pacific drainage</td> <td class="tcr">3,641,000</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Indian Ocean</td> <td class="tcr">2,873,000</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tcr">————</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcc">Total</td> <td class="tcr">6,514,000</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">The interior or inland basins, including the lacustrine regions south +of the Arctic watershed, the Gobi depression, Tibetan plateau, the +Iranian (or Perso-Afghan) uplands, the Syro-Arabian inland basin, +and that of Asia Minor, amount to 3,141,500 sq. m. or about half +the extent of the other two.</p> + +<p>By far the largest Asiatic river basin is that of the Ob, which +exceeds 1,000,000 sq. m. in extent. On the east and south the Amur +embraces no less than 776,000 sq. m., the Yang-tsze-kiang including +685,000, the Ganges 409,500, and the Indus 370,000 sq. m.<a name="fa1f" id="fa1f" href="#ft1f"><span class="sp">1</span></a></p> + +<p>The lakes of Asia are innumerable, and vary in size from an inland +sea (such as Lakes Baikal and Balkash) to a highland loch, or the +indefinitely extended swamps of Persia. Many of them are at high +elevations (Lake Victoria, 13,400 ft., being probably the most elevated), +and are undoubted vestiges of an ancient period of glaciation. +Such lakes, as a rule, show indications of a gradual decrease in size. +Others are relics of an earlier geological period, when land areas +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page736" id="page736"></a>736</span> +recently upheaved from the sea were spread at low levels with alternate +inundations of salt and fresh water. Of these Lop Nor and the +Helmund <i>hamūns</i> are typical. Such lakes (in common with all the +plateau <i>hamūns</i> of south-west Baluchistan and Persia) change their +form and extent from season to season, and many of them are +impregnated with saline deposits from the underlying strata. The +<i>kavirs</i>, or salt depressions, of the Persian desert are more frequently +widespread deposits of mud and salt than water-covered areas.</p> + +<p>Although for the purposes of geographical nomenclature, boundaries +formed by a coast-line—that is, by depressions of the earth’s +solid crust <i>below</i> the ocean level—are most easily recognized and are of special convenience; and although such +boundaries, from following lines on which the continuity of +<span class="sidenote">Political divisions.</span> +the land is interrupted, often necessarily indicate important differences +in the conditions of adjoining countries, and of their political and +physical relations, yet variations of the elevation of the surface <i>above</i> +the sea-level frequently produce effects not less marked. The changes +of temperature and climate caused by difference of elevation are +quite comparable in their magnitude and effect on all organized +creatures with those due to differences of latitude; and the relative +position of the high and low lands on the earth’s surface, by modifying +the direction of the winds, the fall of rain, and other atmospheric +phenomena, produce effects in no sense less important than those +due to the relative distribution of the land and sea. Hence the study +of the mountain ranges of a continent is, for a proper apprehension +of its physical conditions and characteristics, as essential as the +examination of its extent and position in relation to the equator +and poles, and the configuration of its coasts.</p> + +<p>From such causes the physical conditions of a large part of Asia, +and the history of its population, have been very greatly influenced +by the occurrence of the mass of mountain above described, +which includes the Himalaya and the whole +<span class="sidenote">Himalayan boundary.</span> +elevated area having true physical connexion with that +range, and occupies an area about 2000 m. in length and +varying from 100 to 500 m. in width, between 65° and 100° east and +between 28° and 35° north. These mountains, which include the +highest peaks in the world, rise, along their entire length, far above +the line of perpetual snow, and few of the passes across the main +ridges are at a less altitude than 15,000 or 16,000 ft. above the sea. +Peaks of 20,000 ft. abound along the whole chain, and the points +that exceed that elevation are numerous. A mountain range such +as this, attaining altitudes at which vegetable life ceases, and the +support of animal life is extremely difficult, constitutes an almost +impassable barrier against the spread of all forms of living creatures. +The mountain mass, moreover, is not less important in causing a complete +separation between the atmospheric conditions on its opposite +flanks, by reason of the extent to which it penetrates that stratum +of the atmosphere which is in contact with the earth’s surface and +is effective in determining climate. The highest summits create +serious obstructions to the movements of nearly three-fourths of the +mass of the air resting on this part of the earth, and of nearly the +whole of the moisture it contains; the average height of the entire +chain is such as to make it an almost absolute barrier to one-half of +the air and three-fourths of the moisture; while the lower ranges +also produce important atmospheric effects, one-fourth of the air +and one-half of the watery vapour it carries with it lying below +9000 ft.</p> + +<p>This great mass of mountain, constituting as it does a complete +natural line of division across a large part of the continent, will form +a convenient basis from which to work, in proceeding, as will now +be done, to give a general view of the principal countries contained +in Asia.</p> + +<p>The summit of the great mountain mass is occupied by Tibet, a +country known by its inhabitants under the name of <i>Bod</i> or <i>Bodyul</i>. +Tibet is a rugged table-land, narrow as compared with its +length, broken up by a succession of mountain ranges, +<span class="sidenote">Tibet.</span> +which follow as a rule the direction of the length of the table-land, +and commonly rise into the regions of perpetual snow; between the +flanks of these lie valleys, closely hemmed in, usually narrow, having +a very moderate inclination, but at intervals opening out into wide +plains, and occupied either by rivers, or frequently by lakes from +which there is no outflow and the waters of which are salt. The +eastern termination of Tibet is in the line of snowy mountains which +flanks China on the west, between the 27th and 35th parallels of +latitude, and about 103° east. On the west the table-land is prolonged +beyond the political limits of Tibet, though with much the same +physical features, to about 70° east, beyond which it terminates; and +the ranges which are covered with perpetual snow as far west as +Samarkand, thence rapidly diminish in height, and terminate in low +hills north of Bokhara.</p> + +<p>The mean elevation of Tibet may be taken as 15,000 ft. above the +sea. The broad mountainous slope by which it is connected with +the lower levels of Hindostan contains the ranges known as the +Himalaya; the name Kuen-lun is generally applied to the northern +slope that descends to the central plains of the Gobi, though these +mountains are not locally known under those names, Kuen-lun +being apparently a Chinese designation.</p> + +<p>The extreme rigour of the climate of Tibet, which combines great +cold with great drought, makes the country essentially very poor, +and the chief portion of it little better than desert. The vegetation +is everywhere most scanty, and scarcely anything deserving the name +of a tree is to be found unless in the more sheltered spots, and then +artificially planted. The population in the lower and warmer valleys +live in houses, and follow agriculture; in the higher regions they are +nomadic shepherds, thinly scattered over a large area.</p> + +<p>China lies between the eastern flank of the Tibetan plateau and +the North Pacific, having its northern and southern limits about +on 40° and 20° N. respectively. The country, though +<span class="sidenote">China.</span> +generally broken up with mountains of moderate elevation, +possesses none of very great importance apart from those of its +western border. It is well watered, populous, and, as a rule, highly +cultivated, fertile, and well wooded; the climate is analogous to +that of southern Europe, with hot summers, and winters everywhere +cold and in the north decidedly severe.</p> + +<p>From the eastern extremity of the Tibetan mountains, between +the 95th and 100th meridians, high ranges extend from about 35° N. +in a southerly direction, which, spreading outwards as +they go south, reach the sea at various points in Cochin-China, +<span class="sidenote">Indo-Chinese region.</span> +the Malay peninsula, and the east flank of Bengal. +Between these ranges, which are probably permanently +snowy to about 27° N., flow the great rivers of the Indo-Chinese +peninsula, the Mekong, the Menam, the Salween, and the Irrawaddy, +the valleys of which form the main portions of the states of Cochin-China +(including Tongking and Cambodia), of Siam (including Laos) +and of Burma. The people of Cochin-China are called Anam; it +is probably from a corruption of their name for the capital of Tongking, +Kechao, that the Portuguese Cochin has been derived. All +these countries are well watered, populous and fertile, with a +climate very similar to that of eastern Bengal. The geography of +the region in which the mountains of Cochin-China and Siam join +Tibet is still imperfectly known, but there is no ground left for doubting +that the great river of eastern Tibet, the Tsanpo, supplies the +main stream of the Brahmaputra. The two great rivers of China, +the Hwang-ho and the Yang-tsze-kiang take their rise from the +eastern face of Tibet, the former from the north-east angle, the +latter from the south-east. The main stream of this last is called +Dichu in Tibet, and its chief feeder is the Ya-lung-kiang, which rises +not far from the Hwang-ho, and is considered the territorial boundary +between China and Tibet.</p> + +<p>British India comprises approximately the area between the 95th +and 70th meridians, and between the Tibetan table-land and the +Indian Ocean. The Indian peninsula from 25° N. southwards +is a table-land, having its greatest elevation on the +<span class="sidenote">British India.</span> +west, where the highest points rise to over 8000 ft., though +the ordinary altitude of the higher hills hardly exceeds 4000 ft.; +the general level of the table-land lies between 3000 ft. as a maximum +and 1000 ft.</p> + +<p>From the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra on the east to +that of the Indus on the west, and intervening between the table-land +of the peninsula and the foot of the Himalayan slope of the +Tibetan plateau, lies the great plain of northern India, which rises +at its highest point to about 1000 ft., and includes altogether, with +its prolongation up the valley of Assam, an area of about 500,000 +sq. m., comprising the richest, the most populous and most civilized +districts of India. The great plain extends, with an almost unbroken +surface, from the most western to the most eastern extremity of +British India, and is composed of deposits so finely comminuted, +that it is no exaggeration to say that it is possible to go from the +Bay of Bengal up the Ganges, through the Punjab, and down the +Indus again to the sea, over a distance of 2000 m. and more, without +finding a pebble, however small.</p> + +<p>The great rivers of northern India—the Ganges, the Brahmaputra +and the Indus—all derive their waters from the Tibetan +mountain mass; and it is a remarkable circumstance that the +northern water-parting of India should lie to the north of the Himalaya +in the regions of central Tibet.</p> + +<p>The population of India is very large, some of its districts being +among the most densely peopled in the world. The country is +generally well cleared, and forests are, as a rule, found only along +the flanks of the mountains, where the fall of rain is most abundant. +The more open parts are highly cultivated, and large cities abound. +The climate is generally such as to secure the population the necessaries +of life without severe labour; the extremes of heat and +drought are such as to render the land unsuitable for pasture, and +the people everywhere subsist by cultivation of the soil or commerce, +and live in settled villages or towns.</p> + +<p>The island of Ceylon is distinguished from the neighbouring parts +of British India by little more than its separate administration +and the Buddhistic religion of its population. The highest point in +Ceylon rises to about 9000 ft. above the sea, and the mountain slopes +are densely covered with forest. The lower levels are in climate +and cultivation quite similar to the regions in the same latitude on +the Malay peninsula.</p> + +<p>Of the islands in the Bay of Bengal the Nicobar and Andaman +groups are alone worth notice. They are placed on a line joining +the north end of Sumatra and Cape Negrais, the south-western +extremity of Burma. They possibly owe their existence to the +volcanic agencies which are known to extend from Sumatra across +this part of the Indian Ocean.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="clear: both;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figcenter"><img style="width:662px; height:980px" src="images/img736a.jpg" alt="" /></td> +<td class="figcenter"><img style="width:658px; height:980px" src="images/img736c.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind f80"><a href="images/img736b.jpg">(Click to enlarge left side.)</a><br /> +<a href="images/img736d.jpg">(Click to enlarge right side.)</a></p> + +<p class="pt2">The Laccadives and Maldives are groups of small coral islands, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page737" id="page737"></a>737</span> +situated along the 73rd meridian at no great distance from the +Indian peninsula on which they have a political dependency.</p> + +<p>The portion of Asia west of British India excluding Arabia and +Syria forms another extensive plateau covering an area as large +as that of Tibet though at a much lower altitude. Its +southern border runs along the Arabian Sea, the Persian +<span class="sidenote">The Nearer East.</span> +Gulf, the Tigris and thence westward to the north-east +angle of the Levant, on the north the high land follows +nearly 36° N. to the southern shore of the Caspian and thence to +the Black Sea and Sea of Marmora. Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Iran +or Persia, Armenia and the provinces of Asia Minor occupy this +high region with which they are nearly conterminous. The eastern +flank of this table-land follows a line of hills drawn a short distance +from the Indus between the mouth of that river and the Himalaya, +about on the 72nd meridian, these hills do not generally exceed +4000 or 5000 ft. in elevation but a few of the summits reach 10,000 ft. +or more. The southern and south western face follows the coast +closely up the Persian Gulf from the mouth of the Indus, and is +formed farther west by the mountain scarp, which, rising in many +points to 10,000 ft. flanks the Tigris and the Mesopotamian plains, +and extends along Kurdistan and Armenia nearly to the 40th +meridian, beyond which it turns along the Taurus range, and the +north eastern angle of the Mediterranean. The north eastern +portion of the Afghan table-land abuts on the Himalaya and Tibet, +with which it forms a continuous mass of mountain between the +71st and 72nd meridians and 34° and 36° N. From the point of +intersection of the 71st meridian with the 36th parallel of latitude, +an unbroken range of mountain stretches on one side towards the +north east, up to the crest of the northern slope of the Tibetan +plateau, and on the other nearly due west as far as the Caspian. +The north eastern portion of this range is of great altitude, and +separates the headwaters of the Oxus, which run off to the Aral Sea, +from those of the Indus and its Kabul tributary, which, uniting +below Peshawar are thence discharged southward into the Arabian +Sea. The western part of the range, which received the name of +Paropamisus Mons from the ancients, diminishes in height west of +the 65th meridian and constitutes the northern face of the Afghan +and Persian plateau rising abruptly from the plains of the Turkoman +desert which lies between the Oxus and the Caspian. These mountains +at some points attain a height of 10,000 or 12,000 ft. Along +the south coast of the Caspian this line of elevation is prolonged as +the Elburz range (not to be confused with the Elburz of the Caucasus), +and has its culminating point in Demavend, which rises to 19,400 ft. +above the sea thence it extends to the north west to Ararat, which +rises to upwards of 17,000 ft. from the vicinity of which the Euphrates +flows off to the south west across the high lands of Armenia. +Below the north east declivity of this range lies Georgia, on the other +side of which province rises the Caucasus, the boundary of Asia and +Europe between the Caspian and Black Seas, the highest points of +which reach an elevation of nearly 19,000 ft. West of Ararat high +hills extend along the Black Sea between which and the Taurus +range lies the plateau of Asia Minor reaching to the Aegean Sea, +the mountains along the Black Sea, on which are the Olympus and +Ida of the ancients rise to 6000 or 7000 ft., the Taurus is more +lofty—reaching 8000 and 10,000 ft.—both ranges decline in altitude +as they approach the Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>This great plateau extending from the Mediterranean to the +Indus has a length of about 2500 m. from east to west, and a breadth +of upwards of 600 m. on the west and nowhere of less than 250 m. +It lies generally at altitudes between 2000 ft. and 8000 ft. above +the sea level. Viewed as a whole the eastern half of this region, +comprising Persia, Afghanistan and Baluchistan, is poor and +unproductive. The climate is very severe in the winter and extremely +hot in summer. The rainfall is very scanty, and running waters +are hardly known excepting among the mountains which form the +scarps of the elevated country. The population is sparse, frequently +nomadic, and addicted to plunder, progress in the arts and habits +of civilization is small. The western part of the area falls within +the Turkish empire. Its climate is less hot and and its natural +productiveness much greater and its population more settled and +on the whole more advanced.</p> + +<p>The peninsula of Arabia with Syria, its continuation to the north-west, +has some of the characteristics of the hottest and driest parts +Persia and Baluchistan. Excepting the northern part +of this tract which is conterminous with the plain of +<span class="sidenote">Arabia.</span> +Mesopotamia (which at its highest point reaches an elevation of about +700 ft. above the sea) the country is covered with low mountains, +rising to 3000 or 4000 ft. in altitude having among them narrow +valleys in which the vegetation is scanty with exceptional regions +of greater fertility in the neighbourhood of the coasts where the +rainfall is greatest. In northern Syria the mountains of Lebanon +rise to about 10,000 ft. and with a more copious water supply +the country becomes more productive. The whole tract, excepting +south eastern Arabia is nominally subject to Turkey but the people +are to no small extent practically independent living a nomadic +pastoral and freebooting life under petty chiefs in the more arid +districts, but settled in towns in the more fertile tracts where agriculture +becomes more profitable and external commerce is established.</p> + +<p>The area between the northern border of the Persian high lands +and the Caspian and Aral Seas is a nearly desert low lying plain, +extending to the foot of the north-western extremity of the +great Tibeto-Himalayan mountains and prolonged eastward +<span class="sidenote">Trans-Caspian region and central Asia.</span> +up the valleys of the Oxus (Amu Darya) and +Jaxartes (Syr-Darya), and northward across the country +of the Kirghiz to the south western border of Siberia. +It includes Bokhara, Khiva and Turkestan proper in +which the Uzbeg Turks are dominant, and for the most +part is inhabited by nomadic tribes, who are marauders, enjoying +the reputation of being the worst among a race of professed robbers. +The tribes to the north, subject to Russia, are naturally more peaceable, +and have been brought into some degree of discipline. In this +tract the rainfall is nowhere sufficient for the purposes of agriculture, +which is only possible by help of irrigation, and the fixed population +(which contains a non-Turkish element) is comparatively small, +and restricted to the towns and the districts near the rivers.</p> + +<p>The north-western extremity of the elevated Tibeto-Himalayan +mountain plateau is situated about on 73° E. and 39° N. This +region is known as Pamir, it has all the characteristics of the highest +regions of Tibet, and so far fitly receives the Russian designation +of steppe, but it seems to have no special peculiarities, and the +reason of its having been so long regarded as a geographical enigma +is not obvious. From it the Oxus, or Amu, flows off to the west, +and the Jaxartes, or Syr, to the north, through the Turki state of +Khokand, while to the east the waters run down past Kashgar to +the central desert of the Gobi, uniting with the streams from the +northern slope of the Tibetan plateau that traverse the principalities +of Yarkand and Khotan, which are also Turki. Here the Tibetan +mountains unite with the line of elevation which stretches across +the continent from the Pacific, and which separates Siberia from +the region commonly spoken of under the name of central Asia.</p> + +<p>A range of mountains, called Stanovor, rising to heights of 4000 +or 5000 ft., follows the southern coast of the eastern extremity of +Asia from Kamchatka to the borders of Manchuria, as far as +the 135th meridian, in lat. 55° N. Thence the Yablonoi +<span class="sidenote">Manchuria.</span> +range, continuing in the same direction, divides the +waters of the river Lena, which flows through Siberia into the +Arctic Sea, from those of the river Amur, which falls into the North +Pacific, the basin of this river, with its affluents, constitutes Manchuria. +From the north of Manchuria the Khingan range stretches +southward to the Chinese frontier near Peking, east of which the +drainage falls into the Amur and the Yellow Sea, while to the west +is an almost rainless region, the inclination of which is towards the +central area of the continent, Mongolia.</p> + +<p>From the western end of the Yablonoi range, on the 115th +meridian, a mountainous belt extends along a somewhat irregular +line to the extremity of Pamir, known under various names +in its different parts, and broken up into several branches, +<span class="sidenote">Mongolia.</span> +enclosing among them many isolated drainage areas, from which +there is no outflow, and within which numerous lakes are formed. +The most important of these ranges is the Tian-shan or Celestial +Mountains, which form the northern boundary of the Gobi desert, +they lie between 40° and 43° N., and between 75° and 95° E., and +some of the summits are said to exceed 20,000 ft. in altitude, along +the foot of this range are the principal cultivated districts of central +Asia, and here too are situated the few towns which have sprung +up in this barren and thinly peopled region. Next may be named +the Ala-tau, on the prolongation of the Tian-shan, flanking the Syr on +the north, and rising to 14,000 or 15,000 ft. It forms the barrier +between the Issyk-kul and Balkash lakes, the elevation of which is +about 5000 ft. Last is the Altai, near the 50th parallel, rising to +10,000 or 12,000 ft., which separates the waters of the great rivers +of western Siberia from those that collect into the lakes of north-west +Mongolia, Dzungaria and Kalka. A line of elevation is continued +west of the Altai to the Ural Mountains, not rising to considerable +altitudes; this divides the drainage of south-west Siberia +from the great plains lying north east of the Aral Sea.</p> + +<p>The central area bounded on the north and north-west by the +Yablonoi Mountains and their western extension in the Tian-shan, +on the south by the northern face of the Tibetan plateau and on the +east by the Khingan range before alluded to, forms the great desert +of central Asia, known as the Gobi. Its eastern part is nearly +conterminous with south Mongolia, its western forms Chinese or eastern +Turkestan. It appears likely that no part of this great central +Asiatic desert is less than 2000 ft. above the sea level. The elevation +of the plain about Kashgar and Yarkand is from 4000 to 6000 ft. +The more northern parts of Mongolia are between 4000 and 6000 ft., +and no portion of the route across the desert between the Chinese +frontier and Kiakhta is below 3000 ft. The precise positions of the +mountain ridges that traverse this central area are not properly +known, their elevation is everywhere considerable, and many points +are known to exceed 10,000 or 12,000 ft.</p> + +<p>In Mongolia the population is essentially nomadic, its wealth consisting +in herds of horned cattle, sheep, horses and camels. The +Turki tribes, occupying western Mongolia, are among the least +civilized of human beings, and it is chiefly to their extreme barbarity +and cruelty that our ignorance of central Asia is due. The climate is +very severe, with great extremes of heat and cold. The drought is +very great, rain falls rarely and in small quantities. The surface +is for the most part a hard stony desert, areas of blown sand occurring +but exceptionally. There are few towns or settled villages, except +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page738" id="page738"></a>738</span> +along the slopes of the higher mountains, on which the rain falls +more abundantly, or the melting snow supplies streams for irrigation. +It is only in such situations that cultivated lands are found, and +beyond them trees are hardly to be seen.</p> + +<p>The portion of Asia which lies between the Arctic Ocean and the +mountainous belt bounding Manchuria, Mongolia and Turkestan +on the north is Siberia. It includes an immense high +and broken plateau which spreads from south-west to +<span class="sidenote">Siberia.</span> +north-east, losing in width and altitude as it advances north-east. +It is fringed on either side by high border ridges, which subside on +the north-west into a stretch of high plains, 1500 to 2000 ft. high, +finally dropping to lowlands a few hundred feet above sea-level. +The extremes of heat and cold are very great. The rainfall, though +not heavy, is sufficient to maintain such vegetation as is compatible +with the conditions of temperature, and the surface is often swampy +or peaty. The mountain-sides are commonly clothed with pine +forests, and the plains with grasses or shrubs. The population is +very scanty; the cultivated tracts are comparatively small in extent +and restricted to the more settled districts. The towns are entirely +Russian. The indigenous races are nomadic Mongols, of a peaceful +character, but in a very backward state of civilization. The Ural +Mountains do not exceed 2000 or 3000 ft. in average altitude, the +highest summits not exceeding 6000 ft., and one of the passes being +as low as 1400 ft. In the southern half of the range are the chief +mining districts of Russia. The Ob, Yenisei and Lena, which traverse +Siberia, are among the largest rivers in the world.</p> + +<p>The southern group of the Malay Archipelago, from Sumatra to +Java and Timor, extends in the arc of a circle between 95° and +127° E., and from 5° to 10° S. The central part of the +<span class="sidenote">Malay Archipelago.</span> +group is a volcanic region, many of the volcanoes being +still active, the summits frequently rising to 10,000 ft. +or more.</p> + +<p>Sumatra, the largest of the islands, is but thinly peopled; the +greater part of the surface is covered with dense forest, the cultivated +area being comparatively small, confined to the low lands, and chiefly +in the volcanic region near the centre of the island. Java is the most +thickly peopled, best cultivated and most advanced island of the +whole Eastern archipelago. It has attained a high degree of wealth +and prosperity under the Dutch government. The people are peaceful +and industrious, and chiefly occupied with agriculture. The +highest of the volcanic peaks rises to 12,000 ft. above the sea. The +eastern islands of this group are less productive and less advanced.</p> + +<p>Borneo, the most western and the largest of the northern group +of islands which extends between 110° and 150° E., as far as New +Guinea or Papua, is but little known. The population is small, rude +and uncivilized; and the surface is rough and mountainous and +generally covered with forest except near the coast, to the alluvial +lands on which settlers have been attracted from various surrounding +countries. The highest mountain rises to nearly 14,000 ft., but +the ordinary elevations do not exceed 4000 or 5000 ft.</p> + +<p>Of Celebes less is known than of Borneo, which it resembles in +condition and natural characteristics. The highest known peaks +rise to 8000 ft., some of them being volcanic.</p> + +<p>New Guinea extends almost to the same meridian as the eastern +coast of Australia, from the north point of which it is separated by +Torres Straits. Very little is known of the interior. The +mountains are said to rise to 20,000 ft., having the appearance +<span class="sidenote">Pacific Islands.</span> +of being permanently covered with snow; the surface +seems generally to be clothed with thick wood. The inhabitants are +of the Negrito type, with curly or crisp and bushy hair; those of +the west coast have come more into communication with the traders +of other islands and are fairly civilized. Eastward, many of the +tribes are barbarous savages.</p> + +<p>The Philippine Islands lie between 5° and 20° N., between Borneo +and southern China. The highest land does not rise to a greater +height than 10,250 ft.; the climate is well suited for agriculture, +and the islands generally are fertile and fairly cultivated, though not +coming up to the standard of Java either in wealth or population.</p> + +<p>Formosa, which is situated under the northern tropic, near the coast +of China, is traversed by a high range of mountains, reaching nearly +13,000 ft. in elevation. On its western side, which is occupied by +an immigrant Chinese population, are open and well-cultivated +plains; on the east it is mountainous, and occupied by independent +indigenous tribes in a less advanced state.</p> + +<p>The islands of Japan, not including Sakhalin, of which half is +Japanese, lie between the 30th and 45th parallels. The whole group +is traversed by a line of volcanic mountains, some of which are in +activity, the highest point being about 13,000 ft. above the sea. +The country is generally well watered, fertile and well cultivated. +The Japanese people have added to their ancient civilization and +their remarkable artistic faculty, an adaptation of Western methods, +and a capacity for progress in war and commerce, which single them +out among Eastern races as a great modern world-force.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">Exploration</p> + +<p>The progress of geodetic surveys in Russia had long ago extended +across the European half of the great empire, St Petersburg being +connected with Tiflis on the southern slopes of the Caucasus by a +direct system of triangulation carried out with the highest scientific +precision. St Petersburg, again, is connected with Greenwich by +European systems of triangulation; and the Greenwich meridian +is adopted by Russia as the zero for all her longitude values. But +beyond the eastern shores of the Caspian no system of direct geodetic +measurements by first-class triangulation has been possible, and the +surveys of Asiatic Russia are separated from those of Europe by the +width of that inland sea. The arid nature of the trans-Caspian +deserts has proved an insuperable obstacle to those rigorous methods +of geodetic survey which distinguish Russian methods in Europe, +so that Russian geography in central Asia is dependent on other +means than that of direct measurement for the co-ordinate values +in latitude and longitude for any given point. The astronomical +observatory at Tashkent is adopted for the initial starting-point of +the trans-Caspian triangulation of Russia; the triangulation ranks +as second-class only, and now extends to the Pamir frontier beyond +Osh. The longitude of the Tashkent observatory has been determined +by telegraph differentially with Pulkova as follows:—</p> + +<table class="ws" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tcl">H.</td> <td class="tcc">M.</td> <td class="tcc">S.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tcl">In 1875 via Ekaterinburg</td> <td class="tcl">and Omsk</td> <td class="tcl">2</td> <td class="tcc">35</td> <td class="tcc">52.151</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">In 1891 via Saratov</td> <td class="tcl">and Orenburg</td> <td class="tcl">2</td> <td class="tcc">35</td> <td class="tcc">52.228</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">In 1895 via Kiev</td> <td class="tcl">and Baku</td> <td class="tcl">2</td> <td class="tcc">35</td> <td class="tcc">51.997</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">With these three independent values, all falling within a range of 0<span class="sp">S</span>.25, +it is improbable that the mean value has an error as large as 0<span class="sp">S</span>.10.</p> + +<p>Exact surveys in Russia, based upon triangulation, extend as +far east as Chinese Turkestan in longitude about 75° E. +of Greenwich. In India geodetic triangulation furnishes +<span class="sidenote">Extent of exact surveys in Asia.</span> +the basis for exact surveys as far east as the eastern +boundaries of Burma in longitude about 100° E.</p> + +<p>The close of the 19th century witnessed the forging +of the final links in the great geodetic triangulation of India, so far +as the peninsula is concerned. Further geodetic connexion with the +European systems remains to be accomplished. Since 1890 further +and more rigorous application of the telegraphic method of determining +longitudes differentially with Greenwich has resulted in a +slight correction (amounting to about 2″ of arc) to the previous +determination by the same method through Suez. This last determination +was effected through four arcs as follows:—</p> + +<table class="ws" summary="Contents"> +<tr> <td class="tcr">I.</td> <td class="tcl">Greenwich—Potsdam.</td></tr> +<tr> <td class="tcr">II.</td> <td class="tcl">Potsdam—Teheran.</td></tr> +<tr> <td class="tcr">III.</td> <td class="tcl">Teheran—Bushire.</td></tr> +<tr> <td class="tcr">IV.</td> <td class="tcl">Bushire—Karachi.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">Each arc was measured with every precaution and a multitude of +observations. The only element of uncertainty was caused by the +retardation of the current, which between Potsdam and Teheran +(3000 m.) took 0<span class="sp">S</span>.20 to travel; but it is probable that the final value +can be accepted as correct to within 0<span class="sp">S</span>.05.</p> + +<p>The final result of this latest determination is to place the Madras +observatory 2′ 27″ to the west of the position adopted for it on the +strength of absolute astronomical determinations.</p> + +<p>But while we have yet to wait for that expansion of principal +triangulation which will bring Asia into connexion with Europe +by the direct process of earth measurement, a topographical +<span class="sidenote">Connexion between Russian and Indian surveys.</span> +connexion has been effected between Russian +and Indian surveys which sufficiently proves that the +deductive methods employed by both countries for the +determination of the co-ordinate values of fixed points so +far agree that, for all practical purposes of future Asiatic +cartography, no difficulty in adjustment between Indian and Russian +mapping need be apprehended.</p> + +<p>In connexion with the Indian triangulation minor extensions +carried out on systems involving more or less irregularity have +been pushed outwards on all sides. They reach through +Afghanistan and Baluchistan to the eastern districts of +<span class="sidenote">Extension of geographical surveys.</span> +Persia, and along the coast of Makran to that of Arabia. +They have long ago included the farther mountain +peaks of Nepal, and they now branch outwards towards +western China and into Siam. These far extensions furnish the +basis for a vast amount of exploratory survey of a strictly geographical +character, and they have contributed largely towards +raising the standard of accuracy in Asiatic geographical surveys to +a level which was deemed unattainable fifty years ago. There is +yet a vast field open in Asia for this class of surveys. While at +the close of the 19th century western Asia (exclusive of Arabia) +may be said to have been freed from all geographical perplexity, +China, Mongolia and eastern Siberia still include enormous areas of +which geographical knowledge is in a primitive stage of nebulous +uncertainty.</p> + +<p>Of scientific geographical exploration in Asia (beyond the limits of +actual surveys) the modern period has been so prolific that it is only +possible to refer in barest outline to some of the principal +expeditions, most of which have been directed either to +<span class="sidenote">Indian explorers.</span> +the great elevated table-land of Tibet or to the central +depression which exists to the north of it. In southern Tibet the +trans-Himalayan explorations of the native surveyors attached to +the Indian survey, notably Pundits Nain Singh and Krishna, added +largely to our knowledge of the great plateau. Nain Singh explored +the sources of the Indus and of the Upper Brahmaputra in the years +1865-1867; and in 1874-1875 he followed a line from the eastern +frontiers of Kashmir to the Tengri Nor lake and thence to Lhasa, in +which city he remained for some months. Krishna’s remarkable +journey in 1879-1882 extended from Lhasa northwards through +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page739" id="page739"></a>739</span> +Tsaidam to Sachu, or Saitu, in Mongolia. He subsequently passed +through eastern Tibet to the town of Darchendo, or Tachienlu, on +the high road between Lhasa and Peking, and on the borders of +China. Failing to reach India through Upper Assam he returned +to the neighbourhood of Lhasa, and crossed the Himalayas by a more +westerly route. Both these explorers visited Lhasa.</p> + +<p>In 1871-1873 the great Russian explorer, Nicolai Prjevalsky, +crossed the Gobi desert from the north to Kansu in western China. +He first defined the geography of Tsaidam, and mapped +the hydrography of that remarkable region, from which +<span class="sidenote">Russian explorers.</span> +emanate the great rivers of China, Siam and Burma. +He penetrated southwards to within a month’s march of Lhasa. +In 1876 he visited the Lop Nor and discovered the Altyn Tagh range. +In 1879 he followed up the Urangi river to the Altai Mountains, and +demonstrated to the world the extraordinary physical changes which +have passed over the heart of the Asiatic continent since Jenghiz +Khan massed his vast armies in those provinces. He crossed, and +named, the Dzungarian extension of the Gobi desert, and then +traversed the Gobi itself from Hami to Sachu, which became a point +of junction between his journeys and those of Krishna. He visited +the sources of the Hwang-ho (Yellow river) and the Salween, and +then returned to Russia. His fourth journey in 1883-1885 was to +Sining (the great trade centre of the Chinese borderland), and thence +through northern Tibet (crossing the Altyn Tagh to Lop Nor), and +by the Cherchen-Keriya trade route to Khotan. From Khotan he +followed the Tarim to Aksu.</p> + +<p>Following Prjevalsky the Russian explorers, Pevtsov and Roborovski, +in 1889-1890 (and again in 1894), added greatly to our knowledge +of the topography of western Chinese Turkestan and the +northern borders of Tibet; all these Russian expeditions being conducted +on scientific principles and yielding results of the highest +value. Among other distinguished Russian explorers in Asia, the +names of Lessar, Annentkov (who bridged the Trans-Caspian deserts +by a railway), P.K. Kozlov and Potanin are conspicuous during the +19th century.</p> + +<p>Although the establishment of a lucrative trade between India +and central Asia had been the dream of many successive Indian +viceroys, and much had been done towards improving +the approaches to Simla from the north, very little was +<span class="sidenote">Other explorations in central Asia.</span> +really known of the highlands of the Pamirs, or of the +regions of the great central depression, before the mission of +Sir Douglas Forsyth to Yarkand in 1870. Robert Barkley +Shaw and George Hayward were the European pioneers +of geography into the central dominion of Kashgar, arriving at +Yarkand within a few weeks of each other in 1868. Shaw subsequently +accompanied Forsyth’s mission in 1870, when Henry Trotter +made the first maps of Chinese Turkestan. The next great accession +to our knowledge of central Asiatic geography was gained with the +Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884-1886, when Afghan +Turkestan and the Oxus regions were mapped by Colonel Sir T.H. +Holdich, Colonel St George Gore and Sir Adelbert Talbot; and when +Ney Elias crossed from China through the Pamirs and Badakshan +to the camp of the commission, identifying the great “Dragon +Lake,” Rangkul, on his way. About the same time a mission, +under Captain (afterwards Sir Willaim) Lockhart, crossed the Hindu +Kush into Wakhan, and returned to India by the Bashgol valley +of Kafiristan. This was Colonel Woodthorpe’s opportunity, and he +was then enabled to verify the results of W.W. M‘Nair’s previous +explorations, and to determine the conformation of the Hindu Kush. +In 1885 Arthur Douglas Carey and Andrew Dalgleish, following +more or less the tracks of Prjevalsky, contributed much that was +new to the map of Asia; and in 1886 Captain (afterwards Sir Francis) +Younghusband completed a most adventurous journey across the +heart of the continent by crossing the Muztagh, the great mountain +barrier between China and Kashmir.</p> + +<p>It was in 1886-1887 that Pierre G. Bonvalot, accompanied by +Prince Henri d’Orléans, crossed the Tibetan plateau from north +to south but failed to enter Lhasa. In 1889-1891 the +American traveller, W.W. Rockhill, commenced his +<span class="sidenote">Tibetan explorations.</span> +Tibetan journeys, and also attempted to reach Lhasa, +without success. By his writings, as much as by his +explorations, Rockhill has made his name great in the annals of +Asiatic research. In 1891 Hamilton Bower made his famous journey +from Leh to Peking. He, too, failed to penetrate the jealously-guarded +portals of Lhasa; but he secured (with the assistance of +a native surveyor) a splendid addition to our previous Tibetan +mapping. In 1891-1892-1893 the gallant French explorer, Dutreuil +de Rhins, was in the field of Tibet, where he finally sacrificed his life +to his work; and the same years saw George N. (afterwards Lord) +Curzon in the Pamirs, and St George Littledale on his first great +Tibetan journey, accompanied by his wife. Littledale’s first journey +ended at Peking; his second, in 1894-1895, took him almost within +sight of the sacred walls of Lhasa, but he failed to pass inside. Greatest +among modern Asiatic explorers (if we except Prjevalsky) is the +brave Swede, Professor Sven Hedin, whose travels through the deserts +of Takla Makan and Tibet, and whose investigations in the glacial +regions of the Sarikol mountains, occupied him from 1894 to 1896. +His is a truly monumental record. From 1896 to 1898 we find two +British cavalry officers taking the front position in the list of Tibetan +travellers-Captain M.S. Wellby of the 18th Hussars and Captain +H. Deasy of the 16th Lancers, each striking out a new line, and +rendering most valuable service to geography. The latter continued +the Pamir triangulation, which had been carried across the Hindu +Kush by Colonels Sir T.H. Holdich and R.A. Wahab during the +Pamir Boundary Commission of 1895, into the plains of Kashgar +and to the sources of the Zarafshan.</p> + +<p>Since the beginning of the century the work of Deasy in western +Tibet has been well extended by Dr M.A. Stein and Captain C. +G. Rawling, who have increased our knowledge of ancient fields +of industry and commerce in Turkestan and Tibet. Ellsworth +Huntington threw new light on the Tian-shan plateau and the Alai +range by his explorations of 1903; and Sven Hedin, between 1899 +and 1902, was collecting material in Turkestan and Tibetan fields, +and resumed his journeys in 1905-1908, the result being to revolutionize +our knowledge of the region north of the upper Tsanpo +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Tibet</a></span>). The mission of Sir Francis Younghusband to Lhasa in +1904 resulted in an extension of the Indian system of triangulation +which finally determined the geographical position of that city, and in +a most valuable reconnaissance of the valleys of the Upper Brahmaputra +and Indus by Captains C.H.D. Ryder and C.G. Rawling.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in the Farther East so rapid has been the progress of +geographical research since the first beginnings of investigation into +the route connexion between Burma and China in 1874 +(when the brave Augustus Margary lost his life), that a +<span class="sidenote">Chinese explorations.</span> +gradually increasing tide of exploration, setting from +east to west and back again, has culminated in a flood +of inquiring experts intent on economic and commercial development +in China, essaying to unlock those doors to trade which are +hereafter to be propped open for the benefit of humanity. Captain +William Gill, of the Indian survey, first made his way across China +to eastern Tibet and Burma, and subsequently delighted the world +with his story of the <i>River of Golden Sand</i>. Then followed another +charming writer, E.C. Baber, who, in 1877-1878, unravelled the +geographic mysteries of the western provinces of the Celestial +empire. Mark Bell crossed the continent in 1887 and illustrated +its ancient trade routes, following the steps of Archibald Colquhoun, +who wandered from Peking to Talifu in 1881. Meanwhile, the +acquisition of Burma and the demarcation of boundaries had opened +the way to the extension of geographical surveys in directions +hitherto untraversed. Woodthorpe was followed into Burmese +fields by many others; and amongst the earliest travellers to those +mysterious mountains which hide the sources of the Irrawaddy, the +Salween and the Mekong, was Prince Henri d’Orleans. Burma +was rapidly brought under survey; Siam was already in the map-making +hands of James M’Carthy, whilst Curzon and Warrington +Smyth added much to our knowledge of its picturesque coast districts. +No more valuable contribution to the illustration of western Chinese +configuration has been given to the public than that of C.C. Manifold +who explored and mapped the upper basin of the Yang-tsze river +between the years 1900 and 1904, whilst our knowledge of the +geography of the Russo-Chinese borderland on the north-east has +been largely advanced by the operations attending the Russo-Japanese +war which terminated in 1905.</p> + +<p>Turning our attention westwards, no advance in the progress of +scientific geography is more remarkable than that recorded on the +northern and north-western frontiers of India. Here +there is little matter of exploration. It has rather been a +<span class="sidenote">Indian frontiers—Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Persia.</span> +wide extension of scientific geographical mapping. +Afghan war of 1878-80; the Russo-Afghan Boundary +Commission of 1884-1885; the occupation of Gilgit and +Chitral; the extension of boundaries east and north of +Afghanistan, and again, between Baluchistan and Persia—these, +added to the opportunities afforded by the +systematic survey of Baluchistan which has been steadily progressing +since 1880—combined to produce a series of geographical maps +which extend from the Oxus to the Indus, and from the Indus +to the Euphrates.</p> + +<p>In these professional labours the Indian surveyors have been +assisted by such scientific geographers as General Sir A. Houtum +Schindler, Captain H.B. Vaughan and Major Percy M. Sykes in +Persia, and by Sir George Robertson and Cockerill in Kafiristan and +the Hindu Kush.</p> + +<p>In still more western fields of research much additional light has +been thrown since 1875 on the physiography of the great deserts and +oases of Arabia. The labours of Charles Doughty and +Wilfrid S. Blunt in northern Arabia in 1877-1878 were +<span class="sidenote">Arabia.</span> +followed by those of G. Schweinfurth and E. Glaser in the south-west +about ten years later. In 1884-1885 Colonel S.B. Miles made his +adventurous journey through Oman, while Theodore Bent threw +searchlights backwards into ancient Semitic history by his investigations +in the Bahrein Islands in 1888 and in Hadramut in 1894-1895.</p> + +<p>In northern Asia it is impossible to follow in detail the results +of the organized Russian surveys. The vast steppes and forest-clad +mountain regions of Siberia have assumed a new geographical +aspect in the light of these revelations, and +<span class="sidenote">Northern Asia, Siberia, &c.</span> +already promise a new world of economic resources +to Russian enterprise in the near future. A remarkable +expedition by Baron Toll in 1892 through the regions +watered by the Lena, resulted in the collection of material which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page740" id="page740"></a>740</span> +will greatly help to elucidate some of the problems which beset +the geological history of the world, proving <i>inter alia</i> the primeval +existence of a boreal zone of the Jurassic sea round the North Pole.</p> + +<p>In no other period of the world’s history, of equal length of time, +has so much scientific enterprise been directed towards the field of +Asiatic inquiry. The first great result of recent geographical +research has been to modify pre-existing ideas of +<span class="sidenote">General results of investigation.</span> +the orography of the vast central region represented by +Tibet and Mongolia. The great highland plateau which +stretches from the Himalaya northwards to Chinese +Turkestan, and from the frontier of Kashmir eastwards to China, +has now been defined with comparative geographical exactness. +The position of Sachu (or Saitu) in Mongolia may be taken as an +obligatory point in modern map construction. The longitude value +now adopted is 94° 54′ E. of Greenwich, which is the revised value +given by Prjevalsky in the map accompanying the account of his +fourth exploration into central Asia. Other values are as follows:—</p> + +<table class="ws" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl">Prjevalsky, by his second and third explorations</td> <td class="tcl">94° 26′</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Krishna</td> <td class="tcl">94° 23′</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Carey and Dalgleish</td> <td class="tcl">94° 48′</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Littledale</td> <td class="tcl">94° 49′</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Kreitner (with Szecheny’s expedition)</td> <td class="tcl">94° 58′</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The longitude of Darchendo, or Tachienlu, on the extreme east, +may be accepted as another obligatory point. The adopted value +by the Royal Geographical Society is 102° 12″. Krishna gives +102° 15″, Kreitner 102° 5″, Baber 102° 18″.</p> + +<p>South and west the bounding territories are well fixed in geographical +position by the Indian survey determinations of the value +of Himalayan peaks. On the north the Chinese Turkestan explorations +are now brought into survey connexion with Kashmir and +India.</p> + +<p>No longer do we regard the Kuen-lun mountains, which extend +from the frontiers of Kashmir, north of Leh, almost due east to the +Chinese province of Kansu, as the southern limit of the Gobi or +Turkestan depression. This very remarkable longitudinal chain is +undoubtedly the northern limit of the Chang Tang, the elevated +highland steppes of Tibet; but from it there branches a minor +system to the north-east from a point in about 83° E. longitude, +which culminates in the Altyn Tagh, and extends eastwards in a +continuous water-divide to the Nan Shan mountains, north of the +Koko Nor basin. Thus between Tibet and the low-lying sands +of Gobi we have, thrust in, a system of elevated valleys (Tsaidam), +8000 to 9000 ft. above sea-level, forming an intermediate steppe +between the highest regions and the lowest, east of Lop Nor. All +this is comparatively new geography, and it goes far to explain why +the great trade routes from Peking to the west were pushed so far +to the north.</p> + +<p>On the western edge of the Kashgar plains, the political boundary +between Russia and China is defined by the meridional range of +Sarikol. This range (known to the ancients as Taurus +and in medieval times as Bolor) like many others of the +<span class="sidenote">Russo-Chinese boundary.</span> +most important great natural mountain divisions of the +world, consists of two parallel chains, of which the western +is the water-divide of the Pamirs, and the eastern (which has been +known as the Kashgar or Kandar range) is split at intervals by +lateral gorges to allow of the passage of the main drainage from the +eastern Pamir slopes.</p> + +<p>In western Asia we have learned the exact value of the mountain +barrier which lies between Merv and Herat, and have mapped +its connexion with the Elburz of Persia. We can now +fully appreciate the factor in practical politics which +<span class="sidenote">Indian frontiers—Afghanistan, &c.</span> +that definite but somewhat irregular mountain system +represents which connects the water-divide north of +Herat with the southern abutment of the Hindu Kush, +near Bamian. Every pass of importance is known and recorded; +every route of significance has been explored and mapped; Afghanistan +has assumed a new political entity by the demarcation of +a boundary; the value of Herat and of the Pamirs as bases of +aggression has been assessed, and the whole intervening space of +mountain and plain thoroughly examined.</p> + +<p>Although within the limits of western Asiatic states, still under +Asiatic government and beyond the active influence of European +interests, the material progress of the Eastern world has +appeared to remain stationary, yet large accessions to +<span class="sidenote">Persia.</span> +geographical knowledge have at least been made, and in some instances +a deeper knowledge of the surface of the country and modern +conditions of life has led to the straightening of many crooked paths +in history, and a better appreciation of the slow processes of advancing +civilization. The steady advance of scientific inquiry into +every corner of Persia, backed by the unceasing efforts of a new +school of geographical explorers, has left nothing unexamined that +can be subjected to superficial observation. The geographical map +of the country is fairly complete, and with it much detailed information +is now accessible regarding the coast and harbours of the +Persian Gulf, the routes and passes of the interior, and the possibilities +of commercial development by the construction of trade +roads uniting the Caspian, the Karun, the Persian Gulf, and India, +via Seistan. Persia has assumed a comprehensible position as a +factor in future Eastern politics.</p> + +<p>In Arabia progress has been slower, although the surveys carried +out by Colonel Wahab in connexion with the boundary determined +in the Aden hinterland added more exact geographical +knowledge within a limited area. Little more is known +<span class="sidenote">Arabia.</span> +of the wide spaces of interior desert than has already been given to +the world in the works of Sir Richard F. Burton, Wm. Gifford +Palgrave and Sir Lewis Pelly amongst Englishmen, and Karsten +Niebuhr, John Lewis Burckhardt, Visconte, Joseph Halévy and +others, amongst foreign travellers. Charles Doughty and Wilfrid +S. Blunt have visited and illustrated the district of Nejd, and described +the waning glories of the Wahabi empire. But extended +geographical knowledge does not point to any great practical issue. +Commercial relations with Arabia remain much as they were in 1875.</p> + +<p>In Asia Minor, Syria and Mesopotamia there is little to record +of progress in material development beyond the promises held +out by the Euphrates Valley railway concession to a +<span class="sidenote">Asia Minor, &c.</span> +German company. The exact information obtained by +the researches of English surveyors in Palestine and +beyond Jordan, or by the efforts of explorers in the regions that lie +between the Mediterranean and the Caspian, have so far led rather +to the elucidation of history than to fresh commercial enterprise or +the possible increase of material wealth.</p> + +<p>Asiatic Russia, especially eastern Siberia and Mongolia, have +been brought within the sphere of Russian exploration, with results +so surprising as to form an epoch in the history of Asia. +<span class="sidenote">Russia in Asia.</span> +Here there has been a development of the resources +of the Old World which parallels the best records of the +New.</p> + +<p>The great central depression of the continent which reaches from +the foot of the Pamir plateau on the west through the Tarim desert +to Lop Nor and the Gobi has yielded up many interesting +secrets. The remarkable phenomenon of the periodic +<span class="sidenote">Chinese Turkestan and Oxus basin.</span> +shifting of the Lop Nor system has been revealed by the +researches of Sven Hedin, and the former existence of +highly civilized centres of Buddhist art and industry in +the now sand-strewn wastes of the Turkestan desert has been clearly +demonstrated by the same great explorer and by Dr M.A. Stein. +The depression westward of the Caspian and Aral basins, and the +original connexion of these seas, have also come under the close +investigation of Russian scientists, with the result that the theory +of an ancient connexion between the Oxus and the Caspian has been +displaced by the more recent hypothesis of an extension of the +Caspian Sea eastwards into Trans-Caspian territory within the +post-Pleiocene age. The discovery of shells (now living in the Caspian) +at a distance of about 100 m. inland, at an altitude of 140 to 280 ft. +above the present level of the Caspian, gives support to this hypothesis, +which is further advanced by the ascertained nature of the +Kara-kum sands, which appear to be a purely marine formation +exhibiting no traces of fluviatile deposits which might be considered +as delta deposits of the Oxus.</p> + +<p>In the discussion of this problem we find the names of Baron A. +Kaulbars, Annentkov, P.M. Lessar, and A.M. Konshin prominent. +Further matter of interest in connexion with the Oxus basin was +elucidated by the researches of L. Griesbach in connexion with the +Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission. He reported the gradual +formation of an anticlinal or ridge extending longitudinally through +the great Balkh plain of Afghan Turkestan, which effectually shuts +off the northern affluents of that basin from actual junction with the +river. This evidence of a gradual process of upheaval still in action +may throw some light on the physical (especially the climatic) changes +which must have passed over that part of Asia since Balkh was the +“mother of cities,” the great trade centre of Asia, and the plains of +Balkh were green with cultivation. In the restoration of the outlines +of ancient and medieval geography in Asia Sven Hedin’s discoveries +of the actual remains of cities which have long been buried +under the advancing waves of sand in the Takla Makan desert, +cities which flourished in the comparatively recent period of Buddhist +ascendancy in High Asia, is of the very highest interest, filling +up a blank in the identification of sites mentioned by early geographers +and illustrating more fully the course of old pilgrim routes.</p> + +<p>With the completion of the surveys of Baluchistan and Makran +much light has also been thrown on the ancient connexion between +<span class="sidenote">Baluchistan and Makran.</span> +east and west; and the final settlement of the southern +boundaries of Afghanistan has led to the reopening of +one at least of the old trade routes between Seistan +and India.</p> + +<p>Farther east no part of Asia has been brought under more careful +investigation than the hydrography of the strange mountain +wilderness that divides Tibet and Burma from China. +In this field the researches of travellers already mentioned, +<span class="sidenote">Burma and China.</span> +combined with the more exact reconnaissance +of native surveyors and of those exploring parties which have +recently been working in the interests of commercial projects, have +left little to future inquiry. We know now for certain that the great +Tsanpo of Tibet and the Brahmaputra are one and the same river; +that north of the point where the great countermarch of that river +from east to west is effected are to be found the sources of the +Salween, the Mekong, the Yang-tsze-kiang and the Hwang-ho, or +Yellow river, in order, from west to east; and that south of it, thrust +in between the extreme eastern edge of the Brahmaputra basin +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page741" id="page741"></a>741</span> +and the Salween, rise the dual sources of the Irrawaddy. From the +water-divide which separates the most eastern affluent of the +Brahmaputra, eastwards to the deep gorges which enclose the most +westerly branch of the upper Yang-tsze-kiang (here running from +north to south), is a short space of 100 m.; and within that space +two mighty rivers, the Salween and the Mekong, send down their +torrents to Burma and Siam. These three rivers flow parallel to each +other for some 300 m., deep hidden in narrow and precipitous troughs, +amidst some of the grandest scenery of Asia; spreading apart +where the Yank-tsze takes its course eastwards, not far north of +the parallel of 25°.</p> + +<p>The comparatively restricted area which still remains for close +investigation includes the most easterly sources of the Brahmaputra, +the most northerly sources of the Irrawaddy, and some 300 m. of +the course of the upper Salween.</p> + +<p><i>Modern Boundary Demarcation</i>.—The period from about 1880 +has been an era of boundary-making in Asia, of defining the +politico-geographical limits of empire, and of determining the responsibilities +of government. Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, India +and China have all revised their borders, and with the revision the +political relations between these countries have acquired a new +and more assured basis. See also the articles on the different +countries. We are not here concerned with understandings as to +“spheres of influence,” or with arrangements such as the +Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 concerning Persia.</p> + +<p>The advance of Russia to the Turkoman deserts and the Oxus +demanded a definite boundary between her trans-Caspian conquests +and the kingdom of Afghanistan. This was determined +on the north-west by the Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission +<span class="sidenote">Southern boundary of Russia in Asia.</span> +of 1884-1886. A boundary was then fixed +between the Hari Rud (the river of Herat) and the Oxus, +which is almost entirely artificial in its construction. +Zulfikar, where the boundary leaves the Hari Rud, is about 70 m. +south of Sarakhs, and the most southerly point of the boundary +(where it crosses the Kushk) is about 60 m. north of Herat. From +the junction of the boundary with the Oxus at Khamiab about +150 m. above the crossing-point of the Russian Trans-Caspian +railway at Charjui, the main channel of the Oxus river becomes the +northern boundary of Afghanistan, separating that country from +Russia, and so continues to its source in Victoria Lake of the Great +Pamir. Beyond this point the Anglo-Russian Commission of 1895 +demarcated a line to the snowfields and glaciers which overlook the +Chinese border. Between the Russian Pamirs and Chinese Turkestan +the rugged line of the Sarikol range intervenes, the actual +dividing line being still indefinite. Beyond Kashgar the southern +boundary of Siberia follows an irregular course to the north-east, +partly defined by the Tian-shan and Alatau mountains, till it attains +a northerly point in about 53° N. lat. marked by the Sayan range +to the west of Irkutsk. It then deflects south-east till it touches +the Kerulen affluent of the Amur river at a point which is shown +in unofficial maps as about 117° 30′ E. long, and 49° 20′ N. lat. +From here it follows this affluent to its junction with the Amur river, +and the Amur river to its junction with the Usuri. It follows the +Usuri to its head (its direction now being a little west of south), +and finally strikes the Pacific coast on about 42° 30′ N. lat. at the +mouth of the Tumen river 100 m. south of the Amur bay, at the head +of which lies the Russian port of Vladivostok. At two points the +Russian boundary nearly approaches that of provinces which are +directly under British suzerainty. Where the Oxus river takes its +great bend to the north from Ishkashim, the breadth of the Afghan +territory intervening between that river and the main water-divide +of the Hindu Kush is not more than 10 or 12 m.; and east of the +Pamir extension of Afghanistan, where the Beyik Pass crosses +the Sarikol range and drops into the Taghdumbash Pamir, there +is but the narrow width of the Karachukar valley between the +Sarikol and the Muztagh. Here, however, the boundary is again +undefined. Eastwards of this the great Kashgar depression, which +includes the Tarim desert, separates Russia from the vast sterile +highlands of Tibet; and a continuous series of desert spaces of low +elevation, marking the limits of a primeval inland sea from the +Sarikol meridional watershed to the Khingan mountains on the +western borders of Manchuria, divide her from the northern provinces +of China. From the Khingan ranges to the Pacific, south +of the Amur, stretch the rich districts of Manchuria, a province +which connects Russia with the Korea by a series of valleys formed +by the Sungari and its affluents—a land of hill and plain, forest +and swamp, possessing a delightful climate, and vast undeveloped +agricultural resources. Throughout this land of promise Russian +influence was destroyed by Japan in the war of 1904. The possession +of Port Arthur, and direct political control over Korea, place +Japan in the dominant position as regards Manchuria.</p> + +<p>Coincident with the demarcation of Russian boundaries in Turkestan +was that of northern Afghanistan. From the Hari Rud on the +west to the Sarikol mountains on the east her northern +limits were set by the Boundary Commissions of 1884-1886 +<span class="sidenote">Afghan political boundaries.</span> +and of 1895 respectively. Her southern and eastern +boundaries were further defined by a series of minor +commissions, working on the basis of the Kabul agreement +of 1893, which lasted for nearly four years, terminating with the +Mohmand settlement at the close of an expedition in 1897.</p> + +<p>The Pamir extension of Afghan territory to the north-east reaches +to a point a little short of 75° E., from whence it follows the water-divide to the head of the Taghdumbash Pamir, and is thenceforward +defined by the water-parting of the Hindu Kush. It leaves the +Hindu Kush near the Dorah Pass at the head of one of the minor +Chitral affluents, and passing south-west divides Kafiristan from +Chitral and Bajour, separates the sections of the Mohmands who +are within the respective spheres of Afghan and British sovereignty, +and crosses the Peshawar-Kabul route at Lundi-Khana. It thus +places a broad width of independent territory between the boundaries +of British India (which have remained practically, though not +absolutely, untouched) and Afghanistan; and this independent +belt includes Swat, Bajour and a part of the Mohmand territory +north of the Kabul river. The same principle of maintaining an +intervening width of neutral territory between the two countries +is definitely established throughout the eastern borders of Afghanistan, +along the full length of which a definite boundary has been +demarcated to the point where it touches the northern limits of +Baluchistan on the Gomal river. From the Gomal Baluchistan +itself becomes an intervening state between British India and +Afghanistan, and the dividing line between Baluchistan and +Afghanistan is laid down with all the precision employed on the more +northerly sections of the demarcation.</p> + +<p>Baluchistan can no longer be regarded as a distinct entity amongst +Asiatic nations, such as Afghanistan undoubtedly is. Baluchistan +independence demands qualification. There is British +Baluchistan <i>par excellence</i>, and there is the rest of Baluchistan which exists in various degrees of independence, but +<span class="sidenote">Baluchistan.</span> +is everywhere subject to British control. British Baluchistan officially includes the districts of Peshin, Sibi and of +Thal-Chotiali. As these districts had originally been Afghan, they were transferred to British +authority by the treaty of Gandamak in 1879, although nominally +they had been handed over to Kalat forty years previously. Now +they form an official province of British Baluchistan within the +Baluchistan Agency; and the agency extends from the Gomal to +the Arabian Sea and the Persian frontier. Within this agency there +are districts as independent as any in Afghanistan, but the political +status of the province as a whole is almost precisely that of the native states of the Indian peninsula. The agent to the +governor-general of India, with a staff of political assistants, practically exercises supreme control.</p> + +<p>The increase of Russian influence on the northern Persian border +and its extension southwards towards Seistan led to the appointment +of a British consul at Kirman, the dominating +<span class="sidenote">Kirman.</span> +town of southern Khorasan, directly connected with +Meshed on the north; and the acquisition of rights of administration +of the Nushki district secured to Great Britain the trade +between Seistan and Quetta by the new Helmund desert route.</p> + +<p>While British India has so far avoided actual geographical contact +with one great European power in Asia on the north and west, +she has touched another on the east. The Mekong river +which limits British interests in Burma limits also those +<span class="sidenote">Boundary between French territory and India.</span> +of France in Tongking. The eastern boundaries of +Burma are not yet fully demarcated on the Chinese +frontier. At a point level in latitude with Mogaung, +near the northern termination of the Burmese railway +system, this boundary is defined by the eastern watershed of the +Nmaikha, the eastern of the two great northern affluents of the +Irrawaddy. Then it follows an irregular course southwards to a +position south-east of Bhamo in lat. 24°. It next defines the northern +edge of the Shan States, and finally strikes the Mekong river in +lat. 21° 45′ (approximately). From that point southwards the river +becomes the boundary between the Shan States and Tongking for +some 200 m., the channel of the river defining the limits of occupation +(though not entirely of interest) between French and British subjects. +Approximately on the parallel of 20° N. lat. the Burmese boundary +leaves the Mekong to run westwards towards the Salween, and thereafter +following the eastern watershed of the Salween basin it divides +the Lower Burma provinces from Siam.</p> + +<p>The following table shows the areas of territories in Asia +<span class="sidenote">Area and political division.</span> +(continental and insular) dependent on the various extra-Asiatic +powers, and of those which are independent or +nominally so:—</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="width: 50%; clear: both;" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl"> Territory</td> <td class="tcr">Sq. m. </td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Russian</td> <td class="tcr cl">6,495,970</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">British</td> <td class="tcr">1,998,220</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Dutch</td> <td class="tcr cl">586,980</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">French</td> <td class="tcr">247,580</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">U.S.A.</td> <td class="tcr cl">114,370</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">German</td> <td class="tcr">193</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Turkish</td> <td class="tcr cl">681,980</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Chinese</td> <td class="tcr">4,299,600</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Japanese</td> <td class="tcr cl">161,110</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Other independent territories</td> <td class="tcr">2,232,270</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The total area of Asia, continental and insular, is therefore somewhat +over 16,819,000 sq. m. (but various authorities differ considerably +in their detailed estimates). The population may be set down +roughly as 823,000,000, of which 330,000,000 inhabit Chinese territory, +302,000,000 British, and 25,000,000 Russian.</p> +<div class="author">(T. H. H.*)</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page742" id="page742"></a>742</span></p> + +<div class="center pt2"><img style="width:850px; height:851px" src="images/img742.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">Geology</p> + +<p>The geology of Asia is so complex and over wide areas so little +known that it is difficult to give a connected account of either the +structure or the development of the continent, and only the broader +features can be dealt with here.</p> + +<p>In the south, in Syria, Arabia and the peninsula of India, none +but the oldest rocks are folded, and the Upper Palaeozoic, the Mesozoic +and the Tertiary beds lie almost horizontally upon them. It is +a region of quiescence or of faulting, but not of folding. North of +this lies a broad belt in which the Mesozoic deposits and even the +lower divisions of the Tertiary system are thrown into folds which +extend in a series of arcs from west to east and now form the principal +mountain ranges of central Asia. This belt includes Asia Minor, +Persia, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the Himalayas, the Tian-shan, +and, although they are very different in direction, the Burmese +ranges. The Kuen-lun, Nan-shan and the mountain ranges of +southern China are, perhaps, of earlier date, but nevertheless they +be in the same belt. It is not true that throughout the whole width +of this zone the beds are folded. There are considerable tracts +which are but little disturbed, but these tracts are enclosed within +the arcs formed by the folds, and the zone taken as a whole is distinctly +one of crumpling. North of the folded belt, and including +the greater part of Siberia, Mongolia and northern China, lies another +area which is, in general, free from any important folding of Mesozoic +or Tertiary age. There are, it is true, mountain ranges which are +formed of folded beds; but in many cases the direction of the chains +is different from that of the folds, so that the ranges must owe their +elevation to other causes; and the folds, moreover, are of ancient +date, for the most part Archaean or Palaeozoic. The configuration +of the region is largely due to faulting, trough-like or tray-like +depressions being formed, and the intervening strips, which have +not been depressed, standing up as mountain ridges. Over a large +part of Siberia and in the north of China, even the Cambrian beds +still lie as horizontally as they were first laid down. In the extreme +north, in the Verkhoyansk range and in the mountains of the Taimyr +peninsula, there are indications of another zone of folding of Mesozoic +or later date, but our information concerning these ranges is +very scanty. Besides the three chief regions into which the mainland +is thus seen to be divided, attention should be drawn to the festoons +of islands which border the eastern side of the continent, and which +are undoubtedly due to causes similar to those which produced the +folds of the folded belt.</p> + +<p>Of all the Asiatic ranges the Himalayan is, geologically, the best +known; and the evidence which it affords shows clearly that the +folds to which it owes its elevation were produced by an overthrust +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page743" id="page743"></a>743</span> +from the north. It is, indeed, as if the high land of central Asia had +been pushed southward against and over the unyielding mass formed +by the old rocks of the Indian peninsula, and in the process the edges +of the over-riding strata had been crumpled and folded. Overlooking +all smaller details, we may consider Asia to consist of a northern +mass and a southern mass, too rigid to crumple, but not too strong +to fracture, and an intermediate belt of softer rock which was capable +of folding. If then by the contraction of the earth’s interior the outer +crust were forced to accommodate itself to a smaller nucleus, the +central softer belt would yield by crumpling, the more rigid masses +to the north and south, if they gave way at all, would yield by +faulting. It is interesting to observe, as will be shown later, that +during the Mesozoic era there was a land mass in the north of Asia +and another in the south, and between them lay the sea in which +ordinary marine sediments were deposited. The belt of folding +does not precisely coincide with this central sea, but the +correspondence is fairly close.</p> + +<p>The present outline of the eastern coast and the nearly enclosed +seas which lie between the islands and the mainland, are attributed +by Richthofen chiefly to simple faulting.</p> + +<p>Little is known of the early geological history of Asia beyond the +fact that a large part of the continent was covered by the sea during +the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. But there is positive evidence +that much of the north and east of Asia has been land since the +Palaeozoic era, and it has been conclusively proved that the peninsula +of India has never been beneath the sea since the Carboniferous +period at least. Between these ancient land masses lies an area in +which marine deposits of Mesozoic age are well developed and which +was evidently beneath the sea during the greater part of the Mesozoic +era. The northern land mass has been named Angaraland by +E. Suess; the southern, of which the Indian peninsula is but a +fragment, is called Gondwanaland by Neumayr, Suess and others, +while the intervening sea is the central Mediterranean sea of +Neumayr and the Tethys of Suess. The greater part of western +Asia, including the basin of the Obi, the drainage area of the Aral +Sea, together with Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Persia and Arabia, was +covered by the sea during the later stages of the Cretaceous period, +but a considerable part of this region was probably dry land in +Jurassic times.</p> + +<p>The northern land mass begins in the north with the area which +lies between the Yenisei and the Lena. Here the folded Archean +rocks are overlaid by Cambrian and Ordovician beds, which still +lie for the most part flat and undisturbed. Upon these rest patches +of freshwater deposits containing numerous remains of plants. +They consist chiefly of sandstone and conglomerate, but include +workable seams of coal. Some of the deposits appear to be of +Permian age, but others are probably Jurassic, and they are all +included under the general name of the Angara series. Excepting +in the extreme north, where marine Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils +have been found, there is no evidence that this part of Siberia has +been beneath the sea since the early part of the Palaeozoic era. +Besides the plant beds extensive outflows of basic lava rest directly +upon the Cambrian and Ordovician strata. The date of these +eruptions is still uncertain, but they probably continued to a very +recent period.</p> + +<p>South and east of the Palaeozoic plateau is an extensive area +consisting chiefly of Archean rocks, and including the greater part +of Mongolia north of the Tian-shan. Here again there are no marine +beds of Mesozoic or Tertiary age, while plant-bearing deposits +belonging to the Angara series are known. Structurally, the folds +of this region are of ancient date, but the area is crossed by a series +of depressions formed by faults, and the intervening strips, which +have not been depressed to the same extent, now stand up as mountain +ranges. Farther south, in the Chinese provinces of Shansi and +Shensi, the geological succession is similar in some respects to that +of the Siberian Palaeozoic plateau, but the sequence is more complete. +There is again a floor of folded Archean rocks overlaid by nearly +horizontal strata of Lower Palaeozoic age, but these are followed +by marine beds belonging to the Carboniferous period. From the +Upper Carboniferous onward, however, no marine deposits are +known; and, as in Siberia, plant bearing beds are met with. +Southern China is very different in structure, consisting largely of +folded mountain chains; but the geological succession is very similar, +and excepting near the Tibetan and Burmese borders, there are no +marine deposits of Mesozoic or Tertiary age.</p> + +<p>Thus it appears that from the Arctic Ocean there stretches a broad +area as far as the south of China, in which no marine deposits of +later date than Carboniferous have yet been found, except in the +extreme north. Freshwater and terrestrial deposits of Mesozoic age +occur in many places, and the conclusion is irresistible that the +greater part of this area has been land since the close of the +Palaeozoic era. The Triassic deposits of the Verkhoyansk Range show that +this land did not extend to the Bering Sea, while the marine Mesozoic +deposits of Japan on the east, the western Tian-shan on the west and +Tibet on the south give us some idea of its limits in other directions.</p> + +<p>In the same way the entire absence of any marine fossils in the +peninsula of India, excepting near its borders, and the presence of +the terrestrial and freshwater deposits of the Gondwana series, +representing the whole of the geological scale from the top of the +Carboniferous to the top of the Jurassic, show that this region also +has been land since the Carboniferous period. It was a portion +of a great land mass which probably extended across the Indian +Ocean and was at one time united with the south of Africa.</p> + +<p>But these two land masses were not connected. Between India +and China there is a broad belt in which marine deposits of Mesozoic +and Tertiary age are well developed. Marine Tertiary beds occur +in Burma; in the Himalayas and in south Tibet there is a nearly +complete series of marine deposits from the Carboniferous to the +Eocene; in Afghanistan the Mesozoic beds are in part marine and +in part fluviatile. The sea in which these strata were deposited +seems to have attained its greatest extension in Upper Cretaceous +times when its waters spread over the whole of western Asia and +even encroached slightly upon the Indian land. The Eocene sea +however cannot have been much inferior in extent.</p> + +<p>It was after the Eocene period that the main part of the elevation +of the Himalayas took place, as is shown by the occurrence of +nummulitic limestone at a height of 20,000 ft. The formation of this +and of the other great mountain chains of central Asia resulted in +the isolation of portions of the former central sea, and the same +forces finally led to the elevation of the whole region and the union +of the old continents of Angara and Gondwana. Gondwanaland, +however, did not long survive, and the portion which lay between +India and South Africa sank beneath the waves in Tertiary times.</p> + +<p>Leaving out of consideration all evidence of more ancient volcanic +activity, each of the three regions into which, as we have seen, the +continent may be divided has been, during or since the Cretaceous +period, the seat of great volcanic eruptions. In the southern region +of unfolded beds are found the lavas of the “harras” of Arabia, +and in India the extensive flows of the Deccan Trap. In the central +folded belt lie the great volcanoes, now mostly extinct, of Asia Minor, +Armenia, Persia and Baluchistan. In Burma also there is at least +one extinct volcano. In the northern unfolded region great flows +of basic lava lie directly upon the Cambrian and Ordovician beds +of Siberia, but are certainly in part of Tertiary age. Similar flows +on a smaller scale occur in Manchuria, Korea and northern China.</p> + +<p>In all these cases, however, the eruptions have now almost ceased, +and the great volcanoes of the present day lie in the islands off the +eastern and south eastern coasts.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">References</span>—E. Suess, <i>Das Antlitz der Erde</i> (see, especially, +vol. iii. part 1.); F.V. Richthofen, “Ueber Gestalt und Gliederung +einer Grundlinie in der Morphologie Ost-Asiens,” <i>Sitz. k. preuss. +Akad. Wiss.</i> (Berlin, 1900), pp. 888-925, and Geomorphologische +Studien aus Ostasien, <i>ibid.</i>, 1901, pp. 782-808, 1902, pp. 944-975, +1903, pp. 867-918.</p> +<div class="author">(P. La.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">Climate.</p> + +<p>Among the places on the globe where the temperature falls lowest +are some in northern Asia; and among those where it rises highest +are some in southern Asia. The mean temperature of +the north coast of eastern Siberia is but a few degrees +<span class="sidenote">Temperature.</span> +above the zero of Fahrenheit; the lowest mean temperature +anywhere observed is about 4° Fahr., at Melville Island, +north of the American continent. The isothermals of mean annual +temperature lie over northern Asia on curves tolerably regular in +their outline, having their western branches in a somewhat higher +latitude than their eastern; a reduction of 1° of latitude corresponds +approximately—and irrespective of modifications due to elevation—to +a rise of ½° Fahr., as far say as 30° N, where the mean temperature +is about 75° Fahr. Farther south the increase is slower, and +the highest mean temperature anywhere attained in southern Asia +is not much above 82° Fahr.</p> + +<p>The variations of temperature are very great in Siberia, amounting +near the coast to more than 100° Fahr., between the mean of the +hottest and coldest months, and to still more between the extreme +temperatures of those months. In southern Asia, and particularly +near the sea, the variation between the hottest and coldest monthly +means is very much less, and under the equator it is reduced to about +5°. In Siberia the difference between the means of the hottest and +coldest months is hardly anywhere less than 60° Fahr. On the Sea +of Aral it is 80° Fahr., and at Astrakhan, on the Caspian, more +than 50°. At Tiflis it is 45°. In northern China, at Peking, it is +55°, reduced to 30° at Canton, and to 20° at Manila. In northern +India the greatest difference does not exceed 40°, and it falls off to +about 15° at Calcutta and to about 10° or 12° at Bombay and Madras. +The temperatures at the head of the Persian Gulf approximate +to those of northern India, and those of Aden to Madras. At Singapore +the range is less than 5°, and at Batavia in Java, and Galle +in Ceylon, it is about the same. The extreme temperatures in +Siberia may be considered to lie between 80° and 90° Fahr. for +maxima, and between −40° and −70° Fahr. for minima. The extreme +of heat near the Caspian and Aral Seas rises to nearly 100° Fahr., +while that of cold falls to −20° Fahr. or lower. Compared with these +figures, we find in southern Asia 110° or 112° Fahr. as a maximum +hardly ever exceeded. The absolute minimum in northern India, +in lat. 30°, hardly goes below 32°; at Calcutta it is about 40°, though +the thermometer seldom falls to 50°. At Madras it rarely falls as +low as 65°, or at Bombay below 60°. At Singapore and Batavia the +thermometer very rarely falls below 70°, or rises above 90°. At Aden +the minimum is a few degrees below 70°, the maximum not much +exceeding 90°.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page744" id="page744"></a>744</span></p> + +<p>These figures sufficiently indicate the main characteristics of the +air temperatures of Asia. Throughout its northern portion the +winter is long and of extreme severity; and even down to the circle +of 35° N. lat., the minimum temperature is almost as low as zero of +Fahrenheit. The summers are hot, though short in the northern +latitudes, the maximum of summer heat being comparatively little +less than that observed in the tropical countries farther south. The +moderating effect of the proximity of the ocean is felt in an important +degree along the southern and eastern parts of Asia, where +the land is broken up into islands or peninsulas. The great elevations +above the sea-level of the central part of Asia, and of the table-lands +of Afghanistan and Persia, tend to exaggerate the winter cold; +while the sterility of the surface, due to the small rainfall over the +same region, operates powerfully in the opposite direction in increasing +the summer heat. In the summer a great accumulation of solar +heat takes place on the dry surface soil, from which it cannot be +released upwards by evaporation, as might be the case were the soil +moist or covered with vegetation, nor can it be readily conveyed +away downwards as happens on the ocean. In the winter similar +consequences ensue, in a negative direction, from the prolonged loss +of heat by radiation in the long and clear nights—an effect which is +intensified wherever the surface is covered with snow, or the air little +charged with vapour. In illustration of the very slow diffusion of +heat in the solid crust of the earth, and as affording a further indication +of the climate of northern Asia, reference may here be made +to the frozen soil of Siberia, in the vicinity of Yakutsk. In this +region the earth is frozen permanently to a depth of more than 380 ft. +at which the temperature is still 5° or 6° Fahr. below the freezing +point of water, the summer heat merely thawing the surface to a +depth of about 3 ft. At a depth of 50 ft. the temperature is about +15 Fahr. below the freezing point. Under such conditions of the +soil, the land, nevertheless, produces crops of wheat and other +grain from fifteen to forty fold.</p> + +<p>The very high summer temperatures of the area north of the +tropic of Cancer are sufficiently accounted for, when compared with +those observed south of the tropic, by the increased length of the +day in the higher latitude, which more than compensates for the +loss of heat due to the smaller mid-day altitude of the sun. The +difference between the heating power of the sun’s rays at noon on the +21st of June, in latitude 20° and in latitude 45°, is only about 2%; +while the accumulated heat received during the day, which is +lengthened to 15½ hours in the higher latitude, is greater by about 11% +than in the lower latitude, where the day consists only of 13¼ hours.</p> + +<p>Although the foregoing account of the temperatures of Asia +supplies the main outline of the observed phenomena, a very important +modifying cause, of which more will be said hereafter, comes +into operation over the whole of the tropical region, namely, the +periodical summer rains. These tend very greatly to arrest the +increase of the summer heat over the area where they prevail, and +otherwise give it altogether peculiar characteristics.</p> + +<p>The great summer heat, by expanding the air upwards, disturbs +the level of the planes of equal pressure, and causes an outflow +of the upper strata from the heated area. The winter +cold produces an effect of just an opposite nature, and +<span class="sidenote">Pressure and Winds.</span> +causes an accumulation of air over the cold area. The +diminution of barometric pressure which takes place all +over Asia during the summer months, and the increase in the winter, +are hence, no doubt, the results of the alternate heating and cooling +of the air over the continent.</p> + +<p>The necessary and immediate results of such periodical changes +of pressure are winds, which, speaking generally, blow from the area +of greatest to that of least pressure—subject, however, to certain +modifications of direction, arising from the absolute motion of the +whole body of the air due to the revolution of the earth on its axis +from west to east. The south-westerly winds which prevail north +of the equator during the hot half of the year, to which navigators +have given the name of the south-west monsoon (the latter word +being a corruption of the Indian name for season), arise from the +great diminution of atmospheric pressure over Asia, which begins +to be strongly marked with the great rise of temperature in April +and May, and the simultaneous relatively higher pressure over the +equator and the regions south of it. This diminution of pressure, +which continues as the heat increases till it reaches its maximum in +July soon after the solstice, is followed by the corresponding development +of the south-west monsoon; and as the barometric pressure +is gradually restored, and becomes equalized within the tropics soon +after the equinox in October, with the general fall of temperature +north of the equator, the south-west winds fall off, and are succeeded +by a north-east monsoon, which is developed during the winter +months by the relatively greater atmospheric pressure which then +occurs over Asia, as compared with the equatorial region.</p> + +<p>Although the succession of the periodical winds follows the progress +of the seasons as just described, the changes in the wind’s direction +everywhere take place under the operation of special local influences +which often disguise the more general law, and make it difficult to +trace. Thus the south-west monsoon begins in the Arabian Sea with +west and north-westerly winds, which draw round as the year advances +to south-west and fall back again in the autumn by north-west +to north. In the Bay of Bengal the strength of the south-west +monsoon is rather from the south and south-east, being +succeeded by north-east winds after October, which give place to +northerly and north-westerly winds as the year advances. Among +the islands of the Malay Archipelago the force of the monsoons is +much interrupted, and the position of this region on the equator +otherwise modifies the directions of the prevailing winds. The +southerly summer winds of the Asiatic seas between the equator +and the tropic do not extend to the coasts of Java, and the south-easterly +trade winds are there developed in the usual manner. The +China Sea is fully exposed to both monsoons, the normal directions +of which nearly coincide with the centre of the channel between the +continent of Asia and the eastern islands.</p> + +<p>The south-west monsoon does not generally extend, in its character +of a south-west wind, over the land. The current of air flowing in +from over the sea is gradually diverted towards the area of least +pressure, and at the same time is dissipated and loses much of its +original force. The winds which pass northward over India blow as +south-easterly and easterly winds over the north-eastern part of +the Gangetic plain, and as south winds up the Indus. They seem +almost entirely to have exhausted their northward velocity by the +time they have reached the northern extremity of the great Indian +plain; they are not felt on the table-lands of Afghanistan, and +hardly penetrate into the Indus basin or the ranges of the Himalaya, +by which mountains, and those which branch off from them into the +Malay peninsula, they are prevented from continuing their progress +in the direction originally imparted to them.</p> + +<p>Among the more remarkable phenomena of the hotter seas of Asia +must be noticed the revolving storms or cyclones, which are of +frequent occurrence in the hot months in the Indian Ocean and +China Sea, in which last they are known under the name of typhoon. +The cyclones of the Bay of Bengal appear to originate over the +Andaman and Nicobar islands, and are commonly propagated in +a north-westward direction, striking the east coast of the Indian +peninsula at various points, and then often advancing with an +easterly tendency over the land, and passing with extreme violence +across the delta of the Ganges. They occur in all the hot months, +from June to October, and more rarely in November, and appear to +be originated by adverse currents from the north meeting those of +the south-west monsoon. The cyclones of the China Sea also occur +in the hot months of the year, but they advance from north-east to +south-west, though occasionally from east to west; they originate +near the island of Formosa, and extend to about the 10th degree of +N. lat. They are thus developed in nearly the same latitudes and in +the same months as those of the Indian Sea, though their progress is in +a different direction. In both cases, however, the storms appear to +advance towards the area of greatest heat. In these storms the +wind invariably circulates from north by west through south to east.</p> + +<p>The heated body of air carried from the Indian Ocean over +southern Asia by the south-west monsoon comes up highly charged +with watery vapour, and hence in a condition to release a large +body of water as rain upon the land, whenever it is +<span class="sidenote">Rainfall.</span> +brought into circumstances which reduce its temperature +in a notable degree. Such a reduction of temperature is brought +about along the greater part of the coasts of India and of the Burmo-Siamese +peninsula by the interruption of the wind current by continuous +ranges of mountains, which force the mass of air to rise +over them, whereby the air being rarefied, its specific capacity for +heat is increased and its temperature falls, with a corresponding +condensation of the vapour originally held in suspension.</p> + +<p>This explanation of the principal efficient cause of the summer +rains of south Asia is immediately based on an analysis of the complicated +phenomena actually observed, and it serves to account +for many apparent anomalies. The heaviest falls of rain occur along +lines of mountain of some extent directly facing the vapour-bearing +winds, as on the Western Ghats of India and the west coast of the +Malay peninsula. The same results are found along the mountains +at a distance from the sea, the heaviest rainfall known to occur anywhere +in the world (not less than 600 in. in the year) being recorded +on the Khasi range about 100 m. north-east of Calcutta, which +presents an abrupt front to the progress of the moist winds flowing +up from the Bay of Bengal. The cessation of the rains on the +southern border of Baluchistan, west of Karachi, obviously arises +from the projection of the south-east coast of Arabia, which limits +the breadth of the south-west monsoon air current and the length +of the coast-line directly exposed to it. The very small and irregular +rainfall in Sind and along the Indus is to be accounted for by the +want of any obstacle in the path of the vapour-bearing winds, +which, therefore, carry the uncondensed rain up to the Punjab, +where it falls on the outer ranges of the western Himalaya and +of Afghanistan.</p> + +<p>The diurnal mountain winds are very strongly marked on the +Himalaya, where they probably are the most active agents in determining +the precipitation of rain along the chain—the monsoon +currents, as before stated, not penetrating among the mountains. +The formation of dense banks of cloud in the afternoon, when the +up wind is strongest, along the southern face of the snowy ranges +of the Himalaya, is a regular daily phenomenon during the hotter +months of the year, and heavy rain, accompanied by electrical +discharges, is the frequent result of such condensation.</p> + +<p>Too little is known of the greater part of Asia to admit of any +more being said with reference to this part of the subject, than to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page745" id="page745"></a>745</span> +mention a few facts bearing on the rainfall. In northern Asia there +is a generally equal rainfall of 19 to 29 in. between the Volga and +the Lena in Manchuria and northern China, rather more considerable +increase in Korea, Siam and Japan. At Tiflis the yearly fall is +22 in.; on the Caspian about 7 or 8 in.; on the Sea of Aral 5 or 6 in. +In south-western Siberia it is 12 or 14 in., diminishing as we proceed +eastward to 6 or 7 in. at Barnaul, and to 5 or 6 in. at Urga in northern +Mongolia. In eastern Siberia it is about 15 to 20 in. In China we +find about 23 in. to be the fall at Peking; while at Canton, which lies +nearly on the northern tropic and the region of the south-west +monsoon is entered, the quantity is increased to 78 in. At Batavia +in Java the fall is about 78 in.; at Singapore it is nearly 100 in. +The quantity increases considerably on that part of the coast +of the Malay peninsula which is not sheltered from the south-west +by Sumatra. On the Tenasserim and Burmese coast falls of more +than 200 in. are registered, and the quantity is here nowhere less +than 75 or 80 in., which is about the average of the eastern part +of the delta of the Ganges, Calcutta standing at about 64 in. On the +hills that flank Bengal on the east the fall is very great. On the +Khasi hills, at an elevation of about 4500 ft., the average of ten +years is more than 550 in. As much as 150 in. has been measured +in one month, and 610 in. in one year. On the west coast of the +Indian peninsula the fall at the sea-level varies from about 75 to +100 in., and at certain elevations on the mountains more than +250 in. is commonly registered, with intermediate quantities at intervening +localities. On the east coast the fall is far less, nowhere rising +to 50 in., and towards the southern apex of the peninsula being +reduced to 25 or 30 in. Ceylon shows from 60 to 80 in. As we +recede from the coast the fall diminishes, till it is reduced to about +25 or 30 in. at the head of the Gangetic plain. The tract along the +Indus to within 60 or 80 m. of the Himalaya is almost rainless, 6 or +8 in. being the fall in the southern portion of the Punjab. On the +outer ranges of the Himalaya the yearly fall amounts to about 200 in. +on the east in Sikkim, and gradually diminishes on the west, where +north of the Punjab it is about 70 or 80 in. In the interior of the +chain the rain is far less, and the quantity of precipitation is so small in +Tibet that it can be hardly measured. It is to the greatly reduced +fall of snow on the northern faces of the highest ranges of the Himalaya +that is to be attributed the higher level of the snow-line, a +phenomenon which was long a cause of discussion.</p> + +<p>In Afghanistan, Persia, Asia Minor and Syria, winter and spring +appear to be the chief seasons of condensation. In other parts of +Asia the principal part of the rain falls between May and September, +that is, in the hottest half of the year. In the islands under the +equator the heaviest fall is between October and February.</p> +<div class="author">(R. S.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">Flora and Fauna</p> + +<p>The general assemblage of animals and plants found over northern +Asia resembles greatly that found in the parts of Europe which are +adjacent and have a similar climate. Siberia, north of the 50th +parallel, has a climate not much differing from a similarly situated +portion of Europe, though the winters are more severe and the +summers hotter. The rainfall, though moderate, is still sufficient +to maintain the supply of water in the great rivers that traverse +the country to the Arctic Sea, and to support an abundant vegetation. +A similar affinity exists between the life of the southern +parts of Europe and that in the zone of Asia extending from the +Mediterranean across to the Himalaya and northern China. This +belt, which embraces Asia Minor, northern Persia, Afghanistan, and +the southern slopes of the Himalaya, from its elevation has a temperate +climate, and throughout it the rainfall is sufficient to maintain +a vigorous vegetation, while the summers, though hot. and the +winters, though severe, are not extreme. The plants and animals +along it are found to have a marked similarity of character to +those of south Europe, with which region the zone is virtually +continuous.</p> + +<p>The extremely dry and hot tracts which constitute an almost +unbroken desert from Arabia, through south Persia and Baluchistan, +to Sind, are characterized by considerable uniformity in the types +of life, which closely approach to those of the neighbouring hot and +dry regions of Africa. The region of the heavy periodical summer +rains and high temperature, which comprises India, the Indo-Chinese +peninsula, and southern China, as well as the western part +of the Malay Archipelago, is also marked by much similarity in the +plants and animals throughout its extent. The area between the +southern border of Siberia and the margin of the temperate alpine +zone of the Himalaya and north China, comprising what are +commonly called central Asia, Turkestan, Mongolia and western +Manchuria, is an almost rainless region, having winters of extreme +severity and summers of intense heat. Its animals and plants have +a special character suited to the peculiar climatal conditions, more +closely allied to those of the adjacent northern Siberian tract than +of the other bordering regions. The south-eastern parts of the Malay +Archipelago have much in common with the Australian continent, +to which they adjoin, though their affinities are chiefly Indian. +North China and Japan also have many forms of life in common. +Much still remains to be done in the exploration of China and eastern +Asia; but it is known that many of the special forms of this region +extend to the Himalaya, while others clearly indicate a connexion +with North America.</p> + +<p>The foregoing brief review of the principal territorial divisions +according to which the forms of life are distributed in Asia, indicates +how close is the dependence of this distribution on climatic conditions, +and this will be made more apparent by a somewhat fuller +account of the main features of the flora and fauna.</p> + +<p><i>Flora</i>.—The flora of the whole of northern Asia is in essentials +the same as that of northern Europe, the differences being due rather +to variations of species than of genera. The absence of +<span class="sidenote">Northern Asia.</span> +the oak and of all heaths east of the Ural may be noticed. +Pines, larch, birch are the principal trees on the mountains; +willow, alders and poplars on the lower ground. The +northern limit of the pine in Siberia is about 70° N.</p> + +<p>Along the warm temperate zone, from the Mediterranean to the +Himalaya, extends a flora essentially European in character. Many +European species reach the central Himalaya, though few are known +in its eastern parts. The genera common to the Himalaya and +Europe are much more abundant, and extend throughout the chain, +and to all elevations. There is also a corresponding diffusion of +Japanese and Chinese forms along this zone, these being most numerous +in the eastern Himalaya, and less frequent in the west.</p> + +<p>The truly tropical flora of the hotter and wetter regions of eastern +India is continuous with that of the Malayan peninsula and islands, +and extends along the lower ranges of the Himalaya, gradually +becoming less marked and rising to lower elevations as we go +westward, where the rainfall diminishes and the winter cold +increases.</p> + +<p>The vegetation of the higher and therefore cooler and less rainy +ranges of the Himalaya has greater uniformity of character along the +whole chain, and a closer general approach to European forms is +maintained; an increased number of species is actually identical, +among these being found, at the greatest elevations, many alpine +plants believed to be identical with species of the north Arctic regions. +On reaching the Tibetan plateau, with the increased dryness the +flora assumes many features of the Siberian type. Many true +Siberian species are found, and more Siberian genera. Some of the +Siberian forms, thus brought into proximity with the Indian flora, +extend to the rainy parts of the mountains, and even to the plains of +upper India. Assemblages of marine plants form another remarkable +feature of Tibet, these being frequently met with growing at +elevations of 14,000 to 15,000 ft. above the sea, more especially in +the vicinity of the many salt lakes of those regions.</p> + +<p>The vegetation of the hot and dry region of the south-west of the +continent consists largely of plants which are diffused over Africa, +Baluchistan and Sind; many of these extend into the hotter parts +of India, and not a few common Egyptian plants are to be met with +in the Indian peninsula.</p> + +<p>The whole number of species of plants indigenous in the region of +south-eastern Asia, which includes India and the Malayan peninsula +and islands, from about the 65th to the 105th meridian, +was estimated by Sir J.D. Hooker at 12,000 to 15,000. +<span class="sidenote">Indian region.</span> +The principal orders, arranged according to their numerical +importance, are as follows:—Leguminosae, Rubiaceae, Orchidaceae, +Compositae, Gramineae, Euphorbiaceae, Acanthaceae, Cyperaceae +and Labiatae. But within this region there is a very great variation +between the vegetation of the more humid and the more arid regions, +while the characteristics of the flora on the higher mountain ranges +differ wholly from those of the plains. In short, we have a somewhat +heterogeneous assemblage of tropical, temperate and alpine plants, +as has been already briefly indicated, of which, however, the tropical +are so far dominant as to give their character to the flora viewed as a +whole. The Indian flora contains a more general and complete +illustration of almost all the chief natural families of all parts of the +world than any other country. Compositae are comparatively rare; +so also Gramineae and Cyperaceae are in some places deficient, and +Labiatae, Leguminosae and ferns in others. Euphorbiaceae and +Scrophulariaceae and Orchidaceae are universally present, the last +in specially large proportions.</p> + +<p>The perennially humid regions of the Malayan peninsula and +western portion of the archipelago are everywhere covered with +dense forest, rendered difficult to traverse by the thorny cane, a +palm of the genus <i>Calamus</i>, which has its greatest development in +this part of Asia. The chief trees belong to the orders of Terebinthaceae, +Sapindaceae, Meliaceae, Clusiaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Ternstroemiaceae, +Leguminosae, laurels, oaks and figs, with Dilleniaceae, +Sapotaceae and nutmegs. Bamboos and palms, with <i>Pandanus</i> and +<i>Dracaena</i>, are also abundant. A similar forest flora extends along +the mountains of eastern India to the Himalaya, where it ascends to +elevations varying from 6000 to 7000 ft. on the east to 3000 or 4000 +ft. on the west.</p> + +<p>The arboreous forms which least require the humid and equable +heat of the more truly tropical and equatorial climates, and are best +able to resist the high temperatures and excessive drought of the +northern Indian hot months from April to June, are certain Leguminosae,. +<i>Bauhinia, Acacia, Butea</i> and <i>Dalbergia, Bombax, Skorea, +Nauclea, Lagerstroemia</i>, and <i>Bignonia</i>, a few bamboos and palms, +with others which extend far beyond the tropic, and give a tropical +aspect to the forest to the extreme northern border of the Indian +plain.</p> + +<p>Of the herbaceous vegetation of the more rainy regions may be +noted the Orchidaceae, Orontiaceae, Scitamineae, with ferns and other +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page746" id="page746"></a>746</span> +Cryptogams, besides Gramineae and Cyperaceae. Among these +some forms, as among the trees, extend much beyond the tropic and +ascend into the temperate zones on the mountains, of which may be +mentioned <i>Begonia, Osbeckia</i>, various Cyrtandraceae, +Scitamineae, and a few epiphytical orchids.</p> + +<p>Of the orders most largely developed in south India, and more +sparingly elsewhere, may be named Aurantiaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, +Balsaminaceae, Ebenaceae, Jasmineae, and Cyrtandraceae; but +of these few contain as many as 100 peculiar Indian species. +<i>Nepenthes</i> may be mentioned as a genus specially developed in +the Malayan area, and extending from New Caledonia to Madagascar; +it is found as far north as the Khasi hills, and in Ceylon, but does +not appear on the Himalaya or in the peninsula of India. The +Balsaminaceae may be named as being rare in the eastern region +and very abundant in the peninsula. A distinct connexion between +the flora of the peninsula and Ceylon and that of eastern tropical +Africa is observable not only in the great similarity of many of the +more truly tropical forms, and the identity of families and genera +found in both regions, but in a more remarkable manner in the +likeness of the mountain flora of this part of Africa to that of the +peninsula, in which several species occur believed to be identical +with Abyssinian forms. This connexion is further established by +the absence from both areas of oaks, conifers and cycads, which, +as regards the first two families, is a remarkable feature of the flora +of the peninsula and Ceylon, as the mountains rise to elevations in +which both of them are abundant to the north and east. With these +facts it has to be noticed that many of the principal forms of the +eastern flora are absent or comparatively rare in the peninsula and +Ceylon.</p> + +<p>The general physiognomy of the Indian flora is mainly determined +by the conditions of humidity of climate. The impenetrable shady +forests of the Malay peninsula and eastern Bengal, of the west +coast of the Indian peninsula, and of Ceylon, offer a strong contrast +to the more loosely-timbered districts of the drier regions of +central India and the north-western Himalaya. The forest areas of +India include the dense vegetation and luxuriant growth of the +Tarai jungles at the foot of the eastern Himalaya, and wide stretches +of loosely-timbered country which are a prevailing feature in the +Central Provinces and parts of Madras. Where the lowlands are +highly cultivated they are adorned with planted wood, and where +they are cut off from rain they are nearly completely desert.</p> + +<p>The higher mountains rise abruptly from the plains; on their +slopes, clothed below almost exclusively with the more tropical forms, +a vegetation of a warm temperate character, chiefly evergreen, soon +begins to prevail, comprising Magnoliaceae, Ternstroemiaccae, subtropical +Rosaceae, rhododendron, oak, <i>Ilex, Symplocos</i>, Lauraceae, +<i>Pinus longifolia</i>, with mountain forms of truly tropical orders, palms, +<i>Pandanus, Musa, Vitis, Vernonia</i>, and many others. On the east +the vegetation of the Himalaya is most abundant and varied. The +forest extends, with great luxuriance, to an elevation of 12,000 ft., +above which the sub-alpine region may be said to begin, in which +rhododendron scrub often covers the ground up to 13,000 or 14,000 ft. +Only one pine is found below 8000 ft., above which several other +Coniferae occur. Plantains, tree-ferns, bamboos, several <i>Calami</i>, +and other palms, and <i>Pandanus</i>, are abundant at the lower levels. +Between 4000 and 8000 ft. epiphytal orchids are very frequent, and +reach even to 10,000 ft. Vegetation ascends on the drier and less +snowy mountain slopes of Tibet to above 18,000 ft. On the west, +with the drier climate, the forest is less luxuriant and dense, and the +hill-sides and the valleys better cultivated. The warm mountain +slopes are covered with <i>Pinus longifolia</i>, or with oaks and +rhododendron, and the forest is not commonly dense below 8000 ft., +excepting in some of the more secluded valleys at a low elevation. From +8000 to 12,000 ft., a thick forest of deciduous trees is almost universal, +above which a sub-alpine region is reached, and vegetation as on the +east continues up to 18,000 ft. or more. The more tropical forms +of the east, such as the tree-ferns, do not reach west of Nepal. The +cedar or deodar is hardly indigenous east of the sources of the +Ganges, and at about the same point the forms of the west begin +to be more abundant, increasing in number as we advance towards +Afghanistan.</p> + +<p>The cultivated plants of the Indian region include wheat, barley, +rice and maize; various millets, <i>Sorghum, Penicillaria, Panicum</i> +and <i>Eleusine</i>; many pulses, peas and beans; mustard and rape; +ginger and turmeric; pepper and capsicum; several Cucurbitaceae; +tobacco, <i>Sesamum</i>, poppy, <i>Crotolaria</i> and <i>Cannabis</i>; cotton, +indigo and sugar; coffee and tea; oranges, lemons of many sorts; pomegranate, +mango, figs, peaches, vines and plantains. The more +common palms are <i>Cocos, Phoenix</i> and <i>Borassus</i>, supplying cocoa-nut +and toddy. Indian agriculture combines the harvests of the tropical +and temperate zones. North of the tropic the winter cold is sufficient +to admit of the cultivation of almost all the cereals and vegetables +of Europe, wheat being sown in November and reaped early in April. +In this same region the summer heat and rain provide a thoroughly +tropical climate, in which rice and other tropical cereals are freely +raised, being as a rule sown early in July and reaped in September +or October. In southern India, and the other parts of Asia and of +the islands having a similar climate, the difference of the winter and +summer half-years is not sufficient to admit of the proper cultivation +of wheat or barley. The other cereals may be seen occasionally, +where artificial irrigation is practised, in all stages of progress at +all seasons of the year, though the operations of agriculture are, +as a general rule, limited to the rainy months, when alone is the +requisite supply of water commonly forthcoming.</p> + +<p>The trees of India producing economically useful timber are +comparatively few, owing to the want of durability of the wood, in +the extremely hot and moist climate. The teak, <i>Tectona grandis</i>, +supplies the finest timber. It is found in greatest perfection in the +forests of the west coasts of Burma and the Indian peninsula, where +the rainfall is heaviest, growing to a height of 100 or 150 ft., mixed +with other trees and bamboos. The sal, <i>Shorea robusta</i>, a very +durable wood, is most abundant along the skirts of the Himalaya +from Assam to the Punjab, and is found in central India, to which +the teak also extends. The sal grows to a large size, and is more +gregarious than the teak. Of other useful woods found in the plains +may be named the babool, <i>Acacia</i>; toon, <i>Cedrela</i>; and sissoo, +<i>Dalbergia</i>. The only timber in ordinary use obtained from the +Himalaya proper is the deodar, <i>Cedrus deodara</i>. Besides these are the +sandalwood, <i>Santalum</i>, of southern India, and many sorts of bamboo +found in all parts of the country. The cinchona has recently been +introduced with complete success; and the mahogany of America +reaches a large size, and gives promise of being grown for use as +timber.</p> + +<p>The flora of the rainless region of south-western Asia is continuous +with the desert flora of northern and eastern Africa, and extends +from the coast of Senegal to the meridian of 75° E., or from +the great African desert to the border of the rainless tract +<span class="sidenote">Western Asia.</span> +along the Indus and the southern parts of the Punjab. +It includes the peninsula of Arabia, the shores of the Persian Gulf, +south Persia, and Afghanistan and Baluchistan. On the west its +limit is in the Cape Verde Islands, and it is partially represented in +Abyssinia.</p> + +<p>The more common plants in the most characteristic part of this +region in southern Arabia are Capparidaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and +a few Leguminosae, a <i>Reseda</i> and <i>Dipterygium</i>; palms, Polygonaceae, +ferns, and other cryptogams, are rare. The number of families +relative to the area is very small, and the number of genera and +species equally restricted, in very many cases a single species being +the only representative of an order. The aspect of the vegetation +is very peculiar, and is commonly determined by the predominance +of some four or five species, the rest being either local or sparingly +scattered over the area. The absence of the ordinary bright green +colours of vegetation is another peculiarity of this flora, almost all +the plants having glaucous or whitened stems. Foliage is reduced to +a minimum, the moisture of the plant being stored up in massive +or fleshy stems against the long-continued drought. Aridity has +favoured the production of spines as a defence from external attack, +sharp thorns are frequent, and asperities of various sorts predominate. +Many species produce gums and resins, their stems being encrusted +with the exudations, and pungency and aromatic odour is an almost +universal quality of the plants of desert regions.</p> + +<p>The cultivated plants of Arabia are much the same as those of +northern India—wheat, barley, and the common <i>Sorghum</i>, with +dates and lemons, cotton and indigo. To these must be added coffee, +which is restricted to the slopes of the western hills. Among the +more mountainous regions of the south-western part of Arabia, +known as Arabia Felix, the summits of which rise to 6000 or 7000 ft., +the rainfall is sufficient to develop a more luxuriant vegetation, and +the valleys have a flora like that of similarly situated parts of +southern Persia, and the less elevated parts of Afghanistan and +Baluchistan, partaking of the characters of that of the hotter +Mediterranean region. In these countries aromatic shrubs are abundant. +Trees are rare, and almost restricted to <i>Pistacia, Celtis</i> and <i>Dodonaea</i>, +with poplars, and the date palm. Prickly forms of <i>Statice</i> and +<i>Astragalus</i> cover the dry hills. In the spring there is an abundant +herbaceous vegetation, including many bulbous plants, with genera, +if not species, identical with those of the Syrian region, some of which +extend to the Himalaya.</p> + +<p>The flora of the northern part of Afghanistan approximates to that +of the contiguous western Himalaya. <i>Quercus Ilex</i>, the evergreen +oak of southern Europe, is found in forests as far east as the Sutlej, +accompanied with other European forms. In the higher parts of +Afghanistan and Persia Boraginaceae and thistles abound; gigantic +Umbelliferae, such as <i>Ferula, Galbanum, Dorema, Bubon, Peucedanum, +Prangos</i>, and others, also characterize the same districts, and some +of them extend into Tibet.</p> + +<p>The flora of Asia Minor and northern Persia differs but little from +that of the southern parts of Europe. The mountains are clothed, +where the fall of rain is abundant, with forests of <i>Quercus, Fagus, +Ulmus, Acer, Carpinus</i> and <i>Corylus</i>, and various Coniferae. Of +these the only genus that is not found on the Himalaya is <i>Fagus</i>. +Fruit trees of the plum tribe abound. The cultivated plants are +those of southern Europe.</p> + +<p>The vegetation of the Malayan Islands is for the most part that +of the wetter and hotter region of India; but the greater uniformity +of the temperature and humidity leads to the predominance +of certain tropical forms not so conspicuous in India, +<span class="sidenote">Eastern Asia.</span> +while the proximity of the Australian continent has +permitted the partial diffusion of Australian types which are not +seen in India. The liquidambar and nutmeg may be noticed among +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page747" id="page747"></a>747</span> +the former, the first is one of the most conspicuous trees in java, +on the mountains of the eastern part of which the casuarina, one +of the characteristic forms of Australia, is also abundant. Rhododendrons +occur in Borneo and Sumatra, descending to the level of +the sea. On the mountains of Java there appears to be no truly +alpine flora, <i>Saxifraga</i> is not found. In Borneo some of the temperate +forms of Australia appear on the higher mountains. On the +other islands similar characteristics are to be observed, Australian +genera extending to the Philippines, and even to southern China.</p> + +<p>The analysis of the Hong Kong flora indicates that about three-fifths +of the species are common to the Indian region, and nearly +all the remainder are either Chinese or local forms. The number +of species common to southern China, Japan and northern Asia is +small. The cultivated plants of China are, with a few exceptions, +the same as those of India South China, therefore seems, botanically +hardly distinct from the great Indian region, into which many +Chinese forms penetrate, as before noticed. The flora of north +China, which is akin to that of Japan, shows manifest relation to that +of the neighbouring American continent, from which many temperate +forms extend, reaching to the Himalaya, almost as far as Kashmir. +Very little is known of the plants of the interior of northern China, +but it seems probable that a complete botanical connexion is established +between it and the temperate region of the Himalaya.</p> + +<p>The vegetation of the dry region of central Asia is remarkable for +the great relative number of Chenopodiaceae, <i>Salicornia</i> and other +salt plants being common; Polygonaceae also are abundant, +leafless forms being of frequent occurrence, which +<span class="sidenote">Central Asia.</span> +gives the vegetation a very remarkable aspect. Peculiar +forms of Leguminosae also prevail, and these with many of the other +plants of the southern and drier regions of Siberia, or of the colder +regions of the desert tracts of Persia and Afghanistan, extend into +Tibet, where the extreme drought and the hot (nearly vertical) sun +combine to produce a summer climate not greatly differing from that +of the plains of central Asia.</p> + +<p><i>Fauna.</i>—The zoological provinces of Asia correspond very closely +with the botanical. The northern portion of Asia, as far south as +the Himalaya, is not zoologically distinct from Europe, +and these two areas, with the strip of Africa north of the +<span class="sidenote">Zoological Regions.</span> +Atlas, constitute the Palaearctic region of Dr. Sclater, +whose zoological primary divisions of the earth have met with the +general approval of naturalists. The south-eastern portion of Asia +with the adjacent islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines, +form his Indian region. The extreme south-west part of the +continent constitutes a separate zoological district, comprising +Arabia, Palestine and southern Persia, and reaching, like the hot +desert botanical tract, to Baluchistan and Sind, it belongs to what +Dr. Sclater calls the Ethiopian region, which extends over Africa, +south of the Atlas. Celebes, Papua, and the other islands east of +Java beyond Wallace’s line fall within the Australian region.</p> + +<p>Nearly all the mammals of Europe also occur in northern Asia, +where however, the Palaearctic fauna is enriched by numerous +additional species. The characteristic groups belong +mostly to forms which are restricted to cold and temperate +<span class="sidenote">Mammals and birds.</span> +regions. Consequently the Quadrumana, or monkeys, +are nearly unrepresented, a single species occurring in Japan, and +one or two others in northern China and Tibet. Insectivorous bats +are numerous, but the frugivorous division of this order is only represented +by a single species in Japan. Carnivora are also numerous, +particularly the frequenters of cold climates, such as bears, weasels, +wolves and foxes. Of the Insectivora, numerous forms of moles, +shrews and hedgehogs prevail. The Rodents are also well represented +by various squirrels, mice, and hares. Characteristic forms +ot this order in northern Asia are the marmots (<i>Arctomys</i>) and the +pikas or tailless hares (<i>Lagomys</i>). The great order of Ungulata is +represented by various forms of sheep, as many as ten or twelve wild +species of <i>Ovis</i> being met with in the mountain chains of Asia, and +more sparingly by several peculiar forms of antelope, such as the +saiga (<i>Saiga tatarica</i>) and the <i>Gazella gutturosa</i>, or yellow sheep. +Coming to the deer, we also meet with characteristic forms in +northern Asia, especially those belonging to the typical genus <i>Cervus</i>. +The musk deer (<i>Moschus</i>) is also quite restricted to northern Asia, +and is one of its most peculiar types.</p> + +<p>The ornithology ot northern Asia is even more closely allied to +that of Europe than the mammal fauna. Nearly three fourths of +the well-known species of Europe extend through Siberia into the +islands of the Japanese empire. Here again, we have an absence of +all tropical forms, and a great development of groups characteristic +of cold and temperate regions. One of the most peculiar of these +is the genus <i>Phasianus</i>, of which splendid birds all the species are +restricted in their wild state to northern Asia. The still more +magnificently clad gold pheasants (<i>Thaumalea</i>), and the eared +pheasants (<i>Crossoptilon</i>) are also confined to certain districts in the +mountains of north eastern Asia. Amongst the <i>Passeres</i>, such forms +as the larks, stone chats, finches, linnets, and grosbeaks are well +developed and exhibit many species.</p> + +<p>The mammal fauna of the Indian region of Asia is much more +highly developed than that of the Palaearctic. The Quadrumana +are represented by several peculiar genera, amongst which are +<i>Semnopithecus</i>, <i>Hylobates</i> and <i>Simia</i>. Two peculiar forms of the +Lemurine group are also met with. Both the insectivorous and +frugivorous divisions of the bats are well represented. Amongst +the Insectivora very peculiar forms are found, such as <i>Gymnura</i> +and <i>Tupaia</i>. The <i>Carnivora</i> are likewise numerous, and this region +may be considered as the true home of the tiger, though this animal +has wandered far north into the Palaearctic division of Asia. Other +characteristic Carnivora are civets, various ichneumons, and the +benturong (<i>Arctictis</i>). Two species of bears are likewise restricted +to the Indian region. In the order of Rodents squirrels are very +numerous and porcupines of two genera are met with. The Indian +region is the home of the Indian elephant—one of the two sole remaining +representatives of the order Proboscidea. Of the Ungulates, four +species of rhinoceros and one of tapir are met with, besides several +peculiar forms of the swine family. The Bovidae or hollow-horned +ruminants, are represented by several genera of antelopes, and by +species of true <i>Bos</i>—such as <i>B. sondaicus</i>, <i>B. frontalis</i> and <i>B. bubalus</i>. +Deer are likewise numerous, and the peculiar group of chevrotains +(<i>Tragulus</i>) is characteristic of the Indian region. Finally, this +region affords us representatives of the order Edentata, in the shape +of several species of <i>Manis</i>, or scaly ant-eater.</p> + +<p>The assemblage of birds of the Indian region is one of the richest +and most varied in the world, being surpassed only by that of +tropical America. Nearly every order, except that of the Struthiones +or ostriches, is well represented, and there are many peculiar genera +not found elsewhere, such as <i>Buceros</i>, <i>Harpactes</i>, <i>Lophophorus</i>, +<i>Euplocamus</i>, <i>Pajo</i> and <i>Ceriornis</i>. The <i>Phasianidae</i> (exclusive of +true <i>Phasianus</i>) are highly characteristic ot this region, as are likewise +certain genera of barbets (<i>Megalaema</i>), parrots (<i>Palaeornis</i>), and +crows (<i>Dendrocitta</i>, <i>Urocissa</i> and <i>Cissa</i>). The family <i>Eurylaemidae</i> +is entirely confined to this part of Asia.</p> + +<p>The Ethiopian fauna plays but a subordinate part in Asia, intruding +only into the south-western corner, and occupying the desert +districts of Arabia and Syria, although some of the characteristic +species reach still farther into Persia and Sind, and even into western +India. The lion and the hunting leopard, which may be considered +as in this epoch at least, Ethiopian types extend thus far, besides +various species of jerboa and other desert-loving forms.</p> + +<p>In the birds, the Ethiopian type is shown by the prevalence of larks +and stone chats, and by the complete absence of the many peculiar +genera of the Indian region.</p> + +<p>The occurrence of mammals of the Marsupial order in the Molucca +Islands and Celebes, while none have been found in the adjacent +islands of Java and Borneo, lying on the west of Wallace’s line, or +in the Indian region, shows that the margin of the Australian region +has here been reached. The same conclusion is indicated by the +absence from the Moluccas and Celebes of various other Mammals, +Quadrumana, Carnivora, Insectivora and Ruminants, which abound +in the western part of the Archipelago. Deer do not extend into +New Guinea, in which island the genus <i>Sus</i> appears to have its +eastern limit. A peculiar form of baboon, <i>Cynopithecus</i>, and the +singular ruminant, <i>Anoa</i>, found in Celebes, seem to have no relation +to Asiatic animals, and rather to be allied to those in Africa.</p> + +<p>The birds of these islands present similar peculiarities. Those of +the Indian region abruptly disappear at, and many Australian forms +reach but do not pass, the line above spoken of. Species of birds akin +to those of Africa also occur in Celebes.</p> + +<p>Of the marine orders of Sirenia and Cetacea the Dugong, <i>Halicore</i>, +is exclusively found in the Indian Ocean and a dolphin, <i>Platanista</i>, +peculiar to the Ganges, ascends that river to a great distance from +the sea.</p> + +<p>Of the sea fishes of Asia, among the Acanthopterygii, or spiny-rayed +fishes, the <i>Percidae</i>, or perches, are largely represented, the +genus <i>Serranus</i>, which has only one species in Europe, is +very numerous in Asia, and the forms are very large. +<span class="sidenote">Fishes.</span> +Other allied genera are abundant and extend from the Indian seas +to eastern Africa. The Squamipennes, or scaly-finned fishes, are +principally found in the seas of southern Asia, and especially near +coral reefs. The <i>Mullidae</i> or red mullets are largely represented +by genera differing from those of Europe. The <i>Polynemidae</i>, which +range from the Atlantic through the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, +supply animals from which isinglass is prepared; one of them, the +mango fish, esteemed a great delicacy, inhabits the seas from the +Bay of Bengal to Siam. The <i>Sciaenidae</i> extend from the Bay +of Bengal to China, but are not known to the westward. The +<i>Stromateidae</i>, or pomfrets, resemble the dory, a Mediterranean form, +and extend to China and the Pacific. The sword fishes <i>Xiphidae</i>, +the lancet fishes, <i>Acanthuridae</i>, and the scabbard fishes, <i>Trichuridae</i>, +are distributed through the seas of south Asia. Mackerels of various +genera abound, as well as gobies, blenniesm and mullets.</p> + +<p>Among the Anacanthim, the cod family so well known in Europe +shows but one or two species in the seas of south Asia, though the +soles and allied fishes are numerous along the coasts. Of the Physostomi, +the siluroids are abundant in the estuaries and muddy waters; +the habits of some of these fishes are remarkable, such as that of the +males carrying the ova in their mouths till the young are hatched. +The small family of <i>Scopelidae</i> affords the gelatinous <i>Harpodon</i>, or +bumalo. The gar-fish and flying fishes are numerous, extending +into the seas of Europe. The <i>Clupeidae</i> or herrings, are most +abundant, and anchovies, or sardines, are found in shoals, but at +irregular and uncertain intervals. The marine eels, <i>Muraenidae</i>, are +more numerous towards the Malay Archipelago than in the Indian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page748" id="page748"></a>748</span> +seas. Forms of sea-horses (<i>Hippocampus</i>), pipe-fishes (<i>Syngnathus</i>), +fife-fishes (<i>Sclerodermus</i>), and sun-fish, globe-fish, and other allied +forms of <i>Gymnodontes</i>, are not uncommon.</p> + +<p>Of the cartilaginous fishes, Chondropterygii, the true sharks and +hammer-headed sharks, are numerous. The dog-fish also is found, +one species extending from the Indian seas to the Cape of Good +Hope. The saw-fishes, <i>Pristidae</i>, the electrical rays, <i>Torpedinae</i>, +and ordinary rays and skates, are also found in considerable numbers.</p> + +<p>The fresh waters of southern Asia are deficient in the typical +forms of the Acanthopterygii, and are chiefly inhabited by carp, +siluroids, simple or spined eels, and the walking and climbing fishes. +The <i>Siluridae</i> attain their chief development in tropical regions. +Only one <i>Silurus</i> is found in Europe, and the same species extends +to southern Asia and Africa. The <i>Salmonidae</i> are entirely absent +from the waters of southern Asia, though they exist in the rivers +that flow into the Arctic Ocean and the neighbouring parts of the +northern Pacific, extending perhaps to Formosa; and trout, though +unknown in Indian rivers, are found beyond the watershed of the +Indus, in the streams flowing into the Caspian. The <i>Cyprinidae</i>, or +carp, are largely represented in southern Asia, and there grow to a +size unknown in Europe; a <i>Barbus</i> in the Tigris has been taken of +the weight of 300 ℔ The chief development of this family, both +as to size and number of forms, is in the mountain regions with a +temperate climate; the smaller species are found in the hotter regions +and in the low-lying rivers. Of the <i>Clupeidae</i>, or herrings, numerous +forms occur in Asiatic waters, ascending the rivers many hundred +miles; one of the best-known of Indian fishes, the hilsa, is of this +family. The sturgeons, which abound in the Black Sea and Caspian, +and ascend the rivers that fall into them, are also found in Asiatic +Russia, and an allied form extends to southern China. The walking +or climbing fishes, which are peculiar to south-eastern Asia and +Africa, are organized so as to be able to breathe when out of the +water, and they are thus fitted to exist under conditions which +would be fatal to other fishes, being suited to live in the regions of +periodical drought and rain in which they are found.</p> + +<p>The insects of all southern Asia, including India south of the +Himalaya, China, Siam and the Malayan Islands, belong to one +group; not only the genera, but even the species are often +the same on the opposite sides of the Bay of Bengal. +<span class="sidenote">Insects.</span> +The connexion with Africa is marked by the occurrence of many +genera common to Africa and India, and confined to those two +regions, and similarities of form are not uncommon there in cases +in which the genera are not peculiar. Of Coleopterous insects known +to inhabit east Siberia, nearly one-third are found in western +Europe. The European forms seem to extend to about 30° N., +south of which the Indo-Malayan types are met with, Japan being +of the Europeo-Asiatic group. The northern forms extend generally +along the south coast of the Mediterranean up to the border of the +great desert, and from the Levant to the Caspian.</p> + +<p>Of the domesticated animals of Asia may first be mentioned the +elephant. It does not breed in captivity, and is not found wild west +of the Jumna river in northern India. The horse is produced, +in the highest perfection in Arabia and the hot +<span class="sidenote">Domesticated animals.</span> +and dry countries of western Asia. Ponies are most +esteemed from the wetter regions of the east, and the +hilly tracts. Asses are abundant in most places, and two wild species +occur. The horned cattle include the humped oxen and buffaloes of +India, and the yak of Tibet. A hybrid between the yak and Indian +cattle, called zo, is commonly reared in Tibet and the Himalaya. +Sheep abound in the more temperate regions, and goats are universally +met with; both of these animals are used as beasts of burden +in the mountains of Tibet. The reindeer of northern Siberia call +also for special notice; they are used for the saddle as well as for +draught.</p> +<div class="author">(R. S.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">Ethnology</p> + +<p>Asia, including its outlying islands, has become the dwelling-place +of all the great families into which the races of men have been +divided. By far the largest area is occupied by the +Mongolian group. These have yellow-brown skins, black +<span class="sidenote">Racial types.</span> +eyes and hair, flat noses and oblique eyes. They are short +in stature, with little hair on the body and face. In general terms +they extend, with modifications of character probably due to admixture +with other types and to varying conditions of life, over the +whole of northern Asia as far south as the plains bordering the +Caspian Sea, including Tibet and China, and also over the Indo-Malayan +peninsula and Archipelago, excepting Papua and some of +the more eastern islands.</p> + +<p>Next in numerical importance to the Mongolians are the races +which have been called by Professor Huxley <i>Melanochroic</i> and +<i>Xanthochroic</i>. The former includes the dark-haired people of +southern Europe, and extends over North Africa, Asia Minor, +Syria to south-western Asia, and through Arabia and Persia to India. +The latter race includes the fair-haired people of northern Europe, +and extends over nearly the same area as the Melanochroi, with +which race it is greatly intermixed. The Xanthochroi have fair +skins, blue eyes and light hair; and others have dark skins, eyes and +hair, and are of a slighter frame. Together they constitute what +were once called the Caucasian races. The Melanochroi are not +considered by Huxley to be one of the primitive modifications of +mankind, but rather to be the result of the admixture of the Xanthochroi +with the Australoid type, next to be mentioned.</p> + +<p>The third group is that of the Australoid type. Their hair is dark, +generally soft, never woolly. The eyes and skin are dark, the beard +often well developed, the nose broad and flat, the lips coarse, and +jaws heavy. This race is believed to form the basis of the people +of the Indian peninsula, and of some of the hill tribes of central +India, to whom the name Dravidian has been given, and by its +admixture with the Melanochroic group to have given rise to the +ordinary population of the Indian provinces. It is also probable that +the Australoid family extends into south Arabia and Egypt.</p> + +<p>The last group, the Negroid, is represented by the races to which +has been given the name of <i>Negrito</i>, from the small size of some of +them. They are closely akin to the negroes of South Africa, and +possess the characteristic dark skins, woolly but scanty beard and +body hair, broad flat noses, and projecting lips of the African; and +are diffused over the Andaman Islands, a part of the Malay peninsula, +the Philippines, Papua, and some of the neighbouring islands. The +Negritos appear to be derived from a mixture of the true Negro with +the Australoid type.</p> + +<p>The distribution of the Mongolian group in Asia offers no particular +difficulty. There is complete present, and probably previous +long-existing, geographical continuity in the area over +which they are found. There is also considerable similarity +<span class="sidenote">Mongolians.</span> +of climate and other conditions throughout the +northern half of Asia which they occupy. The extension of modified +forms of the Mongolian type over the whole American continent +may be mentioned as a remarkable circumstance connected with +this branch of the human race.</p> + +<p>The Mongolians of the northern half of Asia are almost entirely +nomadic, hunters and shepherds or herdsmen. The least advanced +of these, but far the most peaceful, are those that occupy Siberia. +Farther south the best-known tribes are the Manchus, the Mongols +proper, the Moguls and the Turks, all known under the name +of Tatars, and to the ancients as Scythians, occupying from east +to west the zone of Asia comprised between the 40th and 50th +circles of N. lat. The Turks are Mahommedans; their tribes extend +up the Oxus to the borders of Afghanistan and Persia, and to the +Caspian, and under the name of Kirghiz into Russia, and their +language is spoken over a large part of western Asia. Their letters +are those of Persia. The Manchus and Mongols are chiefly Buddhist, +with letters derived from the ancient Syriac. The Manchus are now +said to be gradually falling under the influence of Chinese civilization, +and to be losing their old nomadic habits, and even their peculiar +language. The predatory habits of the Turkish, Mongolian and +Manchu population of northern Asia, and their irruptions into other +parts of the continent and into Europe, have produced very remarkable +results in the history of the world.</p> + +<p>The Chinese branch of the Mongolian family are a thoroughly +settled people of agriculturists and traders. They are partially +Buddhist, and have a peculiar monosyllabic, uninflected language, +with writing consisting of symbols, which represent words, not +letters.</p> + +<p>The countries lying between India and the Mongolian are occupied +by populations chiefly of the Mongolian and Chinese type, +having languages fundamentally monosyllabic, but using letters +derived from India, and adopting their religion, which is almost +everywhere Buddhist, from the Indians. Of these may be named +the Tibetans, the Burmese and the Siamese. Cochin-China is more +nearly Chinese in all respects. It is known that to the Tibeto-Chinese +modifications of the pure Mongolian type all the eastern +Burmese tribes—Chins, Kachins, Shans, &c.—belong (as indeed +do the Burmese themselves), and that a cognate race occupies the +Himalaya to the eastern limits of Kashmir.</p> + +<p>Some light has been thrown on the connexion between the Tibetan +race and certain tribes of central India, the Bhils and Kols; and it +seems more probable that these tribes are the remnants of a Mongolian +race which first displaced a yet earlier Negroid population, +and was then itself shouldered out by a Caucasian irruption, than +that they entered India by any of the northern passages within +historic times. Mongolian settlements have lately been found very +much farther extended into the border countries of north-west India +than has been hitherto recognized. The Mingals, who, conjointly +with the Brahuis, occupy the hills south of Kalat to the limits of the +Rajput province of Las Bela, claim Mongolian descent, and traces +of a Mongolian colony have been found in Makran.</p> + +<p>The Malays, who occupy the peninsula and most of the islands of +the Archipelago called after them, are Mongols apparently modified +by their very different climate, and by the maritime life +<span class="sidenote">Malays.</span> +forced upon them by the physical conditions of the +region they inhabit. As they are now known to us, they have undergone +a process of partial civilization, first at the hands of the Brahminical +Indians, from whom they borrowed a religion, and to some +extent literature and an alphabet, and subsequently from intercourse +with the Arabs, which has led to the adoption of Mahommedanism +by most of them.</p> + +<p>The name of Aryan has been given to the races speaking languages +derived from, or akin to, the ancient form of Sanskrit, who now +occupy the temperate zone extending from the Mediterranean, +across the highlands of Asia Minor, Persia and Afghanistan, to +<span class="sidenote">Aryans.</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page749" id="page749"></a>749</span> +India. The races speaking the languages akin to the ancient +Assyrian, which are now mainly represented by Arabic, have been +called Semitic, and occupy the countries south-west of +Persia, including Syria and Arabia, besides extending into +North Africa. Though the languages of these races are very different +they cannot be regarded as physically distinct, and they are both +without doubt branches of the Melanochroi, modified by admixture +with the neighbouring races, the Mongols, the Australoids and the +Xanthochroi.</p> + +<p>The Aryans of India are probably the most settled and civilized +of all Asiatic races. This type is found in its purest form in the north +and north-west, while the mixed races and the population referred +to the Australoid type predominate in the peninsula and southern +India. The spoken languages of northern India are very various, +differing one from another in the sort of degree that English differs +from German, though all are thoroughly Sanskritic in their vocables, +but with an absence of Sanskrit grammar that has given rise to +considerable discussion. The languages of the south are Dravidian, +not Sanskritic. The letters of both classes of languages, which also +vary considerably, are all modifications of the ancient Pali, and +probably derived from the Dravidians, not from the Aryans. They +are written from left to right, exception being made of Urdu or +Hindostani, the mixed language of the Mahommedan conquerors of +northern India, the character used for writing which is the Persian. +From the river Sutlej and the borders of the Sind desert, as far as +Burma and to Ceylon, the religion of the great bulk of the people +of India is Hindu or Brahminical, though the Mahommedans are +often numerous, and in some places even in a majority. West of the +Sutlej the population of Asia may be said to be wholly Mahommedan +with the exception of certain relatively small areas in Asia Minor +and Syria, where Christians predominate. The language of the +Punjab does not differ very materially from that of Upper India. +West of the Indus the dialects approach more to Persian, which +language meets Arabic and Turki west of the Tigris, and along the +Turkoman desert and the Caspian. Through the whole of this tract +the letters are used which are common to Persian, Arabic and +Turkish, written from right to left.</p> + +<p>Considerable progress has been made in the classification of the +various races which occupy the continent to the west of the great +Mongolian region. The ancient Sacae, or Scyths, are +recognized in the Aryan population, who may be found +<span class="sidenote">Racial distribution.</span> +in great numbers and in their purest form in the more +inaccessible mountains and glens of the central highlands. +These Tajiks (as they are usually called) form the underlying population +of Persia, Baluchistan, Afghanistan and Badakshan, and their +language (in the central districts of Asia) is found to contain words +of Aryan or Sanskrit derivation which are not known in Persian. +They have been for the most part dispossessed of their country by +Turkish immigration and conquests, but they still retain their original +intellectual superiority over the Turkish and other mixed tribes by +which they are surrounded. Uzbegs and Kirghiz have but small +affinity with the Mongol element of Asia. They are the representatives +of those countless Turkish irruptions which have taken place +through all history. Of the two divisions (Kara Kirghiz and Kassak +Kirghiz) into which the Kirghiz tribes are divided by Russian +authorities, the Kassak Kirghiz is the more closely allied to the +Mongol type; the Kara Kirghiz, who are found principally in the +valleys of the Tian-shan and Altai mountains, being unmistakably +Turkish. The Kipchaks are only a Kirghiz clan. The language of +the Kirghiz is Turki and their religion that of Mahomet. As a +nomadic people they have great contempt for the Sarts, who represent +the town dwellers of the tribe. The Kalmucks are a Buddhist +and Mongolian people who originated in a confederacy of tribes +dwelling in Dzungaria, migrated to Siberia, and settled on the +Lower Volga. From thence they returned late in the 18th century +to the reoccupation of their old ground in Kulja under the Chinese. +The Turkoman is the purest form of the Turk element, and his language +is the purest form of the Turkish tongue, which is represented +at Constantinople by a comparatively mongrel, or mixed, dialect. +Ethnographers have traced a connexion between the Turkoman of +central Asia and the Teutonic races of Europe, based on a similarity +of national customs and immemorial usage. Evidence of an original +affinity between Turkoman and Rajput has also been found in the +mutual possession by these races of a ruddy skin, so that as ethnographical +inquiry advances the Turk appears to recede from his +Mongolian affinities and to approach the Caucasian. Turks and +Mongols alike were doubtless included under the term Scyth by the +ancients, and as Tatars by more modern writers, insomuch that the +Turkish dynasty at Delhi, founded by Baber, is usually termed the +Mogul dynasty, although there can be no distinction traced between +the terms Mogul and Mongol. The general results of recent inquiry +into the ethnography of Afghanistan is to support the general +correctness of Bellew’s theories of the origin of the Afghan races. +The claim of the Durani Afghan to be a true Ben-i-Israel is certainly +in no way weakened by any recent investigation. The influence of +Greek culture in northern India is fully recognized, and the distribution +of Greek colonies previous to Alexander’s time is attested +by practical knowledge of the districts they were said to occupy. +The <i>habitat</i> of the Nysaeana, and the identity of certain tribes of +Kafiristan with the descendants of these pre-Alexandrian colonists +from the west, are also well established. To this day hymns are unwittingly +sung to Bacchus in the dales and glens of Kafiristan. The +ethnographical status of the mixed tribes of the mountains that lie +between Chitral and the Peshawar plains has been fairly well fixed +by John Biddulph, and much patient inquiry in the vast fields of +Baluchistan by Major Mockler, G.P. Tate and others has resulted +in quite a new appreciation of the tribal origin of the great conglomeration +of Baluch peoples.</p> + +<p>The result of trans-border surveys to the north and west of India +has been to establish the important geographical fact that it is by +two gateways only, one on the north-west and one on the west of +India, that the central Asiatic tides of immigration have flowed +into the peninsula. The Kabul valley indicates the north-western +entrance, and Makran indicates that on the west. By the Kabul +valley route, which includes at its head the group of passes across +the Hindu Kush which extend from the Khawak to the Kaoshan, all +those central Asian hordes, be they Sacae, Yue-chi, Jats, Goths or +Huns, who were driven towards the rich plains of the south, entered +the Punjab. Some of them migrated from districts which belong to +eastern Asia, but none of them penetrated into India by eastern +passes. Such tides as set towards the Himalaya broke against their +farther buttresses, leaving an interesting ethnographical flotsam +in the northern valleys; but they never overflowed the Himalayan +barrier. Later most of the historic invasions of India from central +Asia followed the route which leads directly from Kabul to Peshawar +and Delhi.</p> + +<p>By the western gates of Makran prehistoric irruptions from +Mesopotamia broke into the plains of Lower Sind, and either passed +on towards the central provinces of India or were absorbed in the +highlands south of Kalat. In later centuries the Arabs from the +west reached the valley of the Indus by their western route, and +there established a dynasty which lasted for 300 years. The identification +of existing peoples with the various Scythic, Persian and +Arab races who have passed from High Asia into the Indian borderland, +has opened up a vast field of ethnographical inquiry which has +hardly yet found adequate workers for its investigation. To such +fields may be added the yet more complicated problems of those +reflex waves which flowed backwards from India into the border +highlands.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(T. H. H.*)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">History</p> + +<p>1. The borders assigned to Asia on the west are somewhat +arbitrary. The Urals indicate no real division of races, and in +both Greek and Turkish times Asia Minor has been connected +with the opposite shores of Europe rather than with the lands +lying to the east. A juster view of early history is probably +obtained by thinking of the countries round the Mediterranean +as interacting on one another than by separating Palestine and +Asia Minor as Asiatic.</p> + +<p>2. The words “Asiatic” and “Oriental” are often used as +if they denoted a definite and homogeneous type, but Russians +resemble Asiatics in many ways, and Turks, Hindus, +Chinese, &c., differ in so many important points that +<span class="sidenote">Asiatic characteristics.</span> +the common substratum is small. It amounts to this, +that Asiatics stand on a higher level than the natives +of Africa or America, but do not possess the special material +civilization of western Europe. As far as any common mental +characteristic can be assigned it is also somewhat negative, +namely, that Asiatics have not the same sentiment of independence +and freedom as Europeans. Individuals are thought of as +members of a family, state or religion, rather than as entities +with a destiny and rights of their own. This leads to autocracy +in politics, fatalism in religion and conservatism in both. Hence, +too, Asiatic history has large and simple outlines. Though +longer chronologically than the annals of Europe, it is less +eventful, less diversified and offers fewer personalities of interest. +But the same conditions which render individual eminence +difficult procure for it when once attained a more ready recognition, +and the conquerors and prophets of Asia have had more +power and authority than their parallels in Europe. Jenghiz +Khan and Timur covered more ground than Napoleon, and no +European has had such an effect on the world as Mahomet.</p> + +<p>3. Attention has often been called to the religious character +of Asia. Not only the great religions of the world—Buddhism, +Christianity, Islam—but those of secondary importance, +such as Judaism, Parseeism, Taoism, are all +<span class="sidenote">Religion and civilisation.</span> +Asiatic. No European race left to itself has developed +any thing more than an unsystematic paganism. It is +true that Greek philosophy advanced far beyond this stage, but +it produced nothing sufficiently popular to be called a religion. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page750" id="page750"></a>750</span> +On the other hand Christianity, though Asiatic in its origin and +essential ideas, has to a large extent taken its present form on +European soil, and some of its most important manifestations— +notably the Roman Church—are European reconstructions in +which little of the Asiatic element remains. Christianity has +made little way farther east then Asia Minor. Modern missions +have made no great conquests there, and in earlier times the +Nestorians and Jacobites who penetrated to central Asia, China +and India, received respectful hearing, but never had anything +like the success which attended Buddhism and Islam. Yet +Buddhism has never made much impression west of India; and +Islam is clearly repugnant to Europeans, for even when under +Moslem rule (as in Turkey) they refuse to accept it in a far larger +proportion than did the Hindus in similar circumstances. Hence +there is clearly a deep-seated difference between the religious +feelings of the two continents.</p> + +<p>Since Asiatic records go back much farther than those of +Europe, it is natural that Asia should be thought the birthplace +of civilization. But this originality cannot be absolute, for, +whatever may have been the relations of Babylonia and the +Aryans, the latter brought civilization to India from the west, +and it is not always clear whether similarity of government and +institutions is the result of borrowing or of parallel development. +Both in Europe and in Asia small feudal or aristocratic states +tended to consolidate themselves into monarchies, but whereas +in Europe from the early days of Rome onwards royalty has often +been driven out and replaced temporarily or permanently by +popular government, this change seems not to occur in Asia, +where revolution means only a change of dynasty. The few +cases where the government is not monarchical, as Arabia, seem +to represent the persistence of very ancient conditions.</p> + +<p>The contemplation of Asia suggests that progress is most +rapid when accompanied by the migration of races or the transplantation +of ideas and institutions. Thus Greece excelled the +Eastern countries from whom she may have derived her civilization, +and Buddhism had a far more brilliant career outside India +than in it.</p> + +<p>4. In many parts of southern Asia are found semi-barbarous +races representing the earliest known stratum of population, such +as the Veddahs of Ceylon, and various tribes in China +and the Malay Archipelago. Some of them offer +<span class="sidenote">General historical outlines.</span> +analogies to the Australians. This connexion, if true, +must be very ancient, since it apparently goes back to +a time when the distribution of land and water was other than +at present. In northern Asia are found other aborigines, such +as the Ainus of Japan and the so-called hyperborean races +(Chukchis, &c.), but no materials are at present forthcoming +for their history. There is some record of the migrations of the +later races superimposed on these aborigines. The Chinese came +from the west, though how far west is unknown: the Hindus +and Persians from the north-west: the Burmese and Siamese +from the north. We do not know if the Mongols, Turks, &c., +had any earlier home than central Asia, but their extensive +movements from that region are historical.</p> + +<p>The antiquity of Asiatic history is often exaggerated. With +the exception of Babylonia and Assyria, we can hardly even +conjecture what was the condition of this continent much before +1500 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> At that period the Chinese were advancing along the +Hwang-ho, and the Aryans were entering India from the north-west. +Both were in conflict with earlier races. The influence +of Babylonian civilization was probably widespread. Some +connexion between Babylonia and China is generally admitted, +and all Indian alphabets seem traceable to a Semitic original +borrowed in the course of commerce from the Persian Gulf.</p> + +<p>Apart from European conquests, the internal history of Asia +in the last 2000 years is the result of the interaction of four main +influences: (<i>a</i>) Chinese, (<i>b</i>) Indian, (<i>c</i>) Mahommedan, (<i>d</i>) Central +Asian. Of these the first three represent different types of +civilization: the fourth has little originality, but has been of +great importance in affecting the distribution of races and +political power.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) China has moulded the civilization of the eastern mainland +and Japan, without much affecting the Malay Archipelago. In +the sphere of direct influence fall Korea, Japan and Annam; +in the outer sphere are Mongolia, Tibet, Siam, Cambodia and +Burma, where Indian and Chinese influence are combined, the +Indian being often the stronger. These countries, except Japan, +have all been at some time at least nominal tributaries of China. +Where Chinese influence had full play it introduced Confucianism, +a special style in art and the Chinese system of writing. After +the Christian era it was accompanied by Chinese Buddhism. +The cumbrous Chinese script maintains itself in the Far East, +but has not advanced west of China proper and Annam.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) Indian influence may be defined as Buddhism, if it is +understood that Buddhism is not at all periods clearly distinguishable +from Hinduism. Its sphere includes Indo-China, much of +the Malay Archipelago, Tibet and Mongolia, Moreover, China +and Japan themselves may be said to fall within this sphere, in +view of the part which Buddhism has played in their development. +The Buddhist influence is not merely religious, for it is +always accompanied by Indian art and literature, and often by +an Indian alphabet. Much of this art is Greek in origin, being +derived from the Perso-Greek states on the north-west frontiers +of India. Indian alphabets have spread to Tibet, Cambodia, Java +and Korea. The history of Indian civilization in Indo-China +and the Archipelago is still obscure, in spite of the existence of +gigantic ruins, but it would appear that in some parts at least two +periods must be distinguished, first the introduction of Hinduism +(or mixed Hinduism and Buddhism), perhaps under Indian +princes, and secondly a later and more purely ecclesiastical +introduction of Sinhalese Buddhism, with its literature and art.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) Mahommedanism or Islam is perhaps the greatest transforming +force which the world has seen. It has profoundly +affected and to a large extent subjugated all western Asia +including India, all eastern and northern Africa as well as Spain, +and all eastern Europe. Its open advocacy of force attracts +warlike races, and the intensity of its influence is increased by +the fusion of secular and religious power, so that the Moslem +Church is a Moslem state characterized by slavery, polygamy, +and, subject to the autocracy of the ruler, by the theoretical +equality of Moslems, who in political status are superior to non-Moslems. +Thus, whenever the population of a Moslem country +is of mixed belief, a ruling caste of Moslems is formed, as in +Turkey at the present day and India under the Moguls. Islam +is paramount in Turkey, Persia, Arabia and Afghanistan. India +is the dividing line: Islam is strong in northern and central India, +weaker in the south. But only one-fifth of the whole population +is Moslem. Beyond India it has spread to Malacca and the +Malay Archipelago, where it overwhelmed Hindu civilization, +and reached the southern Philippines. But it made no progress +in Indo-China or Japan; and though there is a large Moslem +population in China the Chinese influence has been stronger, for +alone of all Asiatics the Chinese have succeeded in forcing Islam +to accept the ordinary limitations of a religion and to take its +place as a creed parallel to Buddhism or any other.</p> + +<p>Even more than Buddhism Islam has carried with it a special +style of art and civilization. It is usually accompanied by the use +of the Arabic alphabet, and in the languages of Moslem nations +(notably Turkish, Persian, Hindustani and Malay) a large +proportion of the vocabulary is borrowed from Arabic. Hindi +and Hindustani, two forms of the same language as spoken by +Hindus and Mahommedans respectively, are a curious example +of how deeply religion may affect culture.</p> + +<p>(<i>d</i>) The great part which central Asian tribes have played in +history is obscured by the absence of any common name for +them. Linguistically they can be divided into several groups +such as Turks, Mongols and Huns, but they were from time to +time united into states representing more than one group, and +their armies were recruited, like the Janissaries, from all the +military races in the neighbourhood. Soon after the Christian +era central Asia began to boil over, and at least seven great +invasions and more or less complete conquests can be ascribed +to these tribes without counting minor movements, (i.) The +early invasions of Europe by the Avars, Huns and Bulgarians. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page751" id="page751"></a>751</span> +(ii.) The invasion and temporary subjection of Russia by the +Mongols, who penetrated as far west as Silesia, (iii.) The +conquests of Timur. (iv.) The conquest of Asia Minor and +eastern Europe by the Turks. (v.) The conquest of India by the +Moguls. (vi.) The conquest of China by the Mongols under +Kublai. (vii.) The later conquest of China by the Manchus. To +these may be added numerous lesser invasions of India, China +and Persia.</p> + +<p>These tribes have a genius for warfare rather than for government, +art or literature, and with few exceptions (<i>e.g.</i> the Moguls +in India) have proved poor administrators. Apart from conquest +their most important function has been to keep up communications +in central Asia, and to transport religions and civilizations +from one region to another. Thus they are mainly responsible +for the introduction of Islam with its Arabic or Persian civilization +into India and Europe, and in earlier times their movements +facilitated the infiltration of Graeco-Bactrian civilization into +India, besides maintaining communication between China and +the West.</p> + +<p>5. <i>Babylonia and Assyria</i>.—The movements mentioned above +have been the chief factors of relatively modern Asiatic history, +but in early times the centre of activity and culture lay farther +west, in Babylonia and Assyria. These ancient states began to +decline in the 7th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and on their ruins rose the +Persian empire, which with various political metamorphoses +continued to be an important power till the 7th century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>, +after which all western Asia was overwhelmed by the Moslem +wave, and old landmarks and kingdoms were obliterated.</p> + +<p>The materials for the study of their institutions and population +are abundant, but lend themselves to discussion rather than to +a summary of admitted facts. In the early history of south-western +Asia the Semites form the most important ethnic group, +which is primarily linguistic but also shares other remarkable +characteristics. Two of the greatest religions of the world, +Christianity and Islam, are Semitic in origin, as well as Judaism. +In politics these races have been less successful in modern times, +but the Semitic states of Babylonia and Assyria were once the +principal centres for the development and distribution of civilization. +It is generally agreed that this civilization can be traced +back to an earlier race, the Sumero-Akkadians, whose language +seems allied to the agglutinative idioms of central Asia. If this +ancient civilized race was really allied to the ancestors of the +Turks and Huns, it is a remarkable instance of how civilization +thrives best by being transplanted at a certain period of growth. +Still less is known of the early non-Aryan races of Asia Minor +such as the Hittites and Alorodians. One hypothesis supposes +that the shores of the Mediterranean were originally inhabited +by a homogeneous race neither Aryan nor Semitic.</p> + +<p>The earliest Sumerian records seem to be anterior to 4000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> +Shortly after that period Babylonia was invaded by Semites, +who became the ruling race. The city of Babylon came to the +fore as metropolis about 2285 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> under Khammurabi. Assyria +was an offshoot of Babylonia lying to the north-west, and apparently +colonized before the second millennium. While using +the same language as the Babylonians, the Assyrians had an +individuality which showed itself in art and religion. In the +9th and 8th centuries <span class="scs">B.C.</span> they became the chief power within +their sphere and the suzerain of their parent Babylon. But they +succumbed before the advance of the Medo-Persian power in +606 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, whereas it was not till 555 that Cyrus took Babylon. +Assyria, being essentially a military power, disappeared with +the destruction of Nineveh, but Babylon continued to exercise +an influence on culture and religion for many centuries after the +Persian conquest.</p> + +<p>6. <i>China</i>.—This is the oldest of existing states, though its +authentic history does not go back much beyond 1000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> It is +generally admitted that there was some connexion between +the ancient civilizations of China and Babylonia, but its precise +nature is still uncertain. It is clear, however, that the Chinese +came from the west, and entered their present territory along +the course of the Hwang-ho at an unknown period, possibly about +3000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> In early historical times China consisted of a shifting +confederacy of feudal states, but about 220 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> the state of +Tsin or Chin (whence the name China) came into prominence, +and succeeded in forming a homogeneous empire, which advanced +considerably towards the south. The subsequent history of +China is mainly a record of struggles with various tribes, commonly, +but not very correctly, called Tatars. The empire was +frequently broken up by successful incursions, or divided +between rival dynasties, but at least twice became a great +Asiatic power: under the Han dynasty (about 200 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>-<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 220), +and the T’ang (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 618-906). The dominions of the latter +extended across central Asia to northern India, but were dismembered +by the attacks of the Kitans, whence the name Cathay. +China proper, minus these external provinces, was again united +under the Sung dynasty (960-1127), but split into the northern +(Tatar) and southern (Chinese) kingdoms. In the 13th century +arose the Mongol power, and Kublai Khan conquered China. +The Mongol dynasty lasted less than a century, but the Ming, +the native Chinese dynasty which succeeded it, reigned for +nearly 300 years and despatched expeditions which reached +India, Ceylon and East Africa. In 1644 the Ming succumbed +to the attacks of the Manchus, a northern tribe who captured +Peking and founded the present imperial house.</p> + +<p>Until the advent of Europeans, the Chinese were always in +contact with inferior races. Whether they expanded at the +expense of weak aboriginal tribes or were conquered by more +robust invaders, Chinese civilization prevailed and assimilated +alike the conquered and the conquerors. It is largely to this +that we must ascribe the national conservatism and contempt +for foreigners. The spirit of the Chinese polity is self-contained, +anti-military and anti-sacerdotal. Rank is nominally determined +by merit, as tested by competitive examinations. Society +is conceived as regulated by mutual obligations, of which the +duties of parents and children are the most important. The +emperor is head of the state and the high priest, who sacrifices +to Heaven on behalf of his people, but he can be deposed, and +no divine right is inherent in certain families as in Japan and +Turkey. On the contrary there have been 20 dynasties since +the Christian era.</p> + +<p>The most conspicuous figure in Chinese literature is Confucius +(551-475 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>). Though he laid no claim to originality and +merely sought to collect and systematize the traditions of +antiquity, his influence in the Far East has been unbounded, +and he must be pronounced one of the most powerful advocates +of peace and humanity that have ever existed. Confucianism +is an ethical rather than a religious system, and hence was able +to co-exist, though not on very friendly terms, with Buddhism, +which reached China about the 1st century <span class="scs">A.D.</span> and was the +chief source of Chinese religious ideas, except the older ancestor +worship. But they are not a religious people, and like many +Europeans regard the church as a department of the state.</p> + +<p>7. <i>Japan</i> appears to have been formerly inhabited by the +Ainus, who have traditions of an older but unknown population, +but was invaded in prehistoric times by a race akin to the +Koreans, which was possibly mingled with Malay elements +after occupying the southern part of the islands. Authentic +history does not begin till about the 6th century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>, when +Chinese civilization and Buddhism were introduced. The +government was originally autocratic, but as early as the 7th +century the most characteristic feature of Japanese politics—the +power of great families who overshadowed the throne—makes +its appearance. We hear first of the Fujiwara family, +and then of the rivalry between the houses of Taira and Minamoto. +The latter prevailed, and in 1192 established the dual +system of government under which the emperor or Mikado +ruled only in name, and the real power was in the hands of a +hereditary military chief called Shogun. Japan has never been +invaded in historical times, but an attempt made by Kublai +Khan to conquer it was successfully repulsed. The chief power +then passed to the Ashikaga dynasty of Shoguns, who retained +it for about 200 years and were distinguished for their patronage +of the arts. The second half of the 16th century was a period +of ferment and anarchy, marked by the arrival of the Portuguese +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page752" id="page752"></a>752</span> +and the rise of some remarkable adventurers, one of whom, +Hideyoshi, conquered Korea and apparently meditated the +invasion of China. His plans were interrupted by his death, and +his successor, Ieyasu, who shaped the social and political life +of Japan for nearly 300 years (1603-1868), definitely decided on a +policy of seclusion and isolation. All ideas of external conquest +were abandoned, Christianity was forbidden, and Japan closed +to foreigners, only the Dutch being allowed a strictly limited +commerce. In 1854-1859 the Christian powers, beginning +with the United States, successfully asserted their right to trade +with Japan. The influx of new ideas provoked civil war, in +which the already decadent Shogunate was abolished and the +authority of the Mikado restored. Recognizing that their only +chance of competing with Europeans was to fight them with +their own weapons, the Japanese set themselves deliberately +to assimilate the material civilization and to some extent +the institutions of Europe, such as constitutional government. +Their progress and success are without parallel. In 1895 they +defeated the Chinese and ten years later the Russians. Their +exceptional status among Asiatic nations has been recognized +by treaties which, contrary to the general practice in non-Christian +countries, place all foreigners in Japan under Japanese +law.</p> + +<p>This sudden development of the Japanese is perhaps the +most important event of the second half of the 19th century, +since it marks the rise of an Asiatic power capable of competing +with Europe on equal terms. Their history is so different from +that of the rest of Asia that it is not surprising if the result is +different. The nation hardly came into existence till China and +India had passed their prime, and remained secluded and free +from the continual struggle against barbarian invaders, which +drained the energies of its neighbours. It was left untouched +by Mahommedanism, and for an unprecedentedly long period +kept Europeans at bay without wasting its strength in hostilities. +The military spirit was evolved, not in raids and massacres of +the usual Asiatic type which create little but intense racial +hatred, but in feuds between families and factions of the same +race, which restrained ferocity and tended to create a temper +like that of the feudal chivalry of Europe. On the other hand +it is noticeable that the Japanese have little which is original +in the way of religion, literature or philosophy. Unlike the +Chinese and Indians, they have hitherto not had the smallest +influence on the intellectual development of Asia, and though +they have in the past sometimes shown themselves intensely +nationalist and conservative, they have, compared with India +and China, so little which is really their own that their assimilation +of foreign ideas is explicable.</p> + +<p>8. <i>Korea</i> received its civilization and religion from China, but +differs in language, and to some extent in customs. An alphabet +derived from Indian sources is in use as well as Chinese writing. +The country was at most periods independent though nominally +tributary to China. In the 16th century the Japanese occupied +it for a short period, and in 1894 they went to war with China +on account of her claims to suzerainty. In 1895 Korea was +declared independent.</p> + +<p>9. <i>India</i>.—The population of India comprises at least three +strata: firstly, uncivilized aborigines, such as the Kols and +Santhals, and secondly, the Dravidians (Tamils, Kanarese, &c.), +who perhaps represent the earliest northern invaders, and appear +to have attained some degree of culture on their own account. +The most recent authorities are of opinion that the Kolarians +and Dravidians represent a single physical type; but, whatever +the historical explanation may be, they certainly have different +languages and show different stages of civilization. In prehistoric +times they were spread over the whole of India, but were +driven to the centre and south of the peninsula by the third +stratum of Aryans, and perhaps also by invasions of so-called +Mongolian races from the north-west. No historical record has +been preserved of these latter, but they appear to have profoundly +affected the population of Bengal, which is believed to be Mongolo-Dravidian +in composition. The Aryans appear to have been +settled to the north of the Hindu Kush, and to have migrated +south-eastwards about 1500 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Their original home has been +a subject of much discussion, but the view now prevalent is that +they arose in southern Russia or Asia Minor, whence a section +spread eastwards and divided into two closely related branches—the +Hindus and Iranians. There were probably two successive +Aryan immigrations, and the tradition of a struggle between +them may be preserved in the <i>Mahābhārata</i>. The life of the +ancient Aryans, as portrayed in their sacred songs, the <i>Rig Veda</i>, +was quasi-nomadic and in many ways democratic, but by the +6th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> settled states had been formed in the Ganges +valley. They were absolute monarchies, but the power of the +king was tempered by the extraordinary influence possessed by +the hereditary sacerdotal class or Brahmans. The position of +this class, which has remained till the present day, is connected +with the institution of caste, a division of the population into +groups founded partly on racial distinctions. The peaceful +progress of Brahmanism was hindered by the doctrine of the +Indian prince Gotama, called the Buddha, which grew into one +of the greatest religions of the world. For many centuries the +culture and development of the Hindus depended mainly on +the interaction of the old Brahmanical religion and Buddhism. +The latter was finally absorbed, and disappeared in India itself, +but has spread Indian influence over the whole of eastern Asia, +where it still flourishes.</p> + +<p>In 326 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Alexander invaded the Punjab. The immediate +result was small, but the establishment of Perso-Greek kingdoms +in central Asia had a powerful influence on Indian art and culture. +It may also have helped to familiarize the Hindu mind with the +idea of an empire, which appeared among them later than in +other Asiatic countries. The first empire, called Maurya, reached +its greatest extent in the time of Asoka (264-227 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), who ruled +from Afghanistan to Madras. He was a zealous Buddhist and +gave the first example of a missionary religion, for by his exertions +the faith was spread over all India and Ceylon. No Hindu +empires have lasted long, and the Maurya dominions broke up +fifty years after his death.</p> + +<p>In the next period (<i>c</i>. 150 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>-<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 300) India was invaded +from the north by tribes partly of Parthian and partly of Turki +(Yue-chi, &c.) origin. Owing to the absence of dated records, +the chronology of these invasions has not yet been set beyond +dispute, but the most important was that of the Kushans, whose +king Kanishka founded a state which comprised northern India +and Kashmir. They were Buddhists, and it is probable that +the Mahayana or northern form of Buddhism was due to an +amalgamation of Gotama’s doctrines with the ideas (largely +Greek and Persian) which they brought with them. Much of +Sivaism has probably the same origin. Another native empire, +known as Gupta, rose on the ruins of the Kushan kingdom, +and embraced nearly the whole peninsula, but it broke up +in the 5th century, partly owing to the attacks of new northern +invaders, the Huns. The Malava dynasty maintained Hindu +civilization in the 6th century, and from 606 to 646 Harsha +established a brief but brilliant empire in the north with its +capital at Kanauj. This epoch is marked by the renaissance of +Sanskrit literature and the gradual revival of Hinduism at the +expense of Buddhism. But after Harsha Hindu history is lost +in a maze of small and transitory states, incapable of resisting +the ever advancing Mahommedan peril. As early as 712 the +Arabs conquered Sind, and by the end of the 11th century the +whole of northern India was in Moslem hands. Two periods may +be distinguished, namely the Turki (1200-1526) and the Mogul +empire. The former comprised several dynasties of mixed Turki +and Iranian race, but was wanting in coherency. In the neighbourhood +of the Moslem capitals, Islam spread rapidly, but in +such districts as Rajputana and specially Vijayanagar (Mysore) +Hindu civilization and religion maintained themselves.</p> + +<p>In 1526 the Moguls descended on India from Transoxiana and +seized the throne of Delhi. They never subjugated the south, +but the empire which they founded in the north was for about +two centuries, under such rulers as Akbar and Shah Jehan, one +of the most brilliant which Asia has seen. After 1707 it began +to decline: the governors became independent: a powerful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page753" id="page753"></a>753</span> +Mahratta confederacy arose in central India; Nadir Shah of +Persia sacked Delhi; and Ahmed Shah made repeated invasions. +A still more formidable danger, the power of the French and +English, continued to increase. Amidst such confusion the +authority of the Mogul empire rapidly disappeared, but it lasted +as a name till the Mutiny (1857).</p> + +<p>Indian history until Mahommedan times is marked by the +unusual prominence of religious ideas, and is a record of intellectual +development rather than of political events. Whatever +national unity the Hindu peoples possessed came from the +persistent and penetrating influence of the Brahman caste. +Kings held a secondary position, and were generally regarded +as adventitious tyrants, rather than as the heads and representatives +of the nation. Even the great dynasties have left +few traces, and it is with difficulty that the patient historian +disinters the minor kingdoms from obscurity, but Indian religion, +literature and art have influenced all Asia from Persia to Japan.</p> + +<p>10. <i>Persia.</i>—The Persians, with whom are often coupled the +Medes, appear to be pure Aryans in origin, and the earliest form +of their language and religion offers remarkable analogies to the +Vedas. It is reasonable to suppose that their ancestors and those +of the Hindus at one time formed a single tribe somewhere in +central Asia. The religion was remodelled by Zoroaster, who +seems to be a historical character and to have lived about the +7th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> About the same time they shook off the +domination of Assyria. From the 6th century onwards their +empire, then known as Median, began to expand at the expense +of the surrounding states. They destroyed Nineveh in alliance +with the Babylonians, and half a century later Cyrus took +Babylon and founded the great dynasty of the Achaemenidae. +The substitution of the Persian for the Median power, which +took place with the advent of Cyrus, seems to indicate merely +the pre-eminence of a particular tribe and not conquest by +another race. The power of the Achaemenidae, when at its +maximum, extended from the Oxus and Indus in the east to +Thrace in the west and Egypt in the south, but fell before Greece, +after lasting for rather more than 200 years. Darius and Xerxes +were repulsed in their efforts to subjugate the Greek Peninsula, +and Alexander the Great conquered their successor Darius III. +in 329. But the greater part of the empire continued to exist +under new masters, the Seleucids, as a Hellenistic power which +was of great importance for the dissemination of Greek culture +in the East. Bactria soon became independent under an Indo-Greek +dynasty, and the blending of Greek, Persian, central +Asiatic and Hindu influences had an important effect on the art +and religion of India, and through India on all eastern Asia. +About the same period (250 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>-<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 227) the Parthian empire +arose under the Arsacids in Khorasan and the adjacent districts. +The Parthians appear to have been a Turanian tribe who had +adopted many Persian customs. They successfully withstood +the Romans, and at one time their power extended from India +to Syria. They succumbed to the Persian dynasty of the +Sassanids, who ruled successfully for about four centuries, +established the Zoroastrian faith as their state religion, and +maintained a creditable conflict with the East Roman empire. +But in the 7th century they were defeated by Heraclius, and +shortly afterwards were annihilated before the first impetus of +the Mahommedan conquest, which established Islam in Persia +and the neighbouring lands, sweeping away old civilizations +and boundaries. During the greater part of the Mahommedan +period Persia has been ruled by troubled and short-lived +dynasties. It attained a certain dignity and unity under +Abbas Shah (1585-1628), but in later times was distracted and +disorganized by Afghan invasions. The present dynasty, which +is of Turkoman origin, dates from 1789.</p> + +<p>The achievements of the Persians in art, literature and +religion are by no means contemptible, but somewhat mixed and +cosmopolitan. Owing to its position, the Persian state, when it +from time to time became a conquering empire, overlapped Asia +Minor, Babylon and India, and hence acted as an intermediary +for transmitting art and ideas, sending for instance Greek +sculpture to India and the cult of Mithra to western Europe. It +is perhaps on account of this intermediate flavour that the +literature of Persia—for instance the adaptations of Omar +Khayyam—is more appreciated in Europe than that of other +Oriental nations. On the other hand, the wars between Persia +and Greece were recognized both at the time and afterwards +as a struggle between Europe and Asia; the fact that both +combatants were Aryans was not felt, and has no importance +compared to the difference of continent.</p> + +<p>11. <i>Jews.</i>—The Israelites appear to have been originally a +nomadic tribe akin to the Arabs, whom they resemble in their +want of political instinct and in their extraordinary religious +genius. Among many remarkable qualities they have been +distinguished from the earliest times by a species of commensalism, +or power of living among other nations without becoming +either socially merged or politically distinct. Their traditional +history represents them as migrating to the borders of Egypt +and living there for some centuries. After the exodus, which +perhaps took place about 1300 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, they moved northwards +again and founded a state of modest dimensions, which attained +a short-lived unity under Solomon, but succumbed to internal +dissensions and to the attacks of Assyria and Babylon. Shalmanezer +destroyed the northern kingdom or Israel in 720, and +following the practice of the times deported the majority of the +population, whose traces became lost to history. There is no +reason why their descendants should not be found to-day in +various tribes, but the physical type commonly called Jewish is +characteristic not so much of Israel as of western Asia generally. +In 588 Nebuchadnezzar carried off the Jews in captivity, but +after the Persian conquest of Babylonia they were allowed to +return to Palestine in 538. Their institutions and ideas were +probably considerably modified during this period. Babylon +long continued to be a Jewish centre whence the Jews radiated +to other countries. The restored state of Jerusalem lived for +about six centuries in partial independence under Persian, +Egyptian, Syrian and Roman rule, often showing an aggressively +heroic attachment to its national customs, which brought it into +collision with its suzerains, until the temple was destroyed by +Titus in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 70, and the country laid waste in the succeeding +years. But long before this period the Jews of the Dispersion +had become as important as the inhabitants of Palestine. From +choice or compulsion large numbers settled in Egypt in the time +of the Ptolemies, and added an appreciable element to Alexandrine +culture, while gradual voluntary emigration established +Jewish communities in Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy, who +facilitated the first spread of Christianity. In spite of chronic +unpopularity and recurring persecutions they have spread over +nearly all Europe. At the end of the 13th century they were +expelled from Spain and many of the exiles moved eastwards. +At present the largest numbers are to be found in the eastern +parts of Europe. It is remarkable that though the Jews live in +relative peace with Asiatics, the great majority of them prefer +Europe as a residence.</p> + +<p>12. <i>Arabs.</i>—The Arabs have hardly any history before the +rise of Islam, although their name is mentioned by surrounding +nations from the 9th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> onwards. They appear to +have had few states or kings, but rather tribes and chiefs. Their +relationship to the Babylonians and Jews is indicated by linguistic +and ethnological data. The language and writing of the Semites +who, at an unknown period, settled in what is now Abyssinia, +show affinities with those of South Arabia, and these Semites +may have been immigrants into Africa from that region. It is +plain from early Moslem literature that Persian, Christian and +especially Jewish ideas had penetrated into Arabia.</p> + +<p>With the rise of Mahommedanism occurred a sudden effervescence +of the Arabs, who during some centuries threatened to +impose not only their political authority but their civilization +and new religion on the whole known world. They successfully +invaded India and central Asia in the east, Spain and Morocco +in the west. The Caliphate under the Omayyads of Damascus, +and then the Abbasids of Bagdad, became the principal power in +the nearer East. It had not, however, a sufficiently coherent +organization for permanence; parts of it became independent, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page754" id="page754"></a>754</span> +others were first protected and then absorbed by the Turks. +The Arab rule in Spain, which once threatened to overwhelm +Europe and was turned back near Tours by Charles Martel, was +distinguished by its tolerance and civilization, and lingered on +till the 15th century.</p> + +<p>The collapse of the political power of the Arabs was singularly +complete. The Caliphate, though Arabian, was always geographically +outside Arabia, and on its fall Arabia remained as +it was before Islam, isolated and inaccessible. It is still one of +the least known parts of the globe, and has hardly any political +link with the outside, for the Arabs of northern Africa form +separate states. But in spite of this total political collapse, +Arabic religion and literature are still one of the greatest forces +working in the western half of Asia, in northern Africa and to +some extent in eastern Europe.</p> + +<p>13. <i>Ceylon</i>, though geographically an annex of India, has not +followed its fortunes historically. According to tradition it was +invaded by an Aryan-speaking colony from the valley of the +Ganges in the 6th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> It received Buddhism from +north India in the time of Asoka, and has had considerable +importance as a centre of religious culture which has influenced +Burma and Siam. Its medieval history consists of struggles +between the native sovereigns and Tamil invaders. A powerful +native dynasty reigned in the 12th century, but in 1408 the +island was attacked by Chinese, and from 1505 onwards it was +distracted by the attacks and squabbles of Europeans. It was +partially subjugated, first by the Portuguese and then by the +Dutch. In 1796 the Dutch were expelled by the English.</p> + +<p>14. <i>Indo-China.</i>—This is an appropriate name for Burma, +Siam, Cambodia, Annam, &c., for both in position and in civilization +they lie between India and China. Indian influence is +predominant as far as Cambodia (though with a Chinese tinge), +Indian alphabets being employed and the Buddhism being of +the Sinhalese type, but in Annam and Tongking the Chinese +script and many Chinese institutions are in use. The population +belongs to various races, and also comprises little-known wild +tribes, (i.) Languages of the group known as Mōn-Annam are +spoken in Annam and in Pegu, an ancient kingdom originally +distinct from Burma though now confounded with it. This +distribution seems to indicate that they once spread over the +whole region, and were divided by the later advance of the +Siamese and others. Until Annam was taken by the French, +its history consisted of a struggle with the Chinese, who alternately +asserted and lost their sovereignty. The Annamese are, +however, a distinct race. Cochin China was once the seat of a +kingdom called Champa, which appears to have had a hinduized +Malay civilization and to have been subsequently absorbed by +Annam. (ii.) The Burmese are linguistically allied to the +Tibetans, and probably entered Burma from the north-west. +The early history consists largely of conflicts between the +Burmese and Talaings. The kingdom which was annexed by +Britain in 1885 was founded about 1750 by Alompra, who +united his countrymen and broke the power of the Talaings. +He also invaded Siam. (iii.) The Khmers or Cambodians, +whose languages appear to belong to the Mōn-Annam group, +form a relatively ancient kingdom, much reduced in the last few +centuries by the advance of the Siamese and new a French +protectorate. Remarkable ruins dating from perhaps <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 800 +to 1000 attest the former prevalence of strong Hindu influence, +(iv.) The Siamese or Thai, who speak a monosyllabic language +of the Chinese type, but written in an Indian alphabet, represent +a late invasion from southern China, whence they descended +about the 13th century.</p> + +<p>15. <i>Malays.</i>—This widely-scattered race has no political +union and its distribution is a puzzle for ethnography. At +present it occupies the extremity of the Malay Peninsula, Java, +Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines and other islands of the +Malay Archipelago as well as Madagascar, while the inhabitants +of most islands in the South Seas, including New Zealand and +Hawaii, speak languages which if not Malay have at least undergone +a strong Malay influence. It would seem from this distribution +that the Malays are not continental, but a seafaring +race with exceptional powers of dispersal, who have spread over +the ocean from some island centre—perhaps Java. The latest +theory, however, is that there is a great linguistic group (which +may or may not prove to correspond to an ethnic unity) comprising +the Mundā, Mōnkhmer, Malay, Polynesian and Micronesian +languages, and that the stream of immigration which +distributed them started from the extreme west. Three periods +can be traced in the history of the Asiatic Malays. In the first +(in which such tribes as the Dyaks have remained) they were +semi-barbarous. In the second, Hindu civilization reached the +Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra and other islands. The +presence of Hindu ruins, as well as of numerous Indian words +and customs, testifies to the strength of this influence. It was, +however, superseded by Islam, which spread to the Malay +Archipelago and Peninsula before the 16th century. At the +present time the Arabic alphabet is used on the mainland, but +Indian alphabets in Java, Sumatra, &c.</p> + +<p>16. <i>Tibet.</i>—This remote and mountainous country has a +peculiar civilization. It has entirely escaped Islam, and though +it is a nominal vassal of China, direct Chinese influence has not +been strong. The most striking feature is the religion, a corrupt +form of late Indian Buddhism, known as Lamaism, which, +largely in consequence of the favour shown by Jenghiz Khan +and his successors, has attained temporal power and developed +into an ecclesiastical state curiously like the papacy.</p> + +<p>17. <i>Mongols.</i>—Such civilization as the Mongols possess is a +mixture of Chinese and Indian, the latter derived chiefly through +Tibet, but their alphabet is a curious instance of transplantation. +It is an adaptation of the Syriac writing introduced by the +early Nestorian missionaries.</p> + +<p>18. Almost all Asiatic countries have a literature, but it is +often not indigenous and consists of foreign works, chiefly +religious, read either in translations or the original. +Thus with the exception of a little folklore the literature +<span class="sidenote">Literature, art, science.</span> +of Indo-China, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea and Manchuria +is mainly Indian or Chinese. The chief original +literatures are Chinese, Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic and Persian. The +Japanese have produced few books of importance, and their +compositions are chiefly remarkable as being lighter and more +secular than is usual in Asia, but the older Chinese works take +high rank both for their merits and the effect they have had. +The extensive Sanskrit literature, which has reached in translations +China, Japan and Java, is chiefly theological and poetical, +history being conspicuously absent. India has also a considerable +medieval and modern literature in various languages. Pali, +though only a form of Hindu literature, has a separate history, +for it died in India and was preserved in Ceylon, whence it was +imported to Burma and Siam as the language of religion. The +Pali versions of Buddha’s discourses are among the most remarkable +products of Asia. The literatures of all Moslem peoples are +largely inspired by Arabic, which has produced a voluminous +collection of works in prose and poetry. Persian, after being +itself transformed by Arabic, has in its turn largely influenced +all west Asiatic Moslem literature from Hindustani to Turkish.</p> + +<p>If one excepts the Old Testament, which is a product of the +extreme west of Asia, it is remarkable how small has been the +influence of Asiatic literature on Europe. Though Greek and +Slavonic almost ceased to be written languages under Turkish +rule, Europeans showed no disposition to replace them by +Ottoman or Arabic literature.</p> + +<p>Without counting subdivisions there would seem to be three +main schools of art in Asia at present—Chinese, Indian and +Moslem. The first contains many original elements. It is +feeblest in architecture and strongest in the branches demanding +skill and care in a limited compass, such as painting, porcelain +and enamel. It is the main inspiration of Japanese art, which, +however, shows great originality in its treatment of borrowed +themes. Both China and Japan have felt through Buddhism +the influence of Indian art, which contains at least two elements—one +indigenous and the other Greco-Persian. Unlike Chinese art +it has a genius for architecture and sculpture rather than painting. +Mahommedan art is also largely architectural and has affected +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page755" id="page755"></a>755</span> +nearly all Moslem countries. Except that the use of Arabic +inscriptions is one of its principal methods of decoration, it owes +little to Arabia and much to Byzantium. The Persian variety +of this art is more ornate, and less averse to representations of +living beings. Both Moslem and Chinese art are closely connected +with calligraphy, but Hindus rarely use writing for ornament.</p> + +<p>In both art and literature modern Asia is inferior to the past +more conspicuously than Europe.</p> + +<p>As for science, astronomy was cultivated by the Babylonians +at an early period, and it is probably from them that a knowledge +of the heavenly bodies and their movements spread over Asia. +Grammar and prosody were studied in India with a marvellous +accuracy and minuteness several centuries before Christ. Mathematics +were cultivated by the Chinese, Indians and Arabs, but +nearly all the sciences based on the observation of nature, +including medicine, have remained in a very backward condition. +Much the same, however, might have been said of Europe until +two centuries ago, and the scientific knowledge of the Arabs under +the earlier Caliphates was equal or superior to that of any of +their contemporaries. Histories and accounts of travels have +been composed both in Arabic and Chinese.</p> + +<p>19. It is only natural that Europe should have chiefly felt the +influence of western Asia. Though Europeans may be indebted +to China for some mechanical inventions, she was +too distant to produce much direct effect, and the +<span class="sidenote">Influence of Asia on other continents.</span> +influence of India has been mainly directed towards +the East. The resemblances between primitive +Christianity and Buddhism appear to be coincidences, +and though both early Greek philosophy and later Alexandrine +ideas suggest Indian affinities, there is no clear connexion such +as there is between certain aspects of Chinese thought and India.</p> + +<p>Any general statement as to the debt owed by early European +civilizations to western Asia would at present be premature, for +though important discoveries have been made in Crete and +Babylonia the best authorities are chary of positive conclusions +as to the relations of Cretan civilization to Egypt and Babylonia. +Egyptian influence within the Aegean area seems certain, and +the theory that Greek writing and systems for reckoning time are +Babylonian in origin has not been disproved, though the history +of the alphabet is more complex than was supposed.</p> + +<p>In historic times Asia has attempted to assert her influence over +Europe by a series of invasions, most of which have been repulsed. +Such were the Persian wars of Greece, and perhaps one may +add Hannibal’s invasion of Italy, if the Carthaginians were +Phoenicians transplanted to Africa. The Roman empire kept +back the Persians and Parthians, but could not prevent a series +of incursions by Avars, Huns, Bulgarians, and later by Mongols +and Turks. Islam has twice obtained a footing in Europe, under +the Arabs in Spain and under the Turks at Constantinople. +The earlier Asiatic invasions were conducted by armies operating +at a distance from their bases, and had little result, for the +soldiery retired after a time (like Alexander from India), or more +rarely (<i>e.g.</i> the Bulgarians) settled down without keeping up any +connexion with Asia. The Turks, and to some extent the Arabs +in Spain, were successful because they first conquered the parts +of Asia and Africa adjoining Europe, so that the final invaders +were in touch with Asiatic settlements. Though the Turks have +profoundly affected the whole of eastern Europe, the result of +their conquests has been not so much to plant Asiatic culture in +Europe as to arrest development entirely, the countries under +their rule remaining in much the same condition as under the +moribund Byzantine empire.</p> + +<p>In general, Europe has in historic times shown itself decidedly +hostile to Asiatic institutions and modes of thought. It is only +of recent years that the writings of Schopenhauer and the +researches of many distinguished orientalists have awakened +some interest in Asiatic philosophy.</p> + +<p>The influence of Asia on Africa has been considerable, and +until the middle of the 10th century greater than that of Europe. +Some authorities hold that Egyptian civilization came from +Babylonia, and that the so-called Hamitic languages are older +and less specialized members of the Semitic family. The connexion +between Carthage and Phoenicia is more certain, and the +ancient Abyssinian kingdom was founded by Semites from +south Arabia. The traditions of the Somalis derive them from +the same region. The theory that the ruins in Mashonaland +were built by immigrants from south Arabia is now discredited, +but there was certainly a continuous stream of Arab migration +to East Africa which probably began in pre-Moslem times and +founded a series of cities on the coast. The whole of the north +of Africa from Egypt to Morocco has been mahommedanized, +and Mahommedan influence is general and fairly strong from +Timbuktu to Lake Chad and Wadai. South of the equator, +Arab slave-dealers penetrated from Zanzibar to the great lakes +and the Congo during the second and third quarters of the 19th +century, but their power, though formidable, has disappeared +without leaving any permanent traces.</p> + +<p>The relation to Asia of the pre-European civilizations of +America is another of those questions which admit of no definite +answer at present, though many facts support the theory that +the semi-civilized inhabitants of Mexico and Central America +crossed from Asia by Bering Straits and descended the west +coast. Some authorities hold that Peruvian civilization had no +connexion with the north and was an entirely indigenous product, +but Kechua is in structure not unlike the agglutinative languages +of central and northern Asia.</p> + +<p>20. European influence on Asia has been specially strong +at two epochs, firstly after the conquests of Alexander the +Great, and secondly from the 16th century onwards. +Alexander’s conquests resulted in the foundation of +<span class="sidenote">Influence of Europe on Asia.</span> +Perso-Greek kingdoms in Asia, which not only hellenized +their own area but influenced the art and religion +of India and to some extent of China. Then follows a long +period in which eastern Europe was mainly occupied in combating +Asiatic invasions, and had little opportunity of Europeanizing +the East. Somewhat later the Crusades kept up communication +with the Levant, and established there the power of the Roman +Church, somewhat to the detriment of oriental Christianity, +but intercourse with farther Asia was limited to the voyages +of a few travellers. Looking at eastern Europe and western +Asia only, one must say that Asiatic influences have on the +whole prevailed hitherto (though perhaps the tide is turning), +for Islam is paramount in this region and European culture at +a low ebb. But the case is quite different if one looks at the +two continents as a whole, for improvement in means of communication +has brought about strange vicissitudes, and western +Europe has asserted her power in middle and eastern Asia.</p> + +<p>In the 16th century a new era began with the discovery by +the Portuguese of the route to India round the Cape, and the +naval powers of Europe started one after another on careers of +oriental conquest. The movement was maritime and affected +the nations in the extreme west of Europe rather than those +nearer Asia, who were under the Turkish yoke. Also the parts +of Asia affected were chiefly India and the extreme East. The +countries west of India, being less exposed to naval invasion, +remained comparatively untouched. It will thus be seen that +European (excluding Russian) power in Asia is based almost +entirely on improved navigation. There was no attempt to +overwhelm whole empires by pouring into them masses of +troops, but commerce was combined with territorial acquisition, +and a continuity of European interest secured by the presence +of merchants and settlers. The course of oriental conquest +followed the events of European politics, and the possessions of +European powers in the East generally changed hands according +to the fortunes of their masters at home. Portugal was +first on the scene, and in the 16th century established a considerable +littoral empire on the coasts of East Africa, India and China, +fragments of which still remain, especially Goa, where Portuguese +influence on the natives was considerable. Before the century +was out the Dutch appeared as the successful rivals of the +Portuguese, but the real struggle for supremacy in southern +Asia took place between France and England about 1740-1783. +Both entered India as commercial companies, but the disorganized +condition of the Mogul empire necessitated the use +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page756" id="page756"></a>756</span> +of military force to protect their interests, and allured them to +conquest. The companies gradually undertook the financial +control of the districts where they traded and were recognized +by the natives as political powers. The ultimate victory of +England seems due less to any particular aptitude for dealing +with oriental problems than to a better command of the seas +and to considerations of European politics. At the end of the +Napoleonic wars Portugal had Macao and Goa, Holland Java, +Sumatra and other islands, France some odds and ends in India, +while England emerged with Hong Kong, Singapore, Ceylon +and a free hand in India. Guided by such administrators as +Warren Hastings, the East India Company had assumed more +and more definitely the functions of government for a great +part of India. In 1809 its exclusive trading rights were taken +away by Parliament, but its administrative status was thus +made clearer, and when after the mutiny of 1857 it was desirable +to define British authority in India there seemed nothing +unnatural in declaring it to be a possession of the crown.</p> + +<p>Another category of European possessions in Asia comprises +those acquired towards the end of the 19th century, such as +Indo-China (France), Burma and Wei-Hai-Wei (Britain), and +Kiao-Chow (Germany). Whereas the earlier conquests were +mostly the results of large half-conscious national movements +working out their destinies in the East, these later ones were +annexations deliberately planned by European cabinets. It +seemed to be assumed that Asia was to be divided among the +powers of Europe, and each was anxious to get its share or +more.</p> + +<p>The advance of Russia in Asia is entirely different from that +of the other powers, since it has taken place by land and not +by sea. Though the geographical extent of Russian territory +and influence is enormous, she has always moved along the line +of least resistance. She is a moderately strong empire lying to +the north of the great Moslem states, and having for neighbours +a series of very weak principalities or semi-civilized tribes. +The conquest of Siberia and central Asia presented no real +difficulties: Persia and Constantinople were left on one side, +and Russia was defeated as soon as she was opposed by a vigorous +power in the Far East. As the Russian possessions in Asia are +continuous with European Russia, it is only natural that they +should have been russified far more thoroughly than the British +possessions have been anglicized.</p> + +<p>There has been great difference of opinion as to the extent +to which Alexander’s conquests influenced Asia, and it is equally +hard to say what is the effect now being produced by Europe. +Clearly such alterations as the construction of railways in +nearly all parts of the continent, and the establishment of +peace over formerly disturbed areas like India, are of enormous +importance, and must change the life of the people. But the +mental constitution of Asiatics is less easily modified than their +institutions, and even Japan has assimilated European methods +rather than European ideas.</p> +<div class="author">(C. El.)</div> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—The modern bibliography of Asia, including the +works of travellers and explorers since 1880, is voluminous. It is +impossible to refer to all that has been written in the Survey Reports +and Gazetteers of the government of India, or in the records of the +Royal Asiatic Society, or the Asiatic Society, Bengal; but amongst +the more important popular works are the following:—Richthofen, +“China, Japan, and Korea,” vol. iv. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, <i>China</i> (Berlin, +1877); Regel, “Upper Oxus,” vol. i. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1879; Dr +Bellew, <i>Afghanistan and the Afghans</i> (London, 1879); Nicolas +Prjevalski, “Explorations in Asia,” see vols. i., ii., v., ix. and xi. of the +<i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1879-1889; W. Blunt, “A Visit to Jebel Shammar,” +vol ii. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1880; Captain W Gill, <i>The River of Golden +Sand</i> (London, 1880); Sir R. Temple, “Central Plateau of Asia,” +vol. iv. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i> 1882; Baker, “A Journey of Exploration in +Western Ssu-Chuan,” vol. i. <i>Supplementary Papers R.G.S.</i>, 1882-1885; +Sir C. Wilson, “Notes on Physical and Historical Geography +of Asia Minor,” vol. vi. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1884; General J.T. Walker, +“Asiatic Explorers of the Indian Survey,” vol. viii. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, +1885; Samuel Beal, <i>Buddhist Records of the Western World</i> (Boston, +1885); Charles Doughty, <i>Travels in Northern Arabia</i> (Cambridge, +1886); <i>Travels in Arabia Deserta</i> (Cambridge, 1888); Venukoff, +“Explorations,” vol. viii. <i>Proc. G.R.S.</i>, 1886; Ney Elias, “Explorations +in Central Asia,” see vols. viii. and ix. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1886-1887; +Arthur Carey, “Explorations in Turkestan,” see vol. ix. +<i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1887; Henry Lansdell, <i>Through Central Asia</i> (London, +1887); Archibald Colquhoun, <i>Report on Railway Connexion between +Burma and China</i> (London, 1887); Major C. Yate, <i>Northern +Afghanistan</i> (Edinburgh, 1888); Captain F. Younghusband, <i>The +Heart of a Continent</i> (London, 1893); <i>A Journey through Manchuria, +&c.</i> (Lahore, 1888); also see vol. x. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, and vol. v. <i>Jour. +R.G.S.</i>; Dutreuil de Rhins, <i>L’Asie Centrale</i> (Paris, 1889); Pierre +Bonvalot, <i>Through the Heart of Asia</i>, trans. Pitman (London, 1889); +<i>From Paris to Tonkin</i>, trans. Pitman (London, 1891); Roborovski, +translation from Russian <i>Invalide</i>, October 1889, vol. xii. <i>Proc. +R.G.S.</i>; “Central Asia,” vol. viii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; Colonel Mark +Bell, “Trade Routes of Asia,” vol. xii. <i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1890; W.W. +Rockhill, “An American in Tibet,” <i>Century Magazine</i>, November +1890; <i>The Land of the Lamas</i> (London, 1891); Theodore Bent, +“Hadramut,” vol. iv. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1894; “Southern Arabia,” +vol. vi. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; “Bahrein Islands,” vol. xii. <i>Proc. +R.G.S.</i>, 1890; Grombcherski, “Explorations in Kuen Lun,” vol. xii. +<i>Proc. R.G.S.</i>, 1890; Lydekker, “The Geology of the Kashmir Valley +and Chamba Territories,” vols. xiii. and xiv. <i>Geological Survey of +India</i>; Max Müller, <i>The Sacred Books of the East</i> (Oxford, 1890-1894); +Elisée Reclus, <i>The Earth and its Inhabitants</i> (series, 1890); +G.W. Leitner, <i>Dardistan</i>; H.F. Blanford, <i>Elementary Geography +of India, Burma, and Ceylon</i> (London, 1890); <i>Guide to the Climate +and Weather of India</i> (London, 1889); Lord Dunmore, <i>The Pamirs</i> +(London, 1892); A. Tissandier, <i>Voyage au tour du monde</i> (Paris, +1892); Lord Curzon, <i>Persia and the Persian Question</i> (London, +1892); <i>Russia and the Anglo-Russian Question</i> (London, 1889); +<i>Problems of the Far East</i> (London, 1894); Captain Hamilton Bower, +<i>Diary of a Journey across Tibet</i> (Calcutta, 1893); Szechenyi, <i>Die +wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse der Reise des Grafen Béla Szechenyi +in Ostasien</i> (Wien, 1893); R.D. Oldham, “Evolution of Indian +Geology,” vol. iii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1894; Baron Toll, “Siberia,” +vol. iii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1894; Delmar Morgan, “The Mountain +Systems of Central Asia,” <i>Scottish Geological Magazine</i>, No. 10, of +1894; Sir Frederick Goldsmid, “Persian Geography,” vol. vi. <i>Jour. +R.G.S.</i>, 1895; Warrington Smyth, “Siam,” vol. vi. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, +1895; “Siamese East Coast,” vol xi. <i>Jour.</i> 1898; Prince Kropotkin, +“Siberian Railway,” vol. v. <i>R.G.S. Jour.</i>, 1895; W.R. Lawrence, +<i>The Vale of Kashmir</i> (Oxford, 1895); Captain Vaughan, “Persia,” +vol. viii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; Prince H. d’Orleans, “Yunan to +India,” vol. vii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; “Tonkin to Talifu,” vol. viii. +<i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; Sir T. Holdich, “Ancient and Medieval +Makran,” vol. vii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; <i>The Indian Borderland</i> +(London, 1901); India (Oxford, 1904); Colonel Woodthorpe, +“Shan States,” vol. vii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; <i>Report of the Pamir +Boundary Commission</i> (Calcutta, 1896); St George Littledale, +“Journey Across the Pamirs from North to South,” vol. iii. <i>Jour. +R.G.S.</i>, 1894, and vol. vii. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1896; Sir G. Robertson, +<i>The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush</i> (London, 1896); Captain Stiffe, +“Persian Gulf Trading Centres,” vols. viii., ix. and x. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, +1897; Ney Elias and Ross, <i>A History of the Moghuls of Central Asia, +from the Tarskh-i-Rastisdi of Mirza Haidar</i> (London, 1898); Grenard, +<i>Mission scientifique sur la Haute Asie</i> (Paris, 1898); Dr Sven Hedin, +<i>Through Asia</i> (London, 1898); Central Asia and Tibet (1903); <i>Geographie +des Hochlandes van Pamir</i> (Berlin, 1894); Captain M.S. +Wellby, “Through Tibet,” <i>R.G.S. Jour.</i>, September 1898; Captain +P.M. Sykes, “Persian Explorations,” vol. x. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, 1898; +<i>Ten Thousand Miles in Persia</i> (1902); Kronshin, “Old Beds of the +Oxus,” <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>, September 1898; Sir W. Hunter, <i>History of +British India</i>, vol. i. (London, 1898); Captain H. Deasy, “Western +Tibet,” vol. ix. <i>Jour. R.G.S.</i>; In Tibet and Chinese Turkestan +(London, 1901); A. Little, <i>The Far East</i> (Oxford, 1905); Captain +Rawling, <i>The Great Plateau</i> (London, 1905); <i>Journal of the Royal +Geogl. Society</i>, vols. xv. to xxv. (1900-1905); Colonel A. Durand, +<i>The Making of a Frontier</i> (London, 1899); R. Cobbold, <i>Innermost +Asia</i> (London, 1900).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(T. H. H.*)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1f" id="ft1f" href="#fa1f"><span class="fn">1</span></a> Authorities differ in their methods and results of computation +of these and other similar measurements.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASIA,<a name="ar77" id="ar77"></a></span> in a restricted sense, the name of the first Roman +province east of the Aegean, formed (133 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) out of the kingdom +left to the Romans by the will of Attalus III. Philometor, king +of Pergamum. It included Mysia, Lydia, Caria and Phrygia, +and therefore, of course, Aeolis, Ionia and the Troad. In 84 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, +on the close of the Mithradatic War, Sulla reorganized the +province, forming 40 <i>regiones</i> for fiscal purposes, and it was +later divided into <i>conventus</i>. From 80 to 50 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> the upper +Maeander valley and all Phrygia, except the extreme north, +were detached and added to Cilicia. In 27 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Asia was made +a senatorial province under a pro-consul. As the wealthiest +of Roman provinces it had most to gain by the <i>pax Romana</i>, and +therefore welcomed the empire, and established and maintained +the most devout cult of Augustus by means of the organization +known as the <i>Koinon</i> or Commune, a representative council, +meeting in the various <i>metropoleis</i>. In this cult the emperor +came to be associated with the common worship of the Ephesian +Artemis. By the reorganization of Diocletian, <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 297, Asia +was broken up into several small provinces, and one of these, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page757" id="page757"></a>757</span> +of which the capital was Ephesus, retained the name of the +original province (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Asia Minor</a></span>).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASIA MINOR,<a name="ar78" id="ar78"></a></span> the general geographical name for the peninsula, +forming part of the empire of Turkey, on the extreme west +of the continent of Asia, bounded on the N. by the Black Sea, +on the W. by the Aegean, and on the S. by the Mediterranean, +and at its N.W. extremity only parted from Europe by the +narrow straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. On the east, +no natural boundary separates it from the Armenian plateau; +but, for descriptive purposes, it will suffice to take a line drawn +from the southern extremity of the Giaour Dagh, east of the +Gulf of Alexandretta along the crest of that chain, then along +that of the eastern Taurus to the Euphrates near Malatia, then +up the river, keeping to the western arm till Erzingan is reached, +and finally bending north to the Black Sea along the course of +the Churuk Su, which flows out west of Batum. This makes the +Euphrates the main eastern limit, with radii to the north-east +angle of the Levant and the south-east angle of the Black Sea, +and roughly agrees with the popular conception of Asia Minor +as a geographical region. But it must be remembered that this +term was not used by classical geographers (it is first found in +Orosius in the 5th century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>), and is not in local or official +use now. It probably arose in the first instance from a vague +popular distinction between the continent itself and the Roman +province of “Asia” (<i>q.v.</i>), which at one time included most of +the peninsula west of the central salt desert (<i>Axylon</i>). The name +<i>Anatolia</i>, in the form <i>Anadol</i>, is used by natives for the western +part of the peninsula (<i>cis Halym</i>) and not as including ancient +Cappadocia and Pontus. Before the reconstitution of the provinces +as <i>vilayets</i> it was the official title of the principal <i>eyalet</i> +of Asia Minor, and was also used more generally to include all +the peninsular provinces over which the beylerbey of Anadoli, +whose seat was at Kutaiah, had the same paramount military +jurisdiction which the beylerbey of “Rumili” enjoyed in the +peninsular provinces of Europe. The term “Anatolia” appears +first in the work of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (10th century).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The greatest length of Asia Minor, as popularly understood, is +along its north edge, 720 m. Along the south it is about 650 m. +The greatest breadth is 420 m. from <i>C. Kerembé</i> to <i>C. Anamur</i>; +but at the waist of the peninsula, between the head of the Gulf of +Alexandretta and the southernmost bight of the Black Sea (at +Ordu), it is not quite 300 m. The greater portion of Asia Minor +consists of a plateau rising gradually from east to west, 2500 ft. to +4500 ft.; east of the Kizil Irmak (Halys), the ground rises more +sharply to the highlands of Armenia (<i>q.v.</i>). On the south the plateau +is buttressed by the Taurus range, which stretches in a broken +irregular line from the Aegean to the Persian frontier. On the north +the plateau is supported by a range of varying altitude, which +follows the southern coast of the Black Sea and has no distinctive +name. On the west the edge of the plateau is broken by broad +valleys, and the deeply indented coast-line throws out long rocky +promontories towards Europe. On the north, excepting the deltas +formed by the Kizil and Yeshil Irmaks, there are no considerable +coast plains, no good harbours except Sinope and Vona, and no +islands. On the west there are narrow coast plains of limited extent, +deep gulfs, which offer facilities for trade and commerce, and a +fringe of protecting islands. On the south are the isolated plains +of Pamphylia and Cilicia, the almost land-locked harbours of Marmarice, +Makri and Kekova, the broad bay of Adalia, the deep-seated +gulf of Alexandretta (Iskanderun), and the islands of Rhodes with +dependencies, Castelorizo and Cyprus.</p> + +<p><i>Mountains</i>.—The Taurus range, perhaps the most important +feature in Asia Minor, runs the whole length of the peninsula on the +south, springing east of Euphrates in the Armeno-Kurdish highlands, +and being prolonged into the Aegean Sea by rocky promontories +and islands. It attains in Lycia an altitude of 10,500 ft., and in the +Bulgar Dagh (Cilicia) of over 10,000 ft. The average elevation is +about 7000 ft. East of the Bulgar Dagh the range is pierced by the +Sihun and Jihun rivers, and their tributaries, but its continuity is +not broken. The principal passes across the range are those over +which Roman or Byzantine roads ran:—(1) from Laodicea to Adalia +(Attalia), by way of the Khonas pass and the valley of the Istanoz +Chai; (2) from Apamea or from Pisidian Antioch to Adalia, by Isbarta +and Sagalassus; (3) from Laranda, by Coropissus and the upper +valley of the southern Calycadnus, to Germanicopolis and thence to +Anemourium or Kelenderis; (4) from Laranda, by the lower Calycadnus, +to Claudiopolis and thence to Kelenderis or Seleucia; (5) from +Iconium or Caesarea Mazaca, through the Cilician Gates (Gulek +Boghaz, 3300 ft.) to Tarsus; (6) from Caesarea to the valley of the Sarus +and thence to Flaviopolis on the Cilician Plain; (7) from Caesarea over +Anti-Taurus by the Kuru Chai to Cocvsus (Geuksun) and thence to +Germanicia (Marash). Large districts on the southern slopes of the +Taurus chain are covered with forests of oak and fir, and there are +numerous <i>yailas</i> or grassy “alps,” with abundant water, to which +villagers and nomads move with their flocks during the summer +months.</p> + +<p>Anti-Taurus is a term of rather vague and doubtful application, +(<i>a</i>) Some have regarded it as meaning the more or less continuous +range which buttresses up the central plateau on the north, parallel +to the Taurus, (<i>b</i>) Others take it to mean the line of heights and +mountain peaks which separates the waters running to the Black +Sea and the Anatolian plateau from those falling to the Persian +Gulf and the Mediterranean. This has its origin in the high land, +near the source of the Kizil Irmak, and thence runs south-west +towards the volcanic district of Mt. Argaeus, which, however, can +hardly be regarded as orographically one with it. After a low +interval it springs up again at its southern extremity in the lofty +sharp-peaked ridge of Ala Dagh (11,000 ft.), and finally joins Taurus. +(<i>c</i>) South of Sivas a line of bare hills connects this chain with another +range of high forest-clad mountains, which loses itself southwards +in the main mass of Taurus, and is held to be the true Anti-Taurus +by geographers. It throws off, in the latitude of Kaisarieh, a subsidiary +range, the Binboa Dagh, which separates the waters of the +Sihun from those of the Jihun. The principal passes are those +followed by the old roads:—(1) from Sebasteia to Tephrike and the +upper valley of the western Euphrates; (2) from Sebasteia to Melitene, +by way of the pass of Delikli Tash and the basin of the Tokhma Su; +(3) from Caesarea to Arabissus, by the Kuru Chai and the valley of +Cocysus (Geuksun). The range of Amanus (Giaour Dagh) is separated +from the mass of Taurus by the deep gorge of the Jihun, whence +it runs south-south-west to Ras el-Khanzir, forming the limit +between Cilicia and Syria, various parts bearing different names, as +Elma Dagh above Alexandretta. It attains its greatest altitude in +Kaya Duldul (6500 ft.), which rises abruptly from the bed of the +Jihun, and it is crossed by two celebrated passes:—(1) the Amanides +Pylae (Baghche Pass), through which ran the road from the Cilician +Plain to Apamea-Zeugma, on the Euphrates; (2) the Pylae Syriae or +“Syrian Gates” (Beilan Pass), through which passed the great +Roman highway from Tarsus to Syria. On the western edge of the +plateau several short ranges, running approximately east and west, +rise above the general level:—Sultan Dagh (6500 ft.); Salbacus-Cadmus +(8000 ft.); Messogis (3600 ft.); Latmus (6000 ft.); Tmolus +(5000 ft.); Dindymus (8200 ft.); Ida (5800 ft.); and the Mysian +Olympus (7600 ft.). The valleys of the Maeander, Hermus and +Caicus facilitate communication between the plateau and the +Aegean, and the descent to the Sea of Marmora along the valleys +of the Tembris and Sangarius presents no difficulties. The northern +border range, though not continuous, rises steadily from the west +to its culmination in the Galatian Olympus (Ilkaz Dagh), south of +Kastamuni. East of the Kizil Irmak there is no single mountain +chain, but there are several short ranges with elevations sometimes +exceeding 9000 ft. The best routes from the plateau to the Black +Sea were followed by the Roman roads from Tavium and Sebasteia +to Sinope and Amisus, and those from Sebasteia to Cotyora and +Cerasus-Pharnacia, which at first ascend the upper Halys. Several +minor ranges rise above the level of the eastern plateau, and in the +south groups of volcanic peaks and cones extend for about 150 m. +from Kaisarieh (Caesarea) to Karaman. The most important are +Mt. Argaeus (Erjish Dagh, 13,100 ft.) above Kaisarieh itself, the +highest peak in Asia Minor; Ali Dagh (6200 ft.); Hassan Dagh +(8000 ft.); Karaja Dagh; and Kara Dagh (7500 ft.). On the west +of the plateau evidences of volcanic activity are to be seen in the +district of Kula (Katakekaumene), coated with recent erupted +matter, and in the numerous hot springs of the Lycus, Maeander, +and other valleys. Earthquakes are frequent all over the peninsula, +but especially in the south-east and west, where the Maeander valley +and the Gulf of Smyrna are notorious seismic foci. The centre of the +plateau is occupied by a vast treeless plain, the <i>Axylon</i> of the Greeks, +in which lies a large salt lake, Tuz Geul. The plain is fertile where +cultivated, fairly supplied with deep wells, and in many places +covered with good pasture. Enclosed between the Taurus and +Amanus ranges and the sea are the fertile plains of Cilicia Pedias, +consisting in great part of a rich, stoneless loam, out of which rise +rocky crags that are crowned with the ruins of Greco-Roman and +Armenian strongholds, and of Pamphylia, partly alluvial soil, partly +travertine, deposited by the Taurus rivers.</p> + +<p><i>Rivers</i>.—The rivers of Asia Minor are of no great importance. +Some do not flow directly to the sea; others find their way to the +coast through deep rocky gorges, or are mere torrents; and a few +only are navigable for boats for short distances from their mouths. +They cut so deep into the limestone formation of the plateau as +to over-drain it, and often they disappear into swallow holes (<i>duden</i>) +to reappear lower down. The most important rivers which flow to +the Black Sea are the following:—the Boas (Churuk Su) which rises +near Baiburt, and flows out near Batum; the Iris (Yeshil Irmak), +with its tributaries the Lycus (Kelkit Irmak), which rises on the +Armenian plateau, the Chekerek Irmak, which has its source near +Yuzgat, and the Tersakan Su; the Halys (Kizil Irmak) is the longest +river in Asia Minor, with its tributaries the Delije Irmak (Cappadox), +which flows through the eastern part of Galatia, and the Geuk Irmak, +which has its sources in the mountains above Kastamuni. With +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page758" id="page758"></a>758</span> +the exception of Sivas, no town of importance lies in the valley of +the Kizil Irmak throughout its course of over 600 m. The Sangarius +(Sakaria) rises in the Phrygian mountains and, after many changes +of direction, falls into the Black Sea, about 80 m. east of the +Bosporus. Its tributaries are the Pursak Su (Tembris), which has +its source in the Murad Dagh (Dindymus), and, after running north +to Eski-shehr, flows almost due east to the Sakaria, and the Enguri +Su, which joins the Sakaria a little below the junction of the Pursak. +To the Black Sea, about 40 m. east of Eregli, also flows the Billaeus +(Filiyas Chai). Into the Sea of Marmora run the Rhyndacus (Edrenos +Chai) and the Macestus (Susurlu Chai), which unite about 12 m. +from the sea. The most celebrated streams of the Troad are the +Granicus (Bigha Chai) and the Scamander (Menderes Su), both +rising in Mt. Ida (Kaz Dagh). The former flows to the Sea of Marmora; +the latter to the Dardanelles. The most northerly of the +rivers that flow to the Aegean is the Caicus (Bakir Chai), which runs +past Soma, and near Pergamum, to the Gulf of Chanderli. The +Hermus (Gediz Chai) has its principal sources in the Murad Dagh, +and, receiving several streams on its way, runs through the volcanic +district of Katakekaumene to the broad fertile valley through which +it flows past Manisa to the sea, near Lefke. So recently as about +1880 it discharged into the Gulf of Smyrna, but the shoals formed +by its silt-laden waters were so obstructive to navigation that it +was turned back into its old bed. Its principal tributaries are—the +Phrygius (Kum Chai), which receives the waters of the Lycus +(Gürduk Chai), and the Cogamus (Kuzu Chai), which in its upper +course is separated from the valley of the Maeander by hills that +were crossed by the Roman road from Pergamum to Laodicea. The +Caystrus (Kuchuk Menderes) flows through a fertile valley between +Mt. Tmolus and Messogis to the sea near Ephesus, where its silt has +filled up the port. The Maeander (Menderes Chai) takes its rise in a +celebrated group of springs near Dineir, and after a winding course +enters the broad valley, through which it “meanders” to the sea. +Its deposits have long since filled up the harbours of Miletus, and +converted the islands which protected them into mounds in a swampy +plain. Its principal tributaries are the Glaucus, the Senarus (Banaz +Chai), and the Hippurius, on the right bank. On the left bank are +the Lycus (Churuk Su), which flows westwards by Colossae through +a broad open valley that affords the only natural approach to the +eleated plateau, the Harpasus (Ak Chai), and the Marsyas (China +Chai). The rivers that flow to the Mediterranean, with two exceptions, +rise in Mt. Taurus, and have short courses, but in winter and +spring they bring down large bodies of water. In Lycia are the Indus +(Gereniz Chai), and the Xanthus (Eshen Chai). The Pamphylian +plain is traversed by the Cestrus (Ak Su), the Eurymedon (Keupri +Su), and the Melas (Menavgat Chai), which, where it enters the sea, +is a broad, deep stream, navigable for about 6 m. The Calycadnus +(Geuk Su) has two main branches which join near Mut and flow +south-east, and enter the sea, a deep rapid river, about 12 m. below +Selefke. The Cydnus (Tersous or Tarsus Chai) is formed by the +junction of three streams that rise in Mt. Taurus, and one of these +flows through the narrow gorge known as the Cilician Gates. After +passing Tarsus, the river enters a marsh which occupies the site of +the ancient harbour. The Cydnus is liable to floods, and its deposits +have covered Roman Tarsus to a depth of 20 ft. The Sarus (Sihun) +is formed by the junction of the Karmalas (Zamanti Su), which +rises in Uzun Yaila, and the Sarus (Saris), which has its sources in +the hills to the south of the same plateau. The first, after entering +Mt. Taurus, flows through a deep chasm walled in by lofty precipices, +and is joined in the heart of the range by the Saris. Before reaching +the Cilician Plain the river receives the waters of the Kerkhun Su, +which cuts through the Bulgar Dagh, and opens a way for the roads +from the Cilician Gates to Konia and Kaisarieh. After passing +Adana, to which point small craft ascend, the Sihun runs south-west +to the sea. There are, however, indications that at one period it flowed +south-east to join the Pyramus. The Pyramus (Jihun) has its principal +source in a group of large springs near Albistan; but before it +enters Mt. Taurus it is joined by the Sogutli Irmak, the Khurman +Su and the Geuk Su. The river emerges from Taurus, about 7 m. +west of Marash, and here it is joined by the Ak Su, which rises in some +small lakes south of Taurus. The Jihun now enters a remarkable +defile which separates Taurus from the Giaour Dagh, and reaches +the Cilician Plain near Budrun. From this point it flows west, and +then south-west past Missis, until it makes a bend to discharge its +waters south of Ayas Bay. The river is navigable as far as Missis. +The only considerable tributary of the Euphrates which comes +within our region is the Tokhma Su, which rises in Uzun Yaila and +flows south-east to the main river not far from Malatia. In the +central and southern portions of the plateau the streams either flow +into salt lakes, where their waters pass off by evaporation, or into +freshwater lakes, which have no visible outlets. In the latter cases +the waters find their way beneath Taurus in subterranean channels, +and reappear as the sources of rivers flowing to the coast. Thus the +Ak Geul supplies the Cydnus, and the Beishehr, Egirdir and Kestel +lakes feed the rivers of the Pamphylian plain.</p> + +<p><i>Lakes.</i>—The salt lakes are Tuz Geul (anc. <i>Tatta</i>), which lies in the +great central plain, and is about 60 m. long and 10 to 30 m. broad +in winter, but in the dry season it is hardly more than a saline +marsh; Buldur Geul, 2900 ft. above sea-level; and Aji-tuz Geul, +2600 ft. The freshwater lakes are Beishehr Geul (anc. <i>Karalis</i>), +3770 ft., a fine sheet of water 30 m. long, which discharges south-east +to the Soghla Geul; Egirdir Geul (probably anc. <i>Limnae</i>, a name +which included the two bays of Hoiran and Egirdir, forming the +lake), 2850 ft., which is 30 m. long, but less broad than Beishehr +and noted for the abundance and variety of its fish. In the north-west +portion of Asia Minor are Isnik Geul (L. Ascania), Abulliont +Geul (L. Apollonia), and Maniyas Geul (L. Miletopolis).</p> + +<p><i>Springs.</i>—Asia Minor is remarkable for the number of its thermal +and mineral springs. The most important are:—Yalova, in the +Ismid sanjak; Brusa, Chitli, Terje and Eskishehr, in the Brusa +vilayet; Tuzla, in the Karasi; Cheshme, Ilija, Hierapolis (with +enormous alum deposits), and Alashehr, in the Aidin; Terzili +Hammam and Iskelib in the Angora; Boli in the Kastamuni; +and Khavsa, in the Sivas. Many of these were famous in antiquity +and occur in a list given by Strabo. The Maeander valley is especially +noted for its hot springs.</p> + +<p><i>Geology.</i>—The central plateau of Asia Minor consists of nearly +horizontal strata, while the surrounding mountain chains form a +complex system, in which the beds are intensely folded. Around +the coast flat-lying deposits of Tertiary age are found, and these often +extend high up into the mountain region. The deposits of the +central, or Lycaonian, plateau consist of freshwater marls and limestones +of late Tertiary or Neogene age. Along the south-eastern +margin, in front of the Taurus, stands a line of great volcanoes, +stretching from Kara-Dagh to Argaeus. They are now extinct, +but were probably active till the close of the Tertiary period. On +its southern side the plateau is bounded by the high chains of the +Taurus and the Anti-Taurus, which form a crescent with its convexity +facing southwards. Devonian and Carboniferous fossils +have been found in several places in the Anti-Taurus. Limestones +of Eocene or Cretaceous age form a large part of the Taurus, but the +interior zone probably includes rocks of earlier periods. The folding +of the Anti-Taurus affects the Eocene but not the Miocene, while +in the Taurus the Miocene beds have been elevated, but without +much folding, to great heights. North of the Lycaonian plateau +lies another zone of folding which may be divided into the East +Pontian and West Pontian arcs. In the east a well-defined mountain +system runs nearly parallel to the Black Sea coast from Batum +to Sinope, forming a gentle curve with its convexity facing southwards. +Cretaceous limestones and serpentine take a large part in +the formation of these mountains, while even the Oligocene is involved +in the folds. West of Sinope Cretaceous beds form a long +strip parallel to the shore line. Carboniferous rocks occur at Eregli +(Heraclea Pontica), where they have been worked for coal. Devonian +fossils have been found near the Bosporus and Carboniferous +fossils at Balia Maden in Mysia. Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous +beds form a band south of the Sea of Marmora, probably the continuation +of the Mesozoic band of the Black Sea coast. Farther +south there are zones of serpentine, and of crystalline and schistose +rocks, some of which are probably Palaeozoic. The direction of the +folds of this region is from west to east, but on the borders of Phrygia +and Mysia they meet the north-westerly extension of the Taurus +folds and bend around the ancient mass of Lydia. Marine Eocene +beds occur near the Dardanelles, but the Tertiary deposits of this +part of Asia Minor are mostly freshwater and belong to the upper +part of the system. In western Mysia they are much disturbed, +but in eastern Mysia they are nearly horizontal. They are often +accompanied by volcanic rocks, which are mainly andesitic, and they +commonly lie unconformably upon the older beds. In the western +part of Asia Minor there are several areas of ancient rocks about +which very little is known. The Taurus folds here meet another +system which enters the region from the Aegean Sea.</p> + +<p><i>Climate.</i>—The climate is varied, but systematic observations are +wanting. On the plateau the winter is long and cold, and in the +northern districts there is much snow. The summer is very hot, but +the nights are usually cool. On the north coast the winter is cold, +and the winds, sweeping across the Black Sea from the steppes of +Russia, are accompanied by torrents of rain and heavy falls of snow. +East of Samsun, where the coast is partially protected by the +Caucasus, the climate is more moderate. In summer the heat is +damp and enervating, and, as Trebizond is approached, the vegetation +becomes almost subtropical. On the south coast the winter +is mild, with occasional frosts and heavy rain; the summer heat +is very great. On the west coast the climate is moderate, but the +influence of the cold north winds is felt as far south as Smyrna, and +the winter at that place is colder than in corresponding latitudes in +Europe. A great feature of summer is the <i>inbat</i> or north wind, +which blows almost daily, often with the force of a gale, off the sea +from noon till near sunset.</p> + +<p><i>Products, &c.</i>—The mineral wealth of Asia Minor is very great, +but few mines have yet been opened. The minerals known to exist +are—alum, antimony, arsenic, asbestos, boracide, chrome, coal, +copper, emery, fuller’s earth, gold, iron, kaolin, lead, lignite, magnetic +iron, manganese, meerschaum, mercury, nickel, rock-salt, silver, +sulphur and zinc. The vegetation varies with the climate, soil and +elevation. The mountains on the north coast are clothed with dense +forests of pine, fir, cedar, oak, beech, &c. On the Taurus range the +forests are smaller, and there is a larger proportion of pine. On the +west coast the ilex, plane, oak, valonia oak, and pine predominate. +On the plateau willows, poplars and chestnut trees grow near the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page759" id="page759"></a>759</span> +streams, but nine-tenths of the country is treeless, except for scrub. +On the south and west coasts the fig and olive are largely cultivated. +The vine yields rich produce everywhere, except in the higher +districts. The apple, pear, cherry and plum thrive well in the north; +the orange, lemon, citron and sugar-cane in the south; styrax and +mastic in the south-west; and the wheat lands of the Sivas vilayet +can hardly be surpassed. The most important vegetable productions +are—cereals, cotton, gum tragacanth, liquorice, olive oil, opium, +rice, saffron, salep, tobacco and yellow berries. Silk is produced in +large quantities in the vicinity of Brusa and Amasia, and mohair +from the Angora goat all over the plateau. The wild animals include +bear, boar, chamois, fallow red and roe deer, gazelle, hyena, ibex, +jackal, leopard, lynx, moufflon, panther, wild sheep and wolf. The +native reports of a maneless lion in Lycia (<i>arslan</i>) are probably based +on the existence of large panthers. Amongst the domestic animals +are the buffalo, the Syrian camel, and a mule camel, bred from +a Bactrian sire and Syrian mother. Large numbers of sheep and +Angora goats are reared on the plateau, and fair horses are bred on +the Uzun Yaila; but no effort is made to improve the quality of +the wool and mohair or the breed of horses. Good mules can be +obtained in several districts, and small hardy oxen are largely bred +for ploughing and transport. The larger birds are the bittern, great +and small bustard, eagle, francolin, goose; giant, grey and red-legged +partridge, sand grouse, pelican, pheasant, stork and swan. +The rivers and lakes are well supplied with fish, and the mountain +streams abound with small trout.</p> + +<p>The principal manufactures are:—Carpets, rugs, cotton, tobacco, +mohair and silk stuffs, soap, wine and leather. The exports are:—Cereal, +cotton, cotton seed, dried fruits, drugs, fruit, gall nuts, gum +tragacanth, liquorice root, maize, nuts, olive oil, opium, rice, sesame, +sponges, storax, timber, tobacco, valonia, walnut wood, wine, yellow +berries, carpets, cotton yarn, cocoons, hides, leather, mohair, silk, +silk stuffs, rugs, wax, wool, leeches, live stock, minerals, &c. The +imports are:—Coffee, cotton cloths, cotton goods, crockery, dry-salteries, +fezzes, glass-ware, haberdashery, hardware, henna, ironware, +jute, linen goods, manufactured goods, matches, petroleum, +salt, sugar, woollen goods, yarns, &c.</p> + +<p><i>Communications.</i>—There are few metalled roads, and those that +exist are in bad repair, but on the plateau light carts can pass nearly +everywhere. The lines of railway now open are:—(1) From Haidar +Pasha to Ismid, Eski-shehr and Angora; (2) from Mudania to Brusa; +(3) from Eski-shehr to Afium-Kara-hissar, Konia and Bulgurli, east of +Eregli (the first section of the Bagdad railway). These lines are +worked by the German <i>Gesellschaft der anatolischen Eisenbahnen</i>. +(4) From Smyrna to Manisa, Ala-shehr and Afium-Kara-hissar, with +a branch line from Manisa to Soma. This line is worked by a French +company. (5) From Smyrna to Aidin and Dineir, with branches to +Odemish, Tireh, Sokia, Denizli, Ishekli, Seidi Keui and Bouja, +constructed and worked by an English company. (6) From Mersina +to Tarsus and Adana, an English line under a control mainly French. +There are two competing routes for the eastern trade—one running +inland from Constantinople (Haidar Pasha), the other from Smyrna. +The first is connected by ferry with the European railway system; the +second with the great sea routes from Smyrna to Trieste, Marseilles +and Liverpool. The right to construct all railways in Armenia +and north-eastern Asia Minor has been conceded to Russia, and the +Germans have a virtual monopoly of the central plateau.</p> +</div> + +<p><i>Ethnology.</i>—None of the conquering races that invaded Asia +Minor, whether from the east or from the west, wholly expelled +or exterminated the race in possession. The vanquished retired +to the hills or absorbed the victors. In the course of ages race +distinction has been almost obliterated by fusion of blood; by +the complete Hellenization of the country, which followed the +introduction of Christianity; by the later acceptance of Islam; +and by migrations due to the occupation of cultivated lands +by the nomads. It will be convenient here to adopt the modern +division into Moslems, Christians and Jews:—(<i>a</i>) <i>Moslems.</i> +The Turks never established themselves in such numbers as to +form the predominant element in the population. Where the +land was unsuitable for nomad occupation the agricultural +population remained, and it still retains some of its original +characteristics. Thus in Cappadocia the facial type of the non-Aryan +race is common, and in Galatia there are traces of Gallic +blood. The Zeibeks of the west and south-west are apparently +representatives of the Carians and Lycians; and the peasants +of the Black Sea coast range of the people of Bithynia, +Paphlagonia and Pontus. Wherever the people accepted Islam they +called themselves Turks, and a majority of the so-called “Turks” +belong by blood to the races that occupied Asia Minor before +the Seljuk invasion. Turkish and Zaza-speaking Kurds (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Kurdistan</a></span>) are found in the Angora and Sivas vilayets. There +are many large colonies of Circassians and smaller ones of Noghai +(Nogais), Tatars, Georgians, Lazis, Cossacks, Albanians and +Pomaks. East of Boghaz Keui there is a compact population +of Kizilbash, who are partly descendants of Shia Turks +transplanted from Persia and partly of the indigenous race. In the +Cilician plain there are large settlements of Nosairis who have +migrated from the Syrian mountains (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Syria</a></span>). The nomads +and semi-nomads are, for the most part, representatives of the +Turks, Mongols and Tatars who poured into the country during +the 350 years that followed the defeat of Romanus. Turkomans +are found in the Angora and Adana vilayets; Avshars, a tribe +of Turkish origin, in the valleys of Anti-Taurus; and Tatars +in the Angora and Brusa vilayets; Yuruks are most numerous +in the Konia vilayet. They speak Turkish and profess to be +Moslems, but have no mosques or imams. The Turkomans have +villages in which they spend the winter, wandering over the great +plains of the interior with their flocks and herds during the +summer. The Yuruks on the contrary are a truly nomad race. +Their tents are made of black goats’ hair and their principal +covering is a cloak of the same material. They are not limited +to the milder districts of the interior, but when the harvest is +over, descend into the rich plains and valleys near the coast. The +Chepmi and Takhtaji, who live chiefly in the Aidin vilayet, appear +to be derived from one of the early races. (<i>b</i>) <i>Christians.</i> +The Greeks are in places the descendants of colonists from Greece, +many of whom, <i>e.g.</i> in Pamphylia and the Smyrna district, are +of very recent importation; but most of them belong by blood +to the indigenous races. These people became “Greeks” as +being subjects of the Byzantine empire and members of the +Eastern Church. On the west coast, in Pontus and to some +extent of late in Cappadocia, and in the mining villages, peopled +from the Trebizond Greeks, the language is Romaic; on the +south coast and in many inland villages (<i>e.g.</i> in Cappadocia) +it is either Turkish, which is written in Greek characters, or a +Greco-Turkish jargon. In and near Smyrna there are large +colonies of Hellenes. Armenians are most numerous in the +eastern districts, where they have been settled since the great +migration that preceded and followed the Seljuk invasion. +There are, however, Armenians in every large town. In central +and western Asia Minor they are the descendants of colonists +from Persia and Armenia (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Armenia</a></span>), (<i>c</i>) The <i>Jews</i> live +chiefly on the Bosporus; and in Smyrna, Rhodes, Brusa and +other western towns. <i>Gypsies</i>—some Moslem, some +Christian—are also numerous, especially in the south.</p> + +<p><i>History.</i>—Asia Minor owes the peculiar interest of its history +to its geographical position. “Planted like a bridge between Asia +and Europe,” it has been from the earliest period a battleground +between the East and the West. The central plateau +(2500 to 4500 ft.), with no navigable river and few natural +approaches, with its monotonous scenery and severe climate, is a +continuation of central Asia. The west coast, with its alternation +of sea and promontory, of rugged mountains and fertile +valleys, its bright and varied scenery, and its fine climate, is +almost a part of Europe. These conditions are unfavourable to +permanence, and the history of Asia Minor is that of the march of +hostile armies, and rise and fall of small states, rather than that +of a united state under an independent sovereign. At a very early +period Asia Minor appears to have been occupied by non-Aryan +tribes or races which differed little from each other in religion, +language and social system. During the past generation much +light has been thrown upon one of these races—the “Hittites” +or “Syro-Cappadocians,” who, after their rule had passed away, +were known to Herodotus as “White Syrians,” and whose descendants +can still be recognised in the villages of Cappadocia.<a name="fa1g" id="fa1g" href="#ft1g"><span class="sp">1</span></a> +The centre of their power is supposed to have been Boghaz +Keui (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Pteria</a></span>), east of the Halys, whence roads radiated to +harbours on the Aegean, to Sinope, to northern Syria and to the +Cilician plain. Their strange sculptures and inscriptions have +been found at Pteria, Euyuk, Fraktin, Kiz Hissar (Tyana), Ivriz, +Bulgar, Muden and other places between Smyrna and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page760" id="page760"></a>760</span> +Euphrates (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Hittites</a></span>). When the great Aryan immigration +from Europe commenced is unknown, but it was dying out in the +11th and 10th centuries <span class="scs">B.C.</span> In Phrygia the Aryans founded +a kingdom, of which traces remain in various rock tombs, +forts and towns, and in legends preserved by the Greeks. The +Phrygian power was broken in the 9th or 8th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> by the +Cimmerii, who entered Asia Minor through Armenia; and on its +decline rose the kingdom of Lydia, with its centre at Sardis. A +second Cimmerian invasion almost destroyed the rising kingdom, +but the invaders were expelled at last by Alyattes, 617 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Scythia</a></span>). The last king, Croesus (? 560-546 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) carried the +boundaries of Lydia to the Halys, and subdued the Greek +colonies on the coast. The date of the foundation of these +colonies cannot be fixed; but at an early period they formed a +chain of settlements from Trebizond to Rhodes, and by the 8th +century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> some of them rivalled the splendour of Tyre and +Sidon. Too jealous of each other to combine, and too demoralized +by luxury to resist, they fell an easy prey to Lydia; +and when the Lydian kingdom ended with the capture of Sardis +by Cyrus, 546 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> they passed, almost without resistance, to +Persia. Under Persian rule Asia Minor was divided into four +satrapies, but the Greek cities were governed by Greeks, and +several of the tribes in the interior retained their native +princes and priest-dynasts. An attempt of the Greeks to +regain their freedom was crushed, 500-494 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, but later the +tide turned and the cities were combined with European Greeks +into a league for defence against the Persians. The weakness +of Persian rule was disclosed by the expedition of Cyrus and the +Ten Thousand Greeks, 402 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>; and in the following century +Asia Minor was invaded by Alexander the Great (<i>q.v.</i>), 334 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> +(See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Greece</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Persia</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Ionia</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>The wars which followed the death of Alexander eventually +gave Asia Minor to Seleucus, but none of the Seleucid kings was +able to establish his rule over the whole peninsula. Rhodes became +a great maritime republic, and much of the south and west +coast belonged at one time or another to the Ptolemies of Egypt. +An independent kingdom was founded at Pergamum, 283 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, +which lasted until Attalus III., 133 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, made the Romans his +heirs. Bithynia became an independent monarchy, and Cappadocia +and Paphlagonia tributary provinces under native princes. +In southern Asia Minor the Seleucids founded Antioch, Apamea, +Attalia, the Laodiceas and Seleuceias, and other cities as centres +of commerce, some of which afterwards played an important +part in the Hellenization (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Hellenism</a></span>) of the country, +and in the spread of Christianity. During the 3rd century, +278-277 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, certain Gallic tribes crossed the Bosporus and +Hellespont, and established a Celtic power in central Asia +Minor. They were confined by the victories of Attalus I. of +Pergamum, c. 232 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, to a district on the Sangarius and +Halys to which the name Galatia was applied; and after their +defeat by Manlius, 189 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, they were subjected to the suzerainty +of Pergamum (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Galatia</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The defeat of Antiochus the Great at Magnesia, 190 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, +placed Asia Minor at the mercy of Rome; but it was not until +133 that the first Roman province, Asia, was formed to include +only western Anatolia, without Bithynia. Errors in policy and +in government facilitated the rise of Pontus into a formidable +power under Mithradates, who was finally driven out of the +country by Pompey, and died 63 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Under the settlement of +Asia Minor by Pompey, Bithynia-Pontus and Cilicia became +provinces, whilst Galatia and Cappadocia were allowed to retain +nominal independence for over half a century more under native +kings, and Lycia continued an autonomous League. A long +period of tranquillity followed, during which the Roman dominion +grew, and all Asia Minor was divided into two provinces. The +boundaries were often changed; and about <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 297, in Diocletian’s +reorganization of the empire, the power of the great +military commands was broken, and the provinces were made +smaller and united in groups called dioceses. A great change +followed the introduction of Christianity, which spread first along +the main roads that ran north and west from the Cilician Gates, +and especially along the great trade route to Ephesus. In some +districts it spread rapidly, in others slowly. With its advance +the native languages and old religions gradually disappeared, +and at last the whole country was thoroughly Hellenized, and +the people united by identity of language and religion.</p> + +<p>At the close of the 6th century Asia Minor had become wealthy +and prosperous; but centuries of peace and over-centralization +had affected the <i>moral</i> of the people and weakened the central +government. During the 7th century the provincial system +broke down, and the country was divided into <i>themes</i> or military +districts. From 616 to 626 Persian armies swept unimpeded +over the land, and Chosroes (Khosrau) II. pitched his camp on +the shore of the Bosporus. The victories of Heraclius forced +Chosroes to retire; but the Persians were followed by the Arabs, +who, advancing with equal ease, laid siege to Constantinople, +<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 668. It almost appeared as if Asia Minor would be annexed +to the dominion of the Caliph. But the tide of conquest was +stemmed by the iconoclast emperors, and the Arab expeditions, +excepting those of Harun al-Rashid, 781 and 806, and of +el-Motasim, 838, became simply predatory raids. In the 10th +century the Arabs were expelled. They never held more than +the districts along the main roads, and in the intervals of peace +the country rapidly recovered itself. But a more dangerous +enemy was soon to appear on the eastern border.</p> + +<p>In 1067 the Seljuk Turks ravaged Cappadocia and Cilicia; in +1071 they defeated and captured the emperor Romanus Diogenes, +and in 1080 they took Nicaea. One branch of the Seljuks +founded the empire of Rum, with its capital first at Nicaea and +then at Iconium. The empire, which at one time included +nearly the whole of Asia Minor, with portions of Armenia and +Syria, passed to the Mongols when they defeated the sultan of +Rum in 1243, and the sultans became vassals of the Great Khan. +The Seljuk sultans were liberal patrons of art, literature and +science, and the remains of their public buildings and tombs are +amongst the most beautiful and most interesting in the country. +The marches of the Crusaders across Asia Minor left no permanent +impression. But the support given by the Latin princes to the +Armenians in Cilicia facilitated the growth of the small warlike +state of Lesser Armenia, which fell in 1375 with the defeat and +capture of Leo VI. by the Mameluke sultan of Egypt. The +Mongols were too weak to govern the country they had conquered, +and the vassalage of the last sultan of Rum, who died in 1307, +was only nominal. On his death the Turkoman governors of his +western provinces drove out the Mongols and asserted their +independence. A contest for supremacy followed, which eventually +ended in favour of the Osmanli Turks of Brusa. In 1400 +Sultan Bayezid I. held all Asia Minor west of the Euphrates; +but in 1402 he was defeated and made prisoner by Timur, who +swept through the country to the shores of the Aegean. On the +death of Timur Osmanli supremacy was re-established after +a prolonged straggle, which ended with the annexation by +Mahommed II. (1451-1481) of Karamania and Trebizond, and +the abandonment of the last of the Italian trading settlements +which had studded the coast during the 13th and 14th centuries. +The later history of Asia Minor is that of the Turkish empire. +The most important event was the advance (1832-1833) of an +Egyptian army, under Ibrahim Pasha, through the Cilician Gates +to Konia and Kutaiah.</p> + +<p>The defeat of the emperor Romanus (1071) initiated a change +in the condition of Asia Minor which was to be complete and +lasting. A long succession of nomad Turkish tribes, pressing +forward from central Asia, wandered over the rich country in +search of fresh pastures for their flocks and herds. They did not +plunder or ill-treat the people, but they cared nothing for town +life or for agricultural pursuits, and as they passed onward they +left the country bare. Large districts passed out of cultivation +and were abandoned to the nomads, who replaced wheeled +traffic by the pack horse and the camel. The peasants either +became nomads themselves or took refuge in the towns or the +mountains. The Mongols, as they advanced, sacked towns and +laid waste the agricultural lands. Timur conducted his campaigns +with a ruthless disregard of life and property. Entire +Christian communities were massacred, flourishing towns were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page761" id="page761"></a>761</span> +completely destroyed, and all Asia Minor was ravaged. From +these disasters the country never recovered, and the last traces +of Western civilization disappeared with the enforced use of the +Turkish language and the wholesale conversions to Islam under +the earliest Osmanli sultans. The recent large increase of the +Greek population in the western districts, the construction of +railways, and the growing interests of Germany and Russia on +the plateau seem, however, to indicate that the tide is again +turning in favour of the West.</p> + +<div class="center pt2"><img style="width:917px; height:656px" src="images/img760.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="noind f80"><a href="images/img760a.jpg">(Click to enlarge.)</a></p> + +<div class="pt2 condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Bibliography</span>.—1. <span class="sc">General Authorities</span>:—C. Texier, <i>Asie +Mineure</i> (1843); P. Tchihatcheff, <i>Asie Mineure</i> (1853-1860); +C. Ritter, <i>Erdkunde</i>, vols. xviii. xix. (1858-1859); W.J. Hamilton, +<i>Researches in Asia Minor</i> (1843); E. Reclus. <i>Nouv. Géog. Univ.</i> +vol. ix. (1884); V. Cuinet, <i>La Turquie d’Asie</i> (1890); W.M. Ramsay, +<i>Hist. Geog. of A. M.</i> (1890); Murray’s <i>Handbook for A. M. &c.</i>, ed. by +Sir C. Wilson (1895). For <span class="sc">Geology</span> see Tchihatcheff, <i>Asie Mineure, +Géologie</i> (Paris, 1867-1869); Schaffer, <i>Cilicia, Peterm. Mitt. +Ergänzungsheft</i>, 141 (1903); Philippson, <i>Sitz. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss.</i> (1903), +pp. 112-124; English, <i>Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.</i> (London, 1904), pp. 243-295; +see also Suess, <i>Das Antlitz der Erde</i>, vol. iii. pp. 402-412, and +the accompanying references.</p> + +<p>2. A. <i>Western Asia Minor</i>.—J. Spon and G. Wheler, <i>Voyage +du Levant</i> (1679); P. de Tournefort, <i>Voyage du Levant</i> (1718); +F. Beaufort, <i>Ionian Antiquities</i> (1811); R. Chandler, <i>Travels</i> (1817); +W.M. Leake, <i>Journal of a Tour in A. M.</i> (1820); F.V.J. Arundell, +<i>Visit to the Seven Churches</i> (1828), and <i>Discoveries, &c.</i> (1834); +C. Fellows, <i>Excursion in A. M.</i> (1839); C.T. Newton, <i>Travels</i> (1867), +and <i>Discoveries at Halicarnassus, &c.</i> (1863); Dilettanti Society, +<i>Ionian Antiquities</i> (1769-1840); J.R.S. Sterrett, <i>Epigr. Journey</i> +and <i>Wolfe Exped.</i> (Papers, Amer. Arch. Inst. ii. iii.) (1888); J.H. +Skene, <i>Anadol</i> (1853); G. Radet, <i>Lydie</i> (1893); O. Rayet and +A. Thomas, <i>Milet et le Golfe Latmique</i> (1872); K. Buresch, <i>Aus +Lydien</i> (1898); W.M. Ramsay, <i>Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia</i> +(1895), and <i>Impressions of Turkey</i> (1898).</p> + +<p>B. <i>Eastern Asia Minor</i>.—W.F. Ainsworth, <i>Travels in A. M.</i> +(1842); G. Perrot and E. Guillaume, <i>Expl. arch, de la Galatie</i> (1862-1872); +E.J. Davis, <i>Anatolica</i> (1874); H.F. Tozer, <i>Turkish Armenia</i> +(1881); H.J. v. Lennep, <i>Travels</i> (1870); D.G. Hogarth, <i>Wandering +Scholar</i> (1896); Lord Warkworth, <i>Notes of a Diary, &c.</i> (1898); +E. Sarre, <i>Reise</i> (1896); D.G. Hogarth and J.A.R. Munro, <i>Mod. +and Anc. Roads</i> (R.G.S. Supp. Papers iii.) (1893); H.C. Barkley, +<i>A Ride through A. M. and Armenia</i> (1891); M. Sykes, <i>Dar ul-Islam</i> +(1904); E. Chantre, <i>Mission en Cappadocie</i> (1898).</p> + +<p>C. <i>Southern Asia Minor</i>.—F. Beaufort, <i>Karamania</i> (1817); C. +Fellows, <i>Discoveries in Lycia</i> (1841); T.A.B. Spratt and E. Forbes, +<i>Travels in Lycia</i> (1847); V. Langlois, <i>Voy. dans la Cilicie</i> (1861); +E.J. Davis, <i>Life in Asiatic Turkey</i> (1879); O. Benndorf and E. +Niemann, <i>Lykien</i> (1884); C. Lanckoronski, <i>Villes de la Pamphylie +et de la Pisidie</i> (1890); F. v. Luschan, <i>Reisen in S.W. Kleinasien</i> +(1888); E. Petersen and F. v. Luschan, <i>Lykien</i> (1889); K. Humann +and O. Puchstein, <i>Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien</i> (1890).</p> + +<p>D. <i>Northern Asia Minor</i>.—J.M. Kinneir, <i>Journey through A. M.</i> +(1818); J.G.C. Anderson and F. Cumont, <i>Studia Pontica</i> (1903); +E. Naumann, <i>Vom Goldenen Horn, &c.</i> (1893).</p> + +<p>See also G. Perrot and C. Chipiez, <i>Hist. de l’art dans l’antiquité</i>, +vols. iv. v. (1886-1890); J. Strzygowski, <i>Kleinasien, &c.</i> (1903). +Also numerous articles in all leading archaeological periodicals, the +<i>Geographical Journal</i>, <i>Deutsche Rundschau</i>, <i>Petermann’s Geog. +Mitteilungen</i>, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>3. <span class="sc">Maps</span>.—H. Kiepert, <i>Nouv. carte gén. des prov. asiat. de l’Emp. +ottoman</i> (1894), and <i>Spezialkarte v. Westkleinasien</i> (1890); W. von +Diest, <i>Karte des Nordwestkleinasien</i> (1901); R. Kiepert, <i>Karte von +Kleinasien</i> (1901); E. Friederich, <i>Handels- und Produktenkarte von +Kleinasien</i> (1898); J.G.C. Anderson, <i>Asia Minor</i> (Murray’s Handy +Class. Maps) (1903).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(C. W. W.; D. G. H.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1g" id="ft1g" href="#fa1g"><span class="fn">1</span></a> The people, Moslem and Christian, are physically one and appear +to be closely related to the modern Armenians. This relationship is +noticeable in other districts, and the whole original population of +Asia Minor has been characterized as Proto-Armenian or Armenoid.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASIENTO,<a name="ar79" id="ar79"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Assiento</span> (from the verb <i>asentar</i>, to place, or +establish), a Spanish word meaning a farm of the taxes, or +contract. The farmer or contractor is called an <i>asentista</i>. The +word acquired a considerable notoriety in English and American +history, on account of the “Asiento Treaty” of 1713. Until 1702 +the Spanish government had given the contract for the supply +of negroes to its colonies in America to the Genoese. But after +the establishment of the Bourbon dynasty in 1700, a French +company was formed which received the exclusive privilege of +the Spanish-American slave trade for ten years—from September +1702 to 1712. When the peace of Utrecht was signed the British +government insisted that the monopoly should be given to its +own subjects. By the terms of the Asiento treaty signed on the +16th of March 1713, it was provided that British subjects should +be authorized to introduce 144,000 slaves in the course of thirty +years, at the rate of 4800 per annum. The privilege was to +expire on the 1st of May 1743. British subjects were also +authorized to send one ship of 500 tons per annum, laden with +manufactured goods, to the fairs of Porto Bello and La Vera +Cruz. Import duties were to be paid for the slaves and goods. +This privilege was conveyed by the British government to the +South Sea Company, formed to work it. The privilege, to which +an exaggerated value was attached, formed the solid basis of +the notorious fit of speculative fever called the South Sea Bubble. +Until 1739 the trade in blacks went on without interruption, but +amid increasingly angry disputes between the Spanish and the +British governments. The right to send a single trading ship +to the fairs of Porto Bello or La Vera Cruz was abused. Under +pretence of renewing her provisions she was followed by tenders +which in fact carried goods. Thus there arose what was in fact +a vast contraband trade. The Spanish government established +a service of revenue boats (<i>guarda costas</i>) which insisted on +searching all English vessels approaching the shores of the +Spanish colonies. There can be no doubt that the smugglers +were guilty of many piratical excesses, and that the <i>guarda +costas</i> often acted with violence on mere suspicion. After many +disputes, in which the claims of the British government were +met by Spanish counterclaims, war ensued in 1739. When peace +was made at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 Spain undertook to allow the +asiento to be renewed for the four years which were to run when +war broke out in 1739. But the renewal for so short a period +was not considered advantageous, and by the treaty of El Retiro +of 1750, the British government agreed to the recession of the +Asiento treaty altogether on the payment by Spain of £100,000.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>A very convenient account of the Asiento Treaty, and of the trade +which arose under it, will be found in Malachy Postlethwayt’s +<i>Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce</i> (London, 1751), <i>s.v.</i></p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASIR,<a name="ar80" id="ar80"></a></span> a district in western Arabia, lying between 17° 30′ and +21° N., and 40° 30′ and 45° E.; bounded N. by Hejaz, E. by +Nejd, S. by Yemen and W. by the Red Sea. Like Yemen, it +consists of a lowland zone some 20 or 30 m. in width along the +coast, and of a mountainous tract, falling steeply on the west +and merging into a highland plateau which slopes gradually to +the N.E. towards the Nejd steppes. Its length along the coast +is about 230 m., and its breadth from the coast to El Besha about +180. The lowland, or Tehama, is hot and barren; the principal +places in it are Kanfuda, the chief port of the district, Marsa +Hali and El Itwad, smaller ports farther south. The mountainous +tract has probably an average altitude of between 6000 and +7000 ft., with a temperate climate and regular rainfall, and is +fertile and populous. The valleys are well watered and produce +excellent crops of cereals and dates. The best-known are the +Wadi Taraba and the W. Besha, both running north-east +towards the W. Dawasir in Nejd. Taraba, according to John +Lewis Burckhardt, is a considerable town, surrounded by palm +groves and gardens, and watered by numerous rivulets, and +tamous for its long resistance to Mehemet Ali’s forces in 1815. +Five or six days’ journey to the south-east is the district of +Besha, the most important position between Sana and Taif. +Here Mehemet Ali’s army, amounting to 12,000 men, found +sufficient provisions to supply it during a fortnight’s halt. +The Wadi Besha is a broad valley abounding with streams +containing numerous hamlets scattered over a tract some +six or eight hours’ journey in length. Its principal affluent, +the W. Shahran, rises 120 m. to the south and runs +through the fertile district of Khamis Mishet, the highest in +Asir. The Zahran district lies four days west of Besha on the +crest of the main range: the principal place is Makhwa, a large +town and market, from which grain is exported in considerable +quantities to Mecca. Farther south is the district of Shamran. +Throughout the mountainous country the valleys are well +watered and cultivated, with fortified villages perched on the +surrounding heights. Juniper forests are said to exist on the +higher mountains. Three or four days’ journey east and south-east +of Besha are the encampments of the Bani Kahtan, one of +the most ancient tribes of Arabia; their pastures extend into +the adjoining district of Nejd, where they breed camels in large +numbers, as well as a few horses.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants are a brave and warlike race of mountaineers, +and aided by the natural strength of their country they have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page762" id="page762"></a>762</span> +hitherto preserved their independence. Since the beginning of +the 19th century they have been bigoted Wahhabis, though +previously regarded by their neighbours as very lax Mahommedans; +during Mehemet Ali’s occupation of Nejd their constant +raids on the Egyptian communications compelled him to send +several punitive expeditions into the district, which, however, +met with little success. Since the reconquest of Yemen by the +Turks, they have made repeated attempts to subjugate Asir, +but beyond occupying Kanfuda, and holding one or two isolated +points in the interior, of which Ibha and Manadir are the principal, +they have effected nothing.</p> + +<p>The chief sources of information regarding Asir are the notes +made by J.L. Burckhardt at Taif in 1814 and those of the French +officers with the Egyptian expeditions into the country from +1814 to 1837. No part of Arabia would better repay exploration.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—J.L. Burckhardt, <i>Travels in Arabia</i> (London, +1829); F. Mengin, <i>Histoire de l’Égypte</i>, &c. (Paris, 1823); +M.O. Tamisier, <i>Voyage en Arabie</i> (Paris, 1840).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(R. A. W.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASISIUM<a name="ar81" id="ar81"></a></span> (mod. <i>Assisi</i>), an ancient town of Umbria, in a +lofty situation about 15 m. E.S.E. of Perusia. As an independent +community it had already begun to use Latin as well as Umbrian +in its inscriptions (for one of these recording the chief magistrates—<i>marones</i>—see +<i>C.I.L.</i> xi. 5390). It became a <i>municipium</i> in +90 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, but, though numerous inscriptions (<i>C.I.L.</i> xi. 5371-5606) +testify to its importance in the Imperial period, it is hardly +mentioned by our classical authorities. Scanty traces of the +ancient city walls may be seen; within the town the best-preserved +building is the so-called temple of Minerva, with six +Corinthian columns of travertine, now converted into a church, +erected by Gaius and Titus Caesius in the Augustan era. It +fronted on to the ancient forum, part of the pavement of which, +with a base for the equestrian statues of Castor and Pollux (as +the inscription upon it records) has been laid bare beneath the +present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. The remains of the amphitheatre, +in <i>opus reticulatum</i>, may be seen in the north-east corner +of the town; and other ancient buildings have been discovered. +Asisium was probably the birthplace of Propertius.</p> +<div class="author">(T. As.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASKABAD,<a name="ar82" id="ar82"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Askhabad</span>, a town of Russian central Asia, +capital of the Transcaspian province, 345 m. by rail S.E. of +Krasnovodsk and 594 from Samarkand, situated in a small +oasis at the N. foot of the Kopet-dagh range. It has a public +library and a technical railway school; also cotton-cleaning +works, tanneries, brick-works, and a mineral-water factory. +The trade is valued at £250,000 a year. The population, 2500 +in 1881, when the Russians seized it, was 19,428 in 1897, one-third +Persians, many of them belonging to the Babi sect.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASKAULES<a name="ar83" id="ar83"></a></span> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="askaulaes">ἀσκαύλης</span> [?] from <span class="grk" title="askos">ἀσκός</span>, bag, <span class="grk" title="aulos">αὐλός</span>, pipe), +probably the Greek word for bag-piper, although there is no +documentary authority for its use. Neither it nor <span class="grk" title="askaulos">ἄσκαυλος</span> +(which would naturally mean the bag-pipe) has been found in +Greek classical authors, though J.J. Reiske—in a note on Dio +Chrysostom, <i>Orat.</i> lxxi. <i>ad fin.</i>, where an unmistakable description +of the bag-pipe occurs (“and they say that he is skilled to +write, to work as an artist, and to play the pipe with his mouth, +on the bag placed under his arm-pits”)—says that <span class="grk" title="askaulaes">ἀσκαύλης</span> was +the Greek word for bag-piper. The only actual corroboration +of this is the use of <i>ascaules</i> for the pure Latin <i>utricularius</i> in +Martial x. 3. 8. Dio Chrysostom flourished about <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 100; +it is therefore only an assumption that the bag-pipe was known +to the classical Greeks by the name of <span class="grk" title="askaulos">ἄσκαυλος</span>. It need not, +however, be a matter of surprise that among the highly cultured +Greeks such an instrument as the bag-pipe should exist without +finding a place in literature. It is significant that it is not +mentioned by Pollux (<i>Onomast.</i> iv. 74) and Athenaeus (<i>Deipnos.</i> +iv. 76) in their lists of the various kinds of pipes.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See articles <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Aulos</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Bag-pipe</a></span>; art. “Askaules” in Pauly-Wissowa, +<i>Realencyclopadie</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASKE, ROBERT<a name="ar84" id="ar84"></a></span> (d. 1537), English rebel, was a country +gentleman who belonged to an ancient family long settled in +Yorkshire, his mother being a daughter of John, Lord Clifford. +When in 1536 the insurrection called the “Pilgrimage of Grace” +broke out in Yorkshire, Aske was made leader; and marching +with the banner of St Cuthbert and with the badge of the “five +wounds,” he occupied York on the 16th of October and on the +20th captured Pontefract Castle, with Lord Darcy and the +archbishop of York, who took the oath of the rebels. He caused +the monks and nuns to be reinstated, and refused to allow the +king’s herald to read the royal proclamation, announcing his +intention of marching to London to declare the grievances of +the commons to the sovereign himself, secure the expulsion of +counsellors of low birth, and obtain restitution for the church. +The whole country was soon in the hands of the rebels, a military +organization with posts from Newcastle to Hull was established, +and Hull was provided with cannon. Subsequently Aske, followed +by 30,000 or 40,000 men, proceeded towards Doncaster, where +lay the duke of Norfolk with the royal forces, which, inferior +in numbers, would probably have been overwhelmed had not +Aske persuaded his followers to accept the king’s pardon, and +the promise of a parliament at York and to disband. Soon +afterwards he received a letter from the king desiring him to +come secretly to London to inform him of the causes of the +rebellion. Aske went under the guarantee of a safe-conduct +and was well received by Henry. He put in writing a full +account of the rising and of his own share in it; and, fully +persuaded of the king’s good intentions, returned home on the +8th of January 1537, bringing with him promises of a visit from +the king to Yorkshire, of the holding of a parliament at York, +and of free elections. Shortly afterwards he wrote to the king +warning him of the still unquiet state not only of the north but +of the midlands, and stating his fear that more bloodshed was +impending. The same month he received the king’s thanks for +his action in pacifying Sir Francis Bigod’s rising. But his +position was now a difficult and a perilous one, and a few weeks +later the attitude of the government towards him was suddenly +changed. The new rising had given the court an excuse for +breaking off the treaty and sending another army under Norfolk +into Yorkshire. Possibly in these fresh circumstances Aske +may have given cause for further suspicions of his loyalty, and +in his last confession he acknowledged that communications to +obtain aid had been opened with the imperial ambassador and +were contemplated with Flanders. But it is more probable +that the government had from the first treacherously affected +to treat him with confidence to secure the secrets of the rebels +and to effect his destruction. In March Norfolk congratulated +Cromwell on the successful accomplishment of his task, having +persuaded Aske to go to London on false assurances of security. +He was arrested in April, tried before a commission at Westminster, +and sentenced to death for high treason on the 17th of +May; and on the 28th of June he was taken back to Yorkshire, +being paraded in the towns and country through which he +passed. He was hanged at York in July, expressing repentance +for breaking the king’s laws, but declaring that he had promise +of pardon both from Cromwell and from Henry. It is related +that his servant, Robert Wall, died of grief at the thought of +his master’s approaching execution. Aske was a real leader, +who gained the affection and confidence of his followers; and +his sudden rise to greatness and his choice by the people point +to abilities that have not been recorded.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries</i>, by F.A. Gasquet +(1906); <i>Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII.</i>, vols. xi. +and xii.; <i>English Histor. Review</i>, v. 330, 550 (account of the rebellion, +examination and answers to interrogations); <i>Chronicle of +Henry VIII.</i>, tr. by M.A.S. Hume (1889); Whitaker’s <i>Richmondshire</i>, +i. 116 (pedigree of the Askes).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASKEW,<a name="ar85" id="ar85"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Ascue</span>, <b>ANNE</b> (1521?-1546), English Protestant +martyr, born at Stallingborough about 1521, was the second +daughter of Sir William Askew (d. 1540) of South Kelsey, +Lincoln, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas +Wrottesley. Her elder sister, Martha, was betrothed by her +parents to Thomas Kyme, a Lincolnshire justice of the peace, +but she died before marriage, and Anne was induced or compelled +to take her place. She is said to have had two children +by Kyme, but religious differences and incompatibility of temperament +soon estranged the couple. Kyme was apparently an +unimaginative man of the world, while Anne took to Bible-reading +with zeal, became convinced of the falsity of the doctrine +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page763" id="page763"></a>763</span> +of transubstantiation, and created some stir in Lincoln by her +disputations. According to Bale and Foxe her husband turned her +out of doors, but in the privy council register she is said to have +“refused Kyme to be her husband without any honest allegation.” +She had as good a reason for repudiating her husband +as Henry VIII. for repudiating Anne of Cleves. In any case, +she came to London and made friends with Joan Bocher, who +was already known for heterodoxy, and other Protestants. She +was examined for heresy in March 1545 by the lord mayor, and +was committed to the Counter prison. Then she was examined +by Bonner, the bishop of London, who drew up a form of recantation +which he entered in his register. This fact led Parsons +and other Catholic historians to state that she actually recanted +but she refused to sign Bonner’s form without qualification. +Two months later, on the 24th of May, the privy council ordered +her arrest. On the 13th of June 1545, she was arraigned as a +sacramentarian under the Six Articles at the Guildhall; but no +witness appeared against her; she was declared not guilty by +the jury and discharged after paying her fees.</p> + +<p>The reactionary party, which, owing to the absence of Hertford +and Lisle and to the presence of Gardiner, gained the upper hand +in the council in the summer of 1546, were not satisfied with this +repulse; they probably aimed at the leaders of the reforming +party, such as Hertford and possibly Queen Catherine Parr, who +were suspected of favouring Anne, and on the 18th of June 1546 +Anne was again arraigned before a commission including the +lord mayor, the duke of Norfolk, St John, Bonner and Heath. +No jury was empanelled and no witnesses were called; she was +condemned, simply on her confession, to be burnt. On the same +day she was called before the privy council with her husband. +Kyme was sent home into Lincolnshire, but Anne was committed +to Newgate, “for that she was very obstinate and heady in +reasoning of matters of religion.” On the following day she was +taken to the Tower and racked; according to Anne’s own +statement, as recorded by Bale, the lord chancellor, Wriothesley, +and the solicitor-general, Rich, worked the rack themselves; but +she “would not convert for all the pain” (Wriothesley, <i>Chronicle</i> +i. 168). Her torture, disputed by Jardine, Lingard and others, is +substantiated not only by her own narrative, but by two +contemporary chronicles, and by a contemporary letter (<i>ibid.</i>; +<i>Narratives of the Reformation</i>, p. 305; Ellis, <i>Original Letters</i>, 2nd +Ser. ii. 177). For four weeks she was left in prison, and at length +on the 16th of July, she was burnt at Smithfield in the presence +of the same persecuting dignitaries who had condemned her to death.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—Bale’s two tracts, printed at Marburg in November +1546 and January 1547, are the basis of Foxe’s account. See also +<i>Acts of the Privy Council</i> (1542-1547), pp. 424-462; Wriothesley’s +<i>Chron.</i> i. 155, 167-169; <i>Narratives of the Reformation</i>, passim; +Gough’s <i>Index to Parker Soc. Publications</i>; Burnet’s <i>Hist. of the +Reformation</i>; Dixon’s <i>Hist. of the Church of England</i>; <i>Dict. Nat. +Biogr.</i></p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. F. P.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">AṢMA‘Ī<a name="ar86" id="ar86"></a></span> [Abū Sa‘īd ‘Abd ul-Malik ibn Quraib] (<i>c.</i> 739-831), +Arabian scholar, was born of pure Arab stock in Basra and was +a pupil there of Abū ‘Amr ibn ul-‘Alā. He seems to have been a +poor man until by the influence of the governor of Basra he was +brought to the notice of Harūn al-Rashīd, who enjoyed his +conversation at court and made him tutor of his son. He became +wealthy and acquired property in Basra, where he again settled +for a time; but returned later to Bagdad, where he died in 831. +Aṣma‘ī was one of the greatest scholars of his age. From his +youth he stored up in his memory the sacred words of the Koran, +the traditions of the Prophet, the verses of the old poets and the +stories of the ancient wars of the Arabs. He was also a student +of language and a critic. It was as a critic that he was the great +rival of Abū ‘Ubaida (<i>q.v.</i>). While the latter followed (or led) the +Shu‘ūbite movement and declared for the excellence of all things +not Arabian, Aṣma‘ī was the pious Moslem and avowed supporter +of the superiority of the Arabs over all peoples, and of the freedom +of their language and literature from all foreign influence. +Some of his scholars attained high rank as literary men. Of +Aṣma‘ī’s many works mentioned in the catalogue known as the +<i>Fihrist</i>, only about half a dozen are extant. Of these the <i>Book +of Distinction</i> has been edited by D.H. Müller (Vienna, 1876); +the <i>Book of the Wild Animals</i> by R. Geyer (Vienna, 1887); the +<i>Book of the Horse</i>, by A. Haffner (Vienna, 1895); the <i>Book of the +Sheep</i>, by A. Haffner (Vienna, 1896).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>For life of Aṣma‘ī, see Ibn Khallikān, <i>Biographical Dictionary</i>, +translated from the Arabic by McG. de Slane (Paris and +London, 1842), vol. ii. pp. 123-127. For his work as a grammarian, +G. Flügel, <i>Die grammatischen Schulen der Araber</i> (Leipzig, 1862), +pp. 72-80.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(G. W. T.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASMARA,<a name="ar87" id="ar87"></a></span> the capital of the Italian colony of Eritrea, N.E. +Africa. It is built on the Hamasen plateau, near its eastern edge, +at an elevation of 7800 ft., and is some 40 m. W.S.W. in a direct +line of the seaport of Massawa. Pop. (1904) about 9000, including +the garrison of 300 Italian soldiers, and some 1000 native troops. +The European civil population numbers over 500; the rest +of the inhabitants are chiefly Abyssinians. There is a small +Mahommedan colony. The town is strongly fortified. The +European quarter contains several fine public buildings, including +the residence of the governor, club house, barracks and hospital. +Fort Baldissera is built on a hill to the south-west of the town +and is considered impregnable.</p> + +<p>Asmara, an Amharic word signifying “good pasture place,” is +a town of considerable antiquity. It was included in the maritime +province of northern Abyssinia, which was governed by a +viceroy who bore the title of Bahar-nagash (ruler of the sea). +By the Abyssinians the Hamasen plateau was known as the plain +of the thousand villages. Asmara appears to have been one of +the most prosperous of these villages, and to have attained +commercial importance through being on the high road from +Axum to Massawa. When Werner Munzinger (<i>q.v.</i>) became +French consul at Massawa, he entered into a scheme for annexing +the Hamasen (of which Asmara was then the capital) to France, +but the outbreak of the war with Germany in 1870 brought the +project to nought (cf. A.B. Wylde, <i>Modern Abyssinia</i>, 1901). +In 1872 Munzinger, now in Egyptian service, annexed Asmara +to the khedivial dominions, but in 1884, owing to the rise of the +mahdi, Egypt evacuated her Abyssinian provinces and Asmara was +chosen by Ras Alula, the representative of the negus Johannes +(King John), as his headquarters. Shortly afterwards the Italians +occupied Massawa, and in 1889 Asmara (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Abyssinia</a></span>: <i>History</i>). +In 1900 the seat of government was transferred from Massawa +to Asmara, which in its modern form is the creation of the +Italians. It is surrounded by rich agricultural lands, cultivated +in part by Italian immigrants, and is a busy trading centre. A +railway from Massawa to Asmara was completed as far as Ghinda, +at the foot of the plateau, in 1904. At Medrizien, 6 m. north of +Asmara, are gold-mines which have been partially worked.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See G. Dainelli, <i>In Africa. Lettere dall’ Eritrea</i> (Bergamo, 1908); +R. Perini, <i>Di qua dal Mareb</i> (Florence, 1905).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASMODEUS,<a name="ar88" id="ar88"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Ashmedai</span>, an evil demon who appears in later +Jewish tradition as “king of demons.” He is sometimes identified +with Beelzebub or Apollyon (Rev. ix. 11). In the Talmud he +plays a great part in the legends concerning Solomon. In the +apocryphal book of Tobit (iii. 8) occurs the well-known story of +his love for Sara, the beautiful daughter of Raguel, whose seven +husbands were slain in succession by him on their respective +bridal nights. At last Tobias, by burning the heart and liver of +a fish, drove off the demon, who fled to Egypt. From the part +played by Asmodeus in this story, he has been often familiarly +called the genius of matrimonial unhappiness or jealousy, and +as such may be compared with Lilith. Le Sage makes him the +principal character in his novel <i>Le Diable boiteux</i>. Both the +word and the conception seem to have been derived originally +from the Persian. The name has been taken to mean “covetous.” +It is in any case no doubt identical with the demon Aeshma of +the Zend-Avesta and the Pahlavi texts. But the meaning is not +certain. It is generally agreed that the second part of the name +Asmodeus is the same as the Zend <i>daēwa, dēw</i>, “demon.” The +first part may be equivalent to Aeshma, the impersonation of +anger. But W. Baudissin (Herzog-Hauck, <i>Realencyklopädie</i>) +prefers to derive it from <i>ish</i>, to drive, set in motion; whence +<i>ish-mīn</i>, driving, impetuous.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The legend of Asmodeus is given fully in the <i>Jewish Encyclopaedia</i>, s.v. +See also the articles in the <i>Encyclopaedia Biblica</i>, Hastings’ +<i>Dictionary of the Bible</i>, and Herzog-Hauck, <i>Realencyklopädie</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page764" id="page764"></a>764</span></p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASMONEUS,<a name="ar89" id="ar89"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Asamonaeus</span> (so Josephus), great-grandfather +of Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabaeus. Nothing more is +known of him, and the name is only given by Josephus (not in +1 Macc. ii. 1). But the dynasty was known to Josephus and the +Mishna (once) as “the sons (race) of the Asamonaeans (of A.)”; +and the Targum of 1 Sam. ii. 4 has “the house of the Hashmoneans +who were weak, signs were wrought for them and +strength.” If not the founder, Asmoneus was probably the home +of the family (cf. Heshmon, Jos. xv. 27).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Schurer, <i>Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes</i>, i. 248 N; art. +“Maccabees,” § 2, in <i>Ency. Biblica</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(J. H. A. H.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASNIÈRES,<a name="ar90" id="ar90"></a></span> a town of northern France, in the department of +Seine, on the left bank of the Seine, about 1½ m. N.N.W. of the +fortifications of Paris. Pop. (1906) 35,883. The town, which +has grown rapidly in recent years, is a favourite boating centre +for the Parisians. The industries include boat-building and the +manufacture of colours and perfumery.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASOKA,<a name="ar91" id="ar91"></a></span> a famous Buddhist emperor of India who reigned +from 264 to 228 or 227 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Thirty-five of his inscriptions on +rocks or pillars or in caves still exist (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Inscriptions</a></span>: <i>Indian</i>), +and they are among the most remarkable and interesting of +Buddhist monuments (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Buddhism</a></span>). Asoka was the grandson +of Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya (Peacock) dynasty, +who had wrested the Indian provinces of Alexander the Great +from the hands of Seleucus, and he was the son of Bindusāra, +who succeeded his father Chandragupta, by a lady from Champā. +The Greeks do not mention him and the Brahmin books ignore +him, but the Buddhist chronicles and legends tell us much about +him. The inscriptions, which contain altogether about five +thousand words, are entirely of religious import, and their +references to worldly affairs are incidental. They begin in the +thirteenth year of his reign, and tell us that in the ninth year he +had invaded Kalinga, and had been so deeply impressed by the +horrors involved in warfare that he had then given up the desire +for conquest, and devoted himself to conquest by “religion.” +What the religion was is explained in the edicts. It is purely +ethical, independent alike of theology and ritual, and is the code +of morals as laid down in the Buddhist sacred books for laymen. +He further tells us that in the ninth year of his reign he formally +joined the Buddhist community as a layman, in the eleventh +year he became a member of the order, and in the thirteenth he +“set out for the Great Wisdom” (the <i>Sambodhi</i>), which is the +Buddhist technical term for entering upon the well-known, eightfold +path to Nirvana. One of the edicts is addressed to the +order, and urges upon its members and the laity alike the learning +and rehearsal of passages from the Buddhist scriptures. +Two others are proclamations commemorating visits paid by the +king, one to the dome erected over the ashes of Konāgamana, the +Buddha, another to the birthplace of Gotama, the Buddha (<i>q.v.</i>). +Three very short ones are dedications of caves to the use of +an order of recluses. The rest either enunciate the religion as +explained above, or describe the means adopted by the king for +propagating it, or acting in accordance with it. These means are +such as the digging of wells, planting medicinal herbs, and trees +for shade, sending out of missionaries, appointment of special +officers to supervise charities, and so on. The missionaries were +sent to Kashmir, to the Himalayas, to the border lands on the +Indus, to the coast of Burma, to south India and to Ceylon. +And the king claims that missions sent by him to certain Greek +kingdoms that he names had resulted in the folk there conforming +themselves to his religion. The extent of Asoka’s dominion +included all India from the thirteenth degree of latitude up to the +Himalayas, Nepal, Kashmir, the Swat valley, Afghanistan as +far as the Hindu Kush, Sind and Baluchistan. It was thus as +large as, or perhaps somewhat larger than, British India before +the conquest of Burma. He was undoubtedly the most powerful +sovereign of his time and the most remarkable and imposing of +the native rulers of India. “If a man’s fame,” says Köppen, +“can be measured by the number of hearts who revere his +memory, by the number of lips who have mentioned, and still +mention him with honour, Asoka is more famous than Charlemagne +or Caesar.” At the same time it is probable that, +like Constantine’s patronage of Christianity, his patronage of +Buddhism, then the most rising and influential faith in India, +was not unalloyed with political motives, and it is certain that +his vast benefactions to the Buddhist cause were at least one of +the causes that led to its decline.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See also <i>Asoka</i>, by Vincent Smith (Oxford, 1901); <i>Inscriptions de +Piyadasi</i>, by E. Senart (Paris, 1891); chapters on Asoka in T.W. +Rhys Davids’s <i>Buddhism</i> (20th ed., London, 1903), and <i>Buddhist India</i> +(London, 1903); V.A. Smith, <i>Edicts of Asoka</i> (1909).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(T. W. R. D.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASOLO<a name="ar92" id="ar92"></a></span> (anc. <i>Acelum</i>), a town of Venetia, Italy, in the province +of Treviso, about 19 m. N.W. direct from the town of Treviso, +and some 10 m. E. of Bassanoby road. Pop. (1901) 5847. It is +well situated on a hill, 690 ft. above sea-level. Remains of +Roman baths and of a theatre have been discovered in the +course of excavation (<i>Notizie degli scavi</i>, 1877, 235; 1881, 205; +1882, 289), and the town was probably a <i>municipium</i>. It +became an episcopal see in the 6th century. It was to Asolo +that Catherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, retired on her abdication. +Here she was visited by Pietro Bembo, who conceived here +his <i>Dialoghi degli Asolani</i>, and by Andrea Navagero (Naugerius). +Paulus Manutius was born here. The village of Maser is 4½ m. to +the E., and near it is the Villa Giacomelli, erected by Palladio, containing +frescoes by Paolo Veronese, executed in 1566-1568 for Marcantonio +Barbaro of Venice, and ranking among his best works.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASOR<a name="ar93" id="ar93"></a></span> (Hebr. for “ten”), an instrument “of ten strings” +mentioned in the Bible, about which authors are not agreed. +The word occurs only three times in the Bible, and has not been +traced elsewhere. In Psalm xxxiii. 2 the reference is to “kinnor, +nebel and asor”; in Psalm xcii. 3, to “nebel and asor”; in +Psalm cxliv. to “nebel-asor.” In the English version <i>asor</i> is +translated “an instrument of ten strings,” with a marginal note +“omit” applied to “instrument.” In the Septuagint, the word +being derived from a root signifying “ten,” the Greek is <span class="grk" title="en dekachordo">ἐν δεκαχορδῷ</span> +or <span class="grk" title="psaltaerion dekachordon">ψαλτήριον δεκάχορδον</span>, in the Vulgate <i>in decachordo +psalterio</i>. Each time the word <i>asor</i> is used it follows the +word <i>nebel</i> (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Psaltery</a></span>), and probably merely indicates a +variant of the nebel, having ten strings instead of the customary +twelve assigned to it by Josephus (<i>Antiquities</i>, vii. 12. 3).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See also Mendel and Reissmann, <i>Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon</i>, +vol. i. (Berlin, 1881); Sir John Stainer, <i>The Music of the +Bible</i>, pp. 35-37; Forkel, <i>Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik</i>, Bd. i. +p. 133 (Leipzig, 1788).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(K. S.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASP<a name="ar94" id="ar94"></a></span> (<i>Vipera aspis</i>), a species of venomous snake, closely allied +to the common adder of Great Britain, which it represents +throughout the southern parts of Europe, being specially +abundant in the region of the Alps. It differs from the adder +in having the head entirely covered with scales, shields being +absent, and in having the snout somewhat turned up. The term +“Asp” <span class="grk" title="aspis">ἀσπίς</span> seems to have been employed by Greek and +Roman writers, and by writers generally down to comparatively +recent times, to designate more than one species of serpent; +thus the asp, by means of which Cleopatra is said to have ended +her life, and so avoided the disgrace of entering Rome a captive, +is now generally supposed to have been the cerastes, or horned +viper (<i>Cerastes cornutus</i>), of northern Africa and Arabia, a snake +about 15 in. long, exceedingly venomous, and provided with +curious horn-like protuberances over each eye, which give it a +decidedly sinister appearance. The snake, however, to which +the word “asp” has been most commonly applied is undoubtedly +the haje of Egypt, the <i>spy-slange</i> or spitting snake of the Boers +(<i>Naja haje</i>), one of the very poisonous <i>Elarinae</i>, from 3 to 4 ft. +long, with the skin of its neck loose, so as to render it dilatable +at the will of the animal, as in the cobra of India, a species from +which it differs only in the absence of the spectacle-like mark +on the back of the neck. Like the cobra, also, the haje has its +fangs extracted by the jugglers of the country, who afterwards +train it to perform various tricks. The asp (<i>Pethen</i>, פתן) is +mentioned in various parts of the Old Testament. This name +is twice translated “adder,” but as nothing is told of it beyond +its poisonous character and the intractability of its disposition, +it is impossible accurately to determine the species.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPARAGINE,<a name="ar95" id="ar95"></a></span> C<span class="su">4</span>H<span class="su">3</span>N<span class="su">2</span>O<span class="su">3</span>, a naturally occurring base, found +in plants belonging to the natural orders Leguminosae and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page765" id="page765"></a>765</span> +Cruciferae. It occurs in two optically active forms, namely, as +laevo-asparagine and dextro-asparagine. Laevo-asparagine was +isolated in 1805 by L.N. Vauquelin. A. Piutti (<i>Gazz. chim. Ital.</i>, +1887, 17, p. 126; 1888, 18, p. 457) synthesized the asparagines +from the monomethyl ester of inactive aspartic acid by heating +it with alcoholic ammonia. In this way a mixture of the two +asparagines was obtained, which were separated by picking out +the hemihedral crystals.</p> + +<p class="center">HOOC·CH·NH<span class="su">2</span>·CH<span class="su">2</span>·COOC<span class="su">2</span>H<span class="su">5</span> + NH<span class="su">3</span> + = C<span class="su">2</span>H<span class="su">5</span>OH + HOOC·CH·NH<span class="su">2</span>·CH<span class="su">2</span>·CONH<span class="su">2</span>.</p> + +<p class="noind">Laevo-asparagine is slightly soluble in cold water and readily +soluble in hot water. It crystallizes in prisms, containing one +molecule of water of crystallization, the anhydrous form melting +at 234-235° C. Nitrous acid converts it into malic acid, +HOOC·CHOH·CH<span class="su">2</span>·COOH. It is laevo-rotatory in aqueous or +in alkaline solution, and dextro-rotatory in acid solution (L. +Pasteur, <i>Ann. Chim. Phys.</i>, 1851 [2], 31, p. 67). Dextro-asparagine +was first found in 1886 in the shoots of the vetch (Piutti). It +forms rhombic crystals possessing a sweet taste. It is dextro-rotatory +in aqueous or alkaline solution, and laevo-rotatory +in acid solution.</p> + +<p>Hydrolysis by means of acids or alkalis converts the asparagines +into aspartic acid; whilst on heating with water in a sealed +tube they are converted into ammonium aspartate. The constitution +of the asparagines has been determined by A. Piutti +(<i>Gazz. chim. Ital.</i>, 1888, 18, p. 457).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPARAGUS,<a name="ar96" id="ar96"></a></span> a genus of plants (nat. ord. Liliaceae) containing +more than 100 species, and widely distributed in the temperate +and warmer parts of the Old World; it was introduced from +Europe into America with the early settlers. The name is +derived from the Greek <span class="grk" title="asparagos">ἀσπάραγος</span> or <span class="grk" title="aspharagos">ἀσφάραγος</span>, the origin +of which is obscure. <i>Sperage</i> or <i>sparage</i> was the form in use from +the 16th to 18th centuries, cf. the modern Italian <i>sparagio</i>. The +vulgar corruption <i>sparrow-grass</i> or <i>sparagrass</i> was in accepted +popular use during the 18th century, “asparagus” being considered +pedantic. The plants have a short, creeping, underground +stem from which spring slender, branched, aerial shoots. +The leaves are reduced to minute scales bearing in their axils +tufts of green, needle-like branches (the so-called <i>cladodes</i>), +which simulate, and perform the functions of, leaves. In one +section of the genus, sometimes regarded as a distinct genus +<i>Myrsiphyllum</i>, the cladodes are flattened. The plants often +climb or scramble, in which they are helped by the development +of the scale-leaves into persistent spines. The flowers are +small, whitish and pendulous; the fruit is a berry.</p> + +<p>Several of the climbing species are grown in greenhouses for +their delicate, often feathery branches, which are also valuable +for cutting; the South African <i>Asparagus plumosus</i> is an +especially elegant species. The so-called smilax, much used for +decoration, is a species of the <i>Myrsiphyllum</i> section, <i>A. +medeoloides</i>, also known as <i>Myrsiphyllum asparagoides</i>. The young +shoots of <i>Asparagus officinalis</i> have from very remote times been +in high repute as a culinary vegetable, owing to their delicate +flavour and diuretic virtues. The plant, which is a native of the +north temperate zone of the Old World, grows wild on the south +coast of England; and on the waste steppes of Russia it is so +abundant that it is eaten by cattle like grass. In common with +the marsh-mallow and some other plants, it contains asparagine +or aspartic acidamide. The roots of asparagus were formerly +used as an aperient medicine, and the fruits were likewise +employed as a diuretic. Under the name of Prussian asparagus, +the spikes of an allied plant, <i>Ornithogalum pyrenaicum</i>, are used +in some places. The diuretic action is extremely feeble, and +neither the plant nor asparagine is now used medicinally.</p> + +<p>Asparagus is grown extensively in private gardens as well as +for market. The asparagus prefers a loose, light, deep, sandy soil; +the depth should be 3 ft., the soil being well trenched, and all +surplus water got away. A considerable quantity of well-rotted +dung or of recent seaweed should be laid in the bottom of the +trench, and another top-dressing of manure should be dug in +preparatory to planting or sowing. The beds should be 3 ft. +or 5 ft. wide, with intervening alleys of 2 ft., the narrower beds +taking two rows of plants, the wider ones three rows. The beds +should run east and west, so that the sun’s rays may strike +against the side of the bed. In some cases the plants are grown +in equidistant rows 3 to 4 ft. apart. Where the beds are made +with plants already prepared, either one-year-old or two-year-old +plants may be used, for which a trench should be cut sufficient +to afford room for spreading out the roots, the crowns being all +kept at about 2 in. below the surface. Planting is best done in +April, after the plants have started into growth. To prevent +injury to the roots, it is, however, perhaps the better plan to +sow the seeds in the beds where the plants are to remain. To +experience the finest flavour of asparagus, it should be eaten +immediately after having been gathered; if kept longer than one +day, or set into water, its finer flavour is altogether lost. If +properly treated, asparagus beds will continue to bear well for +many years. The asparagus grown at Argenteuil, near Paris, +has acquired much notoriety for its large size and excellent +quality. The French growers plant in trenches instead of +raised beds. The most common method of forcing asparagus +is to prepare, early in the year, a moderate hot-bed of stable +litter with a bottom heat of 70°, and to cover it with a common +frame. After the heat of fermentation has somewhat subsided, +the surface of the bed is covered with a layer of light earth or +exhausted tan-bark, and in this the roots of strong mature plants +are closely placed. The crowns of the roots are then covered +with 3 to 6 in. of soil. A common three-light frame may hold +500 or 600 plants, and will afford a supply for several weeks. +After planting, linings are applied when necessary to keep up +the heat, but care must be taken not to scorch the roots; air +must be occasionally admitted. Where there are pits heated +by hot water or by the tank system, they may be advantageously +applied to this purpose. A succession of crops must be maintained +by annually sowing or planting new beds.</p> + +<p>The “asparagus-beetle” is the popular name for two beetles, +the “common asparagus beetle” (<i>Crioceris asparagi</i>) and the +“twelve-spotted” (<i>C. duodecimpunctata</i>), which feed on the +asparagus plant. <i>C. asparagi</i> has been known in Europe since +early times, and was introduced into America about 1856; the +rarer <i>C. duodecimpunctata</i> (sometimes called the “red” to +distinguish it from the “blue” species) was detected in America +in 1881. For an admirable account of these pests see F.H. +Chittenden, <i>Circular 102 of the U.S. Dep. of Agriculture, Bureau +of Entomology</i>, May 1908.</p> + +<p>The “asparagus-stone” is a form of apatite, simulating asparagus +in colour.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPASIA,<a name="ar97" id="ar97"></a></span> an Athenian courtesan of the 5th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, was +born either at Miletus or at Megara, and settled in Athens, where +her beauty and her accomplishments gained for her a great +reputation. Pericles, who had divorced his wife (445), made her +his mistress, and, after the death of his two legitimate sons, +procured the passing of a law under which his son by her was +recognized as legitimate. It was the fashion, especially among +the comic poets, to regard her as the adviser of Pericles in all +his political actions, and she is even charged with having caused +the Samian and Peloponnesian wars (Aristoph. <i>Acharn</i>. 497). +Shortly before the latter war, she was accused of impiety, and +nothing but the tears and entreaties of Pericles procured her +acquittal. On the death of Pericles she is said to have become +the mistress of one Lysicles, whom, though of ignoble birth, she +raised to a high position in the state; but, as Lysicles died a year +after Pericles (428), the story is unconvincing. She was the +chief figure in the dialogue <i>Aspasia</i> by Aeschines the Socratic, +in which she was represented as criticizing the manners and +training of the women of her time (for an attempted reconstruction +of the dialogue see P. Natorp in <i>Philologus</i>, li. p. 489, 1892); +in the <i>Menexenus</i> (generally ascribed to Plato) she is a teacher +of rhetoric, the instructress of Socrates and Pericles, and a funeral +oration in honour of those Athenians who had given their lives +for their country (the authorship of which is attributed to +Aspasia) is repeated by Socrates; Xenophon (<i>Oecon.</i> lii. 14) also +speaks of her in favourable terms, but she is not mentioned by +Thucydides. In opposition to this view, Wilamowitz-Möllendorff +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page766" id="page766"></a>766</span> +(<i>Hermes</i>, xxxv. 1900) regards her simply as a courtesan, whose +personality would readily become the subject of rumour, favourable +or unfavourable. There is a bust bearing her name in the +Pio Clementino Museum in the Vatican.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Le Conte de Bièvre, <i>Les Deux Aspasies</i> (1736); J.B. Capefigue, +<i>Aspasie et le siècle de Périclès</i> (1862); L. Becq de Fouquières. <i>Aspasie +de Milet</i> (1872); H. Houssaye, <i>Aspasie, Cléopâtre, Théodora</i> (1899); +R. Hamerling, <i>Aspasia</i> (a romance; Eng. trans. by M.J. Safford, +New York, 1882); J. Donaldson, <i>Woman</i> (1907). Also <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Pericles</a></span>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPASIUS<a name="ar98" id="ar98"></a></span>, a Greek peripatetic philosopher, and a prolific +commentator on Aristotle. He flourished probably towards the +close of the 1st century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>, or perhaps during the reign of +Antoninus Pius. His commentaries on the <i>Categories, De +Interpretatione, De Sensu</i>, and other works of Aristotle are +frequently referred to by later writers, but have not come down +to us. Commentaries on Plato, mentioned by Porphyry in his +life of Plotinus, have also been lost. Commentaries on books +1-4, 7 (in part), and 8 of the <i>Nicomachean Ethics</i> are preserved; +that on book 8 was printed with those of Eustratius and others +by Aldus Manutius at Venice in 1536. They were partly (2-4) +translated into Latin by Felicianus in 1541, and have frequently +been republished, but their authenticity has been disputed. +The most recent edition is by G. Heylbut in <i>Commentaria in +Aristotelem Graeca</i>, xix. 1 (Berlin, 1889).</p> + +<p>Another <span class="sc">Aspasius</span>, in the 3rd century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>, was a Roman sophist +and rhetorician, son or pupil of the rhetorician Demetrianus. He +taught rhetoric in Rome, and filled the chair of rhetoric founded +by Vespasian. He was secretary to the emperor Maximin. His +orations, which are praised for their style, are lost.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPEN<a name="ar99" id="ar99"></a></span>, an important section of the poplar genus (<i>Populus</i>) +of which the common aspen of Europe, <i>P. tremula</i>, may be taken +as the type,—a tall fast-growing tree with rather slender trunk, +and grey bark becoming rugged when old. The roundish leaves, +toothed on the margin, are slightly downy when young, but afterwards +smooth, dark green on the upper and greyish green on the +lower surface; the long slender petioles, much flattened towards +the outer end, allow of free lateral motion by the lightest breeze, +giving the foliage its well-known tremulous character. By their +friction on each other the leaves give rise to a rustling sound. +It is supposed that the mulberry trees (<i>Becaim</i>) mentioned in +1 Chronicles xiv. 14, 15 were really aspen trees. The flowers, +which appear in March and April, are borne on pendulous hairy +catkins, 2-3 in. long; male and female catkins are, as in the other +species of the genus, on distinct trees.</p> + +<p>The aspen is found in moist places, sometimes at a considerable +elevation, 1600 ft. or more, in Scotland. It is an abundant tree +in the northern parts of Britain, even as far as Sutherland, and is +occasionally found in the coppices of the southern counties, but +in these latter habitats seldom reaches any large size; throughout +northern Europe it abounds in the forests,—in Lapland +flourishing even in 70° N. lat., while in Siberia its range extends +to the Arctic Circle; in Norway its upper limit is said to coincide +with that of the pine; trees exist near the western coast having +stems 15 ft. in circumference. The wood of the aspen is very +light and soft, though tough; it is employed by coopers, chiefly +for pails and herring-casks; it is also made into butchers’ trays, +pack-saddles, and various articles for which its lightness recommends +it; sabots are also made of it in France, and in medieval +days it was valued for arrows, especially for those used in target +practice; the bark is used for tanning in northern countries; +cattle and deer browse greedily on the young shoots and abundant +suckers. Aspen wood makes but indifferent fuel, but charcoal +prepared from it is light and friable, and has been employed in +gunpowder manufacture. The powdered bark is sometimes given +to horses as a vermifuge; it possesses likewise tonic and febrifugal +properties, containing a considerable amount of salicin. The +aspen is readily propagated either by cuttings or suckers, but +has been but little planted of late years in Britain. <i>P. trepida</i>, +or <i>tremuloides</i>. is closely allied to the European aspen, being +chiefly distinguished by its more pointed leaves; it is a native +of most parts of Canada and the United States, extending +northwards as far as Great Slave Lake. The wood is soft and +neither strong nor durable; it burns better in the green state +than that of most trees, and is often used by the hunters of the +North-West as fuel; split into thin layers, it was formerly +employed in the United States for bonnet and hat making. It +is largely manufactured into wood-pulp for paper-making. The +bark is of some value as a tonic and febrifuge. <i>P. grandidentata</i>, +the large-leaved American aspen, has ovate or roundish leaves +deeply and irregularly serrated on the margin. The wood is +light, soft and close-grained, but not strong. In northern New +England and Canada it is largely manufactured into wood-pulp; +it is occasionally used in turnery and for wooden-ware.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPENDUS<a name="ar100" id="ar100"></a></span> (mod. <i>Balkis Kalé</i>, or, more anciently in the +native language, <span class="sc">Estvedys</span> (whence the adjective <i>Estvedijys</i> on +coins), an ancient city of Pamphylia, very strongly situated on +an isolated hill on the right bank of the Eurymedon at the +point where the river issues from the Taurus. The sea is now +about 7 m. distant, and the river is navigable only for about +2 m. from the mouth; but in the time of Thucydides ships could +anchor off Aspendus. Really of pre-Hellenic date, the place +claimed to be an Argive colony. It derived wealth from great +<i>salines</i> and from a trade in oil and wool, to which the wide +range of its admirable coinage bears witness from the 5th century +<span class="scs">B.C.</span> onwards. There Alcibiades met the satrap Tissaphernes in +411 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and thence succeeded in getting the Phoenician fleet, +intended to co-operate with Sparta, sent back home. The +Athenian, Thrasybulus, after obtaining contributions from +Aspendus in 389, was murdered by the inhabitants. The city +bought off Alexander in 333, but, not keeping faith, was forcibly +occupied by the conqueror. In due course it passed from +Pergamene to Roman dominion, and according to Cicero, was +plundered of many artistic treasures by Verres. It was ranked +by Philostratus the third city of Pamphylia, and in Byzantine +times seems to have been known as Primopolis, under which +name its bishop signed at Ephesus in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 431. In medieval +times it was evidently still a strong place, but it has now sunk, +in the general decay of Pamphylia, to a wretched hamlet.</p> + +<p>The ruins still extant are very remarkable, and, with the +noble Roman theatre, the finest in the world, have earned for +the place (as is the case with certain other great monuments) a +legendary connexion with Solomon’s Sheban queen. On the +summit of the hillock, surrounded by a wall with three gates, +lie the remains of the city. The public buildings round the forum +can all be traced, and parts of them are standing to a considerable +height. They consist of a fine nympheum on the north with a +covered theatre behind it, covered market halls on the west, and +a peristyle hall and a basilica on the east. In the plain below are +large thermae, and ruins of a splendid aqueduct. But all else +seems insignificant beside the huge theatre, half hollowed out of +the north-east flank of the hill. This was first published by +C.F.M. Texier in 1849, and has now been completely planned, +&c., by Count Lanckoronski’s expedition in 1884. It is built of +local conglomerate and is in marvellous preservation. Erected +to the honour of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and L. Verus by +the architect Zeno, for the heirs of a local Roman citizen (as an +inscription repeated over both portals attests), its auditorium +has a circuit of 313.17 feet. There are forty tiers of seating, +divided by one <i>diazoma</i>, and crowned by an arched gallery of +rather later date, repaired in places with brick. This auditorium +held 7500 spectators. The seats are not perfect, but so nearly +so as to appear practically intact. The wooden stage has, of +course, perished, but all its supporting structures are in place, +and the great scena wall stands to its full height, and produces a +magnificent impression whether from within or from without. +Inwardly it was decorated with two orders of columns one above +the other, with rich entablatures, much of which survives. In +the <i>tympanum</i> is a relief of Bacchus (wrongly supposed to be of a +female, and called the Bal-Kis, <i>i.e.</i> “Honey Girl”). The position +of the sounding board above the stage is apparent. Under the +forepart of the auditorium, built out from the hill, are immense +vaults. The whole structure was enclosed within one great wall, +pierced with numerous windows. This structure was probably +put to some ecclesiastical Byzantine use, as certain mutilated +heads of saints appear upon it; and later it became a fortress +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page767" id="page767"></a>767</span> +and received certain additions. It is now under the care of the +local <i>aghá</i> and not allowed to be plundered for building stone.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See C. Lanckoronski, <i>Villes de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie</i>, i. +(1890).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(D. G. H.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPER, AEMILIUS,<a name="ar101" id="ar101"></a></span> Latin grammarian, possibly lived in the +2nd century <span class="scs">A.D.</span> He wrote commentaries on Terence, Sallust +and Virgil. Numerous fragments of the last show that as both +critic and commentator he possessed good judgment and taste. +They are printed in Keil, <i>Probi in Vergilii Bucolica Commentarius</i> +(1848); see also Suringar, <i>Historia Critica Scholiastarum Latinorum</i> +(1834); Gräfenhan, <i>Geschichte der klassischen Philologie im +Alterthum.</i> iv. (1843-1850). Two short grammatical treatises, +extant under the name of Asper, and of very little value, have +nothing to do with the commentator, but belong to a much +later date—the time of Priscian (6th century). Both are +printed in Keil, <i>Grammatici Latini</i>. See also Schanz, <i>Geschichte +der römischen Litteratur</i>, § 598.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPER, HANS<a name="ar102" id="ar102"></a></span> (1499-1571), Swiss painter, was born and died +at Zürich. He wrought in a great variety of styles, but excelled +chiefly in flower and fruit pieces, and in portrait-painting. +Many of his pictures have perished, but his style may be judged +from the illustrations to Gessner’s <i>Historia Animalium</i>, for which +he is said to have furnished the designs, and from portraits of +Zwingli and his daughter Regula Gwalter, which are preserved +in the public library of Zürich. It has been usual to class Asper +among the pupils and imitators of Holbein, but an inspection of +his works is sufficient to show that this is a mistake. Though +Asper was held in high reputation by his fellow-citizens, who +elected him a member of the Great Council, and had a medal +struck in his honour, he seems to have died in poverty.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPERGES<a name="ar103" id="ar103"></a></span> (“thou wilt sprinkle,” from the Latin verb +<i>aspergere</i>), the ceremony of sprinkling the people with holy water +before High Mass in the Roman Catholic Church, so called from +the first word of the verse (Ps. iv. 9) <i>Asperges me, Domini, +hyssopo et mundabor</i>, with which the priest begins the ceremony. +The brush used for sprinkling is an aspergill (<i>aspergillum</i>), or +aspersoir, and the vessel for this water an <i>aspersorium</i>. The act +of sprinkling the water is called <i>aspersion</i>.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPERN-ESSLING,<a name="ar104" id="ar104"></a></span> <span class="sc">Battle of</span> (1809), a battle fought on the +21st and 22nd of May 1809 between the French and their allies +under Napoleon and the Austrians commanded by the archduke +Charles (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Napoleonic Campaigns</a></span>). At the time of the +battle Napoleon was in possession of Vienna, the bridges over +the Danube had been broken, and the archduke’s army was on +and about the Bisamberg, a mountain near Korneuburg, on +the left bank of the river. The first task of the French was the +crossing of the Danube. Lobau, one of the numerous islands +which divide the river into minor channels, was selected as the +point of crossing, careful preparations were made, and on the +night of the 19th-20th of May the French bridged all the channels +from the right bank to Lobau and occupied the island. By the +evening of the 20th great masses of men had been collected there +and the last arm of the Danube, between Lobau and the left bank, +bridged. Massena’s corps at once crossed to the left bank and +dislodged the Austrian outposts. Undeterred by the news of +heavy attacks on his rear from Tirol and from Bohemia, Napoleon +hurried all available troops to the bridges, and by daybreak on +the 21st, 40,000 men were collected on the Marchfeld, the broad +open plain of the left bank, which was also to be the scene of +the battle of Wagram. The archduke did not resist the passage; +it was his intention, as soon as a large enough force had crossed, +to attack it before the rest of the French army could come to its +assistance. Napoleon had, of course, accepted the risk of such +an attack, but he sought at the same time to minimize it by +summoning every available battalion to the scene. His forces +on the Marchfeld were drawn up in front of the bridges facing +north, with their left in the village of Aspern (Gross-Aspern) +and their right in Essling (or Esslingen). Both places lay close +to the Danube and could not therefore be turned; Aspern, +indeed, is actually on the bank of one of the river channels. +But the French had to fill the gap between the villages, and also +to move forward to give room for the supports to form up. +Whilst they were thus engaged the archduke moved to the +attack with his whole army in five columns. Three under +Hiller, Bellegarde and Hohenzollern were to converge upon +Aspern, the other two, under Rosenberg, to attack Essling. +The Austrian cavalry was in the centre, ready to move out +against any French cavalry which should attack the heads of +the columns. During the 21st the bridges became more and +more unsafe, owing to the violence of the current, but the +French crossed without intermission all day and during the night.</p> + +<p>The battle began at Aspern; Hiller carried the village at the +first rush, but Masséna recaptured it, and held his ground with +the same tenacity as he had shown at Genoa in 1800. The +French infantry, indeed, fought on this day with the old stubborn +bravery which it had failed to show in the earlier battles of the +year. The three Austrian columns fighting their hardest through +the day were unable to capture more than half the village; the +rest was still held by Masséna when night fell. In the meanwhile +nearly all the French infantry posted between the two villages +and in front of the bridges had been drawn into the fight on +either flank. Napoleon therefore, to create a diversion, sent +forward his centre, now consisting only of cavalry, to charge the +enemy’s artillery, which was deployed in a long line and firing +into Aspern. The first charge of the French was repulsed, but +the second attempt, made by heavy masses of cuirassiers, was +more serious. The French horsemen, gallantly led, drove off +the guns, rode round Hohenzollern’s infantry squares, and +routed the cavalry of Lichtenstein, but they were unable to do +more, and in the end they retired to their old position. In the +meanwhile Essling had been the scene of fighting almost as +desperate as that of Aspern. The French cuirassiers made +repeated charges on the flank of Rosenberg’s force, and for long +delayed the assault, and in the villages Lannes with a single +division made a heroic and successful resistance, till night ended +the battle. The two armies bivouacked on their ground, and in +Aspern the French and Austrians lay within pistol shot of each +other. The latter had fought fully as hard as their opponents, +and Napoleon realized that they were no longer the professional +soldiers of former campaigns. The spirit of the nation was in +them and they fought to kill, not for the honour of their arms. +The emperor was not discouraged, but on the contrary renewed +his efforts to bring up every available man. All through the +night more and more French troops were put across.</p> + +<p>At the earliest dawn of the 22nd the battle was resumed. +Masséna swiftly cleared Aspern of the enemy, but at the same +time Rosenberg stormed Essling at last. Lannes, however, +resisted desperately, and reinforced by St Hilaire’s division, +drove Rosenberg out. In Aspern Masséna had been less fortunate, +the counter-attack of Hiller and Bellegarde being as +completely successful as that of Lannes and St Hilaire. Meantime +Napoleon had launched a great attack on the Austrian +centre. The whole of the French centre, with Lannes on the +right and the cavalry in reserve, moved forward. The Austrian +line was broken through, between Rosenberg’s right and Hohenzollern’s +left, and the French squadrons poured into the gap. +Victory was almost won when the archduke brought up his last +reserve, himself leading on his soldiers with a colour in his hand. +Lannes was checked, and with his repulse the impetus of the +attack died out all along the line. Aspern had been lost, and +graver news reached Napoleon at the critical moment. The +Danube bridges, which had broken down once already, had at +last been cut by heavy barges, which had been set adrift down +stream for the purpose by the Austrians. Napoleon at once +suspended the attack. Essling now fell to another assault of +Rosenberg, and though again the French, this time part of the +Guard, drove him out, the Austrian general then directed his +efforts on the flank of the French centre, slowly retiring on the +bridges. The retirement was terribly costly, and but for the +steadiness of Lannes the French must have been driven into the +Danube, for the archduke’s last effort to break down their +resistance was made with the utmost fury. Only the complete +exhaustion of both sides put an end to the fighting. The French +lost 44,000 out of 90,000 successively engaged, and amongst the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page768" id="page768"></a>768</span> +killed were Lannes and St Hilaire. The Austrians, 75,000 strong, +lost 23,360. Even this, the first great defeat of Napoleon, did +not shake his resolution. The beaten forces were at last withdrawn +safely into the island. On the night of the 22nd the +great bridge was repaired, and the army awaited the arrival of +reinforcements, not in Vienna, but in Lobau.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See sketch map in article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Wagram</a></span>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPHALT,<a name="ar105" id="ar105"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Asphaltum</span>. The solid or semi-solid kinds of +bitumen (<i>q.v.</i>) were termed <span class="grk" title="asphaltos">ἄσφαλτος</span> by the Greeks; and by +some ancient classical writers the name of <i>pissasphaltum</i> (<span class="grk" title="pissa">πίσσα</span>, +pitch) was also sometimes employed. The asphalt of the Dead +Sea (known as <i>Lacus Asphaltites</i>) received considerable notice +from early travellers, and Diodorus the historian states that the +inhabitants of the surrounding parts were accustomed to collect +it for use in Egypt for embalming. In common with other forms +of bitumen, asphalt is very widely distributed geographically +and occurs in greater or less quantity in rocks of all ages. There +is some divergence in the views expressed as to the precise +manner of its production, but it may certainly be said that the +principal asphalt deposits are merely the result of the evaporation +and oxidation of liquid petroleum which has escaped from +outcropping strata. The celebrated Pitch Lake of Trinidad +was long regarded as the largest deposit of asphalt in existence, +but it is said to be exceeded in area, if not in depth also, by one +in Venezuela. The Trinidad “Lake” has an area of 99.3 acres, +and is sufficiently firm in places to support a team of horses. The +deposit is worked with picks to a depth of a foot or two, and the +excavations soon become filled up by the plastic material flowing +in from below and hardening. The depth of the deposit is not +accurately known. The surface is not level but is composed of +irregularly tumescent masses of various sizes, each said to be +subject to independent motion, whereby the interior of each +rises and flows centrifugally towards the edges. As the spaces +between them are always filled with water, these masses are +prevented from coalescing. The softer parts of the lake constantly +evolve gas, which is stated to consist largely of carbon dioxide +and sulphuretted hydrogen, and the pitch, which is honeycombed +with gas-cavities, continues to exhibit this action for +some time after its removal from the lake. The working of the +deposit is in the hands of the New Trinidad Asphalt Company, +who hold the concession up to the year 1930 on payment to the +government of a minimum royalty of £10,000 a year. A circular +line of tramway, supported on palm-leaves, has been laid on +the lake to facilitate the removal of the asphalt. Very large +quantities are exported for paving and other purposes, the annual +shipments amounting to about 130,000 tons from the lake and +about 30,000 tons from other properties. The amount of asphalt +in the lake has been estimated at 158,400 tons for each foot of +depth, and if the average depth be taken at 20 ft. this would give +a total of 3,168,000 tons; but in 1908, though 1,885,600 tons +had been removed in the previous thirty-five years, there was +but little evidence of reduction in the quantity. The Venezuelan +deposit already referred to is in the state of Bermudez, and the +area of it is reported to be more than 1000 acres. The asphalt +of Cuba is a well-known article of commerce, of which 7252 tons +was exported to the United States in 1902. The principal +deposits are near the harbour of Cardenas (70 ft. thick), in the +Pinar del Rio, near Havana (18 ft. thick), at Canas Tomasita +(105 ft. thick); and a specially pure variety near Vuelta.</p> + +<p>The comparative composition of Trinidad and Cuba asphalt +is given in the following table:—</p> + +<table class="ws" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tccm allb"> </td> <td class="tccm allb">Refined<br />Trinidad,<br />Melting<br />point<br />185° F.</td> +<td class="tccm allb">Refined<br />Cuba (soft),<br />Melting<br />point<br />115° F.</td> +<td class="tccm allb">Refined<br />Cuba (hard),<br />Melting<br />point<br />160° F.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tcl lb rb">Water.</td> <td class="tcr rb">0.17</td> <td class="tcr rb">0.13</td> <td class="tcr rb">0.11</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl lb rb">Volatile bitumen.</td> <td class="tcr rb">51.81</td> <td class="tcr rb">64.03</td> <td class="tcr rb">8.34</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl lb rb">Sulphur.</td> <td class="tcr rb">10.00</td> <td class="tcr rb">8.35</td> <td class="tcr rb">8.92</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl lb rb">Ash (earthy matter).</td> <td class="tcr rb">28.30</td> <td class="tcr rb">19.51</td> <td class="tcr rb">16.60</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl lb rb">Fixed carbon.</td> <td class="tcr rb">9.72</td> <td class="tcr rb">7.98</td> <td class="tcr rb">66.03</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tcl lb rb bb"> </td> <td class="tcr allb">100.00</td> <td class="tcr allb">100.00</td> <td class="tcr allb">100.00</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The chemical composition of Trinidad asphalt has been given as:—</p> + +<table class="ws" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcc allb">C.</td> <td class="tcc allb">H.</td> <td class="tcc allb">N.</td> <td class="tcc allb">O.</td> <td class="tcc allb">S.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tcc allb">80.32</td> <td class="tcc allb">6.30</td> <td class="tcc allb">0.50</td> <td class="tcc allb">1.40</td> <td class="tcc allb">11.48</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>The following is a comparison of Trinidad and Venezuela +(Bermudez) asphalt:—</p> + +<table class="nobctr f90" style="width: 70%;" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl"> </td> <td class="tccm">Refined<br />Trinidad.</td> <td class="tccm">Refined<br />Bermudez.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Specific gravity at 60° F.</td> <td class="tcr cl">1.373</td> <td class="tcr cl">1.071</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Bitumen soluble in carbon bisulphide</td> <td class="tcr">61.507%</td> <td class="tcr">92.22%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Mineral matter (ash)</td> <td class="tcr cl">34.51%</td> <td class="tcr cl">1.50%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Non-bituminous organic matter</td> <td class="tcr">3.983%</td> <td class="tcr">1.28%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Portion of total bitumen soluble in alcohol</td> <td class="tcr cl">8.24%</td> <td class="tcr cl">11.66%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Portion of total bitumen soluble in ether</td> <td class="tcr">80.01%</td> <td class="tcr">81.63%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Loss at 212° F.</td> <td class="tcr cl">0.65%</td> <td class="tcr cl">1.37%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Loss at 400° F. in ten hours</td> <td class="tcr">7.98%</td> <td class="tcr">17.80%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Loss at 400° on total bitumen</td> <td class="tcr cl">12.811%</td> <td class="tcr cl">18.308%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen at</td> <td class="tcr">410° F.</td> <td class="tcr">none at 437° F.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Softening-point</td> <td class="tcr cl">160° F.</td> <td class="tcr cl">none at 113° F.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Flowing-point</td> <td class="tcr">192° F.</td> <td class="tcr">none at 150° F.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Asphalt in its purest forms is generally black or blackish +brown in colour, and is frequently brittle at ordinary +temperatures. Apart from its principal use in the manufacture of +paving materials, it is largely employed in building as a +“damp-course” and as a water-excluding coating for concrete floors, +as well as in the manufacture of roofing-felt. It also enters +largely into the composition of black varnish. The material +chiefly used in the construction of asphalt roadways is an +asphaltic or bituminous limestone found in the Val de Travers, +canton of Neuchâtel; in the neighbourhood of Seyssel, department +of Ain; at Limmer, near the city of Hanover; and elsewhere. +The proportion of bitumen present in asphalt rock +usually ranges from 7 to 20%, but it is found that rock containing +more than 11% cannot be satisfactorily used for street pavements, +and it is accordingly customary to mix the richer and +poorer varieties in fine powder in such respective quantities +that the proportion of bitumen present is from 9 to 10%. The +richer rock is utilized as a source of asphalt “mastic,” which is +employed for footpaths, floors, roofs, &c. Excellent foundations +for steam-hammers, dynamos and high-speed engines are made +of asphaltic concrete.</p> +<div class="author">(B. R.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPHODEL<a name="ar106" id="ar106"></a></span> (<i>Asphodelus</i>), a genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), +containing seven species in the Mediterranean region. The +plants are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted +radical leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike +of white or yellow flowers. <i>Asphodelus albus</i> and <i>A. fistulosus</i> +have white flowers and grow from 1½ to 2 ft. high; <i>A. ramosus</i> is +a larger plant, the large white flowers of which have a +reddish-brown line in the middle of each segment. Bog-asphodel +(<i>Narthecium ossifragum</i>), a member of the same family, is a small +herb common in boggy places in Britain, with rigid narrow radical +leaves and a stem bearing a raceme of small golden yellow flowers.</p> + +<p>In Greek legend the asphodel is the most famous of the plants +connected with the dead and the underworld. Homer describes +it as covering the great meadow (<span class="grk" title="asphodelos leimon">ἀσφόδελος λειμών</span>), the haunt of +the dead (<i>Od.</i> xi. 539, 573; xxiv. 13). It was planted on graves, +and is often connected with Persephone, who appears crowned +with a garland of asphodels. Its general connexion with death +is due no doubt to the greyish colour of its leaves and its yellowish +flowers, which suggest the gloom of the underworld and the pallor +of death. The roots were eaten by the poorer Greeks; hence +such food was thought good enough for the shades (cf. Hesiod, +<i>Works and Days</i>, 41; Pliny, <i>Nat. Hist.</i> xxi. 17 [68]; Lucian, +<i>De luctu</i>, 19). The asphodel was also supposed to be a remedy for +poisonous snake-bites and a specific against sorcery; it was fatal +to mice, but preserved pigs from disease. The Libyan nomads +made their huts of asphodel stalks (cf. Herod. iv. 190).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page769" id="page769"></a>769</span></p> + +<p>No satisfactory derivation of the word is suggested. The +English word “daffodil” is a perversion of “asphodel,” formerly +written “affodil.” The <i>d</i> may come from the French <i>fleur +d’affodille</i>. It is no part of the word philologically.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Pauly-Wissowa, <i>Realencyclopädie</i>, s.v.; H.O. Lenz, <i>Botanik +der alten Griechen und Römer</i> (1859); J. Murr, <i>Die Pflanzenwelt in +der griechischen Mythologie</i> (1890).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPHYXIA<a name="ar107" id="ar107"></a></span> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="a-">ἀ-</span> priv., <span class="grk" title="sphaexis">σφύξις</span>, a pulse), a term in medicine, +literally signifying loss of pulsation, which is applied to describe +the arrestment of the function of respiration from some hindrance +to the entrance of air into the lungs. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Respiratory System</a></span>: +<i>Pathology</i>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPIC<a name="ar108" id="ar108"></a></span> (French, from Lat. <i>aspis</i>), an asp or viper found in +Egypt whose bite is supposed to cause a swift and easy death, +hence poetically a term for any venomous snake. From association, +perhaps, with the coldness of the aspic (as in the French +proverb, <i>froid comme un aspic</i>), the word is used for a savoury +jelly containing meat, fish or eggs, &c. It is also the botanical +name of the <i>Lavandula spica</i>, or spikenard, from which a white, +aromatic and highly inflammable oil is distilled, called <i>huile d’aspic</i>.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPIDISTRA,<a name="ar109" id="ar109"></a></span> a small genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), +native of the Himalayas, China and Japan. <i>Aspidistra lurida</i> is +a favourite pot-plant, bearing large green or white-striped leaves +on an underground stem, and small dark purplish, cup-shaped +flowers close to the ground.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPIROTRICHACEAE<a name="ar110" id="ar110"></a></span> (O. Bütschli), an order of Ciliate +Infusoria, characterized by an investment, general or partial, +of nearly uniform cilia, without any distinct adoral wreath, and +one or two adoral endoral undulating membranes. With the +Gymnostomaceae it formed the Holotricha of Stein.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPIROZ, MANUEL DE<a name="ar111" id="ar111"></a></span> (1836-1905), Mexican statesman and +diplomatist, was born at Puebla, and educated at the university +of Mexico, where he took his degree in 1855. He took part in the +war against the emperor Maximilian, and in 1867, on the +establishment of the republic, was appointed assistant secretary +of state for foreign affairs. In 1873 he became Mexican consul at +San Francisco, where he remained till his election to the Senate +in 1875. He was professor of jurisprudence at the college of +Puebla from 1883 to 1890, when he was again appointed assistant +secretary of foreign affairs. From 1899 till he died in 1905 he +was Mexican ambassador to the United States. Among his +writings may be mentioned; <i>Código de extranjeria de los Estados-Unidos +Mexicanos</i> (1876), and <i>La liberdad civil como base del +derecho internacional privado</i> (1896).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASPROMONTE,<a name="ar112" id="ar112"></a></span> a mountain of Calabria, Italy, rising behind +Reggio di Calabria, the west extremity of the Sila range. The +highest point is 6420 ft. and the slopes are clad with forest. +Here Garibaldi was wounded and taken prisoner by the Italian +troops under Pallavicini in 1862.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASQUITH, HERBERT HENRY<a name="ar113" id="ar113"></a></span> (1852-  ), English statesman, +son of Joseph Dixon Asquith, was born at Morley, Yorkshire, +on the 12th of September 1852. He came of a middle-class +Yorkshire family of pronounced Liberal and Nonconformist +views, and was educated under Dr Edwin Abbott at the City of +London school, from which he went as a scholar to Balliol, +Oxford; there he had a distinguished career, taking a first-class +in classics, winning the Craven scholarship and being elected a +fellow of his college. He was president of the Union, and impressed +all his contemporaries with his intellectual ability, Dr +Jowett himself confidently predicting his signal success in any +career he adopted. On leaving Oxford he went to the bar, and +as early as 1890 became a K.C. In 1887 he unsuccessfully +defended Mr R.B. Cunninghame Graham and Mr John Burns +for their share in the riot in Trafalgar Square; and in 1889 he +was junior to Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Russell as counsel +for the Irish Nationalists before the Parnell Commission—an +association afterwards bitterly commented upon by Mr T. Healy +in the House of Commons (March 30, 1908). But though he +attained a fair practice at the bar, and was recognized as a lawyer +of unusual mental distinction and clarity, his forensic success +was not nearly so conspicuous as that of some of his contemporaries. +His ambitions lay rather in the direction of the +House of Commons. He had taken a prominent part in politics +as a Liberal since his university days, especially in work for the +Eighty Club, and in 1886 was elected member of parliament +for East Fife, a seat which he retained in subsequent elections. +Mr Gladstone was attracted by his vigorous ability as a speaker, +and his evidence of sound political judgment; and in August +1892, though comparatively unknown to the general public, he +was selected to move the vote of want of confidence which +overthrew Lord Salisbury’s government, and was made home +secretary in the new Liberal ministry. At the Home Office he +proved his capacity as an administrator; he was the first to +appoint women as factory inspectors, and he was responsible for +opening Trafalgar Square to Labour demonstrations; but he +firmly refused to sanction the proposed amnesty for the dynamiters, +and he was violently abused by extremists on account of +the shooting of two men by the military at the strike riot at +Featherstone in August 1893. It was he who coined the phrase +(Birmingham, 1894) as to the government’s “ploughing the +sands” in their endeavour to pass Liberal legislation with a +hostile House of Lords. His Employers’ Liability Bill 1893 +was lost because the government refused to accept the +Lords’ amendment as to “contracting-out.” His suspensory +bill, with a view to the disestablishment of the church in +Wales, was abortive (1895), but it served to recommend +him to the Welsh Nationalists as well as to the disestablishment +party in England and Scotland. During his three years +of office he more than confirmed the high opinion formed of +his abilities.</p> + +<p>The Liberal defeat in 1895 left him out of office for eleven +years. He had married Miss Helen Melland in 1877, and was +left with a family when she died in 1891; in 1894, however, he +had married again, his second wife being the accomplished Miss +Margaret (“Margot”) Tennant, daughter of the wealthy ironmaster, +Sir Charles Tennant, Bart., a lady well known in London +society as a member of the coterie known as “Souls,” and +commonly identified as the original of Mr E.F. Benson’s <i>Dodo</i> +(1893). On leaving the Home Office in 1895, Mr Asquith decided +to return to his work at the bar, a course which excited much +comment, since it was unprecedented that a minister who had +exercised judicial functions in that capacity should take up again +the position of an advocate; but it was obvious that to maintain +the tradition was difficult in the case of a man who had no +sufficient independent means. During the years of Unionist +ascendancy Mr Asquith divided his energies between his legal +work and politics; but his adhesion to Lord Rosebery (<i>q.v.</i>) +as a Liberal Imperialist at the time of the Boer War, while it +strengthened his position in the eyes of the public, put him in +some difficulty with his own party, led as it was by Sir Henry +Campbell-Bannerman (<i>q.v.</i>), who was identified with the “pro-Boer” +policy. He was one of the founders of the Liberal League, +and his courageous definiteness of view and intellectual vigour +marked him out as Lord Rosebery’s chief lieutenant if that +statesman should ever return to power. He thus became identified +with the Roseberyite attitude towards Irish Home Rule; +and, while he continued to uphold the Gladstonian policy in +theory, in practice the Irish Nationalists felt that very little +could be expected from his advocacy. In spite of his Imperialist +views, however, he did much to smooth over the party difficulties, +and when the tariff-reform movement began in 1903, he seized +the opportunity for rallying the Liberals to the banner of +free-trade and championing the “orthodox” English political +economy, on which indeed he had been a lecturer in his younger +days. During the critical years of Mr Chamberlain’s crusade +(1903-1906) he made himself the chief spokesman of the Liberal +party, delivering a series of speeches in answer to those of the +tariff-reform leader; and his persistent following and answering +of Mr Chamberlain had undoubted effect. He also made useful +party capital out of the necessity for financial retrenchment, +owing to the large increase in public expenditure, maintained by +the Unionist government even after the Boer War was over; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page770" id="page770"></a>770</span> +and his mastery of statistical detail and argument made his +appointment as chancellor of the exchequer part of the natural +order of things when in December 1905 Mr Balfour resigned and +Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (<i>q.v.</i>) became prime minister.</p> + +<p>During Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman’s premiership, Mr +Asquith gradually rose in political importance, and in 1907 the +prime minister’s ill-health resulted in much of the leadership in +the Commons devolving on the chancellor of the exchequer. +At first the party as a whole had regarded him somewhat coldly. +And his unbending common-sense, and sobriety of criticism in +matters which deeply interested the less academic Radicals who +were enthusiasts for extreme courses, would have made the +parliamentary situation difficult but for the exceptional +popularity of the prime minister. In the autumn of 1907, however, +as the latter’s retention of office became more and more improbable, +it became evident that no other possible successor had equal +qualifications. The session of 1908 opened with Mr Asquith +acting avowedly as the prime minister’s deputy, and the course +of business was itself of a nature to emphasize his claims. After +two rather humdrum budgets he was pledged to inaugurate a +system of old-age pensions (forming the chief feature of the +budget of 1908, personally introduced by him at the beginning of +May), and his speech in April on the Licensing Bill was a triumph +of clear exposition, though later in the year, after passing the +Commons, it was thrown out by the Lords. On the 5th of April +it was announced that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman had resigned +and Mr Asquith been sent for by the king. As the latter +was staying at Biarritz, the unprecedented course was followed +of Mr Asquith journeying there for the purpose, and on the 8th +he resigned the chancellorship of the exchequer and kissed hands +as prime minister. The names of the new cabinet were announced +on the 13th. The new appointments were: Lord Tweedmouth +as lord president of the council (instead of the admiralty); +Lord Crewe as colonial secretary (instead of lord president of +the council); Mr D. Lloyd George, chancellor of the exchequer +(transferred from the Board of Trade); Mr R. McKenna, first +lord of the admiralty (instead of minister of education); Mr +Winston Churchill, president of the Board of Trade; and Mr +Walter Runciman, minister of education. Lord Elgin ceased +to be colonial secretary, but Lord Loreburn (lord chancellor), +Lord Ripon (lord privy seal), Mr H. Gladstone (Home Office), +Sir E. Grey (foreign affairs), Mr Haldane (War Office), Mr +Sinclair (secretary for Scotland; created in 1909 Lord Pentland), +Mr Burns (Local Government Board), Lord Carrington (Board +of Agriculture), Mr Birrell (Irish secretary), Mr S. Buxton +(postmaster-general), Mr L. Harcourt (commissioner of works), +Mr John Morley (India) and Sir Henry Fowler (duchy of Lancaster) +retained their offices, the two latter being created peers. +The Budget (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Lloyd George</a></span>) was the sole feature of political +interest in 1909, and its rejection in December by the Lords led +to the general election of January 1910, which left the Liberals +and Unionists practically equal, with the Labour and Irish +parties dominating the situation (L. 275, U. 273, Lab. 40, I. 82). +Mr Asquith was in a difficult position, but the ministry remained +in office; and he had developed a concentration +of forces with a view to attacking the veto of the House of +Lords (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Parliament</a></span>), when the death of the king in May +caused a suspension of hostilities. A conference between the +leaders on both sides was arranged, to discuss whether any +compromise was possible, and controversy was postponed to +an autumn session.</p> +<div class="author">(H. Ch.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASS<a name="ar114" id="ar114"></a></span> (O.E. <i>assa</i>; Lat. <i>asinus</i>), a common name (the synonym +“donkey” is supposed to be derived either by analogy +from “monkey,” or from the Christian name Duncan; cf. +Neddy, Jack, Dicky, &c.) for different varieties of the sub-genus +<i>Asinus</i>, belonging to the horse tribe, and especially for the +domestic ass; it differs from the horse in its smaller size, long +ears, the character of its tail, fur and markings, and its proverbial +dulness and obstinacy. The ancient Egyptians symbolized an +ignorant person by the head and ears of an ass, and the Romans +thought it a bad omen to meet one. In the middle ages the +Germans of Westphalia made the ass the symbol of St Thomas, +the incredulous apostle; the boy who was last to enter school +on St Thomas’ day was called the “Ass Thomas” (Gubernatis’s +<i>Zoological Mythology</i>, i. 362). The foolishness and obstinacy +of the ass has caused the name to be transferred metaphorically +to human beings; and the fifth proposition of Book i. of Euclid +is known as the <i>Pons Asinorum</i>, bridge of asses.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASS, FEAST OF THE,<a name="ar115" id="ar115"></a></span> formerly a festival in northern France, +primarily in commemoration of the biblical flight into Egypt, +and usually held on the 14th of January. A girl with a baby at +her breast and seated on an ass splendidly caparisoned was led +through the town to the church, and there placed at the gospel +side of the altar while mass was said. The ceremony degenerated +into a burlesque in which the ass of the flight became confused +with Balaam’s ass. So scandalous became the popular revels +associated with it, that the celebration was prohibited by the +church in the 15th century. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Fools, Feast of</a></span>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAB,<a name="ar116" id="ar116"></a></span> a bay and port on the African shore of the Red Sea, +60 m. N. of the strait of Bab-el Mandeb. Assab Bay was the +first territory acquired by Italy in Africa. Bought from the +sultan of Raheita in 1870, it was not occupied until 1880. +(See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Eritrea</a></span>, and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Italy</a></span>: <i>History</i>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAM,<a name="ar117" id="ar117"></a></span> a former province of British India, which was +amalgamated in 1905 with “Eastern Bengal and Assam” (<i>q.v.</i>). +Area 56,243 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 6,126,343. The province of +Assam lies on the N.E. border of Bengal, on the extreme +frontier of the Indian empire, with Bhutan and Tibet beyond +it on the N., and Burma and Manipur on the E. It comprises +the valleys of the Brahmaputra and Surma rivers, together +with the mountainous watershed which intervenes between them. +It is situated between 24° 0′ and 28° 17′ N. lat., and between +89° 46′ and 97° 5′ E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the +eastern section of the great Himalayan range, the frontier +tribes from west to east being successively Bhutias, Akas, +Daphlas, Miris, Abors and Mishmis; on the N.E. by the +Mishmi hills, which sweep round the head of the Brahmaputra +valley; on the E. by the unexplored mountains that mark +the frontier of Burma, by the hills occupied by the independent +Naga tribes and by the state of Manipur; on the S. by the +Lushai hills, the state of Hill Tippera, and the Bengal district +of Tippera; and on the W. by the Bengal districts of Mymensingh +and Rangpur, the state of Kuch Behar and Jalpaiguri +district.</p> + +<p><i>Natural Divisions.</i>—Assam is naturally divided into three +distinct tracts, the Brahmaputra valley, the Surma valley and +the hill ranges between the two. The Brahmaputra valley is +an alluvial plain, about 450 m. in length, with an average +breadth of 50 m., lying almost east and west. To the north is +the main chain of the Himalayas, the lower ranges of which rise +abruptly from the plain; to the south is the great elevated +plateau or succession of plateaus known as the Assam range. +The various portions of this range are called by the names of the +tribes who inhabit them—the Garo, the Khasi, the Jaintia, the +North Cachar and the Naga hills. The range as a whole is +joined at its eastern extremity by the Patkai to the Himalayan +system, and by the mountains of Manipur to the Arakan Yoma. +The highest points in the range are Nokrek peak (4600 ft.) in +the Garo hills, Shillong peak (6450 ft.) in the Khasi-Jaintia hills, +and Japva peak (nearly 10,000 ft.) in the Naga hills. South of the +range comes the third division of the province, the Surma +valley, comprising the two districts of Cachar and Sylhet. The +Surma valley is much smaller than the Brahmaputra valley, +covering only 7506 against 24,283 sq. m.; its mean elevation +is much lower and its rivers are more sluggish.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><i>Physical Aspects.</i>—Assam is a fertile series of valleys, with the +great channel of the Brahmaputra (literally, the <i>Son of Brahma</i>) +flowing down its middle, and an infinite number of tributaries and +watercourses pouring into it from the mountains on either side. +The Brahmaputra spreads out in a sheet of water several miles broad +during the rainy season, and in its course through Assam forms a +number of islands in its bed. Rising in the Tibetan plateau, far to +the north of the Himalayas, and skirting round their eastern passes +not far from the Yang-tsze-kiang and the great river of Cambodia, it +enters Assam by a series of waterfalls and rapids, amid vast boulders +and accumulations of rocks. The gorge, situated in Lakhimpur +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page771" id="page771"></a>771</span> +district, through which the southernmost branch of the Brahmaputra +enters, has from time immemorial been held in reverence by +the Hindus. It is called the Brahmakunda or Parasuramkunda; +and although the journey to it is both difficult and dangerous, it is +annually visited by thousands of devotees. After a rapid course +westwards down the whole length of the Assam valley, the Brahmaputra +turns sharply to the south, spreading itself over the alluvial +districts of the Bengal delta, and, after several changes of name, +ends its course of 1800 m. in the Bay of Bengal. Its first tributaries +in Assam, after crossing the frontier, are the Kundil and the Digaru, +flowing from the Mishmi hills on the north, and the Tengapani and +Dihing, which take their rise on the Singpho hills to the south-east. +Shortly afterwards it receives the Dihang, flowing from the north-east; +but its principal confluent is the Dihong, which, deriving its +origin, under the name of the Tsangpo, from a spot in the vicinity of +the source of the Sutlej, flows in a direction precisely opposite to that +river, and traversing the table-land of Tibet, at the back of the great +Himalaya range, falls into the Brahmaputra in 27° 48′ N. lat., +95° 26′ E. long., after a course of nearly 1000 m. Doubts were long +entertained whether the Dihong could be justly regarded as the +continuation of the Tsangpo, but these were practically set at rest +by the voyage of F.J. Needham in 1886. Below the confluence, the +united stream flows in a south-westerly direction, forming the +boundary between the districts of Lakhimpur and Darrang, situated +on its northern bank, and those of Sibsagar and Nowgong on the +south; and finally bisecting Kamrup, it crosses over the frontier +of the province and passes into Bengal. In its course it receives +on the left side the Dihing, a river having its rise at the south-eastern +angle of the province; and lower down, on the opposite side, it parts +with a considerable offset termed the Buri Lohir, which, however, +reunites with the Brahmaputra 60 m. below the point of divergence, +bearing with it the additional waters of the Subansiri, flowing from +Tibet. A second offset, under the name of the Kalang river, rejoins +the parent stream a short distance above the town of Gauhati. +The remaining rivers are too numerous to be particularized. The +streams of the south are not rapid, and have no considerable current +until May or June. Among the islands formed by the intersection +and confluence of the rivers is Majuli, or the Great Island, as it is +called by way of pre-eminence. This island extends 55 m. in length +by about 10 in breadth, and is formed by the Brahmaputra on the +south-east and the Buri Lohit river on the north-west. In the upper +part of the valley, towards the gorge where the Brahmaputra enters, +the country is varied and picturesque, walled in on the north and +east by the Himalayas, and thickly wooded from the base to the +snow-line. On either bank of the Brahmaputra a long narrow strip +of plain rises almost imperceptibly to the foot of the hills. Gigantic +reeds and grasses occupy the low lands near the banks of the great +river; expanses of fertile rice-land come next; a little higher up, +dotted with villages encircled by groves of bamboos and fruit trees +of great size and beauty, the dark forests succeed, covering the +interior table-land and mountains. The country in the vicinity of +the large rivers is flat, and impenetrable from dense tangled jungle, +with the exception of some very low-lying tracts which are either +permanent marshes or are covered with water during the rains. +Jungle will not grow on these depressions, and they are covered +either with water, reeds, high grasses or rice cultivation. On or +near such open spaces are collected all the villages. As the traveller +proceeds farther down the valley, the country gradually opens out +into wide plains. In the western district of Kamrup the country +forms one great expanse, with a few elevated tracts here and there, +varying from 200 to 800 ft. in height.</p> + +<p><i>Soils</i>.—The soil is exceedingly rich and well adapted to all kinds +of agricultural purposes, and for the most part is composed of a rich +black loam reposing on a grey sandy clay, though occasionally it +exhibits a light yellow clayey texture. The land may be divided into +three great classes. The first division is composed of hills, the largest +group within the valley being that of the Mikir Mountains, which +stand out upon the plain. Another set of hills project into the valley +at Gauhati. But these latter are rather prolongations of spurs from +the Khasi chain than isolated groups belonging to the plains. The +other hills are all isolated and of small extent. The second division +of the lands is the well-raised part of the valley whose level lies above +the ordinary inundations of the Brahmaputra. The channels of +some of the hill streams, however, are of so little depth that the +highest lands in their neighbourhood are liable to sudden floods. On +the north bank of the great river, lands of this sort run down the +whole length of the valley, except where they are interrupted by the +beds of the hill streams. The breadth of these plains is in some +places very trifling, whilst in others they comprise a tract of many +miles, according to the number and the height of the rocks or hills +that protect them from the aberrations of the river. The alluvial +deposits of the Brahmaputra and of its tributary streams may be +considered as the third general division of lands in Assam. These +lands are very extensive, and present every degree of fertility and +elevation, from the vast <i>chars</i> of pure sand, subject to annual inundations, +to the firm islands, so raised by drift-sand and the accumulated +remains of rank vegetable matter, as no longer to be liable +to flood. The rapidity with which wastes, composed entirely of sand +newly washed forward by the current during floods, become converted +into rich pasture is astonishing. As the freshets begin to lessen and +retire into the deeper channels, the currents form natural embankments +on their edges, preventing the return of a small portion of +water which is thus left stagnant on the sands, and exposed to the +action of the sun’s rays. It slowly evaporates, leaving a thin crust +of animal and vegetable matter. This is soon impregnated with the +seeds of the <i>Saccharum spontaneum</i> and other grasses that have been +partly brought by the winds and partly deposited by the water. +Such places are frequented by numerous flocks of aquatic birds, +which resort thither in search of fish and mollusca. As vegetation +begins to appear, herds of wild elephants and buffaloes are attracted +by the supply of food and the solitude of the newly-formed land, and +in their turn contribute to manure the soil.</p> + +<p><i>Geology</i>.—Geographically the Assam hills lie in the angle between +the Himalayas and the Burmese ranges, but geologically they +belong to neither. The older rocks are like those of Bengal, and the +newer beds show no sign of either the Himalayan or the Burmese +folding—on the top of the plateau they are nearly horizontal, but +along the southern margin they are bent sharply downwards in a +simple monoclinal fold. The greater part of the mass is composed of +gneiss and schists. The Sylhet traps near the southern margin are +correlated with the Rajmahal traps of Bengal. The older rocks are +overlaid unconformably by Cretaceous beds, consisting chiefly of +sandstones with seams of coal, the whole series thinning rapidly +towards the north and thus indicating the neighbourhood of the +old shore-line. The fossils are very similar to those of the South +Indian Cretaceous, but very different from those of the corresponding +beds in the Nerbudda valley. The overlying Tertiary series includes +nummulitic beds and valuable seams of coal.</p> + +<p>The border ranges of the east and south of Assam belong to +the Burmese system of mountain chains (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Burma</a></span>), and consist +largely of Tertiary beds, including the great coal seams of Upper +Assam. The Assam valley is covered by the alluvial deposits of the +Brahmaputra.</p> + +<p>Of the mineral productions by far the most valuable is coal. +Compared with the Gondwana coal of the peninsula of India the +Tertiary coal seams of Assam are remarkable for their purity and +their extraordinary thickness. The “Thick Seam” of Margherita, +in Upper Assam, averages 50 ft., and in some places reaches as much +as 80 ft. The average percentage of ash in 27 assays of Assam coal +was 3.8 as against 16.3 in 17 assays of Raniganj coal. The coal +seams are commonly associated with petroleum springs. Gold is +found in the alluvial deposits, but the results of exploration have +not been very promising.</p> + +<p><i>Earthquakes</i>.—Assam is liable to earthquakes. There was a severe +earthquake in Cachar on the 10th of January 1869, a severe shock +in Shillong and Gauhati in September 1875, and one in Silchar in +October 1882; but by far the severest shock known is that which +occurred on the evening of 12th June 1897. The area of this seismic +disturbance extended over north-eastern India, from Manipur to +Sikkim; but the focus was in the Khasi and Garo hills. In the +station of Shillong every masonry building was levelled to the +ground. Throughout the country bridges were shattered, roads +were broken up like ploughed fields, and the beds of rivers were +dislocated. In the hills there were terrible landslips, which wrecked +the little Cherrapunji railway and caused 600 deaths. The total +mortality recorded was 1542, including two Europeans at Shillong. +The levels of the country were so affected that the towns of Goalpara +and Barpeta became almost uninhabitable during the rains.</p> + +<p><i>Fauna</i>.—The zoology of Assam presents some interesting features. +Wild elephants abound and commit many depredations, entering +villages in large herds, and consuming everything suitable to their +tastes. Many are caught by means of female elephants previously +tamed, and trained to decoy males into the snares prepared for +subjecting them to captivity. A considerable number are tamed +and exported from Assam every year. Many are killed every year +in the forests for the sake of the ivory which they furnish. The +government <i>keddah</i> establishment from Dacca captures large numbers +of elephants in the province, and the right of hunting is also sold +by auction to private bidders. The annual catch of the latter +averages about two hundred. The rhinoceros is found in the denser +parts of the forests and generally in swampy places. This animal +is hunted and killed for its skin and its horn. The skin affords +the material for the best shields. The horn is sacred in the eyes of +the natives. Contrary to the usual belief, it is stated that, if caught young, the rhinoceros is easily tamed and becomes strongly attached +to his keeper. Tigers abound, and though many are annually destroyed +for the sake of the government reward, their numbers seem +scarcely, if at all, to diminish. Leopards and bears are numerous; +and the sand-badger, the <i>Arctonyx collaris</i> of Cuvier, a small animal +somewhat resembling a bear, but having the snout, eyes and tail +of a hog, is found. Among the most formidable animals known +is the wild buffalo or <i>gaur</i> which is of great size, strength and +fierceness. The fox and the jackal exist, and the wild hog is very +abundant. Goats, deer of various kinds, hares, and two or three +species of antelope are found, as are monkeys in great variety. +The porcupine, the squirrel, the civet cat, the ichneumon and the +otter are common. The birds are too various to admit of enumeration. +Wild game is plentiful; pheasants, partridges, snipe and +water-fowl of many descriptions make the country a tempting field +for the sportsman. Vultures and other birds of prey are met with. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page772" id="page772"></a>772</span> +Crocodiles (commonly called alligators) swarm in all parts of the +Brahmaputra, and are very destructive to the fish, of which hundreds +of varieties are found, and which supply a valuable article of food. +The most destructive of the <i>ferae naturae</i>, as regards human +life, are, however, the snakes. Of these, several poisonous species +exist, including the cobra and karait (<i>Naja tripudians</i> and <i>Bungarus +caeruleus</i>). The bite of a fairly-grown healthy serpent of +either of these species is deadly; and it is ascertained that more +deaths occur from snake-bite than from all the other wild beasts put +together. Among the non-poisonous serpents the python ranks +first. This is an enormous boa-constrictor of great length and +weight, which drops upon his prey from the branch of a tree, or steals +upon it in the thick grass. He kills his victim by rolling himself +round the body till he breaks its ribs, or suffocates it by one irresistible +convolution round its throat. He seldom or never attacks +human beings unless in self-defence, and loss of life from this cause +is scarcely ever reported.</p> + +<p><i>Agriculture</i>.—The principal and almost the only food-grain of +the plains portion of the province is rice. The production of this +staple is carried on generally under the same conditions as in +Bengal; but the times of sowing and reaping and the names given +to the several crops vary much in different parts of the province. +In 1901-1902 out of a total cultivated area of 1,736,000 acres, there +were 1,194,000 acres under rice. In addition jute is grown to a +considerable extent in Goalpara and Sylhet; cotton is grown in +large quantities along the slopes of the Assam range. Rubber is +grown in government plantations and is also brought in by the hill +tribes; while lac, mustard and potatoes are also produced.</p> + +<p><i>Tea Plantations</i>.—The most important article of commerce produced +in Assam is tea. The rice crop covers a very great proportion +of the cultivated land, but it is used for local consumption, and the +Brahmaputra valley does not produce enough for its own consumption, +large quantities being imported for the coolies. The tea +plantations are the one great source of wealth to the province, and +the necessities of tea cultivation are the chief stimulants to the +development of Assam. The plant was discovered in 1823 by +Mr Robert Bruce, who had proceeded thither on a mercantile +exploration. The country, however, then formed part of the +Burmese dominions. But war with this monarchy shortly afterwards +broke out, and a brother of the first discoverer, happening to +be appointed to the command of a division of gunboats employed +in some part of the operations, followed up the pursuit of the subject, +and obtained several hundred plants and a considerable quantity +of seed. Some specimens were ultimately forwarded to the superintendent +of the botanic garden at Calcutta. In 1832 Captain F. +Jenkins was deputed by the governor-general of India, Lord William +Bentinck, to report upon the resources of the country, and the tea +plant was brought to his especial notice by Mr Bruce; in 1834 a +minute was recorded by the governor-general on the subject, in +which it is stated that his attention had been called to it in 1827 +before his departure from England. In accordance with the views +of that minute, a committee was appointed to prosecute inquiries, +and to promote the cultivation of the plant. Communications were +opened with China with a view to obtain fresh plants and seeds, and +a deputation, composed of gentlemen versed in botanical studies, +was despatched to Assam. Some seeds were obtained from China; +but they proved to be of small importance, as it was clearly ascertained +by the members of the Assam deputation that both the black +and the green tea plants were indigenous here, and might be multiplied +to any extent; another result of the Chinese mission, that of +procuring persons skilled in the cultivation and manufacture of black +tea, was of more material benefit. Subsequently, under Lord +Auckland, a further supply of Chinese cultivators and manufacturers +was obtained—men well acquainted with the processes +necessary for the production of green tea, as the former set were +with those requisite for black. In 1838 the first twelve chests of tea +from Assam were received in England. They had been injured in +some degree on the passage, but on samples being submitted to +brokers, and others of long experience and tried judgment, the +reports were highly favourable. It was never, however, the intention +of government to carry on the trade, but to resign it to +private adventure as soon as the experimental course could be fairly +completed. Mercantile associations for the culture and manufacture +of tea in Assam began to be formed as early as 1839; and in 1849 +the government disposed of their establishment, and relinquished +the manufacture to the ordinary operation of commercial enterprise. +In 1851 the crop of the principal company was estimated to produce +280,000 ℔ Since then the enterprise has rapidly developed. Tea +is now cultivated in all the plains district of the provinces. When +the industry was first established, the land which was supposed +to be best for the plant was hill or undulating ground; but now +it has been found in the Surma valley that with good drainage the +heaviest crops of tea can be raised from low-lying land, even such +as formerly supported rice cultivation. At the close of the year +1905 there were 942 gardens in all, with 422,335 acres, and employing +464,912 coolies. The majority of gardens are owned by Europeans, +405,486 acres belonging to them as against 16,849 to Indians. +The total out-turn for the province in 1905 was 193,556,047 ℔ +Between 1893 and 1898 there was a great extension of tea cultivation, +with the result that the industry began to suffer from the congestion +that follows over-production. Also to meet the requirements of the +industry, an enormous number of coolies had to be brought into the +province from other parts of India, and in recent years the supply +of labour has begun to fall off, causing a rise in the cost of production. +For these reasons there was a crisis in the tea industry of +Assam, which was relieved to some extent by the reduction of the +English duty on tea in 1906.</p> + +<p><i>Tea-Garden Coolies</i>.—The labour required on the tea gardens +is almost entirely imported, as the natives of the province are +too prosperous to do such work. During the decade 1891-1901, +596,856 coolies were imported, or about a tenth of the total population +of the province. The importation of coolies is controlled +by an elaborate system of legislation, which provides for the registration +of contracts, the medical inspection of coolies during the +journey, and supervision over rates of pay, &c., on the gardens. +The first labour act was passed in 1863, and since then the law on the +subject has been changed by successive enactments. The measure +now in force is called Act VI. of 1901. Under this act the maximum +term of the labour contract is fixed at four years, and a minimum +monthly wage is laid down, the payment of which, however, is contingent +on the completion of a daily task by the labourer. Labourers +under contract deserting are liable to fine and imprisonment, and, +subject to certain restrictions, may be arrested without warrant +by their employers. In addition to the labourers engaged under +this act, a large number are employed under contract enforceable +by Act XIII, of 1859, which provides penalties for breach of the +contract, but does not allow of the arrest of deserters without +warrant. Neither does this act regulate in any way the terms of +the contract, nor contain any special provisions for the protection +of the labourer. Many labourers on the conclusion of their first +engagement under Act VI. of 1901 enter into renewed contracts +under Act XIII. of 1859. In 1905 there were in all 664,296 labourers, +and 24,209 fresh importations, of whom 62% chose the old act.</p> + +<p><i>Railways</i>.—The Assam-Bengal railway runs from the seaport of +Chittagong to the Surma valley, and thence across the hills to +Dibrugarh, at the head of the Brahmaputra valley, with a branch +to Gauhati lower down the Brahmaputra. The hill section of this +line was found exceedingly difficult of construction, and extensive +damage was done by the earthquake of 1897; but it is now complete. +This railway is financed by the government, though worked by a +company, and therefore ranks as a state line. At the end of 1904 +its open mileage was 576 m. There are several short lines of light +railway or tramway in the province. The most important is the +Dibru-Sadiya railway, at the head of the Brahmaputra valley, with +a branch to the coal-fields.</p> + +<p><i>Trade</i>.-The external trade of Assam is conducted partly by +steamer, partly by native boat, and to a small extent by rail. In +the Brahmaputra valley steamers carry as much as 86% of the +exports, and 94% of the imports. In the Surma valley native +boats carry about 43% of both. In 1904-1905 the total exports +were valued at 726 lakhs of rupees. The chief items were tea, rice +in the husk, oil-seeds, tea-seed, timber, coal and jute. The imports +were valued at 457 lakhs of rupees. The chief items were cotton +piece-goods, rice not in the husk, sugar, grain and pulse, salt, iron +and steel, tobacco, cotton twist and yarn, and brass and copper. +No less than two-thirds of the total trade is conducted with Calcutta. +The trans-frontier trade is insignificant; and most of it is conducted +with the Bengal state of Hill Tippera. The trade through Chittagong +is increasing owing to the opening of the hill-section of the +Assam-Bengal railway, which gives direct communication between +the districts of Upper Assam and the port of Chittagong, and the +incorporation of that port in the new province of Eastern Bengal +and Assam.</p> +</div> + +<p><i>Inhabitants</i>.—The total population of Assam, according to +the census of 1901, was 6,126,343, of whom 3,429,099 were +Hindus, 1,581,317 Mahommedans and 1,068,334 Animists. +The number of foreigners in the population due to immigration +by the tea-garden coolies was 775,844. But in spite of this +immigration the rate of increase in the population was only +5.9% in the decade, and with the immigrants deducted 1.36%. +Amongst native-born Assamese during the decade there was a +serious decrease in Nowgong and some other districts, due to +<i>kalaazar</i> and other diseases. The Assamese are an interesting +race, of distinct origin from the neighbouring Bengalis. A large +proportion of them derive their origin from tribes who came +from the Himalayan ranges, from Burma or from the Chinese +frontier. The most important of these are the Ahoms or Ahams, +an offshoot of the Shan race of northern Burma. They were the +last conquerors of Assam before the Burmese, and they long +preserved their ancient traditions, habits and institutions. +Hinduism first made its encroachments among their kings and +nobility. Several generations ago they gave up eating beef, +and they are now completely Hinduized, except in a few remote +recesses of Assam. Hinduism has also impressed its language +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page773" id="page773"></a>773</span> +upon the province, and the vernacular Assamese possesses a close +affinity to Bengali, with the substitution of <i>s</i> for the Bengali <i>ch</i>, +of a guttural <i>h</i> for the Bengali <i>h</i> or <i>sh</i>, and a few other dialectic +changes. Indeed, so close was the resemblance that for a time +Bengali was used as the court and official language of the province +under British rule. But with the development of the country +the Assamese tongue asserted its claims to be treated as a distinct +vernacular, and a resolution of government (1873) re-established +it as the language of official life and public business.</p> + +<p>The Assam peasant, living in a half-populated province, and +surrounded by surplus land, is indolent, good-natured and, on +the whole, prosperous. He raises sufficient food for his wants +with very little labour, and, with the exception of a few religious +ceremonies, he has no demand made upon him for money, saving +the light rental of his fields. Under the peaceful influences of +British rule, he has completely lost his ancient warlike instincts, +and forgotten his predatory habits. In complexion he is a shade +or two fairer than the Bengali. His person is in general short +and robust, but devoid of the grace and flexibility of the Hindu. +A flat face, with high cheek-bones, presents a physiognomy +resembling the Chinese, and suggests no idea of beauty. His +hair is abundant, black, lank and coarse, but the beard is scanty, +and usually plucked out, which gives him an effeminate appearance. +The women form a striking contrast to the men; there is +more of feminine beauty in them than is commonly seen in the +women of Bengal, with a form and feature somewhat approaching +the European. The habits of life of the Assamese peasantry +are pre-eminently domestic. Great respect is paid to old age; +when parents are no longer capable of labour they are supported +by their children, and scarcely any one is allowed to become a +burden to the public. They have also in general a very tender +regard for their offspring, and are generous and kind to their +relations. They are hospitable to people of their own caste, but +to no others. The use of opium is very general.</p> + +<p><i>Hill Tribes</i>.—The hill and frontier tribes of Assam include the +Nagas, Singphos, Daphlas, Miris, Khamtis, Mishmis, Abors, &c., +nearly all of whom, excepting the Nagas, are found near the frontiers +of Lakhimpur district. The principal of these, in point of +numbers, are the Nagas, who inhabit the hills and forests along +the eastern and south-eastern frontier of Assam. They reside +partly in the British district of the Naga hills and partly in +independent territory under the political control of the deputy-commissioner +of the adjoining districts. They cultivate rice, +cotton, yams and Indian corn, and prepare salt from the brine +springs in their hills. The different tribes of Nagas are independent +of and unconnected with one another, and are often +at war with each other. The Singphos are another of the main +population of the same race, who occupy in force the hilly +country between the Patkai and Chindwin rivers, and are nominally +subject to Burma. The Akas, Daphlas, Miris, Abors, +Mishmis and Khamtis are described under separate headings. +Under regulation V. of 1873, an inner line has been laid down +in certain districts, up to which the protection of British authority +is guaranteed, and beyond which, except by special permission, +it is not lawful for British subjects to go. This inner line has +been laid down in Darrang towards the Bhutias, Akas and +Daphlas; in Lakhimper towards the Daphlas, Miris, Abors, +Mishmis, Khamtis, Singphos and Nagas; and in Sibsagar towards +the Nagas. The inner line formerly maintained along the Lushai +border has since 1895 been allowed to fall into desuetude, but +Lushais visiting Cachar are required to take out passes from the +superintendent of the Lushai hills. The line is marked at +intervals by frontier posts held by military police and commanding +the roads of access to the tract beyond; and any +person from the plains who has received permission to cross the +line has to present his pass at these posts.</p> + +<p><i>History</i>.—Assam was the province of Bengal which remained +most stubbornly outside the limits of the Mogul empire and of +the Mahommedan polity in India. Indeed, although frequently +overrun by Mussulman armies, and its western districts annexed +to the Mahommedan vice-royalty of Bengal, the province maintained +an uncertain independence till its invasion by the Burmese +towards the end of the 18th century, and its final cession to the +British in 1826. It seems to have been originally included, along +with the greater part of north-eastern Bengal, in the old Hindu +territory of Kamrup. Its early legends point to great religious +revolutions between the rival rites of Krishna and Siva as a +source of dynastic changes. Its roll of kings extends deep into +prehistoric times, but the first rajah capable of indentification +flourished about the year 76 <span class="scs">A.D.</span> Kamrup, the Pragjotishpur +of the ancient Hindus, was the capital of a legendary king Narak, +whose son Bhagadatta distinguished himself in the great war of +the <i>Mahābhārata</i>.</p> + +<p>When Hsüan Tsang visited the country in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 640, a prince +named Kumar Bhaskara Barman was on the throne. The people +are described as being of small stature with dark yellow complexions; +they were fierce in appearance, but upright and +studious. Hinduism was the state religion, and the number of +Buddhists was very small. The soil was deep and fertile, and +the towns were surrounded by moats with water brought from +rivers or banked-up lakes. Subsequently we read of Pal rulers +in Assam. It is supposed that these kings were Buddhist and +belonged to the Pal dynasty of Bengal. Although the whole of +Kamrup appears from time to time to have been united into one +kingdom under some unusually powerful monarch, it was more +often split up into numerous petty states; and for several +centuries the Koch, the Ahom and the Chutia powers contested +for the Assam valley. In the early part of the 13th century +the Ahoms or Ahams, from northern Burma and the Chinese +frontiers, poured into the eastern districts of Assam, founded a +kingdom, and held it firmly for several centuries. The Ahoms +were Shans from the ancient Shan kingdom of Pong. Their +manners, customs, religion and language were, and for a long +time continued to be, different from those of the Hindus; but +they found themselves compelled to respect the superior civilization +of this race, and slowly adopted its customs and language. +The conversion of their king Chuchengpha to Hinduism took +place in the year <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 1655, and all the Ahoms of Assam +gradually followed his example. In medieval history, the +Assamese were known to the Mussulman population as a warlike, +predatory race, who sailed down the Brahmaputra in fleets of +innumerable canoes, plundered the rich districts of the delta, +and retired in safety to their forests and swamps. As the +Mahommedan power consolidated itself in Bengal, repeated expeditions +were sent out against these river pirates of the north-east. +The physical difficulties which an invading force had to +contend with in Assam, however, prevented anything like a +regular subjugation of the country; and after repeated efforts, +the Mussulmans contented themselves with occupying the +western districts at the mouth of the Assam valley. The following +details will suffice for the history of a struggle in which no +great political object was attained, and which left the Assamese +still the same wild and piratical people as when their fleets of +canoes first sallied forth against the Bengal delta. In 1638, +during the reign of the emperor Shah Jahan, the Assamese +descended the Brahmaputra, and pillaged the country round the +city of Dacca; they were expelled by the governor of Bengal, +who retaliated upon the plunderers by ravaging Assam. During +the civil wars between the sons of Shah Jahan, the king of Assam +renewed his predatory incursions into Bengal; upon the termination +of the contest, Aurangzeb determined to avenge these +repeated insults, and despatched a considerable force for the +regular invasion of the Assamese territory (1660-1662). His +general, Mir Jumla, defeated the rajah, who fled to the mountains, +and most of the chiefs made their submission to the conqueror. +But the rains set in with unusual violence, and Mir Jumla’s army +was almost annihilated by famine and sickness. Thus terminated +the last expedition against Assam by the Mahommedans, whose +fortunes in this country were never prosperous. A writer of the +Mahommedan faith says:—“Whenever an invading army has +entered their territories, the Assamese have sheltered themselves +in strong posts, and have distressed the enemy by stratagems, +surprises and alarms, and by cutting off their provisions. If +these means failed, they have declined a battle in the field, but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page774" id="page774"></a>774</span> +have carried the peasants into the mountains, burned the grain +and left the country desert. But when the rainy season has set +in upon the advancing enemy, they have watched their opportunity +to make excursions and vent their rage; the famished +invaders have either become their prisoners or been put to death. +In this manner powerful and numerous armies have been sunk +in that whirlpool of destruction, and not a soul has escaped.” +The same writer states that the country was spacious, populous +and hard to be penetrated; that it abounded in dangers; that +the paths and roads were beset with difficulties; and that the +obstacles to conquest were more than could be expressed. The +inhabitants, he says, were enterprising, well-armed and always +prepared for battle. Moreover, they had lofty forts, numerously +garrisoned and plentifully provided with warlike stores; and +the approach to them was opposed by thick and dangerous +jungles, and broad and boisterous rivers. The difficulties in the +way of successful invasion are of course not understated, as it +was the object of the writer to exalt the prowess and perseverance +of the faithful. He accounts for their temporary success by +recording that “the Mussulman hordes experienced the comfort +of fighting for their religion, and the blessings of it reverted to +the sovereignty of his just and pious majesty.” The short-lived +triumph of the Mussulmans might, however, have warranted a +less ambitious tone. About the middle of the 17th century the +chief became a convert to Hinduism. By what mode the conversion +was effected does not clearly appear, but whatever were +the means employed, it seems that the decline of the country +commenced about the same period. Internal dissensions, invasion +and disturbances of every kind convulsed the province, +and neither prince nor people enjoyed security. Late in the +18th century some interference took place on the part of the +British government, then conducted by Lord Cornwallis; but +the successor of that nobleman, Sir John Shore, adopting the +non-intervention policy, withdrew the British force, and abandoned +the country to its fate. Its condition encouraged the +Burmese to depose the rajah, and to make Assam a dependency +of Ava. The extension of their encroachments on a portion of +the territory of the East India Company compelled the British +government to take decisive steps for its own protection. Hence +arose the series of hostilities with Ava known in Indian history as +the first Burmese War, on the termination of which by treaty in +February 1826, Assam remained a British possession. In 1832 +that portion of the province denominated Upper Assam was +formed into an independent native state, and conferred upon +Purandhar Singh, the ex-rajah of the country; but the administration +of this chief proved unsatisfactory, and in 1838 his +principality was reunited with the British dominions. After a +period of successful administration and internal development, +under the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, it was erected into a +separate chief-commissionership in 1874.</p> + +<p>In 1886 the eastern Dwars were annexed from Bhutan; and +in 1874 the district of Goalpara, the eastern Dwars and the +Garo hills were incorporated in Assam. In 1898 the southern +Lushai hills were transferred from Bengal to Assam, and the +north and south Lushai hills were amalgamated as a district of +Assam, and placed under the superintendent of the Lushai hills. +Frontier troubles occasionally occur with the Akas, Daphlas, +Abors and Mishmis along the northern border, arising out of +raids from the independent territory into British districts. In +October 1905 the whole province of Assam was incorporated in +the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See E.A. Gait, <i>The History of Assam</i> (1906).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAMESE,<a name="ar118" id="ar118"></a></span> the Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Assam +valley. In 1901 the number of its speakers was 1,350,846. +It is closely related to Bengali and Oriya, forming with them +and with Bihari the Eastern Group of the Indo-Aryan vernaculars. +For further particulars see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Bengali</a></span>.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAROTTI, OTTAVIO GIOVANNI BATTISTA<a name="ar119" id="ar119"></a></span> (1753-1829), +the founder of schools for the education of deaf-mutes in Italy, +was born at Genoa in 1753. After qualifying himself for the +church, he entered the society of the Pietists, “Scuole Pie,” +who devoted themselves to the training of the young. His +superior learning caused him to be appointed to lecture on +theology to the students of the order. In 1801 he heard of the +Abbé Sicard’s training of deaf-mutes in Paris, and resolved to +try something similar in Italy. He began with one pupil, and +had by degrees collected a small number round him, when, in 1805, +Napoleon, hearing of his endeavours, ordered a convent to be +given him for a school-house, and funds for supporting twelve +scholars to be taken from the convent revenues. This order was +scarcely attended to till 1811, when it was renewed, and in the +following year Assarotti, with a considerable number of pupils, +took possession of the new school. Here he continued, with the +exception of a short interval in 1814, till his death in 1829. A +pension, which had been awarded him by the king of Sardinia, +he bequeathed to his scholars.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSARY,<a name="ar120" id="ar120"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Assarion</span>, a Roman copper coin, the “farthing” +of Matthew x. 29.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSASSIN<a name="ar121" id="ar121"></a></span> (properly <i>Hashīshīn</i>, from <i>Hashish</i>, the opiate +made from the juice of hemp leaves), a general term for a secret +murderer, originally the name of a branch of the Shiite sect +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Shiites</a></span>), known as Isma’īlites, founded by Ḥassan (ibn) +Ṣabbāḥ at the end of the 11th century, and from that time active +in Syria and Persia until crushed in the 13th century by the +Mongols under Hulaku (Hulagu) in Persia, and by the Mameluke +Bibars in Syria. The father of Ḥassan Ṣabbāḥ, a native of +Khorasan, and a Shiite, had been frequently compelled to profess +Sunnite orthodoxy, and from prudential motives had sent his +son to study under an orthodox doctor at Nishapur. Here +Ḥassan made the acquaintance of Nizām-ul-Mulk, afterwards +vizier of the sultan Malik-Shah (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Seljuks</a></span>). During the +reign of Alp-Arslan he remained in obscurity, and then appeared +at the court of Malik-Shah, where he was at first kindly received +by his old friend the vizier. Ḥassan, who was a man of great +ability, tried to supplant him in the favour of the sultan, but was +outwitted and compelled to take his departure from Persia. He +went to Egypt (1078-79), and, on account of his high reputation, +was received with great honour by the lodge at Cairo. He soon +stood so high in the caliph Mostanṣir’s favour as to excite against +him the jealousy of the chief general, and a cause of open enmity +soon arose. The caliph had nominated first one and then +another of his sons as his successor, and in consequence a party +division took place among the leading men. Ḥassan, who +adopted the cause of Nizār, the eldest son, found his enemies too +strong for him, and was forced to leave Egypt. After many +adventures he reached Aleppo and Damascus, and after a sojourn +there, settled near Kuhistan (Kohistan). He gradually spread +his peculiar modification of Isma‘īlite doctrine, and, having +collected a considerable number of followers, formed them into a +secret society. In 1090 he obtained, by stratagem, the strong +mountain fortress of Alamūt in Persia, and, removing there +with his followers, settled as chief of the famous society afterwards +called the Assassins.</p> + +<p>The speculative principles of this body were identical with +those of the Isma‘īlites, but their external policy was marked by +one peculiar and distinctive feature—the employment of secret +“assassination” against all enemies. This practice was introduced +by Ḥassan, and formed the essential characteristic of the sect. +In organization they closely resembled the western lodge at +Cairo. At the head was the supreme ruler, the <i>Sheik-al-Jabal</i> +(<i>Jebel</i>), <i>i.e.</i> Chief, or, as it is commonly translated, Old Man of +the Mountains. Under him were three <i>Dā‘i-al-Kirbāl</i>, or, as +they may be called, grand priors, who ruled the three provinces +over which the sheik’s power extended. Next came the body +of <i>Dā‘is</i>, or priors, who were fully initiated into all the secret +doctrines, and were the emissaries of the faith. Fourth were +the <i>Refīqs</i>, associates or fellows, who were in process of initiation, +and who ultimately advanced to the dignity of <i>dā‘is</i>. Fifth +came the most distinctive class, the <i>Fedais</i> (<i>i.e.</i> the devoted +ones), who were the guards or assassins proper. These were all +young men, and from their ranks were selected the agents for +any deed of blood. They were kept uninitiated, and the blindest +obedience was exacted from and yielded by them. When the +sheik required the services of any of them, the selected <i>fedais</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page775" id="page775"></a>775</span> +were intoxicated with the <i>hashīsh</i>. When in this state they were +introduced into the splendid gardens of the sheik, and surrounded +with every sensual pleasure. Such a foretaste of +paradise, only to be granted by their supreme ruler, made them +eager to obey his slightest command; their lives they counted as +nothing, and would resign them at a word from him. Finally, +the sixth and seventh orders were the <i>Lāsiqs</i>, or novices, and +the common people. Hassan well knew the efficacy of established +law and custom in securing the obedience of a mass +of people; accordingly, upon all but the initiated, the observances +of Islam were rigidly enforced. As for the initiated, they +knew the worthlessness of positive religion and morality; they +believed in nothing, and scoffed at the practices of the faithful.</p> + +<p>The Assassins soon began to make their power felt. One of +their first victims was Hassan’s former friend, Nizam-ul-Mulk, +whose son also died under the dagger of a secret murderer. The +death by poison of the sultan Malik-Shah was likewise ascribed +to this dreaded society, and contributed to increase their evil +fame. Sultan Sinjar, his successor, made war upon them, but +he was soon glad to come to terms with enemies against whose +operations no precaution seemed available. After a long and +prosperous rule Hassan died at an advanced age in 1124. He +had previously slain both his sons, one on suspicion of having +been concerned in the murder of a <i>dā‘i</i> at Kuhistan, the other +for drinking wine, and he was therefore compelled to name as his +successor his chief <i>dā‘i</i>, Kia-Busurg-Omid.</p> + +<p>During the fourteen years’ reign of this second leader, the +Assassins were frequently unfortunate in the open field, and +their castles were taken and plundered; but they acquired a +stronghold in Syria, while their numerous murders made them +an object of dread to the neighbouring princes, and spread abroad +their evil renown. A long series of distinguished men perished +under the daggers of the <i>fedais</i>; even the most sacred dignity +was not spared. The caliph Mostarshid was assassinated in his +tent, and not long after, the caliph Rashid suffered a similar fate. +Busurg-Omid was succeeded by his son Mahommed I., who, during the +long period of twenty-five years, ruthlessly carried out his +predecessor’s principles. In his time Massiat became the +chief seat of the Syrian branch of the society. Mahommed’s +abilities were not great, and the affections of the people were drawn +towards his son Hassan, a youth of great learning, skilled in all +the wisdom of the initiated, and popularly believed to be the promised +Imam become visible on earth. The old sheik prevented any attempt +at insurrection by slaying 250 of Hassan’s adherents, and the +son was glad to make submission. When, however, he attained the +throne, he began to put his views into effect. On the 17th of the +month Ramadan, 1164, he assembled the people and disclosed to them +the secret doctrines of the +initiated; he announced that the doctrines of Islam were now +abolished, that the people might give themselves up to feasting +and joy. Soon after, he announced that he was the promised +Imam, the caliph of God upon earth. To substantiate these +claims he gave out that he was not the son of Mahommed, but +was descended from Nizār, son of the Egyptian caliph Mostansir, +and a lineal descendant of Isma‘īl. After a short reign of four +years Hassan was assassinated by his brother-in-law, and his +son Mahommed II. succeeded. One of his first acts was to slay +his father’s murderer, with all his family and relatives; and his +long rule, extending over a period of forty-six years, was marked +by many similar deeds of cruelty. He had to contend with many +powerful enemies, especially with the great Atabeg sultan +Nureddin, and his more celebrated successor, Saladin, who had +gained possession of Egypt after the death of the last Fatimite +caliph, and against whom even secret assassination seemed +powerless. During his reign, also, the Syrian branch of the +society, under their <i>dā‘i</i>, Sinan, made themselves independent, +and remained so ever afterwards. It was with this Syrian branch +that the Crusaders made acquaintance; and it appears to have +been their emissaries who slew Count Raymund of Tripoli and +Conrad of Montferrat.</p> + +<p>Mahommed II. died from the effects of poison, administered, +it is believed, by his son, Jelaleddin Hassan III., who succeeded. +He restored the old form of doctrine—secret principles for the +initiated, and Islam for the people—and his general piety and +orthodoxy procured for him the name of the new Mussulman. +During his reign of twelve years no assassinations occurred, and +he obtained a high reputation among the neighbouring princes. +Like his father, he was removed by poison, and his son, ‘Ala-ed-dīn +Mahommed III., a child of nine years of age, weak in mind and +body, was placed on the throne. Under his rule the mild +principles of his father were deserted, and a fresh course of +assassination entered on. In 1255, after a reign of thirty years, +‘Ala-ed-dīn was slain, with the connivance of his son, Rukneddin, +the last ruler of the Assassins. In the following year Hulaku +(Hulagu), brother of the Tatar, Mangu Khan, invaded the hill +country of Persia, took Alamūt and many other castles, and +captured Rukneddīn (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Mongols</a></span>). He treated him kindly, +and, at his own request, sent him under escort to Mangu. On +the way, Rukneddīn treacherously incited the inhabitants of +Kirdkuh to resist the Tatars. This breach of good faith was +severely punished by the khan, who ordered Rukneddīn to be +put to death, and sent a messenger to Hulaku (Hulagu) commanding +him to slay all his captives. About 12,000 of the +Assassins were massacred, and their power in Persia was completely +broken. The Syrian branch flourished for some years longer, +till Bibars, the Mameluke sultan of Egypt, ravaged their country +and nearly extirpated them. Small bodies of them lingered about +the mountains of Syria, and are believed still to exist there. +Doctrines somewhat similar to theirs are still to be met with in +north Syria.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See J. von Hammer, <i>Geschichte der Assassinen</i> (1818); S. de Sacy, +<i>Mémoires de l’lnstitut</i>, iv. (1818), who discusses the etymology +fully; <i>Calcutta Review</i>, vols. lv., lvi.; A. Jourdain in Michaud’s +<i>Histoire des Croisades</i>, ii. pp. 465-484, and trans. of the Persian +historian Mirkhond in <i>Notices et extraits des manuscrits</i>, xiii. +pp. 143 sq.; cf. R. Dozy, <i>Essai sur l’histoire de l’Islamisme</i> +(Leiden and Paris, 1879); ch. ix.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(G. W. T.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAULT<a name="ar122" id="ar122"></a></span> (from Lat. <i>ad</i>, to or on, and <i>saltare</i>, to leap), +in English law, “an attempt or offer with force or violence to do +corporal hurt to another, as by striking at another with a stick +or other weapon, or without a weapon, though the party misses +his aim.” Notwithstanding ancient opinions to the contrary, +it is now settled that mere words, be they ever so provoking, +will not constitute an assault. Coupled with the attempt or +threat to inflict corporal injury, there must in all cases be the +means of carrying the threat into effect. A <i>battery</i> is more than a +threat or attempt to injure the person of another; the injury +must have been inflicted, but it makes no difference however +small it may be, as the law does not “draw the line between +degrees of violence,” but “totally prohibits the first and lowest +stage of it.” Every battery includes an assault. A common +assault is a misdemeanour, and is punishable by imprisonment +with or without hard labour to the extent of one year, and if it +occasions bodily harm, with penal servitude for three years, or +imprisonment to the extent of two years, with or without hard +labour. There are various different kinds of assaults which are +provided against by particular enactments of parliament, such +as the Offences against the Person Act 1861, the Prevention of +Crimes Act 1871, &c.; and there are also certain aggravated +assaults for which the punishment is severer than for common +assault, as an assault with intent to murder, with intent to +commit a rape, &c. In certain cases an assault and battery is +sometimes justifiable, as in the case where a person in authority, +as a parent or schoolmaster, inflicts moderate punishment upon +a child, or in certain cases of self-defence, or in defence of one’s +goods and chattels. An assault may be both a tort and a crime, +giving a civil action for damages to the person injured, as well as +being the subject of a criminal prosecution.</p> + +<p><i>United States</i>.—The general principles applicable throughout +the United States are the same as in England. Riding a horse +threateningly near a person; or riding a bicycle against another +(<i>Mercer</i> v. <i>Corbin</i>, 117 Indiana Rep. 450); waking one from +sleep to present a milk bill (<i>Richmond</i> v. <i>Fiske</i>, 160 Mass. 34), +are assaults. A minor is liable for damages for an assault +(<i>Hildreth</i> v. <i>Hancock</i>, 156 Illinois Rep. 618). In Texas it has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page776" id="page776"></a>776</span> +been held that an assault with a knife is not necessarily an +aggravated assault (<i>Warren</i> v. <i>State</i>, 3 S.W. 240), and an axe +is not necessarily a “deadly weapon” with which to assault +(<i>Gladney</i> v. <i>State</i>, 12 S.W. 868), and the State must prove that it +would be likely to produce death or serious bodily injury (<i>Melton</i> +v. <i>State</i>, 17 S.W. 257). Neither a pistol nor brass knuckles are +necessarily deadly weapons; the State must show their size or +manner of use in making the assault (<i>Ballard</i> v. <i>State</i>, 13 S.W. +674; <i>Miles</i> v. <i>State</i>, 5 S.W. 250). But in 1903 a pistol was held +by the Texas Supreme Court to be a deadly weapon if not used +simply as a club (<i>Lockland</i> v. <i>State</i>, 73 S.W. 1054), and the same +court held in 1904 that a pistol is a deadly weapon (<i>Pace</i> v. <i>State</i>, +79 S.W. 531), and so the assault was an aggravated assault. In +North Carolina it has been held that an axe is <i>ex vi termini</i> a +“deadly weapon” (<i>State</i> v. <i>Shields</i>, 110 N.C. 49).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAYE,<a name="ar123" id="ar123"></a></span> a village of Hyderabad or the Nizam’s Dominions, +in southern India, just beyond the Berar frontier. The place is +celebrated as the site of a battle fought on the 23rd of September +1803 between the combined Mahratta forces Under Sindhia and +the rajah of Berar and the British under Major-General Wellesley, +afterwards the duke of Wellington. The Mahratta force consisted +of 50,000 men, supported by 100 pieces of cannon served +by French artillerymen, and entrenched in a strong position. +Against this the English had but a force of 4500 men, which, +however, after a severe struggle, gained the most complete +victory that ever crowned British valour in India. Of the +enemy 12,000 were killed and wounded; and General Wellesley +lost 1657—one-third of his little force—killed and wounded. +Assaye is 261 m. north-west of Hyderabad.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSAYING<a name="ar124" id="ar124"></a></span>. To “assay” (or “essay”; Fr. <i>essayer</i>) is in +general to try, or attempt, so to make trial or test. In a restricted +sense the term assaying is applied in metallurgy to the determination +of the amount of gold or silver in ores or alloys; in this +article, however, it will be used in a wider technical signification, +and will include a description of the methods for the quantitative +determination of those elements in ores which affect their value +in metallurgical operations. It would be impossible to give in +detail here all the precautions necessary for the successful use +of the methods, and the descriptions will therefore be confined +to the principles involved and the general manner in which they +are applied to secure the desired results.</p> + +<p><i>Gold and Silver</i>.—Ores containing gold or silver are almost +invariably assayed in the dry way; that is, by fusion with +appropriate fluxes and ultimate separation of the elements in +the metallic form. One of the customs which has grown out of +our peculiar system of weights is the form of statement of the +results of such an assay. Instead of expressing the amounts of +gold and silver in percentages of the weight of ore, they are +expressed in ounces to the ton, the ounce being the troy ounce +and the ton that of 2000 avoirdupois pounds. To simplify +calculation and to enable the assayer to use the metric system +of weights employed in all chemical calculations, the “assay +ton” (“A.T.” = 29.166 grammes) has been devised, which bears +the same relation to the ton of 2000 ℔ avoirdupois that one +milligram does to the troy ounce; when one assay ton of ore is +used, each milligram of gold or silver found represents one ounce +to the ton.</p> + +<p>The assay of an ore for gold or silver consists of two operations. +In the first the gold or silver is made to combine or alloy with +metallic lead, the other constituents of the ore being separated +from the lead as slag. In the second, the lead button containing +the gold or silver is cupelled and the resulting gold or silver button +is weighed. The first is conducted in one of two ways, known +respectively as the crucible method and the scorification method. +The crucible method is generally used for ores containing gold +in small amounts and for certain classes of silver ores. The +amount of ore taken for assay is generally one-half “A.T.,” but in +very low-grade ores one, two, and sometimes even four “A.T.s” +are used. In the scorification method one-tenth of an “A.T.” is +the amount commonly taken. While in both methods the same +result is sought, the means employed are quite different. In the +scorification method the ore is mixed in the scorifier (a shallow +dish of burned clay) with from ten to twenty times its weight of +granulated metallic lead (test lead) and a little borax glass, and +heated in a muffle, the front of which is at first closed. When +the lead melts and begins to oxidize, the lead oxide, or so-called +litharge, combines with or dissolves the non-metallic and readily +oxidizable constituents of the ore, while the gold and silver alloy +with the lead. As the slag thus formed flows off to the sides of +the scorifier, the assay clears and the melted metallic lead forms +an “eye” in the middle. The door of the muffle is then opened +and the current of air which is drawn over the scorifier rapidly +oxidizes the lead, while the melted litharge gradually closes over +the metal. When the “eye” has quite disappeared the door is +closed and the temperature raised to make the slag very liquid. +The scorifier is taken from the muffle in a pair of tongs and the +contents poured into a mould, the lead forming a button in the +bottom while the slag floats on top. When cold, the contents +of the mould are taken out and the lead button hammered into +the form of a cube, the slag, which is glassy and brittle, separating +readily from the metal, which is then ready for cupellation. In +the crucible method the ore is mixed with from once to twice its +weight of flux, which varies in composition, but of which the +following may be taken as a type:—</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="width: 40%;" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Sodium bicarbonate</td> <td class="tcl cl">8 parts.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Potassium carbonate</td> <td class="tcl">3 ”</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Powdered borax</td> <td class="tcl cl">4 ”</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Flour</td> <td class="tcl">1 ”</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Litharge</td> <td class="tcl cl">9 ”</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">The mixture is charged into a round clay crucible from 100 mm. +to 125 mm. high, and heated either in a muffle or in a crucible +furnace at a gradually increasing heat for forty or fifty minutes. +At the expiration of this time, when the charge should be perfectly +liquid and in a tranquil state of fusion, the crucible is removed +from the furnace and the contents are poured into a mould. +The resulting lead button hammered into shape and carefully +cleansed from slag is ready for the cupel. If the button is too +large for cupellation, or if it is hard, it may be scorified either +alone or mixed with test lead before cupellation. The character +and amount of the flux necessarily depend upon the character of +the ore, the object being to concentrate in the lead button all the +gold and silver while dissolving and carrying off in the slag the +other constituents of the ore. Under the most favourable conditions +there is a slight loss of gold and silver in the fusion, the +scorification and the cupellation, both by absorption in the slag +and by actual volatilization and absorption in the cupel. In ores +containing much copper, this metal is largely concentrated in the +lead button, making it hard, and necessitating repeated +scorifications and, in some cases, a preliminary removal of the +copper by solution of the ore in nitric acid. This leaves the gold +in the insoluble residue, which is filtered off, and the silver in +the solution is thrown down by hydrochloric acid. The resulting +precipitate of silver chloride is filtered, and the residue and the +precipitate are scorified together. Ores containing much arsenic +or sulphur are generally roasted at a low heat and the assay +is made on the roasted material.</p> + +<p>The process of cupellation is briefly as follows:—The gold +alloy is fused with a quantity of lead, and a little silver if silver +is already present. The resulting alloy, which is called the <i>lead +button</i>, is then submitted to fusion on a very porous support, +made of bone-ash, and called a <i>cupel</i>. The fusion being effected +in a current of air, the lead oxidizes. The heat is sufficient to +keep the resulting lead oxide fused, and the porous cupel has the +property of absorbing melted lead oxide without taking up any +of the metallic globule, exactly in the same way that blotting-paper +will absorb water whilst it will not touch a globule of +mercury. The heat being continued, and the current of air +always passing over the surface of the melted lead button, and +the lead oxide being sucked up by the cupel as fast as it is formed, +the metallic globule rapidly diminishes in size until at last all +the lead has been got rid of. Now, if this were the only action, +little good would have been gained, for we should simply have +put lead into the gold alloy, and then taken it out again; but +another action goes on whilst the lead is oxidizing in the current +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page777" id="page777"></a>777</span> +of air. Other metals, except the silver and gold, also oxidize, +and are carried by the melted litharge into the cupel. If the lead +is therefore rightly proportioned to the standard of alloy, the +resulting button will consist of only gold and silver, and these are +separated by the operation of <i>parting</i>, which consists in boiling +the alloy (after rolling it to a thin plate) in strong nitric acid, +which dissolves the silver and leaves the gold as a coherent +sponge. To effect this parting properly, the proportion of silver +to gold should be as 3 to 1. The operation by which the alloy is +brought to this standard is termed <i>quartation</i> or <i>inquartation</i>, +and consists in fusing the alloy in a cupel with lead and the +quantity of fine silver or fine gold necessary to bring it to the +desired composition.</p> + +<p><i>Lead</i>.—The “dry” or fire assay for lead is largely used for the +valuation of lead ores, although it is being gradually replaced by +volumetric methods. One part of the ore is mixed with from +three to five parts of a flux of the following composition:—</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="width: 40%;" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Potassium carbonate</td> <td class="tcc cl">40.6%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Sodium bicarbonate</td> <td class="tcc">31.3%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl cl">Borax</td> <td class="tcc cl">15.6%</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl">Flour</td> <td class="tcc">12.5%</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">The mixture is charged into a clay crucible and heated for twenty +minutes at a good red heat. When the mixture has been in a +tranquil state of fusion for a few minutes it is poured into a mould. +When cold, the button is hammered, cleaned carefully from slag, +and weighed. The proportion is calculated from the amount +of ore used, and the result is expressed in parts in a hundred +or percentage of the ore. Various impurities, such as copper, +antimony and sulphur, go into the lead button, so that the result +is generally too high. The most accurate method for the determination +of lead in ores is the gravimetric method, in which it is +weighed as lead sulphate after the various impurities have been +separated. Nearly all lead ores contain more or less sulphur; +and as in the process of solution in nitric acid this is oxidized +to sulphuric acid which unites with the lead to form the very +insoluble lead sulphate, it is simpler to add sulphuric acid to +convert all the lead into sulphate and then evaporate until the +nitric acid is expelled. The salts of iron, copper, &c., are then +dissolved in water and filtered from the insoluble silica, lead +sulphate, and calcium sulphate, which are washed with dilute +sulphuric acid. The insoluble matter is treated with a hot solution +of alkaline ammonium acetate, which dissolves the lead +sulphate, the other materials being separated by filtration. The +lead sulphate, re-precipitated in the filtrate by an excess of +sulphuric acid and alcohol, is then filtered on an asbestos felt in +a Gooch crucible, washed with dilute sulphuric acid and alcohol, +ignited, and weighed. Lead sulphate contains 68.30% of +metallic lead.</p> + +<p>There are several volumetric methods for assaying lead ores, +but the best known is that based on the precipitation of lead by +ammonium molybdate in an acetic acid solution. The lead +sulphate, obtained as described above and dissolved in ammonium +acetate, is acidulated with acetic acid diluted with hot water and +heated to boiling-point. A standardized solution of ammonium +molybdate is then added from a burette. As long as the solution +contains lead, the addition of the molybdate solution causes +a precipitation of white lead molybdate. An excess of the +precipitant is shown by a drop of the solution imparting a +yellow colour to a solution of tannin, prepared by dissolving +one part of tannin in 300 of water; drops of this solution are +placed on a white porcelain plate, and as the precipitant is added +to the lead solution a drop of the latter is removed from time to +time on a glass stirring-rod and added to one of the drops on the +porcelain plate. The appearance of a yellow colour shows that +all the lead has been precipitated and that the solution contains +an excess of molybdate. From the reading of the burette the +lead is calculated. The molybdate solution should be of such a +strength that 1 cc. will precipitate 0.01 gramme of lead. It is +standardized by dissolving a weighed amount of lead sulphate in +ammonium acetate and proceeding as described above.</p> + +<p><i>Zinc</i>.—Chemically the ores of zinc consist of the silicates, +carbonates, oxides, and sulphides of zinc associated with other +metals, some of which complicate the methods of assay. The +most modern and the most generally accepted method is volumetric, +and is based on the reaction between zinc chloride and +potassium ferrocyanide, by which insoluble zinc ferrocyanide +and soluble potassium chloride are formed; the presence of the +slightest excess of potassium ferrocyanide is shown by a brownish +tint being imparted by the solution to a drop of uranium nitrate. +The ore (0.5 gramme) is digested with a mixture of potassium +nitrate and nitric acid. A saturated solution of potassium +chlorate in strong nitric acid is added, and the mass evaporated +to dryness. It is then heated with a mixture of ammonium +chloride and ammonia, filtered and washed with a hot dilute +solution of the same mixture. The filtrate diluted to 200 cc. is +carefully neutralized with hydrochloric acid, and excess of 6 cc. +of the strong acid is added, and the solution saturated with +hydrogen sulphide, which precipitates the copper and cadmium, +metals which would otherwise interfere. Without filtering, the +standard solution is added from a burette, and from time to time +a drop of the solution is removed on the glass stirring-rod and +added to a drop or two of a strong solution of uranium nitrate, +previously placed on a white porcelain plate. The appearance +of a brown tint in one of these tests shows the end of the reaction. +When cadmium is not present the copper may be precipitated +by boiling the acidulated ammoniacal solution with test lead and +titrating, as before described, without removing the lead and +copper from the solution. The ferrocyanide solution is standardized +by dissolving 1 gramme of pure zinc in 6 cc. of hydrochloric +acid, adding ammonium chloride, and titrating as before. This +method is modified in practice by the character of the ores, +carbonates and silicates free from sulphides being decomposed +by hydrochloric acid, with the addition of a little nitric acid.</p> + +<p><i>Copper</i>.—The fire assay for copper ores was abandoned years +ago and the electrolytic method took its place; this in turn is +now largely replaced by volumetric methods. In the electrolytic +method from 0.5 to 5 grammes of ore are treated in a flask or +beaker, with a mixture of 10 cc. of nitric and 10 cc. of sulphuric +acid, until thoroughly decomposed. When this liquid is cold it +is diluted with cold water, heated until all the soluble salts are +dissolved, transferred to a tall, narrow beaker, and diluted to +about 150 cc. The electrodes are attached to a frame connected +with the battery and the beaker is placed on a stool, which can +be raised so that the electrodes are immersed in the liquid and +reach the bottom of the beaker. The electrodes consist of two +cylinders of platinum (placed one inside the other) about 75 mm. +high, the smaller of the two 37 mm. and the larger 50 mm. in +diameter, both pierced with 10 to 12 holes 5 mm. in diameter, +evenly distributed over the surfaces to facilitate diffusion of the +liquids. The surfaces of the cylinders are roughened with a sand +blast to increase the areas and make the deposited metals adhere +more firmly. Each cylinder has a platinum wire fused to the +upper circumference to connect with a clamp from which a wire +leads to the proper pole of the battery. The smaller cylinder is +generally the negative electrode on which the copper is deposited. +The framework carrying the clamps is arranged so that a number +of determinations may be made at one time, the wires from the +clamps running from a rheostat, so arranged that currents of any +strength may be used simultaneously. The cylinder, having +been carefully weighed, is placed in position, the beaker containing +the solution is adjusted, and the current passed until all +the copper is precipitated. This generally requires from two to +twelve hours. The cylinders are then removed from the solution +and washed with distilled water, the one holding the deposited +copper being washed with alcohol, dried and weighed; the +increase in weight represents the copper contents of the ore. +The deposited copper should be firmly adherent and bright rosy +red in colour. Silver, arsenic and cadmium, if present, are +precipitated with the copper and affect the accuracy of the +results; they should be removed by special methods.</p> + +<p>Volumetric methods are more expeditious and require less +apparatus. The potassium cyanide method is based on the +fact that, when potassium cyanide is added to an ammoniacal +solution of a salt of copper, the insoluble copper cyanide is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page778" id="page778"></a>778</span> +formed, the end of the reaction being indicated by the disappearance +of the blue colour of the solution. One gramme of the ore +is treated in a flask with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids +and evaporated until all the nitric acid is expelled. After cooling +a little, water is added, and then a few grammes of aluminium +foil free from copper. On this foil the copper in the solution is +all precipitated by electrolytic action in a few minutes, and the +aluminium is dissolved by the addition of an excess of sulphuric +acid. Water is added, and as soon as the gangue and copper +particles have settled the clear solution is decanted, and the +residue washed several times in the same way. The copper is +then dissolved in 5 cc. of nitric acid; if silver is present a drop or +two of hydrochloric acid is added, the solution diluted to about +50 cc., and filtered. To the filtrate (or, if no silver is present, to +the diluted nitric acid solution) 10 cc. of ammonia are added, +and a standard solution of potassium cyanide is run in from +a burette until the blue colour has nearly disappeared. The +solution is filtered to get rid of the precipitate, and the titration +is finished in the nearly clear nitrate, which should be always +about 200 cc. in volume. The titration is complete when the +blue colour is so faint that it is almost imperceptible after the +flask has been vigorously shaken. The potassium cyanide solution +is standardized by dissolving 0.5 gramme of pure copper +in 5 cc. of nitric acid, diluting, adding 10 cc. of ammonia, and +titrating exactly as described above.</p> + +<p>When potassium iodide is added to a solution of cupric acetate, +the reaction Cu(C<span class="su">2</span>H<span class="su">3</span>O<span class="su">2</span>)<span class="su">2</span> + 2KI = CuI + 2K(C<span class="su">2</span>H<span class="su">3</span>O<span class="su">2</span>) + I takes +place; that is, for each atom of copper one atom of iodine is +liberated. If a solution of sodium thiosulphate (hyposulphite) +is added to this solution, hydriodic acid, sodium iodide and +tetrathionate are formed; and if a little starch solution has been +added, the end of the reaction is indicated by the disappearance +of the blue colour, due to the iodide of starch. The amount of +iodine liberated is therefore a measure of the copper in the +solution, and when the sodium thiosulphate has been carefully +standardized the method is extremely accurate. The ore is +treated as described in the cyanide method until the copper +precipitated by the aluminium foil has been washed and dissolved +in 5 cc. of nitric acid; then 0.25 gramme of potassium chlorate +is added, and the solution boiled nearly dry to oxidize any +arsenic present to arsenic acid. The solution is cooled, 50 cc. +water added, then 5 cc. ammonia, and the solution is boiled for +five minutes. Next 5 cc. of glacial acetic acid are added, the +solution cooled, and 5 cc. of a solution of potassium iodide (300 +grammes to the litre) and the standard solution of sodium +thiosulphate run in from a burette until the brown colour has +nearly disappeared. A few drops of starch solution are then +added, and when the blue colour has nearly vanished a drop or +two of methyl orange makes the end reaction very sharp. The +thiosulphate solution is standardized by dissolving 0.3 to 0.5 +gramme of pure copper in 3 cc. of nitric acid, adding 50 cc. of +water and 5 cc. of ammonia, and titrating as above after the +addition of 5 cc. of glacial acetic acid and 5 cc. of the potassium +iodide solution.</p> + +<p><i>Iron</i>.—The methods used in the assay for iron are volumetric, +and are all based on the property possessed by certain reagents +of oxidizing iron from the ferrous to the ferric state. Two salts +are in common use for this purpose, potassium permanganate and +potassium bichromate. It is necessary in the first place, after +the ore is in solution, to reduce all the iron to the ferrous condition; +then the carefully standardized solution of the oxidizing +reagent is added until all the iron is in the ferric state, the +volume of the standard solution used being the measure of the +iron contained in the ore. The end of the reaction when potassium +permanganate is employed is known by the change in colour +of the solution. As the solution of potassium permanganate, +which is deep red in colour, is dropped into the colourless iron +solution, it is quickly decolorized while the iron solution +gradually assumes a yellowish tinge, the first drop of the permanganate +solution in excess giving it a pink tint. With potassium +bichromate solution, which is yellow, the iron solution becomes +green from the chromium chloride or sulphate formed, and the +end of the reaction is determined by removing a drop of the +solution on the stirring-rod and adding it to a drop of a dilute +solution of potassium ferricyanide on a white tile. So long as the +solution contains a ferrous salt, the drop on the tile changes to +blue; hence the absence of a blue coloration indicates the +complete oxidation of all the ferrous salt and the end of the +reaction. One gramme of ore is usually taken for assay and +treated in a small flask or beaker with 10 cc. of hydrochloric acid. +All the iron in the ore generally dissolves upon heating, and a +white residue is left. Occasionally this residue contains a small +amount of iron in a difficultly soluble form; in that case the +solution is slightly diluted with water and filtered into a larger +flask. The residue in the filter is ignited and fused with a little +sodium carbonate and nitrate, or with sodium peroxide. The +product is treated with water, filtered, and the residue dissolved +in hydrochloric acid and added to the main solution. This +solution, which should not exceed 50 cc. or 75 cc. in volume, +contains the iron in the ferric state and is ready for reduction.</p> + +<p>In the reduction by metallic zinc, about 3 grammes of granulated +or foliated zinc are placed in the flask, which is closed with +a small funnel; when the iron is reduced, add 10 cc. of sulphuric +acid, and as soon as all the zinc is dissolved the solution is ready +for titration. In the reduction by stannous chloride the solution +of the ore in the flask is heated to boiling, and a strong solution +of stannous chloride is added until the solution is completely +decolorized; then 60 cc. of a solution of mercuric chloride (50 +grammes to the litre) are run in and the contents of the flask +poured into a dish containing 600 cc. of water and 60 cc. of a +solution containing 200 grammes of manganous sulphate, 1 litre of +phosphoric acid (1.3 sp. gr.), 400 cc. of sulphuric acid, and 1600 +cc. of water. The solution is then ready for titration with the +standard permanganate solution.</p> + +<p>The permanganate or bichromate solution is standardized by +dissolving 0.5 of a gramme of pure iron wire in a flask, in +hydrochloric acid, oxidizing it with a little potassium chlorate, +boiling off all traces of chlorine, deoxidizing by one of the methods +described above, and titrating with the solution. As the wire +always contains impurities, the absolute amount of iron in the +wire must be determined and the correction made accordingly. +Pure oxalic acid may also be used, which, in the presence of +sulphuric acid, is oxidized by the standard solution according to +the reaction:—</p> + +<p class="center">5(H<span class="su">2</span>C<span class="su">2</span>O<span class="su">4</span>2H<span class="su">2</span>O) + 3H<span class="su">2</span>SO<span class="su">4</span> + 2KMnO<span class="su">4</span> = 10CO<span class="su">2</span> + 2MnSO<span class="su">4</span> ++ K<span class="su">2</span>SO<span class="su">4</span> + 18H<span class="su">2</span>O</p> + +<p class="noind">The reaction in case of ferrous sulphate is:—</p> + +<p class="center">10FeSO<span class="su">4</span> + 2KMnO<span class="su">4</span> + 8H<span class="su">2</span>SO<span class="su">4</span> = 5Fe<span class="su">2</span>(SO<span class="su">4</span>)<span class="su">3</span> + K<span class="su">2</span>SO<span class="su">4</span> ++ 2MnSO<span class="su">4</span> + 8H<span class="su">2</span>O;</p> + +<p class="noind">that is, the same amount of potassium permanganate is required +to oxidize 5 molecules of oxalic acid that is necessary to oxidize +10 molecules of iron in the form of ferrous sulphate to ferric +sulphate, or 63 parts by weight of oxalic acid equal 56 parts by +weight of metallic iron. Ammonium ferrous sulphate may also be +used; it contains one-seventh of its weight of iron.</p> +<div class="author">(A. A. B.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSEGAI,<a name="ar125" id="ar125"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Assagai</span> (from Berber-Arab <i>as-zahayah</i>, through +Portuguese <i>azagaia</i>), a weapon for throwing or hurling, a light +spear or javelin made of wood and pointed with iron, particularly +the spear used by the Zulu and other Kaffir tribes of South +Africa. In addition to the long-handled assegai there is a shorter +weapon for use at close quarters.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSELIJN, HANS<a name="ar126" id="ar126"></a></span> (1610-1660), Dutch painter, was born at +Diepen, near Amsterdam. He received instruction from Esaias +Vandevelde (1587-1630), and distinguished himself particularly +in landscape and animal painting, though his historical works +and battle pieces are also admired. He travelled much in France +and Italy, and modelled his style greatly after Bamboccio (Peter +Laer). He was one of the first Dutch painters who introduced a +fresh and clear manner of painting landscapes in the style of +Claude Lorraine, and his example was speedily followed by other +artists. Asselijn’s pictures were in high estimation at Amsterdam, +and several of them are in the museums of that city. +Twenty-four, painted in Italy, were engraved.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page779" id="page779"></a>779</span></p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSEMANI,<a name="ar127" id="ar127"></a></span> the name of a Syrian Maronite family of famous +Orientalists.</p> + +<p>1. <span class="sc">Joseph Simon</span>, a Maronite of Mount Lebanon, was born in +1687. When very young he was sent to the Maronite college in +Rome, and was transferred thence to the Vatican library. In +1717 he was sent to Egypt and Syria to search for valuable MSS., +and returned with about 150 very choice ones. The success of +this expedition induced the pope to send him again to the East +in 1735, and he returned with a still more valuable collection. +On his return he was made titular archbishop of Tyre and +librarian of the Vatican library. He instantly began to carry +into execution most extensive plans for editing and publishing +the most valuable MS. treasures of the Vatican. His two great +works are the <i>Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana rec. +manuscr. codd. Syr., Arab., Pers., Turc., Hebr., Samarit., Armen., +Aethiop., Graec., Aegypt., Iber., et Malab., jussu et munif. Clem. +XI.</i> (Rome, 1719-1728), 9 vols. folio, and <i>Ephraemi Syri opera +omnia quae extant, Gr., Syr., et Lat.</i>, 6 vols. folio (Rome, 1737-1746). +Of the <i>Bibliotheca</i> the first three vols. only were completed. +The work was to have been in four parts—(1) Syrian and allied +MSS., orthodox, Nestorian and Jacobite; (2) Arabian MSS., +Christian and Mahommedan; (3) Coptic, Aethiopic, Persian +and Turkish MSS.; and (4) Syrian and Arabian MSS. not +distinctively theological; only the first part was completed, +but extensive preparations were made for the others. There is a +German abridgment by A.F. Pfeiffer.</p> + +<p>2. <span class="sc">Joseph Aloysius</span>, brother of Joseph Simon, and professor +of Oriental languages at Rome. He died in 1782. Besides aiding +his brother in his literary labours, he published, in 1749-1760, +<i>Codex Liturgicus Ecclesiae Universae in xv. libris</i> (this is incomplete), +and <i>Comment. de Catholicis sive Patriarchis Chaldaeorum +et Nestorianorum</i> (Rome, 1775).</p> + +<p>3. <span class="sc">Stephen Evodius</span>, nephew of Joseph Simon and Joseph +Aloysius, was the chief assistant of his uncle Joseph Simon in his +work in the Vatican library. He was titular archbishop of +Apamea in Syria, and held several rich prebends in Italy. His +literary labours were very extensive. His two most important +works were a description of certain valuable MSS. in his <i>Bibliotheae +Mediceo-Laurentianae et Palatinae codd. manuscr. Orientalium +Catalogus</i> (Flor. 1742), fol., and his <i>Acta SS. Martyrum +Orientalium.</i> He made several translations from the Syrian, +and in conjunction with his uncle he began the <i>Bibliothecae +Apostol. Vatic. codd. manusc. Catal., in tres partes distributus.</i> +Only three vols. were published, and the fire in the Vatican +library in 1768 consumed the manuscript collections which had +been prepared for the continuation of the work.</p> + +<p>4. <span class="sc">Simon</span>, grandnephew of Joseph Simon, was born at Tripoli +in 1752, and was professor of Oriental languages in Padua. He +died in 1820. He is best known by his masterly detection of the +literary imposture of Vella, which claimed to be a history of the +Saracens in Syria.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSEMBLY, UNLAWFUL,<a name="ar128" id="ar128"></a></span> the term used in English law for an +assembly of three or more persons with intent to commit a crime +by force, or to carry out a common purpose (whether lawful or +unlawful), in such a manner or in such circumstances as would +in the opinion of firm and rational men endanger the public +peace or create fear of immediate danger to the tranquillity of +the neighbourhood. In the Year Book of the third year of +Henry VII.’s reign assemblies were referred to as not punishable +unless <i>in terrorem populi domini regis</i>. It has been suggested +(Criminal Code Commission, 1879) that legislation first became +necessary at a time when it was usual for those landed proprietors +who were on bad terms with one another to go to market at the +head of bands of armed retainers (Statute of Northampton, +1328, 2 Edw. III. c. 3). An assembly, otherwise lawful, is not +made unlawful if those who take part in it know beforehand +that there will probably be organized opposition to it, and that +it may cause a breach of the peace (<i>Beatty</i> v. <i>Gillbanks</i>, 1882, +9 Q.B.D. 308). All persons may, and must if called upon to do +so, assist in dispersing an unlawful assembly (<i>Redford</i> v. <i>Birley</i>, +1822, 1 St. Tr. n.s. 1215; <i>R.</i> v. <i>Pinney</i>, 1831, 3 St. Tr. n.s. 11). +An assembly which is lawful cannot be rendered unlawful by +proclamation unless the proclamation is one authorized by +statute (<i>R.</i> v. <i>Fursey</i>, 1833, 3 St. Tr. n.s. 543, 567; <i>R.</i> v. +<i>O’Connell</i>, 1831, 2 St. Tr. n.s. 629, 656; see also the Prevention +of Crimes [Ireland] Act 1887). Meetings for training or drilling, +or military movements, are unlawful assemblies unless held under +lawful authority from the crown, the lord-lieutenant, or two +justices of the peace (Unlawful Drilling Act 1820, s. 11).</p> + +<p>An unlawful assembly which has made a motion towards its +common purpose is termed a <i>rout</i>, and if the unlawful assembly +should proceed to carry out its purpose, <i>e.g.</i> begin to demolish a +particular enclosure, it becomes a riot (<i>q.v.</i>). All three offences +are misdemeanours in English law, punishable by fine and +imprisonment. The common law as to unlawful assembly +extends to Ireland, subject to the special legislation referred to +under the title <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Riot</a></span>. The law of Scotland includes unlawful +assembly under the same head as rioting.</p> + +<p><i>British Dominions Abroad</i>.—The law of the British colonies +as a general rule as to unlawful assemblies follows the common +law of England. The definitions in the Criminal Codes of Canada +(1892, s. 79) and Queensland (1899, s. 61) are substantially the +same as the common-law definition above given. Under the +Indian Penal Code (s. 141) an assembly of five or more persons +is designated an unlawful assembly if the common object of the +persons composing that assembly is—(1) to overawe by criminal +force, or show of criminal force, the legislative or executive +government of India, or the government of any presidency or +any lieutenant-governor, or any public servant in the exercise +of the lawful power of such public servant; (2) to resist the +execution of any law or of any legal process; (3) to commit any +mischief or “criminal trespass” or other offence; (4) by means +of criminal force or show of criminal force to any person, to take +or obtain possession of any property, or to deprive any person of +the enjoyment of a right of way, or of the use of water, or other +corporeal right of which he is in possession or enjoyment, or +to enforce any right or supposed right; or (5) by means of +criminal force or show of criminal force, to compel any person +to do what he is not legally bound to do, or to omit to do +what he is legally entitled to do (see Mayne, <i>Ind. Cr. Law</i>, ed. +1896, p. 480). In South Africa and Mauritius the law on this +subject is derived from the Roman Dutch and French law (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Riot</a></span>.)</p> + +<p><i>United States</i>.—The common-law definition of unlawful +assembly is accepted in the United States subject to the special +legislation of the constituent states. The New York Penal Code +(s. 451) declares that whenever three or more persons being +assembled attempt or threaten any act tending towards a breach +of the peace or injury to person or property, or any unlawful +act, such assembly is unlawful (see Bishop, <i>Amer. Crim. Law</i>, +8th ed., 1892, vol. i. s. 534, vol. ii. s. 1256).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSEN,<a name="ar129" id="ar129"></a></span> the capital of the province of Drente, Holland, 16 m. +by rail S. of Groningen, at the junction of the two canals which +run north and south to Groningen and Meppel respectively. +Pop. (1900) 11,329. It is partly surrounded by a small forest +belonging to the state. Assen possesses schools (a gymnasium +and burgher school), a chamber of commerce, a museum of +antiquities and a court-house. Peat-cutting forms a considerable +industry. Many prehistoric remains found in the neighbourhood +are in the museum at Leiden. Until the 19th century Assen was +a small place built round the convent in which Otto II. (of Lippe), +bishop of Utrecht, was murdered after being taken prisoner at +Koevorden in 1237.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSER,<a name="ar130" id="ar130"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Asserius Menevensis</span> (d. <i>c.</i> 910), English bishop, +and author of a life of Alfred the Great, was a native of the +western part of Wales, and was related to Nobis, bishop of St +David’s. He became a monk at St David’s, and having acquired +some reputation for learning, he was invited by King Alfred to +his court. The king met the monk at Denu (probably East or +West Dean, near Seaford in Sussex), but Asser did not at once +accept the invitation of Alfred, and returned to Wales to consult +his colleagues. He then agreed to spend six months of each year +with the king and six months in his own land; but his first stay +at the royal court extended to eight months, and it is probable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page780" id="page780"></a>780</span> +that the annual visit to Wales was curtailed if not altogether +discontinued. It is difficult to fix the date of Asser’s arrival in +England, but it was probably about 885. He assisted the king +in his studies, received from him the monasteries of Congresbury +and Banwell, and sometime later “Exeter and its diocese in +Saxonland and Cornwall.” He became bishop of Sherborne +before 900, and his death is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle +under the date 910, although it is possible that it occurred a +year or two earlier. The scanty details of Asser’s life are taken +from his biography of Alfred, from which it is inferred that he +was acquainted with one or two Frankish biographies, and +possibly had visited the continent of Europe.</p> + +<p>Asser’s work, <i>Annales rerum gestarum Alfredi magni</i>, was +written about 893, and consists of a chronicle of English history +from 849 to 887, and an account of Alfred’s life, largely drawn +from personal knowledge, down to 887. The only manuscript +of which there is any record dates from about 1000, and was +destroyed by fire in 1731. From this manuscript an edition was +printed in 1574 under the direction of Matthew Parker, archbishop +of Canterbury; but this contained many interpolations +and alterations which were copied by subsequent editors. The +text has since been the subject of careful study, and the edition +edited by W.H. Stevenson (Oxford, 1904) distinguishes between +the original work of Asser and the later additions. Some doubt +has been cast upon the authenticity of the work, especially by +T. Wright in the <i>Biographia Britannica literaria</i> (London, 1842), +who ascribes the life to a monk of St Neots; but the latest +scholarship regards it as the work of Asser, although all the +difficulties which surround the authorship have not been removed. +The life was largely used by subsequent chroniclers, among +others by Florence of Worcester, Simeon of Durham, Roger of +Hoveden, and William of Malmesbury.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See W.H. Stevenson, Introduction to Asser’s <i>Life of King Alfred</i> +(Oxford, 1904); R. Pauli, Introduction to <i>König Aelfred</i> (Berlin, 1851).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSESSMENT,<a name="ar131" id="ar131"></a></span> (from Lat. <i>assessare</i>, to sit beside, to judge), a +term expressing either an official valuation of income or property +for purposes of taxation, or the amount so determined (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Taxation</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Valuation</a></span>). It is also applied to the amount +of damages fixed by a jury in a court of law (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Damages</a></span>).</p> + +<p>An <i>assessment committee</i> is a statutory committee appointed +under the Union Assessment Acts 1862, 1880, for the purpose of +making out the valuation lists upon which the poor-law rate is +based.</p> + +<p>An <i>assessment policy</i>, in life insurance, is a policy issued at a +fixed premium, the excess of which over the portion necessary +to meet current claims and expenses goes to form a reserve fund +which is devoted to various forms of benefit for the policy-holders. +See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Insurance</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Friendly Societies</a></span>.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSESSOR<a name="ar132" id="ar132"></a></span> (Lat. <i>assessare</i>, <i>assidere</i>, to sit by), a Roman term +originally applied to a trained lawyer who sat beside a governor +of a province or other magistrate, to instruct him in the administration +of the laws (see Roll, <i>De assessoribus magistratuum +Romanorum</i>, Leipzig, 1872). The system is still exemplified in +Scotland, where it is usual in the larger towns for municipal +magistrates, in the administration of their civil jurisdiction, to +have the aid of professional assessors. In England, by the Judicature +Act 1873, the court of appeal and the High Court may +in any cause or matter call in the aid of assessors. The Patents +Act 1907 makes special provision for assessors in patent and +trade-mark cases. By the Supreme Court of Judicature Act +1891 the House of Lords may, in appeals in admiralty actions, +call in the aid of assessors, while in the admiralty division of the +High Court it is usual for the Elder Brethren of Trinity House to +assist as nautical assessors. In admiralty cases in the county +courts, too, the judge is frequently assisted by assessors of +“nautical skill and experience” (County Court Admiralty +Jurisdiction Act 1868). In the ecclesiastical courts assessors +assist the bishop in proceedings under the Church Discipline Act +1840, s. 11, while under the Clergy Discipline Act 1892, s. 2, +they assist the chancellor in determining questions of fact. By +the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, s. 14, the king in council +may make rules for the attendance of archbishops and bishops +as assessors in the hearing of ecclesiastical cases by the judicial +committee of the privy council.</p> + +<p>The term “assessor” is also very generally applied to persons +appointed to ascertain and fix the value of rates, taxes, &c., +and in this sense the word is used in the United States.</p> + +<p>In France and in all European countries where the civil law +system prevails, the term <i>assesseur</i> is applied to those assistant +judges who, with a president, compose a judicial court.</p> + +<p>In Germany an <i>Assessor</i>, or <i>Beisitzer</i>, is a member of the legal +profession who has passed four years in actual practice and +become qualified for the position of a judge.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSETS<a name="ar133" id="ar133"></a></span> (from the O. Nor. Fr. <i>assetz</i>, mod. Fr. <i>assez</i>, “enough”), +in English law, strictly the property of a debtor in the +hands of his representative sufficient for the satisfaction of his +creditors or legatees. Thus the property of a bankrupt is termed +his assets and is the fund out of which his liabilities must be paid. +All property of the debtor is assets, and it is not necessary that +it should have been reduced into possession by him.</p> + +<p>The creditors of a debtor are either secured or unsecured. A +secured creditor, <i>e.g.</i> a mortgagee, has a prior claim to be paid his +debt out of his security. If on realization of the security there is +a balance after paying the debt, such balance becomes assets for +the unsecured creditors; if there is a deficit, then the creditor +becomes an unsecured creditor for such deficit. The unsecured +creditors were formerly divided into creditors by specialty and +by simple contract, the first being creditors secured by instrument +under seal who ranked in priority to simple contract creditors. +But by Hinde Palmer’s Act [the Executors Act] 1869 all unsecured +creditors rank alike.</p> + +<p>Assets are divisible into legal assets and equitable assets, and +the former class is again divisible into assets real and personal. +These distinctions, though formerly of great importance, have +now lost most of their meaning, but it is necessary briefly to describe +the nature of these divisions and their consequences. The +distinction between assets legal and equitable depends entirely +upon the remedy open to the creditor to recover his debt and in +no way upon the nature of the property from which the debt is +sought to be recovered. If the creditor had to sue the executor +of a debtor at law to obtain payment out of the property, that +property was legal assets; but if the only remedy open to the +creditor to get at the property was to bring an action in chancery +for the administration of the estate, then the assets were +equitable.</p> + +<p>Legal assets, as has been said, were divided into real and +personal assets. The personal assets were those which devolved +<i>virtute officii</i> on the executor or administrator; such assets are +since Hinde Palmer’s Act available equally for specialty and +simple contract creditors. The real assets consisted of those +descending to the heir or devised to a devisee, and were at law +only liable for specialty debts. However, by the Land Transfer +Act 1897 it is provided that the real estate of a deceased shall +devolve upon the executor and “shall be administered in the +same manner ... and with the same incidents as if it were +personal estate.” The distinction, therefore, between assets real +and personal has practically ceased to exist, and only continues +in regard to such property as is not included in the act, the most +important of which is land held in copyhold.</p> + +<p>The equitable assets were treated otherwise. In the eyes of +equity all unsecured creditors stand upon the same footing, +and a creditor suing for administration of the estate sued on +behalf of himself and all other creditors of the estate, and the +distinction between specialty and simple contract creditors was +ignored. Land was not at law liable to satisfy simple contract +creditors; but if a testator expressly charged it with payment +of his debts or devised it to his executors upon trust +to pay his debts, equity treated it as equitable assets and so +made it available to satisfy simple contract creditors; and +finally by an act of 1833 it was provided that real estate +should in all cases be assets to be administered by equity +for the benefit of simple contract creditors as well as creditors +by specialty. It will be seen therefore that, generally speaking, +all creditors have now the same remedies against the executors +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page781" id="page781"></a>781</span> +either at law or in equity. The only property as to which these +distinctions at all survive is that not touched by the Land +Transfer Act 1897.</p> + +<p>The act of 1833 just mentioned does not, however, deal with +legacies, which continue to be payable only out of personalty +unless they are expressly charged upon the realty by the testator; +it has been contended that the effect of the Land Transfer Act +1897 has been to alter this and make the realty assets for the +purpose of paying legacies, but this view is believed to be unsound.</p> + +<p>It is necessary for the representative so to distribute the assets +that any fund primarily liable shall bear its proper burden, and +that as far as possible all debts and legacies may be paid; this +is said to be “marshalling the assets,” and a few examples of +the principal cases of marshalling will make this clear. If the +personalty is exhausted in satisfying the creditors the legatees +are left without a fund from which to be paid. But inasmuch as +the creditor could have got paid out of the realty, as well as the +personalty, it is not fair that the legatee should suffer by the +creditor’s choice, and he will therefore get payment from the +real estate. So again if one legacy is charged upon the real +estate and another is not, then if the former be paid out of the +personalty the latter will stand in its place and be paid from +the real estate.</p> + +<p>Finally it shall be noticed that an insolvent estate may be +administered in bankruptcy. In such a case the law of bankruptcy +regulates the order in which the assets are divided among +the creditors (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Bankruptcy</a></span>), but by the Judicature Act 1875, +it is provided that an insolvent estate may be administered in +the chancery division, and in such a case “the same rules shall +prevail and be observed as to the respective rights of secured +and unsecured creditors and as to the debts and liabilities +provable and as to the valuation of annuities and future and +contingent liabilities respectively as may be in force for the time +being under the law of bankruptcy.” This clause must be +construed strictly, and it is only in the three cases specifically +mentioned that the rules of bankruptcy will be imported into +the administration of an insolvent estate by the chancery +division.</p> + +<p>In a less strict sense, the term “assets,” or “an asset,” is +used derivatively as a synonym for any property, or as opposed +to “liabilities.” Cecil Rhodes once spoke of the British flag +as a “great commercial asset” in South Africa, meaning +merely that the imperial connexion was a source of strength and +credit.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSIDEANS<a name="ar134" id="ar134"></a></span> (the Anglicized form, derived through the Greek, +of the Hebrew <i>Ḥasidim</i>, “the pious”), the name of a party or +sect which stood out against the Hellenization of the Jews in +the 2nd century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> After the massacre of those who fled from +the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes and would not resist on the +sabbath, Mattathias (or Judas) decided to set aside the law and +was joined by a company of Assideans, brave men of Israel +every one, who offered themselves willingly for the law (1 Macc. +ii. 42, cf. 2 Macc. viii. 1). On the appointment of Alcimus (162 +<span class="scs">B.C.</span>), “a descendant of Aaron” as high-priest, “the Assideans +were the first who sought peace” (1 Macc. vii. 13 f.); but the +treacherous murder of sixty of them (ib. 16) threw them back +into the arms of Judas. According to 2 Macc. xiv., Alcimus +identified them with the whole party of the rebels, of which +they were only one, though the most important, section.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Schurer, <i>Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes</i>, i. 203; art. in <i>Jewish +Encyclopaedia</i>, s.v. “Ḥasidim” (S.M. Dubnow).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(J. H. A. H.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSIGNATS<a name="ar135" id="ar135"></a></span> (from Lat. <i>assignatus</i>, assigned), a form of +paper-money issued in France from 1789 to 1796. Assignats were so +termed, as representing land <i>assigned</i> to the holders.</p> + +<p>The financial strait of the French government in 1789 was +extreme. Coin was scarce, loans were not taken up, taxes had +ceased to be productive, and the country was threatened with +imminent bankruptcy. In this emergency assignats were issued +to provide a substitute for a metallic currency. They were +originally of the nature of mortgage bonds on the national lands. +These lands consisted of the church property confiscated, on the +motion of Mirabeau, by the Constituent Assembly on the 2nd +of November 1789, and the crown lands, which had been +taken over by the nation on the 7th of October (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">French +Revolution</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The assignats were first to be paid to the creditors of the state. +With these the creditors could purchase national land, the +assignats having, for this purpose, the preference over other +forms of money. If the creditor did not care to purchase land, +it was supposed that he could obtain the face-value for them +from those who desired land. Those assignats which were returned +to the state as purchase-money were to be cancelled, and +the whole issue, it was argued, would consequently disappear as +the national lands were distributed.</p> + +<p>A first issue was made of 400,000,000 francs’ worth of +assignats, each note being of 100 francs’ value and bearing +interest daily at a rate of 5%. They were to be redeemed by +the product of the sales, and from certain other sources, at the +rate of 120,000,000 francs in 1791, 100,000,000 francs in 1792, +80,000,000 francs in 1793 and 1794, and the surplus in 1795. +The success of the issue was undoubted, and, possibly, if the +assignats had been restricted, as Mirabeau at first desired, to +the extent of one-half the value of the lands sold, they would +not have shared the usual fate of inconvertible paper money. +Mirabeau was a strenuous advocate of the assignats. “They +represent,” he said, “real property, the most secure of all +possessions, the soil on which we tread.” “There cannot be a +greater error than the fear so generally prevalent as to the +over-issue of assignats ... reabsorbed progressively in the purchase +of the national domains, this paper-money can never become +redundant.”</p> + +<p>In 1790 the interest was reduced to 3%, and as the treasury +had again become exhausted, a further issue was decided upon; +it was also decreed that the assignats were to be accepted as +legal tender, all public departments being instructed to receive +them as the equivalent of metallic money. This second issue +amounted to 800,000,000 francs and carried no interest. It was +solemnly declared in the decree authorizing the issue that the +maximum issue was never to exceed twelve hundred millions. +This pledge, however, was soon broken, and further issues +brought the total up to 3,750,000,000 francs. The consequence of +these further issues was instant depreciation, and the note of 100 +francs nominal value sank to less than 20 francs coin. Recourse +was then had to protective legislation. The first step was to +decree the penalty of six years’ imprisonment against any +person who should sell specie for a more considerable quantity +of assignats, or who should stipulate a different price for commodities +according as the payment was to be made in specie or in +assignats. For the second offence the penalty was to be twenty +years’ imprisonment (August 1, 1793), for which the death +penalty was ultimately substituted (May 10, 1794). This +severe provision was, however, repealed after the fall of +Robespierre. Notwithstanding these precautions, the value of assignats +still declined, till the proportion to specie had become that of six +to one. Then came the passing by the Convention on the 3rd of +May 1793 of the absurd “maximum.” The decree required all +farmers and corn-dealers to declare the quantity of corn in their +possession and to sell it only in recognized markets. No person +was to be allowed to lay in more than one month’s supply. A +maximum price was fixed, above which no one was to buy or sell +under severe penalties. These measures were soon stultified by +further issues, and by June 1794 the total number of assignats +aggregated nearly 8,000,000,000, of which only 2,464,000,000 +had returned to the treasury and been destroyed. The extension +of the “maximum” to all commodities only increased the +confusion. Trade was paralysed and all manufacturing +establishments were closed down. Attempts by the Convention to +increase the value of the assignats were of no avail. Too many +causes operated in favour of their depreciation: the enormous +issue, the uncertainty as to their value if the Revolution should +fail, the relation they bore to both specie and commodities, +which retained their value and refused to be exchanged for +a money of constantly diminishing purchasing power. Even +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page782" id="page782"></a>782</span> +between the assignats themselves there were differences. The +royal assignats, which had been issued under Louis XVI., had +depreciated less than the republican ones. They were worth +from 8 to 15% more, a fact due to the hope that in case of a +counter-revolution they would be less likely to be discredited.</p> + +<p>The Directory was guilty of even greater abuses in dealing +with the assignats. By 1796 the issues had reached the enormous +figure of 45,500,000,000 francs, and even this gigantic total was +swollen still more by the numerous counterfeits introduced into +France from the neighbouring countries. The assignats had now +become totally valueless—the abolition of the “maximum” the +previous year (1795) had produced no effect, and, though, by +various payments into the treasury, the total number had been +reduced to about 24,000,000,000 francs, their face-value was +about 30 to 1 of coin. At this value they were converted into +800,000,000 francs of land-warrants, or <i>mandats territoriaux</i>, +which were to constitute a mortgage on all the lands of the +republic. These <i>mandats</i> were no more successful than the +assignats, and even on the day of their issue were at a discount +of 82%. They had an existence of six months, and were finally +received back by the state at about the seventieth part of their +face-value in coin.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—L.A. Thiers, <i>Histoire de la révolution française</i>, +gives a full and graphic account of the assignats, the causes of their +depreciation, &c.; +J. Garnier, <i>Traité des Finances</i> (1862); +J. Bresson, <i>Histoire financière de la France</i> (1829); +R. Stourm, <i>Les Finances de l’ancien régime et de la révolution</i> (1885); +F.A. Walker, <i>Money</i> (1891); +Henry Higgs, in the <i>Cambridge Modern History</i>, vol. viii. (1904).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(T. A. I.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSIGNMENT,<a name="ar136" id="ar136"></a></span> <span class="sc">Assignation, Assignee</span> (from Lat. <i>assignare</i>, +to mark out), terms which, as derivatives of the verb “to +assign,” are of frequent technical use in law. To assign is to +make over, and the term is generally used to express a transference +by writing, in contradistinction to a transference by actual +delivery. In England the usual expression is assignment, in +Scotland it is assignation. The person making over is called the +<i>assignor</i> or <i>cedent</i>; the recipient, the <i>assign</i> or <i>assignee</i>. An +assignee may be such either <i>by deed</i>, as when a lessee assigns his +lease to another, or <i>in law</i>, as when property devolves upon an +executor. The law as to assignment in connexion with each +particular subject, as the assignment of a chose in action, +assignment in contract, of dower, of errors, of a lease, &c., will be +found under the respective headings. In a colloquial sense, +“assignation” means a secretly contrived meeting between lovers.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSINIBOIA,<a name="ar137" id="ar137"></a></span> a name formerly applied to two districts of +Canada, but not now held by any. (1) A district formed in 1835 +by the Hudson’s Bay Company, having in it Fort Garry at the +junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in Rupert’s Land, +North America. It extended over a circular area, with a radius +of 50 m. from Fort Garry. It was governed by a local council +nominated by the Hudson’s Bay Company. It ceased to exist +when Rupert’s Land was transferred to Canada in 1870. (2) A +district of the North-west Territories, which was given definite +existence by an act of the Dominion parliament in 1875. Assiniboia +extended from the western boundary of Manitoba (99° W. +in 1875, and 101° 25′ W. in 1881) to 111° W., and from +49° N. to 52° N. The name was a misnomer, as it barely +touched the Assiniboine river. To the north of the district lay +the district of Saskatchewan, so that when the two were united +by the Dominion act of 1905, they were somewhat changed in +boundaries and the name Saskatchewan was given to the new +province. The derivation of Assiniboia is from two Ojibway +words, <i>assini</i> meaning a stone, and the termination “to cook +by roasting”; from these came a name first applied to a Dakota +or Sioux tribe living on the Upper Red river; afterwards when +this tribe separated from the Dakotas, its name was given to the +branch of the Red river which the tribe visited, the river being +known as the Assiniboine and the tribe as Assiniboin.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSINIBOIN<a name="ar138" id="ar138"></a></span> (“Stone-Cookers”), a tribe of North American +Indians of Siouan stock. Their name (see above) is said to refer +to their method of boiling water by dropping red-hot stones into +it. Their former range was between the Missouri and the middle +Saskatchewan on both sides of the Canadian frontier. In 1904 +there were 1234 in the United States, all on reservations in +Montana; and in 1902 there were 1371 in Canada.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>Handbook of American Indians</i>, ed. F.W. Hodge (Washington, 1907).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSISE<a name="ar139" id="ar139"></a></span> (from the Fr., derived from Lat. <i>assidere</i>, to sit beside), +a geological term for two or more beds of rock united by the +occurrence of the same characteristic species or genera.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSISI<a name="ar140" id="ar140"></a></span> (anc. <i>Asisium</i>), a town and episcopal see of Umbria, +Italy, in the province of Perugia, 15 m. E.S.E. by rail from the +town of Perugia. Pop. (1901) town, 5338; commune, 17,240. +The town occupies a fine position on a mountain (1345 ft. above +sea-level) with a view over the valleys of the Tiber and Topino. +It is mainly famous in connexion with St Francis, who was +born here in 1182, and returned to die in 1226. The Franciscan +monastery and the lower and upper church of St Francis were +begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed +in 1253, being fine specimens of Gothic architecture. The crypt +was added in 1818, when the sarcophagus containing his remains +was discovered. The lower church contains frescoes by Cimabue, +Giotto and others, the most famous of which are those over the +high altar by Giotto, illustrating the vows of the Franciscan +order; while the upper church has frescoes representing scenes +from the life of St Francis (probably by Giotto and his +contemporaries) on the lower portion of the walls of the nave, and +scenes from Old and New Testament history by pupils of Cimabue +on the upper. The church of Santa Chiara (St Clare), the +foundress of the Poor Clares, with its massive lateral buttresses, +fine rose-window, and simple Gothic interior, was begun in 1257, +four years after her death. It contains the tomb of the saint +and 13th-century frescoes and pictures. Santa Maria Maggiore +is also a good Gothic church. The cathedral (San Rufino) has a +fine façade with three rose-windows of 1140; the interior was +modernized in 1572. The town is dominated by the medieval +castle (1655 ft.), built by Cardinal Albornoz (1367) and added +to by Popes Pius II. and Paul III. Two miles to the east in +a ravine below Monte Subasio is the hermitage <i>delle Carceri</i> +(2300 ft.), partly built, partly cut out of the solid rock, given to +St Francis by Benedictine monks as a place of retirement. +Below the town to the south-west, close to the station, is the large +pilgrimage church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, begun in 1569 +by Pope Pius V., with Vignola as architect; but not completed +until 1640. It contains the original oratory of St Francis and +the cell in which he died. Adjacent is the garden in which the +saint’s thornless roses bloom in May. Half a mile outside the +town to the south-east is the convent of San Damiano, erected +by St Francis, of which St Clare was first abbess.</p> + +<p>In the early middle ages Assisi was subject to the dukes of +Spoleto; but in the 11th century it seems to have been independent. +It became involved, however, in the disputes of Guelphs +and Ghibellines, and was frequently at war with Perugia. It +was sacked by Perugia and the papal troops in 1442, and even +after that continued to be the prey of factions. The place is +now famous as a resort of pilgrims, and is also important for the +history of Italian art. The poet Metastasio was born here in 1698.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See L. Duff-Gordon, <i>Assisi</i> (“Mediaeval Towns” series, London, +1900). For ancient history see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Asisium</a></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(T. As.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSIUT,<a name="ar141" id="ar141"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Siut</span>, capital of a province of Upper Egypt of the +same name, and the largest and best-built town in the Nile +Valley south of Cairo, from which it is distant 248 m. by rail. +The population rose from 32,000 in 1882 to 42,000 in 1900. +Assiut stands near the west bank of the Nile across which, just +below the town, is a barrage, completed in 1902, consisting of an +open weir, 2733 ft. long, and over 100 bays or sluices, each 16½ +ft. wide, which can be opened or closed at will. At the western +end of the barrage begins the Ibrahimia canal, the feeder of the +Bahr Yusuf, the largest irrigation canal of Egypt. The +Ibrahimia canal is skirted by a magnificent embankment planted +with shady trees leading from the river to the town. There are +several bazaars, baths and handsome mosques, one noted for its +lofty minaret, and here the American Presbyterian mission has +established a college for both sexes. Assiut is famous for its red +and black pottery and for ornamental wood and ivory work, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page783" id="page783"></a>783</span> +which find a ready market all over Egypt. It is one of the chief +centres of the Copts. Here also is the northern terminus of the +caravan route across the desert, which, passing through the +Kharga oasis, goes south-west to Darfur. It is known as the +Arbain, or forty days road, from the time occupied on the journey. +Assiut (properly Asyūt) is the successor of the ancient Lycopolis +(Eg. Siöout), capital of the 13th nome of Upper Egypt. Here +were worshipped two canine gods (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Anubis</a></span>), Ophoïs (Wepwoi) +being the principal god of the city, while Anubis apparently +presided over the necropolis. No ruins are visible, the mounds of +the old city being for the most part hidden under modern +buildings; but the slopes of the limestone hills behind it are +pierced with an infinity of rock-cut tombs, some of which were +large and decorated with sculptures, paintings and long inscriptions. +The archaeological commission of the <i>Description de l’Égypte</i> visited them in 1799, when the walls of many of the large +tombs were still almost intact; in the first half of the 19th century +(and to some extent later) an immense amount of destruction +was caused by blasting for stone. Three of the tombs illustrate +one of the darkest periods in Egypt’s history, when the princes of +Siut played a leading part in the struggle between Heracleopolis +and Thebes (Dyns. IX.-XI.); another, of the XIIth Dynasty, +contains a remarkable inscription detailing the contracts made +by the nomarch with the priests of the temples of Ophoïs +and Anubis for perpetual services at his tomb (see Breasted, +<i>Ancient Records of Egypt, Historical Documents</i>, vol. i. pp. +179, 258). Remains of the mummies of dogs and similar +animals sacred to these deities are scattered among the débris +on the hillside in abundance. Lycopolis was the birthplace +of Plotinus, the founder of Neo-Platonism (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 205-270). +From the 4th century onwards its grottoes were the dwellings +of Christian hermits, amongst whom John of Lycopolis was +the most celebrated.</p> +<div class="author">(F. Ll. G.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSIZE,<a name="ar142" id="ar142"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Assise</span> (Lat. <i>assidere</i>, to sit beside; O. Fr. <i>assire</i>, +to sit, <i>assis</i>, seated), a legal term, meaning literally a “session,” +but in fact, as Littleton has styled it, a <i>nomen aequivocum</i>, meaning +sometimes a jury, sometimes the sittings of a court, and +sometimes the ordinances of a court or assembly.</p> + +<p>It originally signified the form of trial by a jury of sixteen +persons, which eventually superseded the barbarous judicial +combat; this jury was named the grand assize and was sworn +to determine the right of seisin of land (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Evidence</a></span>). The +grand assize was abolished in 1833; but the term assize is still +applicable to the jury in criminal causes in Scotland.</p> + +<p>In the only sense in which the word is not now almost +obsolete, assize means the periodical session of the judges of the +High Court of Justice, held in the various counties of England, +chiefly for the purposes of gaol delivery and trying causes at +<i>nisi prius</i>. Previous to Magna Carta (1215) writs of assize had +all to be tried at Westminster, or to await trial in the locality in +which they had originated at the septennial circuit of the justices +in eyre; but, by way of remedy for the great consequent delay +and inconvenience, it was provided by this celebrated act that +the assizes of <i>mort d’ancestor</i> and <i>novel disseisin</i> should be tried +annually by the judges in every county. By successive enactments, +the civil jurisdiction of the justices of assize was extended, +and the number of their sittings increased, till at last the necessity +of repairing to Westminster for judgment in civil actions was +almost obviated to country litigants by an act, passed in the reign +of Edward I., which provided that the writ summoning the jury +to Westminster should also appoint a time and place for hearing +such causes within the county of their origin. The date of the +alternative summons to Westminster was always subsequent to +the former date, and so timed as to fall in the vacation preceding +the Westminster term, and thus “<i>Unless before</i>,” or <i>nisi prius</i>, +issues came to be dealt with by the judges of assize before the +summons to Westminster could take effect. The <i>nisi prius</i> +clause, however, was not then introduced for the first time. It +occurs occasionally in writs of the reign of Henry III. The royal +commissions to hold the assizes are—(1) general, (2) special. +The general commission is issued twice a year to the judges of the +High Court of Justice, and two judges are generally sent on each +circuit. It covers commissions—(1) of oyer and terminer, by +which they are empowered to deal with treasons, murders, +felonies, &c. This is their largest commission; (2) of <i>nisi prius</i> +(<i>q.v.</i>) (3) of gaol delivery, which requires them to try every +prisoner in gaol, for whatsoever offence committed; (4) of the +peace, by which all justices must be present at their county +assizes, or else suffer a fine. Special commissions are granted for +inquest in certain causes and crimes. See also the articles +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Circuit</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Jury</a></span>.</p> + +<p>Assizes, in the sense of ordinances or enactments of a court or +council of state, as the “assize of bread and ale,” the “assize of +Clarendon,” the “assize of arms,” are important in early economic +history. As early as the reign of John the observance of +the <i>assisae venalium</i> was enforced, and for a period of 500 +years thereafter it was considered no unimportant part of the +duties of the legislature to regulate by fixed prices, for the protection of the lieges, the sale of bread, ale, fuel, &c. (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Adulteration</a></span>). Sometimes in city charters the right to assize +such articles is specially conceded. Regulations of this description +were beneficial in the repression of fraud and adulteration. +Assizes are sometimes used in a wider legislative connexion by +early chroniclers and historians—the “assisae of the realme,” +<i>e.g.</i> occasionally meaning the organic laws of the country. For +the “assizes of Jerusalem” see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Crusades</a></span>.</p> + +<p>The term assize, originally applying to an assembly or court, +became transferred to actions before the court or the writs +by which they were instituted. The following are the more +important.</p> + +<p><i>Assize of darrien presentment</i>, or last presentation, was a +writ directed to the sheriff to summon an assize or jury to +enquire who was the last patron that presented to a church +then vacant, of which the plaintiff complained that he was +deforced or unlawfully deprived by the defendant. It was +abolished in 1833 and the action of <i>quare impedit</i> (<i>q.v.</i>) substituted. +But by the Common Law Procedure Act 1860, no +<i>quare impedit</i> can be brought, so that an action in the king’s +bench of the High Court was substituted for it.</p> + +<p>Assize of <i>mort d’ancestor</i> was a writ which lay where a plaintiff +complained of an “abatement” or entry upon his freehold, +effected by a stranger on the death of the plaintiff’s father, +mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, &c. It was abolished in 1833.</p> + +<p>Assize of <i>novel disseisin</i> was an action to recover lands of which +the plaintiff had been “disseised” or dispossessed. It was +abolished in 1833. See Pollock and Maitland, <i>Hist. Eng. Law.</i></p> + +<p><i>Assize, clerk of</i>, an officer “who writes all things judicially +done by the justices of assizes in their circuits.” He has charge +of the commission, and takes recognizances, records, judgments +and sentences, grants certificates of conviction, draws up orders, +&c. By the Clerks of Assize Act 1869 he must either have +been for three years a barrister or solicitor in actual practice, or +have acted for three years in the capacity of subordinate officer +of a clerk of assize on circuit.</p> + +<p><i>United States.</i>—There are no assize courts in the United States; +it is not the custom for supreme court judges of the states to go +on circuit, but the judges of the United States Supreme Court do +sit as members of the United States circuit courts in the several +states periodically throughout the year. These courts are not +assize courts, but are federal as distinguished from state courts, +and have a special and limited jurisdiction. In the several states +the highest court is divided into departments, in each of which +there are courts presided over by supreme court judges residing +in that department, thus avoiding the assize court or circuit-going +system.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSMANNSHAUSEN,<a name="ar143" id="ar143"></a></span> a village of Germany, in the Prussian +province of Hesse-Nassau, on the right bank of the Rhine and +the railway from Frankfort-on-Main to Niederlahnstein. Pop. +1100. It has a lithium spring, baths and a <i>Kurhaus</i>, and is +famed for its red wine (Assmannshäuser), which resembles light +Burgundy. From here a railway ascends the Niederwald.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSOCIATE<a name="ar144" id="ar144"></a></span> (Lat. <i>associatus</i>, from <i>ad</i>, to, and <i>sociare</i> to join). +one who is united with another, and so generally a companion—in +particular a subordinate member of an institution or society, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page784" id="page784"></a>784</span> +as an associate of the Royal Academy, or one holding a degree in +a learned society lower than that of fellow. In English law the +associates are officers of the supreme court, whose duties are to +draw up the list of causes, enter verdicts, hand the records to the +parties, &c., and generally to conduct the business of trials. By +the Judicature (Officers) Act 1879 they were styled masters of +the supreme court, but the office is now amalgamated with the +crown office department, of which they are clerks.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS,<a name="ar145" id="ar145"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Mental Association</span>, a term +used in psychology to express the conditions under which +representations arise in consciousness, and also for a principle +put forward by an important historical school of thinkers to +account generally for the facts of mental life. Modern physiological +psychology has so altered the approach to this subject +that much of the older discussion has become antiquated, but it +may be recapitulated here for historical purposes.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><i>Earlier Theory</i>.—In the long and erudite Note D**, appended by +Sir W. Hamilton to his edition of Reid’s Works, many anticipations +of modern statements on association are cited from the works of +ancient or medieval thinkers; and for Aristotle, in particular, the +glory is claimed of having at once originated the doctrine and +practically brought it to perfection.<a name="fa1h" id="fa1h" href="#ft1h"><span class="sp">1</span></a> As translated by Hamilton, +but without his interpolations, the classical passage from the <i>De +Memoria et Reminiscentia</i> runs as follows:—</p> + +<p>“When, therefore, we accomplish an act of reminiscence, we pass +through a certain series of precursive movements, until we arrive +at a movement on which the one we are in quest of is habitually +consequent. Hence, too, it is that we hunt through the mental +train, excogitating from the present or some other, and from similar +or contrary or coadjacent. Through this process reminiscence takes +place. For the movements are, in these cases, sometimes at the +same time, sometimes parts of the same whole, so that the subsequent +movement is already more than half accomplished.”</p> + +<p>The passage is obscure, but it does at all events indicate the various +principles commonly termed contiguity, similarity and contrast. +Similar principles are stated by Zeno the Stoic, by Epicurus (see +Diog. Laert. vii. § 52, x. § 32), and by St Augustine (<i>Confessions</i>, +x. e. 19). Aristotle’s doctrine received a more or less intelligent +expansion and illustration from the ancient commentators and the +schoolmen, and in the still later period of transition from the age +of scholasticism to the time of modern philosophy, prolonged in the +works of some writers far into the 17th century, Hamilton adduced +not a few philosophical authorities who gave prominence to the +general fact of mental association—the Spaniard Ludovicus Vives +(1492-1540) especially being most exhaustive in his account of +memory.</p> + +<p>In Hobbes’s psychology much importance is assigned to what he +called, variously, the succession, sequence, series, consequence, +coherence, train of imaginations or thoughts in mental discourse. +But not before Hume is there express question as to what are the +distinct principles of association. John Locke had, meanwhile, +introduced the phrase “Association of Ideas” as the title of a supplementary +chapter incorporated with the fourth edition of his <i>Essay</i>, +meaning it, however, only as the name of a principle accounting for +the mental peculiarities of individuals, with little or no suggestion +of its general psychological import. Of this last Hume had the +strongest impression; he reduced the principles of association to +three—Resemblance, Contiguity in time and place, Cause and (or) +Effect. Dugald Stewart put forward Resemblance, Contrariety, +and Vicinity in time and place, though he added, as another obvious +principle, accidental coincidence in the sounds of words, and further +noted three other cases of relation, namely, Cause and Effect, Means +and End, Premisses and Conclusion, as holding among the trains of +thought under circumstances of special attention. Reid, preceding +Stewart, was rather disposed to make light of the subject of association, +vaguely remarking that it seems to require no other original +quality of mind but the power of habit to explain the spontaneous +recurrence of trains of thinking, when become familiar by frequent +repetition (<i>Intellectual Powers</i>, p. 387).</p> + +<p>Hamilton’s own theory of mental reproduction, suggestion or +association is a development, greatly modified, of the doctrine expounded +in his <i>Lectures on Metaphysics</i> (vol. ii. p. 223, seq.), which +reduced the principles of association first to two—Simultaneity +and Affinity, and these further to one supreme principle of Redintegration +or Totality. In the ultimate scheme he posits no less than +four general laws of mental succession concerned in reproduction: +(1) <i>Associability</i> or possible co-suggestion (all thoughts of the same +mental subject are associable or capable of suggesting each other); +(2) <i>Repetition</i> or direct remembrance (thoughts coidentical in +modification, but differing in time, tend to suggest each other); +(3) <i>Redintegration</i>, direct remembrance or reminiscence (thoughts +once coidentical in time, are, however, different as mental modes, +again suggestive of each other, and that in the mutual order which +they originally held); (4) <i>Preference</i> (thoughts are suggested not +merely by force of the general subjective relation subsisting between +themselves, they are also suggested in proportion to the relation of +interest, from whatever source, in which they stand to the individual +mind). Upon these follow, as special laws:—A, Primary—modes +of the laws of Repetition and Redintegration—(1) law of Similars +(Analogy, Affinity); (2) law of Contrast; (3) law of Coadjacency +(Cause and Effect, &c.); B, Secondary—modes of the law of Preference, +under the law of Possibility—(1) laws of Immediacy and +Homogeneity; (2) law of Facility.</p> + +<p><i>The Associationist School</i>.—This name is given to the English +psychologists who aimed at explaining all mental acquisitions, and +the more complex mental processes generally under laws not other +than those which have just been set out as determining simple +reproduction. Hamilton, though professing to deal with reproduction +only, formulates a number of still more general laws of mental +succession—law of Succession, law of Variation, law of Dependence, +law of Relativity or Integration (involving law of Conditioned), and, +finally, law of Intrinsic or Objective Relativity—as the highest to +which human consciousness is subject; but it is in a sense quite +different that the psychologists of the so-called Associationist +School intend their appropriation of the principle or principles +commonly signalized. As far as can be judged from imperfect +records, they were anticipated to some extent by the experientialists +of ancient times, both Stoic and Epicurean (cf. Diogenes Laertius, +as above). In the modern period, Hobbes is the first thinker of +permanent note to whom this doctrine may be traced. Though, +in point of fact, he took anything but an exhaustive view of the +phenomena of mental succession, yet, after dealing with trains of +imagination, or what he called mental discourse, he sought in the +higher departments of intellect to explain reasoning as a discourse +in words, dependent upon an arbitrary system of marks, each +associated with, or standing for, a variety of imaginations; and, +save for a general assertion that reasoning is a reckoning—otherwise, +a compounding and resolving—he had no other account of knowledge +to give. The whole emotional side of mind, or, in his language, +the passions, he, in like manner, resolved into an expectation of +consequences, based on past experience of pleasures and pains of +sense. Thus, though he made no serious attempt to justify his +analysis in detail, he is undoubtedly to be classed with the associationists +of the next century. They, however, were wont to trace +their psychological theory no further back than to Locke’s <i>Essay</i>. +Bishop Berkeley was driven to posit expressly a principle of suggestion +or association in these terms:—“That one idea may suggest +another to the mind, it will suffice that they have been observed to +go together, without any demonstration of the necessity of their +coexistence, or so much as knowing what it is that makes them so to +coexist” (<i>New Theory of Vision</i>, § 25); and to support the obvious +application of the principle to the case of the sensations of sight +and touch before him, he constantly urged that association of sound +and sense of language which the later school has always put in the +foreground, whether as illustrating the principle in general or in +explanation of the supreme importance of language for knowledge. +It was natural, then, that Hume, coming after Berkeley, and assuming +Berkeley’s results, though he reverted to the larger inquiry of +Locke, should be more explicit in his reference to association; but +he was original also, when he spoke of it as a “kind of attraction +which in the mental world will be found to have as extraordinary +effects as in the natural, and to show itself in as many and as various +forms” (<i>Human Nature</i>, i. 1, § 4). Other inquirers about the same +time conceived of association with this breadth of view, and set +themselves to track, as psychologists, its effects in detail.</p> + +<p>David Hartley in his <i>Observations on Man</i>, published in 1749 +(eleven years after the <i>Human Nature</i>, and one year after the better-known +<i>Inquiry</i>, of Hume), opened the path for all the investigations +of like nature that have been so characteristic of English psychology. +A physician by profession, he sought to combine with an +elaborate theory of mental association a minutely detailed hypothesis +as to the corresponding action of the nervous system, based +upon the suggestion of a vibratory motion within the nerves thrown +out by Newton in the last paragraph of the <i>Principia</i>. So far, however, +from promoting the acceptance of the psychological theory, +this physical hypothesis proved to have rather the opposite effect, +and it began to be dropped by Hartley’s followers (as F. Priestley, in +his abridged edition of the <i>Observations</i>, 1775) before it was seriously +impugned from without. When it is studied in the original, and +not taken upon the report of hostile critics, who would not, or could +not understand it, no little importance must still be accorded to the +first attempt, not seldom a curiously felicitous one, to carry through +that parallelism of the physical and psychical, which since then has +come to count for more and more in the science of mind. Nor should +it be forgotten that Hartley himself, for all his paternal interest in the +doctrine of vibrations, was careful to keep separate from its fortunes +the cause of his other doctrine of mental association. Of this the point +lay in no mere restatement, with new precision, of a principle of +coherence among “ideas,” but in its being taken as a clue by which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page785" id="page785"></a>785</span> +to follow the progressive development of the mind’s powers. Holding +that mental states could be scientifically understood only as they +were analysed, Hartley sought for a principle of synthesis to explain +the complexity exhibited not only in trains of representative images, +but alike in the most involved combinations of reasonings and (as +Berkeley had seen) in the apparently simple phenomena of objective +perception, as well as in the varied play of the emotions, or, again, +in the manifold conscious adjustments of the motor system. One +principle appeared to him sufficient for all, running, as enunciated +for the simplest case, thus: “Any sensations A, B, C, &c., by being +associated with one another a sufficient number of times, get such a +power over the corresponding ideas (called by Hartley also vestiges, +types, images) <i>a, b, c</i>, &c., that any one of the sensations A, when +impressed alone, shall be able to excite in the mind <i>b, c</i>, &c., the +ideas of the rest.” To render the principle applicable in the cases +where the associated elements are neither sensations nor simple +ideas of sensations, Hartley’s first care was to determine the conditions +under which states other than these simplest ones have their +rise in the mind, becoming the matter of ever higher and higher +combinations. The principle itself supplied the key to the difficulty, +when coupled with the notion, already implied in Berkeley’s investigations, +of a coalescence of simple ideas of sensation into one complex +idea, which may cease to bear any obvious relation to its constituents. +So far from being content, like Hobbes, to make a rough generalization +to all mind from the phenomena of developed memory, as if +these might be straightway assumed, Hartley made a point of +referring them, in a subordinate place of their own, to his universal +principle of mental synthesis. He expressly put forward the law of +association, endued with such scope, as supplying what was wanting +to Locke’s doctrine in its more strictly psychological aspect, and +thus marks by his work a distinct advance on the line of development +of the experiential philosophy.</p> + +<p>The new doctrine received warm support from some, as Law and +Priestley, who both, like Hume and Hartley himself, took the principle +of association as having the like import for the science of mind +that gravitation had acquired for the science of matter. The principle +began also, if not always with direct reference to Hartley, yet, +doubtless, owing to his impressive advocacy of it, to be applied +systematically in special directions, as by Abraham Tucker (1768) +to morals, and by Archibald Alison (1790) to aesthetics. Thomas +Brown (d. 1820) subjected anew to discussion the question of theory. +Hardly less unjust to Hartley than Reid or Stewart had been, and +forward to proclaim all that was different in his own position, Brown +must yet be ranked with the associationists before and after him +for the prominence he assigned to the associative principle in +sense-perception (what he called external affections of mind), and for his +reference of all other mental states (internal affections) to the two +generic capacities or susceptibilities of Simple and Relative Suggestion. +He preferred the word Suggestion to Association, which seemed +to him to imply some prior connecting process, whereof there was +no evidence in many of the most important cases of suggestion, nor +even, strictly speaking, in the case of contiguity in time where the +term seemed least inapplicable. According to him, all that could +be assumed was a general constitutional tendency of the mind to +exist successively in states that have certain relations to each other, +of itself only, and without any external cause or any influence +previous to that operating at the moment of the suggestion. Brown’s +chief contribution to the general doctrine of mental association, +besides what he did for the theory of perception, was, perhaps, his +analysis of voluntary reminiscence and constructive imagination—faculties +that appear at first sight to lie altogether beyond the explanatory +range of the principle. In James Mill’s <i>Analysis of the +Phenomena of the Human Mind</i> (1829), the principle, much as +Hartley had conceived it, was carried out, with characteristic +consequence, over the psychological field. With a much enlarged +and more varied conception of association, Alexander Bain re-executed +the general psychological task, while Herbert Spencer +revised the doctrine from the new point of view of the evolution-hypothesis. +John Stuart Mill made only occasional excursions into +the region of psychology proper, but sought, in his <i>System of Logic</i> +(1843), to determine the conditions of objective truth from the point +of view of the associationist theory, and, thus or otherwise being +drawn into general philosophical discussion, spread wider than any +one before him its repute.</p> + +<p>The Associationist School has been composed chiefly of British +thinkers, but in France also it has had distinguished representatives. +Of these it will suffice to mention Condillac, who professed to explain +all knowledge from the single principle of association (<i>liaison</i>) of +ideas, operating through a previous association with signs, verbal +or other. In Germany, before the time of Kant, mental association +was generally treated in the traditional manner, as by Wolff. Kant’s +inquiry into the foundations of knowledge, agreeing in its general +purport with Locke’s, however it differed in its critical procedure, +brought him face to face with the newer doctrine that had been +grafted on Locke’s philosophy; and to account for the fact of synthesis +in cognition, in express opposition to associationism, as +represented by Hume, was, in truth, his prime object, starting, as +he did, from the assumption that there was that in knowledge which +no mere association of experiences could explain. To the extent, +therefore, that his influence prevailed, all inquiries made by the +English associationists were discounted in Germany. Notwithstanding, +under the very shadow of his authority a corresponding, if +not related, movement was initiated by J.F. Herbart. Peculiar, +and widely different from anything conceived by the associationists, +as Herbart’s metaphysical opinions were, he was at one with them, +and at variance with Kant, in assigning fundamental importance to +the psychological investigation of the development of consciousness, +nor was his conception of the laws determining the interaction and +flow of mental presentations and representations, when taken in its +bare psychological import, essentially different from theirs. In F.E. +Beneke’s psychology also, and in more recent inquiries conducted +mainly by physiologists, mental association has been understood in +its wider scope, as a general principle of explanation.</p> + +<p>The associationists differ not a little among themselves in the +statement of their principle, or, when they adduce several principles, +in their conception of the relative importance of these. Hartley +took account only of Contiguity, or the repetition of impressions +synchronous or immediately successive; the like is true of James +Mill, though, incidentally, he made an express attempt to resolve +the received principle of Similarity, and through this the other +principle of Contrast, into his fundamental law—law of Frequency, +as he sometimes called it, because upon frequency, in conjunction +with vividness of impressions, the strength of association, in his +view, depended. In a sense of his own, Brown also, while accepting +the common Aristotelian enumeration of principles, inclined to the +opinion that “all suggestion may be found to depend on prior coexistence, +or at least on such proximity as is itself very probably a +modification of coexistence,” provided account be taken of “the +influence of emotions and other feelings that are very different +from ideas, as when an analogous object suggests an analogous +object by the influence of an emotion which each separately may +have produced before, and which is, therefore, common to both.” +To the contrary effect, Spencer maintained that the fundamental +law of all mental association is that presentations aggregate or +cohere with their like in past experience, and that, besides this law, +there is in strictness no other, all further phenomena of association +being incidental. Thus in particular, he would have explained +association by Contiguity as due to the circumstance of imperfect +assimilation of the present to the past in consciousness. A. Bain +regarded Contiguity and Similarity logically, as perfectly distinct +principles, though in actual psychological occurrence blending +intimately with each other, contiguous trains being started by a first +(it may be, implicit) representation through Similarity, while the +express assimilation of present to past in consciousness is always, +or tends to be, followed by the revival of what was presented in +contiguity with that past.</p> + +<p>The highest, philosophical interest, as distinguished from that +which is more strictly psychological, attaches to the mode of mental +association called Inseparable. The coalescence of mental states +noted by Hartley, as it had been assumed by Berkeley, was farther +formulated by James Mill in these terms:—</p> + +<p>“Some ideas are by frequency and strength of association so +closely combined that they cannot be separated; if one exists, the +other exists along with it in spite of whatever effort we make to +disjoin them.”—(<i>Analysis of the Human Mind</i>, 2nd ed. vol. i. p. 93.)</p> + +<p>J.S. Mill’s statement is more guarded and particular:—</p> + +<p>“When two phenomena have been very often experienced in conjunction, +and have not, in any single instance, occurred separately +either in experience or in thought, there is produced between them +what has been called inseparable, or, less correctly, indissoluble, +association; by which is not meant that the association must +inevitably last to the end of life—that no subsequent experience or +process of thought can possibly avail to dissolve it; but only that +as long as no such experience or process of thought has taken place, +the association is irresistible; it is impossible for us to think the +one thing disjoined from the other.”—(<i>Examination of Hamilton’s +Philosophy</i>, 2nd ed. p. 191.)</p> + +<p>It is chiefly by J.S. Mill that the philosophical application of the +principle has been made. The first and most obvious application +is to so-called necessary truths—such, namely, as are not merely +analytic judgments but involve a synthesis of distinct notions. +Again, the same thinker sought to prove Inseparable Association +the ground of belief in an external objective world. The former +application, especially, is facilitated, when the experience through +which the association is supposed to be constituted is understood +as cumulative in the race, and transmissible as original endowment +to individuals—endowment that may be expressed either, subjectively, +as latent intelligence, or, objectively, as fixed nervous +connexions. Spencer, as before suggested, is the author of this +extended view of mental association.</p> + +<p><i>Modern Criticism</i>.—Of recent years the associationist theory has +been subjected to searching criticism, and it has been maintained +by many writers that the laws are both unsatisfactorily expressed +and insufficient to explain the facts. Among the most vigorous and +comprehensive of these investigations is that of F.H. Bradley in his +<i>Principles of Logic</i> (1883). Having admitted the psychological fact +of mental association, he attacks the theories of Mill and Bain +primarily on the ground that they purport to give an account of +mental life as a whole, a metaphysical doctrine of existence. According +to this doctrine, mental activity is ultimately reducible to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page786" id="page786"></a>786</span> +particular feelings, impressions, ideas, which are disparate and unconnected, +until chance Association brings them together. On this +assumption the laws of Association naturally emerge in the following +form:—(1) The <i>law of Contiguity</i>.—“Actions, sensations and states +of feeling, occurring together or in close connexion, tend to grow +together, or cohere, in such a way that, when any one of them is +afterwards presented to the mind, the others are apt to be brought +up in idea” (A. Bain, <i>Senses and Intellect</i>, p. 327). (2) The <i>law of +Similarity</i>.—“Present actions, sensation, thoughts or emotions tend +to revive their like among previous impressions or states” (A. Bain, +<i>ibid.</i> 457. Compare J.S. Mill, <i>Logic</i>, ii. p. 440, 9th ed.). The +fundamental objection to (1) is that ideas and impressions once +experienced do not recur; they are particular existences, and, as +such, do not persevere to recur or be presented. So Mill is wrong +in speaking of two impressions being “frequently experienced.” +Bradley claims thus to reduce the law to “When we have experienced +(or even thought of) several pairs of impressions (simultaneous or +successive), which pairs are like one another; then whenever an +idea occurs which is like all the impressions on one side of these pairs, +it tends to excite an idea which is like all the impressions on the other +side.” This statement is destructive of the title of the law, because +it appears that what were contiguous (the impressions) are not +associated, and what are associated (the ideas) were not contiguous; +in other words, the association is not due to contiguity at all.</p> + +<p>Proceeding to the law of Similarity (which in Mill’s view is at the +back of association by contiguity), and having made a similar +criticism of its phrasing, Bradley maintains that it involves an even +greater absurdity; if two ideas are to be recognized as similar, +they must both be present in the mind; if one is to call up the other, +one must be absent. To the obvious reply that the similarity is +recognized <i>ex post facto</i>, and not while the former idea is being called +up, Bradley replies simply that such a view reduces the law to the +mere statement of a phenomenon and deprives it of any explanatory +value, though he hardly makes it clear in what sense this necessarily +invalidates the law from a psychological point of view. He further +points out with greater force that in point of fact mere similarity +is not the basis of ordinary cases of mental reproduction, inasmuch +as in any given instance there is more difference than similarity +between the ideas associated.</p> + +<p>Bradley himself bases association on identity plus contiguity:—“Any +part of a single state of mind tends, if reproduced, to re-instate +the remainder,” or “any element tends to reproduce those elements +with which it has formed one state of mind.” This law he calls by +the name “redintegration,” understood, of course, in a sense different +from that in which Hamilton used it. The radical difference between +this law and those of Mill and Bain is that it deals not with particular +units of thoughts but with universals or identity between individuals. +In any example of such reproduction the universal appears in a +particular form which is more or less different from that in which it +originally existed.</p> + +<p><i>Psychophysical Researches</i>.—Bradley’s discussion deals with the +subject purely from the metaphysical side, and the total result +practically is that association occurs only between universals. From +the point of view of empirical psychologists Bradley’s results are +open to the charge which he made against those who impugned his +view of the law of similarity, namely that they are merely a statement—not +in any real sense an explanation. The relation between +the mental and the physical phenomena of association has occupied +the attention of all the leading psychologists (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Psychology</a></span>). +William James holds that association is of “objects” not of “ideas,” +is between “things thought of”—so far as the word stands for an +effect. “So far as it stands for a cause it is between processes in +the brain.” Dealing with the law of Contiguity he says that the +“most natural way of accounting for it is to conceive it as a result +of the laws of habit in the nervous system; in other words to ascribe +it to a physiological cause.” Association is thus due to the fact that +when a nerve current has once passed by a given way, it will pass +more easily by that way in future; and this fact is a physical fact. +He further seeks to maintain the important deduction that the only +primary or ultimate law of association is that of neural habit.</p> + +<p>The objections to the associationist theory are summed up by +G.F. Stout (<i>Analytic Psychol.</i>, vol. ii. pp. 47 seq.) under three heads. +Of these the first is that the theory as stated, <i>e.g.</i> by Bain, lays far +too much stress on the mere connexion of elements hitherto entirely +separate; whereas, in fact, every new mental state or synthesis +consists in the development or modification of a pre-existing state or +psychic whole. Secondly, it is quite false to regard an association as +merely an aggregate of disparate units; in fact, the <i>form</i> of the new +idea is quite as important as the elements which it comprises. +Thirdly, the phraseology used by the associationists seems to assume +that the parts that go to form the whole retain their identity unimpaired; +in fact, each part or element is <i>ipso facto</i> modified by the +very fact of its entering into such combination.</p> + +<p>The experimental methods now in vogue have to a large extent +removed the discussion of the whole subject of association of ideas, +depending in the case of the older writers on introspection, into a new +sphere. In such a work as E.B. Titchener’s <i>Experimental Psychology</i> +(1905), association is treated as a branch of the study of mental +reactions, of which association reactions are one division.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Bibliography</span>.—See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Psychology</a></span>; and the works of Bradley, +Stout, and James, above quoted, and general works on psychology: +articles in <i>Mind</i> (passim); A. Bain, <i>Senses and Intellect</i> (4th ed., +1894), and in <i>Mind</i>, xii. (1887) pp. 237-249; John Watson, <i>An +Outline of Philosophy</i> (1898); H. Höffding, <i>Hist. of Mod. Philos.</i> +(Eng. trans., Lond., 1900), <i>Psychologie in Umrissen auf Grundlage +der Erfahrung</i> (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1893); Jas. Sully, <i>The Human +Mind</i> (1892), and <i>Outlines of Psych.</i> (Lond., 1892); E.B. Titchener, +<i>Outline of Psych.</i> (New York, 1896), and in his trans. of O. Külpe’s +<i>Outlines of Psych.</i> (New York, 1895,); Jas. Ward in <i>Mind</i>, viii. +(1883), xii. (1887), new series ii. (1893), iii. (1894); G.T. Ladd, +<i>Psychology, Descriptive and Explanatory</i> (Lond., 1894); C.L.C. +Morgan, <i>Introd. to Comparative Psych.</i> (Lond., 1894); W. Wundt, +<i>Princip. of Physiol. Psych.</i> (Eng. trans., 1904), <i>Human and Animal +Psych.</i> (Eng. trans., 1894), pp. 282-307; <i>Outlines of Psych.</i> (Eng. +trans., 1897); E. Claparède, <i>L’Association des idées</i> (1903). For +associationism in Greek philosophy see J.I. Beare, <i>Greek Theories +of Elementary Cognition</i> (Oxford, 1906), part iii. §§ 14, 43 seq.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1h" id="ft1h" href="#fa1h"><span class="fn">1</span></a> There are, however, distinct anticipations of the theory in +Plato (<i>Phaedo</i>), as part of the doctrine of <span class="grk" title="anamnaesis">ἀνάμνησις</span>; thus we find +the idea of Simmias recalled by the picture of Simmias (similarity), +and that of a friend by the sight of the lyre on which he played +(contiguity).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSONANCE<a name="ar146" id="ar146"></a></span> (from Lat. <i>adsonare</i> or <i>assonare</i>, to sound to or +answer to), a term defined, in its prosodical sense, as “the +corresponding or riming of one word with another in the accented +vowel and those which follow it, but not in the consonants” +(<i>New English Dictionary</i>, Oxford). In other words, assonance +is an improper or imperfect form of rhyme, in which the ear is +satisfied with the incomplete identity of sound which the vowel +gives without the aid of consonants. Much rustic or popular +verse in England is satisfied with assonance, as in such cases as</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> <div class="poemr"> +<p>“And pray who gave thee that jolly red <i>nose</i>?</p> +<p class="i05">Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg and <i>Cloves</i>,”</p> +</div> </td></tr></table> + +<p>where the agreement between the two <i>o’s</i> permits the ear to +neglect the discord between <i>s</i> and <i>v</i>. But in English these +instances are the result of carelessness or blunted ear. It is not +so in several literatures, such as in Spanish, where assonance is +systematically cultivated as a literary ornament. It is an error +to confound alliteration,—which results from the close juxtaposition +of words beginning with the same sound or letter,—and +assonance, which is the repetition of the same vowel-sound in a +syllable at points where the ear expects a rhyme. The latter is +a more complicated and less primitive employment of artifice +than the former, although they have often been used to intensify +the effect of each other in a single couplet. Assonance appears, +nevertheless, to have preceded rhyme in several of the European +languages, and to have led the way towards it. It is particularly +observable in the French poetry which was composed before the +12th century, and it reached its highest point in the “Chanson +de Roland,” where the sections are distinguished by the fact that +all the lines in a <i>laisse</i> or stanza close with the same vowel-sound. +When the ear of the French became more delicate, and pure +rhyme was introduced, about the year 1120, assonance almost +immediately retired before it and was employed no more, until +recent years, when several French poets have re-introduced +assonance in order to widen the scope of their effects of sound. +It held its place longer in Provençal and some other Romance +literatures, while in Spanish it has retained its absolute authority +over rhyme to the present day. It has been observed that in the +Romance languages the ear prefers the correspondence of vowels, +while in the Teutonic languages the preference is given to +consonants. This distinction is felt most strongly in Spanish, +where the satisfaction in <i>rimas asonantes</i> is expressed no less in +the most elaborate works of the poets and dramatists than in +the rough ballads of the people. The nature of the language here +permits the full value of the corresponding vowel-sounds to be +appreciated, whereas in English—and even in German, where, +however, a great deal of assonant poetry exists—the divergence +of the consonants easily veils or blunts the similarity of sound. +Various German poets of high merit, and in particular Tieck +and Heine, have endeavoured to obviate this difficulty, but without +complete success. Occasionally they endeavour, as English +rhymers have done, to mix pure rhyme with assonance, but the +result of this in almost all cases is that the assonances, &c., +which make a less strenuous appeal to the ear, are drowned and +lost in the stress of the pure rhymes. Like alliteration, assonance +is a very frequent and very effective ornament of prose style, but +such correspondence in vowel-sound is usually accidental and +involuntary, an instinctive employment of the skill of the writer. +To introduce it with a purpose, as of course must be done in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page787" id="page787"></a>787</span> +poetry, has always been held to be a most dangerous practice +in prose. Assonance as a conscious art, in fact, is scarcely +recognized as legitimate in English literature. </p> +<div class="author">(E. G.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUAN,<a name="ar147" id="ar147"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Aswan</span>, a town of Upper Egypt on the east bank +of the Nile, facing Elephantine Island below the First Cataract, +and 590 m. S. of Cairo by rail. It is the capital of a province of +the same name—the southernmost province of Egypt. Population +(1907) 16,128. The principal buildings are along the river +front, where a broad embankment has been built. Popular +among Europeans as a winter health resort and tourist centre, +Assuan is provided with large modern hotels (one situated on +Elephantine Island), and there is an English church. South-east +of the railway station are the ruins of a temple built by Ptolemy +Euergetes, and still farther south are the famous granite quarries +of Syene. On Elephantine Island are an ancient nilometer and +other remains, including a granite gateway built under Alexander +the Great at the temple of the local ram-headed god Chnubis or +Chnumis (Eg. Khnum), perhaps on account of his connexion +with Ammon (<i>q.v.</i>); two small but very beautiful temples of the +XVIIIth Dynasty were destroyed there about 1820. In the hill +on the opposite side of the river are tombs of the VIth to XIIth +dynasties, opened by Lord Grenfell in 1885-1886. The inscriptions +show that they belonged to frontier-prefects whose expeditions +into Nubia, &c., are recorded in them. Three and a +half miles above the town, at the beginning of the Cataract, the +Assuan Dam stretches across the Nile. This great engineering +work was finished in December 1902 (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Irrigation</a></span>: <i>Egypt</i>; +and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Nile</a></span>). Above the dam the Nile presents the appearance of +a vast lake. Consequent on the rise of the water-level several +islands have been wholly and others partly submerged, among +the latter Philae (<i>q.v.</i>). On the east bank opposite Philae is the +village of Shellal, southern terminus of the Egyptian railway +system and the starting point of steamers for the Sudan.</p> + +<p>In ancient times the chief city, called Yeb, capital of the +frontier nome, the first of the Upper Country, was on the island +of Elephantine, guarding the entrance to Egypt. But, owing to +the cataract, the main route for traffic with the south was by +land along the eastern shore. Here, near the granite quarries—whence +was obtained the material for many magnificent monuments—there +grew up another city, at first dependent on and +afterwards successor to the island town. This city was called +<i>Swan</i>, the Mart, whence came the Greek <i>Syene</i> and Arabic +<i>Aswan</i>. Syene is twice mentioned (as Seveneh) in the prophecies +of Ezekiel, and papyri, discovered on the island, and dated in +the reigns of Artaxerxes and Darius II, (464-404 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), reveal +the existence of a colony of Jews, with a temple to Yahu (Yahweh, +Jehovah), which had been founded at some time before the conquest +of Egypt by Cambyses in 523 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> They also mention the +great frontier garrison against the Ethiopians, referred to by +Herodotus. Syene was one of the bases used by Eratosthenes +in his calculations for the measurement of the earth. In Roman +times Syene was strongly garrisoned to resist the attacks of the +desert tribes. Thither, in virtual banishment, Juvenal was sent +as prefect by Domitian. In the early days of Christianity the +town became the seat of a bishopric, and numerous ruins of +Coptic convents are in the neighbourhood. Syene appears also +to have flourished under its first Arab rulers, but in the 12th +century was raided and ruined by Bedouin and Nubian tribes. +On the conquest of Egypt by the Turks in the 16th century, +Selim I. placed a garrison here, from whom, in part, the present +townsmen descend. As the southern frontier town of Egypt +proper, Assuan in times of peace was the entrepôt of a considerable +trade with the Sudan and Abyssinia, and in 1880 its trade +was valued at £2,000,000 annually. During the Mahdia (1884-1898) +Assuan was strongly garrisoned by Egyptian and British +troops. Since the defeat of the khalifa at Omdurman and the +fixing (1899) of the Egyptian frontier farther south, the military +value of Assuan has declined.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>For the Jewish colony see A.H. Sayce and A.E. Cowley, <i>Aramaic +Papyri discovered at Assuan</i> (Oxford, 1906); E. Sachau, <i>Drei +Aramaische papyrus-Urkunden aus Elephantine</i> (Berlin, 1907). +For the dam see W. Willcocks, <i>The Nile Reservoir Dam at Assuan</i> +(London, 1901).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(F. Ll. G.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUMPSIT<a name="ar148" id="ar148"></a></span> (“he has undertaken,” from Lat. <i>assumere</i>), a +word applied to an action for the recovery of damages by reason +of the breach or non-performance of a simple contract, either +express or implied, and whether made orally or in writing. +<i>Assumpsit</i> was the word always used in pleadings by the plaintiff +to set forth the defendant’s undertaking or promise, hence the +name of the action. Claims in actions of <i>assumpsit</i> were ordinarily +divided into (<i>a</i>) common or <i>indebitatus assumpsit</i>, brought +usually on an implied promise, and (<i>b</i>) special <i>assumpsit</i>, founded +on an express promise. <i>Assumpsit</i> as a form of action became +obsolete after the passing of the Judicature Acts 1873 and 1875. +(See further <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Contract</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Pleading</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Tort</a></span>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUMPTION, FEAST OF<a name="ar149" id="ar149"></a></span>. The feast of the “Assumption of +the blessed Virgin Mary” (Lat. <i>festum assumptionis, dormitionis, +depositionis, pausationis B. V. M.</i>; Gr. <span class="grk" title="koimaesis">κοίμησις</span> or <span class="grk" title="analaephis taes +theotokou">ἀνάληψις τῆς θεοτόκου</span>) is a festival of the Christian Church celebrated on the +15th of August, in commemoration of the miraculous ascent into +heaven of the mother of Christ. The belief on which this festival +rests has its origin in apocryphal sources, such as the <span class="grk" title="eis taen +koimaesin taes uperagias despoinaes">εἰς τἡν κοίμησιν τῆς ὑπεραγίας δεσποίνης</span> ascribed to the Apostle John, +and the <i>de transitu Mariae</i>, assigned to Melito, bishop of Sardis, +but actually written about <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 400. Pope Gelasius I. (492-496) +included them in the list of apocryphal books condemned by the +<i>Decretum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis</i>; but they were +accepted as authentic by the pseudo-Dionysius (<i>de nominbus +divinis c. 3</i>), whose writings date probably from the 5th century, +and by Gregory of Tours (d. 593 or 594). The latter in his <i>De +gloria martyrum</i> (i. 4) gives the following account of the miracle: +As all the Apostles were watching round the dying Mary, Jesus +appeared with His angels and committed the soul of His Mother +to the Archangel Michael. Next day, as they were carrying the +body to the grave, Christ again appeared and carried it with Him +in a cloud to heaven, where it was reunited with the soul. This +story is much amplified in the account given by St John of +Damascus in the homilies <i>In dormitionem Mariae</i>, which are still +read in the Roman Church as the lesson during the octave of the +feast. According to this the patriarchs and Adam and Eve +also appear at the death-bed, to praise their daughter, through +whom they had been rescued from the curse of God; a Jew who +touches the body loses both his hands, which are restored to +him by the Apostles; and the body lies three days in the grave +without corruption before it is taken up into heaven.</p> + +<p>The festival is first mentioned by St Andrew of Crete (<i>c.</i> 650), +and, according to the Byzantine historian Nicephorus Callistus +(<i>Hist. Eccles.</i> xvii. 28), was first instituted by the Emperor +Maurice in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 582. From the East it was borrowed by Rome, +where there is evidence of its existence so early as the 7th century. +In the Gallican Church it was only adopted at the same time as +the Roman liturgy. But though the festival thus became +incorporated in the regular usage of the Western Church, the belief +in the resurrection and bodily assumption of the Virgin has +never been defined as a dogma and remains a “pious opinion,” +which the faithful may reject without imperilling their immortal +souls, though not apparently—to quote Melchior Cano (<i>De Locis +Theolog.</i> xii. 10)—without “insolent temerity,” since such +rejection would be contrary to the common agreement of the Church. +By the reformed Churches, including the Church of England, +the festival is not observed, having been rejected at the +Reformation as being neither primitive nor founded upon any “certain +warrant of Holy Scripture.”</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Herzog-Hauck, <i>Realencyklopädie</i> (ed. 3), s. “Maria”; Mgr. L. +Duchesne, <i>Christian Worship</i> (Eng. trans., London, 1904); Wetzer +and Welte, <i>Kirchenlexikon</i>, s. “Marienfeste”; The <i>Catholic +Encyclopaedia</i> (London and New York, 1907, &c.), s. “Apocrypha,” +“Assumption.”</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUR<a name="ar150" id="ar150"></a></span> (Auth. Vers. <i>Asshur</i>), a Hebrew name, occurring in +many passages of the Old Testament, for the land and dominion +of Assyria.<a name="fa1i" id="fa1i" href="#ft1i"><span class="sp">1</span></a> The <i>country</i> of Assyria, which in the Assyro-Babylonian +literature is known as <i>mat Aššur</i> (<i>ki</i>), “land of Assur,” +took its name from the ancient city of <i>Aššur</i>, situated at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page788" id="page788"></a>788</span> +southern extremity of Assyria proper, whose territory, soon after +the first Assyrian settlement, was bounded on the N. by the +Zagros mountain range in what is now Kurdistan and on the S. +by the lower Zab river. The kingdom of Assyria, which was the +outgrowth of the primitive settlement on the site of the city of +Assur, was developed by a probably gradual process of colonization +in the rich vales of the middle Tigris region, a district +watered by the Tigris itself and also by several tributary streams, +the chief of which was the lower Zab.<a name="fa2i" id="fa2i" href="#ft2i"><span class="sp">2</span></a></p> + +<p>It seems quite evident that the <i>city</i> of Assur was originally +founded by Semites from Babylonia at quite an early, but as +yet undetermined date. In the prologue to the law-code of the +great Babylonian monarch Khammurabi (<i>c.</i> 2250 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), the cities +of Nineveh and Assur are both mentioned as coming under that +king’s beneficent influence. Assur is there called <i>A-usar</i> (<i>ki</i>),<a name="fa3i" id="fa3i" href="#ft3i"><span class="sp">3</span></a> +in which combination the ending <i>-ki</i> (“land territory”) proves +that even at that early period there was a province of Assur more +extensive than the city proper. It is probable that this non-Semitic +form <i>A-usar</i> means “well watered region,”<a name="fa4i" id="fa4i" href="#ft4i"><span class="sp">4</span></a> a most appropriate +designation for the river settlements of Assyria. +The problem as to the meaning of the name Assur is rendered +all the more confusing by the fact that the city and land are also +called <i>Aššur</i> (as well as <i>A-usar</i>), both by the Khammurabi records<a name="fa5i" id="fa5i" href="#ft5i"><span class="sp">5</span></a> +and generally in the later Assyrian literature. +Furthermore, the god- and country-name <i>Assur</i> also occurs at a late date in +Assyrian literature in the forms <i>An-šar, An-šar</i> (<i>ki</i>), which form<a name="fa6i" id="fa6i" href="#ft6i"><span class="sp">6</span></a> +was presumably read <i>Assur</i>. In the Creation tablet, the heavens +personified collectively were indicated by this term <i>An-šar</i>, +“host of heaven,” in contradistinction to the earth = <i>Ki-šar</i>, +“host of earth.” In view of this fact, it seems highly probable +that the late writing <i>An-sar</i> for <i>Assur</i> was a more or less conscious +attempt on the part of the Assyrian scribes to identify the +peculiarly Assyrian deity <i>Asur</i> (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Assur</a></span>, the god, below) with +the Creation deity An-sar. On the other hand, there is an epithet +<i>Ašir</i> or Ashir (“overseer”) applied to several gods and particularly +to the deity <i>Ašur</i>, a fact which introduced a third element +of confusion into the discussion of the name <i>Assur</i>. It is probable +then that there is a triple popular etymology in the various forms +of writing the name <i>Aššur</i>; viz. <i>A-usar</i>,<a name="fa7i" id="fa7i" href="#ft7i"><span class="sp">7</span></a> +<i>An-šar</i> and the stem <i>ašāru</i>, all of which is quite in harmony +with the methods followed by the ancient Assyro-Babylonian philologists.<a name="fa8i" id="fa8i" href="#ft8i"><span class="sp">8</span></a></p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See also A.H. Layard, <i>Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon</i> (1853); +G. Smith, <i>Assyrian Discoveries</i> (1875); +R.W. Rogers, <i>History of Babylonia and Assyria</i>, i. 297; +ii. 13; ii. 30, 76, 102; +J.F. M‘Curdy, <i>History, Prophecy and the Monuments</i>, +§§ 74, 171 f., 247, 258, 283; 57, 59 f. (on the god).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(J. D. Pr.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1i" id="ft1i" href="#fa1i"><span class="fn">1</span></a> The name Assur is not connected with the Asshur of 1 Chron. ii. 24; +ii. 45. Note that it is customary to spell the god-name <i>Ašur</i> and the +country-name <i>Aššur</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="ft2i" id="ft2i" href="#fa2i"><span class="fn">2</span></a> Cf. Rassam, <i>Asshur and the Land of Nimrod</i>, 250-251, and many other works.</p> + +<p><a name="ft3i" id="ft3i" href="#fa3i"><span class="fn">3</span></a> Robert Harper, <i>Code of Hammurabi</i>, pp. 6-7, lines 55-58.</p> + +<p><a name="ft4i" id="ft4i" href="#fa4i"><span class="fn">4</span></a> Thus already Delitzsch, <i>Wo lag das Paradies?</i> p. 252. The +element <i>a</i> means “water,” and in <i>u-sar</i> it is probable that <i>u</i> +also means “water,” while <i>sar</i> is “park, district.” See Prince, +<i>Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon</i>, s.v. <i>usar</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="ft5i" id="ft5i" href="#fa5i"><span class="fn">5</span></a> The name appears as <i>Aš-šur</i> (<i>ki</i>) and <i>Aš-šu-ur</i> (<i>ki</i>). See King, +<i>Letters and Inscriptions of Hammurabi</i>, iv. p. 23, obv. 27; and Nägel, +<i>Beiträge zur Assyriologie</i>, iv. p. 404; also <i>Cun. Texts from Bab. +Tablets</i>, vi. pl. 19, line 7.</p> + +<p><a name="ft6i" id="ft6i" href="#fa6i"><span class="fn">6</span></a> Meissner-Rost, <i>Bauinschrift Sanheribs</i>, K. 5413a; K. 1306, rev. 16.</p> + +<p><a name="ft7i" id="ft7i" href="#fa7i"><span class="fn">7</span></a> See on this entire subject, Morris Jastrow, Jr., <i>Journal Amer. Orient. Soc.</i>, +xxiv. pp. 282-311; also <i>Die Religion Bab. u. Assyr.</i>, pp. 207 ff.</p> + +<p><a name="ft8i" id="ft8i" href="#fa8i"><span class="fn">8</span></a> On the philological methods of the ancient Babylonian priesthood, +see Prince, <i>Materials for a Sumerian Lexicon</i>, Introduction.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUR,<a name="ar151" id="ar151"></a></span> the primitive capital of Assyria, now represented by +the mounds of Kaleh Sherghat (Qal’at Shergat) on the west bank +of the Tigris, nearly midway between the Upper and Lower Zab. +It is still doubtful (see discussion on the name in the preceding +article) whether the national god of Assyria took his name from +that of the city or whether the converse was the case. It is +most probable, however, that it was the city which was deified +(see Sayce, <i>Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia</i>, 1902, pp. +366, 367). Sir A.H. Layard, through his assistant Hormuzd +Rassam, devoted two or three days to excavating on the site, +but owing to the want of pasturage and the fear of Bedouin +attacks he left the spot after finding a broken clay cylinder +containing the annals of Tiglath-Pileser I., and for many years +no subsequent efforts were made to explore it. In 1904, however, +a German expedition under Dr W. Andrae began systematic +excavations, which have led to important results. The city +originally grew up round the great temple of the god Assur, +the foundation of which was ascribed to the High-priest Uspia. +For many centuries Assur and the surrounding district, which +came accordingly to be called the land of Assur (<i>Assyria</i>), were +governed by high-priests under the suzerainty of Babylonia. +With the decay of the Babylonian power the high-priests succeeded +in making themselves independent kings, and Assur +became the capital of an important kingdom. It was already +surrounded by a wall of crude brick, which rested on stone +foundations and was strengthened at certain points by courses of +burnt brick. A deep moat was dug outside it by Tukulti-Inaristi +or Tukulti-Masu (about 1270 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), and it was further +defended on the land side by a <i>salkhu</i> or outwork. In the 15th +century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> it was considerably extended to the south in order +to include a “new town” which had grown up there. The wall +was pierced by “the gate of Assur,” “the gate of the Sun-god,” +“the gate of the Tigris,” &c., and on the river side was a quay +of burnt brick and limestone cemented with bitumen. The +temples were in the northern part of the city, together with +their lofty towers, one of which has been excavated. Besides +the temple of Assur there was another great temple dedicated to +Anu and Hadad, as well as the smaller sanctuaries of Bel, Ishtar, +Merodach and other deities. After the rise of the kingdom, +palaces were erected separate from the temples; the sites of +those of Hadad-nirari I., Shalmaneser I., and Assur-nazir-pal +have been discovered by the German excavators, and about a +dozen more are referred to in the inscriptions. Even after the +rise of Nineveh as the capital of the kingdom and the seat of the +civil power, Assur continued to be the religious centre of the +country, where the king was called on to reside when performing +his priestly functions. The city survived the fall of Assyria, +and extensive buildings as well as tombs of the Parthian age +have been found upon the site.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft</i> (1904-1906).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. H. S.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUR,<a name="ar152" id="ar152"></a></span> <span class="sc">Asur</span>, or <span class="sc">Ashur</span>, the chief god of Assyria, was originally +the patron deity of the city of Assur on the Tigris, the ancient +capital of Assyria from which as a centre the authority of the +<i>patesis</i> (as the rulers were at first called) spread in various +directions. The history of Assyria (<i>q.v.</i>) can now be traced back +approximately to 2500 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, though it does not rise to political +prominence until c. 2000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The name of the god is identical +with that of the city, though an older form A-shir, signifying +“leader,” suggests that a differentiation between the god and +the city was at one time attempted. Though the origin of the +form Ashur (or Assur) is not certain, it is probable that the name +of the god is older than that of the city (see discussion on the +name above).</p> + +<p>The title <i>Ashir</i> was given to various gods in the south, as +Marduk and Nebo, and there is every reason to believe that it +represents a direct transfer with the intent to emphasize that +Assur is the “leader” or head of the pantheon of the north. +He is in fact to all intents and purposes of the north. Originally +like Marduk a solar deity with the winged disk—the disk always +typifying the sun—as his symbol, he becomes as Assyria develops +into a military power a god of war, indicated by the attachment +of the figure of a man with a bow to the winged disk.<a name="fa1j" id="fa1j" href="#ft1j"><span class="sp">1</span></a> While the +cult of the other great gods and goddesses of Babylonia was +transferred to Assyria, the worship of Assur so overshadowed +that of the rest as to give the impression of a decided tendency +towards the absorption of all divine powers by the one god. +Indeed, the other gods, Sin, Shamash (Samas), Adad, Ninib and +Nergal, and even Ea, take on the warlike traits of Assur in the +epithets and descriptions given of them in the annals and +votive inscriptions of Assyrian rulers to such an extent as to +make them appear like little Assurs by the side of the great one. +Marduk alone retains a large measure of his independence as a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page789" id="page789"></a>789</span> +concession on the part of the Assyrians to the traditions of the +south, for which they always manifested a profound respect. +Even during the period that the Assyrian monarchs exercised +complete sway over the south, they rested their claims to the +control of Babylonia on the approval of Marduk, and they or +their representatives never failed to perform the ceremony of +“taking the hand” of Marduk, which was the formal method +of assuming the throne in Babylonia. Apart from this concession, +it is Assur who pre-eminently presides over the fortunes of +Assyria.<a name="fa2j" id="fa2j" href="#ft2j"><span class="sp">2</span></a> In his name, and with his approval as indicated by +favourable omens, the Assyrian armies march to battle. His +symbol is carried into the thick of the fray, so that the god is +actually present to grant assistance in the crisis, and the victory +is with becoming humility invariably ascribed by the kings +“to the help of Assur.” With the fall of Assyria the rule of +Assur also comes to an end, whereas it is significant that the +cult of the gods of Babylonia—more particularly of Marduk—survives +for several centuries the loss of political independence +through Cyrus’ capture of Babylonia in 539 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The name of +Assur’s temple at Assur, represented by the mounds of Kaleh +Sherghat, was known as E-khar-sag-gal-kur-kurra, <i>i.e.</i> “House +of the great mountain of the lands.” Its exact site has been +determined by excavations conducted at Kaleh Sherghat since +1903 by the German Oriental Society. The name indicates the +existence of the same conception regarding sacred edifices in +Assyria as in Babylonia, where we find such names as E-Kur +(“mountain house”) for the temple of Bel (<i>q.v.</i>) at Nippur, and +E-Saggila (“lofty house”) for Marduk’s (<i>q.v.</i>) temple at Babylon +and that of Ea (<i>q.v.</i>) at Eridu, and in view of the general dependence +of Assyrian religious beliefs as of Assyrian culture in general, +there is little reason to doubt that the name of Assur’s temple +represents a direct adaptation of such a name as E-Kur, further +embellished by epithets intended to emphasize the supreme +control of the god to whom the edifice was dedicated. The +foundation of the edifice can be traced back to Uspia (Ushpia), +<i>c.</i> 2000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and may turn out to be even older. Besides the chief +temple, the capital contained temples and chapels to Anu, Adad, +Ishtar, Marduk, Gula, Sin, Shamash, so that we are to assume the +existence of a sacred precinct in Assur precisely as in the religious +centres of the south. On the removal of the seat of residence of +the Assyrian kings to Calah (<i>c.</i> 1300 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), and then in the 8th +century to Nineveh, the centre of the Assur cult was likewise +transferred, though the sanctity of the old seat at Assur +continued to be recognized. At Nineveh, which remained the +capital till the fall of the Assyrian empire in 606 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, Assur had +as his rival Ishtar, who was the real patron deity of the place, +but a reconciliation was brought about by making Ishtar the +consort of the chief god. The combination was, however, of an +artificial character, and the consciousness that Ishtar was in +reality an independent goddess never entirely died out. She +too, like Assur, was viewed as a war deity, and to such an +extent was this the case that at times it would appear that +she, rather than Assur, presided over the fortunes of the Assyrian +armies.</p> +<div class="author">(M. Ja.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1j" id="ft1j" href="#fa1j"><span class="fn">1</span></a> See Prince, <i>Journ. Bibl. Lit.</i>, xxii. 35.</p> + +<p><a name="ft2j" id="ft2j" href="#fa2j"><span class="fn">2</span></a> As essentially a <i>national</i> god, he is almost identical in character +with the early Yahweh of Israel. See Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, +<i>Religion of Ancient Babylonia</i>, p. 129.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUR-BANI-PAL<a name="ar153" id="ar153"></a></span> (“Assur creates a son”), the <i>grand +monarque</i> of Assyria, was the prototype of the Greek Sardanapalus, +and appears probably in the corrupted form of Asnapper +in Ezra iv. 10. He had been publicly nominated king of Assyria +(on the 12th of Iyyar) by his father Esar-haddon, some time +before the latter’s death, Babylonia being assigned to his +twin-brother Samas-sum-yukin, in the hope of gratifying the national +feeling of the Babylonians. After Esar-haddon’s death in 668 +<span class="scs">B.C.</span> the first task of Assur-bani-pal was to finish the Egyptian +campaign. Tirhakah, who had reoccupied Egypt, fled to +Ethiopia, and the Assyrian army spent forty days in ascending +the Nile from Memphis to Thebes. Shortly afterwards Necho, +the satrap of Sais, and two others were detected intriguing with +Tirhakah; Necho and one of his companions were sent in chains +to Nineveh, but were there pardoned and restored to their +principalities. Tirhakah died 667 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and his successor +Tandaman (Tanuat-Amon) entered Upper Egypt, where a general +revolt against Assyria took place, headed by Thebes. Memphis +was taken by assault and the Assyrian troops driven out of the +country. Tyre seems to have revolted at the same time. +Assur-bani-pal, however, lost no time in pouring fresh forces into the +revolted province. Once more the Assyrian army made its way +up the Nile, Thebes was plundered, and its temples destroyed, +two obelisks being carried to Nineveh as trophies (see Nahum iii. 8). +Meanwhile the siege of insular Tyre was closely pressed; +its water-supply was cut off, and it was compelled to surrender. +Assur-bani-pal was now at the height of his power. The land of +the Manna (Minni), south-east of Ararat, had been wasted, its +capital captured by the Assyrians, and its king reduced to vassalage. +A war with Teumman of Elam had resulted in the overthrow +of the Elamite army; the head of Teumman was sent to +Nineveh, and another king, Umman-igas, appointed by the +Assyrians. The kings of Cilicia and the Tabal offered their +daughters to the harem of Assur-bani-pal; embassies came from +Ararat, and even Gyges of Lydia despatched envoys to “the +great king” in the hope of obtaining help against the +Cimmerians. Suddenly the mighty empire began to totter. The +Lydian king, finding that Nineveh was helpless to assist him, +turned instead to Egypt and furnished the mercenaries with +whose help Psammetichus drove the Assyrians out of the country +and suppressed his brother satraps. Egypt was thus lost to +Assyria for ever (660 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>). In Babylonia, moreover, discontent +was arising, and finally Samas-sum-yukin put himself at the +head of the national party and declared war upon his brother. +Elamite aid was readily forthcoming, especially when stimulated +by bribes, and the Arab tribes joined in the revolt. The resources +of the Assyrian empire were strained to their utmost. But +thanks in some measure to the intestine troubles in Elam, the +Babylonian army and its allies were defeated and driven into +Babylon, Sippara, Borsippa and Cutha. One by one the cities +fell, Babylon being finally starved into surrender (648 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) after +Samas-sum-yukin had burnt himself in his palace to avoid falling +into the conqueror’s hands. It was now the turn of the Arabs, +some of whom had been in Babylon during the siege, while +others had occupied themselves in plundering Edom, Moab and +the Hauran. Northern Arabia was traversed by the Assyrian +forces, the Nabataeans were almost exterminated, and the +desert tribes terrorized into order. Elam was alone left to be +dealt with, and the last resources of the empire were therefore +expended in preventing it from ever being again a thorn in the +Assyrian side.</p> + +<p>But the effort had exhausted Assyria. Drained of men and +resources it was no longer able to make head against the +Cimmerian and Scythian hordes who now poured over western Asia. +The Cimmerian Dugdamme (Lygdamis in Strabo i. 3, 16), whom +Assur-bani-pal calls “a limb of Satan,” after sacking Sardis, +had been slain in Cilicia, but other Scythian invaders came to +take his place. When Assur-bani-pal died in 626 (?) <span class="scs">B.C.</span> his +empire was already in decay, and within a few years the end came. +He was luxurious and indolent, entrusting the command of his +armies to others whose successes he appropriated, cruel and +superstitious, but a magnificent patron of art and literature. +The great library of Nineveh was to a considerable extent his +creation, and scribes were kept constantly employed in it +copying the older tablets of Babylonia, though unfortunately +their patron’s tastes inclined rather to omens and astrology +than to subjects of more modern interest. The library was +contained in the palace that he built on the northern side of the +mound of Kuyunjik and lined with sculptured slabs which +display Assyrian art at its best. Whether Kandalanu +(Kinela-danos), who became viceroy of Babylonia after the suppression +of the revolt, was Assur-bani-pal under another name, or a +different personage, is still doubtful (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Sardanapalus</a></span>).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—George Smith, <i>History of Assurbanipal</i> (1871); +S.A. Smith, <i>Die Keilschrifttexte Asurbanipals</i> (1887-1889); +P. Jensen in E. Schrader’s <i>Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek</i>, ii. (1889); +J.A. Knudtzon, <i>Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott</i> (1893); +C. Lehmann, <i>Schamashschumukin</i> (1892).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. H. S.)</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page790" id="page790"></a>790</span></p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSUS<a name="ar154" id="ar154"></a></span> [mod. <i>Behram</i>], an ancient Greek city of the Troad, +on the Adramyttian Gulf. The situation is one of the most +magnificent in all the Greek lands. The natural cleavage of the +trachyte into joint planes had already scarped out shelves +which it was comparatively easy for human labour to shape; +and so, high up this cone of trachyte, the Greek town of Assus +was built, tier above tier, the summit of the crag being crowned +with a Doric temple of Athena. The view from the summit is +very beautiful and of great historical interest. In front is Lesbos, +one of whose towns, Methymna, is said to have sent forth the +founders of Assus, as early, perhaps, as 1000 or 900 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The +whole south coast-line of the Troad is seen, and in the south-east +the ancient territory of Pergamum, from whose masters the +possession of Assus passed to Rome by the bequest of Attalus III. +(133 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>). The great heights of Ida rise in the east. Northward +the Tuzla is seen winding through a rich valley. This valley was +traversed by the road which St Paul must have followed when he +came overland from Alexandria Troas to Assus, leaving his +fellow-travellers to proceed by sea. The north-west gateway, to which +this road led, is still flanked by two massive towers, of Hellenic +work. On the shore below, the ancient mole can still be traced +by large blocks under the clear water. Assus affords the only +harbour on the 50 m. of coast between Cape Lectum and the +east end of the Adramyttian Gulf; hence it must always have +been the chief shipping-place for the exports of the southern +Troad. The great natural strength of the site protected it against +petty assailants; but, like other towns in that region, it has +known many masters—Lydians, Persians, the kings of +Pergamum, Romans and Ottoman Turks. From the Persian wars +to about 350 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Assus enjoyed at least partial independence. +It was about 348-345 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> that Aristotle spent three years at +Assus with Hermeas, an ex-slave who had succeeded his former +master Eubulus as despot of Assus and Atarneus. Aristotle has +left some verses from an invocation to Arete (Virtue), +commemorating the worth of Hermeas, who had been seized by +Persian treachery and put to death.</p> + +<p>Under its Turkish name of Behram, Assus is still the +commercial port of the southern Troad, being the place to which +loads of valonia are conveyed by camels from all parts of the +country. Explorations were conducted at Assus in 1881-1883 +by Mr J.T. Clarke for the Archaeological Institute of America. +The main object was to clear the Doric temple of Athena, built +about 470 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> This temple is remarkable for a sculptured +architrave which took the place of the ordinary frieze. The scenes +are partly mythological (labours of Heracles), partly purely +heraldic. Eighteen panels were transported to the Louvre in +1838; other fragments rewarded the Americans, and a scientific +ground-plan was drawn. The well-preserved Hellenistic walls +were also studied.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See J.T. Clarke, <i>Assos</i>, 2 vols., 1882 and 1898 (Papers of Arch. +Inst. of America, i. ii.); and authorities under <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Troad</a></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(D. G. H.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASSYRIA.<a name="ar155" id="ar155"></a></span> The two great empires, Assyria and Babylon, +which grew up on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, can be +separated as little historically as geographically. From the +beginning their history is closely intertwined; and the power of +the one is a measure of the weakness of the other. This +interdependence of Assyrian and Babylonian history was recognized +by ancient writers, and has been confirmed by modern discovery. +But whereas Assyria takes the first place in the classical accounts +to the exclusion of Babylonia, the decipherment of the inscriptions +has proved that the converse was really the case, and that, +with the exception of some seven or eight centuries, Assyria +might be described as a province or dependency of Babylon. +Not only was Babylonia the mother country, as the tenth chapter +of Genesis explicitly states, but the religion and culture, the +literature and the characters in which it was contained, the +arts and the sciences of the Assyrians were derived from their +southern neighbours. They were similar in race and language. +(See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Babylonia and Assyria</a></span>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">AST, GEORG ANTON FRIEDRICH<a name="ar156" id="ar156"></a></span> (1778-1841), German +philosopher and philologist, was born at Gotha. Educated there +and at the university of Jena, he became privat-docent at Jena +in 1802. In 1805 he became professor of classical literature in +the university of Landshut, where he remained till 1826, when +it was transferred to Munich. There he lived till his death on +the 31st of October 1841. In recognition of his work he was +made an aulic councillor and a member of the Bavarian Academy +of Sciences. He is known principally for his work during the +last twenty-five years of his life on the dialogues of Plato. His +<i>Platon’s Leben und Schriften</i> (1816) was the first of those critical +inquiries into the life and works of Plato which originated in the +<i>Introductions</i> of Schleiermacher and the historical scepticism +of Niebuhr and Wolf. Distrusting tradition, he took a few of +the finest dialogues as his standard, and from internal evidence +denounced as spurious not only those which are generally +admitted to be so (<i>Epinomis, Minos, Theages, Arastae, Clitophon, +Hipparchus, Eryxias, Letters and Definitions</i>), but also the <i>Meno, +Euthydemus, Charmides, Lysis, Laches, First and Second Alcibiades, +Hippias Major and Minor, Ion, Euthyphro, Apology, +Crito</i>, and even (against Aristotle’s explicit assertion) <i>The Laws</i>. +The genuine dialogues he divides into three series:—(1) the +earliest, marked chiefly by the poetical and dramatic element, +<i>i.e.</i> <i>Protagoras, Phaedrus, Gorgias, Phaedo</i>; (2) the second, +marked by dialectic subtlety, <i>i.e.</i> <i>Theaetetus, Sophist, Statesman, +Parmenides, Cratylus</i>; (3) the third group, combining both +qualities harmoniously, <i>i.e.</i> the <i>Philebus, Symposium, Republic, +Timaeus, Critias</i>. The work was followed by a complete +edition of Plato’s works (11 vols., 1819-1832) with a Latin +translation and commentary. His last work was the <i>Lexicon +Platonicum</i> (3 vols., 1834-1839), which is both valuable and +comprehensive. In his works on aesthetics he combined the +views of Schelling with those of Winckelmann, Lessing, Kant, +Herder, Schiller and others. His histories of philosophy are +marked more by critical scholarship than by originality of +thought, though they are interesting as asserting the now +familiar principle that the history of philosophy is not the +history of opinions, but of reason as a whole; he was among +the first to attempt to formulate a principle of the development +of thought. Beside his works on Plato, he wrote, on aesthetics, +<i>System der Kunstlehre</i> (1805) and <i>Grundriss der Aesthetik</i> (1807); +on the history of philosophy, <i>Grundlinien der Philosophie</i> (1807, +republished 1809, but soon forgotten), <i>Grundriss einer Geschichte +der Philosophie</i> (1807 and 1825), and <i>Hauptmomente der Geschichte +der Philosophie</i> (1829); in philology, <i>Grundlinien der Philologie</i> +(1808), and <i>Grundlinien der Grammatik, Hermeneutik und Kritik</i> (1808).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTARA,<a name="ar157" id="ar157"></a></span> a port of Russian Transcaucasia, government of +Baku, on the Caspian, in 38° 27′ N. lat. and 48° 53′ E. long., on +the river of the same name, which forms the frontier between +Persia and Russia. Russian merchandize is landed there and +forwarded to Azerbáiján and Tabriz via Ardebil.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTARABAD,<a name="ar158" id="ar158"></a></span> a province of Persia bounded N. by the Caspian +Sea and Russian Transcaspian, S. by the Elburz Mountains, +W. by Mazandaran, and E. by Khorasan. The country, +mountainous in its southern portion, possesses extensive forests, +fertile valleys, producing rice, wheat and other grains in +abundance, and rich pasturages. The soil, even with little +culture, is exceedingly productive, owing to the abundance of +water which irrigates and fertilizes it. But while the province +in many parts presents a landscape of luxuriant beauty, it is a +prey to the ravages of disease, principally malarial fevers due +to the extensive swamps formed by waters stagnating in the +forests, and to the frequent incursions of the Goklan and Yomut +Turkomans, who have their camping-grounds in the northern +part of the province, and until about 1890 plundered caravans +sometimes at the very gates of Astarabad city, and carried +people off into slavery and bondage. The province has a population +of about 100,000 and pays a yearly revenue of about £30,000. +The inhabitants, notwithstanding the unhealthiness of their +climate, are a strong and athletic race, belying their yellow and +sickly appearance. The province has the following bulúk +(administrative divisions):—(1) Astarabad town; (2) Astarabad +rustak (villages); (3) Sadan rustak; (4). Anazan; (5) Katúl; +(6) Findarisk, with Kuhsar and Nodeh; (7) Shahkuh Sávar.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page791" id="page791"></a>791</span></p> + +<p><span class="sc">Astarabad,</span> the capital of the province, is situated on the +Astar, a small tributary of the Kara Su (Black river), which +flows into the Caspian Sea 20 m. W. of the city, and about 18 m. +S. of the Gurgan river, in 36° 51′ N. lat. and 54° 26′ E. long. +It is surrounded by a mud wall about 30 ft. in height and about +3½ m. in circuit, but much of the enclosed space is occupied by +gardens, mounds of refuse, and ruins. At one time of greater +size, it was reduced by Nadir Shah within its present limits. +Astarabad owes its origin to Yazid ibn Mohallab, who occupied +the province early in the 8th century for Suleiman, the seventh +of the Omayyad caliphs (715-717), and was destroyed by +Timur (Tamerlane) in 1384. Jonas Hanway, the philanthropist +(d. 1786), visited the place in 1744, and attempted to open a +direct trade through it between Europe and central Asia. +Owing to the noxious exhalations of the surrounding forests +the town is so extremely unhealthy during the hot weather +as to have acquired the title of the “Abode of the Plague.” +It has post and telegraph offices, and a population of about +10,000. Since 1890 the Turkomans who impeded trade by their +perpetual raids have been kept more in check, and with the +decrease of insecurity the commercial activity of Astarabad +has increased considerably.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTARTE,<a name="ar159" id="ar159"></a></span> a Semitic goddess whose name appears in the +Bible as Ashtoreth.<a name="fa1k" id="fa1k" href="#ft1k"><span class="sp">1</span></a> She is everywhere the great female principle, +answering to the Baal of the Canaanites and Phoenicians<a name="fa2k" id="fa2k" href="#ft2k"><span class="sp">2</span></a> and +to the Dagon of the Philistines. She had temples at Sidon and +at Tyre (whence her worship was transplanted to Carthage), +and the Philistines probably venerated her at Ascalon (1 Sam. +xxxi. 10). Solomon built a high-place for her at Jerusalem +which lasted until the days of King Josiah (1 Kings xi. 5; 2 +Kings xxiii. 13), and the extent of her cult among the Israelites +is proved as much by the numerous biblical references as by the +frequent representations of the deity turned up on Palestinian +soil.<a name="fa3k" id="fa3k" href="#ft3k"><span class="sp">3</span></a> The Moabites formed a compound deity, Ashtar-Chemosh +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Moab</a></span>), and the absence of the feminine termination occurs +similarly in the Babylonian and Assyrian prototype Ishtar. +The old South Arabian phonetic equivalent ‘Athtar is, however, +a male deity. Another compound, properly of mixed sex, +appears in the Aramaean Atargatis (‘At[t]ar-‘athe), worn down +to Derketo, who is specifically associated with sacred pools +and fish (Ascalon, Hierapolis-Mabog). (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Atargatis</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>The derivation of the name Ishtar is uncertain, and the original +attributes of the goddess are consequently unknown. She +assumes various local forms in the old Semitic world, and this +has led to consequent fusion and identification with the deities +of other nations. As the great nature-goddess, the attributes +of fertility and reproduction are characteristically hers, as +also the accompanying immorality which originally, perhaps, +was often nothing more than primitive magic. As patroness of +the hunt, later identification with Artemis was inevitable. +Hence the consequent fusion with Aphrodite, Artemis, Diana, +Juno and Venus, and the action and reaction of one upon the +other in myth and legend. Her star was the planet Venus, and +classical writers give her the epithet Caelestis and Urania. +Whether Astarte was also a lunar goddess has been questioned. +As the female counterpart of the Phoenician Baal (viewed as a +sun-god), and on the testimony of late writers (Lucian, Herodian) +that she was represented with horns, the place-name Ashteroth-Karnaim +in Gilead (“Ashteroth of the horns”) has been considered +ample proof in favour of the theory. But it is probable +that the horns were primarily ram’s horns,<a name="fa4k" id="fa4k" href="#ft4k"><span class="sp">4</span></a> and that Astarte +the moon-goddess is due to the influence of the Egyptian Isis +and Hathor. Robertson Smith, too, argues that Astarte was +originally a sheep-goddess, and points to the interesting use of +“Astartes of the flocks” (Deut. vii. 13, see the comm.) to +denote the offspring. To nomads, Astarte may well have been +a sheep-goddess, but this, if her earliest, was not her only type, +as is clear from the sacred fish of Atargatis, the doves of Ascalon +(and of the Phoenician sanctuary of Eryx), and the gazelle or +antelope of the goddess of love (associated also with the Arabian +Athtar).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The literature is vast; see G.A. Barton, <i>Amer. Journ. of Sem. +Lang.</i> vols. ix. x., and his <i>Semitic Origins</i>; Driver, Hastings’ +<i>Dict. Bible</i>, i. pp. 167-171; Zimmern, <i>Keilinschr. und das alte +Test.</i><span class="sp">3</span> pp. 420 sqq.; Lagrange, <i>Études d. Relig. Sem.</i> pp. 123-140; +and the articles <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Adonis</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Aphrodite</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Artemis</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Baal</a></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(S. A. C.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1k" id="ft1k" href="#fa1k"><span class="fn">1</span></a> The vocalization suggests the Heb. bōsheth, “shame”; see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Baal</a></span>.</p> + +<p><a name="ft2k" id="ft2k" href="#fa2k"><span class="fn">2</span></a> Add also the Hittites; for Sutekh, the Egyptian equivalent of +the male partner, see W.M. Müller, <i>Mitt. d. vorderasiat. Gesell.</i> +(1902), v. pp. 11, 38. Astarte was introduced also into Egypt and +had her temple at Memphis. See also S.A. Cook, <i>Religion of +Ancient Palestine, Index</i>, s.v.</p> + +<p><a name="ft3k" id="ft3k" href="#fa3k"><span class="fn">3</span></a> Such figurines are in a sense the prototypes of the Venus of +Medici. On the influence of her cult upon that of the Virgin Mary, +see Rösch, <i>Studien u. Krit.</i> (1888), pp. 265 sqq.</p> + +<p><a name="ft4k" id="ft4k" href="#fa4k"><span class="fn">4</span></a> A model of an Astarte with ram’s horns was unearthed by R.A.S. +Macalister at Gezer (<i>Pal. Explor. Fund, Quart. Statement</i>, 1903, p. 227 +with figure facing).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTELL, MARY<a name="ar160" id="ar160"></a></span> (1668-1731), English author, was born at +Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She was instructed by her uncle, a +clergyman, in Latin and French, logic, mathematics and +natural philosophy. In her twentieth year she went to London, +where she continued her studies. She published, in 1697, a work +entitled <i>A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, wherein a Method is +offered for the Improvement of their Minds</i>. With the same end +in view she elaborated a scheme for a ladies’ college, which +was favourably entertained by Queen Anne, and would have +been carried out had not Bishop Burnet interfered. The most +important of her other works was <i>The Christian Religion, as professed +by a Daughter of the Church of England</i>, published in 1705.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTER<a name="ar161" id="ar161"></a></span> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="astaer">ἀστήρ</span>, a star), the name of a genus of plants, +given from the fact of the flowers having a radiated or star-like +appearance (see below). The Greek word also provides many +derivatives: <i>e.g.</i> <i>asterism</i> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="asterismos">ἀστερισμός</span>), a constellation (<i>q.v.</i>); +<i>asteroid</i> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="astero-eidaes">ἀστερο-ειδής</span>, star-like), an alternative name for +planetoids or minor planets (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Planet</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The genus of composite plants named aster (natural order +<i>Compositae</i>) is found largely in North America, and scattered +sparingly over Asia, Europe and South America. They are +usually herbaceous perennials; their flowers arranged in +numerous heads (<i>capitula</i>) recall those of the daisy, whence +they are popularly known in England as Michaelmas daisies, +since many are in bloom about that time. They are valuable +plants in a garden, the various species flowering from late +summer right on to November or December. The only British +species is <i>Aster Tripolium</i>, found abundantly in saline marshes +near the sea. One of the species, <i>Aster alpinus</i>, grows at a considerable +height on the mountains of Europe. Some of them, such as +<i>Aster spectabilis</i> of North America, are very showy. They are +mostly easy to cultivate in ordinary garden soil, and are readily +propagated by dividing the roots in early spring. The following +are some of the better known forms:—<i>A. alpinus</i>, barely 1 ft. +high, and <i>A. Amellus</i>, 1½ ft., with its var. <i>bessarabicus</i>, have +broadish blunt leaves and large starry bluish flowers; <i>A. +longifolius</i> var. <i>formosus</i>, 2 ft., bright rosy lilac; <i>A. acris</i>, +2 to 3 ft., with blue flowers in August; <i>A. ericoides</i>, 3 ft., with +heath-like leaves and masses of small white flowers; <i>A. puniceus</i>, +4 to 6 ft., blue or rosy-lilac; <i>A. turbinellus</i>, 2 to 3 ft., mauve-coloured, +are showy border plants; and <i>A. Novae-Angliae</i>, 5 to 6 +ft., rosy-violet; <i>A. Novi-Belgii</i>, 3 to 6 ft., pale blue; <i>A. laevis</i>, +2 to 6 ft., blue-lilac; and <i>A. grandiflorus</i>, 3 ft., violet, are +especially useful from their late-flowering habit.</p> + +<p>The China aster (<i>Callistephus chinensis</i>) is also a member of +the order <i>Compositae</i>. It is a hardy annual, a native of China, +which by cultivation has yielded a great variety of forms. Some +of the best for ornamental gardening are the chrysanthemum-flowered, +the paeony-flowered, the crown or cockade, the comet, +and the globe-quilled. Crown asters have a white centre, and +dark crimson or purple circumference, and are very beautiful. +The colours range from white and blush through pink and rose to +crimson, and from lilac through blue to purple, in various shades. +They should be sown early in March in pans, in a gentle heat, the +young plants being quickly transferred to a cool pit, and there +pricked out in rich soil as soon as large enough, and eventually +planted out in the garden in May or June, in soil which has +been well worked and copiously manured, where they grow from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page792" id="page792"></a>792</span> +8 to 18 in. high, and flower towards the end of summer. They +also make handsome pot plants for the conservatory.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTERIA,<a name="ar162" id="ar162"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Star-stone</span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="astaer">ἀστήρ</span>, star), a name +applied to such ornamental stones as exhibit when cut <i>en +cabochon</i> a luminous star. The typical asteria is the star-sapphire, +generally a bluish-grey corundum, milky or opalescent, +with a star of six rays. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Sapphire</a></span>.) In red corundum the +stellate reflexion is less common, and hence the star-ruby occasionally +found with the star-sapphire in Ceylon is among the +most valued of “fancy stones.” When the radiation is shown +by yellow corundum, the stone is called star-topaz. Cymophane, +or chatoyant chrysoberyl, may also be asteriated. In all these +cases the asterism is due to the reflexion of light from twin-lamellae +or from fine tubular cavities or thin enclosures definitely +arranged in the stone. The <i>astrion</i> of Pliny is believed to have +been our moonstone, since it is described as a colourless stone +from India having within it the appearance of a star shining +with the light of the moon. All star-stones were formerly +regarded with much superstition.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTERID,<a name="ar163" id="ar163"></a></span> a group of starfish. They are the starfish proper, +and have the typical genus <i>Asterias</i> (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Starfish</a></span>).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTERISK<a name="ar164" id="ar164"></a></span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="asteriskos">ἀστερίσκος</span>, a little star), the sign * +used in typography. The word is also used in its literal meaning +in old writers, and as a description of an ornamental form +(star-shaped) in one of the utensils in the Greek Church.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTERIUS,<a name="ar165" id="ar165"></a></span> of Cappadocia, sophist and teacher of rhetoric +in Galatia, was converted to Christianity about the year 300, +and became the disciple of Lucian, the founder of the school of +Antioch. During the persecution under Maximian (304) he +relapsed into paganism, and thus, though received again into +the church by Lucian and supported by the Eusebian party, +never attained to ecclesiastical office. He is best known as an +able defender of the semi-Arian position, and was styled by +Athanasius the “advocate” of the Arians. His chief work was +the <i>Syntagmation</i>, but he wrote many others, including commentaries +on the Gospels, the Psalms, and Romans. He attended +many synods, and we last hear of him at the synod of Antioch +in 341.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTERIUS,<a name="ar166" id="ar166"></a></span> bishop of Amasia, in Pontus, <i>c.</i> 400. He was +partly contemporary with the emperor Julian (d. 363) and lived +to a great age. His fame rests chiefly on his <i>Homilies</i>, which +were much esteemed in the Eastern Church. Most of these have +been lost, but twenty-one are given in full by Migne (<i>Patrol. +Ser. Gr.</i> xl. 164-477), and there are fragments of others in Photius +(<i>Cod.</i> 271). Asterius was a man of much culture, and his works +are a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the history of +preaching.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTHMA<a name="ar167" id="ar167"></a></span> (Gr. <span class="grk" title="asthma">ἆσθμα</span>, gasping, whence <span class="grk" title="asthmaino">ἀσθμαίνω</span>, I gasp for +breath), a disorder of respiration characterized by severe +paroxysms of difficult breathing (<i>dyspnoea</i>) usually followed by +a period of complete relief, with recurrence of the attacks at +more or less frequent intervals. The term is often loosely +employed in reference to states of embarrassed respiration, +which are plainly due to permanent organic disease of the +respiratory organs (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Respiratory System</a></span>: <i>Pathology</i>).</p> + +<p>The attacks occur quite suddenly, and in some patients at +regular, in others at irregular intervals. They are characterized +by extreme difficulty both in inspiration and expiration, but +especially in the latter, the chest becoming distended and the +diaphragm immobile. In the case of “pure,” “idiopathic” or +“nervous” asthma, there is no fever or other sign of inflammation. +But where the asthma is secondary to disease of some organ +of the body, the symptoms will depend largely on that organ and +the disease present. Such secondary forms may be bronchitic, +cardiac, renal, peptic or thymic.</p> + +<p>The mode of onset differs very markedly in different cases. +In some the attack begins quite suddenly and without warning, +but in others various sensations well known to the patient +announce that an attack is imminent. According to the late +Dr Hyde Salter the commonest warning is that of an intense +desire for sleep, so overpowering that though the patient knows +his only chance of warding off the attack is to keep awake, he is +yet utterly unable to fight against his drowsiness. Among other +patients, however, a condition of unwonted mental excitement +presages the attack. Again the secondary forms of the disease +may be ushered in by flatulence, constipation and loss of appetite, +and a symptom which often attends the onset, though it is not +strictly premonitory, is a profuse diuresis, the urine being +watery and nearly colourless, as in the condition of hysterical +diuresis. In the majority of instances the attack begins during +the night, sometimes abruptly but often by degrees. The patient +may or may not be aware that his asthma is threatening. A few +hours after midnight he is aroused from sleep by a sense of +difficult breathing. In some cases this is a slowly increasing +condition, not becoming acute for some hour or more. But in +others the attack is so sudden, so severe, that the patient springs +from his bed and makes his way at once to an open window, +apparently struggling for breath. Most asthmatics have some +favourite attitude which best enables them to use all the +auxiliary muscles of respiration in their struggle for breath, +and this attitude they immediately assume, and guard fixedly +until the attack begins to subside. The picture is characteristic +and a very painful one to watch. The face is pale, anxious, and +it may be livid. The veins of the forehead stand out, the eyes +bulge, and perspiration bedews the face. The head is fixed in +position, and likewise the powerful muscles of the back to aid the +attempt at respiration. The breath is whistling and wheezing, +and if it becomes necessary for the patient to speak, the words are +uttered with great difficulty. If the chest be watched it is seen +to be almost motionless, and the respirations may become +extraordinarily slowed. Inspiration is difficult as the chest is +already over-distended, but expiration is an even far greater +struggle. The attack may last any time from an hour to several +days, and between the attacks the patient is usually quite at +ease. But notwithstanding the intensely distressing character +of the attacks, asthma is not one of the diseases that shorten life.</p> + +<p>In the child, asthma is usually periodic in its recurrence, but +as he ages it tends to become more erratic in both its manifestations +and time of appearance. Also, though at first it may be +strictly “pure” asthma, later in life it becomes attended by +chronic bronchitis, which in its turn gives rise to emphysema.</p> + +<p>As to the underlying cause of the disease, one has only to read +the many utterly different theories put forward to account for it, +to see how little is really known. But it has now been clearly +shown that in the asthmatic state the respiratory centre is in an +unstable and excitable condition, and that there is a morbid +connexion between this and some part of the nasal apparatus. +Dr Alexander Francis has shown, however, that the disease is not +directly due to any mechanical obstruction of the nasal passages, +and that the nose comparatively rarely supplies the immediate +exciting cause of the asthmatic attack. Paroxysmal sneezing is +another form in which asthma may show itself, and, curiously +enough, this form occurs more frequently in women, asthma of +the more recognized type in men. In infants and young children +paroxysmal bronchitis is another form of the same disease. +Dr James Goodhart notes the connexion between asthma and +certain skin troubles, giving cases of the alternation of asthma +and psoriasis, and also of asthma and eczema. The disease +occurs in families with a well-marked neurotic inheritance, and +twice as frequently in men as in women. The immediate cause +of an attack may be anything or nothing. Dr Hyde Salter notes +that 80% of cases in the young date from an attack of whooping +cough, bronchitis or measles.</p> + +<p>In the general treatment of asthma there are two methods of +dealing with the patient, either that of hardening the individual, +widening his range of accommodation, and thus making him less +susceptible, or that of modifying and adapting the environment +to the patient. These two methods correspond to the two +methods of drug treatment, tonic or sedative. During the last +few years the method of treatment first used by Dr Alexander +Francis has come into prominence. His plan is to restore the +stability of the respiratory centre, by cauterizing the septal +mucous membrane, and combining with this general hygienic +measures. In his own words the operation, which is entirely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page793" id="page793"></a>793</span> +painless and insignificant, is performed as follows:—“After +painting one side of the septum nasi with a few drops of cocaine +and resorcin, I draw a line with a galvano-cautery point from a +spot opposite the middle turbinated body, forwards and slightly +downwards for a distance of rather less than half an inch. In +about one week’s time I repeat the operation on the other side.” +In his monograph on the subject, he classifies a large number of +cases treated in this manner, most of which resulted in complete +relief, some in very great improvement, and a very few in slight +or no relief.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTI<a name="ar168" id="ar168"></a></span> (anc. <i>Hasta</i>), a town and episcopal see of Piedmont, +Italy, in the province of Alessandria, situated on the Tanaro; +it is 22 m. W. by rail from Alessandria. Pop. (1901) town, +19,787; commune, 41,047. Asti has still numerous medieval +towers, a fine Gothic cathedral of the 14th century, the remains +of a Christian basilica of the 6th century, and the octagonal +baptistery of S. Pietro (11th century). It was the birthplace of +the poet Vittorio Alfieri. In ancient times it manufactured +pottery. It is now famous for its sparkling wine (<i>Asti spumante</i>), +and is a considerable centre of trade.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTLEY, JACOB ASTLEY,<a name="ar169" id="ar169"></a></span> <span class="sc">Baron</span> (1570-1652), royalist +commander in the English Civil War, came of a Norfolk family. +In 1598 he joined Counts Maurice and Henry of Orange in the +Netherlands, where he served with distinction, and afterwards +fought under the elector palatine Frederick V. and Gustavus +Adolphus in the Thirty Years’ War. He was evidently thought +highly of by the states-general, for when he was absent, serving +under the king of Denmark, his company in the Dutch army +was kept open for him. Returning to England with a well-deserved +reputation, he was in the employment of Charles I. +in various military capacities. As “sergeant-major,” or general +of the infantry, he went north in 1639 to organize the defence +against the expected Scottish invasion. Here his duties were as +much diplomatic as military, as the discontent which ended in +the Civil War was now coming to a head. In the ill-starred +“Bishops’ War,” Astley did good service to the cause of the +king, and he was involved in the so-called “Army Plot.” At +the outbreak of the Great Rebellion (1642) he at once joined +Charles, and was made major-general of the foot. His characteristic +battle-prayer at Edgebill has become famous: “O Lord, +Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, +do not forget me. March on, boys!” At Gloucester he commanded +a division, and at the first battle of Newbury he led the +infantry of the royal army. With Hopton, in 1644, he served +at Arundel and Cheriton. At the second battle of Newbury +he made a gallant and memorable defence of Shaw House. He +was made a baron by the king, and at Naseby he once more +commanded the main body of the foot. He afterwards served +in the west, and with 1500 men fought stubbornly but vainly +the last battle for the king at Stow-on-the-Wold (March 1646). +His remark to his captors has become as famous as his words +at Edgehill, “You have now done your work and may go play, +unless you will fall out amongst yourselves.” His scrupulous +honour forbade him to take any part in the Second Civil War, +as he had given his parole at Stow-on-the-Wold; but he had +to undergo his share of the discomforts that were the lot of +the vanquished royalists. He died in February 1651/2. The +barony became extinct in 1668.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTLEY, SIR JOHN DUGDALE,<a name="ar170" id="ar170"></a></span> Bart. (1828-1894), English +soldier and sportsman, was a descendant of Lord Astley, and +son of the 2nd baronet (cr. 1821). From 1848 to 1859 he was in +the army, serving in the Crimean War and retiring as lieutenant-colonel. +He married an heiress in 1858, and thenceforth devoted +himself to horse-racing, pugilism and sport in general. He +succeeded to the baronetcy in 1873, and from 1874 to 1880 was +Conservative M.P. for North Lincolnshire. He was a popular +figure on the turf, being familiarly known as “the Mate,” and +won and lost large sums of money. Just before his death, on +the 10th of October 1894, he published some entertaining reminiscences, +under the title of <i>Fifty Years of my Life</i>.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTON, ANTHONY<a name="ar171" id="ar171"></a></span> (fl. 1712-1731), English actor and +dramatist, began to be known on the London stage in the early +years of the 18th century. He had tried the law and other +professions, which he finally abandoned for the theatre. He +had some success as a dramatic author, writing <i>Love in a +Hurry</i>, performed in Dublin about 1709, and <i>Pastora, or the Coy +Shepherdess</i>, an opera (1712). For many years he toured the +English provinces with his wife and son, producing pieces which +he himself wrote, or medleys from various plays fitted together +with songs and dialogues of his own.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTON MANOR,<a name="ar172" id="ar172"></a></span> a municipal and parliamentary borough of +Warwickshire, England, adjoining Birmingham on the north-east. +Pop. (1901) 77,326. There are extensive manufactures, including +those of motors and cycles with their accessories, also paper-mills, +breweries, &c., and the population is largely industrial. +Aston Hall, erected by Sir Thomas Holte in 1618-1635, is an +admirable architectural example of its period, built of red brick. +It stands in a large park, the whole property being acquired by +the corporation of Birmingham in 1864, when the mansion +became a museum and art gallery. It contains the panelling +of a room from the house of Edmund Hector, which formerly +stood in Old Square, Birmingham, where Dr Samuel Johnson +was a frequent visitor. Aston Lower Grounds, adjoining the +park, contain an assembly hall, and the playing field of the +Aston Villa Football Club, where the more important games +are witnessed by many thousands of spectators. Aston Manor +was incorporated in 1903. The parliamentary borough returns +one member. The corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen +and 18 councillors. Area, 960 acres.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTOR, JOHN JACOB<a name="ar173" id="ar173"></a></span> (1763-1848), American merchant, +was born at the village of Walldorf, near Heidelberg, Germany, +on the 17th of July 1763. Until he was sixteen he worked in the +shop of his father, a butcher; he then joined an elder brother +in London, and there for four years was employed in the piano +and flute factory of an uncle, of the firm of Astor & Broadwood. +In 1783 he emigrated to America, and settled in New York, +whither one of his brothers had previously gone. On the voyage +he became acquainted with a fur-trader, by whose advice he +devoted himself to the same business, buying furs directly from +the Indians, preparing them at first with his own hands for the +market, and selling them in London and elsewhere at a great +profit. He was also the agent in New York of the firm of Astor +& Broadwood. By his energy, industry and sound judgment +he gradually enlarged his operations, did business in all the fur +markets of the world, and amassed an enormous fortune,—the +largest up to that time made by any American. He devoted +many years to carrying out a project for organizing the fur +trade from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, and thence +by way of the Hawaiian Islands to China and India. In 1811 +he founded at the mouth of the Columbia river a settlement +named after him Astoria, which was intended to serve as the +central depot; but two years later the settlement was seized +and occupied by the English. The incidents of this undertaking +are the theme of Washington Irving’s <i>Astoria</i>. A series of +disasters frustrated the gigantic scheme. Astor made vast +additions to his wealth by investments in real estate in New +York City, and erected many buildings there, including the +hotel known as the Astor House. The last twenty-five years of +his life were spent in retirement in New York City, where he +died on the 29th of March 1848, his fortune then being estimated +at about $30,000,000. He made various charitable bequests +by his will, and among them a gift of $50,000 to found an +institution, opened as the “Astor House” in 1854, for the +education of poor children and the relief of the aged and the +destitute in his native village in Germany. His chief benefaction, +however, was a bequest of $400,000 for the foundation and +endowment of a public library in New York City, since known +as the Astor library, and since 1895 part of the New York public +library.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Parton’s <i>Life of John Jacob Astor</i> (New York, 1865).</p> +</div> + +<p>His eldest son, <span class="sc">William Backhouse Astor</span> (1792-1875), +inherited the greater part of his father’s fortune, and chiefly by +judicious investments in real estate greatly increased it. He +was sometimes known as the “Landlord of New York.” Under +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page794" id="page794"></a>794</span> +his direction the building for the Astor library was erected, and +to the library he gave about $550,000, including a bequest +of $200,000. His son, <span class="sc">John Jacob Astor</span> (1822-1890), was +also well known as a capitalist and philanthropist, giving +liberally to the Astor library.</p> + +<p>The son of the last named, <span class="sc">William Waldorf Astor</span> (1848-  ), +served in the New York assembly in 1877, and in the state +senate in 1880-81. He was United States minister to Italy from +1882 to 1885. He published two romances, <i>Valentine</i> (1885) and +<i>Sforza</i> (1889). His wealth, arising from property in New York, +where also he built the New Netherland hotel and the Waldorf +hotel, was enormous. In 1890 he removed to England, and in +1899 was naturalized. In 1893 he became proprietor of the <i>Pall +Mall Gazette</i>, and afterwards started the <i>Pall Mall Magazine</i>.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTORGA, EMANUELE D’<a name="ar174" id="ar174"></a></span> (1681-1736), Italian musical +composer, was born at Naples on the 11th of December 1681. +No authentic account of Astorga’s life can be successfully constructed +from the obscure and confusing evidence that has been +until now handed down, although historians have not failed to +indulge many pleasant conjectures. According to some of these, +his father, a baron of Sicily, took an active part in the attempt +to throw off the Spanish yoke, but was betrayed by his own +soldiers and publicly executed. His wife and son were compelled +to be spectators of his fate; and such was the effect upon them +that his mother died on the spot, and Emanuele fell into a state +of gloomy despondency, which threatened to deprive him of +reason. By the kindness of the princess Ursini, the unfortunate +young man was placed in a convent at Astorga, in Leon, where +he completed a musical education which is said to have been +begun in Palermo under Francesco Scarlatti. Here he recovered +his health, and his admirable musical talents were cultivated +under the best masters. On the details of this account no +reliance can safely be placed, nor is there any certainty that in +1703 he entered the service of the duke of Parma. Equally untrustworthy +is the story that the duke, suspecting an attachment +between hi? niece Elizabeth Farnese and Astorga, dismissed +the musician. The established facts concerning Astorga are +indeed few enough. They are: that the opera <i>Dafne</i> was +written and conducted by the composer in Barcelona in 1709; +that he visited London, where he wrote his <i>Stabat Mater</i>, possibly +for the society of “Antient Musick”; that it was performed in +Oxford in 1713; that in 1712 he was in Vienna, and that he +retired at an uncertain date to Bohemia, where he died on the +21st of August 1736, in a castle which had been given to him in +the domains of Prince Lobkowitz, in Raudnitz. Astorga deserves +remembrance for his dignified and pathetic <i>Stabat Mater</i>, and +for his numerous chamber-cantatas for one or two voices. He +was probably the last composer to carry on the traditions +of this form of chamber-music as perfected by Alessandro +Scarlatti.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTORGA,<a name="ar175" id="ar175"></a></span> a city of N.W. Spain, in the province of Leon; +situated near the right bank of the river Tuerto, and at the +junction of the Salamanca-Corunna and Leon-Astorga railways. +Pop. (1900) 5573. Astorga was the Roman Asturica Augusta, a +provincial capital, and the meeting-place of four military roads. +Though sacked by the Goths in the 5th century, and later by the +Moors, it is still surrounded by massive walls of Roman origin. +A ruined castle, near the city, recalls its strategic importance in +the 8th century, when Asturias, Galicia and Leon were the +headquarters of resistance to the Moors. Astorga has been the +see of a bishop since the 3rd century, and was formerly known as +the City of Priests, from the number of ecclesiastics resident +within its walls. Its Gothic cathedral dates from the 15th +century. The city confers the title of marquis on the Osorio +family, the ruins of whose palace, sacked in 1810 by the French, +are still an object of interest.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>For the history, especially the ecclesiastical history, of Astorga, +see the anonymous <i>Historia de la ciudad de Astorga</i> (Valladolid, +1840); with <i>Fundación de la ... iglesia ... de Astorga</i>, by P.A. +Ezpeleta (Madrid, 1634); and <i>Fundación, nombre y armas de ... +Astorga</i>, by P. Junco (Pamplona, 1635).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTORIA,<a name="ar176" id="ar176"></a></span> a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of +Clatsop county, Oregon, U.S.A., on the Columbia river, 8 m. +from its mouth. Pop. (1890) 6184; (1900) 8381, of whom 3779 +were foreign-born (many being Finns,—a Finnish weekly was +established here in 1905), and 601 were Chinese; (1910, census) +9599. It is served by the Astoria & Columbia River railroad +(Northern Pacific System), and by several coastwise and foreign +steamship lines (including that of the Oregon Railway & Navigation +Co.). The river here is about 6 m. wide, and the city has a +water-front of about 5 m. and a deep, spacious and placid +harbour. By dredging and the construction of jetties the Federal +government has since 1885 greatly improved the channel at the +mouth of the river. The business portion of the city occupies the +low ground of the river bottom; the residence portion is on the +hillsides overlooking the harbour. Astoria is the port of entry +for the Oregon Customs District, Oregon; in 1907 its imports +were valued at $21,262, and its exports at $329,103. The city +is especially important as a salmon fishing and packing centre +(cod, halibut and smaller fish also being abundant); it has also +an extensive lumber trade, important lumber manufactories, +pressed brick and terra-cotta factories, and dairy interests. In +1905 the value of the factory product was $3,092,628 (of which +$1,759,871 was the value of preserved and canned fish), being +an increase of 41.8% in five years. Astoria is the oldest American +settlement in the Columbia Valley. It was founded in 1811, as a +depot for the fur trade, by John Jacob Astor, in whose honour +it was named. It was seized by the British in 1813, but was +restored in 1818. In 1821, while occupied by the North-West +Fur Company, it was burned and practically abandoned, only +a few settlers remaining. It was chartered as a city in 1876.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Washington Irving’s <i>Astoria; or Anecdotes of an Enterprise +beyond the Rocky Mountains</i> (Philadelphia, 1836).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTRAEA,<a name="ar177" id="ar177"></a></span> in Greek legend, the “star maiden,” daughter of +Zeus and Themis, or of Astraeus the Titan and Eos, in which case +she is identified with Dikē. During the golden age she remained +among men distributing blessings, but when the iron (or bronze) +age came on, she was forced to withdraw, being the last of the +goddesses to quit the earth. In the heavens she is amongst the +signs of the zodiac as the constellation Virgo. She is usually +represented with a pair of scales and a crown of stars.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Ov. <i>Met.</i> i. 150; Juv. vi. 19; Aratus, <i>Phaenomena</i>, 96.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTRAGAL<a name="ar178" id="ar178"></a></span> (from the Gr. <span class="grk" title="astragalos">ἀστράγαλος</span>, the ankle-joint), an +architectural term for a convex moulding. This term is generally +applied to small mouldings, “torus” (<i>q.v.</i>) to large ones of +the same form. The Lesbian astragal referred to by Vitruvius, +bk. iv. ch. vi., was in all probability an astragal carved with a +bead and reel enrichment.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTRAKHAN,<a name="ar179" id="ar179"></a></span> a government of S.E. Russia, on the lower +Volga, bounded N. by the governments of Samara and Saratov, +W. by Saratov and the government of the Don Cossacks, S. by +Stavropol and Terek, and E. by the Caspian Sea and the government +of the Urals. Area, 91,327 sq. m., of which 6730 sq. m. +belong to the delta of the Volga and its brackish lagoons, and +62,290 sq. m. are covered by the Kalmuck and Kirghiz Steppes. +The surface is a low-lying plain, except that in the west the +Ergeni Hills (500-575 ft.) form the water-parting between the +Volga basin and that of the Don. The climate is very hot and +dry, the average temperature for the year being 50° Fahr., for +January 21°, and for July 78°, rainfall 7.3 in., but often there +is no rain at all in the summer. Pop. (1897) 1,005,460, of whom +132,383 were urban. The Kalmucks (138,580 in 1897) and +Kirghiz (260,000) are semi-nomads. In addition to them the +population includes nearly 44,000 Tatars, 4270 Armenians, with +Poles and Jews. Fishing off the mouth of the Volga gives +occupation to 50,000 persons; the fish, chiefly herrings and +sturgeon, together with the caviare prepared from the latter, are +sold for the most part at Nizhniy-Novgorod. Over 300,000 tons +of salt are extracted annually from the lakes, principally those +of Baskunchak and Elton. Cattle-breeding is an important +industry. Market-gardening (mustard, water-melons, fruit) is +on the increase; but pure agriculture is relatively not much +developed. The government is divided into five districts, the +chief towns of which are Astrakhan, Enotayevsk (pop. 2810 +in 1897), Krasnyi-yar (4680), Chernyi-yar (5140), and Tsarev +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page795" id="page795"></a>795</span> +(8900). The Kalmucks and Kirghiz have their own local +administrations, and so have the Astrakhan Cossacks (25,600).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTRAKHAN,<a name="ar180" id="ar180"></a></span> a town of E. Russia, capital of the government +of Astrakhan, on the left bank of the main channel of the Volga, +50 m. from the Caspian Sea, in 46° 21′ N. lat. and 48° 5′ E. long. +Since the growth of the petroleum industry of Baku and the +construction of the Transcaspian railway, Astrakhan has become +an important commercial centre, exporting fish, caviare, sugar, +metals, naphtha, cottons and woollens, and importing grain, +cotton, fruit and timber, to the aggregate value of £8,250,000 +with foreign countries and of £14,500,000 with the interior of +Russia. The town gives its name to the “fur” called “astrakhan,” +the skin of the new-born Persian lamb, and so to an +imitation in rough woollen cloth. There is some tanning, +shipbuilding and brewing, and making of soap, tar and machinery. +Astrakhan is the chief port on the Caspian Sea and the +headquarters of the Russian Caspian fleet. The city consists +of (1) the <i>kreml</i> or citadel (1550), crowning a hill, on which +stand also the spacious brick cathedral containing the tombs +of two Georgian princes, the archbishop’s palace and the +monastery of the Trinity; (2) the Byelogorod or White Town, +containing the administrative offices and the bazaars; and (3) +the suburbs, where most of the population resides. The buildings +in the first two quarters are of stone, in the third of wood, +irregularly arranged along unpaved, dirty streets. The city is the see +of a Greek Catholic archbishop and of an Armenian archbishop, +and contains a Lamaist monastery, as well as technical schools, +an ichthyological museum, the Peter museum, with ethnographical, +archaeological and natural history collections, a +botanical garden, an ecclesiastical seminary, and good squares +and public gardens, one of which is adorned with a statue (1884) +of Alexander II. Vineyards surround the city. Astrakhan was +anciently the capital of a Tatar state, and stood some 7 m. +farther north. After this was destroyed by the Mongol prince +Timur the Great in 1395, the existing city was built. The Tatars +were expelled about 1554 by Ivan IV. of Russia. In 1569 the +city was besieged by the Turks, but they were defeated with +great slaughter by the Russians. In 1670 it was seized by the +rebel Stenka Razin; early in the following century Peter the +Great constructed here a shipbuilding yard and made Astrakhan +the base for his hostilities against Persia, and later in the same +century Catherine II. accorded the city important industrial +privileges. In 1702, 1718 and 1767, it suffered severely from +fires; in 1719 was plundered by the Persians; and in 1830 the +cholera swept away a large number of its people. In the middle +ages the city was known also as Jitarkhan and Ginterkhan. +Pop. (1867) 47,839; (1900) 121,580. Eight miles above Astrakhan, +on the right bank of the Volga, are the ruins of two ancient +cities superimposed one upon the other. In the upper, which +may represent the city of Balanjar (Balansar, Belenjer), have +been found gold and silver coins struck by Mongol rulers, as well +as ornaments in the same metals. The older and scantier +underlying ruins are supposed to be those of the once large and +prosperous city of Itil or Atel (Etel, Idl) of the Arab geographers, +a residence of the khan of the Khazars, destroyed by the Russians +in 969.</p> +<div class="author">(P. A. K.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTROLABE<a name="ar181" id="ar181"></a></span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="astron">ἄστρον</span>, star, and <span class="grk" title="labein">λαβῖν</span>, to take), an +instrument used not only for stellar, but for solar and lunar +altitude-taking. The principle of the astrolabe is explained in +fig. 2. There were two kinds,—spherical and planispheric. +The earliest forms were “armillae” and spherical. Gradually, +from Eratosthenes to Tycho, Hipparchus playing the most +important part among ancient astronomers, the complex astrolabe +was evolved, large specimens being among the chief observatory +instruments of the 15th, 16th and even 17th centuries; +while small ones were in use among travellers and learned men, +not only for astronomical, but for astrological and topographical +purposes. Nearly every one of the modern instruments used for +the observations of physical astronomy is a part of the perfected +astrolabe. A collection of circles such as is the armillary sphere, +if each circle were fitted with a view-tube, might be considered +a complete astrolabe. Tycho’s armillae were astrolabes. In +fact the modern equatorial, and the altitude and azimuth circle +are astrolabes in the strictest and oldest meaning of the term; +and Tycho in one of his astrolabes came so near the modern +equatorial that it may be taken as the first of the kind.</p> + +<p class="pt2 noind f90 sc">Plate.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="clear: both;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figcenter" colspan="2"><img style="width:1012px; height:743px" src="images/img794.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption" colspan="2"><span class="sc">Fig.</span> 1.—PERSIAN ASTROLABE (<i>c.</i> 1712) INSCRIBED IN ARABIC.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcl f90"><span class="sc">Front</span>, showing the <i>Rete</i> or <i>Spider</i>, a network of star +pointers. Beneath the <i>Rete</i>, in a hollow, are four thin brass +discs, called Tables or Climates, engraved with projections of the +sphere for different latitudes.</td> +<td class="tcl f90"><span class="sc">Back</span>, showing graduations, parallelogram for measuring heights; +and other tables, together with the <i>Rule</i> with sights (A) +held by a moveable pin (B), known as the <i>Horse</i> or <i>Wedge</i>.</td></tr></table> + +<table class="nobctr pt2" style="clear: both;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figcenter"><img style="width:156px; height:103px" src="images/img795a.jpg" alt="" /></td> +<td class="tcl f90"><br /><br /><span class="sc">Fig.</span> 2.—Principle of the Astrolabe. If a solid circle be fixed +in any one position and a tube be pivoted on its centre so as to +move; and if the line C D be drawn upon the circle pointing +towards any object Q in the heavens which lies in the plane of +the circle, by turning the tube A B towards any other object +P in the plane of the circle, the angle BOD will be the angle +subtended by the two objects P and Q at the eye.</td></tr></table> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: right; width: 290px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figright1"><img style="width:237px; height:277px" src="images/img795b.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption80">From <i>Exercises</i>, by T. Blundeville.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption1"><span class="sc">Fig.</span> 3.—Mariner’s Astrolabe, <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 1594. Made of brass, or of heavy +wood: it varied in size from a few inches to 1 ft. in diameter.</td></tr></table> + +<p>The two forms of the planispheric astrolabe most widely +known and used in the 15th, 16th and even 17th centuries were: +(1) the <i>portable astrolabe</i> shown in +fig. 1 (Plate). This originated in +the East, and was in early use +in India, Persia and Arabia, and +was introduced into Europe by +the Arabs, who had perfected +it—perhaps as early as <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 700. +It combines the planisphere and +armillae of Hipparchus and +others, and the theodolite of +Theon, and was usually of brass, +varying in diameter from a +couple of inches to a foot or +more. It was used for taking the +altitudes of sun, moon and +stars; for calculating latitude; +for determining the points of the +compass, and time; for ascertaining +heights of mountains, &c.; +and for construction of horoscopes. +The instrument was a marvel of convenience and +ingenuity, and was called “the mathematical jewel.” Nevertheless +it passed out of use, because incapable of any great precision.</p> + +<p>(2) The <i>mariner’s astrolabe</i>, fig. 3, was adapted from that of +astronomers by Martin Behaim, <i>c.</i> 1480. This was the instrument +used by Columbus. With the tables of the sun’s declination +then available, he could calculate his latitude by meridian +altitudes of the sun taken with his astrolabe. The mariner’s +astrolabe was superseded by John Hadley’s quadrant of 1731.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—Chaucer, <i>Treatise on the Astrolabe</i> (Skeat’s edition +of Chaucer); J.J. Stöffler, <i>Elucidatio Fabrice ususque Astrolabii</i>, +&c.; Thomas Blundeville, <i>His Exercises</i> (1594); +F. Ritter, <i>Astrolabium</i>; +W.H. Morley, <i>Description of Astrolabe of Shah Husain</i>; +M.L. Huggins, “The Astrolabe” (<i>Astrophysical Journal</i>, 1894); +<i>Penny Cyclopaedia</i>, article “Astrolabe;” +R. Grant, <i>History of Physical Astronomy</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(M. L. H.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTROLOGY,<a name="ar182" id="ar182"></a></span> the ancient art or science of divining the fate +and future of human beings from indications given by the positions +of the stars (sun, moon and planets). The belief in a +connexion between the heavenly bodies and the life of man has +played an important part in human history. For long ages +astronomy and astrology (which might be called astromancy, +on the same principle as “chiromancy”) were identified; and +a distinction is made between “natural astrology,” which predicts +the motions of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, &c., and +“judicial astrology,” which studies the influence of the stars on +human destiny. Isidore of Seville (d. 636) is one of the first to +distinguish between astronomy and astrology; nor did astronomy +begin to rid itself of astrology till the 16th century, when, with +the system of Copernicus, the conviction that the earth itself is +one of the heavenly bodies was finally established. The study of +astromancy and the belief in it, as part of astronomy, is found +in a developed form among the ancient Babylonians, and +directly or indirectly through the Babylonians spread to other +nations. It came to Greece about the middle of the 4th century +<span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and reached Rome before the opening of the Christian +era. In India and China astronomy and astrology are largely +reflections of Greek theories and speculations; and similarly with +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page796" id="page796"></a>796</span> +the introduction of Greek culture into Egypt, both astronomy +and astrology were actively cultivated in the region of the Nile +during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Astrology was +further developed by the Arabs from the 7th to the 13th century, +and in the Europe of the 14th and 15th centuries astrologers +were dominating influences at court.</p> + +<p>Even up to the present day men of intellectual eminence like +Dr Richard Garnett have convinced themselves that astromancy +has a foundation of truth, just as there are still believers in +chiromancy or other forms of divination. Dr Garnett (“A.G. Trent”) +insisted indeed that it was a mistake to confuse astrology +with fortune-telling, and maintained that it was a “physical +science just as much as geology,” depending like them on +ascertained facts, and grossly misrepresented by being connected +with magic. Dr Garnett himself looked upon the study of biography +in relation to the casting of horoscopes as an empirical +investigation, but it is difficult in practice to keep the distinction +clear, to judge by present-day text-books such as those of Dr +Wilde (<i>Primer of Astrology</i>, &c.). Dr Wilde insists on there being +“nothing incongruous with the laws of nature in the theory +that the sun, moon and stars influence men’s physical bodies +and conditions, seeing that man is made up of a physical part +of the earth.” There is an obvious tendency, however, for +astromancy to be employed, like palmistry, as a means of +imposing on the ignorant and credulous. How far the more +serious claim is likely to be revived in connexion with the +renewal of research into the “occult” sciences generally, it is +still too early to speculate; and it has to be recognized that +such a point of view is opposed to the generally established +belief that astrology is either mere superstition or absolute +imposture, and that its former vogue was due either to deception +or to the tyranny of an unscientific environment. But if the +progress of physical science has not prevented the rehabilitation +of much of ancient alchemy by the later researches into chemical +change, and if psychology now finds a place for explanations of +spiritualism and witchcraft which involve the admission of the +empirical facts under a new theory (as in the case of the +divining-rod, &c.), it is at least conceivable that some new synthesis +might once more justify part at all events of ancient and medieval +astromancy, to the extent of admitting the empirical facts where +provable, and substituting for the supposed influence of the stars +as such, some deeper theory which would be consistent with an +application to other forms of prophecy, and thus might reconcile +the possibility of dipping into futurity with certain +interrelations of the universe, different indeed from those assumed +by astrological theory, but underlying and explaining it. If +this is ever accomplished it will need the patient investigation +of a number of empirical observations by competent students +unbiassed by any <i>parti pris</i>—a difficult set of conditions to +obtain; and even then no definite results may be achieved.</p> + +<p>The history of astrology can now be traced back to ancient +Babylonia, and indeed to the earliest phases of Babylonian +history, <i>i.e.</i> to about 3000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> In Babylonia as well as in Assyria +as a direct offshoot of Babylonian culture (or as we might also +term it “Euphratean” culture), astrology takes its place in the +official cult as one of the two chief means at the disposal of the +priests (who were called <i>bārē</i> or “inspectors”) for ascertaining +the will and intention of the gods, the other being through the +inspection of the liver of the sacrificial animal (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Omen</a></span>). Just +as this latter method of divination rested on a well-defined theory, +to wit, that the liver was the seat of the soul of the animal and +that the deity in accepting the sacrifice identified himself with +the animal, whose “soul” was thus placed in complete accord +with that of the god and therefore reflected the mind and will +of the god, so astrology is based on a theory of divine government +of the world, which in contrast to “liver” divination assumes +at the start a more scientific or pseudo-scientific aspect. This +theory must be taken into consideration as a factor in accounting +for the persistent hold which even at the present day astrology +still maintains on many minds. Starting with the indisputable +fact that man’s life and happiness are largely dependent upon +phenomena in the heavens, that the fertility of the soil is dependent +upon the sun shining in the heavens as well as upon the +rains that come from heaven, that on the other hand the mischief +and damage done by storms and inundations, to both of which +the Euphratean Valley was almost regularly subject, were to be +traced likewise to the heavens, the conclusion was drawn that +all the great gods had their seats in the heavens. In that early +age of culture known as the “nomadic” stage, which under +normal conditions precedes the “agricultural” stage, the moon +cult is even more prominent than sun worship, and with the +moon and sun cults thus furnished by the “popular” faith it +was a natural step for the priests, who correspond to the “scientists” +of a later day, to perfect a theory of a complete accord +between phenomena observed in the heavens and occurrences on +earth.</p> + +<p>If moon and sun, whose regular movements conveyed to the +more intelligent minds the conception of the reign of law and +order in the universe as against the more popular notion of +chance and caprice, were divine powers, the same held good +of the planets, whose movements, though more difficult to +follow, yet in the course of time came to be at least partially +understood. Of the planets five were recognized—Jupiter, +Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Mars—to name them in the order +in which they appear in the older cuneiform literature; in later +texts Mercury and Saturn change places. These five planets +were identified with the great gods of the pantheon as +follows:—Jupiter with Marduk (<i>q.v.</i>), Venus with the goddess Ishtar (<i>q.v.</i>), +Saturn with Ninib (<i>q.v.</i>), Mercury with Nebo (<i>q.v.</i>), +and Mars with Nergal (<i>q.v.</i>). The movements of the sun, moon and five +planets were regarded as representing the activity of the five +gods in question, together with the moon-god Sin (<i>q.v.</i>) and the +sun-god Shamash (<i>q.v.</i>), in preparing the occurrences on earth. +If, therefore, one could correctly read and interpret the activity +of these powers, one knew what the gods were aiming to bring +about. The Babylonian priests accordingly applied themselves +to the task of perfecting a system of interpretation of the +phenomena to be observed in the heavens, and it was natural that the +system was extended from the moon, sun and five planets to the +more prominent and recognizable fixed stars. That system involved +not merely the movements of the moon, sun and planets, +but the observation of their relative position to one another and +to all kinds of peculiarities noted at any point in the course of +their movements: in the case of the moon, for instance, the +exact appearance of the new crescent, its position in the heavens, +the conditions at conjunction and opposition, the appearance +of the horns, the halo frequently seen with the new moon, +which was compared to a “cap,” the ring round the full moon, +which was called a “stall” (<i>i.e.</i> “enclosure”), and more of the +like. To all these phenomena some significance was attached, +and this significance was naturally intensified in the case of +such a striking phenomenon as an eclipse of the moon. Applying +the same method of careful observation to the sun and planets, +and later to some of the constellations and to many of the fixed +stars, it will be apparent that the body of observations noted +must have grown in the course of time to large and indeed to +enormous proportions, and correspondingly the interpretations +assigned to the nearly endless variations in the phenomena thus +observed. The interpretations themselves were based (as in the +case of divination through the liver) chiefly on two +factors:—(1) on the recollection or on written records of what +in the past had taken place when the phenomenon or phenomena +in question had been observed, and (2) association of +ideas—involving sometimes merely a play upon words—in +connexion with the phenomenon or phenomena observed. Thus if on a certain +occasion the rise of the new moon in a cloudy sky was followed +by victory over an enemy or by abundant rain, the sign in +question was thus proved to be a favourable one and its recurrence +would be regarded as a good omen, though the prognostication +would not necessarily be limited to the one or the other of +those occurrences, but might be extended to apply to other +circumstances. On the other hand, the appearance of the new +moon earlier than was expected was regarded as an unfavourable +omen—prognosticating in one case defeat, in another death +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page797" id="page797"></a>797</span> +among cattle, in a third bad crops—not necessarily because +these events actually took place after such a phenomenon, but +by an application of the general principle resting upon association +of ideas whereby anything premature would suggest an +unfavourable occurrence. A thin halo seen above the new moon +was pictured as a cap, and the association between this and the +symbol of royalty, which was a conical-shaped cap, led to +interpreting the phenomenon as an indication that the ruler +would have a successful reign. In this way a mass of traditional +interpretation of all kinds of observed phenomena was gathered, +and once gathered became a guide to the priests for all times.</p> + +<p>Astrology in this its earliest stage is, however, marked by two +characteristic limitations. In the first place, the movements +and position of the heavenly bodies point to such occurrences +as are of public import and affect the general welfare. The +individual’s interests are not in any way involved, and we must +descend many centuries and pass beyond the confines of +Babylonia and Assyria before we reach that phase which in +medieval and modern astrology is almost exclusively dwelt +upon—genethliology or the individual horoscope. In Babylonia and +Assyria the cult centred largely and indeed almost exclusively +in the public welfare and the person of the king, because +upon his well-being and favour with the gods the fortunes of +the country were dependent in accordance with the ancient +conception of kingship (see J.G. Frazer, <i>The Early History of +Kingship</i>). To some extent, the individual came in for his +share in the incantations and in the purification ritual through +which one might hope to rid oneself of the power of the demons +and of other evil spirits, but outside of this the important aim +of the priests was to secure for the general benefit the favour of +the gods, or, as a means of preparing oneself for what the future +had in store, to ascertain in time whether that favour would be +granted in any particular instance or would be continued in the +future. Hence in “liver” divination, as in astrology, the +interpretations of the signs noted all have reference to public +affairs and events and not to the individual’s needs or desires. +In the second place, the astronomical knowledge presupposed +and accompanying early Babylonian astrology is essentially of +an empirical character. While in a general way the reign of law +and order in the movements of the heavenly bodies was recognized, +and indeed must have exercised an influence at an early +period in leading to the rise of a methodical divination that was +certainly of a much higher order than the examination of an +animal’s liver, yet the importance that was laid upon the endless +variations in the form of the phenomena and the equally numerous +apparent deviations from what were regarded as normal conditions, +prevented for a long time the rise of any serious study of +astronomy beyond what was needed for the purely practical +purposes that the priests as “inspectors” of the heavens (as +they were also the “inspectors” of the sacrificial livers) had in +mind. True, we have, probably as early as the days of Khammurabi, +<i>i.e.</i> <i>c.</i> 2000 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, the combinations of prominent groups +of stars with outlines of pictures fantastically put together, but +there is no evidence that prior to 700 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> more than a number +of the constellations of our zodiac had become part of the +current astronomy. The theory of the ecliptic as representing +the course of the sun through the year, divided among twelve +constellations with a measurement of 30° to each division, is +also of Babylonian origin, as has now been definitely proved; +but it does not appear to have been perfected until after the fall +of the Babylonian empire in 539 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Similarly, the other +accomplishments of Babylonian astronomers, such as their +system or rather systems of moon calculations and the drawing +up of planetary tablets, belong to this late period, so that the +golden age of Babylonian astronomy belongs not to the remote +past, as was until recently supposed, but to the Seleucid period, +<i>i.e.</i> after the advent of the Greeks in the Euphrates Valley. +From certain expressions used in astrological texts that are +earlier than the 7th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> it would appear, indeed, that +the beginnings at least of the calculation of sun and moon +eclipses belong to the earlier period, but here, too, the chief +work accomplished was after 400 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and the defectiveness of +early Babylonian astronomy may be gathered from the fact that +as late as the 6th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> an error of almost an entire month +was made by the Babylonian astronomers in the attempt to +determine through calculation the beginning of a certain year.</p> + +<p>The researches of Bouché-Leclercq, Cumont and Boll have +enabled us to fix with a considerable degree of definiteness the +middle of the 4th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> as the period when Babylonian +astrology began its triumphal march to the west, invading the +domain of Greek and Roman culture and destined to exercise +a strong hold on all nations and groups—more particularly in +Egypt—that came within the sphere of Greek and Roman +influence. It is rather significant that this spread of astrology +should have been concomitant with the intellectual impulse that +led to the rise of a genuine scientific phase of astronomy in +Babylonia itself, which must have weakened to some extent +the hold that astrology had on the priests and the people. The +advent of the Persians, bringing with them a conception of religion +of a far higher order than Babylonian-Assyrian polytheism (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Zoroaster</a></span>), must also have acted as a disintegrating factor +in leading to the decline of the old faith in the Euphrates +Valley, and we thus have the interesting though not entirely +exceptional phenomenon of a great civilization bequeathing as +a legacy to posterity a superstition instead of a real achievement. +“Chaldaean wisdom” became among Greeks and Romans the +synonym of divination through the planets and stars, and it is +not surprising that in the course of time to be known as a +“Chaldaean” carried with it frequently the suspicion of +charlatanry and of more or less wilful deception. The spread of +astrology beyond Babylonia is thus concomitant with the rise +of a truly scientific astronomy in Babylonia itself, which in turn +is due to the intellectual impulse afforded by the contact with +new forms of culture from both the East and the West.</p> + +<p>In the hands of the Greeks and of the later Egyptians both +astrology and astronomy were carried far beyond the limits +attained by the Babylonians, and it is indeed a matter of surprise +to observe the harmonious combination of the two fields—a +harmony that seems to grow more complete with each age, and +that is not broken until we reach the threshold of modern science +in the 16th century. To the Greek astronomer Hipparchus +belongs the credit of the discovery (<i>c.</i> 130 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) of the theory of +the precession of the equinoxes, for a knowledge of which among +the Babylonians we find no definite proof; but such a signal +advance in pure science did not prevent the Greeks from developing +in a most elaborate manner the theory of the influence of the +planets upon the fate of the individual. The endeavour to trace +the horoscope of the individual from the position of the planets +and stars at the time of birth (or, as was attempted by other +astrologers, at the time of conception) represents the most +significant contribution of the Greeks to astrology. The system +was carried to such a degree of perfection that later ages made +but few additions of an essential character to the genethliology +or drawing up of the individual horoscope by the Greek +astrologers. The system was taken up almost bodily by the Arab +astronomers, it was embodied in the Kabbalistic lore of Jews and +Christians, and through these and other channels came to be the +substance of the astrology of the middle ages, forming, as already +pointed out, under the designation of “judicial astrology,” a +pseudo-science which was placed on a perfect footing of equality +with “natural astrology” or the more genuine science of the +study of the motions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies.</p> + +<p>Partly in further development of views unfolded in Babylonia, +but chiefly under Greek influences, the scope of astrology was +enlarged until it was brought into connexion with practically all +of the known sciences, botany, chemistry, zoology, mineralogy, +anatomy and medicine. Colours, metals, stones, plants, drugs +and animal life of all kinds were associated with the planets and +placed under their tutelage. In the system that passes under the +name of Ptolemy, Saturn is associated with grey, Jupiter with +white, Mars with red, Venus with yellow, while Mercury, occupying +a peculiar place in Greek as it did in Babylonian astrology +(where it was at one time designated as <i>the</i> planet <i>par +excellence</i>), was supposed to vary its colour according to changing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page798" id="page798"></a>798</span> +circumstances. The sun was associated with gold, the moon with +silver, Jupiter with electrum, Saturn with lead, Venus with copper, +and so on, while the continued influence of astrological motives +is to be seen in the association of quicksilver, upon its discovery +at a comparatively late period, with Mercury, because of its +changeable character as a solid and a liquid. In the same way +stones were connected with both the planets and the months; +plants, by diverse association of ideas, were connected with the +planets, and animals likewise were placed under the guidance +and protection of one or other of the heavenly bodies. By this +curious process of combination the entire realm of the natural +sciences was translated into the language of astrology with the +single avowed purpose of seeing in all phenomena signs indicative +of what the future had in store. The fate of the individual, as +that feature of the future which had a supreme interest, led to +the association of the planets with parts of the body. Here, too, +we find various systems devised, in part representing the views +of different schools, in part reflecting advancing conceptions +regarding the functions of the organs in man and animals. In +one system the seat of Mercury, representing divine intelligence as +the source of all knowledge—a view that reverts to Babylonia +where Nebo (corresponding to Mercury) was regarded as the +divine power to whom all wisdom is due—was placed in the liver +as the primeval seat of the soul (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Omen</a></span>), whereas in other +systems this distinction was assigned to Jupiter or to Venus. +Saturn, taking in Greek astrology the place at the head of the +planets which among the Babylonians was accorded to Jupiter-Marduk, +was given a place in the brain, which in later times was +looked upon as the centre of soul-life; Venus, as the planet of +the passion of love, was supposed to reign supreme over the +genital organs, the belly and the lower limbs; Mars, as the +violent planet, is associated with the bile, as well as with the +blood and kidneys. Again, the right ear is associated with +Saturn, the left ear with Mars, the right eye in the case of the male +with the sun and the left eye with the moon, while in the case +of the female it was just the reverse. From the planets the same +association of ideas was applied to the constellations of the +zodiac, which in later phases of astrology are placed on a par +with the planets themselves, so far as their importance for the +individual horoscope is concerned. The fate of the individual +in this combination of planets with the zodiac was made +dependent not merely upon the planet which happened to be +rising at the time of birth or of conception, but also upon its +local relationship to a special sign or to certain signs of the zodiac. +The zodiac was regarded as the prototype of the human body, +the different parts of which all had their corresponding section +in the zodiac itself. The head was placed in the first sign of the +zodiac—the Ram; and the feet in the last sign—the Fishes. +Between these two extremes the other parts and organs of the +body were distributed among the remaining signs of the zodiac, +the neck being assigned to the Bull, the shoulders and arms to +the Gemini (or twins), the breast to Cancer, the flanks to Leo, +the bladder to Virgo, the buttocks to the Balance, the pubis to +the Scorpion, the thighs to Sagittarius, the knees to Capricorn, +and the limbs to Aquarius. Not content with this, we find the +late Egyptian astrologers setting up a correspondence between +the thirty-six <i>decani</i> recognized by them and the human body, +which is thus divided into thirty-six parts; to each part a god +was assigned as a controlling force. With human anatomy thus +connected with the planets, with constellations, and with single +stars, medicine became an integral part of astrology, or, +as we might also put it, astrology became the handmaid of +medicine. Diseases and disturbances of the ordinary functions +of the organs were attributed to the influence of planets or +explained as due to conditions observed in a constellation or in +the position of a star; and an interesting survival of this bond +between astrology and medicine is to be seen in the use up to +the present time of the sign of Jupiter ♃, which still heads +medicinal prescriptions, while, on the other hand, the influence +of planetary lore appears in the assignment of the days of the +week to the planets, beginning with Sunday, assigned to the sun, +and ending with Saturday, the day of Saturn. Passing on into +still later periods, Saturn’s day was associated with the Jewish +sabbath, Sunday with the Lord’s Day, Tuesday with Tiw, the +god of war, corresponding to Mars of the Romans and to the +Nergal of the Babylonians. Wednesday was assigned to the +planet Mercury, the equivalent of the Germanic god Woden; +Thursday to Jupiter, the equivalent of Thor; and Friday to +Friga, the goddess of love, who is represented by Venus among +the Romans and among the Babylonians by Ishtar. Astrological +considerations likewise already regulated in ancient Babylonia +the distinction of lucky and unlucky days, which passing down +to the Greeks and Romans (<i>dies fasti</i> and <i>nefasti</i>) found a +striking expression in Hesiod’s <i>Works and Days</i>. Among the Arabs +similar associations of lucky and unlucky days directly connected +with the influence of the planets prevailed through all times, +Tuesday and Wednesday, for instance, being regarded as the +days for blood-letting, because Tuesday was connected with +Mars, the lord of war and blood, and Wednesday with Mercury, +the planet of humours. Even in modern times travellers relate +how, when an auspicious day has been proclaimed by the astrologers, +the streets of Bagdad may be seen running with blood +from the barbers’ shops.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary here to give a detailed analysis of the methods +of judicial astrology as an art, or directions for the casting of a +horoscope, or “nativity,” <i>i.e.</i> a map of the heavens at the hour +of birth, showing, according to the Ephemeris, the position of +the heavenly bodies, from which their influence may be deduced. +Each of the twelve signs of the zodiac (<i>q.v.</i>) is credited with its +own characteristics and influence, and is the controlling sign of +its “house of life.” The sign exactly rising at the moment of +birth is called the ascendant. The benevolent or malignant +influence of each planet, together with the sun and moon, is +modified by the sign it inhabits at the nativity; thus Jupiter +in one house may indicate riches, fame in another, beauty in +another, and Saturn similarly poverty, obscurity or deformity. +The calculation is affected by the “aspects,” <i>i.e.</i> according as +the planets are near or far as regards one another (in conjunction, +in semi-sextile, semi-square, sextile, quintile, square, trine, +sesqui-quadrate, bi-quintile, opposition or parallel acclination). +Disastrous signs predominate over auspicious, and the various +effects are combined in a very elaborate and complicated manner.</p> + +<p>Judicial astrology, as a form of divination, is a concomitant +of natural astrology, in its purer astronomical aspect, but mingled +with what is now considered an unscientific and superstitious +view of world-forces. In the <i>Janua aurea reserata quatuor +linguarum</i> (1643) of J.A. Comenius we find the following +definition:—“<i>Astronomus siderum meatus seu motus considerat: +Astrologus eorundem efficaciam, influxum, et effectum</i>.” Kepler +was more cautious in his opinion; he spoke of astronomy as +the wise mother, and astrology as the foolish daughter, but he +added that the existence of the daughter was necessary to the +life of the mother. Tycho Brahe and Gassendi both began with +astrology, and it was only after pursuing the false science, and +finding it wanting, that Gassendi devoted himself to astronomy. +In their numerous allusions to the subtle mercury, which the one +makes when treating of a means of measuring time by the efflux +of the metal, and the other in a treatise on the transit of the +planet, we see traces of the school in which they served their first +apprenticeship. Huygens, moreover, in his great posthumous +work, <i>Cosmotheoros, seu de terris coelestibus</i>, shows himself a +more exact observer of astrological symbols than Kircher himself +in his <i>Iter exstaticum</i>. Huygens contends that between the +inhabitants of different planets there need not be any greater +difference than exists between men of different types on the earth. +“There are on the earth,” continues this rational interpreter +of the astrologers and chiromancers, “men of cold temperament +who would thrive in Saturn, which is the farthest planet from +the sun, and there are other spirits warm and ardent enough +to live in Venus.”</p> + +<p>Those were indeed strange times, according to modern ideas, +when astrologers were dominant by the terror they inspired, +and sometimes by the martydom they endured when their predictions +were either too true or too false. Faith, to borrow their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page799" id="page799"></a>799</span> +own language, was banished to Virgo, and rarely shed her +influence on men. Cardan (1501-1576), for instance, hated +Luther, and so changed his birthday in order to give him an +unfavourable horoscope. In Cardan’s times, as in those of +Augustus, it was a common practice for men to conceal the day +and hour of their birth, till, like Augustus, they found a complaisant +astrologer. But, as a general rule, medieval and Renaissance +astrologers did not give themselves the trouble of reading +the stars, but contented themselves with telling fortunes by +faces. They practised chiromancy (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Palmistry</a></span>), and relied +on afterwards drawing a horoscope to suit. As physiognomists +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Physiognomy</a></span>) their talent was undoubted, and according to +Vanini there was no need to mount to the house-top to cast a +nativity. “Yes,” he says, “I can read his face; by his hair +and his forehead it is easy to guess that the sun at his birth +was in the sign of Libra and near Venus. Nay, his complexion +shows that Venus touches Libra. By the rules of astrology he +could not lie.”</p> + +<p>A few salient facts may be added concerning the astrologers +and their predictions, remarkable either for their fulfilment or +for the ruin and confusion they brought upon their authors. We +may begin with one taken from Bacon’s <i>Essay of Prophecies</i>:—“When +I was in France, I heard from one Dr Pena, that the +queen mother, who was given to curious arts, caused the king +her husband’s nativitie to be calculated, under a false name; +and the astrologer gave a judgment, that he should be killed in +a duell; at which the queene laughed, thinking her husband to +be above challenges and duels; but he was slaine, upon a course +at tilt, the splinters of the staffe of Mongomery going in at his +bever.” A favourite topic of the astrologers of all countries has +been the immediate end of the world. As early as 1186 the +earth had escaped one threatened cataclysm of the astrologers. +This did not prevent Stöffler from predicting a universal deluge +for the year 1524—a year, as it turned out, distinguished for +drought. His aspect of the heavens told him that in that year +three planets would meet in the aqueous sign of Pisces. The +prediction was believed far and wide, and President Aurial, at +Toulouse, built himself a Noah’s ark—a curious realization, in +fact, of Chaucer’s merry invention in the <i>Miller’s Tale</i>.</p> + +<p>Tycho Brahe was from his fifteenth year devoted to astrology, +and adjoining his observatory at Uranienburg the astronomer-royal +of Denmark had a laboratory built in order to study +alchemy, and it was only a few years before his death that he +finally abandoned astrology. We may here notice one very +remarkable prediction of the master of Kepler. That he had +carefully studied the comet of 1577 as an astronomer, we may +gather from his adducing the very small parallax of this comet +as disproving the assertion of the Aristotelians that a solid +sphere enveloped the heavens. But besides this, we find him +in his character of astrologer drawing a singular prediction from +the appearance of this comet. It announced, he tells us, that in +the north, in Finland, there should be born a prince who should +lay waste Germany and vanish in 1632. Gustavus Adolphus, +it is well known, was born in Finland, overran Germany, and died +in 1632. The fulfilment of the details of this prophecy suggests +that Tycho Brahe had some basis of reason for his prediction. +Born in Denmark of a noble Swedish family, a politician, as were +all his contemporaries of distinction, Tycho, though no conjuror, +could foresee the advent of some great northern hero. Moreover, +he was doubtless well acquainted with a very ancient tradition, +that heroes generally came from the northern frontiers of their +native land, where they are hardened and tempered by the +threefold struggle they wage with soil, climate and barbarian +neighbours.</p> + +<p>Kepler explained the double movement of the earth by the +rotation of the sun. At one time the sun presented its friendly +side, which attracted one planet, sometimes its adverse side, +which repelled it. He also peopled the planets with souls and +genii. He was led to his three great laws by musical analogies, +just as William Herschel afterwards passed from music to +astronomy. Kepler, who in his youth made almanacs, and once +prophesied a hard winter, which came to pass, could not help +putting an astrological interpretation on the disappearance of +the brilliant star of 1572, which Tycho had observed. Theodore +Beza thought that this star, which in December 1573 equalled +Jupiter in brilliancy, predicted the second coming of Christ. +Astronomers were only then beginning to study variable and +periodic stars, and disturbances in that part of the heavens, +which had till then, on the authority of Aristotle, been regarded +as incorruptible, combined with the troubles of the times, must +have given a new stimulus to belief in the signs in heaven. +Montaigne (<i>Essais</i>, lib. i. chap, x.) relates a singular episode +in the history of astrology. Charles V. and Francis I., who both +bid for the friendship of the infamous Aretino, surnamed the +divine, both likewise engaged astrologers to fight their battles. +In Italy those who prophesied the ruin of France were sure to be +listened to. These prophecies affected the public funds much +as telegrams do nowadays. “At Rome,” Montaigne tells us, “a +large sum of money was lost on the Change by this prognostication +of our ruin.” The marquis of Saluces, notwithstanding his +gratitude to Francis I. for the many favours he had received, +including his marquisate, of which the brother was despoiled +for his benefit, was led in 1536 to betray his country, being scared +by the glorious prophecies of the ultimate success of Charles V. +which were then rife. The influence of the Medici made astrologers +popular in France. Richelieu, on whose council was +Jacques Gaffarel (1601-1681), the last of the Kabbalists, did not +despise astrology as an engine of government. At the birth of +Louis XIV. a certain Morin de Villefranche was placed behind +a curtain to cast the nativity of the future autocrat. A generation +back the astrologer would not have been hidden behind a +curtain, but have taken precedence of the doctor. La Bruyère +dares not pronounce against such beliefs, “for there are perplexing +facts affirmed by grave men who were eye-witnesses.” +In England William Lilly and Robert Fludd were both dressed +in a little brief authority. The latter gives us elaborate rules +for the detection of a thief, and tells us that he has had personal +experience of their efficacy. “If the lord of the sixth house is +found in the second house, or in company with the lord of the +second house, the thief is one of the family. If Mercury is in +the sign of the Scorpion he will be bald, &c.” Francis Bacon +abuses the astrologers of his day no less than the alchemists, but +he does so because he has visions of a reformed astrology and a +reformed alchemy. Sir Thomas Browne, too, while he denies +the capacity of the astrologers of his day, does not venture to +dispute the reality of the science. The idea of the souls of men +passing at death to the stars, the blessedness of their particular +sphere being assigned them according to their deserts (the +metempsychosis of J. Reynaud), may be regarded as a survival +of religious astrology, which, even as late as Descartes’s day, +assigned to the angels the task of moving the planets and the stars. +Joseph de Maistre believed in comets as messengers of divine +justice, and in animated planets, and declared that divination +by astrology is not an absolutely chimerical science. Lastly, +we may mention a few distinguished men who ran counter to +their age in denying stellar influences. Aristarchus of Samos, +Martianus Capella (the precursor of Copernicus), Cicero, Favorinus, +Sextus Empiricus, Juvenal, and in a later age Savonarola +and Pico della Mirandola, and La Fontaine, a contemporary of +the neutral La Bruyère, were all pronounced opponents of +astrology.</p> + +<p>In England Swift may fairly claim the credit of having given +the death-blow to astrology by his famous squib, entitled +<i>Prediction for the Year 1708, by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.</i> He begins, +by professing profound belief in the art, and next points out the +vagueness and the absurdities of the philomaths. He then, in +the happiest vein of parody, proceeds to show them a more +excellent way:—“My first prediction is but a trifle, yet I +mention it to show how ignorant these sottish pretenders to +astrology are in their own concerns: it refers to Partridge the +almanac-maker. I have consulted the star of his nativity by +my own rules, and find he will infallibly die upon the 29th of +March next about eleven at night of a raging fever. Therefore +I advise him to consider of it and settle his affairs in time.” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page800" id="page800"></a>800</span> +Then followed a letter to a person of quality giving a full and +particular account of the death of Partridge on the very day +and nearly at the hour mentioned. In vain the wretched +astrologer protested that he was alive, got a literary friend to +write a pamphlet to prove it, and published his almanac for 1709. +Swift, in his reply, abused him for his want of manners in giving +a gentleman the lie, answered his arguments <i>seriatim</i>, and +declared that the evidence of the publication of another almanac +was wholly irrelevant, “for Gadbury, Poor Robin, Dove and +Way do yearly publish their almanacs, though several of them +have been dead since before the Revolution.” Nevertheless a +field is found even to this day for almanacs of a similar type, +and for popular belief in them.</p> + +<p>To astrological politics we owe the theory of heaven-sent rulers, +instruments in the hands of Providence, and saviours of society. +Napoleon, as well as Wallenstein, believed in his star. Many +passages in the older English poets are unintelligible without +some knowledge of astrology. Chaucer wrote a treatise on the +astrolabe; Milton constantly refers to planetary influences; +in Shakespeare’s <i>King Lear</i>, Gloucester and Edmund represent +respectively the old and the new faith. We still <i>contemplate</i> and +consider; we still speak of men as <i>jovial</i>, <i>saturnine</i> or <i>mercurial</i>; +we still talk of the <i>ascendancy</i> of genius, or a <i>disastrous</i> defeat. +In French <i>heur</i>, <i>malheur</i>, <i>heureux</i>, <i>malheureux</i>, are all derived +from the Latin <i>augurium</i>; the expression <i>né sous une mauvaise +étoile</i>, born under an evil star, corresponds (with the change of +<i>étoile</i> into <i>astre</i>) to the word <i>malôtru</i>, in Provençal <i>malastrue</i>; +and <i>son étoile pâlit</i>, his star grows pale, belongs to the same class +of illusions. The Latia <i>ex augurio</i> appears in the Italian <i>sciagura</i>, +<i>sciagurato</i>, softened into <i>sciaura</i>, <i>sciaurato</i>, wretchedness, +wretched. The influence of a particular planet has also left +traces in various languages; but the French and English <i>jovial</i> +and the English <i>saturnine</i> correspond rather to the gods who +served as types in chiromancy than to the planets which bear +the same names. In the case of the expressions <i>bien</i> or <i>mal +luné</i>, well or ill mooned, <i>avoir un quartier de lune dans la tetê</i>, to +have the quarter of the moon in one’s head, the German <i>mondsüchtig</i> +and the English <i>moonstruck</i> or <i>lunatic</i>, the fundamental +idea lies in the strange opinions formerly held about the moon.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Bibliography</span>.—For the history of astrology with its affinities to +astronomy on the one hand, and to other forms of popular belief on +the other, the following works out of a large number that might +be mentioned are specially recommended:—A. Bouché-Leclercq, +<i>L’Astrologie grecque</i> (Paris, 1899), with a full bibliography; Franz +Boll, <i>Sphaera</i> (Leipzig, 1903); Franz Cumont, <i>Catalogus Codicum +Astrologorum Graecorum</i> (Brussels, 1898; 7 parts published up to +1909); Franz Boll, “Die Erforschung der antiken Astrologie” (in +<i>Neue Jahrbucher fur das klassische Altertum</i>, Band xxi. Heft 2, pp. +103-126); Franz Cumont, <i>Les Religions orientates dans le paganisme +romain</i> (Paris, 1907) (ch. vii. “L’Astrologie et la magie”); Alfred +Maury, <i>La Magie et l’astrologie à l’antiquité et au moyen âge</i> (4th ed., +Paris, 1877); R.C. Thompson, <i>Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers +of Nineveh and Babylon</i> (2 vols., London, 1900); F.X. +Kugler, <i>Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel</i> (Freiburg, 1907;—to +be completed in 4 vols.); Ch. Virolleaud, <i>L’Astrologie chaldéenne</i> +(Paris, 1905—to be completed in 8 parts—transliteration and +translations of cuneiform texts); Jastrow, <i>Religion Babyloniens und +Assyriens</i> (Parts 13 and 14); also certain sections in Bouché-Leclercq, +<i>Histoire de la divination dans l’antiquité</i> (Paris, 1879), +vol. i. pp. 205-257; in Marcellin Berthelot, <i>Les Origines de l’alchimie</i> +(Paris, 1885), pp. 1-56; Ferd. Höfer, <i>Histoire de l’astronomie</i> (Paris, +1846), pp. 1-90; in Rudolf Wolf, <i>Geschichte der Astronomie</i> (Munich, +1877), ch. i. See also the article by Ernst Riess on Astrology in +Pauly-Wissowa, <i>Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft</i>, +vol. ii. (Stuttgart, 1896). For modern and practical astrology +the following works may be found useful in different ways: +E.M. Bennett, <i>Astrology</i> (New York, 1894); J.M. Pfaff, <i>Astrologie</i> +(Bamberg, 1816); G. Wilde, <i>Chaldaean Astrology up to date</i> (1901); +R. Garnett (“A.G. Trent”), “The Soul and the Stars,” in the +<i>University Magazine</i>, 1880 (reprinted in Dobson and Wilde, <i>Natal +Astrology</i>, 1893); Abel Haatan, <i>Traité d’astrologie judiciaire</i> (Paris, +1825); Fomalhaut, <i>Manuel d’astrologie sphérique el judiciaire</i> (Paris, +1897).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(M. Ja.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTRONOMY<a name="ar183" id="ar183"></a></span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="astron">ἄστρον</span>, a star, and <span class="grk" title="nemein">νέμειν</span>, to classify +or arrange). The subject matter of astronomical science, considered +in its widest range, comprehends all the matter of the +universe which lies outside the limit of the earth’s atmosphere. +The seeming anomaly of classifying as a single branch of science +all that we know in a field so wide, while subdividing our knowledge +of things on our own planet into an indefinite number of +separate sciences, finds its explanation in the impossibility of +subjecting the matter of the heavens to that experimental +scrutiny which yields such rich results when applied to matter +which we can handle at will. Astronomy is of necessity a science +of observation in the pursuit of which experiment can directly +play no part. It is the most ancient of the sciences because, +before the era of experiment, it was the branch of knowledge +which could be most easily systematized, while the relations of +its phenomena to day and night, times and seasons, made some +knowledge of the subject a necessity of social life. In recent +times it is among the more progressive of the sciences, because +the new and improved methods of research now at command +have found in its cultivation a field of practically unlimited +extent, in which the lines of research may ultimately lead to a +comprehension of the universe impossible of attainment before +our time.</p> + +<p>The field we have defined is divisible into at least two parts, +that of Astronomy proper, or “Astrometry,” which treats of +the motions, mutual relations and dimensions of the heavenly +bodies; and that of Astrophysics (<i>q.v.</i>), which treats of their +physical constitution. While it is true that the instruments and +methods of research in these two branches are quite different in +their details, there is so much in common in the fundamental +principles which underlie their application, that it is unprofitable +to consider them as completely distinct sciences.</p> + +<p>Speaking in the most comprehensive way, and making an +exception of the ethereal medium (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Aether</a></span>), which, being +capable of experimental study, is not included in the subject +of astronomy, we may say that the great masses of matter which +make up the universe are of two kinds:—(1) incandescent bodies, +made visible to us by their own light; (2) dark bodies, revolving +round them or round each other. These dark bodies are known +to us in two ways: (<i>a</i>) by becoming visible through reflecting +the light from incandescent bodies in their neighbourhood, (<i>b</i>) +by their attraction upon such bodies.</p> + +<p>The incandescent bodies are of two classes: stars and nebulae. +Among the stars our sun is to be included, as it has no properties +which distinguish it from the great mass of stars except our +proximity to it. The stars are supposed to be generally spherical, +like the sun, in form, and to have fairly well-defined boundaries; +while the nebulae are generally irregular in outline and have no +well-defined limits. It is, however, probable that the one class +runs into the other by imperceptible gradations. In the relation +of the universe to us there is yet another separation of its bodies +into two classes, one comprising the solar system, the other +the remainder of the universe. The former consists of the sun +and the bodies which move round it. Considered as a part of +the universe, our solar system is insignificant in extent, though, +for obvious reasons, great in practical importance to us, and in +the facility with which we may gain knowledge relating to it.</p> + +<p>Referring to special articles, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Solar System</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Star</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Sun</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Moon</a></span>, +&c. for a description of the various parts of the universe, we +confine ourselves, at present, to setting forth a few of the most +general modern conceptions of the universe. As to extent, it +may be said, in a general way, that while no definite limits can +be set to the possible extent of the universe, or the distance of +its farthest bodies, it seems probable, for reasons which will be +given under <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Star</a></span>, that the system to which the stars that we see +belong, is of finite extent.</p> + +<p>As the incandescent bodies of the universe are visible by their +own light, the problem of ascertaining their existence and +position is mainly one of seeing, and our facilities for attacking +it have constantly increased with the improvement of our optical +appliances. But such is not the case with the dark bodies. +Such a body can be made known to us only when in the neighbourhood +of an incandescent body; and even then, unless its +mass or its dimensions are considerable, it will evade all the +scrutiny of our science. The question of the possible number +and magnitude of such bodies is therefore one that does not +admit of accurate investigation. We can do no more than +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page801" id="page801"></a>801</span> +balance vague estimates of probability. What we do know is +that these bodies vary widely in size. Those known to be +revolving round certain of the stars are far larger in proportion +to their central bodies than our planets are in respect to the sun; +for were it otherwise we should never be able to detect their +existence. At the other extreme we know that innumerable +swarms of minute bodies, probably little more than particles, +move round the sun in orbits of every degree of eccentricity, +making themselves known to us only in the exceptional cases +when they strike the earth’s atmosphere. They then appear +to us as “shooting stars” (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Meteor</a></span>).</p> + +<p>A general idea of the relation of the solar system to the universe +may be gained by reflecting that the average distance between +any two neighbouring stars is several thousand times the extent +of the solar system. Between the orbit of Neptune and the +nearest star known to us is an immense void in which no bodies +are yet known to exist, except comets. But although these +sometimes wander to distances considerably beyond the orbit +of Neptune, it is probable that the extent of the void which +separates our system from the nearest star is hundreds of times +the distance of the farthest point to which a comet ever recedes.</p> + +<p>We may conclude this brief characterization of astronomy +with a statement and classification of the principal lines on +which astronomical researches are now pursued. The most +comprehensive problem before the investigator is that of the +constitution of the universe. It is known that, while infinite +diversity is found among the bodies of the universe, there are +also common characteristics throughout its whole extent. In +a certain sense we may say that the universe now presents itself +to the thinking astronomer, not as a heterogeneous collection +of bodies, but as a unified whole. The number of stars is so vast +that statistical methods can be applied to many of the characters +which they exhibit—their spectra, their apparent and absolute +luminosity, and their arrangement in space. Thus has arisen +in recent times what we may regard as a third branch of astronomical +science, known as <i>Stellar Statistics</i>. The development of +this branch has infused life and interest into what might a few +years ago have been regarded as the most lifeless mass of figures +possible, expressing merely the positions and motions of innumerable +individual stars, as determined by generations of astronomical +observers. The development of this new branch requires +great additions to this mass, the product of perhaps centuries +of work on the older lines of the science. To the statistician of +the stars, catalogues of spectra, magnitude, position and proper +motions are of the same importance that census tables are to the +student of humanity. The measurement of the speed with which +the individual stars are moving towards or from our system is a +work of such magnitude that what has yet been done is scarcely +more than a beginning. The discovery by improved optical +means, and especially by photography, of new bodies of our +system so small that they evaded all scrutiny in former times, +is still going on, but does not at present promise any important +generalization, unless we regard as such the conclusion that our +solar system is a more complex organism than was formerly +supposed.</p> + +<p>One characteristic of astronomy which tends to make its +progress slow and continuous arises out of the general fact that, +except in the case of motions to or from us, which can be determined +by a single observation with the spectroscope, the motion +of a heavenly body can be determined only by comparing its +position at two different epochs. The interval required between +these two epochs depends upon the speed of the motion. In the +case of the greater number of the fixed stars this is so slow that +centuries may have to elapse before motion can be deduced. +Even in the case of the planets, the variations in the form and +position of the orbits are so slow that long periods of observation +are required for their correct determination.</p> + +<p>The process of development is also made slow and difficult by +the great amount of labour involved in deriving the results of +astronomical observations. When an astronomer has made an +observation, it still has to be “reduced,” and this commonly +requires more labour than that involved in making it. But +even this labour may be small compared with that of the theoretical +astronomer, who, in the future, is to use the result as the +raw material of his work. The computations required in such +work are of extreme complexity, and the labour required is still +further increased by the fact that cases are rather exceptional in +which the results reached by one generation will not have to be +revised and reconstructed by another; processes which may +involve the repetition of the entire work. We may, in fact, regard +the fabric of astronomical science as a building in the construction +of which no stone can be added without a readjustment of some +of the stones on which it has to rest. Thus it comes about that +the observer, the computer, and the mathematician have in astronomical +science a practically unlimited field for the exercise of +their powers.</p> + +<p>In treating so comprehensive a subject we may naturally +distinguish between what we know of the universe and the +methods and processes by which that knowledge is acquired. +The former may be termed general, and the latter practical, +astronomy. When we descend more minutely into details we +find these two branches of the subject to be connected by certain +principles, the application of which relates to both subjects. +Considering as general or descriptive astronomy a description of +the universe as we now understand it, the other branches of the +subject generally recognized are as follows:—</p> + +<p><i>Geometrical</i> or <i>Spherical Astronomy</i>, by the principles of which +the positions and the motions of the heavenly bodies are defined.</p> + +<p><i>Theoretical Astronomy</i>, which may be considered as an extension +of geometrical astronomy and includes the determination of +the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies by combining +mathematical theory with observation. Modern theoretical +astronomy, taken in the most limited sense, is based upon +<i>Celestial Mechanics</i>, the science by which, using purely deductive +mechanical methods, the laws of motion of the heavenly bodies +are derived by deductive methods from their mutual gravitation +towards each other.</p> + +<p><i>Practical Astronomy</i>, which comprises a description of the +instruments used in astronomical observation, and of the +principles and methods underlying their application.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center"><i>Spherical or Geometrical Astronomy.</i></p> + +<p>In astronomy, as in analytical geometry, the position of a +point is defined by stating its distance and its direction from a +point of reference taken as known. The numerical quantities by +which the distance and direction, and therefore the position, are +defined, are termed <i>co-ordinates</i> of the point. The latter are +measured or defined with regard to a fixed system of lines and +planes, which form the basis of the system.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The following are the fundamental concepts of such a system.</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) An origin or point of reference. The points most generally +taken for this purpose in astronomical practice are the following:—</p> + +<p>(1) The position of a point of observation on the earth’s surface. +We conceive its position to be that occupied by an observer. The +position of a heavenly body is then defined by its direction and +distance from the supposed observer.</p> + +<p>(2) The centre of the earth. This point, though it can never be +occupied by an observer, is used because the positions of the heavenly +bodies in relation to it are more readily computed than they can be +from a point on the earth’s surface.</p> + +<p>(3) The centre of the sun.</p> + +<p>(4) In addition to these three most usual points, we may, of +course, take the centre of a planet or that of a star in order to define +the position of bodies in their respective neighbourhoods.</p> + +<p>Co-ordinates referred to a point of observation as the origin are +termed “apparent,” those referred to the centre of the earth are +“geocentric,” those referred to the centre of the sun, “heliocentric.”</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) The next concept of the system is a fundamental plane, +regarded as fixed, passing through the origin. In connexion with it +is an axis perpendicular to it, also passing through the origin. We +may consider the axis and the plane as a single concept, the axis +determining the plane, or the plane the axis. The fundamental +concepts of this class most in use are:—</p> + +<p>(1) When a point on the earth’s surface is taken as the origin, +the fundamental axis may be the direction of gravity at that point. +This direction defines the vertical line. The fundamental plane +which it determines is horizontal and is termed the plane of the +horizon. Such a plane is realized in the surface of a liquid, a basin +of quicksilver, for example.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page802" id="page802"></a>802</span></p> + +<p>(2) When the centre of the earth is taken as origin, the most +natural fundamental axis is that of the earth’s rotation. This axis +cuts the earth’s surface at the North and South Poles. The fundamental +plane perpendicular to it is the plane of the equator. This +plane intersects the earth’s surface in the terrestrial equator. +Co-ordinates referred to this system are termed equatorial. A system +of equatorial co-ordinates may also be used when the origin is on the +earth’s surface. The fundamental axis, instead of being the earth’s +axis itself, is then a line parallel to it, and the fundamental plane is +the plane passing through the point, and parallel to the plane of the +equator.</p> + +<p>(3) In the system of heliocentric co-ordinates, the plane in which +the earth moves round the sun, which is the plane of the ecliptic, +is taken as the fundamental one. The axis of the ecliptic is a line +perpendicular to this plane.</p> + +<p>(<i>c</i>) The third concept necessary to complete the system is a fixed +line passing through the origin, and lying in the fundamental plane. +This line defines an initial direction from which other directions are +counted.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: right; width: 410px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figright1"><img style="width:367px; height:224px" src="images/img802.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption"><span class="sc">Fig.</span> 1.</td></tr></table> + +<p>The geometrical concepts just defined are shown in fig. 1. Here O +is the origin, whatever point it may be; OZ is the fundamental +axis passing through it. In order to represent in the figure the +position of the fundamental +plane, we conceive +a circle to be drawn +round O, lying in +that plane. This +circle, projected in +perspective as an +ellipse, is shown in +the figure. OX is +the fixed initial +line by which +directions are to be +defined.</p> + +<p>Now let P be any point in space, +say the centre of +a heavenly body. Conceive a perpendicular PQ to be dropped from +this point on the fundamental plane, meeting the latter in the +point Q; PQ will then be parallel to OZ. The co-ordinates of P will +then be the following three quantities:—</p> + +<p>(1) The length of the line OP, or the distance of the body from the +origin, which distance is called the radius vector of the body.</p> + +<p>(2) The angle XOQ which the projection of the radius vector upon +the fundamental plane makes with the initial line OX. This angle +is called the Longitude, Right Ascension or Azimuth of the body, in +the various systems of co-ordinates. We may term it in a general +way the longitudinal co-ordinate.</p> + +<p>(3) The angle QOP, which the radius vector makes with the +fundamental plane. This we may call the latitudinal co-ordinate. +Instead of it is frequently used the complementary angle ZOP, +known as the polar distance of the body. Since ZOQ is a right angle, +it follows that the sum of the polar distance and the latitudinal +co-ordinates is always 90°. Either may be used for astronomical +purposes.</p> + +<p>It is readily seen that the position of a heavenly body is completely +defined when these co-ordinates are given.</p> + +<p>One of the systems of co-ordinates is familiar to every one, and +may be used as a general illustration of the method. It is our system +of defining the position of a point on the earth’s surface by its latitude +and longitude. Regarding O (fig. 1) as the centre of the earth, and +P as a point on the earth’s surface, a city for example, it will be seen +that OZ being the earth’s axis, the circle MN will be the equator. +The initial line OX then passes through the foot of the perpendicular +dropped from Greenwich upon the plane of the equator, and meets +the surface at N. The angle QOP is the latitude of the place and +the angle NOQ its longitude. The longitudes and latitudes thus +defined are geocentric, and the latitude is slightly different from that +in ordinary use for geographic purposes. The difference arises from +the oblateness of the earth, and need not be considered here.</p> + +<p>The conception of the co-ordinates we have defined is facilitated +by introducing that of the celestial sphere. This conception is +embodied in our idea of the vault of heaven, or of the sky. Taking +as origin the position of an observer, the direction of a heavenly +body is defined by the point in which he sees it in the sky; that is +to say, on the celestial sphere. Imagining, as we may well do, that +the radius of this sphere is infinite—then every direction, whatever +the origin, may be represented by a point on its surface. Take for +example the vertical line which is embodied in the direction of the +plumb line. This line, extended upwards, meets the celestial sphere +in the zenith. The earth’s axis, continued indefinitely upwards, +meets the sphere in a point called the Celestial Pole. This point in +our middle latitudes is between the zenith and the north horizon, +near a certain star of the second magnitude familiarly known as the +Pole Star. As the earth revolves from west to east the celestial +sphere appears to us to revolve in the opposite direction, turning on +the line joining the Celestial Poles as on a pivot.</p> + +<p>As we conceive of the sky, it does not consist of an entire sphere +but only as a hemisphere bounded by the horizon. But we have no +difficulty in extending the conception below the horizon, so that the +earth with everything upon it is in the centre of a complete sphere. +The two parts of this sphere are the visible hemisphere, which is +above the horizon, and the invisible, which is below it. Then the +plumb line not only defines the zenith as already shown, but in a +downward direction it defines the nadir, which is the point of the +sphere directly below our feet. On the side of this sphere opposite +to the North Celestial is the South Pole, invisible in the Northern +Terrestrial Hemisphere but visible in the Southern one.</p> + +<p>The relation of geocentric to apparent co-ordinates depends upon +the latitude of the observer. The changes which the aspect of the +heaven undergoes, as we travel North and South, are so well known +that they need not be described in detail here; but a general statement +of them will give a luminous idea of the geometrical co-ordinates +we have described. Imagine an observer starting from the North +Pole to travel towards the equator, carrying his zenith with him. +When at the pole his zenith coincides with the celestial pole, and as +the earth revolves on its axis, the heavenly bodies perform their +apparent diurnal revolutions in horizontal circles round the zenith. +As he travels South, his zenith moves along the celestial sphere, +and the circles of diurnal rotation become oblique to the horizon. +The obliquity continually increases until the observer reaches the +equator. His zenith is then in the equator and the celestial poles are +in the North and South horizon respectively. The circles in which +the heavenly bodies appear to revolve are then vertical. Continuing +his journey towards the south, the north celestial pole sinks below +the horizon; the south celestial pole rises above it; or to speak +more exactly, the zenith of the observer approaches that pole. The +circles of diurnal revolution again become oblique. Finally, at the +south pole the circles of diurnal revolution are again apparently +horizontal, but are described in a direction apparently (but not +really) the reverse of that near the north pole. The reader who will +trace out these successive concepts and study the results of his +changing positions will readily acquire the notions which it is our +subject to define.</p> + +<p>We have next to point out the relation of the co-ordinates we +have described to the annual motion of the earth around the sun. +In consequence of this motion the sun appears to us to describe +annually a great circle, called the ecliptic, round the celestial sphere, +among the stars, with a nearly uniform motion, of somewhat less +than 1° in a day. Were the stars visible in the daytime in the +immediate neighbourhood of the sun, this motion could be traced +from day to day. The ecliptic intersects the celestial equator at +two opposite points, the equinoxes, at an angle of 23° 27′. The +vernal equinox is taken as the initial point on the sphere from +which co-ordinates are measured in the equatorial and ecliptic +systems. Referring to fig. 1, the initial line OX is defined as directed +toward the vernal equinox, at which point it intersects the celestial +sphere.</p> + +<p>The following is an enumeration of the co-ordinates which we +have described in the three systems:—</p> + +<p class="sc" style="margin-left: 3em;">Apparent System.</p> + +<p>Latitudinal Co-ordinate; Altitude or Zenith Distance.<br /> + Longitudinal  ”       Azimuth.</p> + +<p class="sc" style="margin-left: 3em;">Equatorial System.</p> + +<p>Latitudinal Co-ordinate; Declination or Polar Distance.<br /> + Longitudinal  ”       Right Ascension.</p> + +<p class="sc" style="margin-left: 3em;">Ecliptic System.</p> + +<p>Latitudinal Co-ordinate; Latitude or Ecliptic Polar Distance.<br /> + Longitudinal  ”       Longitude.</p> + +<p><i>Relation of the Diurnal Motion to Spherical Co-ordinates.</i>—The +vertical line at any place being the fundamental axis of the apparent +system of co-ordinates, this system rotates with the earth, and so +seems to us as fixed. The other two systems, including the vernal +equinox, are fixed on the celestial sphere, and so seem to us to +perform a diurnal revolution from east towards west. Regarding the +period of the revolution as 24 hours, the apparent motion goes on +at the rate of 15° per hour. Here we have to make a distinction of +fundamental importance between the diurnal motions of the sun +and of the stars. Owing to the unceasing apparent motion of the +sun toward the east, the interval between two passages of the same +star over the meridian is nearly four minutes less than the interval +between consecutive passages of the sun. The latter is the measure +of the day as used in civil life. In astronomical practice is introduced +a day, termed “sidereal,” determined, not by the diurnal revolution +of the sun, but of the stars. The year, which comprises 365.25 solar +days, contains 366.25 sidereal days. The latter are divided into +sidereal hours, minutes and seconds as the solar day is. The conception +of a revolution through 360° in 24 hours is applicable to +each case. The sun apparently moves at the rate of 15° in a solar +hour; the stars at the rate of 15° in a sidereal hour. The latter +motion leads to the use, in astronomical practice, of time instead of +angle, as the unit in which the right ascensions are to be expressed. +Considering the position of the vernal equinox, and also of a star +on the celestial sphere, it will be seen that the interval between +the transits of these two points across the meridian may be used +to measure the right ascension of a star, since the latter amounts to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page803" id="page803"></a>803</span> +15° for every sidereal hour of this interval. For example, if the right +ascension of a star is exactly 15°, it will pass the meridian one sidereal +hour after the vernal equinox. For the relations thus arising, and +their practical applications, see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Time, Measurement of</a></span>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="pt2 center"><i>Theoretical Astronomy</i>.</p> + +<p>Theoretical Astronomy is that branch of the science which, +making use of the results of astronomical observations as they are +supplied by the practical astronomer, investigates the motions of +the heavenly bodies. In its most important features it is an +offshoot of celestial mechanics, between which and theoretical +astronomy no sharp dividing line can be drawn. While it is true +that the one is concerned altogether with general theories, it is +also true that these theories require developments and modifications +to apply them to the numberless problems of astronomy, +which we may place in either class.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Among the problems of theoretical astronomy we may assign the +first place to the determination of orbits (<i>q.v.</i>), which is auxiliary to +the prediction of the apparent motions of a planet, satellite or star. +The computations involved in the process, while simple in some cases, +are extremely complex in others. The orbit of a newly-discovered +planet or comet may be computed from three complete observations +by well-known methods in a single day. From the resulting elements +of the orbit the positions of the body from day to day may be +computed and tabulated in an ephemeris for the use of observers. +But when definitive results as to the orbits are required, it is necessary +to compute the perturbations produced by such of the major planets +as have affected the motions of the body. With this complicated +process is associated that of combining numerous observations with +a view of obtaining the best definitive result. Speaking in a general +way, we may say that computations pertaining to the orbital +revolutions of double stars, as well as the bodies of our solar system, +are to a greater or less extent of the classes we have described. The +principal modification is that, up to the present time, stellar astronomy +has not advanced so far that a computation of the perturbations in +each case of a system of stars is either necessary or possible, except +in exceptional cases.</p> +</div> + +<p class="pt2 center"><i>Celestial Mechanics</i>.</p> + +<p>Celestial Mechanics is, strictly speaking, that branch of applied +mathematics which, by deductive processes, derives the laws of +motion of the heavenly bodies from their gravitation towards +each other, or from the mutual action of the parts which form +them. The science had its origin in the demonstration by Sir +Isaac Newton that Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion, and +the law of gravitation, in the case of two bodies, could be mutually +derived from each other. A body can move round the sun in an +elliptic orbit having the sun in its focus, and describing equal +areas in equal times, only under the influence of a force directed +towards the sun, and varying inversely as the square of the +distance from it. Conversely, assuming this law of attraction, it +can be shown that the planets will move according to Kepler’s +laws.</p> + +<p>Thus celestial mechanics may be said to have begun with +Newton’s <i>Principia</i>. The development of the science by the +successors of Newton, especially Laplace and Lagrange, may be +classed among the most striking achievements of the human +intellect. The precision with which the path of an eclipse is laid +down years in advance cannot but imbue the minds of men with +a high sense of the perfection reached by astronomical theories; +and the discovery, by purely mathematical processes, of the +changes which the orbits and motions of the planets are to +undergo through future ages is more impressive the more fully +one apprehends the nature of the problem. The purpose of the +present article is to convey a general idea of the methods by which +the results of celestial mechanics are reached, without entering +into those technical details which can be followed only by a +trained mathematician. It must be admitted that any intelligent +comprehension of the subject requires at least a grasp of the +fundamental conceptions of analytical geometry and the infinitesimal +calculus, such as only one with some training in these +subjects can be expected to have. This being assumed, the hope +of the writer is that the exposition will afford the student an +insight into the theory which may facilitate his orientation, and +convey to the general reader with a certain amount of mathematical +training a clear idea of the methods by which conclusions +relating to it are drawn. The non-mathematical reader may +possibly be able to gain some general idea, though vague, of the +significance of the subject.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The fundamental hypothesis of the science assumes a system of +bodies in motion, of which the sun and planets may be taken as +examples, and of which each separate body is attracted toward all +the others according to the law of Newton. The motion of each body +is then expressed in the first place by Newton’s three laws of motion +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Motion, Laws of</a></span>, and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Mechanics</a></span>). The first step in the +process shows in a striking way the perfection of the analytic method. +The conception of force is, so to speak, eliminated from the conditions +of the problem, which is reduced to one of pure kinematics. At the +outset, the position of each body, considered as a material particle, +is defined by reference to a system of co-ordinate axes, and not by +any verbal description. Differential equations which express the +changes of the co-ordinates are then constructed. The process of +discovering the laws of motion of the particle then consists in the +integration of these equations. Such equations can be formed for a +system of any number of bodies, but the process of integration in a +rigorous form is possible only to a limited extent or in special cases.</p> + +<p>The problems to be treated are of two classes. In one, the bodies +are regarded as material particles, no account being taken of their +dimensions. The earth, for example, may be regarded as a particle +attracted by another more massive particle, the sun. In the other +class of problems, the relative motion of the different parts of the +separate bodies is considered; for example, the rotation of the +earth on its axis, and the consequences of the fact that those parts +of a body which are nearer to another body are more strongly +attracted by it. Beginning with the first branch of the subject, +the fundamental ideas which it is our purpose to convey are embodied +in the simple case of only two bodies, which we may call +the sun and a planet. In this case the two bodies really revolve +round their common centre of gravity; but a very slight modification +of the equations of motion reduces them to the relative motion of +the planet round the sun, regarding the moving centre of the latter +as the origin of co-ordinates. The motion of this centre, which arises +from the attraction of the planet on the sun, need not be considered.</p> + +<p>In the actual problems of celestial mechanics three co-ordinates +necessarily enter, leading to three differential equations and six +equations of solution. But the general principles of the problem +are completely exemplified with only two bodies, in which case the +motion takes place in a fixed plane. By taking this plane, which is +that of the orbit in which the planet performs its revolution, as the +plane of xy, we have only two co-ordinates to consider. Let us use +the following notation:</p> + +<div class="list"> +<p>x, y, the co-ordinates of the planet relative to the sun as the origin.</p> + +<p>M, m, the masses of the attracting bodies, sun and planet.</p> + +<p>r, the distance apart of the two bodies, or the radius vector of m + relative to M. This last quantity is analytically defined by the + equation—</p> + +<p class="center">r² = x² + y²</p> + +<p>t, the time, reckoned from any epoch we choose.</p> +</div> + +<p>The differential equations which completely determine the +changes in the co-ordinates x and y, or the motion of m relative to +M, are:—</p> + +<table class="math0" summary="math"> +<tr><td>d²x</td> <td rowspan="2">= −</td> <td>(M + m)x</td></tr> +<tr><td class="denom">dt²</td> <td class="denom">r³</td></tr></table> + +<table class="math0" summary="math"> +<tr><td>d²y</td> <td rowspan="2">= −</td> <td>(M + m)y</td></tr> +<tr><td class="denom">dt²</td> <td class="denom">r³</td></tr></table> + +<div class="author">(1)</div> + +<p>These formulae are worthy of special attention. They are the +expression in the language of mathematics of Newton’s first two +laws of motion. Their statement in this language may be regarded +as perfect, because it completely and unambiguously expresses the +naked phenomena of the motion. The equations do this without +expressing any conception, such as that of force, not associated +with the actual phenomena. Moreover, as a third advantage, these +expressions are entirely free from those difficulties and ambiguities +which are met with in every attempt to express the laws of motion +in ordinary language. They afford yet another great advantage +in that the derivation of the results requires only the analytic +operations of the infinitesimal calculus.</p> + +<p>The power and spirit of the analytic method will be appreciated +by showing how it expresses the relations of motion as they were +conceived geometrically by Newton and Kepler. It is quite evident +that Kepler’s laws do not in themselves enable us to determine the +actual motion of the planets. We must have, in addition, in the +case of each special planet, certain specific facts, viz. the axes and +eccentricity of the ellipse, and the position of the plane in which it +lies. Besides these, we must have given the position of the planet +in the orbit at some specified moment. Having these data, the +position of the planet at any other time may be geometrically +constructed by Kepler’s laws. The third law enables us to compute +the time taken by the radius vector to sweep over the entire area of +the orbit, which is identical with the time of revolution. The +problem of constructing successive radii vectores, the angles of +which are measured off from the radius vector of the body at the +original given position, is then a geometric one, known as Kepler’s +problem.</p> + +<p>In the analytic process these specific data, called elements of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page804" id="page804"></a>804</span> +orbit, appear as arbitrary constants, introduced by the process of +integration. In a case like the present one, where there are two +differential equations of the second order, there will be four such +constants. The result of the integration is that the co-ordinates x +and y and their derivatives as to the time, which express the position, +direction of motion and speed of the planet at any moment, are found +as functions of the four constants and of the time. Putting</p> + +<p class="center">a, b, c, d,</p> + +<p class="noind">for the constants, the general form of the solution will be</p> + +<p class="center">x = ƒ<span class="su">1</span>(a, b, c, d, t)<br /> +y = ƒ<span class="su">2</span>(a, b, c, d, t)</p> + +<div class="author">(2)</div> + +<p class="noind">From these may be derived by differentiation as to t the velocities</p> + +<table class="math0" summary="math"> +<tr><td>dx</td> <td rowspan="2">= ƒ′<span class="su">1</span>(a, b, c, d, t) = x′</td></tr> +<tr><td class="denom">dt</td></tr></table> + +<table class="math0" summary="math"> +<tr><td>dy</td> <td rowspan="2">= ƒ′<span class="su">2</span>(a, b, c, d, t) = y′</td></tr> +<tr><td class="denom">dt</td></tr></table> + +<div class="author">(3)</div> + +<p class="noind">The symbols x′ and y′ are used for brevity to mean the velocities +expressed by the differential coefficients. The arbitrary constants, +a, b, c and d, are the elements of the orbit, or any quantities from +which these elements can be obtained. We note that, in the actual +process of integration, no geometric construction need enter.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: right; width: 200px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figright1"><img style="width:151px; height:154px" src="images/img804.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption sc">Fig. 2.</td></tr></table> + +<p>Let us next consider the problem in another form. Conceive that +instead of the orbit of the planet, there is given a position P (fig. 2), +through which the planet passed at an assigned +moment, with a given velocity, and in a given +direction, represented by the arrowhead. Logically +these data completely determine the orbit +in which the planet shall move, because there +is only one such orbit passing through P, a +planet moving in which would have the given +speed. It follows that the elements of the +orbit admit of determination when the +co-ordinates of the planet at an assigned moment +and their derivatives as to time are given. +Analytically the elements are determined from +these data by solving the four equations just given, regarding +a, b, c and d as unknown quantities, and x, y, x′, y′ and t as given +quantities. The solution of these equations would lead to expressions +of the form</p> + +<p class="center" style="clear: both;">a = φ<span class="su">1</span>(x, y, x′, y′, t)<br /> + b = φ<span class="su">2</span>(x, y, x′, y′, t)<br /> +  &c.   &c.  </p> + +<div class="author">(4)</div> + +<p class="noind">one for each of the elements.</p> + +<p>The general equations expressing the motion of a planet considered +as a material particle round a centre of attraction lead to theorems +the more interesting of which will now be enunciated.</p> + +<p>(1) The motion of such a planet may take place not only in an +ellipse but in any curve of the second order; an ellipse, hyperbola, +or parabola, the latter being the bounding curve between the other +two. A body moving in a parabola or hyperbola would recede +indefinitely from its centre of motion and never return to it. The +ellipse is therefore the only closed orbit.</p> + +<p>(2) The motion takes place in accord with Kepler’s laws, enunciated +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>(3) <i>Whewell’s theorem</i>: if a point R be taken at a distance from +the sun equal to the major axis of the orbit of a planet and, therefore, +at double the mean distance of the planet, the speed of the +latter at any point is equal to the speed which a body would acquire +by falling from the point R to the actual position of the planet. +The speed of the latter may, therefore, be expressed as a function of +its radius vector at the moment and of the major axis of its orbit +without introducing any other elements into the expression. Another +corollary is that in the case of a body moving in a parabolic orbit +the velocity at any moment is that which would be acquired by the +body in falling from an infinite distance to the place it occupies at +the moment.</p> + +<p>(4) If a number of bodies are projected from any point in space +with the same velocity, but in various directions, and subjected +only to the attraction of the sun, they will all return to the point +of projection at the same moment, although the orbits in which they +move may be ever so different.</p> + +<p>(5) At each distance from the sun there is a certain velocity +which a body would have if it moved in a circular orbit at that +distance. If projected with this velocity in any direction the point +of projection will be at the end of the minor axis of the orbit, because +this is the only point of an ellipse of which the distance from the focus +is equal to the semi-major axis of the curve, and therefore the only +point at which the distance of the body from the sun is equal to its +mean distance.</p> + +<p>(6) The relation between the periodic time of a planet and its +mean distance, approximately expressed by Kepler’s third law, +follows very simply from the laws of centrifugal force. It is an +elementary principle of mechanics that this force varies directly as +the product of the distance of the moving body from the centre of +motion into the square of its angular velocity. When bodies revolve +at different distances around a centre, their velocities must be such +that the centrifugal force of each shall be balanced by the attraction +of the central mass, and therefore vary inversely as the square of the +distance. If M is the central mass, n the angular velocity, and a the +distance, the balance of the two forces is expressed by the equation</p> + +<p class="center">an² = M/a²,</p> + +<p class="noind">whence a³n² = M, a constant.</p> + +<p>The periodic time varying inversely as n, this equation expresses +Kepler’s third law. This reasoning tacitly supposes the orbit to be +a circle of radius a, and the mass of the planet to be negligible. +The rigorous relation is expressed by a slight modification of the +law. Putting M and m for the respective masses of the sun and +planet, a for the semi-major axis of the orbit, and n for the mean +angular motion in unit of time, the relation then is</p> + +<p class="center">a³n² = M + m.</p> + +<p>What is noteworthy in this theorem is that this relation depends +only on the sum of the masses. It follows, therefore, that were any +portion of the mass of the sun taken from it, and added to the planet, +the relation would be unchanged. Kepler’s third law therefore +expresses the fact that the mass of the sun is the same for all the +planets, and deviates from the truth only to the extent that the +masses of the latter differ from each other by quantities which are +only a small fraction of the mass of the sun.</p> + +<p><i>Problem of Three Bodies.</i>—As soon as the general law of +gravitation was fully apprehended, it became evident that, owing to the +attraction of each planet upon all the others, the actual motion of the +planets must deviate from their motion in an ellipse according to +Kepler’s laws. In the <i>Principia</i> Newton made several investigations +to determine the effects of these actions; but the geometrical +method which he employed could lead only to rude approximations. +When the subject was taken up by the continental mathematicians, +using the analytical method, the question naturally arose whether +the motions of three bodies under their mutual attraction could not be +determined with a degree of rigour approximating to that with which +Newton had solved the problem of two bodies. Thus arose the +celebrated “problem of three bodies.” Investigation soon showed that +certain integrals expressing relations between the motions not only +of three but of any number of bodies could be found. These were:—</p> + +<p>First, the law of the conservation of the centre of gravity. This +expresses the general fact that whatever be the number of the bodies +which act upon each other, their motions are so related that the +centre of gravity of the entire system moves in a straight line with +a constant velocity. This is expressed in three equations, one for +each of the three rectangular co-ordinates.</p> + +<p>Secondly, the law of conservation of areas. This is an extension +of Kepler’s second law. Taking as the radius vector of each body +the line from the body to the common centre of gravity of all, the +sum of the products formed by multiplying each area described, +by the mass of the body, remains a constant. In the language of +theoretical mechanics, the moment of momentum of the entire system +is a constant quantity. This law is also expressed in three equations, +one for each of the three planes on which the areas are projected.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, the entire <i>vis viva</i> of the system or, as it is now called, +the energy, which is obtained by multiplying the mass of each body +into half the square of its velocity, is equal to the sum of the quotients +formed by dividing the product of every pair of the masses, taken +two and two, by their distance apart, with the addition of a constant +depending on the original conditions of the system. In the language +of algebra putting m<span class="su">1</span>, m<span class="su">2</span>, m<span class="su">3</span>, &c. for the masses of the bodies, +r<span class="su">1.2</span>, r<span class="su">1.3</span>, r<span class="su">2.3</span>, &c. for their mutual distances apart; +v<span class="su">1</span>, v<span class="su">2</span>, v<span class="su">3</span>, &c., for the velocities with which they are moving +at any moment; these quantities will continually satisfy the equation</p> + +<table class="math0" summary="math"> +<tr><td rowspan="2">½(m<span class="su">1</span>v<span class="su">1</span>² +m<span class="su">2</span>v<span class="su">2</span>² + ...) =</td> + <td>m<span class="su">1</span>m<span class="su">2</span></td> <td rowspan="2">+</td> + <td>m<span class="su">1</span>m<span class="su">3</span></td> <td rowspan="2">+</td> + <td>m<span class="su">2</span>m<span class="su">3</span></td> <td rowspan="2">+ ... + a constant.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="denom">r<span class="su">1.2</span></td> +<td class="denom">r<span class="su">1.3</span></td> +<td class="denom">r<span class="su">2.3</span></td></tr></table> + +<p class="noind">The theorems of motion just cited are expressed by seven integrals, +or equations expressing a law that certain functions of the variables +and of the time remain constant. It is remarkable that although +the seven integrals were found almost from the beginning of the +investigation, no others have since been added; and indeed it has +recently been shown that no others exist that can be expressed in +an algebraic form. In the case of three bodies these do not suffice +completely to define the motion. In this case, the problem can be +attacked only by methods of approximation, devised so as to meet +the special conditions of each case. The special conditions which +obtain in the solar system are such as to make the necessary +approximation theoretically possible however complex the process +may be. These conditions are:—(1) The smallness of the masses +of the planets in comparison with that of the sun, in consequence of +which the orbit of each planet deviates but slightly from an ellipse +during any one revolution; (2) the fact that the orbits of the planets +are nearly circular, and the planes of their orbits but slightly inclined +to each other. The result of these conditions is that all the quantities +required admit of development in series proceeding according to +the powers of the eccentricities and inclinations of the orbits, and +the ratio of the masses of the several planets to the mass of the sun.</p> + +<p><i>Perturbations of the Planets.</i>—Kepler’s laws do not completely +express the motion of a planet around a central body, except when +no force but the mutual attraction of the two bodies comes into play. +When one or more other bodies form a part of the system, their action +produces deviations from the elliptic motion, which are called +<i>perturbations</i>. The problem of determining the perturbations of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page805" id="page805"></a>805</span> +heavenly bodies is perhaps the most complicated with which the +mathematical astronomer has to grapple; and the forms under which +it has to be studied are so numerous that they cannot be easily +arranged under any one head. But there is one conception of +perturbations of such generality and elegance that it forms the +common base of all those methods of determining these deviations +which have high scientific interest. This conception is embodied +in the method of “variation of elements,” originally due to J.L. +Lagrange. The simplest method of presenting it starts with the +second view of the elliptic motion already set forth.</p> + +<p>We have shown that, when the position of a planet and the +direction and speed of its motion at a certain instant are given, +the elements of the orbit can be determined. We have supposed +this to be done at a certain point P of the orbit, the direction and +speed being expressed by the variables x, y, x′ and y′. Now, consider +the values of these same variables expressing the position of +the planet at a second point Q, and the speed with which it passes +that point. With this position and speed the elements of the orbit +can again be determined. Since the orbit is unchanged so long as +no disturbing force acts, it follows that the elements determined by +means of the two sets of values of the variables are in this case the +same. In a word, although the position and speed of the planet and +the direction of its motion are constantly changing, the values of +the elements determined from these variables remain constant. +This fact is fully expressed by the equations (4) where we have +constants on one side of the equation equal to functions of the +variables on the other. Functions of the variables possessing this +property of remaining constant are termed <i>integrals</i>.</p> + +<p>Now let the planet be subjected to any force additional to that of +the sun’s attraction,—say to the attraction of another planet. +To fix the ideas let us suppose that the additional attraction is only +an impulse received at the moment of passing the point P. The +first effect will evidently be to change either the velocity or the +direction in which the planet is moving at the moment, or both. If, +with the changed velocity we again compute the elements they +will be different from the former elements. But, if the impulse is +not repeated, these new elements will again remain invariable. If +repeated, the second impulse will again change the elements, and so +on indefinitely. It follows that, if we go on computing the elements +a, b, c, d from the actual values of x, y, x′ and y′, at each moment +when the planet is subject to the attraction of another body, they +will no longer be invariable, but will slowly vary from day to day +and year to year. These ever varying elements represent an ever +varying elliptic orbit,—not an orbit which the planet actually +describes through its whole course, but an ideal one in which it is +moving at each instant, and which continually adjusts itself to the +actual motion of the planet at the instant. This is called the +<i>osculating</i> orbit.</p> + +<p>The essential principle of Lagrange’s elegant method consists in +determining the variations of this osculating ellipse, the co-ordinates +and velocities of the planet being ignored in the determination. +This may be done because, since the elements and co-ordinates +completely determine each other, we may concentrate our attention +on either, ignoring the other. The reason for taking the elements +as the variables is that they vary very slowly, a property which +facilitates their determination, since the variations may be treated +as small quantities, of which the squares and products may be +neglected in a first solution. In a second solution the squares and +products may be taken account of, and so on as far as necessary.</p> + +<p>If the problem is viewed from a synthetic point of view, the stages +of its solution are as follows. We first conceive of the planets as +moving in invariable elliptic orbits, and thus obtain approximate +expressions for their positions at any moment. With these expressions +we express their mutual action, or their pull upon each other +at any and every moment. This pull determines the variations of +the ideal elements. Knowing these variations it becomes possible +to represent by integration the value of the elements as algebraic +expressions containing the time, and the elements with which we +started. But the variations thus determined will not be rigorously +exact, because the pull from which they arise has been determined +on the supposition that the planets are moving in unvarying orbits, +whereas the actual pull depends on the actual position of the planets. +Another approximation is, therefore, to be made, when necessary, by +correcting the expression of the pull through taking account of the +variations of the elements already determined, which will give a yet +nearer approximation to the truth. In theory these successive +approximations may be carried as far as we please, but in practice the +labour of executing each approximation is so great that we are +obliged to stop when the solution is so near the truth that the +outstanding error is less than that of the best observations. Even this +degree of precision may be impracticable in the more complex cases.</p> + +<p>The results which are required to compare with observations are +not merely the elements, but the co-ordinates. When the varying +elements are known these are computed by the equations (2) because, +from the nature of the algebraic relations, the slowly varying elements +are continuously determined by the equations (4), which express +the same relations between the elements and the variables as do +the equations (2) and (3). This method is, therefore, in form at least, +completely rigorous. There are some cases in which it may be applied +unchanged. But commonly it proves to be extremely long and +cumbrous, and modifications have to be resorted to. Of these +modifications the most valuable is one conceived by P.A. Hansen. +A certain mean elliptic orbit, as near as possible to the actual varying +orbit of the planet, is taken. In this orbit a certain fictitious planet +is supposed to move according to the law of elliptic motion. Comparing +the longitudes of the actual and the fictitious planet the +former will sometimes be ahead of the latter and sometimes behind +it. But in every case, if at a certain time t, the actual planet has a +certain longitude, it is certain that at a very short interval dt before +or after t, the fictitious planet will have this same longitude. What +Hansen’s method does is to determine a correction dt such that, being +applied to the actual time t, the longitude of the fictitious planet +computed for the time t + dt, will give the longitude of the true +planet at the time t. By a number of ingenious devices Hansen +developed methods by which dt could be determined. The computations +are, as a general rule, simpler, and the algebraic expressions +less complex, than when the computations of the longitude itself +are calculated. Although the longitude of the fictitious planet at +the fictitious time is then equal to that of the true planet at the true +time, their radii vectores will not be strictly equal. Hansen, therefore, +shows how the radius vector is corrected so as to give that of the +true planet.</p> + +<p>In all that precedes we have considered only two variables as +determining the position of the planet, the latter being supposed to +move in a plane. Although this is true when there are any number +of bodies moving in the same plane, the fact is that the planets +move in slightly different planes. Hence the position of the plane of +the orbit of each planet is continually changing in consequence of +their mutual action. The problem of determining the changes is, +however, simpler than others in perturbations. The method is +again that of the variation of elements. The position and velocity +being given in all three co-ordinates, a certain osculating plane is +determined for each instant in which the planet is moving at that +instant. This plane remains invariable so long as no third body acts; +when it does act the position of the plane changes very slowly, +continually rotating round the radius vector of the planet as an +instantaneous axis of rotation.</p> + +<p><i>Secular and Periodic Variations.</i>—When, following the preceding +method, the variations of the elements are expressed in terms of the +time, they are found to be of two classes, <i>periodic</i> and <i>secular</i>. The +first depend on the mean longitudes of the planets, and always tend +back to their original values when the planets return to their original +positions in their orbits. The others are, at least through long +periods of time, continually progressive.</p> + +<p>A luminous idea of the nature of these two classes of variation +may be gained by conceiving of the motion of a ship, floating on an +ocean affected by a long ground swell. In consequence of the +swell, the ship is continually pitching in a somewhat irregular way, +the oscillations up and down being sometimes great and sometimes +small. An observer on board of her would notice no motion except +this. But, suppose the tide to be rising. Then, by continued +observation, extended over an hour or more, it will be found that, +in the general average, the ship is gradually rising, so that two +different kinds of motion are superimposed on each other. The +effect of the rising tide is in the nature of a secular variation, while +the pitching is periodic.</p> + +<p>But the analogy does not end here. If the progressive rise of the +ship be watched for six hours or more, it will be found gradually to +cease and reverse its direction. That is to say, making abstraction +of the pitching, the ship is slowly rising and falling in a total period +of nearly twelve hours, while superimposed upon this slow motion is +a more rapid motion due to the waves. It is thus with the motions +of the planets going through their revolutions. Each orbit continually +changes its form and position, sometimes in one direction and +sometimes in another. But when these changes are averaged +through years and centuries it is found that the average orbit has a +secular variation which, for a number of centuries, may appear as a +very slow progressive change in one direction only. But when this +change is more fully investigated, it is found to be really periodic, +so that after thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands +of years, its direction will be reversed and so on continually, like the +rising and falling tide. The orbits thus present themselves to us +in the words of a distinguished writer as “Great clocks of eternity +which beat ages as ours beat seconds.”</p> + +<p>The periodic variations can be represented algebraically as the +resultant of a series of harmonic motions in the following way: +Let L be an angle which is increasing uniformly with the time, and +let n be its rate of increase. We put L<span class="su">0</span> for its value at the moment +from which the time is reckoned. The general expression for the +angle will then be</p> + +<p class="center">L = nt + L<span class="su">0</span>.</p> + +<p>Such an angle continually goes through the round of 360° in a +definite period. For example, if the daily motion is 5°, and we +take the day as the unit of time, the round will be completed in +72 days, and the angle will continually go through the value which it +had 72 days before. Let us now consider an equation of the form</p> + +<p class="center">U = a sin (nt + L<span class="su">0</span>).</p> + +<p>The value of U will continually oscillate between the extreme +values +a and −a, going through a series of changes in the same +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page806" id="page806"></a>806</span> +period in which the angle nt + L<span class="su">0</span> goes through a revolution. In this +case the variation will be simply periodic.</p> + +<p>The value of any element of the planet’s motion will generally be +represented by the sum of an infinite series of such periodic quantities, +having different periods. For example</p> + +<p class="center">U = a sin (nt + L<span class="su">0</span>) + b sin (mt + L<span class="su">1</span>) + c sin (kt + L<span class="su">2</span>) &c.</p> + +<p>In this case the motion of U, while still periodic, is seemingly +irregular, being much like that of a pitching ship, which has no one +unvarying period.</p> + +<p>In the problems of celestial mechanics the angles within the +parentheses are represented by sums or differences of multiples of +the mean longitudes of the planets as they move round their orbits. +If l be the mean longitude of the planet whose motion we are considering, +and l′ that of the attracting planet affecting it, the periodic +inequalities of the elements as well as of the co-ordinates of the +attracted planet, may be represented by an infinite series of terms +like the following:—</p> + +<p class="center">a sin (l′ − l) + b sin (2l′ − l) + c sin (l′ − 2l) + &c.</p> + +<p class="noind">Here the coefficients of l and l′ may separately take all integral +values, though as a general rule the coefficients a, b, c, &c. diminish +rapidly when these coefficients become large, so that only small +values have to be considered.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: right; width: 360px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figright1"><img style="width:310px; height:310px" src="images/img806a.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption sc">Fig. 3.</td></tr></table> + +<p>The most interesting kind of periodic inequalities are those known +as “terms of long period.” A general idea both of their nature and +of their cause will be gained by taking as a special case one celebrated +in the history of the subject—the great inequality between Jupiter +and Saturn. We begin by showing what the actual fact is in the case of these two planets. Let +fig. 3 represent the two +orbits, the sun being at +C. We know that the +period of Jupiter is nearly +twelve years, and that of +Saturn a little less than +thirty years. It will be +seen that these numbers +are nearly in the ratio of +2 to 5. It follows that +the motions of the mean +longitudes are nearly in +the same proportion reversed. +The annual +motion of Jupiter is +nearly 30°, that of Saturn +a little more than 12°. +Let us now consider the +effect of this relation upon +the configurations and +relations of the two +planets. Let the line CJ represent the common direction of the +two planets from the sun when they are in conjunction, and let us +follow the motions until they again come into conjunction. This +will occur along a line CR<span class="su">1</span>, making an angle of nearly 240° with CJ. +At this point Saturn will have moved 240° and Jupiter an entire +revolution + 240°, making 600°. These two motions, it will be seen, +are in the proportion 5 : 2. The next conjunction will take place +along CS<span class="su">1</span>, and the third after the initial one will again take place +near the original position JQ, Jupiter having made five revolutions +and Saturn two.</p> + +<p>The result of these repetitions is that, during a number of revolutions, +the special mutual actions of the two planets at these three +points of their orbits repeat themselves, while the actions corresponding +to the three intermediate arcs are wanting. Thus it happens +that if the mutual actions are balanced through a period of a few +revolutions only there is a small residuum of forces corresponding +to the three regions in question, which repeats itself in the same way, +and which, if it continued indefinitely, would entirely change the +forms of the two orbits. But the actual mean motions deviate +slightly from the ratio 2 : 5, and we have next to show how this +deviation results in an ultimate balancing of the forces. The annual +mean motions, with the corresponding combinations, are as follows:—</p> + +<table class="ws" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td class="tcr">Jupiter:—n</td> <td class="tcl">= 30°.349043</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcr">Saturn:—n′</td> <td class="tcl">= 12°.221133</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcr">2n</td> <td class="tcl">= 60°.69809</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcr">5n′</td> <td class="tcl">= 61°.10567</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tcr">5n′ − 2n</td> <td class="tcl">= 0°.40758</td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind">If we make a more accurate computation of the conjunctions from +these data, we shall find that, in the general mean, the consecutive +conjunctions take place when each planet has moved through an +entire number of revolutions + 242.7°. It follows that the third +conjunction instead of occurring exactly along the line CQ<span class="su">1</span> occurs +along CQ<span class="su">2</span>, making an angle of nearly 8° with CQ<span class="su">1</span>. The successive +conjunctions following will be along CR<span class="su">2</span>, CS<span class="su">2</span>, CQ<span class="su">3</span>, &c., the law of +progression being obvious.</p> + +<p>The balancing of the series of forces will not be complete until the +respective triplets of conjunctions have filled up the entire space +between them. This will occur when the angle whose annual motion +is 5n′ − 2n has gone through 360°. From the preceding value of +5n′ − 2n we see that this will require a little more than 883 years. +The result of the continued action of the two planets upon each other +is that during half of this period the motion of one planet is constantly +retarded and of the other constantly accelerated, while during the +other half the effects are reversed. There is thus in the case of each +planet an oscillation of the mean longitude which increases it and +then diminishes it to its original value at the end of the period of +883 years.</p> + +<p>The longitudes, latitudes and radii vectores of a planet, being +algebraically expressed as the sum of an infinite periodic series of +the kind we have been describing, it follows that the problem of +finding their co-ordinates at any moment is solved by computing +these expressions. This is facilitated by the construction of tables +by means of which the co-ordinates can be computed at any time. +Such tables are used in the offices of the national Ephemerides to +construct ephemerides of the several planets, showing their exact +positions in the sky from day to day.</p> + +<p>We pass now to the second branch of celestial mechanics viz. that +in which the planets are no longer considered as particles, but as +rotating bodies of which the dimensions are to be taken into account. +Such a body, in free space, not acted on by any force except the +attraction of its several parts, will go on rotating for ever in an +invariable direction. But, in consequence of the centrifugal force +generated by the rotation, it assumes a spheroidal form, the equatorial +regions bulging out. Such a form we all know to be that of the +earth and of the planets rotating on their axes. Let us study the +effect of this deviation from the spherical form upon the attraction +exercised by a distant body.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: right; width: 260px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figright1"><img style="width:206px; height:95px" src="images/img806b.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption sc">Fig. 4.</td></tr></table> + +<p>We begin with the special case of the earth as acted upon by the +sun and moon. Let fig. 4 represent a section of the earth through its +axis AB, ECQ being a diameter of the equator. Let the dotted +lines show the direction of the distant +attracting body. The point E, being +more distant than C, will be attracted +with less force, while Q will be attracted +with a greater force than will the centre +C. Were the force equal on every point +of the earth it would have no influence +on its rotation, but would simply draw +its whole mass toward the attracting +body. It is therefore only the <i>difference</i> of the forces on different +parts of the earth that affects the rotation.</p> + +<p>Let us, therefore, divide the attracting forces at each point into +two parts, one the average force, which we may call F, and which +for our purpose may be regarded as equal to the force acting at C; +the others the residual forces which we must superimpose upon the +average force F in order that the combination may be equal to the +actual force. It is clear that at Q this residual force as represented +by the arrow will be in the same direction as the actual force. But +at E, since the actual force is less than F, the residual force must +tend to diminish F, and must, therefore, act toward the right, as +shown by the arrow. These residual forces tend to make the whole +earth turn round the centre C in a clockwise direction. If nothing +modified this tendency the result would be to bring the points +E and Q into the dotted lines of the attraction. In other words the +equator would be drawn into coincidence with the ecliptic. Here, +however, the same action comes into play, which keeps a rotating top +from falling over. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Gyroscope</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Mechanics</a></span>.) For the same +reason as in the case of the gyroscope the actual motion of the earth’s +axis is at right angles to the line joining the earth and the attracting +centre, and without going into the details of the mathematical +processes involved, we may say that the ultimate mean effect will +be to cause the pole P of the earth to move at right angles to the +circle joining it to the pole of the ecliptic. Were the position of the +latter invariable, the celestial pole would move round it in a circle. +Actually the curve in which it moves is nearly a circle; but the +distance varies slightly owing to the minute secular variation in the +position of the ecliptic, caused by the action of the planets. This +motion of the celestial pole results in a corresponding revolution of +the equinox around the celestial sphere. The rate of motion is +slightly variable from century to century owing to the secular +motion of the plane of the ecliptic. Its period, with the present +rate of motion, would be about 26,000 years, but the actual period +is slightly indeterminate from the cause just mentioned.</p> + +<p>The residual force just described is not limited to the case of an +ellipsoidal body. It will be seen that the reasoning applies to the +case of any one body or system of bodies, the dimensions of which +are not regarded as infinitely small compared with the distance of +the attracting body. In all such cases the residual forces virtually +tend to draw those portions of the body nearest the attracting +centre toward the latter, and those opposite the attracting centre +away from it. Thus we have a tide-producing force tending to deform +the body, the action of which is of the same nature as the force +producing precession. It is of interest to note that, very approximately, +this deforming force varies inversely as the cube of the +distance of the attracting body.</p> + +<p>The action of the sun upon the satellites of the several planets +and the effects of this action are of the same general nature. For +the same reason that the residual forces virtually act in opposite +directions upon the nearer and more distant portions of a planet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page807" id="page807"></a>807</span> +they will virtually act in the case of a satellite. When the latter is +between its primary and the sun, the attraction of the latter tends to +draw the satellite away from the primary. When the satellite is in +the opposite direction from the sun, the same action tends to draw +the primary away from the satellite. In both cases, relative to the +primary, the action is the same. When the satellite is in quadrature +the convergence of the lines of attraction toward the centre of the +sun tends to bring the two bodies together. When the orbit of the +satellite is inclined to that of the primary planet round the sun, the +action brings about a change in the plane of the orbit represented by +a rotation round an axis perpendicular to the plane of the orbit of +the primary. If we conceive a pole to each of these orbits, determined +by the points in which lines perpendicular to their planes +intersect the celestial sphere, the pole of the satellite orbit will +revolve around the pole of the planetary orbit precisely as the pole +of the earth does around the pole of the ecliptic, the inclination of the +two orbits remaining unchanged.</p> + +<p>If a planet rotates on its axis so rapidly as to have a considerable +ellipticity, and if it has satellites revolving very near the plane of the +equator, the combined actions of the sun and of the equatorial +protuberances may be such that the whole system will rotate almost +as if the planes of revolution of the satellites were solidly fixed to +the plane of the equator. This is the case with the seven inner +satellites of Saturn. The orbits of these bodies have a large inclination, +nearly 27°, to the plane of the planet’s orbit. The action of the +sun alone would completely throw them out of these planes as each +satellite orbit would rotate independently; but the effect of the +mutual action is to keep all of the planes in close coincidence with +the plane of the planet’s equator.</p> + +<p><i>Literature.</i>—The modern methods of celestial mechanics may +be considered to begin with Joseph Louis Lagrange, whose theory +of the variation of elements is developed in his <i>Mécanique +analytique</i>. The practical methods of computing perturbations of the +planets and satellites were first exhaustively developed by Pierre +Simon Laplace in his <i>Mécanique céleste</i>. The only attempt since +the publication of this great work to develop the various theories +involved on a uniform plan and mould them into a consistent whole +is that of de Pontécoulant in <i>Théorie analytique du système du +monde</i> (1829-46, Paris). An approximation to such an attempt is that +of F.F. Tisserand in his <i>Traité de mécanique céleste</i> (4 vols., Paris). +This work contains a clear and excellent résumé of the methods +which have been devised by the leading investigators from the time +of Lagrange until the present, and thus forms the most encyclopaedic +treatise to which the student can refer.</p> + +<p>Works less comprehensive than this are necessarily confined to +the elements of the subject, to the development of fundamental +principles and general methods, or to details of special branches. +An elementary treatise on the subject is F.R. Moulton’s <i>Introduction +to Celestial Mechanics</i> (London, 1902). Other works with +the same general object are H.A. Resal, <i>Mécanique céleste</i>; and +O.F. Dziobek, <i>Theorie der Planetenbewegungen</i>. The most complete +and systematic development of the general principles of the +subject, from the point of view of the modern mathematician, is +found in J.H. Poincaré, <i>Les Méthodes nouvelles de la mécanique +céleste</i> (3 vols., Paris, 1899, 1892, 1893). Of another work of +Poincaré, <i>Leçons de mécanique céleste</i>, the first volume appeared in +1905.</p> +</div> + +<p class="pt2 center"><i>Practical Astronomy.</i></p> + +<p>Practical Astronomy, taken in its widest sense, treats of the +instruments by which our knowledge of the heavenly bodies +is acquired, the principles underlying their use, and the methods +by which these principles are practically applied. Our knowledge +of these bodies is of necessity derived through the medium +of the light which they emit; and it is the development and +applications of the laws of light which have made possible the +additions to our stock of such knowledge since the middle of the +19th century.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>At the base of every system of astronomical observation is the law +that, in the voids of space, a ray of light moves in a right line. The +fundamental problem of practical astronomy is that of determining +by measurement the co-ordinates of the heavenly bodies as already +defined. Of the three co-ordinates, the radius vector does not admit +of direct measurement, and must be inferred by a combination of +indirect measurements and physical theories. The other two +co-ordinates, which define the direction of a body, admit of direct +measurement on principles applied in the construction and use of +astronomical instruments.</p> + +<p>In the first system of co-ordinates already described the fundamental +axis is the vertical line or direction of gravity at the point +of observation. This is not the direction of gravity proper, or of the +earth’s attraction, but the resultant of this attraction combined with +the centrifugal force due to the earth’s rotation on its axis. The +most obvious method of realizing this direction is by the plumb-line. +In our time, however, this appliance is replaced by either of two +others, which admit of much more precise application. These are +the basin of mercury and the spirit-level. The surface of a liquid +at rest is necessarily perpendicular to the direction of gravity, and +therefore horizontal. Considered as a curved surface, concentric +with the earth, a tangent plane to such a surface is the plane of the +horizon. The problem of measuring from an axis perpendicular to +this plane is solved on the principle that the incident and reflected +rays of light make equal angles with the perpendicular to a reflecting +surface. It follows that if PO (fig. 5) is the direction of a ray, either +from a heavenly body or from a terrestrial point, impinging at O upon +the surface of quicksilver, and reflected in the direction OR, the +vertical line is the bisector OZ, of the angle POR. If the point P +is so adjusted over the quicksilver that the ray is reflected back +on its own path, P and R lying on the same line above O, then we +know that the line PO is truly vertical. The zenith-distance of an +object is the angle which the ray of light from it makes with the +vertical direction thus defined.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="clear: both;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figcenter" colspan="2"><img style="width:514px; height:174px" src="images/img807a.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption sc">Fig. 5.</td> +<td class="caption sc">Fig. 6.</td></tr></table> + +<p>To show the principle involved in the spirit-level let MN (fig. 6) +be the tube of such a level, fixed to an axis OZ on which it may +revolve. If this axis is so adjusted that in the course of a revolution +around it the bubble of the level undergoes no change of position, +we know that the axis is truly vertical. Any slight deviation from +verticality is shown by the motion of the bubble during the revolution, +which can be measured and allowed for. The level may not +be actually attached to an axis, a revolution of 180° being effected +round an imaginary vertical axis by turning the level end for end. +The motion of the bubble then measures double the inclination of +this imaginary axis, or the deviation of a cylinder on which the level +may rest from horizontality.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="clear: both;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figcenter"><img style="width:450px; height:173px" src="images/img807b.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption sc">Fig. 7.</td></tr></table> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: right; width: 250px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figright1"><img style="width:202px; height:153px" src="images/img807c.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption">Fig. 8.</td></tr></table> + +<p>The problem of determining the zenith distance of a celestial +object now reduces itself to that of measuring the angle between +the direction of the object and the direction of the vertical line +realized in one of these ways. This measurement is effected by a +combination of two instruments, the telescope and the graduated +circle. Let OF (fig. 7) be a section of the telescope, MN being its +object glass. Let the parallel dotted lines represent rays of light +emanating from the object to be observed, which, for our purpose, +we regard as infinitely distant, a star for example. These rays come +to a focus at a point F lying in the focal plane of the telescope. In +this plane are a pair of cross threads or spider lines which, as the +observer looks into the telescope, are seen as AB and CD (fig. 8). +If the telescope is so pointed that the image of the star is seen in +coincidence with the cross threads, as represented in fig. 8, then we +know that the star is exactly in the +line of sight of the telescope, defined +as the line joining the centre of the +object glass, and the point of intersection +of the cross threads. If the +telescope is moved around so that the +images of two distant points are +successively brought into coincidence +with the cross threads, we know that +the angle between the directions of +these points is equal to that through +which the telescope has been turned. +This angle is measured by means of a graduated circle, rigidly +attached to the tube of the telescope in a plane parallel to the line +of sight. When the telescope is turned in this plane, the angular +motion of the line of sight is equal to that through which the circle +has turned.</p> + +<table class="nobctr" style="float: left; width: 270px;" summary="Illustration"> +<tr><td class="figleft1"><img style="width:222px; height:281px" src="images/img808.jpg" alt="" /></td></tr> +<tr><td class="caption">Fig. 9.</td></tr></table> + +<p>Stripped of all unnecessary adjuncts, and reduced to a geometric +form, the ideal method by which the zenith distance of a heavenly +body is determined by the combination which we have described is +as follows:—Let OP (fig. 9) be the direction of a celestial body at +which a telescope, supplied with a graduating circle, is pointed. Let +OZ be an axis, as nearly vertical as it can easily be set, round which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page808" id="page808"></a>808</span> +the entire instrument may revolve through 180°. After the image +of the body is brought into coincidence with the cross threads, the +instrument is turned through 180° on the axis, which results in the +line of sight of the telescope pointing +in a certain direction OQ, determined +by the condition QOZ = ZOP. The +telescope is then a second time pointed +at the object by being moved through +the angle QOP. Either of the angles +QOZ and ZOP is then one half that +through which the telescope has been +turned, which may be measured by +a graduated circle, and which is the +zenith distance of the object measured +from the direction of the axis OZ. +This axis may not be exactly vertical. +Its deviation from the vertical line +is determined by the motion of the +bubble of a spirit-level rigidly +attached either to the axis, or to the +telescope. Applying this deviation +to the measured arc, the true zenith +distance of the body is found.</p> + +<p>When the basin of quicksilver is used, the telescope, either before +or after being directed toward P, is pointed directly downwards, so +that the observer mounting above it looks through it into the reflecting +surface. He then adjusts the instrument so that the cross +threads coincide with their images reflected from the surface of the +quicksilver. The angular motion of the telescope in passing from this +position to that when the celestial object is in the line of sight is the +distance (ND) of the body from the nadir. Subtracting 90° from +(ND) gives the altitude; and subtracting (ND) from 180° gives the +zenith distance.</p> + +<p>In the measurement of equatorial co-ordinates, the polar distance +is determined in an analogous way. We determine the apparent +position of an object near the pole on the celestial sphere at any +moment, and again at another moment, twelve hours later, when, +by the diurnal motion, it has made half a revolution. The angle +through the celestial pole, between these two positions, is double +the polar distance. The pole is the point midway between them. +This being ascertained by one or more stars near it, may be used to +determine by direct measurements the polar distances of other +bodies.</p> + +<p>The preceding methods apply mainly to the latitudinal co-ordinate. +To measure the difference between the longitudinal co-ordinates +of two objects by means of a graduated circle the instruments must +turn on an axis parallel to the principal axis of the system of +co-ordinates, and the plane of the graduated circle must be at right +angles to that axis, and, therefore, parallel to the principal co-ordinate +plane. The telescope, in order that it may be pointed in any direction, +must admit of two motions, one round the principal axis, and +the other round an axis at right angles to it. By these two motions +the instrument may be pointed first at one of the objects and then +at the other. The motion of the graduated circle in passing from +one pointing to the other is the measure of the difference between +the longitudinal co-ordinates of the two objects.</p> + +<p>In the equatorial system this co-ordinate (the right ascension) +is measured in a different way, by making the rotating earth perform +the function of a graduated circle. The unceasing diurnal motion +of the image of any heavenly body relative to the cross threads of a +telescope makes a direct accurate measure of any co-ordinate except +the declination almost impossible. Before the position of a star can +be noted, it has passed away from the cross threads. This troublesome +result is utilized and made a means of measurement. Right +ascensions are now determined, not by measuring the angle between +one star and another, but, by noting the time between the transits +of successive stars over the meridian. The difference between these +times, when reduced to an angle, is the difference of the right ascensions +of the stars. The principle is the same as that by which the +distance between two stations may be determined by the time +required for a train moving at a uniform known speed to pass from +one station to the other. The uniform speed of the diurnal motion +is 15° per hour. We have already mentioned that in astronomical +practice right ascensions are expressed in time, so that no +multiplication by 15 is necessary.</p> + +<p>Measures made on the various systems which we have described +give the apparent direction of a celestial object as seen by the +observer. But this is not the true direction, because the ray of light +from the object undergoes refraction in passing through the atmosphere. +It is therefore necessary to correct the observation for this +effect. This is one of the most troublesome problems in astronomy +because, owing to the ever varying density of the atmosphere, +arising from differences of temperature, and owing to the impossibility +of determining the temperature with entire precision at any +other point than that occupied by the observer, the amount of +refraction must always be more or less uncertain. The complexity +of the problem will be seen by reflecting that the temperature of the +air inside the telescope is not without its effect. This temperature +may be and commonly is somewhat different from that of the observing +room, which, again, is commonly higher than the temperature of +the air outside. The uncertainty thus arising in the amount of the +refraction is least near the zenith, but increases more and more as the +horizon is approached.</p> + +<p>The result of astronomical observations which is ordinarily wanted +is not the direction of an object from the observer, but from the centre +of the earth. Thus a reduction for parallax is required. Having +effected this reduction, and computed the correction to be applied +to the observation in order to eliminate all known errors to which +the instrument is liable, the work of the practical astronomer is +completed.</p> + +<p>The instruments used in astronomical research are described +under their several names. The following are those most used in +astrometry:—</p> + +<p>The equatorial telescope (<i>q.v.</i>) is an instrument which can be +directed to any point in the sky, and which derives its appellation +from its being mounted on an axis parallel to that of the earth. +By revolving on this axis it follows a star in its diurnal motion, so +that the star is kept in the field of view notwithstanding that motion.</p> + +<p>Next in extent of use are the transit instrument and the meridian +circle, which are commonly united in a single instrument, the transit +circle (<i>q.v.</i>), known also as the meridian circle. This instrument +moves only in the plane of the meridian on a horizontal east and +west axis, and is used to determine the right ascensions and +declinations of stars. These two instruments or combinations are a +necessary part of the outfit of every important observatory. An +adjunct of prime importance, which is necessary to their use, is an +accurate clock, beating seconds.</p> + +<p><i>Use of Photography.</i>—Before the development of photography, +there was no possible way of making observations upon the heavenly +bodies except by the eye. Since the middle of the 19th century the +system of photographing the heavenly bodies has been introduced, +step by step, so that it bids fair to supersede eye observations in +many of the determinations of astronomy. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Photography</a></span>: +<i>Celestial</i>.)</p> + +<p>The field of practical astronomy includes an extension which +may be regarded as making astronomical science in a certain sense +universal. The science is concerned with the heavenly bodies. +The earth on which we live is, to all intents and purposes, one of +these bodies, and, so far as its relations to the heavens are concerned, +must be included in astronomy. The processes of measuring great +portions of the earth, and of determining geographical positions, +require both astronomical observations proper, and determinations +made with instruments similar to those of astronomy. Hence geodesy +may be regarded as a branch of practical astronomy.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(S. N.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center"><i>History of Astronomy.</i></p> + +<p>A practical acquaintance with the elements of astronomy is +indispensable to the conduct of human life. Hence it is most +widely diffused among uncivilized peoples, whose +existence depends upon immediate and unvarying +<span class="sidenote">Origin of the science.</span> +submission to the dictates of external nature. Having +no clocks, they regard instead the face of the sky; +the stars serve them for almanacs; they hunt and fish, they +sow and reap in correspondence with the recurrent order of +celestial appearances. But these, to the untutored imagination, +present a mystical, as well as a mechanical aspect; and barbaric +familiarity with the heavens developed at an early age, through +the promptings of superstition, into a fixed system of observation. +In China, Egypt and Babylonia, strength and continuity were +lent to this native tendency by the influence of a centralized +authority; considerable proficiency was attained in the arts of +observation; and from millennial stores of accumulated data, +empirical rules were deduced by which the scope of prediction +was widened and its accuracy enhanced. But no genuine science +of astronomy was founded until the Greeks sublimed experience +into theory.</p> + +<p>Already, in the third millennium <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, equinoxes and solstices +were determined in China by means of culminating stars. This +is known from the orders promulgated by the emperor +Yao about 2300 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, as recorded in the <i>Shu Chung</i>, +<span class="sidenote">Chinese astronomy.</span> +a collection of documents antique in the time of +Confucius (550-478 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>). And Yao was merely the +renovator of a system long previously established. The <i>Shu +Chung</i> further relates the tragic fate of the official astronomers, +Hsi and Ho, put to death for neglecting to perform the rites +customary during an eclipse of the sun, identified by Professor +S.E. Russell<a name="fa1l" id="fa1l" href="#ft1l"><span class="sp">1</span></a> with a partial obscuration visible in northern +China 2136 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The date cannot be far wrong, and it is by far +the earliest assignable to an event of the kind. There is, however, +no certainty that the Chinese were then capable of predicting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page809" id="page809"></a>809</span> +eclipses. They were, on the other hand, probably acquainted, +a couple of millenniums before Meton gave it his name, with +the nineteen-year cycle, by which solar and lunar years were +harmonized;<a name="fa2l" id="fa2l" href="#ft2l"><span class="sp">2</span></a> they immemorially made observations in the +meridian; regulated time by water-clocks, and used measuring +instruments of the nature of armillary spheres and quadrants. +In or near 1100 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, Chou Kung, an able mathematician, +determined with surprising accuracy the obliquity of the ecliptic; +but his attempts to estimate the sun’s distance failed hopelessly +as being grounded on belief in the flatness of the earth. From +of old, in China, circles were divided into 365¼ parts, so that the +sun described daily one Chinese degree; and the equator began +to be employed as a line of reference, concurrently with the +ecliptic, probably in the second century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Both circles, too, +were marked by star-groups more or less clearly designated and +defined. Cometary records of a vague kind go back in China +to 2296 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>; they are intelligible and trustworthy from 611 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> +onward. Two instruments constructed at the time of Kublai +Khan’s accession in 1280 were still extant at Peking in 1881. +They were provided with large graduated circles adapted for +measurements of declination and right ascension, and prove +the Chinese to have anticipated by at least three centuries some +of Tycho Brahe’s most important inventions.<a name="fa3l" id="fa3l" href="#ft3l"><span class="sp">3</span></a> +The native astronomy was finally superseded in the 17th century by the +scientific teachings of Jesuit missionaries from Europe.</p> + +<p>Astrolatry was, in Egypt, the prelude to astronomy. The +stars were observed that they might be duly worshipped. The +importance of their heliacal risings, or first visible +appearances at dawn, for the purposes both of practical +<span class="sidenote">Egyptian astronomy.</span> +life and of ritual observance, caused them to be +systematically noted; the length of the year was accurately +fixed in connexion with the annually recurring Nile-flood; while +the curiously precise orientation of the Pyramids affords a lasting +demonstration of the high degree of technical skill in watching +the heavens attained in the third millennium <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The +constellational system in vogue among the Egyptians appears to +have been essentially of native origin; but they contributed +little or nothing to the genuine progress of astronomy.</p> + +<p>With the Babylonians the case was different, although their +science lacked the vital principle of growth imparted to it by +their successors. From them the Greeks derived their +first notions of astronomy. They copied the Babylonian +<span class="sidenote">Babylonian astronomy.</span> +asterisms, appropriated Babylonian knowledge +of the planets and their courses, and learned to predict +eclipses by means of the “Saros.” This is a cycle of 18 years +11 days, or 223 lunations, discovered at an unknown epoch in +Chaldaea, at the end of which the moon very nearly returns to +her original position with regard as well to the sun as to her own +nodes and perigee. There is no getting back to the beginning +of astronomy by the shores of the Euphrates. Records dating +from the reign of Sargon of Akkad (3800 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) imply that even +then the varying aspects of the sky had been long under expert +observation. Thus early, there is reason to suppose, the +star-groups with which we are now familiar began to be formed. +They took shape most likely, not through one stroke of invention, +but incidentally, as legends developed and astrological persuasions +became defined.<a name="fa4l" id="fa4l" href="#ft4l"><span class="sp">4</span></a> The zodiacal series in particular seem +to have been reformed and reconstructed at wide intervals of +time (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Zodiac</a></span>). Virgo, for example, is referred by P. Jensen, +on the ground of its harvesting associations, to the fourth +millennium <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, while Aries (according to F.K. Ginzel) was +interpolated at a comparatively recent time. In the main, +however, the constellations transmitted to the West from +Babylonia by Aratus and Eudoxus must have been arranged +very much in their present order about 2800 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> E.W. Maunder’s +argument to this effect is unanswerable.<a name="fa5l" id="fa5l" href="#ft5l"><span class="sp">5</span></a> For the space of the +southern sky left blank of stellar emblazonments was necessarily +centred on the pole; and since the pole shifts among the stars +through the effects of precession by a known annual amount, +the ascertainment of any former place for it virtually fixes the +epoch. It may then be taken as certain that the heavens +described by Aratus in 270 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> represented approximately +observations made some 2500 years earlier in or near north +latitude 40°.</p> + +<p>In the course of ages, Babylonian astronomy, purified from +the astrological taint, adapted itself to meet the most refined +needs of civil life. The decipherment and interpretation by the +learned Jesuits, Fathers Epping and Strassmeier, of a number +of clay tablets preserved in the British Museum, have supplied +detailed knowledge of the methods practised in Mesopotamia +in the 2nd century <span class="scs">B.C.</span><a name="fa6l" id="fa6l" href="#ft6l"><span class="sp">6</span></a> They show no trace of Greek influence, +and were doubtless the improved outcome of an unbroken +tradition. How protracted it had been, can be in a measure +estimated from the length of the revolutionary cycles found for +the planets. The Babylonian computers were not only aware +that Venus returns in almost exactly eight years to a given +starting-point in the sky, but they had established similar +periodic relations in 46, 59, 70 and 83 years severally for Mercury, +Saturn, Mars and Jupiter. They were accordingly able to fix +in advance the approximate positions of these objects with +reference to ecliptical stars which served as fiducial points for +their determination. In the Ephemerides published year by +year, the times of new moon were given, together with the +calculated intervals to the first visibility of the crescent, from +which the beginning of each month was reckoned; the dates +and circumstances of solar and lunar eclipses were predicted; +and due information was supplied as to the forthcoming heliacal +risings and settings, conjunctions and oppositions of the planets. +The Babylonians knew of the inequality in the daily motion of +the sun, but misplaced by 10° the perigee of his orbit. Their +sidereal year was 4½<span class="sp">m</span> too long,<a name="fa7l" id="fa7l" href="#ft7l"><span class="sp">7</span></a> and they kept the ecliptic +stationary among the stars, making no allowance for the shifting +of the equinoxes. The striking discovery, on the other hand, has been made by the +Rev. F.X. Kugler<a name="fa8l" id="fa8l" href="#ft8l"><span class="sp">8</span></a> that the various periods underlying their lunar +predictions were identical with those heretofore believed to have +been independently arrived at by Hipparchus, who accordingly +must be held to have borrowed from Chaldaea the lengths of the +synodic, sidereal, anomalistic and draconitic months.</p> + +<p>A steady flow of knowledge from East to West began in the 7th +century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> A Babylonian sage named Berossus founded a +school about 640 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> in the island of Cos, and perhaps +<span class="sidenote">Greek astronomy. Thales.</span> +counted Thales of Miletus (<i>c.</i> 639-548) among his pupils. +The famous “eclipse of Thales” in 585 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> has not, it is true, +been authenticated by modern research;<a name="fa9l" id="fa9l" href="#ft9l"><span class="sp">9</span></a> yet the story told +by Herodotus appears to intimate that a knowledge of the Saros, +and of the forecasting facilities connected with it, +was possessed by the Ionian sage. +Pythagoras of Samos (fl. 540-510 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) learned on his travels +<span class="sidenote">Pythagoras.</span> +in Egypt and the East to identify the morning and +evening stars, to recognize the obliquity of the ecliptic, +and to regard the earth as a sphere freely poised in +space. The tenet of its axial movement was held by many of his +followers—in an obscure form by Philolaus of Crotona after the +middle of the 5th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, and more explicitly by Ecphantus +and Hicetas of Syracuse (4th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), and by Heraclides +<span class="sidenote">Heraclides.</span> +of Pontus. Heraclides, who became a disciple of Plato in 360 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, +taught in addition that the sun, while circulating round the earth, +was the centre of revolution to Venus and Mercury.<a name="fa10l" id="fa10l" href="#ft10l"><span class="sp">10</span></a> A genuine +heliocentric system, developed by Aristarchus of Samos (fl. 280-264 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), +was described by Archimedes in his <i>Arenarius</i>, only to be set aside +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page810" id="page810"></a>810</span> +with disapproval. The long-lived conception of a series of +crystal spheres, acting as the vehicles of the heavenly bodies, and +attuned to divine harmonies, seems to have originated with +Pythagoras himself.</p> + +<p>The first mathematical theory of celestial appearances was +devised by Eudoxus of Cnidus (408-355 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>).<a name="fa11l" id="fa11l" href="#ft11l"><span class="sp">11</span></a> +The problem he attempted to solve was so to combine uniform +circular movements as to produce the resultant effects actually +<span class="sidenote">Eudoxus.</span> +observed. The sun and moon and the five planets were, with +this end in view, accommodated each with a set of variously +revolving spheres, to the total number of 27. The Eudoxian or +“homocentric” system, after it had been further elaborated by +Callippus and Aristotle, was modified by Apollonius of Perga +(fl. 250-220 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) into the hypothesis of deferents and epicycles, +which held the field for 1800 years as the characteristic embodiment +of Greek ideas in astronomy. Eudoxus further wrote two works +descriptive of the heavens, the <i>Enoptron</i> and <i>Phaenomena</i>, +which, substantially preserved in the <i>Phaenomena</i> of Aratus +(fl. 270 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), provided all the leading features of modern stellar +nomenclature.</p> + +<p>Greek astronomy culminated in the school of Alexandria. +It was, soon after its foundation, illustrated by the labours of +<span class="sidenote">School of Alexandria.</span> +Aristyllus and Timocharis (<i>c.</i> 320-260 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), who +constructed the first catalogue giving star-positions as +measured from a reference-point in the sky. This +fundamental advance rendered inevitable the detection +of precessional effects. Aristarchus of Samos observed at Alexandria 280-264 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> +His treatise on the magnitudes and distances of the sun and moon, +<span class="sidenote">Aristarchus.</span> +edited by John Wallis in 1688, describes a theoretically valid method +for determining the relative distances of the sun and +moon by measuring the angle between their centres when half the +lunar disk is illuminated; but the time of dichotomy being widely +indeterminate, no useful result was thus obtainable. Aristarchus +in fact concluded the sun to be not more than twenty times, +while it is really four hundred times farther off than our satellite. +His general conception of the universe was comprehensive +beyond that of any of his predecessors.</p> + +<p>Eratosthenes (276-196 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), a native of Cyrene, was summoned +from Athens to Alexandria by Ptolemy Euergetes to take charge +of the royal library. He invented, or improved +armillary spheres, the chief implements of ancient +<span class="sidenote"> Eratosthenes.</span> +astrometry, determined the obliquity of the ecliptic at +23° 51′ (a value 5′ too great), and introduced an effective mode +of arc-measurement. Knowing Alexandria and Syene to be +situated 5000 stadia apart on the same meridian, he found the +sun to be 7° 12′ south of the zenith at the northern extremity of +this arc when it was vertically overhead at the southern extremity, +and he hence inferred a value of 252,000 stadia for the entire +circumference of the globe. This is a very close approximation +to the truth, if the length of the unit employed has been correctly +assigned.<a name="fa12l" id="fa12l" href="#ft12l"><span class="sp">12</span></a></p> + +<p>Among the astronomers of antiquity, two great men stand out +with unchallenged pre-eminence. Hipparchus and Ptolemy +entertained the same large organic designs; they +worked on similar methods; and, as the outcome, +<span class="sidenote">Hipparchus.</span> +their performances fitted so accurately together that +between them they re-made celestial science. Hipparchus +fixed the chief data of astronomy—the lengths of the tropical and +sidereal years, of the various months, and of the synodic periods +of the five planets; determined the obliquity of the ecliptic and +of the moon’s path, the place of the sun’s apogee, the eccentricity +of his orbit, and the moon’s horizontal parallax; all with +approximate accuracy. His loans from Chaldaean experts appear, +indeed, to have been numerous; but were doubtless independently +verified. His supreme merit, however, consisted in the +establishment of astronomy on a sound geometrical basis. His +acquaintance with trigonometry, a branch of science initiated by +him, together with his invention of the planisphere, enabled him +to solve a number of elementary problems; and he was thus led +to bestow especial attention upon the position of the equinox, as +being the common point of origin for measures both in right +ascension and longitude. Its steady retrogression among the +stars became manifest to him in 130 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, on comparing his own +observations with those made by Timocharis a century and a +half earlier; and he estimated at not less than 36″ (the true +value being 50″) the annual amount of “precession.”</p> + +<p>The choice made by Hipparchus of the geocentric theory of the +universe decided the future of Greek astronomy. He further +elaborated it by the introduction of “eccentrics,” which +accounted for the changes in orbital velocity of the sun and moon +by a displacement of the earth, to a corresponding extent, from +the centre of the circles they were assumed to describe. This +gave the elliptic inequality known as the “equation of the +centre,” and no other was at that time obvious. He attempted +no detailed discussion of planetary theory; but his catalogue of +1080 stars, divided into six classes of brightness, or +“magnitudes,” is one of the finest monuments of antique astronomy. +It is substantially embodied in Ptolemy’s <i>Almagest</i> (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Ptolemy</a></span>).</p> + +<p>An interval of 250 years elapsed before the constructive +labours of Hipparchus obtained completion at Alexandria. +His observations were largely, and somewhat arbitrarily, +employed by Ptolemy. Professor Newcomb, +<span class="sidenote">Ptolemy.</span> +who has compiled an instructive table of the equinoxes severally +observed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy, with their errors deduced +from Leverrier’s solar tables, finds palpable evidence that the +discrepancies between the two series were artificially reconciled +on the basis of a year 6<span class="sp">m</span> too long, adopted by Ptolemy on trust +from his predecessor. He nevertheless holds the process to have +been one that implied no fraudulent intention.</p> + +<p>The Ptolemaic system was, in a geometrical sense, defensible; +it harmonized fairly well with appearances, and physical reasonings +had not then been extended to the heavens. To the ignorant +it was recommended by its conformity to crude common sense; +to the learned, by the wealth of ingenuity expended in bringing +it to perfection. The <i>Almagest</i> was the consummation of Greek +astronomy. Ptolemy had no successor; he found only +commentators, among the more noteworthy of whom were Theon of +Alexandria (fl. <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 400) and his daughter Hypatia (370-415). +With the capture of Alexandria by Omar in 641, the last glimmer +of its scientific light became extinct, to be rekindled, a century +and a half later, on the banks of the Tigris. +The first Arabic translation of the <i>Almagest</i> was made +<span class="sidenote">Arab astronomers.</span> +by order of Harun al-Rashid about the year 800; others followed, +and the Caliph al-Mamun built in 829 a grand observatory at +Bagdad. Here Albumazar (805-885) watched the skies +and cast horoscopes; here Tobit ben Korra (836-901) +developed his long unquestioned, yet misleading theory of +the “trepidation” of the equinoxes; Abd-ar-rahman al-Sūf +(903-986) revised at first hand the catalogue of Ptolemy;<a name="fa13l" id="fa13l" href="#ft13l"><span class="sp">13</span></a> +and Abulwefa (939-998), like al-Sūfi, +a native of Persia, made continuous planetary observations, +but did not (as alleged by L. Sédillot) anticipate Tycho Brahe’s +discovery of the moon’s variation. Ibn Junis (<i>c.</i> 950-1008), although +the scene of his activity was in Egypt, falls into line with the +astronomers of Bagdad. He compiled the Hakimite Tables of the planets, +and observed at Cairo, in 977 and 978, two solar eclipses which, as +being the first recorded with scientific accuracy,<a name="fa14l" id="fa14l" href="#ft14l"><span class="sp">14</span></a> were made +available in fixing the amount of lunar acceleration. +Nasir ud-din (1201-1274) drew up the Ilkhanic Tables, and determined +the constant of precession at 51″. He directed an observatory +established by Hulagu Khan (d. 1265) at Maraga in Persia, and +equipped with a mural quadrant of 12 ft. radius, besides altitude +and azimuth instruments. Ulugh Beg (1394-1449), a grandson +of Tamerlane, was the illustrious personification of Tatar +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page811" id="page811"></a>811</span> +astronomy. He founded about 1420 a splendid observatory at +Samarkand, in which he re-determined nearly all Ptolemy’s +stars, while the Tables published by him held the primacy for +two centuries.<a name="fa15l" id="fa15l" href="#ft15l"><span class="sp">15</span></a></p> + +<p>Arab astronomy, transported by the Moors to Spain, flourished +temporarily at Cordova and Toledo. From the latter city the +<span class="sidenote">Moorish Astronomy.</span> +Toletan Tables, drawn up by Arzachel in 1080, took +their name; and there also the Alfonsine Tables, +published in 1252, were prepared under the authority +of Alphonso X. of Castile. Their appearance signalized the dawn of European science, +and was nearly coincident with that of the <i>Sphaera Mundi</i>, +<span class="sidenote">European Astronomy.</span> +a text-book of spherical astronomy, written by a Yorkshireman, +John Holywood, known as Sacro Bosco (d. 1256). It had an immense +vogue, perpetuated by the printing-press in fifty-nine +editions. In Germany, during the 15th century, a +brilliant attempt was made to patch up the flaws in Ptolemaic +doctrine. George Purbach (1423-1461) introduced into Europe +<span class="sidenote">Purbach.<br />Walther.</span> +the method of determining time by altitudes employed +by Ibn Junis. He lectured with applause at Vienna +from 1450; was joined there in 1452 by Regiomontanus (<i>q.v.</i>); +and was on the point of starting for Rome to inspect a manuscript +of the <i>Almagest</i> when he died suddenly at the age of thirty-eight. +His teachings bore fruit in the work of Regiomontanus, and of +Bernhard Walther of Nuremberg (1430-1504), who +fitted up an observatory with clocks driven by +weights, and developed many improvements in practical +astronomy.</p> + +<p>Meantime, a radical reform was being prepared in Italy. +Under the searchlights of the new learning, the dictatorship of +Ptolemy appeared no more inevitable than that of Aristotle; +advanced thinkers like Domenico Maria Novara (1454-1504) promulgated +<i>sub rosa</i> what were called Pythagorean opinions; and +<span class="sidenote">Copernicus.</span> +they were eagerly and fully appropriated by Nicolaus +Copernicus during his student-years (1496-1505) at +Bologna and Padua. He laid the groundwork of +his heliocentric theory between 1506 and 1512, and brought it +to completion in <i>De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium</i> (1543). +The colossal task of remaking astronomy on an inverted design +was, in this treatise, virtually accomplished. Its reasonings +were solidly founded on the principle of the relativity of motion. +A continuous shifting of the standpoint was in large measure +substituted for the displacements of the objects viewed, which +thus acquired a regularity and consistency heretofore lacking to +them. In the new system, the sphere of the fixed stars no longer +revolved diurnally, the earth rotating instead on an axis directed +towards the celestial pole. The sun too remained stationary, +while the planets, including our own globe, circulated round him. +By this means, the planetary “retrogradations” were explained +as simple perspective effects due to the combination of the earth’s +revolutions with those of her sister orbs. The retention, however, +by Copernicus of the antique postulate of uniform circular motion +impaired the perfection of his plan, since it involved a partial +survival of the epicyclical machinery. Nor was it feasible, on +this showing, to place the sun at the true centre of any of the +planetary orbits; so that his ruling position in the midst of +them was illusory. The reformed scheme was then by no means +perfect. Its simplicity was only comparative; many outstanding +anomalies compromised its harmonious working. +Moreover, the absence of sensible parallaxes in the stellar +heavens seemed inconsistent with its validity; and a mobile +earth outraged deep-rooted prepossessions. Under these +disadvantageous circumstances, it is scarcely surprising that the +heliocentric theory, while admired as a daring speculation, won +its way slowly to acceptance as a truth.</p> + +<p>The <i>Tabulae Prutenicae</i>, calculated on Copernican principles +by Erasmus Reinhold (1511-1553), appeared in 1551. Although +they represented celestial movements far better than the +Alfonsine Tables, large discrepancies were still apparent, and the +desirability of testing the novel hypothesis upon which they +were based by more refined observations prompted a reform of +methods, undertaken almost simultaneously by the landgrave +William IV. of Hesse-Cassel (1532-1592), and by Tycho Brahe. +<span class="sidenote">Observatory of Cassel.</span> +The landgrave built at Cassel in 1561 the first observatory +with a revolving dome, and worked for some years +at a star-catalogue finally left incomplete. Christoph +Rothmann and Joost Bürgi (1552-1632) became his +assistants in 1577 and 1579 respectively; and through the skill +of Bürgi, time-determinations were made available for measuring +right ascensions. At Cassel, too, the altitude and azimuth +instrument is believed to have made its first appearance in +Europe.<a name="fa16l" id="fa16l" href="#ft16l"><span class="sp">16</span></a></p> + +<p>Tycho’s labours were both more strenuous and more effective. +He perfected the art of pre-telescopic observation. His +instruments were on a scale and of a type unknown since +the days of Nasir ud-din. At Augsburg, in 1569, he +<span class="sidenote">Tycho Brahe.</span> +ordered the construction of a 19-ft. quadrant, and of a +celestial globe 5 ft. in diameter; he substituted equatorial for +zodiacal armillae, thus definitively establishing the system of +measurements in right ascension and declination; and improved +the graduation of circular arcs by adopting the method of +“transversals.” By these means, employed with consummate +skill, he attained an unprecedented degree of accuracy, and as +an incidental though valuable result, demonstrated the unreality +of the supposed trepidation of the equinoxes.</p> + +<p>No more congruous arrangement could have been devised than +the inheritance by Johann Kepler of the wealth of materials +amassed by Tycho Brahe. The younger man’s genius +supplied what was wanting to his predecessor. Tycho’s +<span class="sidenote">Kepler.</span> +endowments were of the practical order; yet he had never +designed his observations to be an end in themselves. He +thought of them as means towards the end of ascertaining the +true form of the universe. His range of ideas was, however, +restricted; and the attempt embodied in his ground-plan of the +solar system to revive the ephemeral theory of Heraclides failed +to influence the development of thought. Kepler, on the +contrary, was endowed with unlimited powers of speculation, +but had no mechanical faculty. He found in Tycho’s ample +legacy of first-class data precisely what enabled him to try, +by the touchstone of fact, the successive hypotheses that he +imagined; and his untiring patience in comparing and +calculating the observations at his disposal was rewarded by a +series of unique discoveries. He long adhered to the traditional +belief that all celestial revolutions must be performed +equably in circles; but a laborious computation of seven recorded +oppositions of Mars at last persuaded him that the planet +travelled in an ellipse, one focus of which was occupied by the sun. +Pursuing the inquiry, he found that its velocity was uniform +with respect to no single point within the orbit, but that the +areas described, in equal times, by a line drawn from the sun to +the planet were strictly equal. These two principles he extended, +by direct proof, to the motion of the earth; and, by analogy, +to that of the other planets. They were published in 1609 in +<i>De Motibus Stellae Martis</i>. The announcement of the third of +“Kepler’s Laws” was made ten years later, in <i>De Harmonice +Mundi</i>. It states that the squares of the periods of circulation +round the sun of the several planets are in the same ratio as the +cubes of their mean distances. This numerical proportion, as +being a necessary consequence of the law of gravitation, must +prevail in every system under its sway. It does in fact prevail +among the satellite-families of our acquaintance, and presumably +in stellar combinations as well. Kepler’s ineradicable belief in +the existence of some such congruity was derived from the +Pythagorean idea of an underlying harmony in nature; but his +arduous efforts for its realization took a devious and fantastic +course which seemed to give little promise of their surprising +ultimate success. The outcome of his discoveries was, not only +to perfect the geometrical plan of the solar system, but to enhance +very materially the predicting power of astronomy. The +Rudolphine Tables (Ulm, 1627), computed by him from elliptic +elements, retained authority for a century, and have in principle +never been superseded. He was deterred from research into the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page812" id="page812"></a>812</span> +orbital relations of comets, by his conviction of their perishable +nature. He supposed their tails to result from the action of +solar rays, which, in traversing their mass, bore off with them +some of their subtler particles to form trains directed away from +the sun. And through the process of waste thus set on foot, +they finally dissolved into the aether, and expired “like spinning +insects.” (<i>De Cometis; Opera</i>, ed. Frisch, t. vii. p. 110.) +This remarkable anticipation of the modern theory of light-pressure +was suggested to him by his observations of the great comets +of 1618.</p> + +<p>The formal astronomy of the ancients left Kepler unsatisfied. +He aimed at finding out the cause as well as the mode of the +planetary revolutions; and his demonstration that the planes +in which they are described all pass through the sun was an +important preliminary to a physical explanation of them. But +his efforts to supply such an explanation were rendered futile +by his imperfect apprehension of what motion is in itself. He +had, it is true, a distinct conception of a force analogous to that +of gravity, by which cognate bodies tended towards union. +Misled, however, into identifying it with magnetism, he imagined +circulation in the solar system to be maintained through the +material compulsion of fibrous emanations from the sun, carried +round by his axial rotation. Ignorance regarding the inertia of +matter drove him to this expedient. The persistence of movement +seemed to him to imply the persistence of a moving power. +He did not recognize that motion and rest are equally natural, +in the sense of requiring force for their alteration. Yet his +rationale of the tides in <i>De Motibus Stellae</i> is not only memorable +as an astonishing forecast of the principle of reciprocal attraction +in the proportion of mass, but for its bold extension to the earth +of the lunar sphere of influence.</p> + +<p>Galileo Galilei, Kepler’s most eminent contemporary, took +a foremost part in dissipating the obscurity that still hung over +the very foundations of mechanical science. He had, indeed, +precursors and co-operators. Michel Varo of Geneva wrote +correctly in 1584 on the composition of forces; Simon Stevin +of Bruges (1548-1620) independently demonstrated the principle; +and G.B. Benedetti expounded in his <i>Speculationum Liber</i> +(Turin, 1585) perfectly clear ideas as to the nature of accelerated +motion, some years in advance of Galileo’s dramatic experiments +at Pisa. Yet they were never assimilated by Kepler; while, +on the other hand, the laws of planetary circulation he had +enounced were strangely ignored by Galileo. The two lines of +inquiry remained for some time apart. Had they at once been +made to coalesce, the true nature of the force controlling celestial +movements should have been quickly recognized. As it was, +the importance of Kepler’s generalizations was not fully appreciated +until Sir Isaac Newton made them the corner-stone of his +new cosmic edifice.</p> + +<p>Galileo’s contributions to astronomy were of a different +quality from Kepler’s. They were easily intelligible to the general +public: in a sense, they were obvious, since they +could be verified by every possessor of one of the +<span class="sidenote">Galileo.</span> +Dutch perspective-instruments, just then in course of wide and +rapid distribution. And similar results to his were in fact +independently obtained in various parts of Europe by Christopher +Scheiner at Ingolstadt, by Johann Fabricius at Osteel in Friesland, +and by Thomas Harriot at Syon House, Isleworth. Galileo +was nevertheless by far the ablest and most versatile of these +early telescopic observers. His gifts of exposition were on a par +with his gifts of discernment. What he saw, he rendered conspicuous +to the world. His sagacity was indeed sometimes at +fault. He maintained with full conviction to the end of his life +a grossly erroneous hypothesis of the tides, early adopted from +Andrea Caesalpino; the “triplicate” appearance of Saturn +always remained an enigma to him; and in regarding comets +as atmospheric emanations he lagged far behind Tycho Brahe. +Yet he unquestionably ranks as the true founder of descriptive +astronomy; while his splendid presentment of the laws of +projectiles in his dialogue of the “New Sciences” (Leiden, +1638) lent potent aid to the solid establishment of celestial +mechanics.</p> + +<p>The accumulation of facts does not in itself constitute science. +Empirical knowledge scarcely deserves the name. <i>Vere scire +est per causas scire.</i> Francis Bacon’s +<span class="sidenote">Gravitational Astronomy.</span> +prescient dream, however, of a living astronomy by which the physical +laws governing terrestrial relations should be extended +the highest heavens, had long to wait for realization. +Kepler divined its possibility; but his +thoughts, derailed (so to speak) by the false analogy of magnetism, +<span class="sidenote">Bacon.<br />Descartes.</span> +brought him no farther than to the rough draft of the +scheme of vortices expounded in detail by René Descartes in +his <i>Principia Philosophiae</i> (1644). And this was a Descartes +<i>cul-de-sac.</i> The only practicable road struck aside +from it. The true foundations of a mechanical theory of the +heavens were laid by Kepler’s discoveries, and by Galileo’s +dynamical demonstrations; its construction was facilitated by +the development of mathematical methods. The invention +of logarithms, the rise of analytical geometry, and the evolution +of B. Cavalieri’s “indivisibles” into the infinitesimal calculus, +all accomplished during the 17th century, immeasurably widened +the scope of exact astronomy. Gradually, too, the nature of +the problem awaiting solution came to be apprehended. Jeremiah +Horrocks had some intuition, previously to 1639, that the +motion of the moon was controlled by the earth’s gravity, and +disturbed by the action of the sun. Ismael Bouillaud (1605-1694) +stated in 1645 the fact of planetary circulation under the +sway of a sun-force decreasing as the inverse square of the +distance; and the inevitableness of this same “duplicate ratio” +was separately perceived by Robert Hooke, Edmund Halley +<span class="sidenote">Newton.</span> +and Sir Christopher Wren before Newton’s discovery +had yet been made public. He was the only man of +his generation who both recognized the law, and had power to +demonstrate its validity. And this was only a beginning. His +complete achievement had a twofold aspect. It consisted, +first, in the identification, by strict numerical comparisons, +of terrestrial gravity with the mutual attraction of the heavenly +bodies; secondly, in the following out of its mechanical consequences +throughout the solar system. Gravitation was thus +shown to be the sole influence governing the movements of planets +and satellites; the figure of the rotating earth was successfully +explained by its action on the minuter particles of matter; +tides and the procession of the equinoxes proved amenable to +reasonings based on the same principle; and it satisfactorily +accounted as well for some of the chief lunar and planetary +inequalities. Newton’s investigations, however, were very far +from being exhaustive. Colossal though his powers were, they +had limits; and his work could not but remain unterminated, +since it was by its nature interminable. Nor was it possible to +provide it with what could properly be called a sequel. The +synthetic method employed by him was too unwieldy for common +use. Yet no other was just then at hand. Mathematical +analysis needed half a century of cultivation before it was fully +available for the arduous tasks reserved for it. They were +accordingly taken up anew by a band of continental inquirers, +<span class="sidenote">Euler, Clairault, D’Alembert.</span> +primarily by three men of untiring energy and vivid +genius, Leonhard Euler, Alexis Clairault, and Jean +le Rond d’Alembert. The first of the outstanding +gravitational problems with which they grappled +was the unaccountably rapid advance of the lunar perigee. +But the apparent anomaly disappeared under Euler’s powerful +treatment in 1749, and his result was shortly afterwards +still further assured by Clairault. The subject of planetary +perturbations was next attacked. Euler devised in 1753 a +new method, that of the “variation of parameters,” for their +investigation, and applied it to unravel some of the earth’s +irregularities in a memoir crowned by the French Academy +in 1756; while in 1757, Clairault estimated the masses of the +moon and Venus by their respective disturbing effects upon +terrestrial movements. But the most striking incident in the +history of the verification of Newton’s law was the return of +Halley’s comet to perihelion, on the 12th of March 1759, in +approximate accordance with Clairault’s calculation of the +delays due to the action of Jupiter and Saturn. Visual proof +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page813" id="page813"></a>813</span> +was thus, it might be said, afforded of the harmonious working +of a single principle to the uttermost boundaries of the sun’s +dominion.</p> + +<p>These successes paved the way for the higher triumphs of +Joseph Louis Lagrange and of Pierre Simon Laplace. The +subject of the lunar librations was treated by Lagrange +with great originality in an essay crowned by the Paris +<span class="sidenote">Lagrange.</span> +Academy of Sciences in 1764; and he filled up the lacunae in +his theory of them in a memoir communicated to the Berlin +Academy in 1780. He again won the prize of the Paris Academy +in 1766 with an analytical discussion of the movements of +Jupiter’s satellites (<i>Miscellanea</i>, Turin Acad. t. iv.); and in +the same year expanded Euler’s adumbrated method of the +variation of parameters into a highly effective engine of +perturbational research. It was especially adapted to the tracing +out of “secular inequalities,” or those depending upon changes +in the orbital elements of the bodies affected by them, and hence +progressing indefinitely with time; and by its means, accordingly, +the mechanical stability of the solar system was splendidly +demonstrated through the successive efforts of Lagrange and +Laplace. The proper share of each in bringing about this memorable +result is not easy to apportion, since they freely imparted +and profited by one another’s advances and improvements; +it need only be said that the fundamental proposition of the +invariability of the planetary major axes laid down with restrictions +by Laplace in 1773, was finally established by Lagrange +in 1776; while Laplace in 1784 proved the subsistence of such +a relation between the eccentricities of the planetary orbits on +the one hand, and their inclinations on the other, that an increase +of either element could, in any single case, proceed only to a +very small extent. The system was thus shown, apart from +unknown agencies of subversion, to be constructed for indefinite +permanence. The prize of the Berlin Academy was, in 1780, +adjudged to Lagrange for a treatise on the perturbations of +comets, and he contributed to the Berlin Memoirs, 1781-1784, +a set of five elaborate papers, embodying and unifying his +perfected methods and their results.</p> + +<p>The crowning trophies of gravitational astronomy in the 18th +century were Laplace’s explanations of the “great inequality” +of Jupiter and Saturn in 1784, and of the “secular +acceleration” of the moon in 1787. Both irregularities +<span class="sidenote">Laplace.</span> +had been noted, a century earlier, by Edmund Halley; both had, +since that time, vainly exercised the ingenuity of the ablest +mathematicians; both now almost simultaneously yielded their +secret to the same fortunate inquirer. Johann Heinrich Lambert +pointed out in 1773 that the motion of Saturn, from being +retarded, had become accelerated. A periodic character was +thus indicated for the disturbance; and Laplace assigned its +true cause in the near approach to commensurability in the +periods of the two planets, the cycle of disturbance completing +itself in about 900 (more accurately 929½) years. The lunar +acceleration, too, obtains ultimate compensation, though only +after a vastly protracted term of years. The discovery, just +one hundred years after the publication of Newton’s <i>Principia</i>, +of its dependence upon the slowly varying eccentricity of the +earth’s orbit signalized the removal of the last conspicuous +obstacle to admitting the unqualified validity of the law of +gravitation. Laplace’s calculations, it is true, were inexact. +An error, corrected by J.C. Adams in 1853, nearly doubled +the value of the acceleration deducible from them; and served +to conceal a discrepancy with observation which has since given +occasion to much profound research (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Moon</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The <i>Mécanique céleste</i>, in which Laplace welded into a whole +the items of knowledge accumulated by the labours of a century, +has been termed the “Almagest of the 18th century” (Fourier). +But imposing and complete though the monument appeared, it +did not long hold possession of the field. Further developments +ensued. The “method of least squares,” by which the most +probable result can be educed from a body of observational data, +was published by Adrien Marie Legendre in 1806, by Carl +Friedrich Gauss in his <i>Theoria Motus</i> (1809), which described also +a mode of calculating the orbit of a planet from three complete +observations, afterwards turned to important account for the +recapture of Ceres, the first discovered asteroid (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Planets, +Minor</a></span>). Researches into rotational movement were facilitated +by S.D. Poisson’s application to them in 1809 of Lagrange’s +theory of the variation of constants; Philippe de Pontécoulant +successfully used in 1829, for the prediction of the impending +return of Halley’s comet, a system of “mechanical quadratures” +published by Lagrange in the Berlin Memoirs for 1778; and in +his <i>Théorie analytique du système du monde</i> (1846) he modified +and refined general theories of the lunar and planetary revolutions. +P.A. Hansen in 1829 (<i>Astr. Nach.</i> Nos. 166-168, 179) +left the beaten track by choosing time as the sole variable, the +orbital elements remaining constant. A.L. Cauchy published +in 1842-1845 a method similarly conceived, though otherwise +developed; and the scope of analysis in determining the movements +of the heavenly bodies has since been perseveringly +widened by the labours of Urbain J.J. Leverrier, J.C. Adams, +S. Newcomb, G.W. Hill, E.W. Brown, H. Gyldén, Charles +Delaunay, F. Tisserand, H. Poincaré and others too numerous to +mention. Nor were these abstract investigations unaccompanied +by concrete results. Sir George Airy detected in 1831 an +inequality, periodic in 240 years, between Venus and the earth. +Leverrier undertook in 1839, and concluded in 1876, the formidable +task of revising all the planetary theories and constructing +from them improved tables. Not less comprehensive has been +the work carried out by Professor Newcomb of raising to a higher +grade of perfection, and reducing to a uniform standard, all the +theories and constants of the solar system. His inquiries afford +the assurance of a nearly exact conformity among its members to +strict gravitational law, only the moon and Mercury showing +some slight, but so far unexplained, anomalies of movement. +The discovery of Neptune in 1846 by Adams and Leverrier +marked the first solution of the “inverse problem” of perturbations. +That is to say, ascertained or ascertainable effects were +made the starting-point instead of the goal of research.</p> + +<p>Observational astronomy, meanwhile, was advancing to +<span class="sidenote">Descriptive and practical astronomy.</span> +some extent independently. The descriptive branch found its +principle of development in the growing powers of +the telescope, and had little to do with mathematical +theory; which, on the contrary, was closely +allied, by relations of mutual helpfulness, with practical +astronomy, or “astrometry.” Meanwhile, +the elementary requirement of making visual acquaintance with the +stellar heavens was met, as regards the unknown southern skies, +<span class="sidenote">Bayer.<br />Gassendi.</span> +when Johann Bayer published at Nuremberg in 1603 a +celestial atlas depicting twelve new constellations +formed from the rude observations of navigators across the line. +In the same work, the current mode of star-nomenclature by the +letters of the Greek alphabet made its appearance. +On the 7th of November 1631 Pierre Gassendi watched +at Paris the passage of Mercury across the sun. This was the +first planetary transit observed. The +next was that of Venus on the 24th of November (O.S.) 1639, +of which Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree were the sole +<span class="sidenote">Horrocks.<br />Huygens.</span> +spectators. The improvement of telescopes was prosecuted by Christiaan +Huygens from 1655, and promptly led to his discoveries of the +sixth Saturnian moon, of the true shape of the Saturnian +appendages, and of the multiple character of +the “trapezium” of stars in the Orion nebula. William Gascoigne’s +invention of the filar micrometer and of the adaptation +of telescopes to graduated instruments remained +submerged for a quarter of a century in consequence of +<span class="sidenote">Gascoigne.<br />Hevelius.</span> +his untimely death at Marston Moor (1644). The latter +combination had also been ineffectually proposed in 1634 by Jean +Baptiste Morin (1583-1656); and both devices were recontrived +at Paris about 1667, the micrometer by Adrien Auzout (d. 1691), +telescopic sights (so-called) by Jean Picard (1620-1682), who +simultaneously introduced the astronomical use of pendulum-clocks, +constructed by Huygens eleven years previously. +These improvements were ignored or rejected by Johann +Hevelius of Danzig, the author of the last important +star-catalogue based solely upon naked-eye determinations. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page814" id="page814"></a>814</span> +He, nevertheless, used telescopes to good purpose in his studies +of lunar topography, and his designations for the chief +mountain-chains and “seas” of the moon have never been superseded. +He, moreover, threw out the suggestion (in his <i>Cometographia</i>, +1668) that comets move round the sun in orbits of a parabolic form.</p> + +<p>The establishment, in 1671 and 1676 respectively, of the +French and English national observatories at once typified and +stimulated progress. The Paris institution, it is true, +<span class="sidenote">The Paris observatory.</span> +lacked unity of direction. No authoritative chief was +assigned to it until 1771. G.D. Cassini, his son +and his grandson were only <i>primi inter pares</i>. Claude +Perrault’s stately edifice was equally accessible to all the more +eminent members of the Academy of Sciences; and researches +were, more or less independently, carried on there by (among +others) Philippe de la Hire (1640-1718), G.F. Maraldi (1665-1729), +and his nephew, J.D. Maraldi, Jean Picard, Huygens, Olaus +Römer and Nicolas de Lacaille. Some of the best instruments +then extant were mounted at the Paris observatory. +<span class="sidenote">G.D. Cassini</span> +G.D. Cassini brought from Rome a 17-ft. telescope by +G. Campani, with which he discovered in 1671 Iapetus, +the ninth in distance of Saturn’s family of satellites; +Rhea was detected in 1672 with a glass by the same maker of +34-ft. focus; the duplicity of the ring showed in 1675; and, in +1684, two additional satellites were disclosed by a Campani +telescope of 100 ft. Cassini, moreover, set up an altazimuth in +1678, and employed from about 1682 a “parallactic machine,” +provided with clockwork to enable it to follow the diurnal motion. +Both inventions have been ascribed to Olaus Römer, who used +<span class="sidenote">Römer.</span> +but did not claim them, and must have become familiar with +their principles during the nine years (1672-1681) +spent by him at the Paris observatory. Römer, on the +other hand, deserves full credit for originating the transit-circle +and the prime vertical instrument; and he earned undying +fame by his discovery of the finite velocity of light, made at Paris +in 1675 by comparing his observations of the eclipses of Jupiter’s +satellites at the conjunctions and oppositions of the planet.</p> + +<p>The organization of the Greenwich observatory differed +widely from that adopted at Paris. There a fundamental scheme +of practical amelioration was initiated by John +Flamsteed, the first astronomer royal, and has never +<span class="sidenote">Flamsteed.</span> +since been lost sight of. Its purpose is the attainment of so +complete a power of prediction that the places of the sun, moon +and planets may be assigned without noticeable error for an +indefinite future time. Sidereal inquiries, as such, made no part +of the original programme in which the stars figured merely as +points of reference. But these points are not stationary. They +have an apparent precessional movement, the exact amount +of which can be arrived at only by prolonged and toilsome +enquiries. They have besides “proper motions,” detected in +1718 by E. Halley in a few cases, and since found to prevail +universally. Further, James Bradley discovered in 1728 the +annual shifting of the stars due to the aberration of light (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Aberration</a></span>), and in 1748, the complicating effects upon +precession of the “nutation” of the earth’s axis. Hence, the +preparation of a catalogue recording the “mean” positions of +a number of stars for a given epoch involves considerable +preliminary labour; nor do those positions long continue to satisfy +observation. They need, after a time, to be corrected, not only +systematically for precession, but also empirically for proper +motion. Before the stars can safely be employed as route-marks +in the sky, their movements must accordingly be tabulated, and +research into the method of such movements inevitably follows. +We perceive then that the fundamental problems of sidereal +science are closely linked up with the elementary and +indispensable procedures of celestial measurement.</p> + +<p>The history of the Greenwich observatory is one of strenuous +efforts for refinement, stimulated by the growing stringency of +theoretical necessities. Improved practice, again, reacted upon +theory by bringing to notice residual errors, demanding the +correction of formulae, or intimating neglected disturbances. +Each increase of mechanical skill claims a corresponding gain in +the subtlety of analysis; and vice versa. And this kind of +interaction has gone on ever since Flamsteed reluctantly +furnished the “places of the moon,” which enabled Newton to +lay the foundations of lunar theory.</p> + +<p>Edmund Halley, the second astronomer royal, devoted most +<span class="sidenote">Halley.<br />Bradley.</span> +of his official attention to the moon. But his plan of attack was +not happily chosen; he carried it out with deficient +instrumental means; and his administration (1720-1742) +remained comparatively barren. That of his successor, +though shorter, was vastly more productive. +James Bradley chose the most appropriate tasks, and executed +them supremely well, with the indispensable aid of John +Bird (1700-1776), who constructed for him an 8-ft. quadrant +of unsurpassed quality. Bradley’s store of observations has +accordingly proved invaluable. Those of 3222 stars, reduced +by F.W. Bessel in 1818, and again with masterly insight by +Dr A. Auwers in 1882, form the true basis of exact astronomy, +and of our knowledge of proper motions. Those relating to the +moon and planets, corrected by Sir George Airy, 1840-1846, +form part of the standard materials for discussing theories of +<span class="sidenote">Bliss.<br />Maskelyne.</span> +movement in the solar system. The fourth astronomer royal, Nathaniel Bliss, provided in +two years a sequel of some value to Bradley’s performance. +Nevil Maskelyne, who succeeded him in 1764, set on foot, in 1767, the +publication of the <i>Nautical Almanac</i>, and about the same time +had an achromatic telescope fitted to the Greenwich mural quadrant. +The invention, perfected by John Dollond in 1757, was long debarred +from becoming effective by difficulties in the manufacture of glass, +aggravated in England by a heavy excise duty levied until 1845. +More immediately efficacious was the innovation made by +<span class="sidenote">Pond.<br />Airy.</span> +John Pond (astronomer royal, 1811-1836) of substituting +entire circles for quadrants. He further introduced, +in 1821, the method of duplicate observations by direct vision +and by reflection, and by these means obtained results of very +high precision. During Sir George Airy’s long term of office (1836-1881) +exact astronomy and the traditional purposes of the royal +observatory were promoted with increased vigour, while the scope +of research was at the same time memorably widened. Magnetic, +meteorological, and spectroscopic departments were added +to the establishment; electricity was employed, through the medium +of the chronograph, for the registration of transits; +and photography was resorted to for the daily automatic record +of the sun’s condition.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, advances were being made in various parts of the +<span class="sidenote">Wargentin.<br />Lacaille.</span> +continent of Europe. Peter Wargentin (1717-1783), secretary +to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, made a special +study of the Jovian system. James Bradley had +described to the Royal Society on the 2nd of July +1719 the curious cyclical relations of the three inner satellites; +and their period of 437 days was independently discovered by +Wargentin, who based upon it in 1746 a set of tables, superseded +only by those of J.B.J. Delambre in 1792. +Among the fruits of the strenuous career of Nicolas Louis de Lacaille +were tables of the sun, in which terms depending upon +planetary perturbations were, for the first time, introduced (1758); +an extended acquaintance with the southern heavens; +and a determination of the moon’s parallax from observations +made at opposite extremities of an arc of the meridian 85° +<span class="sidenote">Tobias Mayer.</span> +in length. Tobias Mayer of Göttingen (1723-1762) +originated the mode of adjusting transit-instruments +still in vogue; drew up a catalogue of nearly a thousand +zodiacal stars (published posthumously in 1775); and deduced +the proper motions of eighty stars from a comparison of their +places as given by Olaus Romer in 1706 with those obtained by +himself in 1756. He executed besides a chart and forty drawings +of the moon (published at Göttingen in 1881), and calculated +lunar tables from a skilful development of Euler’s theory, for +which a reward of £3000 was in 1765 paid to his widow by the +British government. They were published by the Board of +Longitude, together with his solar tables, in 1770. The material +interests of navigation were in these works primarily regarded; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page815" id="page815"></a>815</span> +but the imaginative side of knowledge had also potent representatives +<span class="sidenote">Lalande.</span> +during the latter half of the 18th century. +In France, especially, the versatile activity of J.J. +Lalande popularized the acquisitions of astronomy, and enforced +its demands; and he had a German counterpart in J.E. Bode.</p> + +<p>Between the time of Aristarchus and the opposition of Mars +in 1672, no serious attempt was made to solve the problem of +the sun’s distance. In that year, however, Jean +Richer at Cayenne and G.D. Cassini at Paris made +<span class="sidenote">Distance of the sun.</span> +combined observations of the planet, which yielded +a parallax for the sun of 9.5″, corresponding to a mean +radius for the terrestrial orbit of 87,000,000 m. This result, +though widely inaccurate, came much nearer to the truth than +any previously obtained; and it instructively illustrated the +feasibility of concerted astronomical operations at distant parts +of the earth. The way was thus prepared for availing to the full +of the opportunities for a celestial survey offered by the transits +of Venus in 1761 and 1769. They had been signalized by E. Halley +in 1716; they were later insisted upon by Lalande; an +enthusiasm for co-operation was evoked, and the globe, from +Siberia to Otaheite, was studded with observing parties. The +outcome, nevertheless, disappointed expectation. The instants +of contact between the limbs of the sun and planet defied precise +determination. Optical complications fatally impeded sharpness +of vision, and the phenomena took place in a debateable borderland +of uncertainty. J.F. Encke, it is true, derived from them +in 1822-1824 what seemed an authentic parallax of 8.57″, implying +a distance of 95,370,000 m.; but the confidence it inspired was +finally overthrown in 1854 by P.A. Hansen’s announcement +of its incompatibility with lunar theory. An appeal then lay +to the 19th century pair of transits in 1874 and 1882; but no +peremptory decision ensued; observations were marred by the +same optical evils as before. Their upshot, however, had lost +its essential importance; for a fresh series of investigations +based on a variety of principles had already been started. +Leverrier, in 1858, calculated a value of 8.95″ for the solar +parallax (equivalent to a distance of 91,000,000 m.) from the +“parallactic inequality” of the moon; Professor Newcomb, +using other forms of the gravitational method, derived in 1895 +a parallax of 8.76″. Again, since the constant of aberration +defines the ratio between the velocity of light and the earth’s +orbital speed, the span of the terrestrial circuit, in other words, +the distance of the sun, is immediately deducible from known +values of the first two quantities. The rate of light-transmission +was accordingly made the subject of an elaborate set of +experiments by Professor Newcomb in 1880-1882; and the result, +taken in connexion with the aberration-constant as determined +at Pulkowa, yielded a solar parallax of 8.79″, or a distance (in +round numbers) of 93,000,000 m. But the direct or geometrical +mode of attack has still the preference over any of the indirect +plans. Sir David Gill derived a highly satisfactory value of +8.78″ for the long-sought constant from the opposition of Mars +in 1877, and from combined heliometer observations at five +observatories in 1888-1889 of the minor planets Iris, Victoria +and Sappho, the apparently definitive value of 8.80″ (equivalent +distance, 92,874,000 m.). But an unlooked-for fresh opportunity +was afforded by the discovery in 1898 of the singularly +circumstanced minor planet Eros, which occasionally approaches the +earth more nearly than any other heavenly body except the moon. +The opposition of November 1900, though only moderately +favourable, could not be neglected; an international photographic +campaign was organized at Paris with the aid of 58 observatories; +and the voluminous collected data imply, so far as they have been +discussed, a parallax for the sun a little greater than 8.8″. +(See also <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Parallax</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>The first specimen of a reflecting telescope was constructed +by Isaac Newton in 1668. It was of what is still called +“Newtonian” design, and had a speculum 2 in. in +diameter. Through the skill of John Hadley (1682-1743) +<span class="sidenote">Reflecting telescopes.<br />William Herschel.</span> +and James Short of Edinburgh (1710-1768) +the instrument unfolded, in the ensuing century, some +of its capabilities, which the labours of William Herschel +enormously enhanced. Between 1774 and 1789 he built scores of +specula of continually augmented size, up to a diameter +of 4 ft., the optical excellence of which approved itself +by a crowd of discoveries. Uranus (<i>q.v.</i>) was recognized +by its disk on the 13th of March 1781; two of its satellites, +Oberon and Titania, disclosed themselves on the 11th of January +1787; while with the giant 48-in. mirror, used on the “front-view” +plan, Mimas and Enceladus, the innermost Saturnian +moons, were brought to view on the 28th of August and the +17th of September 1789. These were incidental trophies; +Herschel’s main object was the exploration of the sidereal +heavens. The task, though novel and formidable, was executed +with almost incredible success. Charles Messier (1730-1817) had +catalogued in 1781 103 nebulae; Herschel discovered 2500, +laid down the lines of their classification, divined the laws of +their distribution, and assigned their place in a scheme of +development. The proof supplied by him in 1802 that coupled stars +mutually circulate threw open a boundless field of research; +and he originated experimental inquiries into the construction +of the heavens by systematically collecting and sifting stellar +statistics. He, moreover, definitively established, in 1783, the +fact and general direction of the sun’s movement in space, and +thus introduced an element of order into the maze of stellar +<span class="sidenote">Sir John Herschel.</span> +proper motions. Sir John Herschel continued in the northern, and extended +to the southern hemisphere, his father’s work. The third earl of Rosse mounted, +at Parsonstown in 1845, a speculum 6 ft. in diameter, which +afforded the first indications of the spiral structure shown in +recent photographs to be the most prevalent characteristic +<span class="sidenote">Lord Rosse.</span> +of nebulae. Down to near the close of the 19th century, both the use and the +improvement of reflectors were left mainly in British hands; +but the gift of the “Crossley” instrument in 1895, to the Lick +observatory, and its splendid subsequent performances in nebular +photography, brought similar tools of research into extensive use +among American astronomers; and they are now, for many of the +various purposes of astrophysics, strongly preferred to refractors.</p> + +<p>Acquaintance with the asteroidal family began as the 19th +<span class="sidenote">Giuseppe Piazzi.<br />Max Wolf.</span> +century opened. On the 1st of January 1801 Giuseppe Piazzi +(1746-1826) discovered Ceres, at Palermo, while +engaged in collecting materials for his star-catalogues. +A prolonged succession of similar events followed. +But in the mode of detecting these swarming bodies, a typical +change was made on the 22nd of December 1891, +when Dr Max Wolf of Heidelberg photographically +captured No. 323. Repetitions of the feat are now counted by +the score.</p> + +<p>Practical astronomy was only secondarily concerned with +<span class="sidenote">Lassell.</span> +the addition of Neptune, on the 23rd of September 1846, to the +company of known planets; but William Lassell’s +discovery of its satellite, on the 10th of October +following, was a consequence of the perfect figure and high polish +of his 2-ft. speculum. With the same instrument, he further +detected, on the 19th of September 1848, Hyperion, the seventh +of Saturn’s attendants, and, on the 24th of October 1851, Ariel +and Umbriel, the interior moons of Uranus. +Simultaneously with Lassell, on the opposite shore of the +<span class="sidenote">Bond.</span> +Atlantic, W.C. Bond identified Hyperion; and he perceived, +on the 15th of November 1850, Saturn’s dusky ring, independently +observed, a fortnight later, by W.R. Dawes, at Wateringbury +in Kent. With the Washington 26-in. refractor, on the 11th of August 1877, +<span class="sidenote">Hall.<br />Barnard.</span> +Professor Asaph Hall descried the moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos; +and a minute light-speck, noticed by Professor E.E. Barnard +in the close neighbourhood of Jupiter on the 9th of September +1892, proved representative of a small inner satellite, +invisible with less perfect and powerful instruments than the +Lick 36-in. achromatic. The Jovian system has been reinforced +by three remote and extremely faint members, two +<span class="sidenote">Perrine.<br />W.H. Pickering.</span> +photographed by Professor C.D. Perrine with the +Crossley reflector in 1904-1905, and the third at Greenwich in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page816" id="page816"></a>816</span> +1908; and a pair of Saturnian moons, designated Phoebe and +Themis, were tracked out by Professor W.H. Pickering, +in 1898 and 1905 respectively, amid the thicket +of stars imprinted on negatives taken at Arequipa with +the Bruce 24-in. doublet lens. This raises to 26 the number of +discovered satellites in the solar system.</p> + +<p>Cometary science has ramified in unexpected ways during the +last hundred years. The establishment of a class of +“short-period” comets by the computations of J.F. Encke +in 1819, and of Wilhelm von Biela in 1826, led to the +<span class="sidenote">Comets.</span> +theory of their “capture” by the great planets, for which a +solid mathematical basis was provided by H. Newton, F. +Tisserand and O. Callandreau. An argument for the aboriginal +connexion of comets with the solar system, founded by R.C. +Carrington in 1860 upon their participation in its translatory +movement, was more fully developed by L. Fabry in 1893; and +the close orbital relationships of cometary groups, accentuated +by the pursuit of each other along nearly the same track by the +comets of 1843, 1880 and 1882, singularly illustrated the probable +vicissitudes of their careers. The most remarkable event, +however, in the recent history of cometary astronomy was its +<span class="sidenote">Meteors.</span> +assimilation to that of meteors, which took unquestionable +cosmical rank as a consequence of the Leonid +tempest of November 1833. The affinity of the two classes of +objects became known in 1866 through G.V. Schiaparelli’s +announcement that the orbit of the bright comet of 1862 agreed +strictly with the elliptic ring formed by the circulating Perseid +meteors; and three other cases of close coincidence were soon +afterwards brought to light. Tebbutt’s comet in 1881 was the +first to be satisfactorily photographed. The study of such +objects is now carried on mainly through the agency of the +sensitive plate. The photographic registration of meteor-trails, +too, has been lately attempted with partial success. The full +realization of the method will doubtless provide adequate data +for the detailed investigation of meteoric paths.</p> + +<p>The progress of science during the 19th century had no more +distinctive feature than the rapid growth of sidereal astronomy +<span class="sidenote">Sidereal astronomy.</span> +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Star</a></span>). Its scope, wide as the universe, can be +compassed no otherwise than by statistical means, +and the collection of materials for this purpose involves +most arduous preliminary labour. The multitudinous enrolment +of stars was the first requisite. Only one “catalogue of +precision”—Nevil Maskelyne’s of 36 fundamental stars—was +available in 1800. J.J. Lalande, however, published in 1801, in his <i>Histoire +céleste</i>, the approximate places of 47,390 from a re-observation +<span class="sidenote">Star catalogues.</span> +of which the great Paris catalogue (1887-1892) has been compiled. A +valuable catalogue of about 7600 stars was issued by Giuseppe +Piazzi in 1814; Stephen Groombridge determined 4239 at +Blackheath in 1806-1816; while through the joint and successive +work of F.W. Bessel and W.A. Argelander, exact acquaintance +was made with 90,000, a more general acquaintance with the +324,000 stars recorded in the <i>Bonn Durchmusterung</i> (1859-1862). +The southern hemisphere was subsequently reviewed on a similar +duplicate plan by E. Schönfeld (1828-1891) at Bonn, by B.A. +Gould and J.M. Thome at Córdoba. Moreover, the imposing +catalogue set on foot in 1865 at thirteen observatories by the +German astronomical society has recently been completed; and +adjuncts to it have, from time to time, been provided in the +publications of the royal observatories at Greenwich and the +Cape of Good Hope, and of national, imperial and private +establishments in the United States and on the continent of +Europe. But in the execution of these protracted undertakings, +the human eye has been, to a large and increasing extent, +superseded by the camera. Photographic star-charting was begun +by Sir David Gill in 1885, and the third and concluding volume +of the <i>Cape Photographic Durchmusterung</i> appeared in 1900. It +gives the co-ordinates of above 450,000 stars, measured by +Professor J.C. Kapteyn at Groningen on plates taken by C. Ray +Woods at the Cape observatory. And this comprehensive work +was merely preparatory to the International Catalogue and +Chart, the production of which was initiated by the resolutions +of the Paris Photographic Congress of 1887. Eighteen observatories +scattered north and south of the equator divided the sky +among them; and the outcome of their combined operations +aimed at the production of a catalogue of at least 2,000,000 +strictly determined stars, together with a colossal map in 22,000 +sheets, showing stars to the fourteenth magnitude, in numbers +difficult to estimate. (Sea <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Photography</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Celestial</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>The arrangement of the stars in space can be usefully discussed +only in connexion with their apparent light-power, or +“magnitude.” Photometric catalogues, accordingly, form +an indispensable part of stellar statistics; and +<span class="sidenote">Photometric catalogues.</span> +their construction has been zealously prosecuted. +The <i>Harvard Photometry</i> of 4260 lucid stars was +issued by Professor E.C. Pickering in 1884, the <i>Uranometria +Nova Oxoniensis</i>, giving the relative lustre of 2784 stars, by +C. Pritchard in 1885. The instrument used at Harvard was a +“meridian photometer,” constructed on the principle of polarization; +while the “method of extinctions,” by means of a wedge +of neutral-tinted glass, served for the Oxford determinations. +At Potsdam, some 17,000 stars have been measured by C.H.G. +Müller and P.F.F. Kempf with a polarizing photometer; but +by far the most comprehensive work of the kind is the Harvard +<i>Photometric Durchmusterung</i> (1901-1903), embracing all stars +to 7.5 magnitude, and extended to the southern pole by measurements +executed at Arequipa. The embarrassing subject of photographic +photometry has also been attacked by Professor Pickering. +The need is urgent of fixing a scale, and defining standards +of actinic brightness; but it has not yet been successfully met.</p> + +<p>The investigation of double stars was carried on from 1819 +to 1850 with singular persistence and ability at Dorpat and +Pulkowa by F.G.W. Struve, and by his son and +successor, O.W. Struve. The high excellence of the +<span class="sidenote">Double stars.</span> +data collected by them was a combined result of their +skill, and of the vast improvement in refracting telescopes +due to the genius of Joseph Fraunhofer (1787-1826). Among +the inheritors of his renown were Alvan Clark and Alvan G. +Clark of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts; and the superb definition +of their great achromatics rendered practicable the division +of what might have been deemed impossibly close star-pairs. +These facilities were remarkably illustrated by Professor S.W. +Burnham’s record of discovery, which roused fresh enthusiasm +for this line of inquiry by compelling recognition of the +extraordinary profusion throughout the heavens of compound objects. +Discoveries with the spectroscope have ratified and extended +this conclusion.</p> + +<p>Only spurious star-parallaxes had claimed the attention of +astronomers until F.W. Bessel announced, in December 1838, +the perspective yearly shifting of 61 Cygni in an ellipse +with a mean radius of about one-third of a second. +<span class="sidenote">Stellar parallax.</span> +Thomas Henderson (1798-1844) had indeed measured +the larger displacements of α Centauri at the Cape +in 1832-1833, but delayed until 1839 to publish his result. Out of +several hundred stars since then examined, seventy or eighty have +yielded fairly accurate, though very small parallaxes. But this +amount of knowledge, however valuable in itself, is utterly +inadequate to the needs of sidereal research; and various +attempts have accordingly been made, chiefly by Professors +J.C. Kapteyn and Simon Newcomb, to estimate, through the +analysis of their proper motions, the “mean parallax” of stars +assorted by magnitude. And the data thus arrived at are +reassuringly self-consistent. A wide photographic survey, by +which parallaxes might be secured wholesale, has further been +recommended by Kapteyn; but is unlikely to be undertaken +in the immediate future.</p> + +<p>The exhaustive ascertainment of stellar parallaxes, combined +with the visible facts of stellar distribution, would enable us +to build a perfect plan of the universe in three dimensions. +Its perfection would, nevertheless, be undermined +<span class="sidenote">Proper motions.</span> +by the mobility of all its constituent parts. +Their configuration at a given instant supplies no information +as to their configuration hereafter unless the mode and laws of +their movements have been determined. Hence, one of the leading +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page817" id="page817"></a>817</span> +inducements to the construction of exact and comprehensive +catalogues has been to elicit, by comparisons of those for widely +separated epochs, the proper motions of the stars enumerated +in them. Little was known on the subject at the beginning of the +19th century. William Herschel founded his determination in +1783 of the sun’s route in space upon the movements of thirteen +stars; and he took into account those of only six in his second +solution of the problem in 1805. But in 1837 Argelander +employed 390 proper motions as materials for the treatment of +the same subject; and L. Struve had at his disposal, in 1887, +no less than 2800. From the re-observation of Lalande’s stars, +after the lapse of not far from a century, J. Bossert was enabled +to deduce 2675 proper motions, published at Paris in four +successive memoirs, 1887-1902; and the sum-total of those +ascertained probably now exceeds 6000. Yet this number, +although it represents a portentous expenditure of labour, is +insignificant compared with the multitude of the stellar throng; +nor had any general tendency been discerned to regulate what +seemed casual flittings until Professor Kapteyn, in 1904, adverted +to the prevalence among all the brighter stars of opposite +stream-flows towards two “vertices” situated in the Milky Way (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Star</a></span>). The assured general fact as regards the direction of stellar +movements was that they included a common parallactic element +due to the sun’s translation. And it is by the consideration +of this partial accordance in motion that the advance through +space of the solar system has been ascertained.</p> + +<p>The apex of the sun’s way was fixed by Professor Newcomb +in 1898 at a point about 4° S. of the brilliant star Vega; but +was shifted nearly 7° to the S.W. by J.C. Kapteyn’s inquiry +in 1901; so that the range of uncertainty as to its position +continues unsatisfactorily wide. The speed with which our +system progresses is, on the other hand, fairly well known. +It cannot differ much from 12½ m. a second, the rate assigned +to it by Professor W.W. Campbell in 1902. He employed in +his discussion the radial velocities of 280 stars, spectroscopically +<span class="sidenote">Astrophysics.</span> +determined; and the upshot signally exemplified the community +of interests between the rising science of astrophysics and the +ancient science of astrometry. Their characteristic +purposes are, nevertheless, entirely different. The +positions of the heavenly bodies in space, and the +changes of those positions with time, constitute the primary +subject of investigation by the elder school; while the new +<span class="sidenote">Spectrum analysis.</span> +astronomy concerns itself chiefly with the individual +peculiarities of suns and planets, with their chemistry, +physical habitudes and modes of luminosity. +Its distinctive method is spectrum analysis, the invention and +development of which in the 19th century have fundamentally +altered the purpose and prospects of celestial inquiries.</p> + +<p>A beam of sunlight admitted into a darkened room through +a narrow aperture, and there dispersed into a vario-tinted band +by the interposition of a prism, is not absolutely +<span class="sidenote">Wollaston.<br />Fraunhofer.</span> +continuous. Dr W.H. Wollaston made the experiment +in 1802, and perceived the spaces of colour to be interrupted +by seven obscure gaps, which took the shape of lines owing to +his use of rectangular slit. He thus caught a preliminary glimpse of the “Fraunhofer lines,” +so called because Joseph Fraunhofer brought them into prominent +notice by the diligence and insight of his labours upon +them in 1814-1815. He mapped 324, chose out nine, which he +designated by the letters of the alphabet, to be standards of +measurement for the rest, and ascertained the coincidence in +position between the double yellow ray derived from the flame +of burning sodium and the pair of dark lines named by him “D” +in the solar spectrum. There ensued forty-five years of groping +for a law which should clear up the enigma of the solar reversals. +Partial anticipations abounded. The vital heart of the matter +was barely missed by W.A. Miller in 1845, by L. Foucault in +1849, by A.J. Ångström in 1853, by Balfour Stewart in 1858; +while Sir George Stokes held the solution of the problem in the +<span class="sidenote">Kirchhoff.</span> +hollow of his hand from 1852 onward. +But it was the synthetic genius of Gustav Kirchhoff which first gave +unity to the scattered phenomena, and finally reconciled what was +elicited in the laboratory with what was observed in the sun. +On the 15th of December 1859 he communicated to the Berlin +Academy of Sciences the principle which bears his name. Its +purport is that glowing vapours similarly circumstanced absorb +the identical radiations which they emit. That is to say, they +stop out just those sections of white light transmitted through +them which form their own special luminous badges. Moreover, +if the white light come from a source at a higher temperature +than theirs, the sections, or lines, absorbed by them show dark +against a continuous background. And this is precisely the +case with the sun. Kirchhoff’s principle, accordingly, not only +afforded a simple explanation of the Fraunhofer lines, but +availed to found a far-reaching science of celestial chemistry. +<span class="sidenote">Chemistry of the sun.</span> +Thousands of the dark lines in the solar spectrum +agree absolutely in wave-length with the bright rays +artificially obtained from known substances, and +appertaining to them individually. These substances +must then exist near the sun. They are in fact suspended in a +state of vapour between our eyes and the photosphere, the +dazzling prismatic radiance of which they, to a minute extent, +intercept, thus writing their signatures on the coloured scroll +of dispersed sunshine. By persistent research, powerfully aided +by the photographic camera and by the concave gratings invented +by H.A. Rowland (1848-1901) in 1882, about forty terrestrial +elements have been identified in the sun. Among them, iron, +sodium, magnesium, calcium and hydrogen are conspicuous; +but it would be rash to assert that any of the seventy forms +of matter provisionally enumerated in text-books are wholly +absent from his composition.</p> + +<p>Solar physics has profited enormously by the abolition of +glare during total eclipses. That of the 8th of July 1842 was +the first to be efficiently observed; and the luminous +appendages to the sun disclosed by it were such as +<span class="sidenote">Solar eclipses.</span> +to excite startled attention. Their investigation has +since been diligently prosecuted. The corona was photographed +at Königsberg during the totality of the 28th of July 1851; +similar records of the red prominences, successively obtained +by Father Angelo Secchi and Warren de la Rue, as the shadow-track +crossed Spain on the 18th of July 1860, finally demonstrated +their solar status. The Indian eclipse of the 18th of August +1868 supplied knowledge of their spectrum, found to include +the yellow ray of an exotic gas named by Sir Norman Lockyer +“helium.” It further suggested, to Lockyer and P. Janssen +separately, the spectroscopic method of observing these objects +in daylight. Under cover of an eclipse visible in North America +on the 7th of August 1869, the bright green line of the corona +was discerned; and Professor C.A. Young caught the “flash +spectrum” of the reversing layer, at the moment of second +contact, at Xerez de la Frontera in Spain, on the 22nd of December +1870. This significant but evanescent phenomenon, which +represents the direct emissions of a low-lying solar envelope, +was photographed by William Shackleton on the occasion of an +eclipse in Novaya Zemlya on the 9th of August 1896; and it +has since been abundantly registered by exposures made during +the obscurations of 1898, 1900, 1901 and 1905. A singular and +unlooked-for result of eclipse-work has been to include the +corona within the scope of solar periodicity. Heinrich Schwabe +established, in 1851, the cyclical variation, in eleven years, of +spot-frequency; terrestrial magnetic disturbances manifestly +obeyed the same law; and the peculiar winged aspect of the +corona disclosed by the eclipse of the 29th of July 1878, at an +epoch of minimum sun-spots, intimated to A.C. Ranyard a +theory of coronal types, changing concurrently with the +fluctuations of spot-activity. This was amply verified at +subsequent eclipses.</p> + +<p>The photography of prominences was, after some preliminary +trials by C.A. Young and others, fully realized in 1891 by +Professor George E. Hale at Chicago, and independently +by Henri Deslandres at Paris. The pictures were +<span class="sidenote">Prominence photography.</span> +taken, in both cases, with only one quality of light; +the violet ray of calcium, the remaining superfluous +beams being eliminated by the agency of a double slit. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page818" id="page818"></a>818</span> +last-named expedient had been described by Janssen in 1867. +Hale devised on the same principle the “spectroheliograph,” +an instrument by which the sun’s disk can be photographed in +calcium-light by imparting a rapid movement to its image +relatively to the sensitive plate; and the method has proved +in many ways fruitful.</p> + +<p>The likeness of the sun to the stars has been shown by the +spectroscope to be profound and inherent. Yet the general +agreement of solar and stellar chemistry does not +exclude important diversities of detail. Fraunhofer +<span class="sidenote">Stellar spectroscopy.</span> +was the pioneer in this branch. He observed, in 1823, +dark lines in stellar spectra which Kirchhoff’s discovery +supplied the means of interpreting. The task, attempted by +G.B. Donati in 1860, was effectively taken in hand, two years +later, by Angelo Secchi, William Huggins and Lewis M. Rutherfurd. +There ensued a general classification of the stars by Secchi +into four leading types, distinguished by diversities of spectral +pattern; and the recognition by Huggins of a considerable +number of terrestrial elements as present in stellar atmospheres. +Nebular chemistry was initiated by the same investigator when, +on the 29th of August 1864, he observed the bright-line spectrum +of a planetary nebula in Draco. About seventy analogous +objects, including that in the Sword of Orion, were found by him +to give light of the same quality; and thus after seventy-three +years, verification was brought to William Herschel’s hypothesis +of a “shining fluid” diffused through space, the possible raw +material of stars. In 1874, Dr H.C. Vogel published a modification +of Secchi’s scheme of stellar diversities, and gave it organic +meaning by connecting spectral differences with advance in +“age.” And in 1895, he set apart, as in the earliest stage of +growth, a new class of “helium stars,” supposed to develop +successively into Sirian, solar, Antarian, or alternatively into +carbon stars.</p> + +<p>On the 5th of August 1864, G.B. Donati analysed the light of +a small comet into three bright bands. Sir William Huggins +repeated the experiment on Winnecke’s comet in 1868, +obtained the same bands, and traced them to their +<span class="sidenote">Spectra of comets.</span> +origin from glowing carbon-vapour. A photograph of +the spectrum of Tebbutt’s comet, taken by him on the 24th +of June 1881, showed radiations of shorter wave-lengths but +identical source, and in addition, a percentage of reflected solar +light marked as such by the presence of some well-known +Fraunhofer lines. Further experience has generalized these +earlier results. The rule that comets yield carbon-spectra has +scarcely any exceptions. The usual bands were, however, +temporarily effaced in the two brilliant apparitions of 1882 by +vivid rays of sodium and iron, emitted during the excitement of +perihelion-passage.</p> + +<p>The adoption, by Sir William Huggins in 1876, of gelatine or +dry plates in celestial photography was a change of decisive +import. For it made long exposures possible; and +only with long exposures could autographic impressions +<span class="sidenote">Progress in spectrography.</span> +be secured of such faint objects as nebulae, telescopic +comets, and the immense majority of stars, or +of the dim ranges of stellar and nebular spectra. The first +conspicuous triumph of the new “spectrographic” art thus +established was the record by Huggins in 1879 of the dispersed +light of several “white” or Sirian stars, in which the chief traits +of absorption were the rhythmical series of hydrogen-lines, then +memorably discovered. Again by Sir William Huggins, the +spectrum of the Orion nebula was photographed on the 7th of +March 1882; and the method has gradually become nearly +exclusive in the study of nebular emanations. The “Draper +Catalogue” of 10,351 stellar spectra was published by Professor +E.C. Pickering in 1890. The materials for it were rapidly +accumulated by the use of an objective prism, that is, of a prism +placed in front of, instead of behind the object-lens, by which +means the spectra of all the stars in the field, to the number often +of many score, imprinted themselves simultaneously on the +sensitive plate. The progress of this survey was marked by a +number of important discoveries of “new” and variable stars +and of spectroscopic binaries, mainly through the acumen of +Mrs Williamina Paton Fleming of Harvard College in scrutinizing +the negatives forming the data for the great catalogue.</p> + +<p>The principle that the refrangibility of light is altered by end-on +motion was enunciated by Christian Doppler of Prague in 1842. +The pitch of a steam-whistle quite obviously rises and +falls as the engine to which it is attached approaches +<span class="sidenote">Doppler’s principle.</span> +and recedes from a stationary auditor; and light-pulses +are modified like sound-waves by velocity in the line of +sight. They are crowded together and therefore rendered shorter +and more frequent by the advance of their source, but drawn +apart and lengthened by its recession. These effects vary with +the rate of motion, which they consequently serve to measure; +and they are produced indifferently by movements of the +spectator or of the light-source. But Doppler’s idea that they +might be detected by colour-change was entirely illusory. It +would apply only if the spectrum had no infra-red and ultraviolet +extensions. These, however, since they share the general +lengthening or shortening of wave-length through motion, are +thereby shifted, to a certain definite extent, into visibility, and +so produce accurate chromatic compensation. Integrated light, +accordingly, tells nothing about velocity; but analysed light +does, when it includes bright or dark rays the normal positions of +which are known. The distinction was pointed out by Hippolyte +Fizeau in 1848. By comparison with their analogues in the +laboratory it can be determined whether, in which direction, and +how much, lines of recognized origin are displaced in the spectra +of the heavenly bodies. This subtle mode of research was made +available by Sir William Huggins in 1868. He employed it, with +an outcome of striking promise, to measure the radial speed of +some of the brighter stars. In the following year, Sir Norman +Lockyer was enabled to prove, by its means, the extraordinary +vehemence of chromospheric disturbances, the bright prominence-rays +in his spectroscope betraying, through their opposite shiftings, +movements and counter-movements up to 120 m. a second; +while its validity and refinement were, in 1871, vouched for by +H.C. Vogel’s observations on the 9th of June 1871, of differences +due to the sun’s rotation in the refrangibility of Fraunhofer lines +derived respectively from the east and west limbs. Stellar +line-of-sight work, however, made no satisfactory progress until, in +1888, Vogel changed the <i>venue</i> from the eye to the camera. A +high degree of precision in measurement thus became attainable, +and has since been fully attained. Not only the grosser facts +concerning radial velocity, but variations in it so small as a mile, +or less, per second, have been recorded and interpreted in terms +of deep meaning. For the investigation of the general scheme +of sidereal structure, the multiplication of results of the kind is +indispensable. But as yet, the recessional or approaching movements +of only a few hundred stars have been registered; and this +store of information is scanty indeed compared with the needs of +research. How the stars really move in space, and how the sun +travels among them, can be ascertained only with the aid of +materials collected by the spectrograph, which has now +fortunately been brought to comply with the arduous conditions of +exactitude requisite for collaboration with the transit instrument +and its allies, the clock and chronograph. And here, to their +great mutual advantage, the old and the new astronomies meet +and join forces.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Authorities</span>.—R. Grant, <i>History of Physical Astronomy</i> (1852); +Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, <i>An Historical Survey of the Astronomy of +the Ancients</i> (1862); +J.B.J. Delambre, +<i>Hist. de l’astr. ancienne</i>; +<i>Hist. de l’astr. au moyen âge</i>; +<i>Hist. de l’astr. moderne</i>; +<i>Hist, de l’astr. au XVIII<span class="sp">e</span> siècle</i>; +J.S. Bailly, <i>Histoire de l’astronomie</i> (5 vols., 1775-1787); +J.F. Weidler, <i>Historia Astronomiae</i> (1741); +J.H. Mädler, <i>Geschichte der Himmelskunde</i> (1873); +R. Wolf, <i>Geschichte der Astronomie</i> (1876); +<i>Handbuch der Astronomie</i> (1890-1892); +W. Whewell, <i>Hist. of the Inductive Sciences</i>; +A.M. Clerke, <i>Hist. of Astronomy during the 19th Century</i> (4th ed., 1903); +A. Berry, <i>Hist. of Astronomy</i> (1898); +J.K. Schaubach, +<i>Geschichte der griechischen Astronomie bis auf Eratosthenes</i> (1802); +Th. H. Martin, “Mémoire sur l’histoire des hypotheses astronomiques,” +<i>Mémoires de l’lnstitut</i>, t. xxx. (Paris, 1881); +P. Tannery, <i>Recherches sur l’histoire de l’astronomie ancienne</i> (1893); +O. Gruppe, <i>Die kosmischen Systeme der Griechen</i> (1851); +G.V. Schiaparelli, <i>I Precursori del Copernico</i> (1873); +<i>Le Sfere Omocentriche di Eudosso</i> (1875); +P. Jensen, <i>Kosmologie der Babylonier</i> (1890); +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page819" id="page819"></a>819</span> +F.X. Kugler, <i>Die babylonische Mondrechnung</i> (1900); +J. Epping and J.N. Strassmeier, <i>Astronomisches aus Babylon</i> (1889); +F.K. Ginzel, <i>Die astronomischen Kenntnisse der Babylonier</i> (1901); +C.L. Ideler, <i>Historische Untersuchungen über die astronomischen +Beobachtungen der Alten</i> (1806); +<i>Handbuch der math. Chronologie</i> (2 vols., 1825-1826); +<i>Untersuchungen über den Ursprung der Sternnamen</i> (1809); +G. Costard, <i>History of Astronomy</i> (1767); +J. Narrien, +<i>An Historical Account of the Origin and Progress of Astronomy</i> (1833); +J.L.E. Dreyer, <i>Hist. of the Planetary Systems</i> (1906); +G.W. Hill, “Progress of Celestial Mechanics,” <i>The Observatory</i>, +vol. xix. (1896).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. M. C.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1l" id="ft1l" href="#fa1l"><span class="fn">1</span></a> <i>The Observatory</i>, Nos. 231-234, 1895.</p> + +<p><a name="ft2l" id="ft2l" href="#fa2l"><span class="fn">2</span></a> <i>Observations of Comets</i>, translated +from the Chinese <i>Annals</i> by John Williams, F.S.A. (1871).</p> + +<p><a name="ft3l" id="ft3l" href="#fa3l"><span class="fn">3</span></a> J.L.E. Dreyer, +<i>Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.</i> vol. iii. No. 7 (December 1881).</p> + +<p><a name="ft4l" id="ft4l" href="#fa4l"><span class="fn">4</span></a> F.K. Ginzel, “Die astronomischen Kenntnisse +der Babylonier,” C.F. Lehmann, <i>Beiträge zur alten Geschichte</i>, +Heft i. p. 6 (1901).</p> + +<p><a name="ft5l" id="ft5l" href="#fa5l"><span class="fn">5</span></a> <i>Knowledge and Scientific News</i>, vol. i. pp. 2, 228.</p> + +<p><a name="ft6l" id="ft6l" href="#fa6l"><span class="fn">6</span></a> <i>Astronomisches aus Babylon</i> (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1889).</p> + +<p><a name="ft7l" id="ft7l" href="#fa7l"><span class="fn">7</span></a> Ginzel, loc. cit. Heft ii. p. 204.</p> + +<p><a name="ft8l" id="ft8l" href="#fa8l"><span class="fn">8</span></a> <i>Die babylonische Mondrechnung</i>, p. 50 (1900).</p> + +<p><a name="ft9l" id="ft9l" href="#fa9l"><span class="fn">9</span></a> S. Newcomb, <i>Astr. Nach.</i> No. 3682; +P.H. Cowell, <i>Month. Notices Roy. Astr. Soc.</i> lxv. 867.</p> + +<p><a name="ft10l" id="ft10l" href="#fa10l"><span class="fn">10</span></a> G.V. Schiaparelli, <i>I Precursori del Copernico</i>, pp. 23-28, +Pubbl. del R. Osservatorio di Brera, No. iii. (1873).</p> + +<p><a name="ft11l" id="ft11l" href="#fa11l"><span class="fn">11</span></a> G.V. Schiaparelli, <i>I Precursori del Copernico</i>, +pp. 23-28, Pubbl. del R. Osservatorio di Brera, No. ix.</p> + +<p><a name="ft12l" id="ft12l" href="#fa12l"><span class="fn">12</span></a> Marie. <i>Hist. des sciences</i>, t. i. p. 79; +P. Tannery, <i>Hist. de l’astronomie ancienne</i>, ch. v. p. 115.</p> + +<p><a name="ft13l" id="ft13l" href="#fa13l"><span class="fn">13</span></a> Published by H.C. Schjellerup in a French translation +(St Petersburg, 1874).</p> + +<p><a name="ft14l" id="ft14l" href="#fa14l"><span class="fn">14</span></a> Newcomb, <i>Researches on the Motion of the Moon</i>, +Washington Observations for 1875, Appendix ii. p. 20.</p> + +<p><a name="ft15l" id="ft15l" href="#fa15l"><span class="fn">15</span></a> F. Baily, <i>Memoirs Roy. Astr. Society</i>, vol. xiii. p. 19.</p> + +<p><a name="ft16l" id="ft16l" href="#fa16l"><span class="fn">16</span></a> J.L.E. Dreyer, <i>Life of Tycho Brahe</i>, p. 321.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTROPALIA<a name="ar184" id="ar184"></a></span> (classical <i>Astypalaea</i>), an island, with good +harbours, in the south part of the Aegean, situated in 36.5° N. +and immediately west of 26.5° E. It was colonized by Megara, +and its constitution and buildings are known from numerous +inscriptions. The Roman emperors recognized it as a free state, +and in the middle ages it was called <i>Stampalia</i>, and belonged to +the noble Venetian family of Quirini. It was taken by the Turks +in the 16th century, and is now noted for its sponges. The +customs and dress of the people, who speak a patois of romaic +origin, are interesting.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTROPHYSICS,<a name="ar185" id="ar185"></a></span> the branch of astronomical science which +treats of the physical constitution of the heavenly bodies. So +long as these bodies could be known to men only as points or +disks of light in the sky, no such science was possible. Even +later, when the telescope was the only instrument of research, +knowledge on this subject was confined to the appearances +presented by the planets, supplemented by more or less probable +inferences as to the nature of their surfaces. When, in the third +quarter of the 19th century, spectrum analysis was applied to +the light coming to us from the heavenly bodies, a new era in +astronomical science was opened up of such importance that the +body of knowledge revealed by this method has sometimes been +termed the “new astronomy.” The development of the method +has been greatly assisted by photography, while the application +of photometric measurements has been a powerful auxiliary in +the work. It has thus come about that astrophysics owes its +recent development, and its recognition as a distinct branch of +astronomical science, to the combination of the processes involved +in the three arts of spectroscopy, photography and photometry. +The most general conclusions reached by this combination may +be summed up as follows:—</p> + +<p>1. The heavenly bodies are composed of like matter with that +which we find to make up our globe. The sun and stars are +found to contain the more important elements with which +chemistry has made us acquainted. Iron, calcium and hydrogen +may be especially mentioned as three familiar chemical elements +which enter largely into the constitution of all the matter of the +heavens. It would be going too far to say that all the elements +known to us exist in the sun or the stars; nor is the question +whether the rarer ones can or cannot be found there of prime +importance. The general fact of identity in the main constituents +is the one of most fundamental importance. It would be going +too far in the other direction to claim that all the elements +which compose the heavenly bodies are found on the earth. +There are many lines in the spectra of the stars, as well as of +the nebulae, which are not certainly identified with those belonging +to any elements known to our chemistry. The recent discoveries +growing out of the investigation of newly discovered +forms of radiation lead to the conclusion that the question of +the forms of matter in the stars has far wider range than the +simple question whether any given element is or is not found +outside our earth. The question is rather that of the infinity +of forms that matter may assume, including that most attenuated +form found in the nebulae, which seem to be composed of matter +more refined than even the atoms supposed to make up the matter +around us.</p> + +<p>2. The second conclusion is that, as a general rule, the +incandescent heavenly bodies are not masses of solid or liquid +matter as formerly assumed, but mainly masses either of gas, +or of substances gaseous in their nature, so compressed by the +gravitation of their superincumbent parts toward a common +centre that their properties combine those of the three forms of +matter known to us. We have strong reason to believe that +even the sun, though much denser than the general average of +the stars, may possibly be characterized as gaseous rather than +solid. Probabilities also seem to favour the view that this may, +to a certain extent, be true of the four great planets of our +system. The case of bodies like our earth and Mars, which are +solid either superficially or throughout, is probably confined to +the smaller bodies of the universe.</p> + +<p>3. A third characteristic which seems to belong to the great +bodies of the universe is the very high temperature of their +interior. With a modification to be mentioned presently, we +may regard them as intensely hot bodies, probably at a temperature +higher than any we can produce by artificial means, of which +the superficial portions have cooled off by radiation into space. +A modification in this proposition which may hereafter be +accepted involves an extension of our ideas of temperature, and +leads us to regard the interior heat of the heavenly bodies as due +to a form of molecular activity similar to that of which radium +affords so remarkable an instance. This modification certainly +avoids many difficulties connected with the question of the +interior heat of the earth, sun, Jupiter and probably all the +larger heavenly bodies.</p> + +<p>A limit is placed on our knowledge of astrophysics which, up +to the present time, we have found no means of overstepping. +This is imposed upon us by the fact that it is only when matter +is in a gaseous form that the spectroscope can give us certain +knowledge as to its physical condition. So long as bodies are +in the solid state the light which they emit, though different in +different substances, has no characteristic so precisely marked +that detailed conclusions can be drawn as to the nature of the +substance emitting it. Even in a liquid form, the spectrum of +any kind of matter is less characteristic than that of gas. Moreover, +a gaseous body of uniform temperature, and so dense as +to be non-transparent, does not radiate the characteristic +spectrum of the gas of which it is composed. Precise conclusions +are possible only when a gaseous body is transparent through +and through, so that the gas emits its characteristic rays—or +when the rays from an incandescent body of any kind pass +through a gaseous envelope at a temperature lower than that of +the body itself. In this case the revelations of the spectroscope +relate only to the constitution of the gaseous envelope, and not +to the body below the envelope, from which the light emanates. +The outcome of this drawback is that our knowledge of the +chemical constitution of the stars and planets is still confined +to their atmospheres, and that conclusions as to the constitution +of the interior masses which form them must be drawn by other +methods than the spectroscopic one.</p> + +<p>When the spectroscope was first applied in astronomy, it was +hoped that the light reflected from living matter might be found +to possess some property different from that found in light +reflected from non-living matter, and that we might thus detect +the presence of life on the surface of a planet by a study of its +spectrum; but no hope of this kind has so far been realized.</p> + +<p>We have, in this brief view of the subject, referred mainly to +the results of spectrum analysis. Growing out of, but beyond +this method is the beginning of a great branch of research which +may ultimately explain many heretofore enigmatical phenomena +of nature. The discovery of radio-activity may, by explaining +the interior heat of the great bodies of the universe, solve a +difficulty which since the middle of the 19th century has been +discussed by physicists and geologists—that of reconciling the +long duration which geologists claim for the crust of the earth +with the period during which physicists have deemed it possible +that the sun should have radiated heat. Evidence is also +accumulating to show that the sun and stars are radio-active +bodies, and that emanations proceeding from the sun, and +reaching the earth, have important relations to the phenomena +of Terrestrial Magnetism and the Aurora.</p> + +<p>The subject of Astrophysics does not admit of so definite a +subdivision as that of Astrometry. The conclusions which researches +relating to it have so far reached are treated in the articles +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Star</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Sun</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Comet</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Nebula</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Aurora Polaris</a></span>, &c.</p> +<div class="author">(S. N.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTRUC, JEAN<a name="ar186" id="ar186"></a></span> (1684-1766), French physician and Biblical +critic, was born on the 19th of March 1684 at Sauve, in Languedoc. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page820" id="page820"></a>820</span> +He graduated in medicine at Montpellier in 1703, and in 1710 +he was appointed to the chair of anatomy at Toulouse, which +he retained till 1717, when he became professor of medicine +at Montpellier. Subsequently he was appointed successively +superintendent of the mineral waters of Languedoc (1721), first +physician to the king of Poland (1729), and regius professor +of medicine at Paris (1731). He died on the 5th of May 1766 +at Paris. Of his numerous works, that on which his fame +principally rests is the treatise entitled <i>De Morbis Venereis libri +sex</i>, 1736. In addition to other medical works he published +anonymously <i>Conjectures sur les mémoires originaux dont il +parait que Moyse s’est servi pour composer le livre de la Genèse</i>, +(1753), in which he pointed out that two main sources can be +traced in the book of Genesis; and two dissertations on the +immateriality and immortality of the soul, 1755.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See Hauck, <i>Realencyk. f. prot. Theol.</i>, 1897, vol. ii. pp. 162-170.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTURA,<a name="ar187" id="ar187"></a></span> formerly an island, now a peninsula, on the coast +of Latium, Italy, 7 m. S.E. of Antium, at the S.E. extremity +of the Bay of Antium. The name also belongs to the river which +flowed into the sea immediately to the S.E., at the mouth of +which there was, according to Strabo, an anchorage. The +medieval castle of the Frangipani, in which Conradin of Swabia +vainly sought refuge after the battle of Tagliacozza in 1268, +is built upon the foundations of a very large villa, of <i>opus reticulatum</i> +with later additions in brickwork, and with a small +harbour attached to it on the south-east. Remains of buildings +also exist behind the sand dunes, which possibly mark the line +of the channel which separated the island from the mainland, +and these may have belonged to the post-station on the Via +Severiana. As far as can be seen at present, there are remains +of only one villa on the island itself;<a name="fa1m" id="fa1m" href="#ft1m"><span class="sp">1</span></a> but along the coast a mile +to the north-west a line of villas begins, which continues as far +as Antium. To the south-east, on the other hand, remains are +almost entirely absent, and this portion of the coast seems to +have been as sparsely populated in Roman times as it is now. +The island seems to have existed as such in the time of Pope +Honorius III. Astura was the site of a favourite villa of Cicero, +whither he retired on the death of his daughter Tullia in 453 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> +It appears to have been unhealthy even in Roman times; according +to Suetonius, both Augustus and Tiberius contracted here +the illnesses which proved fatal to them.</p> + +<p>See T. Ashby, in <i>Mélanges de l’École Française de Rome</i> (1905), +p. 207.</p> +<div class="author">(T. As.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1m" id="ft1m" href="#fa1m"><span class="fn">1</span></a> Servius, in speaking of it as <i>oppidum</i>, must be referring to the +post-station.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTURIAS,<a name="ar188" id="ar188"></a></span> an ancient province and principality of northern +Spain, bounded on the N. by the Bay of Biscay, E. by Old +Castile, S. by Leon and W. by Galicia. Pop. (1900) 627,069; +area, 4205 sq. m. By the division of Spain in 1833, the province +took the name of Oviedo, though not to the exclusion, in +ordinary usage, of the older designation. A full description of +its modern condition is therefore given under the heading +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Oviedo</a></span>; the present article being confined to an account of +its physical features, its history, and the resultant character +of its inhabitants. Asturias consists of a portion of the northern +slope of the Cantabrian Mountains, and is covered in all directions +with offshoots from the main chain, by which it is almost completely +shut in on the south. The higher summits, which often +reach a height of 7000-8000 ft., are usually covered with snow +until July or August, and the whole region is one of the wildest +and most picturesque parts of Spain. Until the first railway was +opened, in the middle of the 19th century, few of the passes +across the mountains were practicable for carriages, and most +of them are difficult even for horses. A narrow strip of level +moorland, covered with furze and rich in deposits of peat, coal +and amber, stretches inland, from the edge of the sheer cliffs +which line the coast, to the foot of the mountains. The province +is watered by numerous streams and rivers, which have hollowed +out deep valleys; but owing to the narrowness of the level +tract, their courses are short, rapid and subject to floods. The +most important is the Nalon or Pravia, which receives the waters +of the Caudal, the Trubia and the Narcea, and has a course +of 62 m.; after it rank the Navia and the Sella. The estuaries +of these rivers are rarely navigable, and along the entire littoral, +a distance of 130 m., the only important harbours are at Gijón +and Avilés.</p> + +<p>A country so rugged, and so isolated by land and sea, naturally +served as the last refuge of the older races of Spain when hard +pressed by successive invaders. Before the Roman conquest, +the Iberian tribe of Astures had been able to maintain itself +independent of the Carthaginians, and to extend its territory +as far south as the Douro. It was famous for its wealth in horses +and gold. About 25 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, the Romans subjugated the district +south of the Cantabrians, to which they gave the name of +Augustana. Their capital was Asturica Augusta, the modern +Astorga, in Leon. The warlike mountaineers of the northern +districts, known as Transmontana, never altogether abandoned +their hostility to the Romans, whose rule was ended by the +Visigothic conquest, late in the 5th century. In 713, two years +after the defeat and death of Roderick, the last Visigothic king, +all Spain, except Galicia and Asturias, fell into the hands of the +Moors. One of the surviving Christian leaders, Pelayo the Goth, +took refuge with three hundred followers in the celebrated cave +of Covadonga, or Cobadonga, near Cangas de Onís, and from this +hiding-place undertook the Christian reconquest of Spain. The +Asturians chose him as their king in 718, and although Galicia +was lost in 734, the Moors proved unable to penetrate into the +remoter fastnesses held by the levies of Pelayo. After his death +in 737, the Asturians continued to offer the same heroic resistance, +and ultimately enabled the people of Galicia, Leon and Castile to +recover their liberty. The title of prince of Asturias, conferred +on the heir-apparent to the crown of Spain, dates from 1388, +when it was first bestowed on a Castilian prince. The title of +count of Covadonga is assumed by the kings of Spain. In modern +times Asturias formed a captaincy-general, divided into Asturias +d’Oviedo, which corresponds with the limits of the ancient principality, +and Asturias de Santillana, which now constitutes the +western half of Santander.</p> + +<p>Owing to their almost entire immunity from any alien domination +except that of the Romans and Goths, the Asturians may +perhaps be regarded as the purest representatives of the Iberian +race; while their dialect (<i>linguaje bable</i>) is sometimes held to be +closely akin to the parent speech from which modern Castilian is +derived. It is free from Moorish idioms, and, like Galician and +Portuguese it often retains the original Latin <i>f</i> which Castilian +changes into <i>h</i>. In physique, the Asturians are like the Galicians, +a people of hardy mountaineers and fishermen, finely built, but +rarely handsome, and with none of the grace of the Castilian or +Andalusian. Unlike the Galicians, however, they are remarkable +for their keen spirit of independence, which has been fostered +by centuries of isolation. Despite the harsh land-laws and +grinding taxation which prevent them, with all their industry +and thrift, from securing the freehold of the patch of ground +cultivated by each peasant family, the Asturians regard themselves +as the aristocracy of Spain. This pride in their land, race +and history they preserve even when, as often happens, they +emigrate to other parts of the country or to South America, and +earn their living as servants, water-carriers, or, in the case of +the women, as nurses. They make admirable soldiers and sailors, +but lack the enterprise and commercial aptitude of the Basques +and Catalans; while they are differentiated from the inhabitants +of central and southern Spain by their superior industry, and +perhaps their lower standard of culture. It is, on the whole, +true that by the exclusion of the Moors they lost their opportunity +of playing any conspicuous part in the literary and artistic +development of Spain. One class of the Asturians deserving +special mention is that of the nomad cattle-drovers known as +Baqueros or Vaqueros, who tend their herds on the mountains of +Leitariegos in summer, and along the coast in winter; forming a +separate caste, with distinctive customs, and rarely or never +intermarrying with their neighbours.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>For the modern condition of the principality (including climate, +fauna and flora), see S. Canals, <i>Asturias: informancion sobre su +presente estado</i> (Madrid, 1900); and G. Casal, <i>Memorias de historia +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page821" id="page821"></a>821</span> +natural y médica, de Asturias</i> (Oviedo, 1900). For the history and +antiquities, there is much that is valuable in <i>Asturias monumental, +epigráfica y diplomática</i>, &c., by C.M. Vigil (Madrid, 1887)—folio, +with maps and illustrations. See also F. de Aramburu y Zuloaga, +<i>Monografia de Asturias</i> (Oviedo, 1899).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTYAGES,<a name="ar189" id="ar189"></a></span> the last king of the Median empire. In the +inscriptions of Nabonidus the name is written Ishtuvegu (cylinder +from Abu Habba V R 64, col. 1, 32; Annals, published by Pinches, +<i>Tr. Soc. Bibl. Arch</i>. vii. col. 2, 2). According to Herodotus, he +was the son of Cyaxares and reigned thirty-five years (584-550 +<span class="scs">B.C.</span>); his wife was Aryenis, the daughter of Alyattes of Lydia +(Herod, i. 74). About his reign we know little, as the narrative of +Herodotus, which makes Cyrus the grandson of Astyages by his +daughter Mandane, is merely a legend; the figure of Harpagus, +who as general of the Median army betrays the king to Cyrus, +alone seems to contain an historical element, as Harpagus and his +family afterwards obtained a high position in the Persian empire. +From the inscriptions of Nabonidus we learn that Cyrus, king of +Anshan (Susiana), began war against him in 553 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>; in 550, +when Astyages marched against Cyrus, his troops rebelled, and +he was taken prisoner. Then Cyrus occupied and plundered +Ecbatana. The captive king was treated fairly by Cyrus (Herod, +i. 130), and according to Ctesias (<i>Pers</i>. 5, cf. Justin i. 6) made +satrap of Hyrcania, where he was afterwards slain by Oebares +against the will of Cyrus, who gave him a splendid funeral. +Alexander Polyhistor and Abydenus in their excerpts from +Berossus, which Eusebius (<i>Chron</i>. i. pp. 29 and 37) and Syncellus +(p. 396) have preserved, give the name Astyages to the Median +king who reigned in the time of the fall of Nineveh (606 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), +and became father-in-law of Nebuchadrezzar. This is evidently +a mistake; the name ought to be Cyaxares (in the fragments of +the Jewish history of Alexander Polyhistor, in Euseb. <i>Praep. +Ev</i>. ix. 39, the name is converted into Astibaras, who, according +to the unhistorical list of Ctesias, was the father of Astyages), and +there is no reason to invent an earlier king Astyages I., as some +modern authors have done. The Armenian historians render the +name Astyages by Ashdahak, <i>i.e.</i> Azhi Dahaka (Zohak), the +mythical king of the Iranian epics, who has nothing whatever to +do with the historical king of the Medes.</p> +<div class="author">(Ed. M.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASTYLAR<a name="ar190" id="ar190"></a></span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="á-">ἀ-</span>, privative, and <span class="grk" title="stylos">στῦλος</span>, a column), +an architectural term given to a class of design in which neither +columns nor pilasters are used for decorative purposes; thus the +Ricardi and Strozzi palaces in Florence are astylar in their +design, in contradistinction to Palladio’s palaces at Vicenza, +which are columnar.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASUNCIÓN<a name="ar191" id="ar191"></a></span> (<span class="sc">Nuestra Senora de la Asunción</span>), a city and +port of Paraguay, and capital of the republic, on the left bank of +the Paraguay river in 25° 16′ 04″ S., 57° 42′ 40″ W., and 970 m. +above Buenos Aires. Pop. (est. in 1900) 52,000. The port is +connected with Buenos Aires and Montevideo by regular lines of +river steamers, which are its only means of trade communication +with the outer world, and with the inland town of Villa Rica +(95 m.) by a railway worked by an English company. The city +faces upon a curve in the river bank forming what is called the +Bay of Asunción, and is built on a low sandy plain, rising to pretty +hillsides overlooking the bay and the low, wooded country of +the Chaco on the opposite shore. The general elevation is only +253 ft. above sea-level. Asunción is laid out on a regular plan, the +credit for which is largely due to Dictator Francia; the principal +streets are paved and lighted by gas and electricity; and telephone +and street-car services are maintained. The climate is hot but +healthful, the mean annual temperature being about 72° F. +The city is the seat of a bishopric dating from 1547, and contains +a large number of religious edifices. It has a national +college and public library, but no great progress in education has +been made. The most prominent edifice in the city is the palace +begun by the younger Lopez, which is now occupied by a bank. +There are some business edifices and residences of considerable +architectural merit, but the greater part are small and inconspicuous, +a majority of the residences being thatched, mud-walled +cabins. Considerable progress was made during the last +two decades of the 19th century, however, notwithstanding +misgovernment and the extreme poverty of the people. Asunción +was founded by Ayolas in 1335, and is the oldest permanent +Spanish settlement on the La Plata. It was for a long time the +seat of Spanish rule in this region, and later the scene of a bitter +struggle between the church authorities and Jesuits. Soon after +the declaration of independence in 1811, the city fell under the +despotic rule of Dr Francia, and then under that of the elder and +younger Lopez, through which its development was greatly +impeded. It was captured and plundered by the Brazilians in +1869, and has been the theatre of several revolutionary outbreaks +since then, one of which (1905) resulted in a blockade of several +months’ duration.</p> +<div class="author">(A. J. L.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASVINS,<a name="ar192" id="ar192"></a></span> in Hindu mythology, twin deities of light. After +Indra, Agni and Soma, they are the most prominent divinities +in the Rig-Veda, and have more than fifty entire hymns addressed +to them. Their exact attributes are obscure. They appear +to be the spirits of dawn, the earliest bringers of light in the +morning sky; they hasten on in the clouds before Dawn and +prepare the way for her. In some hymns they are called sons +of the sun; in others, children of the sky; in others, offspring of +the ocean. They are youngest of the gods, bright lords of lustre, +honey-hued. They are inseparable. The sole purpose of one +hymn is to compare them with different twin objects, such as +eyes, hands, feet and wings. They have a common wife, Surya. +They are physicians, protectors of the weak and old, especially +of elderly unmarried women. They are the friends of lovers, +and bless marriages and make them fruitful.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See A.A. Macdonell, <i>Vedic Mythology</i> (Strassburg, 1897).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASYLUM<a name="ar193" id="ar193"></a></span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="a-">ἀ-</span>, privative, and <span class="grk" title="sulae">σύλη</span>, right of seizure), +a place of refuge. In ancient Greece, an asylum was an “inviolable” refuge for persons fleeing from pursuit and in search of +protection. In a general sense, all Greek temples and altars +were inviolable, that is, it was a religious crime to remove by +force any person or thing once under the protection of a deity. +But it was only in the case of a small number of temples that +this protecting right of a deity was recognized with common +consent. Such were the sanctuaries of Zeus Lycaeus in Arcadia, +of Poseidon in the island of Calauria, and of Apollo at Delos, +they were, however, numerous in Asia Minor. They guaranteed +absolute security to the suppliant within their limits. The +right of sanctuary, originally possessed by all temples, appears +to have become limited to a few in consequence of abuses of it. +Asylums in this sense were peculiar to the Greeks. The asylum +of Romulus (Livy i. 8), which was probably the altar of Veiovis, +cannot be considered as such. Under Roman dominion, the +rights of existing Greek sanctuaries were at first confirmed, but +their number was considerably reduced by Tiberius. Under +the Empire, the statues of the emperors and the eagles of the +legions were made refuges against acts of violence. Generally +speaking, the classes of persons who claimed the rights of asylum +were slaves who had been maltreated by their masters, soldiers +defeated and pursued by the enemy, and criminals who feared +a trial or who had escaped before sentence was passed. (See +treatises <i>De Asylis Graecis</i>, by Förster, 1847; Jaenisch, 1868; +Barth, 1888.)</p> + +<p>With the establishment of Christianity, the custom of asylum +or sanctuary (<i>q.v.</i>) became attached to the church or churchyard. +In modern times the word asylum has come to mean an institution +providing shelter or refuge for any class of afflicted or +destitute persons, such as the blind, deaf and dumb, &c., but +more particularly the insane. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Insanity</a></span>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ASYLUM, RIGHT OF<a name="ar194" id="ar194"></a></span> (Fr. <i>droit d’asile</i>; Ger. <i>Asylrecht</i>), in +international law, the right which a state possesses, by virtue +of the principle that every independent state is sole master +within its boundaries, of allowing fugitives from another country +to enter or sojourn upon its territory. Extradition (<i>q.v.</i>) treaties +are undertakings between states curtailing the exercise of the +right of asylum in respect of refugees from justice, but the conditions +therein laid down invariably show that nations regard +the maintenance of this right of asylum as intimately connected +with their right of independent action, however weak as states +they may be, on their own soil. The neutral right to grant +asylum to belligerent forces is now governed by articles 57, 58 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page822" id="page822"></a>822</span> +and 59 of the regulations annexed to the Hague Convention of +the 29th of July 1899, relating to the Laws and Customs of +War on Land. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">War</a></span>.)</p> +<div class="author">(T. Ba.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATACAMA,<a name="ar195" id="ar195"></a></span> a province of northern Chile, bounded N. and S. +respectively by the provinces of Antofagasta and Coquimbo, and +extending from the Pacific coast E. to the Argentine boundary +line. It has an area of 30,729 sq. m., lying in great part within +the Atacama desert region (see below), and a population (1902) +of 71,446. The silver and copper mines of the province are +numerous, some of them ranking among the most productive +known, but the majority are worked with limited capital and on +a small scale. The silver ore was first discovered in 1832 by a +shepherd at a place which bears his name, Juan Godoi. The +nitrate and borax deposits are extensive and productive, and +common salt is a natural product of large areas in the elevated +desert regions of the Andes. The exports include copper and +silver and their ores, nitrate of soda, borax, guano and other +minerals in small quantities. The capital, Copiapó (est. pop. +8991 in 1902), is situated on a small river of the same name 37 m. +from the coast and 51 m. south-east by rail from Caldera, the +principal port of this great mining district. Before 1842, when +guano began to attract notice as an exportable product, Atacama +was considered as Bolivian territory, and Coquimbo the extreme +northern province of Chile. In that year Chile decided to explore +the desert coast, and in 1843 that part of the desert extending +north to the 26th parallel was organized into the province of +Atacama.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATACAMA, DESERT OF,<a name="ar196" id="ar196"></a></span> an arid, barren and saline region of +western South America, covering the greater part of the Chilean +provinces of Atacama and Antofagasta, the Argentine territory +of Los Andes, and the south-western corner of the Bolivian +department of Potosí. The higher elevations are known as the +Puna de Atacama, which is practically a continuation southward +of the great <i>puna</i> region of Peru and Bolivia. It is a broken, +mountainous region, volcanic in places, saline in others, and +ranges from 7000 to 13,500 ft. in general elevation. Its culminating +ridges are marked by an irregular line of peaks and +extinct volcanoes extending north by east from about 28° S. +into southern Bolivia. On the eastern side, occasional rainfalls +occur and streams from the snow-clads peaks produce some slight +displays of fertility, but the general aspect of the plateaus, which +are dry and cold in winter and in summer are swept by rainstorms +and covered by occasional tufts of coarse grass, is barren +and forbidding. They are also broken by great saline lagoons +and dry salt basins. This region forms the Argentine territory +of Los Andes and is habitable in places. On the western slope +the land descends gradually to the Pacific, being broken into great +basins, or terraces, by mountainous ridges in its higher elevations, +widening out into gently-sloping sandy plains below, famous +for their nitrate deposits, and terminating on the coast with +sharply-sloping bluffs, having an elevation of 800 to 1500 ft., +and looking from the sea like a range of flat-topped hills. This +desolate region, which is rainless and absolutely barren, and +was considered worthless for three and a half centuries, is now +a treasure-house of mineral wealth, abounding in copper, silver, +lead, nickel, cobalt, iron, nitrates and borax. It is occupied +by many mining settlements, and includes some of the most +productive copper and silver mines of the world.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See L. Darapsky, “Zur Geographic der Puna de Atacama,” <i>Zeits. +Ges. Erdk. zu Berlin</i>, 1899; G.E. Church, “South America: an +Outline of its Physical Geography,” <i>Geographical Journal</i>, 1901; +John Ball, <i>Notes of a Naturalist in South America</i> (London, 1887); +F. O’Driscoll, “A Journey to the North of the Argentine Republic,” +<i>Geographical Journal</i>, 1904.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. J. L.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATACAMITE,<a name="ar197" id="ar197"></a></span> a mineral found originally in the desert of +Atacama, and named by D. de Gallizen in 1801. It is a cupric +oxychloride, having the formula CuCl<span class="su">2</span>·3Cu(OH)<span class="su">2</span>, and crystallizing +in the orthorhombic system. Its hardness is about 3 and +its specific gravity 3.7, while its colour presents various shades of +green, usually dark. Atacamite is a comparatively rare mineral, +formed in some cases by the action of sea-water on various +copper-ores, and occurring also as a volcanic product on Vesuvian +lavas. Some of the finest crystals have been yielded by the +copper-mines of South Australia, especially at Wallaroo. It +occurs also, with malachite, at Bembe, near Ambriz, in West +Africa. From one of its localities in Chile, Los Remolinos, it +was termed Remolinite by Brooke and Miller. Atacamite, in +a pulverulent state, was formerly used as a pounce under the +name of “Peruvian green sand,” and was known in Chile as +arsenillo.</p> +<div class="author">(F. W. R.*)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATAHUALLPA<a name="ar198" id="ar198"></a></span> (<i>atahu</i>, Lat. <i>virtus</i>, and <i>allpa</i>, sweet), “the +last of the Incas” (or Yncas) of Peru, was the son of the ruler +Huayna Capac, by Pacha, the daughter of the conquered sovereign +of Quito. His brother Huascar succeeded Huayna Capac +in 1527; for, as Atahuallpa was not descended on both sides +from the line of Incas, Peruvian law considered him illegitimate. +He obtained, however, the kingdom of Quito. A jealous feeling +soon sprang up between him and Huascar, who insisted that +Quito should be held as a dependent province of his empire. +A civil war broke out between the brothers, and, about the time +when the Spanish conqueror Pizarro was beginning to move +inland from the town of San Miguel, Huascar had been defeated +and thrown into prison, and Atahuallpa had become Inca. +Pizarro set out in September 1532, and made for Caxamarca, +where the Inca was. Messengers passed frequently between +them, and the Spaniards on their march were hospitably received +by the inhabitants. On the 15th of November, Pizarro entered +Caxamarca, and sent his brother and Ferdinando de Soto to +request an interview with the Inca. On the evening of the next +day, Atahuallpa entered the great square of Caxamarca, accompanied +by some five or six thousand men, who were either unarmed +or armed only with short clubs and slings concealed +under their dresses. Pizarro’s artillery and soldiers were planted +in readiness in the streets opening off the square. The interview +was carried on by the priest Vicente de Valverde, who addressed +the Inca through an interpreter. He stated briefly and dogmatically +the principal points of the Christian faith and the +Roman Catholic policy, and concluded by calling upon Atahuallpa +to become a Christian, obey the commands of the pope, give +up the administration of his kingdom, and pay tribute to Charles +V., to whom had been granted the conquest of these lands. +To this extraordinary harangue, which from its own nature +and the faults of the interpreter must have been completely +unintelligible, the Inca at first returned a very temperate answer. +He pointed out what seemed to him certain difficulties in the +Christian religion, and declined to accept as monarch of his +dominions this Charles, of whom he knew nothing. He then took +a bible from the priest’s hands, and, after looking at it, threw +it violently from him, and began a more impassioned speech, +in which he exposed the designs of the Spaniards, and upbraided +them with the cruelties they had perpetrated. The priest +retired, and Pizarro at once gave the signal for attack. The +Spaniards rushed out suddenly, and the Peruvians, astonished +and defenceless, were cut down in hundreds. Pizarro himself +seized the Inca, and in endeavouring to preserve him alive, +received, accidentally, on his hand the only wound inflicted +that day on a Spaniard. Atahuallpa, thus treacherously captured, +offered an enormous sum of money as a ransom, and +fulfilled his engagement; but Pizarro still detained him, until +the Spaniards should have arrived in sufficient numbers to +secure the country. While in captivity, Atahuallpa gave secret +orders for the assassination of his brother Huascar, and also +endeavoured to raise an army to expel the invaders. His plans +were betrayed, and Pizarro at once brought him to trial. He +was condemned to death, and, as being an idolater, to death +by fire. Atahuallpa, however, professed himself a Christian, +received baptism, and his sentence was then altered into death +by strangulation (August 29, 1533). His body was afterwards +burned, and the ashes conveyed to Quito. (See also <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Peru</a></span>: +<i>History</i>.)</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATALANTA,<a name="ar199" id="ar199"></a></span> in Greek legend, the name of two Greek heroines, +(1) The Arcadian Atalanta was the daughter of Iasius or Iasion +and Clymene. At her birth, she had been exposed on a hill, +her father having expected a son. At first she was suckled by a +she-bear, and then saved by huntsmen, among whom she grew +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page823" id="page823"></a>823</span> +up to be skilled with the bow, swift, and fond of the chase, +like the virgin goddess Artemis. At the Calydonian boar-hunt +her arrows were the first to hit the monster, for which its head +and hide were given her by Meleager. At the funeral games +of Pelias, she wrestled with Peleus, and won. For a long time +she remained true to Artemis and rejected all suitors, but +Meilanion at last gained her love by his persistent devotion. +She was the mother of Parthenopaeus, one of the Seven against +Thebes (Apollodorus iii. 9; Hyginus, <i>Fab.</i> 99). (2) The +Boeotian Atalanta was the daughter of Schoeneus. She was +famed for her running, and would only consent to marry a suitor +who could outstrip her in a race, the consequence of failure being +death. Hippomenes, before starting, had obtained from Aphrodite +three golden apples, which he dropped at intervals, and +Atalanta, stopping to pick them up, fell behind. Both were +happy at the result; but forgetting to thank the goddess for +the apples, they were led by her to a religious crime, and were +transformed into lions by the goddess Cybele (Ovid, <i>Metam.</i> +x. 560; Hyginus, <i>Fab.</i> 185). The characteristics of these +two heroines (frequently confounded) point to their being +secondary forms of the Arcadian Artemis.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATARGATIS<a name="ar200" id="ar200"></a></span>, a Syrian deity, known to the Greeks by a +shortened form of the name, Derketo (Strabo xvi. c. 785; Pliny, +<i>Nat. Hist.</i> v. 23. 81), and as Dea Syria, or in one word Deasura +(Lucian, <i>de Dea Syria</i>). She is generally described as the +“fish-goddess.” The name is a compound of two divine names; +the first part is a form of the Himyaritic <i>’Athlar</i>, the equivalent +of the Old Testament <i>Ashtoreth</i>, the Phoenician <i>Astarte</i> (<i>q.v.</i>), +with the feminine ending omitted (Assyr. <i>Ishtar</i>); the second +is a Palmyrene name <i>’Athe</i> (<i>i.e. tempus opportunum</i>), which +occurs as part of many compounds. As a consequence of the +first half of the name, Atargatis has frequently, though wrongly, +been identified with Astarte. The two deities were, no doubt, +of common origin, but their cults are historically distinct. In +2 Macc. xii. 26 we find reference to an Atargateion or Atergateion +(temple of Atargatis) at Carnion in Gilead (cf. 1 Macc. v. 43), +but the home of the goddess was unquestionably not Palestine, +but Syria proper, <span class="correction" title="amended fron expecially">especially</span> at Hierapolis (<i>q.v.</i>), where she had +a great temple. From Syria her worship extended to Greece, +Italy and the furthest west. Lucian and Apuleius give descriptions +of the beggar-priests who went round the great cities +with an image of the goddess on an ass and collected money. +The wide extension of the cult is attributable largely to Syrian +merchants; thus we find traces of it in the great seaport +towns; at Delos especially numerous inscriptions have been +found bearing witness to its importance. Again we find the +cult in Sicily, introduced, no doubt, by slaves and mercenary +troops, who carried it even to the farthest northern limits of +the Roman empire. In many cases, however, Atargatis and +Astarte are fused to such an extent as to be indistinguishable. +This fusion is exemplified by the Carnion temple, which is +probably identical with the famous temple of Astarte at Ashtaroth-Karnaim.</p> + +<p>Atargatis appears generally as the wife of Hadad (Baal). +They are the protecting deities of the community. Atargatis, +in the capacity of <span class="grk" title="polionchos">πολιοῦχος</span>, wears a mural crown, is the ancestor +of the royal house, the founder of social and religious life, the +goddess of generation and fertility (hence the prevalence of +phallic emblems), and the inventor of useful appliances. Not +unnaturally she is identified with the Greek Aphrodite. By the +conjunction of these many functions, she becomes ultimately +a great Nature-Goddess, analogous to Cybele and Rhea (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Great Mother of the Gods</a></span>); in one aspect she typifies the +function of water in producing life; in another, the universal +mother-earth (Macrobius, <i>Saturn</i>, i. 23); in a third (influenced, +no doubt, by Chaldaean astrology), the power of destiny. The +legends are numerous and of an astrological character, intended +to account for the Syrian dove-worship and abstinence from fish +(see the story in Athenaeus viii. 37, where Atargatis is derived +from <span class="grk" title="ates Gatidos">ἄτερ Γάτιδος</span> “without Gatis,”—a queen who is said to +have forbidden the eating of fish). Thus Diodorus Siculus, +using Ctesias, tells how she fell in love with a youth who was +worshipping at the shrine of Aphrodite, and by him became the +mother of Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, and how in shame +she flung herself into a pool at Ascalon or Hierapolis and was +changed into a fish (W. Robertson Smith in <i>Eng. Hist. Rev.</i> ii., +1887). In another story she was hatched from an egg found +by some fish in the Euphrates and by them thrust on the bank +where it was hatched by a dove; out of gratitude she persuaded +Jupiter to transfer the fish to the Zodiac (cf. Ovid, <i>Fast.</i> ii. +459-474, <i>Metam.</i> v. 331).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See articles <i>s.v.</i> in Herzog-Hauck, <i>Realencyk.</i> (1897), by W. +Baudissin; and Pauly-Wissowa, <i>Realencyc.</i>; Fr. Baethgen, <i>Beiträge zur +Semit. Religiongesch.</i> (1888); R. Pietschmann, <i>Gesch. der Phönizier</i> +(1889).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATAULPHUS<a name="ar201" id="ar201"></a></span> (the Latinized form of the Gothic Ataulf, +“Father-wolf,” from <i>atta</i>, father, and <i>vulfs</i>, wolf; mod. Germ. +Adolf, Latinized as Adolphus, the form used by Gibbon for the +subject of this article), king of the Goths (d. 415). On the death +of Alaric (<i>q.v.</i>) his followers acclaimed his brother-in-law Ataulphus +as king. In 412 he quitted Italy and led his army across +the Alps into Gaul. Here he fought against some of the usurpers +who threatened the throne of Honorius; he made some sort of +compact with that emperor and, in 414, he married his sister +Placidia, who had been since the siege of Rome a captive in the +camp of the Goths. The ex-emperor Attalus danced at the +marriage festival, which was celebrated with great pomp at +Narbonne. In 415 Ataulphus crossed the Pyrenees into Spain +and died at Barcelona, being assassinated by a groom. The +most important fact in his history is his confession, recorded by +Orosius, that he saw the inability of his countrymen to rear a +civilized or abiding kingdom, and that consequently his aim +should be to build on Roman foundations and blend the two +nations into one.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATAVISM<a name="ar202" id="ar202"></a></span> (from Lat. <i>atavus</i>, a great-great-great-grandfather +or ancestor), the term given in biology to the reproduction in a +living person or animal of the characteristics of an ancestor more +remote than its parents (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Heredity</a></span>). Loosely used, it connotes +a reversion to an earlier type. Individuals reproduce +unexpectedly the traits of earlier ancestors, and ethnologists +and criminologists frequently explain by “atavism” the occurrence +of degenerate species of man; but the whole subject is +complicated by other possible explanations of such phenomena, +included in the scientific study of normal “variation.”</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATBARA<a name="ar203" id="ar203"></a></span> (<i>Bahr-el-Aswad</i>, or Black River), the most northern +affluent of the river Nile, N.E. Africa. It rises in Abyssinia to +the N.W. of Lake Tsana, unites its waters with a number of +other rivers which also rise in the Abyssinian highlands, and +flows north-west 800 m. till its junction at Ed Damer with the +Nile (<i>q.v.</i>). The battle of the Atbara, fought near Nakheila, +a place on the north bank of the river about 30 m. above Ed +Damer, on the 8th of April 1898, between the khalifa’s forces +under Mahmud and Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener’s +Anglo-Egyptian army, resulted in the complete defeat of the +Mahdists and the capture of their leader, and paved the way for +the decisive battle of Omdurman on the 2nd of September +following (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Egypt</a></span>: <i>Military Operations</i>).</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATCHISON<a name="ar204" id="ar204"></a></span>, a city and the county-seat of Atchison county, +Kansas, U.S.A., on the west bank of the Missouri river, which +is navigable at this point but is utilized comparatively little for +commerce. Pop. (1890) 13,963; (1900) 15,722, of whom 2508 +were of negro descent and 1308 were foreign-born; (1910) +16,429. Atchison is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, +the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island +& Pacific, and the Missouri Pacific railways. The city is the seat +of Midland College (Lutheran, 1887), St Benedict’s College +(Roman Catholic, 1858) for boys, Mt. Scholastics Academy +(Roman Catholic) for girls, and Western Theological Seminary +(Evangelical-Lutheran, 1893); a state soldiers’ orphans’ home +is also located here. Atchison’s situation and transportation +facilities make it an important supply-centre, its trade in grains +and live-stock being particularly large; it has large railway +machine shops, and its principal manufactures are flour, furniture, +lumber, hardware and drugs. The value of the city’s factory +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page824" id="page824"></a>824</span> +products increased from $2,093,469 in 1900 to $4,052,274 in 1905, +or 93.6%. Atchison was founded in 1854 by pro-slavery +partisans, and was named in honour of their leader, David Rice +Atchison, a United States senator. The city was quickly surpassed +by Leavenworth in commercial importance, and during +the Kansas struggle was never of great political importance. +Its first city charter was granted in 1858. The Atchison <i>Globe</i> +(established 1878) is one of the best-known of western papers.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATE,<a name="ar205" id="ar205"></a></span> in Greek mythology, the personification of criminal +folly, the daughter of Zeus and Eris (Strife). She misled even +Zeus to take a hasty oath, whereby Heracles became subject to +Eurystheus. Zeus thereupon cast her by the hair out of Olympus, +whither she did not return, but remained on earth, working evil +and mischief (<i>Iliad</i>, xix. 91). She is followed by the Litae +(Prayers), the old and crippled daughters of Zeus, who are able +to repair the evil done by her (<i>Iliad</i>, ix. 502). In later times +Ate is regarded as the avenger of sin (Sophocles, <i>Antigone</i>, +614, 625).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See J. Girard, <i>Le Sentiment religieux en Grèce</i> (1869); J.F. +Scherer, <i>De Graecorum Ates Notione atque Indole</i> (1858); +E. Berch, <i>Bedeutung der Ate bei Aeschylos</i> (1876); C. Lehrs, +<i>Populare Aufsatze aus dem Alterthum</i> (1875); L. Schmidt, +<i>Die Ethik der alten Griechen</i> (1882).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATELLA,<a name="ar206" id="ar206"></a></span> an ancient Oscan town of Campania, 9 m. N. of +Naples and 9 m. S. of Capua, on the road between the two. It +was a member of the Campanian confederation, and shared the +fortunes of Capua, but remained faithful to Hannibal for a +longer time; the great part of the inhabitants, when they +could no longer resist the Romans, were transferred by him to +Thurii, and the town was reoccupied in 211 by the Romans, +who settled the exiled inhabitants of Nuceria there. The fate +of Atella at the end of the war, when the latter were able to +return to their own city, is unknown. Cicero was in friendly +relations with it, and exerted influence that it might retain its +property in Gaul, so that it is obvious that it had then recovered +municipal rights. The town is mainly famous as the cradle of +early Roman comedy, the <i>Fabulae Atellanae</i> (see below). Some +remains of the town still exist, including a tower of the city wall +in brick.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See J. Beloch, <i>Campanien</i> (2nd ed., Breslau, 1890), p. 379.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATELLANAE FABULAE<a name="ar207" id="ar207"></a></span> (“Atellan fables”), the name of a +sort of popular comedy amongst the ancient Romans. The +name is derived from Atella, an Oscan town in Campania; for +this reason, and from their being also called <i>Osci Ludi</i>, it has +been supposed that they were of Oscan origin and introduced at Rome +after Campania had been deprived of its independence. It +seems highly improbable that they were performed in the Oscan +language. Mommsen, however, rejects their Oscan origin +altogether; he regards them as purely Latin, the scene merely +being laid at Atella to avoid causing offence by placing it at +Rome or one of the Latin cities. These plays, or rather sketches, +contained humorous descriptions of country as contrasted with +town life, and found their subjects amongst the lower classes +of the people. The subjects alone were decided upon before +the performance began; the dialogue was improvised as it +proceeded. The Atellanae contained certain stock characters, +like the Italian harlequinades: Maccus (the fool), Bucco (fat-chaps), +Pappus (daddy), Dossennus (sharper); monsters and +bogeys like Manducus, Pytho, Lamia also made their appearance. +The performers were the sons of Roman citizens, who did not +lose their rights as citizens, and were allowed to serve in the +army: professional actors were excluded. The simple prose +dialogues were probably varied by songs in the rude Saturnian +metre: the language was that of the common people, accompanied +by lively gesticulation and movements. They were +characterized by coarseness and obscenity. In the time of Sulla +a literary form was given to the Atellanae by Pomponius of +Bononia and Novius, who made them regular written comedies. +Living persons seem to have been attacked, and even the doings +of the gods and heroes of mythology burlesqued. From this +time the Atellanae were used as after-pieces and performed +by professional actors. In 46 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> they were ousted by the +mimes, but regained popularity during the reign of Tiberius +(chiefly owing to a certain Mummius), until they were definitely +superseded by and merged in the mimes. They held their +ground in the small towns and villages of Italy during the last +days of the empire; they probably lingered on into the middle +ages, and were the origin of the Italian <i>Commedie dell’ arte.</i></p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The scanty fragments of Pomponius and Novius are collected in +Ribbeck’s <i>Comicorum Romanorum Reliquiae</i>; see also Munk, +<i>De Fabulis Atellanis</i> (1840); and art. <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Latin Literature</a></span>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATESTE<a name="ar208" id="ar208"></a></span> (mod. <i>Este, q.v.</i>), an ancient town of Venetia, at the +southern foot of the Euganean hills, 43 ft. above sea-level; +22 m. S.W. of Patavium (Padua). The site was occupied in very +early times, as the discoveries since 1882 show. Large cemeteries +have been excavated, which show three different periods from +the 8th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> down to the Roman domination. In the +first period (Italic) cremation burials closely approximating to +the Villanova type are found; in the second<a name="fa1n" id="fa1n" href="#ft1n"><span class="sp">1</span></a> (Venetian) the +tombs are constructed of blocks of stone, and <i>situlae</i> (bronze +buckets), sometimes decorated with elaborate designs, are +frequently used to contain the cinerary urns; in the third +(Gallic), which begins during the 4th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, though +cremation continues, the tombs are much poorer, the ossuaries +being of badly baked rough clay, and show traces of Gallic +influence, and characteristics of the La-Tène civilization. The +many important objects found in these excavations are preserved +in the local museum. See G. Ghirardini in <i>Notizie degli Scavi; +Monumenti dei Lincei</i>, ii. (1893) 161 seq., vii. (1897) 5 seq., x. +(1901) 5 seq.; <i>Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Scienze +Storiche</i> (Rome, 1904), v. 279 seq. Inscriptions show that the +national language asserted its existence even after Ateste came +into the hands of the Romans. When this occurred is not known; +boundary stones of 135 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> exist, which divide the territory of +Ateste from that of Patavium and of Vicetia, showing that the +former extended from the middle of the Euganean hills to the +Atesis (mod. <i>Adige</i>, from which Ateste no doubt took its name, +and on which it once stood). After the battle of Actium, +Augustus settled veterans from various of his legions in this +territory, Ateste being thenceforth spoken of as a colony. It +appears to have furnished many recruits, especially for the +<i>cohortes urbanae</i>. It appears but little in history, though its +importance is vouched for by numerous inscriptions, the majority +of which belong to the early Empire.</p> +<div class="author">(T. As.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1n" id="ft1n" href="#fa1n"><span class="fn">1</span></a> This is by some authorities divided into two.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATH,<a name="ar209" id="ar209"></a></span> or <span class="sc">Aath</span>, an ancient town of the province of Hainaut, +Belgium, situated on the left bank of the Dender. Pop. (1890) +9868; (1904) 11,201. Formerly it was fortified, but after the +change in the defensive system of Belgium in 1858 the fortress +was dismantled and its ramparts superseded by boulevards. +Owing to a fire caused by lightning its fine church of St Julien, +dating from the 14th century, which had escaped serious injury +during many wars, was destroyed in 1817 (since rebuilt). This +left the Tour Burbant as its sole relic of the middle ages. This +tower formed part of the <i>donjon</i> of the fortress erected by +Baldwin IV., count of Hainaut, about the year 1150. Near Ath +is the fine castle of Beloeil, the ancient seat of the princely +family of Ligne. Ath is famous for its gild of archers, whose +butts are erected on the plain of the Esplanade in the centre of +the town. The town militia has the privilege of being armed +with bows and crossbows. Ath is also well known in Hainaut +for its annual fête called <i>le jour de ducasse—ducasse</i> being the +Walloon word for kermesse (fête). On this occasion a procession +escorting figures of two giants, Goliath, called locally Goyasse, +and Samson, forms the chief feature of the celebration. The +emperor Joseph II. stopped it for its “idolatrous” character, +but this act was one of the causes of the Brabant revolution of +1789. The procession, revived in 1790, was again stopped by +the French republicans five years later, but was revived under +the Empire, and has flourished ever since.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHABASCA<a name="ar210" id="ar210"></a></span> (<i>Athiapescow</i>), or <span class="sc">Elk</span>, a river and lake Of the +province of Alberta, Canada. The river rises in the Rocky +Mountains near the Yellowhead Pass in 52° 10′ N. and 117° 10′ +W., and flows north-east as far as Athabasca Landing, and thence +north into Lake Athabasca. It is 740 m. long and has a number +of important tributaries, including the McLeod, Pembina, Lesser +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page825" id="page825"></a>825</span> +Slave, which drains the lake of that name, and Clearwater. +Athabasca lake is 195 m. long, west to east, from 20 to 32 m. wide +has an area of 3085 sq. m., and is 690 ft. above the sea. It discharges +its waters northward by Slave river and the Mackenzie +system to the Arctic Ocean. On its north shore the country is +high and rocky; on the south, sandy and barren. Shallow +draught steamers navigate the lake and river, and Lesser +Slave lake and river, with one interruption—at Grand Rapids +near the mouth of the Clearwater river.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHALARIC<a name="ar211" id="ar211"></a></span> (516-534), king of the Ostrogoths, grandson of +Theodoric, became king of the Ostrogoths in Italy on his grandfather’s +death (526). As he was only ten years old, the regency +was assumed by his mother Amalasuntha (<i>q.v.</i>). The murmurs of +the Gothic nobles procured for their young sovereign too early +emancipation from the schoolroom. He drank heavily, and +indulged in vicious excesses which ruined his constitution. He +died on the 2nd of October 534.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHALIAH,<a name="ar212" id="ar212"></a></span> in the Bible, the daughter of Ahab, and wife of +Jehoram, king of Judah. After the death of Ahaziah, her son +she usurped the throne and reigned for six years. She is said +to have massacred all the members of the royal house of +Judah (2 Kings xi. 1-3), but a similar atrocity is also ascribed +to Jehu (2 Kings x. 12-14); with both notices contrast 2 Chron. +xxi. 17. The sole survivor Joash was concealed in the temple by +his aunt, Jehosheba, wife of the priest Jehoida (2 Chron. xxii. 11) +These organized a revolution in favour of Joash, and caused +Athaliah and her adherents to be put to death (2 Kings xi.; +2 Chron. xxii. 10-12, xxiii., xxiv. 7).</p> + +<p>The story of Athaliah forms the subject of one of Racine’s +best tragedies. It has been musically treated by Handel and +Mendelssohn.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHAMAS,<a name="ar213" id="ar213"></a></span> in Greek mythology, king of the Minyae in +Boeotian Orchomenus, son of Aeolus, king of Thessaly, or of +Minyas. His first wife was Nephele, the cloud-goddess, by whom +he had two children, Phrixus and Helle (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Argonauts</a></span>). +Athamas and his second wife Ino were said to have incurred the +wrath of Hera, because Ino had brought up Dionysus, the son of +her sister Semele, as a girl, to save his life. Athamas went mad, +and slew one of his sons, Learchus; Ino, to escape the pursuit of +her frenzied husband, threw herself into the sea with her other +son Melicertes. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine +divinities, Ino as Leucothea, Melicertes as Palaemon (<i>Odyssey</i> +v. 333). Athamas, with the guilt of his son’s murder upon him, +was obliged to flee from Boeotia. He was ordered by the oracle to +settle in a place where he should receive hospitality from wild +beasts. This he found at Phthiotis in Thessaly, where he +surprised some wolves eating sheep; on his approach they fled, +leaving him the bones. Athamas, regarding this as the fulfilment +of the oracle, settled there and married a third wife, Themisto. +The spot was afterwards called the Athamanian plain (Apollodorus +i. 9; Hyginus, <i>Fab</i>. 1-5; Ovid, <i>Metam.</i> iv. 416, <i>Fasti</i>, +vi. 485; Valerius Flaccus i. 277).</p> + +<p>According to a local legend, Athamas was king of Halos in +Phthiotis from the first (Schol. on Apoll. Rhodius ii. 513). After +his attempt on the life of Phrixus, which was supposed to have +succeeded, the Phthiots were ordered to sacrifice him to Zeus +Laphystius, in order to appease the anger of the gods. As he was +on the point of being put to death, Cytissorus, a son of Phrixus, +suddenly arrived from Aea with the news that Phrixus was still +alive. Athamas’s life was thus saved, but the wrath of the gods +was unappeased, and pursued the family. It was ordained that +the eldest born of the race should not enter the council-chamber; +if he did so, he was liable to be seized and sacrificed if detected +(Herodotus vii. 197). The legend of Athamas is probably +founded on a very old custom amongst the Minyae—the sacrifice +of the first-born of the race of Athamas to Zeus Laphystius. +The story formed the subject of lost tragedies by Aeschylus, +Sophocles, Euripides and other Greek and Latin dramatists.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHANAGILD<a name="ar214" id="ar214"></a></span> (d. 547) became king of the Visigoths (in +Spain) in 534, having invoked the aid of the emperor Justinian for +his revolt against his predecessor Agila. Athanagild, when himself +king, vainly tried to oust his late allies from the footing which +they had gained in Spain, nor were the Greeks finally expelled +from Spain till seventy years later. Athanagild himself is chiefly +remembered for the tragic fortunes of his daughters Brunechildis +and Gavleswintha, who married two Frankish brother kings, +Sigebert and Chilperic. Athanagild died (“peacefully,” as the +annalist remarks) in 547.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHANARIC<a name="ar215" id="ar215"></a></span> (d. 381), a ruler of the Visigoths from about 366 +to 380. He bore the title not of king but of judge, a title which +may be compared with that of ealdorman among the Anglo-Saxon +invaders of Britain. Athanaric waged, from 367 to 369, +an unsuccessful war with the emperor Valens, and the peace by +which the war was ended was ratified by the Roman and Gothic +rulers meeting on a barge in mid-stream of the Danube. Athanaric +was a harsh and obstinate heathen, and his short reign was +chiefly famous for his brutal persecution of his Christian fellow-countrymen. +In 376 he was utterly defeated by the Huns, +who a few years before had burst into Europe. The bulk of the +Visigothic people sought refuge within the Empire in the region +now known as Bulgaria, but Athanaric seems to have fled into +Transylvania. Being attacked there by two Ostrogothic chiefs +he also, in 381, sought the protection of the Roman emperor. +Theodosius I. received him courteously, and he was profoundly +impressed by the glories of Constantinople, but on the fifteenth +day after his arrival he died, and was honoured by the emperor +with a magnificent funeral.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHANASIUS<a name="ar216" id="ar216"></a></span> (293-373), bishop of Alexandria and saint, one +of the most illustrious defenders of the Christian faith, was born +probably at Alexandria. Of his family and of his early education +nothing can be said to be known. According to the legend, the +boy is said to have once baptized some of his playmates and +thereupon to have been taken into his house by Bishop Alexander, +who recognized the validity of this proceeding. It is certain +that Athanasius was young when he took orders, and that he +must soon have entered into close relations with his bishop, +whom, after the outbreak of the Arian controversy, he accompanied +as archdeacon to the council of Nicaea. In the sessions +and discussions of the council he could take no part; but in +unofficial conferences he took sides vigorously, according to his +own evidence, against the Arians, and was certainly not without +influence. He had already, before the opening of the Council, +defined his personal attitude towards the dogmatic problem in +two essays, <i>Against the Gentiles</i> and <i>On the Incarnation</i>, without, +however, any special relation to the Arian controversy.</p> + +<p>The essay <i>On the Incarnation</i> is the <i>locus classicus</i> for the +presentation of the teaching of the ancient church on the subject +of salvation. In this the great idea that God himself had entered +into humanity becomes dominant. The doom of death under +which mankind had sighed since Adam’s fall could only then be +averted, when the immortal Word of God (<span class="grk" title="Logos">Λόγος</span>) assumed a +mortal body, and, by yielding this to death for the sake of all, +abrogated once for all the law of death, of which the power had +been spent on the body of the Lord. Thus was rendered possible +the leading back of mankind to God, of which the sure pledge +lies in the grace of the resurrection of Christ. Athanasius would +hear of no questioning of this religious mystery. In the catchword +<i>Homousios</i>, which had been added to the creed at Nicaea, +he too recognized the best formula for the expression of the +mystery, although in his own writings he made but sparing use +of it. He was in fact less concerned with the formula than with +the content. Arians and Semi-Arians seemed to him to be +pagans, who worship the creature, instead of the God who +created all things, since they teach two gods, one having no +beginning, the other having a beginning in Time and therefore +of the same nature as the heathen gods, since, like them, he is a +creature. Athanasius has no terms for the definition of the +Persons in the one “Divine” (<span class="grk" title="to theion">τὸ θεῖον</span>), which are in their +substance one; and yet he is certain that this “Divine” is not +mere abstraction, but something truly personal: “They are +One,” so he wrote later in his <i>Discourses against the Arians</i>. +“not as though the unity were torn into two parts, which outside +the unity would be nothing, nor as though the unity bore two +names, so that one and the same is at one time Father and then +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page826" id="page826"></a>826</span> +his own Son, as the heretic Sabellius imagined. But they are +two, for the Father is Father, and the Son is not the same, but, +again, the Son is Son, and not the Father himself. But their +Nature (<span class="grk" title="physis">φύσις</span>) is one, for the Begotten is not dissimilar (<span class="grk" title="anomoios">ἀνόμοιος</span>) +to the Begetter, but his image, and everything that is the +Father’s is also the Son’s.”</p> + +<p>Five months after the return from the council of Nicaea +Bishop Alexander died; and on the 8th of February 326 +Athanasius, at the age of thirty-three, became his successor. +The first years of his episcopate were tranquil; then the storms +in which the remainder of his life was passed began to gather +round him. The council had by no means composed the divisions +in the Church which the Arian controversy had provoked. +Arius himself still lived, and his friend Eusebius of Nicomedia +rapidly regained influence over the emperor Constantine. The +result was a demand made by the emperor that Arius should be +readmitted to communion. Athanasius stood firm, but many +accusers soon rose up against one who was known to be under +the frown of the imperial displeasure. He was charged with +cruelty, even with sorcery and murder. It was reported that a +bishop of the Meletian party (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Meletius</a></span>) in the Thebaid, +of the name of Arsenius, had been unlawfully put to death by +him. He was easily able to clear himself of these charges; but +the hatred of his enemies was not relaxed, and in the summer of +335 he was peremptorily ordered to appear at Tyre, where a +council had been summoned to sit in judgment upon his conduct. +There appeared plainly a predetermination to condemn him, +and he fled from Tyre to Constantinople to appeal to the emperor +himself. Refused at first a hearing, his perseverance was at +length rewarded by the emperor’s assent to his reasonable request +that his accusers should be brought face to face with him in the +imperial presence. Accordingly the leaders of the council, the +most conspicuous of whom were Eusebius of Nicomedia and his +namesake of Caesarea, were summoned to Constantinople. +Here they did not attempt to repeat their old charges, but found +a more effective weapon to their hands in a new charge of a +political kind—that Athanasius had threatened to stop the +Alexandrian corn-ships bound for Constantinople. It is very +difficult to understand how far there was truth in the persistent +accusations made against the prince-bishop of Alexandria. +Probably there was in the very greatness of his character and +the extent of his popular influence a certain species of dominance +which lent a colour of truth to some of the things said against +him. On the present occasion his accusers succeeded at once in +arousing the imperial jealousy. Without obtaining a hearing, +he was banished at the end of 335 to Trèves in Gaul. This was +the first banishment of Athanasius, which lasted about one year +and a half. It was brought to a close by the death of Constantine, +and the accession as emperor of the West of Constantine II., +who, in June 337, allowed Athanasius to return to Alexandria.</p> + +<p>He reached his see on the 23rd of November 337, and, as he +himself has told us, “the people ran in crowds to see his face; +the churches were full of rejoicing; thanksgivings were everywhere +offered up; the ministers and clergy thought the day +the happiest in their lives.” But this period of happiness was +destined to be short-lived. His position as bishop of Alexandria +placed him, not under his patron Constantine, but under Constantius, +another son of the elder Constantine, who had succeeded +to the throne of the East. He in his turn fell, as his father had +done in later years, under the influence of Eusebius of Nicomedia, +who in the latter half of 339 was transferred to the see of Constantinople, +the new seat of the imperial court. A second +expulsion of Athanasius was accordingly resolved upon. The old +accusations against him were revived, and he was further charged +with having set at naught the decision of a council. On the +18th of March 339 the exarch of Egypt suddenly confronted +Athanasius with an imperial edict, by which he was deposed +and a Cappadocian named Gregory was nominated bishop in +his place. On the following day, after tumultuous scenes, +Athanasius fled, and four days later Gregory was installed by the +aid of the soldiery. On the first opportunity, Athanasius went +to Rome, to “lay his case before the church.” A synod assembled +at Rome in the autumn of 340, and the great council—probably +that which met at Sardica in 342 or 343, where the Orientals +refused to meet the representatives of the Western church—declared +him guiltless. This decision, however, had no immediate +effect in favour of Athanasius. Constantius continued for some +time implacable, and the bold action of the Western bishops +only incited the Arian party in Alexandria to fresh severities. +But the death of the intruder Gregory, on the 26th of June 345, +opened up a way of reconciliation. Constantius decided to yield +to the importunity of his brother Constans, who had succeeded +Constantine II. in the West; and the result was the restoration +of Athanasius for the second time, on the 21st of October 346. +Again he returned to Alexandria amid the enthusiastic demonstrations +of the populace, which is described by Gregory of +Nazianzus, in his panegyric on Athanasius, as streaming forth +like “another Nile” to meet him afar off as he approached the +city.</p> + +<p>The six years of his residence in the West had given Athanasius +the opportunity of displaying a momentous activity. He made +long journeys in Italy, in Gaul, and as far as Belgium. Everywhere +he laboured for the Nicene faith, and the impression +made by his personality was so great that to hold fast the +orthodox faith and to defend Athanasius were for many people +one and the same thing. This was shown when, after the death +of the emperor Constans, Constantius became sole ruler of East +and West. With the help of counsellors more subtle than +discerning, the emperor, with the object of uniting the various +parties in the Church at any cost, sought for the most colourless +possible formula of belief, which he hoped to persuade all the +bishops to accept. As his efforts remained for years fruitless, +he used force. “My will is your guiding-line,” he exclaimed in +the summer of 355 to the bishops who had assembled at Milan +in response to his orders. A series of his most defiant opponents +had to go into banishment, Liberius of Rome, Hilarius of Poitiers +and Hosius of Corduba, the last-named once the confidant of +Constantine and the actual originator of the <i>Homousios</i>, and +now nearly a hundred years old. At length came the turn of +Athanasius, now almost the sole upholder of the banner of the +Nicene creed in the East. Several attempts to expel him failed +owing to the attitude of the populace. On the night of the 8th-9th +of February 356, however, when the bishop was holding the +Vigils, soldiers and police broke into the church of Theonas. +Athanasius himself has described the scene for us: “I was +seated upon my chair, the deacon was about to read the psalm, +the people to answer, ‘For his mercy endureth for ever.’ The +solemn act was interrupted; a panic arose.” The bishop, who +was at first unwilling to save himself, until he knew that his +faithful followers were in safety, succeeded in escaping, leaving +the town and finding a hiding-place in the country. The solitudes +of Upper Egypt, where numerous monasteries and hermitages had +been planted, seem at this time to have been his chief shelter. +In this case, benefit was repayed by benefit, for Athanasius during +his episcopate had been a zealous promoter of asceticism and +monachism. With Anthony the hermit and Pachomius the +founder of monasteries, he had maintained personal relations, +and the former he had commemorated in his <i>Life of Anthony</i>. +During his exile his time was occupied in writing on behalf of +his cause, and to this period belong some of his most important +works, above all the great <i>Orations or Discourses against the +Arians</i>, which furnish the best exposition of his theological +principles.</p> + +<p>During his absence the see of Alexandria was left without a +pastor. It is true that George of Cappadocia had taken his +place; but he could only maintain himself for a short while +(February 357-October 358). The great majority of the population +remained faithful to the exile. At length, in November 361, +the way was opened to him for his return to his see by the death +of Constantius. Julian, who succeeded to the imperial throne, +professed himself indifferent to the contentions of the Church, +and gave permission to the bishops exiled in the late reign to +return home. Among others, Athanasius availed himself of this +permission, and in February 362 once more seated himself upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page827" id="page827"></a>827</span> +his throne, amid the rejoicings of the people. He had begun his +episcopal labours with renewed ardour, and assembled his bishops +in Alexandria to decide various important questions, when an +imperial mandate again—for the fourth time—drove him from +his place of power. The faithful gathered around him weeping. +“Be of good heart,” he said, “it is but a cloud: it will pass.” +His forecast proved true; for within a few months Julian had +closed his brief career of pagan revival. As early as September +363, Athanasius was able to travel to Jovian, the new emperor, +who had sent him a letter praising his Christian fidelity and +encouraging him to resume his work. He returned to Alexandria +on the 20th of February 364. With the emperor he continued +to maintain friendly relations; but the period of repose was +short. In the spring of 365, after the accession of Valens to the +throne, troubles again arose. Athanasius was once more compelled +to seek safety from his persecutors in concealment (October +365), which lasted, however, only for four months. In February +366 he resumed his episcopal labours, in which he henceforth +remained undisturbed. On the 2nd of May 373, having consecrated +one of his presbyters as his successor, he died quietly +in his own house.</p> + +<p>Athanasius was a man of action, but he also knew how to use +his pen for the furtherance of his cause. He left a large number +of writings, which cannot of course be compared with those of +an Origen, a Basil, or a Gregory of Nyssa. Athanasius was no +systematic theologian. All his treatises are occasional pieces, +born of controversy and intended for controversial ends. The +interest in abstract exposition of clearly formulated theological +ideas is everywhere subordinate to the polemical purpose. But +all these writings are instinct with a living personal faith, and +serve for the defence of the cause; for it was not about words +that he was contending. Even those who do not sympathize +with the cause which Athanasius steadfastly defended cannot +but admire his magnanimous and heroic character. If he was +imperious in temper and inflexible in his conception of the +Christian faith, he possessed a great heart and a great intellect, +inspired with an enthusiastic devotion to Christ. As a theologian, +his main distinction was his zealous advocacy of the essential +divinity of Christ. Christianity in its Arian conception would +have evaporated in a new polytheism. To have set a dam +against this process with the whole force of a mighty personality +constitutes the importance of Athanasius in the world’s history. +It is with good reason that the Church honours him as the +“Great,” and as the “Father of Orthodoxy.”</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The best edition of the works of Athanasius is the so-called Maurine +edition of Bernard de Montfaucon in 3 vols. (Paris, 1698); this was +enlarged in the 3rd edition by Giustiniani (4 vols., Padua, 1777), and +is printed in this form in Migne’s <i>Patrologia</i>, vols. xxv.-xxviii. An +English translation of selections, with excellent introductions to the +several writings, was published by Archibald Robertson in the <i>Library +of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers</i>, second series, vol. 4 (Oxford +and New York, 1892). There is no biography satisfactory from the +modern point of view. Studies preliminary to such a biography +began to be published by E. Schwartz in his essays, “Zur Geschichte +des Athanasius” (in the <i>Nachrichten der koniglichen Gesellschaft der +Wissenschaften zu Göttingen</i>, 1904, &c.). The life of Athanasius, +however, is so completely intertwined with the history of his time +that it is permissible to refer, for a knowledge of him, to the general +descriptions which will be found at the close of the article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Arius</a></span>. Of +the older literature, Tillemont’s <i>Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire +ecclésiastique des six premiers siècles</i>, vols. vi. and viii., are still a mine +of material for the historian. Of the newer literature the following +deserve to be read:—Johann Adam Möhler, <i>Athanasius der Grosse +und die Kirche seiner Zeit</i>, 2 vols. (2nd ed., Mainz, 1844); and +Fr. Boehringer, “Arius und Athanasius,” <i>Die Kirche Christi und +ihre Zeugen</i>, vol. i. part 2 (2nd ed., Stuttgart, 1874).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(G. K.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHAPASCAN,<a name="ar217" id="ar217"></a></span> a widely distributed linguistic stock of North +American Indians, the chief tribes included being the Chippewyan, +Navajo, Apache, Jicarilla, Lipan, Hupa and Wailaki. +The Athapascan family is geographically divided into Northern, +Pacific and Southern. The Northern division (Tinneh or Déné) +is about Alaska, and the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers,—the +eponymous “Athabasca” tribe living round Lake Athabasca, +in the province of Alberta in Canada. The Pacific division +covers a strip of territory, some 400 m. in length, from Oregon +southwards into California. The Southern division includes +Arizona and New Mexico, parts of Utah, Colorado, Kansas and +Texas, and the northern part of Mexico. The typical tribes are +those of the Northern division.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See <i>Handbook of American Indians</i> (Washington, 1907).</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHARVA VEDA,<a name="ar218" id="ar218"></a></span> the fourth book of the Vedas, the ancient +scriptures of the Brahman religion. Like the other Vedas it is +divided into Samhita, Brahmanas and Upanishads, representing +the spiritual element and its magical and nationalistic development. +The mantras or sayings composing the Samhita of the +Atharva Veda differ from those of the other Vedas by being in +the form of spells rather than prayers or hymns, and seem to +indicate a stage of religion lower than that of the Rig Veda.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHEISM<a name="ar219" id="ar219"></a></span> (from Gr. <span class="grk" title="a-">ἀ-</span>, privative, and <span class="grk" title="theos">θεός</span>, God), literally +a system of belief which denies the existence of God. The +term as generally used, however, is highly ambiguous. Its +meaning varies (<i>a</i>) according to the various definitions of deity, +and especially (<i>b</i>) according as it is (i.) deliberately adopted +by a thinker as a description of his own theological standpoint, +or (ii.) applied by one set of thinkers to their opponents. As +to (<i>a</i>), it is obvious that atheism from the standpoint of the +Christian is a very different conception as compared with +atheism as understood by a Deist, a Positivist, a follower of +Euhemerus or Herbert Spencer, or a Buddhist. But the ambiguities +arising from the points of view described in (<i>b</i>) are much +more difficult both intellectually and in their practical social +issues. Thus history shows how readily the term has been used +in the most haphazard manner to describe even the most trivial +divergence of opinion concerning points of dogma. In other +words, “atheism” has been used generally by the orthodox +adherents of one religion, or even of a single sect, for all beliefs +which are different or even differently expressed. It is in fact +in these cases, like “heterodoxy,” a term of purely negative +significance, and its intellectual value is of the slightest. The +distinction between the terms “religion” and “magic” is, +in a similar way, often due merely to rivalry between the +adherents of two or more mutually exclusive religions brought +together in the same community. When the psalmist declares +that “the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God,” he +probably does not refer to theoretical denial, but to a practical +disbelief in God’s government of human affairs, shown in disobedience +to moral laws. Socrates was charged with “not +believing in the gods the city believes in.” The cry of the heathen +populace in the Roman empire against the Christians was +“Away with the atheists! To the lions with the Christians!” +The ground for the charge was probably the lack of idolatry +in all Christian worship. Spinoza, for whom God alone existed, +was persecuted as an atheist. A common designation of Knox +was “the atheist,” although it was to him “matter of satisfaction +that our most holy religion is founded on faith, not on +reason.”</p> + +<p>In its most scientific and serious usage the term is applied +to that state of mind which does not find deity (<i>i.e.</i> either one +or many gods) in or above the physical universe. Thus it has +been applied to certain primitive savages, who have been +thought (<i>e.g.</i> by Lord Avebury in his <i>Prehistoric Times</i>) to have +no religious belief; it is, however, the better opinion that there +are no peoples who are entirely destitute of some rudimentary +religious belief. In the second place, and most usually, it is +applied to a purely intellectual, metaphysical disbelief in the +existence of any god, or of anything supernatural. In this connexion +it is usual to distinguish three types of atheism:—the +<i>dogmatic</i>, which denies the existence of God positively; the +<i>sceptical</i>, which distrusts the capacity of the human mind to +discover the existence of God; and the <i>critical</i>, which doubts the +validity of the theistic argument, the proofs for the existence +of God. That the first type of atheism exists, in spite of the +denials of those who favour the second or the third, may be +proved by the utterances of men like Feuerbach, Flourens or +Bradlaugh. “There is no God,” says Feuerbach, “it is clear +as the sun and as evident as the day that there is no God, and +still more that there can be none.” With greater passion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page828" id="page828"></a>828</span> +Flourens declares “Our enemy is God. Hatred of God is the +beginning of wisdom. If mankind would make true progress, +it must be on the basis of atheism.” Bradlaugh maintained +against Holyoake that he would fight until men respected the +name “atheist.” The answer to dogmatic atheism, that it +implies infinite knowledge, has been well stated in John Foster’s +<i>Essays</i>, and restated by Chalmers in his <i>Natural Theology</i>, and +its force is recognized in Holyoake’s careful qualification of the +sense in which secularism accepts atheism, “always explaining +the term atheist to mean ‘not seeing God’ visually or inferentially, +never suffering it to be taken for anti-theism, that is, hating +God, denying God—as <i>hating</i> implies personal knowledge as +the ground of dislike, and <i>denying</i> implies infinite knowledge +as the ground of disproof.” But dogmatic atheism is rare compared +with the sceptical type, which is identical with agnosticism +(<i>q.v.</i>) in so far as it denies the capacity of the mind of man to +form any conception of God, but is different from it in so far as +the agnostic merely holds his judgment in suspense, though, in +practice, agnosticism is apt to result in an attitude towards religion +which is hardly distinguishable from a passive and unaggressive +atheism. The third or critical type may be illustrated by +<i>A Candid Examination of Theism</i> by “Physicus” (G.J. Romanes), +in which the writer endeavours to establish the weakness of the +proofs for the existence of God, and to substitute for theism +Spencer’s physical explanation of the universe, and yet admits +how unsatisfying to himself the new position is. “When at +times I think, as think at times I must, of the appalling contrast +between the hallowed glory of that creed which once was mine, +and the lonely mystery of existence as now I find it—at such +times I shall ever feel it impossible to avoid the sharpest pang +of which my nature is susceptible.”</p> + +<p>Atheism has to meet the protest of the heart as well as the +argument of the mind of mankind. It must be judged not only +by theoretical but by practical arguments, in its relations either +to the individual or to a society. Voltaire himself, speaking +as a practical man rather than as a metaphysician, declared +that if there were no God it would be necessary to invent one; +and if the analysis is only carried far enough it will be found +that those who deny the existence of God (in a conventional +sense) are all the time setting up something in the nature of +deity by way of an ideal of their own, while fighting over the +meaning of a word or its conventional misapplication.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHELM<a name="ar220" id="ar220"></a></span> (d. 923), English churchman, is said to have been +a monk of Glastonbury before his elevation in 909 to the see of +Wells, of which he was the first occupant. In 914 he became +archbishop of Canterbury.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHELNEY,<a name="ar221" id="ar221"></a></span> a slight eminence of small extent in the low +level tract about the junction of the rivers Tone and Parrett in +Somersetshire, England. It was formerly isolated by marshes +and accessible only by boat or artificial causeway, and under +these conditions it gained its historical fame as the retreat of +King Alfred in 878-879 when he was unable to withstand the +incursions of the Danes. After regaining his throne he founded +a monastery here in gratitude for the retreat afforded him by +the island; no traces of it exist above ground, but remains have +been excavated. There was also found here, in 1693, the celebrated +Alfred jewel, bearing his name, and preserved in the +Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. An inscribed pillar commemorating +the king was set up in 1801. The name of Athelney signifies +the Isle of Princes (A.S. <i>Æthelingaea</i>). Athelney is a railway +station on a branch of the Great Western line.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENA<a name="ar222" id="ar222"></a></span> (the Attic form of the Homeric Athene, also called +Athenaia, Pallas Athene, Pallas), one of the most important +goddesses in Greek mythology. With Zeus and Apollo, she +forms a triad which represents the embodiment of all divine +power. No satisfactory derivation of the name Athena has +been given<a name="fa1o" id="fa1o" href="#ft1o"><span class="sp">1</span></a>; Pallas, at first an epithet, but after Pindar used +by itself, may possibly be connected with <span class="grk" title="pallakhe">παλλακή</span> (“maiden”). +Athena has been variously described as the pure aether, the +storm-cloud, the dawn, the twilight; but there is little evidence +that she was regarded as representing any of the physical powers +of nature, and it is better to endeavour to form an idea of her +character and attributes from a consideration of her cult-epithets +and ritual. According to the legend, her father Zeus +swallowed his wife Metis (“counsel”), when pregnant with +Athena, since he had been warned that his children by her +might prove stronger than himself and dethrone him. Hephaestus +(or Prometheus) subsequently split open his head with a +hatchet, and Athena sprang forth fully armed, uttering a loud +shout of victory (Hesiod, <i>Theogony</i>, 886; Pindar, <i>Olympia</i>, +vii. 35). In Crete she was said to have issued from a cloud +burst asunder by Zeus. According to Roscher, the manner of +her birth represents the storm-cloud split by lightning; Farnell +(<i>Cults of the Greek States</i>, i. p. 285) sees in it an indication that, +as the daughter of Metis, Athena was already invested with a +mental and moral character, and explains the swallowing of +Metis (for which compare the story of Cronus and his children) +by the desire to attribute an extraordinary birth to one in whom +masculine traits predominated. In another account (as <span class="grk" title="Tritogeneia">Τριτογένεια</span>) +she is the daughter of the river Triton, to which various localities +were assigned, and wherever there was a river (or lake) of that +name, the inhabitants claimed that she was born there. It is +probable that the name originated in Boeotia (C.O. Müller, +<i>Geschichten hellenischer Stamme</i>, i. pp. 351-357; but see Macan +on Herodotus, iv. 180), whence it was conveyed by colonists +to Cyrene and thence to Libya, where there was a river Triton. +Here some local divinity, a daughter of Poseidon, connected +with the water and also of a warlike character, was identified +by the colonists with their own Athena. In any case, it is +fairly certain that Tritogeneia means “water-born,” although +an old interpretation derived it from <span class="grk" title="trito">τριτώ</span>, a supposed Boeotian +word meaning “head,” which further points to the name having +originated in Boeotia. Roscher suggests that the localization +of her birthplace in the extreme west points to the western sea, +the home of cloud and storm.</p> + +<p>In Homer Athena already appears as the goddess of counsel, +of war, of female arts and industries, and the protectress of +Greek cities, this last aspect of her character being the most +important and pronounced. Hence she is called <span class="grk" title="polias">πολιάς</span>, +<span class="grk" title="poliouchos">πολιοῦχος</span>, in many Greek states, and is frequently associated +with <span class="grk" title="Zeus polieus">Ζεὺς πολιεύς</span>. The most celebrated festival of the city-goddess +was the Panathenaea at Athens and other places. +Other titles of kindred meaning are <span class="grk" title="archegeris">ἀρχηγέτις</span> (“founder”) +and <span class="grk" title="tanachais">παναχαἶς</span>, the protectress of the Achaean league. At Athens +she presided over the phratries or clans, and was known as +<span class="grk" title="apatouria">ἀπατουρία</span> and <span class="grk" title="fratria">φρατρία</span>, and sacrifice was offered to her at the +festival Apaturia. The title <span class="grk" title="meter">μήτηρ</span>, given her by the inhabitants +of Elis, whose women, according to the legend, she had blessed +with abundance of children, seems at variance with the generally-recognized conception of her as <span class="grk" title="parthenos">παρθένος</span>; but <span class="grk" title="meter">μήτηρ</span> may bear +the same meaning as <span class="grk" title="kourotrophos">κουροτρόφος</span>, the fosterer of the young, +in harmony with her aspect as protectress of civic and family +life. At Alalcomenae, near the Tritonian lake in Boeotia, +she was <span class="grk" title="alalkomeneis">ἀλαλκομενηἶς</span> (“defender”). Her temple, which was +pillaged by Sulla, contained an ivory image, which was said to +have fallen from heaven. The inhabitants claimed that the +goddess was born there and brought up by a local hero Alalcomeneus. +Her images, called Palladia, which guarded the +heights (cf. her epithets <span class="grk" title="acria, kranaia">ἀκρία, κραναία</span>), represented her with +shield uplifted, brandishing her spear to keep off the foe. The +cult of Athena Itonia, whose earliest seat appears to have, been +amongst the Thessalians, who used her name as a battle-cry, +made its way to Coronea in Boeotia, where her sanctuary was +the seat of the Pamboeotian confederacy. The meaning of +Itonia is obscure: Dümmler connects it with <span class="grk" title="iteones">ἰτεῶνες</span>, the +“willow-beds” on the banks of the river Coralios (the river +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page829" id="page829"></a>829</span> +of the maiden, <i>i.e.</i> Athena); Jebb (on Bacchylides, <i>fr.</i> xi. 2) +suggests a derivation from <span class="grk" title="ienai">ίέναι</span>, the goddess of the “onset.” +At Thebes she was worshipped as Athena Onka or Onga, of +equally uncertain derivation (possibly from <span class="grk" title="ogkos">ὄγκος</span>, “a height”). +Peculiar to Arcadia is the title Athena Alea, probably = “warder +off of evil,” although others explain it as = “warmth,” and see +in it an allusion to her physical nature as one of the powers of +light. Farnell (<i>Cults</i>, p. 275) points out that at the same time +she is certainly looked upon as in some way connected with +the health-divinities, since in her temple she is grouped with +Asclepius and Hygieia (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Hygieia</a></span>).</p> + +<p>She already appears as the goddess of counsel (<span class="grk" title="poluboulos">πολύβουλος</span>) +in the <i>Iliad</i> and in Hesiod. The Attic bouleutae took the oath +by Athena Boulaia; at Sparta she was <span class="grk" title="agoraia">ἀγοραία</span>, presiding over +the popular assemblies in the market-place; in Arcadia <span class="grk" title="mechanitis">μηχανῖτις</span> +the discoverer of devices. The epithet <span class="grk" title="pronoia">προνοία</span> (“forethought”) +is due, according to Farnell, to a confusion with <span class="grk" title="pronaia">προναία</span>, referring +to a statue of the goddess standing “before a shrine,” and arose +later (probably spreading from Delphi), some time after the +Persian wars, in which she repelled a Persian attack on the +temples “by divine forethought”; another legend attributes +the name to her skill in assisting Leto at the birth of Apollo and +Artemis. With this aspect of her character may be compared +the Hesiodic legend, according to which she was the daughter +of Metis. Her connexion with the trial of Orestes, the introduction +of a milder form of punishment for justifiable homicide, +and the institution of the court <span class="grk" title="to epi Palladio">τὸ ἐπὶ Παλλαδίῴ</span>, show the +important part played by her in the development of legal ideas.</p> + +<p>The protectress of cities was naturally also a goddess of war. +As such she appears in Homer and Hesiod and in post-Homeric +legend as the slayer of the Gorgon and taking part in the battle +of the giants. On numerous monuments she is represented as +<span class="grk" title="areia">ἀρεία</span>, “the warlike,” <span class="grk" title="nikephoros">νικηφόρος</span>, “bringer of victory,” holding +an image of Nike (<i>q.v.</i>) in her outstretched hand (for other +similar epithets see Roscher’s <i>Lexikon</i>). She was also the goddess +of the arts of war in general; <span class="grk" title="stoicheia">στοιχεία</span>, she who draws up the +ranks for battle, <span class="grk" title="zosteria">ζωστηρία</span>, she who girds herself for the fray. +Martial music (cp. <span class="grk" title="Athene salpinx">Ἀθήνη σάλπιγξ</span>, “trumpet”) and the Pyrrhic +dance, in which she herself is said to have taken part to commemorate +the victory over the giants, and the building of +war-ships were attributed to her. She instructed certain of +her favourites in gymnastics and athletics, as a useful training +for war. The epithets <span class="grk" title="ippia">ἱππία</span>, <span class="grk" title="chalinitis">χαλινῖτις</span>, <span class="grk" title="damasippos">δαμάσιππος</span>, usually +referred to her as goddess of war-horses, may perhaps be reminiscences +of an older religion in which the horse was sacred to her. +As a war-goddess, she is the embodiment of prudent and +intelligent tactics, entirely different from Ares, the personification +of brute force and rashness, who is fitly represented as +suffering defeat at her hands. She is the patroness and protectress +of those heroes who are distinguished for their prudence +and caution, and in the Trojan War she sides with the more +civilized Greeks.</p> + +<p>The goddess of war develops into the goddess of peace and the +pursuits connected with it. She is prominent as the promoter of +agriculture in Attic legend. The Athenian hero Erechtheus +(Erichthonius), originally an earth-god, is her foster-son, with +whom she was honoured in the Erechtheum on the Acropolis. +Her oldest priestesses, the dew-sisters—Aglauros, Herse, +Pandrosos—signify the fertilization of the earth by the dew, and +were probably at one time identified with Athena, as surnames +of whom both Aglauros and Pandrosos are found. The story +of the voluntary sacrifice of the Attic maiden Aglauros on behalf +of her country in time of war (commemorated by the ephebi +taking the oath of loyalty to their country in her temple), and +of the leap of the three sisters over the Acropolis rock (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Erechtheus</a></span>), probably points to an old human sacrifice. +Athena also gave the Athenians the olive-tree, which was +supposed to have sprung from the bare soil of the Acropolis, +when smitten by her spear, close to the horse (or spring of water) +produced by the trident of Poseidon, to which he appealed in +support of his claim to the lordship of Athens. She is also +connected with Poseidon in the legend of Erechtheus, not as being +in any way akin to the former in nature or character, but as +indicating the contest between an old and a new religion. This +god, whose worship was introduced into Athens at a later date +by the Ionian immigrants, was identified with Erechtheus-Erichthonius +(for whose birth Athena was in a certain sense +responsible), and thus was brought into connexion with the +goddess, in order to effect a reconciliation of the two cults. +Athena was said to have invented the plough, and to have +taught men to tame horses and yoke oxen. Various arts were +attributed to her—shipbuilding, the goldsmith’s craft, fulling, +shoemaking and other branches of industry. As early as Homer +she takes especial interest in the occupations of women; she +makes Hera’s robe and her own peplus, and spinning and weaving +are often called “the works of Athena.” The custom of offering +a beautifully woven peplus at the Panathenaic festival is connected +with her character as Ergane the goddess of industry.<a name="fa2o" id="fa2o" href="#ft2o"><span class="sp">2</span></a> +As patroness of the arts, she is associated with Hephaestus (one +of her titles is <span class="grk" title="Ephaistia">Ἡφαιστία</span>) and Prometheus, and in Boeotia she was +regarded as the inventress of the flute. According to Pindar, +she imitated on the flute the dismal wail of the two surviving +Gorgons after the death of Medusa. The legend that Athena, +observing in the water the distortion of her features caused by +playing that instrument, flung it away, probably indicates that +the Boeotians whom the Athenians regarded with contempt, +used the flute in their worship of the Boeotian Athena. The +story of the slaying of Medusa by Athena, in which there is no +certain evidence that she played a direct part, explained by +Roscher as the scattering of the storm-cloud, probably arose +from the fact that she is represented as wearing the Gorgon’s +head as a badge.</p> + +<p>As in the case of Aphrodite and Apollo, Roscher in his <i>Lexikon</i> +deduces all the characteristics of Athena from a single conception—that +of the goddess of the storm or the thunder-cloud (for a +discussion of such attempts see Farnell, <i>Cults</i>, i. pp. 3, 263). +There seems little reason for regarding her as a nature-goddess +at all, but rather as the presiding divinity of states and cities, +of the arts and industries—in short, as the goddess of the whole +intellectual side of human life.</p> + +<p>Except at Athens, little is known of the ceremonies or festivals +which attended her worship. There we have the following. +(1) The ceremony of the <i>Three Sacred Ploughs</i>, by which the +signal for seed-time was given, apparently dating from a period +when agriculture was one of the chief occupations of her +worshippers. (2) The <i>Procharisteria</i> at the end of winter, at +which thanks were offered for the germination of the seed. +(3) The <i>Scirophoria</i>, with a procession from the Acropolis to +the village of Skiron, in the height of summer, the priests who +were to entreat her to keep off the summer heat walking under +the shade of parasols (<span class="grk" title="skyron">σκίρον</span>) held over them; others, however, +connect the name with <span class="grk" title="skiros">σκῖρος</span> (“gypsum”), perhaps used for +smearing the image of the goddess. (4) The <i>Oschophoria</i>, at the +vintage season, with races among boys, and a procession, with +songs in praise of Dionysus and Ariadne. (5) The <i>Chalkeia</i> (feast +of smiths), at which the birth of Erechtheus and the invention +of the plough were celebrated. (6) The <i>Plynteria</i> and <i>Callynteria</i>, +at which her ancient image and peplus in the Erechtheum and +the temple itself were cleaned, with a procession in which bunches +of figs (frequently used in lustrations) were carried. (7) The +<i>Arrhephoria</i> or <i>Errephoria</i> (perhaps = <i>Ersephoria</i>, “dew-bearing”), +at which four girls, between seven and eleven years of +age, selected from noble families, carried certain unknown +sacred objects to and from the temple of Aphrodite “in the +gardens” (see J.E. Harrison, <i>Classical Review</i>, April 1889). +(8) The <i>Panathenaea</i>, at which the new robes for the image of +he goddess were carried through the city, spread like a sail on +a mast. The reliefs of the frieze of the cella of the Parthenon +enable us to form an idea of the procession. Athletic games, +open to all who traced their nationality to Athens, were part of +this festival. Mention should also be made of the Argive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page830" id="page830"></a>830</span> +ceremony, at which the <i>xoanon</i> (ancient wooden statue) of Athena +was washed in the river Inachus, a symbol of her purification +after the Gigantomachia.</p> + +<p>The usual attributes of Athena were the helmet, the aegis, +the round shield with the head of Medusa in the centre, the lance, +an olive branch, the owl, the cock and the snake. Of these the +aegis, usually explained as a storm-cloud, is probably intended +as a battle-charm, like the Gorgon’s head on the shield and the +faces on the shields of Chinese soldiers; the owl probably +represents the form under which she was worshipped in primitive +times, and subsequently became her favourite bird (the epithet +<span class="grk" title="glaukopis">γλαυκῶπις</span>, meaning “keen-eyed” in Homer, may have originally +signified “owl-faced”); the snake, a common companion of the +earth deities, probably refers to her connexion with +Erechtheus-Erichthonius.</p> + +<p>As to artistic representations of the goddess, we have first the +rude figure which seems to be a copy of the Palladium; secondly, +the still rude, but otherwise more interesting, figures of her, +as <i>e.g.</i> when accompanying heroes, on the early painted vases; +and thirdly, the type of her as produced by Pheidias, from which +little variation appears to have been made. Of his numerous +statues of her, the three most celebrated were set up on the Acropolis. +(1) Athena <i>Parthenos</i>, in the Parthenon. It was in ivory +and gold, and 30 ft. high. She was represented standing, in a long +tunic; on her head was a helmet, ornamented with sphinxes +and griffins; on her breast was the aegis, fringed with serpents +and the Gorgon’s head in centre. In her right hand was a Nike +or winged victory, while her left held a spear, which rested on a +shield on which were represented the battles of the Amazons +with the giants. (2) A colossal statue said to have been formed +from the spoils taken at Marathon, the so-called Athena +<i>Promachos</i>. (3) Athena <i>Lemnia</i>, so called because it had been +dedicated by the Athenian cleruchies in Lemnos. In this she +was represented without arms, as a brilliant type of virgin beauty. +The two last statues were of bronze. From the time of Pheidias +calm earnestness, self-conscious might, and clearness of intellect +were the main characteristics of the goddess. The eyes, slightly +cast down, betoken an attitude of thoughtfulness; the forehead +is clear and open; the mouth indicates firmness and resolution. +The whole suggests a masculine rather than a feminine form.</p> + +<p>From Greece the worship of Athena extended to Magna +Graecia, where a number of temples were erected to her in various +places. In Italy proper she was identified with Minerva (<i>q.v.</i>).</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>See articles in Pauly-Wissowa’s <i>Realencyclopädie</i>; W.H. Roscher’s +<i>Lexikon der Mythologie</i>; Daremberg and Saglio’s <i>Dictionnaire des +antiquités</i> (s.v. “Minerva”); L. Preller, <i>Griechische Mythologie</i>; +W.H. Roscher, “Die Grundbedeutung der Athene,” in <i>Nektar und +Ambrosia</i> (1883); F.A. Voigt, “Beiträge zur Mythologie des Ares +und Athena,” in <i>Leipziger Studien</i>, iv. (1881); L.R. Farnell, <i>The +Cults of the Greek States</i>, i. (1896); J.E. Harrison, <i>Prolegomena to +the Study of Greek Religion</i> (1903), for the festivals especially; +O. Gruppe, <i>Griechische Mythologie</i>, ii. (1907). In the article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Greek +Art</a></span>, fig. 21 represents Athena in the act of striking a prostrate +giant; fig. 38 a statuette of Athena Parthenos, a replica of the work +of Pheidias.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(J. H. F.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1o" id="ft1o" href="#fa1o"><span class="fn">1</span></a> O. Gruppe (<i>Griechische Mythologie</i>, ii. p. +1194) thinks that it probably means “without mother’s milk,” either +in an active or in a passive sense “not giving suck,” or “unsuckled,” +in her character as the virgin goddess, or as springing from the head +of Zeus. In support of this view he +refers to Hesychius <span class="grk" title="thaenion gala">θήνιον γάλα</span> and a passage in +Athenagoras (<i>Legatio pro Christianis</i>, 17), where +it is stated that Athena was sometimes called <span class="grk" title="Athela">Ἀθηλᾶ</span> +or <span class="grk" title="Athele">Ἀθήλη</span>. For Pallas, he prefers the old etymology +from <span class="grk" title="palla">πάλλω</span> (to “shake”), rather in the sense of +“earth-shaker” than “lance-brandisher.”</p> + +<p><a name="ft2o" id="ft2o" href="#fa2o"><span class="fn">2</span></a> According to J.E. Harrison in Classical Review (June 1894), +Athena Ergane is the goddess of the fruits of the field and the procreation +of children.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENAEUM,<a name="ar223" id="ar223"></a></span> a name originally applied in ancient Greece +(<span class="grk" title="Athaenaion">Ἀθήναιον</span>) to buildings dedicated to Athena, and specially used +as the designation of a temple in Athens, where poets and men of +learning were accustomed to meet and read their productions. +The academy for the promotion of learning which the emperor +Hadrian built (about <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 135) at Rome, near the Forum, was also +called the Athenaeum. Poets and orators still met and discussed +there, but regular courses of instruction were given by a staff of +professors in rhetoric, jurisprudence, grammar and philosophy. +The institution, later called Schola Romana, continued in high +repute till the 5th century. Similar academies were also founded +in the provinces and at Constantinople by the emperor Theodosius II. +In modern times the name has been applied to various +academies, as those of Lyons and Marseilles, and the Dutch high +schools; and it has become a very general designation for literary +clubs. It is also familiar as the title of several literary periodicals, +notably of the London literary weekly founded in 1828.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENAEUS,<a name="ar224" id="ar224"></a></span> of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and +grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and the beginning +of the 3rd century <span class="scs">A.D.</span> Suidas only tells us that he lived “in the +times of Marcus”; but the contempt with which he speaks of +Commodus (died 192) shows that he survived that emperor. +Athenaeus himself states that he was the author of a treatise on +the <i>thratta</i>—a kind of fish mentioned by Archippus and other +comic poets—and of a history of the Syrian kings, both of which +works are lost. We still possess the <i>Deipnosophistae</i>, which may +mean dinner-table philosophers or authorities on banquets, in +fifteen books. The first two books, and parts of the third, +eleventh and fifteenth, are only extant in epitome, but otherwise +we seem to possess the work entire. It is an immense storehouse +of miscellaneous information, chiefly on matters connected with +the table, but also containing remarks on music, songs, dances, +games, courtesans. It is full of quotations from writers whose +works have not come down to us; nearly 800 writers and 2500 +separate writings are referred to by Athenaeus; and he boasts of +having read 800 plays of the Middle Comedy alone. The plan of +the <i>Deipnosophistae</i> is exceedingly cumbrous, and is badly carried +out. It professes to be an account given by the author to his +friend Timocrates of a banquet held at the house of Laurentius +(or Larentius), a scholar and wealthy patron of art. It is thus a +dialogue within a dialogue, after the manner of Plato, but a +conversation of sufficient length to occupy several days (though +represented as taking place in one) could not be conveyed in a +style similar to the short conversations of Socrates. Among the +twenty-nine guests are Galen and Ulpian, but they are all +probably fictitious personages, and the majority take no part in +the conversation. If Ulpian is identical with the famous jurist, +the <i>Deipnosophistae</i> must have been written after his death (228); +but the jurist was murdered by the praetorian guards, whereas +Ulpian in Athenaeus dies a natural death. The conversation +ranges from the dishes before the guests to literary matters of +every description, including points of grammar and criticism; +and they are expected to bring with them extracts from the poets, +which are read aloud and discussed at table. The whole is but a +clumsy apparatus for displaying the varied and extensive reading +of the author. As a work of art it can take but a low rank, but +as a repertory of fragments and morsels of information it is +invaluable.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Editio princeps, Aldine, 1524; Casaubon, 1597-1600; Schweighäuser, +1801-1807; Dindorf, 1827; Meineke, 1859-1867; Kaibel, +1887-1890; English translation by Yonge in Bohn’s <i>Classical +Library</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENAGORAS,<a name="ar225" id="ar225"></a></span> a Christian apologist of the 2nd century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>, +was, according to an emendator of the Paris Codex 451 of the +11th century, a native of Athens. The only sources of information +regarding him are a short notice by Philip of Side, in +Pamphylia (<i>c.</i> <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 420), and the inscription on his principal work. +Philip—or rather the compiler who made excerpts from him—says +that he was at the head of an Alexandrian school (the +catechetical), that he lived in the time of Hadrian and +Antoninus, to whom he addressed his <i>Apology</i>, and that Clement +of Alexandria was his pupil; but these statements are more than +doubtful. The inscription on the work describes it as the “Embassy +of Athenagoras, the Athenian, a philosopher and a Christian +concerning the Christians, to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius +Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, &c.” This statement +has given rise to considerable discussion, but from it and +internal evidence the date of the <i>Apology</i> (<span class="grk" title="Presbeia peri +Christianon">Πρεσβεία περὶ Χρίστιανῶν</span>) may be fixed at about <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 177. Athenagoras is also the +author of a discourse on the resurrection of the body, which is not +authenticated otherwise than by the titles on the various manuscripts. +In the <i>Apology</i>, after contrasting the judicial treatment +of Christians with that of other accused persons, he refutes the +accusations brought against the Christians of atheism, eating +human flesh and licentiousness, and in doing so takes occasion +to make a vigorous and skilful attack on pagan polytheism and +mythology. The discourse on the resurrection answers objections +to the doctrine, and attempts to prove its truth from considerations +of God’s purpose in the creation of man, His justice and the +nature of man himself. Athenagoras is a powerful and clear +writer, who strives to comprehend his opponents’ views and is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page831" id="page831"></a>831</span> +acquainted with the classical writers. He used the <i>Apology</i> +of Justin, but hardly the works of Aristides or Tatian. His +theology is strongly tinged with Platonism, and this may account +for his falling into desuetude. His discussion of the Trinity has +some points of speculative interest, but it is not sufficiently +worked out; he regards the Son as the Reason or Wisdom of the +Father, and the Spirit as a divine effluence. On some other +points, as the nature of matter, the immortality of the soul and +the principle of sin, his views are interesting.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">Editions</span>.—J.C. Th. Eg. de Otto, <i>Corpus Apol. Christ. Saec.</i> II. +vol. vii. (Jena, 1857); E. Schwartz in <i>Texte und Untersuchungen</i>, +iv. 2 (Leipzig, 1891).</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Translations</span>.—Humphreys (London, 1714); B.P. Pratten +(<i>Ante-Nic. Fathers</i>, Edinburgh, 1867).</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Literature</span>.—A. Harnack, <i>Gesch. der altchr. Litt.</i> pp. 526-558, and +similar works by O. Bardenhewer and A. Ehrhard; Herzog-Hauck, +<i>Realencyk.</i>; G. Krüger, <i>Early Chr. Lit.</i> p. 130 (where additional +literature is cited). In 1559 and 1612 appeared in French a work +on <i>True and Perfect Love</i>, purporting to be a translation from the +Greek of Athenagoras; it is a palpable forgery.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENODORUS,<a name="ar226" id="ar226"></a></span> the name of two Stoic philosophers of the +1st century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, who have frequently been confounded.</p> + +<p>1. <span class="sc">Athenodorus Cananites</span> (<i>c.</i> 74 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>-<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 7), so called +from his birthplace Canana near Tarsus (not Cana in Cilicia nor +Canna in Lycaonia), was the son of one Sandon, whose name +indicates Tarsian descent, not Jewish as many have held. He +was a personal friend of Strabo, from whom we derive our knowledge +of his life. He taught the young Octavian (afterwards +Augustus) at Apollonia, and was a pupil of Posidonius at Rhodes. +Subsequently he appears to have travelled in the East (Petra and +Egypt) and to have made himself famous by lecturing in the +great cities of the Mediterranean. Writing in 50 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, Cicero +speaks of him with the highest respect (cf. <i>Ep. ad. Att.</i>, xvi. +11. 4, 14. 4), a fact which enables us to fix the date of his birth +as not later than about 74. His influence over Augustus was +strong and lasting. He followed him to Rome in 44, and is said to +have criticized him with the utmost candour, bidding him repeat +the letters of the alphabet before acting on an angry impulse. +In later years he was allowed by Augustus to return to Tarsus +in order to remodel the constitution of the city after the +degenerate democracy which had misgoverned it under Boethus. +He succeeded (<i>c.</i> 15-10 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) in setting up a timocratic oligarchy +in the imperial interest (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Tarsus</a></span>). Sir W.M. Ramsay is +inclined to attribute to the influence of Athenodorus the striking +resemblances which can be established between Seneca and Paul, +the latter of whom must certainly have been acquainted with his +teachings. According to Eusebius and Strabo he was a learned +scientist for his day, and some attribute to him a history of +Tarsus. He helped Cicero in the composition of the <i>De Officiis</i>. +His works are not certainly known, and none are extant. (See +Sir W.M. Ramsay in the <i>Expositor</i>, September 1906, pp. 268 ff.)</p> + +<p>2. <span class="sc">Athenodorus Cordylion</span>, also of Tarsus, was keeper of +the library at Pergamum, and was an old man in 47 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> In his +enthusiasm for Stoicism he used to cut out from Stoic writings +passages which seemed to him unsatisfactory. He also settled +in Rome, where he died in the house of the younger Cato.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>Among others of the name may be mentioned (3) <span class="sc">Athenodorus +of Teos</span>, who played the cithara at the wedding of Alexander the +Great and Statira at Susa (324 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>); (4) a Greek physician of the +1st century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>, who wrote on epidemic diseases; and two sculptors, +of whom (5) one executed the statues of Apollo and Zeus which the +Spartans dedicated at Delphi after Aegospotami; and (6) the other +was a son of Alexander of Rhodes, whom he helped in the Laocoon +group.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENRY,<a name="ar227" id="ar227"></a></span> a market town of county Galway, Ireland, 14 m. +inland (E.) from Galway on the Midland Great Western main +line. Pop. (1901) 853. Its name is derived from <i>Ath-na-riogh</i>, +the ford of kings; and it grew to importance after the Anglo-Norman +invasion as the first town of the Burgs and Berminghams. +The walls were erected in 1211 and the castle in +1238, and the remains of both are noteworthy. A Dominican +monastery was founded with great magnificence by Myler de +Bermingham in 1241, and was repaired by the Board of Works +in 1893. Of the Franciscan monastery of 1464 little is left. +The town returned two members to the Irish parliament from +the time of Richard II. to the Union; but it never recovered +from the wars of the Tudor period, culminating in a successful +siege by Red Hugh O’Donnell in 1596.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENS<a name="ar228" id="ar228"></a></span> [<span class="grk" title="Athaenai">Ἀθῆναι</span>, <i>Athenae</i>, modern colloquial Greek <span class="grk" title="Athaena">Ἁθήνα</span>], +the capital of the kingdom of Greece, situated in 23° 44′ E. +and 37° 58′ N., towards the southern end of the central and +principal plain of Attica. The various theories with regard to +the origin of the name are all somewhat unconvincing; it is +conceivable that, with the other homonymous Greek towns, +such as Athenae Diades in Euboea, <span class="grk" title="Athaenai">Ἀθῆναι</span> may be connected +etymologically with <span class="grk" title="anthos">ἄνθος</span>, a flower (cf. <i>Firenze</i>, Florence); +the patron goddess, Athena, was probably called after the place +of her cult.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">I. Topography and Antiquities</p> + +<p>The Attic plain, <span class="grk" title="to pedion">τὸ πεδίον</span>, slopes gently towards the coast of +the Saronic Gulf on the south-west; on the east it is overlooked +by Mount Hymettus (3369 ft.); on the north-east by Pentelicus +or Brilessus (3635 ft.) from which, in ancient and modern times, +an immense quantity of the finest marble has been quarried; +on the north-west by Parnes (4636 ft.), a continuation of the +Boeotian Cithaeron, and on the west by Aegaleus (1532 ft.), +which descends abruptly to the bay of Salamis. In the centre +of the plain extends from north-east to south-west a series of +low heights, now known as Turcovuni, culminating towards the +south in the sharply pointed Lycabettus (1112 ft.), now called +Hagios Georgios from the monastery which crowns its summit. +Lycabettus, the most prominent feature in the Athenian landscape, +directly overhung the ancient city, but was not included +in its walls; its peculiar shape rendered it unsuitable for +fortification. The Turcovuni ridge, probably the ancient Anchesmus, +separates the valley of the Cephisus on the north-west from +that of its confluent, the Ilissus, which skirted the ancient city +on the south-west. The Cephisus, rising in Pentelicus, enters +the sea at New Phalerum; in summer it dwindles to an insignificant +stream, while the Ilissus, descending from Hymettus, +is totally dry, probably owing to the destruction of the ancient +forests on both mountains, and the consequent denudation of +the soil. Separated from Lycabettus by a depression to the +south-west, through which flows a brook, now a covered drain +(probably to be identified with the Eridanus), stands the remarkable +oblong rocky mass of the Acropolis (512 ft.), rising +precipitously on all sides except the western; its summit was +partially levelled in prehistoric times, and the flat area was +subsequently enlarged by further cutting and by means of retaining +walls. Close to the Acropolis on the west is the lower +rocky eminence of the Areopagus, <span class="grk" title="Areios pagos">Ἄρειος πάγος</span> (377 ft.), the seat +of the famous council; the name (see also <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Areopagus</a></span>) has been +connected with Ares, whose temple stood on the northern side +of the hill, but is more probably derived from the <span class="grk" title="Apai">Ἁραί</span> or +Eumenides, whose sanctuary was formed by a cleft in its north-eastern +declivity. Farther west of the Acropolis are three elevations; +to the north-west the so-called “Hill of the Nymphs” +(341 ft.), on which the modern Observatory stands; to the west +the Pnyx, the meeting-place of the Athenian democracy (351 ft.), +and to the south-west the loftier Museum Hill (482 ft.), still +crowned with the remains of the monument of Philópappus. +A cavity, a little to the west of the Observatory Hill, is generally +supposed to be the ancient Barathron or place of execution. +To the south-east of the Acropolis, beyond the narrow valley +of the Ilissus, is the hill Ardettus (436 ft.). The distance from +the Acropolis to the nearest point of the sea coast at Phalerum +is a little over 3 m.</p> + +<p>The natural situation of Athens was such as to favour the +growth of a powerful community. For the first requisites of a +primitive settlement—food supply and defence—it +afforded every advantage. The Attic plain, notwithstanding +<span class="sidenote">Influence of the geographical position.</span> +the lightness of the soil, furnished an adequate +supply of cereals; olive and fig groves and vineyards +were cultivated from the earliest times in the valley of +the Cephisus, and pasturage for sheep and goats was abundant. +The surrounding rampart of mountains was broken towards the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page832" id="page832"></a>832</span> +north-east by an open tract stretching between Hymettus and +Pentelicus towards Marathon, and was traversed by the passes of +Decelea, Phylé and Daphné on the north and north-west, but +the distance between these natural passages and the city was +sufficient to obviate the danger of surprise by an invading land +force. On the other hand Athens, like Corinth, Megara and +Argos, was sufficiently far from the sea to enjoy security against +the sudden descent of a hostile fleet. At the same time the +relative proximity of three natural harbours, Peiraeus, Zea and +Munychia, favoured the development of maritime commerce +and of the sea power which formed the basis of Athenian hegemony. +The climate is temperate, but liable to sudden changes; +the mean temperature is 63°.1 F., the maximum (in July) 99°.01, +the minimum (in January) 31°.55. The summer heat is moderated +by the sea-breeze or by cool northerly winds from the +mountains (especially in July and August). The clear, bracing +air, according to ancient writers, fostered the intellectual and +aesthetic character of the people and endowed them with mental +and physical energy. For the architectural embellishment of +the city the finest building material was procurable without +difficulty and in abundance; Pentelicus forms a mass of white, +transparent, blue-veined marble; another variety, somewhat +similar in appearance, but generally of a bluer hue, was obtained +from Hymettus. For ordinary purposes grey limestone was +furnished by Lycabettus and the adjoining hills; limestone +from the promontory of Acté (the so-called “poros” stone), +and conglomerate, were also largely employed. For the ceramic +art admirable material was at hand in the district north-west of +the Acropolis. For sculpture and various architectural purposes +white, fine-grained marble was brought from Paros and Naxos. +The main drawback to the situation of the city lay in the insufficiency +of its water-supply, which was supplemented by an +aqueduct constructed in the time of the Peisistratids and by +later water-courses dating from the Roman period. A great +number of wells were also sunk and rain-water was stored in +cisterns.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>For the purposes of scientific topography observation of the +natural features and outlines is followed by exact investigation of +the architectural structures or remnants, a process demanding +high technical competence, acute judgment and practical experience, +as well as wide and accurate scholarship. The building +material and the manner of its employment furnish evidence no +less important than the character of the masonry, the design and +<span class="sidenote"><i>Sources for Athenian topography</i>.</span> +the modes of ornamentation. The testimony afforded +by inscriptions is often of decisive importance, especially +that of commemorative or votive tablets or of boundary-stones +found <i>in situ</i>; the value of this evidence is, on +the other hand, sometimes neutralized owing to the former +removal of building material already used and its incorporation +in later structures. Thus sepulchral inscriptions have +been found on the Acropolis, though no burials took place there +in ancient times. In the next place comes the evidence derived +from the whole range of ancient literature and specially from descriptions +of the city or its different localities. The earliest known +description of Athens was that of Diodorus, <span class="grk" title="ho periaegtes">ὁ περιηγτής</span>, who lived +in the second half of the 4th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Among his successors were +Polemon of Ilium (beginning of 2nd century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), whose great <span class="grk" title="kosmikae +periaegaesis">κοσμική περιήγησις</span> gave a minute account of the votive offerings on the Acropolis +and the tombs on the Sacred Way; and Heliodorus (second half of +the 2nd century) who wrote fifteen volumes on the monuments of +Athens. Of these and other works of the earliest topographers only +some fragments remain. In the period between <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 143 and 159 +Pausanias visited Athens at a time when the monuments of the great +age were still in their perfection and the principal embellishments +of the Roman period had already been completed. The first thirty +chapters of his invaluable <i>Description of Greece</i> (<span class="grk" title="periaegaesis taes Hellados">περιήγησις τῆς Ἑλλάδος</span>) +are devoted to Athens, its ports and environs. Pausanias makes +no claim to exhaustiveness; he selected what was best worth +noticing (<span class="grk" title="ta axiologotata">τὰ ἀξιολογώτατα</span>). His account, drawn up from notes +taken in the main from personal observation, possesses an especial +importance for topographical research, owing to his method of +describing each object in the order in which he saw it during the +course of his walks. His accuracy, which has been called in question +by some scholars, has been remarkably vindicated by recent excavations +at Athens and elsewhere. The list of ancient topographers +closes with Pausanias. The literature of succeeding centuries furnishes +only isolated references; the more important are found in +the scholia on Aristophanes, the lexicons of Hesychius, Photius +and others, and the <i>Etymologicum Magnum</i>. The notices of Athens +during the earlier middle ages are scanty in the extreme. In 1395 +Niccola da Martoni, a pilgrim from the Holy Land, visited Athens +and wrote a description of a portion of the city. Of the work of +Cyriac of Ancona, written about 1450, only some fragments remain, +which are well supplemented by the contemporaneous description +of the capable observer known as the “Anonymous of Milan.” Two +treatises in Greek by unknown writers belong to the same period. +The Dutchman Joannes Meursius (1579-1639) wrote three disquisitions +on Athenian topography. The conquest by Venice in +1687 led to the publication of several works in that city, including +the descriptions of De la Rue and Fanelli and the maps of Coronelli +and others. The systematic study of Athenian topography was +begun in the 17th century by French residents at Athens, the consuls +Giraud and Chataignier and the Capuchin monks. The visit of the +French physician Jacques Spon and the Englishman, Sir George +Wheler or Wheeler (1650-1723), fortunately took place before the +catastrophe of the Parthenon in 1687; Spon’s <i>Voyage d’Italie, de +Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant</i>, which contained the first scientific +description of the ruins of Athens, appeared in 1678; Wheler’s +<i>Journey into Greece</i>, in 1682. A period of British activity in research +followed in the 18th century. The monumental work of James +Stuart and Nicholas Revett, who spent three years at Athens (1751-1754), +marked an epoch in the progress of Athenian topography and +is still indispensable to its study, owing to the demolition of ancient +buildings which began about the middle of the 18th century. To +this period also belong the labours of Richard Pococke and Richard +Dalton, Richard Chandler, E.D. Clarke and Edward Dodwell. +The great work of W.M. Leake (<i>Topography of Athens and the Demi</i>, +2nd ed., 1841) brought the descriptive literature to an end and inaugurated +the period of modern scientific research, in which German +archaeologists have played a distinguished part.</p> + +<p>Recent investigation has thrown a new and unexpected light on +the art, the monuments and the topography of the ancient city. +Numerous and costly excavations have been carried out +by the Greek government and by native and foreign +<span class="sidenote">Recent research.</span> +scientific societies, while accidental discoveries have been +frequently made during the building of the modern town. The +museums, enriched by a constant inflow of works of art and inscriptions, +have been carefully and scientifically arranged, and +afford opportunities for systematic study denied to scholars of the +past generation. Improved means of communication have enabled +many acute observers to apply the test of scrutiny on the spot to +theories and conclusions mainly based on literary evidence; five +foreign schools of archaeology, directed by eminent scholars, lend +valuable aid to students of all nationalities, and lectures are frequently +delivered in the museums and on the more interesting and +important sites. The native archaeologists of the present day hold +a recognized position in the scientific work; the patriotic sentiment +of former times, which prompted their zeal but occasionally warped +their judgment, has been merged in devotion to science for its own +sake, and the supervision of excavations, as well as the control of +the art-collections, is now in highly competent hands. Athens has +thus become a centre of learning, a meeting-place for scholars and +a basis for research in every part of the Greek world. The attention +of many students has naturally been concentrated on the ancient +city, the birthplace of European art and literature, and a great +development of investigation and discussion in the special domain +of Athenian archaeology has given birth to a voluminous literature. +Many theories hitherto universally accepted have been called in +question or proved to be unsound: the views of Leake, for instance, +have been challenged on various points, though many of his conclusions +have been justified and confirmed. The supreme importance +of a study of Greek antiquities on the spot, long understood by +scholars in Europe and in America, has gradually come to be recognized +in England, where a close attention to ancient texts, not always +adequately supplemented by a course of local study and observation, +formerly fostered a peculiarly conservative attitude in regard to the +problems of Greek archaeology. Since the foundation of the German +Institute in 1874, Athenian topography has to a large extent become +a speciality of German scholars, among whom Wilhelm Dörpfeld +occupies a pre-eminent position owing to his great architectural +attainments and unrivalled local knowledge. Many of his bold and +novel theories have provoked strenuous opposition, while others +have met with general acceptance, except among scholars of the +more conservative type.</p> +</div> + +<div class="center pt2"><img style="width:1158px; height:846px" src="images/img832.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="noind f80"><a href="images/img832a.jpg">(Click to enlarge.)</a></p> + +<p class="pt2"><i>Prehistoric Athens</i>.—Numerous traces of the “Mycenaean” +epoch have recently been brought to light in Athens and its +neighbourhood. Among the monuments of this age +discovered in the surrounding districts are the rock-hewn +<span class="sidenote">The early citadel.</span> +tombs of Spata, accidentally revealed by a +landslip in 1877, and domed sepulchre at Menidí, near +the ancient Acharnae, excavated by Lolling in 1879. Other +“Mycenaean” landmarks have been laid bare at Eleusis, +Thoricus, Halae and Aphidna. These structures, however, are +of comparatively minor importance in point of dimensions and +decoration; they were apparently designed as places of sepulture +for local chieftains, whose domains were afterwards incorporated +in the Athenian realm by the <span class="grk" title="synoikismos">συνοικισμός</span> (synoecism) attributed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page833" id="page833"></a>833</span> +to Theseus. The situation of the Acropolis, dominating the +surrounding plain and possessing easy communication with +the sea, favoured the formation of a relatively powerful state—inferior, +however, to Tiryns and Mycenae; the myths of Cecrops, +Erechtheus and Theseus bear witness to the might of the princes +who ruled in the Athenian citadel, and here we may naturally +expect to find traces of massive fortifications resembling in some +degree those of the great Argolid cities. Such in fact have been +brought to light by the modern excavations on the Acropolis +(1885-1889). Remains of primitive polygonal walls which undoubtedly +surrounded the entire area have been found at various +points a little within the circuit of the existing parapet. The +best-preserved portions are at the eastern extremity, at the +northern side near the ancient “royal” exit, and at the south-western +angle. The course of the walls can be traced with a few +interruptions along the southern side. On the northern side are +the foundations of a primitive tower and other remains, apparently +of dwelling-houses, one of which may have been the <span class="grk" title="pukinos +domos Erthaeos">πυκινὸς δόμος Ἐρεχθῆος</span> mentioned by Homer (<i>Od</i>. vii. 81). Among the +foundations were discovered fragments of “Mycenaean” pottery. +The various approaches to the citadel on the northern side—the +rock-cut flight of steps north-east of the Erechtheum (<i>q.v.</i>), +the stairs leading to the well Clepsydra, and the intermediate +passage supposed to have furnished access to the Persians—are +all to be attributed to the primitive epoch. Two pieces of polygonal +wall, one beneath the bastion of Nike Apteros, the other in +a direct line between the Roman gateway and the door of the +Propylaea, are all that remain of the primitive defences of the +main entrance.</p> + +<p>These early fortifications of the Acropolis, ascribed to the +primitive non-hellenic Pelasgi, must be distinguished from +the Pelasgicum Or Pelargicum, which was in all probability +an encircling wall, built round the base of the +<span class="sidenote">The Pelasgicum.</span> +citadel and furnished with nine gates from which it +derived the name of Enneapylon. Such a wall would be required +to protect the clusters of dwellings around the Acropolis as well +as the springs issuing from the rock, while the gates opening +in various directions would give access to the surrounding +pastures and gardens. This view, which is that of E. Curtius, +alone harmonizes with the statement of Herodotus (vi. 137) that +the wall was “around” (<span class="grk" title="peri">περί</span>) the Acropolis, and that of Thucydides +(ii. 17) that it was “beneath” (<span class="grk" title="hypo">ὑπό</span>) the fortress. Thus +it would appear that the citadel had an outer and an inner line +of defence in prehistoric times. The space enclosed by the outer +wall was left unoccupied after the Persian wars in deference +to an oracular response apparently dictated by military considerations, +the maintenance of an open zone being desirable +for the defence of the citadel. A portion of the outer wall has +been recognized in a piece of primitive masonry discovered +near the Odeum of Herodes Atticus; other traces will probably +come to light when the northern and eastern slopes of the +Acropolis have been completely explored. Leake, whom Frazer +follows, assumed the Pelasgicum to be a fortified space at the +western end of the Acropolis; this view necessitates the assumption +that the nine gates were built one within the other, but +early antiquity furnishes no instance of such a construction; +Dörpfeld believes it to have extended from the grotto of Pan +to the sacred precinct of Asclepius. The well-known passage +of Lucian (<i>Piscator</i>, 47) cannot be regarded as decisive for any +of the theories advanced, as any portion of the old <i>enceinte</i> +dismantled by the Persians may have retained the name in later +times. The Pelasgic wall enclosed the spring Clepsydra, beneath +the north-western corner of the Acropolis, which furnished a water-supply +to the defenders of the fortress. The spring, to which a +staircase leads down, was once more included in a bastion during +the War of Independence by the Greek chief Odysseus.</p> + +<p>To the “Pelasgic” era may perhaps be referred (with Curtius +and Milchhöfer) the immense double terrace on the north-eastern +slope of the Pnyx (395 ft. by 212), the upper portion +of which is cut out of the rock, while the lower is +<span class="sidenote">The Pnyx.</span> +enclosed by a semicircular wall of massive masonry; the theory +of these scholars, however, that the whole precinct was a sanctuary +of the Pelasgian Zeus cannot be regarded as proved, nor is it +easy to abandon the generally received view that this was the +scene of the popular assemblies of later times, notwithstanding +the apparent unsuitability of the ground and the insufficiency +of room for a large multitude. These difficulties are met by +the assumption that the semicircular masonry formed the base +of a retaining-wall which rose to a considerable height, supporting +a theatre-like structure capable of seating many thousand +persons. The masonry may be attributed to the 5th century; +the chiselling of the immense blocks is not “Cyclopean.” Projecting +from the upper platform at the centre of the chord of +the semicircular area is a cube of rock, 11 ft. square and 5 ft. +high, approached on either side by a flight of steps leading to the +top; this block, which Curtius supposes to have been the +primitive altar of Zeus <span class="grk" title="Hupsistos">Ὕψιστος</span>, may be safely identified with +the orators’ bema, <span class="grk" title="ho lithos en tae Pykni">ὁ λίθος ἐν τῇ Πυκνί</span> (Aristoph. <i>Pax</i>, 680). +Plutarch’s statement that the Thirty Tyrants removed the +bema so as to face the land instead of the sea is probably due to +a misunderstanding. Other cubes of rock, apparently altars, +exist in the neighbourhood. There can be little doubt that the +Pnyx was the seat of an ancient cult; the meetings of the +Ecclesia were of a religious character and were preceded by a +sacrifice to Zeus <span class="grk" title="Agoraios">Ἀγοραῖος</span>; nor is it conceivable that, but for +its sacred associations, a site would have been chosen so unsuitable +for the purposes of a popular assembly as to need the +addition of a costly artificial auditorium.</p> + +<p>The Pnyx, the Hill of the Nymphs and the Museum Hill are +covered with vestiges of early settlements which extend to a +considerable distance towards the south-east in the +direction of Phalerum. They consist of chambers of +<span class="sidenote">Rock-dwellings and tombs.</span> +various sizes, some of which were evidently human +habitations, together with cisterns, channels, seats, +steps, terraces and quadrangular tombs, all cut in the rock. +This neighbourhood was held by Curtius to have been the site +of the primeval rock city, <span class="grk" title="kranaa polis">κρανάα πόλις</span> (Aristoph. <i>Ach</i>. 75), +anterior to the occupation of the Acropolis and afterwards +abandoned for the later settlement. It seems inconceivable, +however, that any other site should have been preferred by the +primitive settlers to the Acropolis, which offered the greatest +advantages for defence; the Pnyx, owing to its proximity +to the centres of civic life, can never have been deserted, and +that portion which lay within the city walls must have been +fully occupied when Athens was crowded during the Peloponnesian +War. Some of the rock chambers originally intended +for tombs were afterwards converted, perhaps under pressure +of necessity, into habitations, as in the case of the so-called +“Prison of Socrates,” which consists of three chambers horizontally +excavated and a small round apartment of the “beehive” +type. The remains on the Pnyx and its neighbourhood cannot +all be assigned to one epoch, the prehistoric age. The dwellings +do not correspond in size or details with the undoubtedly prehistoric +abodes on the Acropolis. In view of the ancient law +which forbade burial within the city, the tombs within the +circuit of the city walls must either be earlier than the time of +Themistocles or several centuries later; in the similar rock-tombs +on the neighbouring slopes of the Acropolis and Areopagus +both Mycenaean and Dipylon pottery have been found. But +the numerous vertically excavated tombs outside the walls +are of late date and belong for the most part to the Roman +period.</p> + +<p>The Areopagus is now a bare rock possessing few architectural +traces. The legend of its occupation by the Amazons (Aeschylus, +<i>Eum</i>. 681 seq.) may be taken as indicating its military +importance for an attack on the Acropolis; the +<span class="sidenote">The Areopagus.</span> +Persians used it as a <i>point d’appui</i> for their assault. +The seat of the old oligarchical council and court for homicide +was probably on its eastern height. Here were the altar of Athena +Areia and two stones, the <span class="grk" title="lithos Ybreos">λίθος Ὕβρεως</span>, on which the accuser, +and the <span class="grk" title="lithos Anaideias">λίθος Ἀναιδείας</span>, on which the accused, took their +stand. Beneath, at the north-eastern corner, is the cleft which +formed the sanctuary of the <span class="grk" title="Semnai">Σεμναί</span>, or Erinyes. There is +no reason for disturbing the associations connected with this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page834" id="page834"></a>834</span> +spot as the scene of St Paul’s address to the Athenians (E. +Gardner, <i>Anc. Athens</i>, p. 505).</p> + +<p><i>Hellenic Period</i>.—While modern research has added considerably +to our knowledge of prehistoric Athens, a still greater light +has been thrown on the architecture and topography of the city +in the earlier historic or “archaic” era, the subsequent age of +Athenian greatness, and the period of decadence which set in with +the Macedonian conquest; the first extends from the dawn of +history to 480-479 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, when the city was destroyed by the +Persians; the second, or classical, age closes in 322 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, when +Athens lost its political independence after the Lamian War; +the third, or Hellenistic, in 146 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, when the state fell under +Roman protection. We must here group these important epochs +together, as distinguished from the later period of Roman rule, +and confine ourselves to a brief notice of their principal monuments +and a record of the discoveries by which they have been +illustrated in recent years.</p> + +<p>The earliest settlement on the Acropolis was doubtless soon +increased by groups of dwellings at its base, inhabited by the +dependents of the princes who ruled in the stronghold. +These habitations would naturally in the first instance +<span class="sidenote">The city in the “archaic” era.</span> +lie in close proximity to the western approach; after +the building of the Pelasgicum they seem to have +extended beyond its walls towards the south and south-west—towards +the sea and the waters of the Ilissus. The district thus +occupied sloped towards the sun and was sheltered by the +Acropolis from the prevailing northerly winds. The Thesean +synoecism led to the introduction of new cults and the foundation +of new shrines partly on the Acropolis, partly in the inhabited +district at its base both within and without the wall of the +Pelasgicum. Some of the shrines in this region are mentioned +by Thucydides in a passage which is of capital importance for +the topography of the city at this period (ii. 15). By degrees +the inhabited area began to comprise the open ground to the +north-west, the nearer portion of the later Ceramicus, or “potters’ +field” (afterwards divided by the walls of Themistocles into the +Inner and Outer Ceramicus), and eventually extended to the +north and east of the citadel, which, by the beginning of the +5th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, had become the centre of a circular or +wheel-shaped city, <span class="grk" title="polios trochoeideos akra karaena">πόλιος τροχοειδέος ἄκρα κάρηνα</span> (Oracle <i>apud</i> +Herod, vii. 140). To this enlarged city was applied, probably +about the second half of the 6th century, the special designation +<span class="grk" title="to aste">τὸ ἄστυ</span>, which afterwards distinguished Athens from its port, +the Peiracus; the Acropolis was already <span class="grk" title="e polis">ἡ πόλις</span> (Thucyd. ii. 15). +The city is supposed to have been surrounded by a wall before +the time of Solon, the existence of which may be deduced from +Thucydides’ account of the assassination of Hipparchus (vi. 57), +but no certain traces of such a wall have been discovered; +the materials may have been removed to build the walls of +Themistocles.</p> + +<p>The centre of commercial and civic life of the older group of +communities, as of the greater city of the classical age, was the +Agora or market. Here were the various public +buildings, which, when the power of the princes on +<span class="sidenote">The Agora.</span> +the citadel was transferred to the archons, formed the +offices of the administrative magistracy. The site of the primitive +Agora (<span class="grk" title="archaia agora">ἀρχαία ἀγορά</span>) was probably in the hollow between the +Acropolis and the Pnyx, which formed a convenient meeting-place for +the dwellers on the north and south sides of the fortress +as well as for its inhabitants. In the time of the Peisistratids +the Agora was enlarged so as to extend over the Inner Ceramicus +on the north-west, apparently reaching the northern declivities +of the Areopagus and the Acropolis on the south. After the +Persian Wars the northern portion was used for commercial, +the southern for political and ceremonial purposes. In the +southern were the Orchestra, where the Dionysiac dances took +place, and the famous statues of Harmodius and Aristogeiton +by Antenor which were carried away by Xerxes; also the +Metroum, or temple of the Mother of the Gods, the Bouleuterium, +or council-chamber of the Five Hundred, the Prytaneum, the +hearth of the combined communities, where the guests of the +state dined, the temple of the Dioscuri, and the Tholus, or Skias, +a circular stone-domed building in which the Prytaneis were +maintained at the public expense; in the northern were the +Leocorium, where Hipparchus was slain, the <span class="grk" title="stoa basilikae">στοὰ βασιλική</span>, +the famous <span class="grk" title="stoa poikilae">στοὰ ποικίλη</span>, where Zeno taught, and other structures. +The Agora was commonly described as the “Ceramicus,” +and Pausanias gives it this name; of the numerous buildings +which he saw here scarcely a trace remains; their position, for +the most part, is largely conjectural, and the exact boundaries +of the Agora itself are uncertain. What are perhaps the remains +of the <span class="grk" title="stoa basilikae">στοὰ βασιλική</span>, in which the Archon Basileus held his +court and the Areopagus Council sat in later times, were brought +to light in the winter of 1897-1898, when excavations were +carried out on the eastern slope of the “Theseum” hill. Here +was found a rectangular structure resembling a temple, but with +a side door to the north; it possessed a portico of six columns. +The north slope of the Areopagus, where a number of early +tombs were found, was also explored, and the limits of the +Agora on the south and north-west were approximately ascertained. +A portion of the main road leading from the Dipylon +to the Agora was discovered.</p> + +<p>In 1892 Dörpfeld began a series of excavations in the district +between the Acropolis and the Pnyx with the object of determining +the situation of the buildings described by +Pausanias as existing in the neighbourhood of the +<span class="sidenote">The Enneacrunus.</span> +Agora, and more especially the position of the Enneacrunus +fountain. The Enneacrunus has hitherto +been generally identified with the spring Callirrhoe in the bed of +the Ilissus, a little to the south-east of the Olympieum; it is +apparently, though not explicitly, placed by Thucydides (ii. 15) +in proximity to that building, as well as the temple of Dionysus +<span class="grk" title="en limnais">ἐν λίμναις</span> and other shrines, the temples of Zeus Olympius +and of Ge and the Pythium, which he mentions as situated +mainly to the south of the Acropolis. On the other hand, +Pausanias (i. 14. 1), who never deviates without reason from the +topographical order of his narrative, mentions the Enneacrunus +in the midst of his description of certain buildings which were +undoubtedly in the region of the Agora, and unless he is guilty +of an unaccountable digression the Enneacrunus which he saw +must have lain west of the Acropolis. It is now generally +agreed that the Agora of classical times covered the low ground +between the hill of the “Theseum,” the Areopagus and the +Pnyx; and Pausanias, in the course of his description, appears +to have reached its southern end. The excavations revealed +a main road of surprisingly narrow dimensions winding up from +the Agora to the Acropolis. A little to the south-west of the +point where the road turns towards the Propylaca was found a +large rock-cut cistern or reservoir which Dörpfeld identifies with +the Enneacrunus. The reservoir is supplied by a conduit of +6th-century tiles connected with an early stone aqueduct, the +course of which is traceable beneath the Dionysiac theatre and +the royal garden in the direction of the Upper Ilissus. These +elaborate waterworks were, according to Dörpfeld, constructed +by the Peisistratids in order to increase the supply from the +ancient spring Callirrhoe; the fountain was furnished with nine +jets and henceforth known as Enneacrunus. This identification +has been hotly contested by many scholars, and the question +must still be regarded as undecided. An interesting confirmation +of Dörpfeld’s view is furnished by the map of Guillet and Coronelli, +published in 1672, in which the Enneacrunus is depicted as a +well with a stream of running water in the neighbourhood of the +Pnyx. The fact that spring water is not now found in this +locality is by no means fatal to the theory; recent engineering +investigations have shown that much of the surface water of +the Attic plain has sunk to a lower level. In front of the reservoir +is a small open space towards which several roads converge; +close by is a triangular enclosure of polygonal masonry, in which +were found various relics relating to the worship of Dionysus, +a very ancient wine-press (<span class="grk" title="laenos">ληνός</span>) and the remains of a small +temple. Built over this early precinct, which Dörpfeld identifies +with the Dionysium <span class="grk" title="en limnais">ἐν λίμναις</span>, or Lenaeum, is a basilica-shaped +building of the Roman period, apparently sacred to +Bacchus; in this was found an inscription containing the rules +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page835" id="page835"></a>835</span> +of the society of the Iobacchi. There is an obvious difficulty in +assuming that <span class="grk" title="limnai">λίμναι</span>, in the sense of “marshes,” existed in +this confined area, but stagnant pools may still be seen here +in winter. Dörpfeld’s identification of the Dionysium, <span class="grk" title="en limnais">ἐν λίμναις</span> +cannot be regarded as proved; his view that another Pythium +and another Olympieum existed in this neighbourhood is still +less probable; but the inconclusiveness of these theories does +not necessarily invalidate his identification of the Enneacrunus, +with regard to the position of which the language of Thucydides +is far from clear. Another enclosure, a little to the south, is +proved by an inscription to have been a sanctuary of the hitherto +unknown hero Amynos, with whose cult those of Asclepius and +the hero Dexion were here associated; under the name Dexion, +the poet Sophocles is said to have been worshipped after his +death. The whole district adjoining the Areopagus was found +to have been thickly built over; the small, mean dwelling-houses +intersected by narrow, crooked lanes convey a vivid idea of the +contrast between the modest private residences and the great +public structures of the ancient city.</p> + +<p>The age of the Peisistratids (560-511 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) marked an era in +the history of Athenian topography. The greatest of their +foundations, the temple of Olympian Zeus, will be +referred to later. Among the monuments of their +<span class="sidenote">The Academy and Lyceum.</span> +rule, in addition to the enlarged Agora and the +Enneacrunus, were the Academy and perhaps the +Lyceum. The original name of the Academy may have been +Hecademia, from Hecademus, an early proprietor (but see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Academy, Greek</a></span>). The famous seat of the Platonic philosophy +was a gymnasium enlarged as a public park by Cimon; it lay +about a mile to the north-west of the Dipylon Gate, with which +it was connected by a street bordered with tombs. The Lyceum, +where Aristotle taught, was originally a sanctuary of Apollo +Lyceius. Like the Academy, it was an enclosure with a gymnasium +and garden; it lay to the east of the city beyond the +Diocharean Gate.</p> + +<p>Little was known of the buildings on the Acropolis in the +pre-Persian period before the great excavations of 1885-1888, +which rank among the most surprising achievements of +modern research. The results of these operations, which were +conducted by the Archaeological Society under the direction of +Kavvadias and Kawerau, must be summarized with the utmost +<span class="sidenote">The Acropolis before the Persian wars.</span> +brevity. The great deposits of sculpture and pottery +now unearthed, representing all that escaped from the +the ravages of the Persians and the burning of the ancient +shrines, afford a startling revelation of the development +of Greek art in the 7th and 6th centuries. Numbers +of statues—among them a series of draped and richly-coloured +female figures—masterpieces of painted pottery, only +equalled by the Attic vases found in Magna Grecia and Etruria, +and numerous bronzes, were among the treasures of art now +brought to light. All belong to the “archaic” epoch; only a +few remains of the greater age were found, including some +fragments of sculptures from the Parthenon and Erechtheum. We +are principally concerned, however, with the results which add to +our knowledge of the topography and architecture of the Acropolis. +The entire area of the summit was now thoroughly explored, +the excavations being carried down to the surface of the +rock, which on the southern side was found to slope outwards to a +depth of about 45 ft. In the lower strata were discovered the +remnants of Cyclopean or prehistoric architecture already +mentioned. Of later date, perhaps, are the limestone polygonal +retaining walls on the west front, which extended on either side +of the early entrance. Of these a portion may probably be +attributed to the Peisistratids, in whose time the Acropolis once +more became the stronghold of a despotism. Its fortifications, +though not increased, were apparently strengthened by the +Tyrants. To its embellishment they probably contributed the +older ornamental entrance, facing south-west, the precursor of +the greater structure of Mnesicles (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Propylaea</a></span>) and the +colonnade of the “Hecatompedon,” or earlier temple of Athena, +at this time the only large sacred edifice on the citadel. The +name was subsequently applied to the cella, or eastern chamber, +of the Parthenon, which is exactly 100 ft. long, and also became +a popular designation of the temple itself.</p> + +<p>The ancient Hecatompedon may in all probability be identified +with an early temple, also 100 ft. long, the foundations of which +were pointed out in 1885 by Dörpfeld on the ground +immediately adjoining the south side of the +<span class="sidenote">The old temple of Athena.</span> +Erechtheum. On this spot was apparently the primitive +sanctuary of Athena, the rich temple <span class="grk" title="pion naeos">πίων νηός</span> of +Homer (<i>Il.</i> ii. 549), in which the cult of the goddess was associated +with that of Erechtheus; the Homeric temple is identified by +Furtwängler with the “compact house of Erechtheus” (<i>Od</i>. vii. 81), +which, he holds, was not a royal palace, but a place of worship, +and traces of it may perhaps be recognized in the fragments +of prehistoric masonry enclosed by the existing foundations. +The foundations seem to belong to the 7th century, except those +of the colonnade, which was possibly added by Peisistratus. +According to Dörpfeld, this was the “old temple” of Athena +Polias, frequently mentioned in literature and inscriptions, in +which was housed the most holy image <span class="grk" title="xoanon">ξόανον</span> of the goddess +which fell from heaven; it was burnt, but not completely +destroyed, during the Persian War, and some of its external +decorations were afterwards built into the north wall of the +Acropolis; it was subsequently restored, he thinks, with or +without its colonnade—in the former case a portion of the +peristyle must have been removed when the Erechtheum was +built so as to make room for the porch of the maidens; the +building was set on fire in 406 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> (Xen. <i>Hell.</i> i. 6. 1), and +the conflagration is identical with that mentioned by Demosthenes +(<i>In Timocr.</i> xxiv. 155); its “opisthodomos” served as the +Athenian treasury in the 5th and 4th centuries; the temple is the +<span class="grk" title="archaios neos taes Poliados">ἀρχαῖος νεὼς τῆς Πολιάδος</span> mentioned by Strabo (ix. 16), +and it was still standing in the time of Pausanias, who applies to +it the same name (i. 27. 3). The conclusion that the foundations +are those of an old temple burnt by the Persians has been generally +accepted, but other portions of Dörpfeld’s theory—more especially +his assumption that the temple was restored after the Persian +War—have provoked much controversy. Thus J.G. Frazer +maintains the hitherto current theory that the earlier temple of +Athena and Erechtheus was on the site of the Erechtheum; +that the Erechtheum inherited the name <span class="grk" title="archaios neos">ἀρχαῖος νεώς</span> from its +predecessor, and that the “opisthodomos” in which the treasures +were kept was the west chamber of the Parthenon; Furtwängler +and Milchhöfer hold the strange view that the “opisthodomos” +was a separate building at the east end of the Acropolis, while +Penrose thinks the building discovered by Dörpfeld was possibly +the Cecropeum. E. Curtius and J.W. White, on the other hand, +accept Dörpfeld’s identification, but believe that only the +western portion of the temple or opisthodomos was rebuilt after +the Persian War. Admitting the identification, we may perhaps +conclude that the temple was repaired in order to provide a +temporary home for the venerated image and other sacred +objects; no traces of a restoration exist, but the walls probably +remained standing after the Persian conflagration. The removal +of the ancient temple was undoubtedly intended when the +Erechtheum was built, but superstition and popular feeling may +have prevented its demolition and the removal of the <span class="grk" title="xoanon">ξόανον</span> +to the new edifice. The temple consisted of an eastern cella with +pronaos; behind this was the opisthodomos, divided into three +chambers—possibly treasuries—with a portico at the western end. +The peristyle, if we compare the measurements of the stylobate +with those of the drums built into the wall of the Acropolis, may +be concluded to have consisted of six Doric columns at the ends +and twelve at the sides. In one of the pediments was a gigantomachy, +of which some fragments have been recovered.</p> + +<p>In 1896 excavations with the object of exploring the whole +northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis were begun by +Kavvadias. The pathway between the citadel and +the Areopagus was found to be so narrow that it is +<span class="sidenote">The grottoes of Pan and Apollo.</span> +certain the Panathenaic procession cannot have taken +this route to the Acropolis. On the north-west rock +the caves known as the grottoes of Pan and Apollo were +cleared out; these consist of a slight high-arched indentation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page836" id="page836"></a>836</span> +immediately to the east of the Clepsydra and a double and +somewhat deeper cavern a little farther to the east. In the first +mentioned are a number of niches in which <span class="grk" title="pinakes">πίνακες</span> (votive +tablets) were placed: some of these, inscribed with dedications to +Apollo, have been discovered. The whole locality was the seat of +the ancient cult of this deity, afterwards styled “Hypacraeus,” +with which was associated the legend of Creüsa and the birth +of Ion. The worship of Pan was introduced after the Persian +wars, in consequence of an apparition seen by Pheidippides, +the Athenian courier, in the mountains of Arcadia. Another +cave more to the west was revealed by the demolition of +the bastion of Odysseus. To the east a much deeper and hitherto +unknown cavern has been revealed, which Kavvadias identifies +with the grotto of Pan. Close to it are a series of steps hewn in +the rock which connect with those discovered in 1886 within the +Acropolis wall. Farther east is an underground passage leading +eastward to a cave supposed to be the sanctuary of Aglaurus +where the ephebi took the oath; with this passage is connected +a secret staircase leading up through a cleft in the rock to the +precinct of the Errephori on the Acropolis. It is conceivable +that the priestesses employed this exit when descending on their +mysterious errand.</p> + +<p>In the fifty years between the Persian and the Peloponnesian +wars architecture and plastic art attained their highest perfection +in Athens. The almost complete destruction of the +buildings on the Acropolis and in the lower city, among +<span class="sidenote">The classical period: the walls of Themistocles.</span> +them many temples and shrines which religious sentiment +might otherwise have preserved, facilitated the +realization of the magnificent architectural designs +of Themistocles, Cimon and Pericles, while the rapid +growth of the Athenian empire provided the state with the +necessary means for the execution of these sumptuous projects. +Of the great monuments of this epoch few traces remain except +on the Acropolis. After the departure of the Persians the first +necessity was the reconstruction of the defences of the city and +the citadel. The walls of the city, now built under the direction +of Themistocles, embraced a larger area than the previous +circuit, with which they seem to have coincided at the Dipylon +Gate on the north-west where the Sacred Way to Eleusis was +joined by the principal carriage route to the Peiraeus and the +roads to the Academy and Colonus. The other more important +gates were the Peiraic and Melitan on the west; the Itonian on +the south leading to Phalerum, the Diomean and Diocharean on +the east, and the Acharnian on the north. The wall, which was +strengthened with numerous towers, enclosed the quarters of +Collytus on the north, Melite on the west, Limnae on the +south-west and south, and Diomea on the east. The scanty traces +which remain have not been systematically excavated except +in the neighbourhood of the Dipylon; the discovery of sepulchral +tablets built into the masonry illustrates the statement of +Thucydides with regard to the employment of such material +in the hasty construction of the walls. The circuit has been +practically ascertained in its general lines, though not in details; +it is given by Thucydides (ii. 13. 7) as 43 stades (about +5½ m.) exclusive of the portion between the points of junction +with the long walls extending to the Peiraeus, but the +whole circumference cannot have exceeded 37 stades. Possibly +Thucydides, who in the passage referred to is dealing with +the question of defence, included a portion of the contiguous +long walls in his measurement; this explanation derives +probability from his underestimate of the length of the long +walls.</p> + +<p>The design of connecting Athens with the Peiraeus by long +parallel walls is ascribed by Plutarch to Themistocles. The +“Long Walls” (<span class="grk" title="ta makra teichae, ta skelae">τὰ μακρὰ τείχη, τὰ σκέλη</span>) consisted +of (1) the “North Wall” (<span class="grk" title="to boreion teichos">τὸ βόρειον τεῖχος</span>), (2) the +<span class="sidenote">The “Long Walls”.</span> +“Middle” or “South Wall” (<span class="grk" title="to dia mesou teichos">τὸ διὰ μέσου τεῖχος</span>, Plato, +<i>Gorg.</i> 555 Ε; <span class="grk" title="to notion teichos">τὸ νότιον τεῖχος</span>); and (3) the “Phaleric +Wall” (<span class="grk" title="to Phalaerikon teichos">τὸ Φαληρικὸν τεῖχος</span>; The north and Phaleric walls +were perhaps founded by Cimon, and were completed about +457 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> in the early administration of Pericles; the middle wall +was built about 445 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The lines of the north and middle walls +have been ascertained from the remnants still existing in the +18th century and the scantier traces now visible. The north +wall, leaving the city circuit at a point near the modern +Observatory, ran from north-east to south-west near the present road +to the Peiraeus, until it reached the Peiraeus walls a little to the +east of their northernmost bend. The middle wall, beginning +south of the Pnyx near the Melitan Gate, gradually approached +the northern wall and, following a parallel course at an interval +of 550 ft., diverged to the east near the modern New Phalerum +and joined the Peiraeus walls on the height of Munychia where +they turn inland from the sea. The course of the Phaleric wall +has been much disputed. The widely-received view of Curtius +that it ran to Cape Kolias (now Old Phalerum) on the east of +the Phaleric bay is not accepted by recent topographers. The +exigencies of the defensive system planned by Themistocles could +only have been satisfied by a juncture of the Phaleric wall with +that of the Peiraeus. The existence of any third wall was denied +by Leake, according to whose theory the southern parallel wall +would be identical with the Phaleric. The language of Thucydides, +however, seems decisive with regard to the existence of +three walls. The Phaleric wall, branching from the city circuit +at some point farther east than the middle or south wall, may +have followed the ridge of the Sikelia heights, where some traces +of fortifications remain, and then traversed the Phalerum plain +till it reached the Peiraeus defences at a point a little to the +north-west of their junction with the middle wall. The Phaleric +wall, proving indefensible, was abandoned towards the close of +the Peloponnesian war; with the other two walls it was completely +destroyed after the surrender of the city, and was not +rebuilt when they were restored by Conon in 393 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The +parallel walls fell into decay, during the Hellenistic period, and +according to Strabo (ix. 396) were once more demolished by +Sulla.</p> + +<p>The great advantages which the Peiraic promontory with its +three natural harbours offered for purposes of defence and +commerce were first recognized by Themistocles, in +whose archonship (493 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) the fortifications of the +<span class="sidenote">The Peiraeus.</span> +Peiraeus were begun. Before his time the Athenians +used as a port the roadstead of Phalerum at the north-eastern +corner of Phalerum bay partly sheltered by Cape Kolias. As +soon as the building of the city walls had been completed, +Themistocles resumed the construction of the Peiraeus defences, +which protected the larger harbour of Cantharus on the west +and the smaller ports of Zea and Munychia (respectively south-west +and south-east of the Munychia heights), terminating in +moles at their entrances and enclosing the entire promontory on +the land and sea sides except a portion of the south-west shore +of the peninsula of Acte. The walls, built of finely compacted +blocks, were about 10 ft. in thickness and upwards of 60 ft. in +height, and were strengthened by towers. The town was laid +out at great expense in straight, broad streets, intersecting each +other at right angles, by the architect Hippodamus of Miletus +in the time of Pericles. In the centre was the Agora of Hippodamus; +on the western margin of the Cantharus harbour +extended the emporium, or Digma, the centre of commercial +activity, flanked by a series of porticoes; at its northern end, +near the entrance to the inner harbour, was another Agora, on +the site of the modern market-place, and near it the <span class="grk" title="makra stoa">μακρὰ στοά</span>, +the corn depot of the state. This inner and shallower harbour, +perhaps the <span class="grk" title="kophos limaen">κωφὸς λιμήν</span>, was afterwards excluded from the +town precinct by the walls of Conon, which traversing its opening +on an embankment (<span class="grk" title="to dia meson choma">τὸ διὰ μέσου χῶμα</span>) ran round the outer shore +of the western promontory of Eëtionea, previously enclosed, +with some space to the north-west, by the wider circuit of +Themistocles. In the harbours of Zea and Munychia traces may +be seen of the remarkable series of galley-slips in which the +Athenian fleet was built and repaired. The galley-slips around +Zea were roofed by a row of gables supported by stone columns, +each gable sheltering two triremes. Among the other noteworthy +buildings of the Peiraeus were the arsenal (<span class="grk" title="skeuothaekae">σκευοθήκη</span>) of Philo +and the temples of Zeus Soter, the patron god of the sailors, of +the Cnidian Artemis, built by Cimon, and of Artemis Munychia, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page837" id="page837"></a>837</span> +situated near the fort on the Munychia height; traces of a temple +of Asclepius, of two theatres and of a hippodrome remain. The +fine marble lion of the classical period which stood at the mouth +of the Cantharus harbour gave the Peiraeus its medieval and +modern names of Porto Leone and Porto Draco; it was carried +away to Venice by Morosini.</p> + +<p>In 1870 the Greek Archaeological Society undertook a series +of excavations in the Outer Ceramicus, which had already been +partially explored by various scholars. The operations, +which were carried on at intervals till 1890, +<span class="sidenote">The Dipylon and Ceramicus.</span> +resulted in the discovery of the Dipylon Gate, the +principal entrance of ancient Athens. The Dipylon +consists of an outer and an inner gate separated by an oblong +courtyard and flanked on either side by towers; the gates were +themselves double, being each composed of two apertures +intended for the incoming and outgoing traffic. An opening in +the city wall a little to the south-west, supposed to have been +the Sacred Gate (<span class="grk" title="iera pylae">ἱερὰ πύλη</span>), was in all probability an outlet +for the waters of the Eridanus. This stream, which has hitherto +been regarded as the eastern branch of the Ilissus rising at +Kaesariane, has been identified by Dörpfeld with a brook +descending from the south slope of Lycabettus and conducted in +an artificial channel to the north-western end of the city, where +it made its exit through the walls, eventually joining the Ilissus. +The channel was open in Greek times, but was afterwards covered +by Roman arches; it appears to have served as the main drain +of the city. Between this outlet and the Dipylon were found a +boundary-stone, inscribed <span class="grk" title="oros Kerameikou">ὄρος Κεραμεικοῦ</span>, which remains in its +place, and the foundations of a large rectangular building, +possibly the Pompeium, which may have been a robing-room +for the processions which passed this way. On either side of the +Dipylon the walls of Themistocles, faced on the outside by a +later wall, have been traced for a considerable distance. The +excavation of the outlying cemetery revealed the unique “Street +of the Tombs” and brought to light a great number of sepulchral +monuments, many of which remain <i>in situ</i>. Especially noteworthy +are the <i>stelae</i> (reliefs) representing scenes of leave-taking, +which, though often of simple workmanship, are characterized +by a touching dignity and restraint of feeling. In this neighbourhood +were found a great number of tombs containing vases of all +periods, which furnish a marvellous record of the development +of Attic ceramic art. A considerable portion of the district +remains unexplored.</p> + +<p>The Acropolis had been dismantled as a fortress after the +expulsion of Hippias; its defenders against the Persians found +it necessary to erect a wooden barricade at its entrance. +The fortifications were again demolished by the +<span class="sidenote">The Acropolis of the classical period: its fortifications and area.</span> +Persians, after whose departure the existing north +wall was erected in the time of Themistocles; many +columns, metopes and other fragments from the +buildings destroyed by the Persians were built into it, +possibly owing to haste, as in the case of the city walls, +but more probably with the design of commemorating the +great historic catastrophe, as the wall was visible from the +Agora. The fine walls of the south and east sides were built by +Cimon after the victory of the Eurymedon, 468 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>; they +extend considerably beyond the old Pelasgic circuit, the +intervening space being filled up with earth and the débris of the +ruined buildings so as to increase the level space of the summit. +On the northern side Cimon completed the wall of Themistocles +at both ends and added to its height; the ground behind was +levelled up on this side also, the platform of the Acropolis thus +receiving its present shape and dimensions. The staircase leading +down to the sanctuary of Aglaurus was enclosed in masonry. +At the south-western corner, on the right of the approach to the +old entrance, a bastion of early masonry was encased in a +rectangular projection which formed a base for the temple of +Nike. The great engineering works of Cimon provided a +suitable area for the magnificent structures of the age of +Pericles.</p> + +<p>The greater monuments of the classical epoch on the Acropolis +are described in separate articles (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Parthenon</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Erechtheum</a></span>, +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Propylaea</a></span>). Next in interest to these noble structures is the +beautiful little temple of Athena Nike, wrongly designated Nike +<span class="sidenote">The monuments on the Acropolis.</span> +Apteros (Wingless Victory), standing on the bastion already +mentioned; it was begun after 450 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> and was probably +finished after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian +War. The temple, which is entirely of Pentelic marble, +is amphiprostyle tetrastyle, with fluted Ionic columns, +on a stylobate of three steps; its length is 27 ft., its +breadth 18½ ft., and its total height, from the apex of the pediment +to the bottom of the steps, 23 ft. The frieze, running round +the entire building, represents on its eastern side a number of +deities, on its northern and southern sides Greeks fighting with +Persians, and on its western side Greeks fighting with Greeks. +Before the east front was the altar of Athena Nike. The irregularly +shaped precinct around the temple was enclosed by a balustrade +about 3 ft. 2 in. in height, decorated on the outside with beautiful +reliefs representing a number of winged Victories engaged in the +worship of Athena. The elaborate treatment of the drapery +enveloping these female figures suggests an approach to the +mannerism of later times; this and other indications point to +the probability that the balustrade was added in the latter years +of the Peloponnesian War. The temple was still standing in +1676; some eight years later it was demolished by the Turks, +and its stones built into a bastion; on the removal of the bastion +in 1835 the temple was successfully reconstructed by Ross with +the employment of little new material. At either corner of the +Propylaea entrance were equestrian statues dedicated by the +Athenian knights; the bases with inscriptions have lately been +recovered. From the inner exit of the Propylaea a passage led +towards the east along the north side of the Parthenon; almost +directly facing the entrance was the colossal bronze statue of +Athena (afterwards called Athena Promachos) by Pheidias, +probably set up by Cimon in commemoration of the Persian +defeat. The statue, which was 30 ft. high, represented the goddess +as fully armed; the gleam of her helmet and spear could be +seen by the mariners approaching from Cape Sunium (Pausanias +i. 28). On both sides of the passage were numerous statues, +among them that of Athena Hygeïa, set up by Pericles to +commemorate the recovery of a favourite slave who was injured +during the building of the Parthenon, a colossal bronze image +of the wooden horse of Troy, and Myron’s group of Marsyas with +Athena throwing away her flute. Another statue by Myron, the +famous Perseus, stood near the precinct of Artemis Brauronia. +In this sacred enclosure, which lay between the south-eastern +corner of the Propylaea and the wall of Cimon, no traces of a +temple have been found. Adjoining it to the east are the +remains of a large rectangular building, which was apparently +fronted by a colonnade; this has been identified with the +<span class="grk" title="Chalkothaekae">Χαλκοθήκη</span>, a storehouse of bronze implements and arms, which +was formerly supposed to lie against the north wall near the +Propylaea. Beyond the Parthenon, a little to the north-east, +was the great altar of Athena, and near it the statue and altar +of Zeus Polieus. With regard to the buildings on the east end of +the Acropolis, where the present museums stand, no certainty +exists; among the many statues here were those of Xanthippus, +the father of Pericles, and of Anacreon. Immediately west of the +Erechtheum is the Pandroseum or temenos of Pandrosos, the +daughter of Cecrops, the excavation of which has revealed no +traces of the temple (<span class="grk" title="naos">ναός</span>) seen here by Pausanias (i. 27). The +site of this precinct, in which the sacred olive tree of Athena +grew, has been almost certainly fixed by an inscription found in +the bastion of Odysseus. At its north-western extremity is a +platform of levelled rock which may have supported the altar of +Zeus Hypsistus. Farther west, along the north wall of the Acropolis, +is the space probably occupied by the abode and playground +of the Errephori. Between this precinct and the Propylaea were +a number of statues, among them the celebrated heifer of Myron, +and perhaps his Erechtheus; the Lemnian Athena of Pheidias, +and his effigy of his friend Pericles.</p> + +<p>The reconstruction of the city after its demolition by the +Persians was not carried out on the lines of a definite plan like +that of the Peiraeus. The houses were hastily repaired, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page838" id="page838"></a>838</span> +narrow, crooked streets remained; the influence of Themistocles, +<span class="sidenote">The city in the classical period.</span> +who aimed at transferring the capital to the Peiraeus, was +probably directed against any costly scheme of restoration, +except on the Acropolis. The period of Cimon’s +administration, however, especially the interval between +his victory on the Eurymedon and his ostracism +(468-461 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), was marked by great architectural activity in +the lower city as well as on the citadel. To his time may be +referred many of the buildings around the Agora (probably +rebuilt on the former sites) and elsewhere, and the passage, or +<span class="grk" title="dromos">δρόμος</span>, from the Agora to the Dipylon flanked by long porticos. +The Theseum or temple of Theseus, which lay to the east of the +Agora near the Acropolis, was built by Cimon: here he deposited +the bones of the national hero which he brought from Scyros +about 470 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The only building in the city which can with +certainty be assigned to the administration of Pericles is the +Odeum, beneath the southern declivity of the Acropolis, a +structure mainly of wood, said to have been built in imitation +of the tent of Xerxes: it was used for musical contests and the +rehearsal of plays. Of the various temples in which statues by +Pheidias, Alcamenes and other great sculptors are known to +have been placed, no traces have yet been discovered; excavation +has not been possible in a large portion of the lower city, which +has always been inhabited. The only extant structures of the +classical period are the Hephaesteum, the Dionysiac theatre, +and the choragic monument of Lysicrates. The remains of a +small Ionic temple which were standing by the Ilissus in the +time of Stuart have disappeared.</p> + +<div class="center pt2"><img style="width:1063px; height:568px" src="images/img838.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="pt2">The Hephaesteum, the so-called Theseum, is situated on a +slight eminence, probably the Colonus Agoraeus, to the west +of the Agora. The best preserved Greek temple in +the world, it possesses no record of its origin; the +<span class="sidenote">The Hephaesteum or Theseum.</span> +style of its sculptures and architecture leads to the +conclusion that it was built about the same time +as the Parthenon; it seems to have been finished by 421 +<span class="scs">B.C.</span> It has been known as the Theseum since the middle +ages, apparently because some of its sculptures represent the +exploits of Theseus, but the Theseum was an earlier sanctuary +on the east of the Agora (see above). The building has been +supposed by Curtius, Wachsmuth and others to be the Heracleum +in Melite, but its identification with the temple of Hephaestus +and Athena seen in this neighbourhood by Pausanias (i. 14. 6), +though not established, may be regarded as practically certain, +notwithstanding the difficulty presented by the subjects of the +sculptures, which bear no relation to Hephaestus. The temple +is a Doric peripteral hexastyle <i>in antis</i>, with 13 columns at the +sides; its length is 104 ft., its breadth 45½ ft., its height, to the +top of the pediment, 33 ft. The sculptures of the pediments +have been completely lost, but their design has been ingeniously +reconstructed by Sauer. The frieze of the entablature contains +sculptures only in the metopes of the east front and in those +of the sides immediately adjoining it; the frontal metopes +represent the labours of Heracles, the lateral the exploits of +Theseus. As in the Parthenon, there is a sculptured zophoros +above the exterior of the cella walls; this, however, extends +over the east and west fronts only and the east ends of the +sides; the eastern zophoros represents a battle-scene with +seated deities on either hand, the western a centauromachia. +The temple is entirely of Pentelic marble, except the foundations +and lowest step of the stylobate, which are of Peiraic stone, and +the zophoros of the cella, which is in Parian marble. The +preservation of the temple is due to its conversion into a church +in the middle ages.</p> + +<p>The Dionysiac theatre, situated beneath the south side of the +Acropolis, was partly hollowed out from its declivity. The +representation of plays was perhaps transferred to +this spot from the early Orchestra in the Agora at the +<span class="sidenote">The Dionysiac theatre and Asclepieum.</span> +beginning of the 5th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>; it afterwards +superseded the Pnyx as the meeting-place of the +Ecclesia. The site, which had been accurately determined +by Leake, was explored by Strack in 1862, and the +researches subsequently undertaken by the Greek +Archaeological Society were concluded in 1879. It was not, however, +till 1886 that traces of the original circular Greek orchestra were +pointed out by Dörpfeld. The arrangements of the stage and +orchestra as we now see them belong to Roman times; the +<i>cavea</i> or auditorium dates from the administration of the orator +Lycurgus (337-323 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), and nothing is left of the theatre in +which the plays of Sophocles were acted save a few small remnants +of polygonal masonry. These, however, are sufficient to mark +out the circuit of the ancient orchestra, on which the subsequently +built proscenia encroached. The oldest stage-building was +erected in the time of Lycurgus; it consisted of a rectangular +hall with square projections (<span class="grk" title="paraskenia">παρασκήνια</span>) on either side; in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page839" id="page839"></a>839</span> +front of this was built in late Greek or early Roman times a +stage with a row of columns which intruded upon the orchestra +space; a later and larger stage, dating from the time of Nero, +advanced still farther into the orchestra, and this was finally +faced (probably in the 3rd century <span class="scs">A.D.</span>) by the “bema” of +Phaedrus, a platform-wall decorated with earlier reliefs, the +slabs of which were cut down to suit their new position. The +remains of two temples of Dionysus have been found adjoining +the stoa of the theatre, and an altar of the same god adorned +with masks and festoons; the smaller and earlier temple probably +dates from the 6th century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, the larger from the end of the +5th or the beginning of the 4th century.</p> + +<p>Immediately west of the theatre of Dionysus is the sacred +precinct of Asclepius, which was excavated by the Archaeological +Society in 1876-1878. Here were discovered the foundations +of the celebrated Asclepieum, together with several inscriptions +and a great number of votive reliefs offered by grateful invalids +and valetudinarians to the god of healing. Many of the reliefs +belong to the best period of Greek art. A Doric colonnade with +a double row of columns was found to have extended along the +base of the Acropolis for a distance of 54 yds.; behind it in a +chamber hewn in the rock is the sacred well mentioned by +Pausanias. The colonnade was a place of resort for the patients; +a large building close beneath the rock was probably the abode +of the priests.</p> + +<p>The beautiful choragic monument of Lysicrates, dedicated +in the archonship of Euaenetus (335-334 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>), is the only survivor +of a number of such structures which stood in the +“Street of the Tripods” to the east of the Dionysiac +<span class="sidenote">The choragic monument of Lysicrates.</span> +theatre, bearing the tripods given to the successful +choragi at the Dionysiac festival. It owes its preservation +to its former inclusion in a Capuchin convent. +The monument consists of a small circular temple of Pentelic +marble, 21½ ft. in height and 9 ft. in diameter, with six engaged +Corinthian columns and a sculptured frieze, standing on a rectangular +base of Peiraic stone. The delicately carved convex +roof, composed of a single block, was surmounted by the tripod. +The spirited reliefs of the frieze represent the punishment +of the Tyrrhenian pirates by Dionysus and their transformation +into dolphins. Another choragic monument was that of +Thrasyllus, which faced a cave in the Acropolis rock above the +Dionysiac theatre. A portion of another, that of Nicias, was +used to make the late Roman gate of the Acropolis. In one +of these monuments was the famous Satyr of Praxiteles.</p> + +<p>The Cynosarges, from earliest times a sanctuary of Heracles, +later a celebrated gymnasium and the school of Antisthenes +the Cynic, has hitherto been generally supposed to +have occupied the site of the Monastery of the Asomati +<span class="sidenote">The Cynosarges.</span> +on the eastern slope of Lycabettus; its situation, +however, has been fixed by Dörpfeld at a point a little to the +south of the Olympieum, on the left bank of the Ilissus. Here +a series of excavations, carried out by the British School in +1896-1897 under the direction of Cecil Smith, revealed the +foundations of an extensive Greek building, the outlines of which +correspond with those of a gymnasium; it possessed a large +bath or cistern, and was flanked on two sides by water-courses. +An Ionic capital found here possibly belonged to the palaestra. +The identification, however, cannot be regarded as certain in +the absence of inscriptions.</p> + +<p>With the loss of political liberty the age of creative genius +in Athenian architecture came to a close. The era of decadence, +of honorary statues and fulsome inscriptions, began. +The embellishments which the city received during +<span class="sidenote">The Hellenistic period: the Stoa of Attalus.</span> +the Hellenistic and Roman periods were no longer the +artistic expression of the religious and political life of +a great commonwealth; they were the tribute paid +to the intellectual renown of Athens by foreign potentates or +dilettanti, who desired to add their names to the list of its +illustrious citizens and patrons. Among the first of these benefactions +was the great gymnasium of Ptolemy, built in the neighbourhood +of the Agora about 250 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Successive princes of +the dynasty of Pergamum interested themselves in the adornment +of the city: Attalus I. set up a number of bronze statues on +the Acropolis; Eumenes II. built the long portico west of the +Dionysiac theatre, which was excavated and identified in 1877; +Attalus II. erected the magnificent Stoa near the Agora, the remains +of which were completely laid bare in 1898-1902 and have +been identified by an inscription. The Stoa consisted of a series +of 21 chambers, probably shops, faced by a double colonnade, +the outer columns being of the Doric order, the inner unfluted, +with lotus-leaf capitals; it possessed an upper storey fronted +with Ionic columns.</p> + +<p>The greatest monument, however, of the Hellenistic period +is the colossal Olympieum or temple of Olympian Zeus, “unum +in terris inchoatum pro magnitudine dei” (Livy +xli. 20), the remains of which stand by the Ilissus +<span class="sidenote">The Olympieum.</span> +to the south-east of the Acropolis. The foundations +of a temple were laid on the site—probably that of an ancient +sanctuary-by Peisistratus, but the building in its ultimate +form was for the greater part constructed under the auspices +of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, king of Syria, by the Roman +architect Cossutius in the interval between 174 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> and 164 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, +the date of the death of Antiochus. The work was then suspended +and its proposed resumption in the time of Augustus seems not +to have been realized; finally, in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 129, the temple was +completed and dedicated by Hadrian, who set up a chryselephantine +statue of Zeus in the cella. The substructure was +excavated in 1883 by F.C. Penrose, who proved the correctness +of Dörpfeld’s theory that the building was octostyle; its length +was 318 ft., its breadth 132 ft. With the exception of the +foundations and two lower steps of the stylobate, it was entirely +of Pentelic marble, and possessed 104 Corinthian columns, +56 ft. 7 in. in height, of which 48 stood in triple rows under the +pediments and 56 in double rows at the sides; of these, 16 remained +standing in 1852, when one was blown down by a storm. +Fragments of Doric columns and foundations were discovered, +probably intended for the temple begun by Peisistratus, the +orientation of which differed slightly from that of the later +structure. The peribolos, a large artificial platform supported +by a retaining wall of squared Peiraic blocks with buttresses, +was excavated in 1898 without important results; it is to be +hoped that the stability of the columns has not been affected +by the operations.</p> + +<p><i>The Roman Period</i>.—After 146 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Athens and its territory +were included in the Roman province of Achaea. Among the +earlier buildings of this period is the Horologium +of Andronicus of Cyrrhus (the “Tower of the Winds”), +<span class="sidenote">The Horologium of Andronicus.</span> +still standing near the eastern end of the Roman Agora. +The building may belong to the 2nd or 1st century <span class="scs">B.C.</span>; +it is mentioned by Varro (<i>De re rust</i>. iii. 5. 17), and therefore +cannot be of later date than 35 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> It is an octagonal marble +structure, 42 ft. in height and 26 ft. in diameter; the eight sides, +which face the points of the compass, are furnished with a +frieze containing inartistic figures in relief representing the +winds; below it, on the sides facing the sun, are the lines of a +sun-dial. The building was surmounted by a weathercock in the +form of a bronze Triton; it contained a water-clock to record the +time when the sun was not shining.</p> + +<p>The capture and sack of Athens by Sulla (March 1, 86 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>) +seems to have involved no great injury to its architectural +monuments beyond the burning of the Odeum of +Pericles; a portion of the city wall was razed, the +<span class="sidenote">Monuments of the Roman period.</span> +groves of the Academy and Lyceum were cut down, +and the Peiraeus, with its magnificent arsenal and other +great buildings, burnt to the ground. After this catastrophe +the benefactors of Athens were for the most part Romans; the +influence of Greek literature and art had begun to affect the +conquering race. The New, or Roman, Agora to the north of +the Acropolis, perhaps mainly an oil market, was constructed +after the year 27 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> Its dimensions were practically determined +by excavation in 1890-1891. It consisted of a large open rectangular +space surrounded by an Ionic colonnade into which opened +a number of shops or storehouses. The eastern gate was adorned +with four Ionic columns on the outside and two on the inside, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page840" id="page840"></a>840</span> +western entrance being the well-known Doric portico of Athena +Archegetis with an inscription recording its erection from +donations of Julius Caesar and Augustus. The whole conclave +may be compared with the enclosed bazaars or khans of Oriental +cities which are usually locked at night. The Agrippeum, a +covered theatre, derived its name from Vipsanius Agrippa, +whose statue was set up, about 27 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, beneath the north wing +of the Acropolis propylaea, on the high rectangular base still +remaining. At the eastern end of the Acropolis a little circular +temple of white marble with a peristyle of 9 Ionic columns +was dedicated to Rome and Augustus; its foundations were discovered +during the excavations of 1885-1888. The conspicuous +monument which crowns the Museum Hill was erected as the +mausoleum of Antiochus Philopappus of Commagene, grandson +of Antiochus Epiphanes, in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 114-116. Excavations carried +out in 1898-1899 showed that the structure was nearly square; +the only portion remaining is the slightly curved front, with three +niches between Corinthian pilasters; in the central niche is +the statue of Philopappus.</p> + +<p>The emperor Hadrian was the most lavish of all the benefactors +of Athens. Besides completing the gigantic Olympieum he +enlarged the circuit of the city walls to the east, +enclosing the area now covered by the royal +<span class="sidenote">Novae Athenae: the buildings of Hadrian.</span> +public gardens and the Constitution Square. This was +the City of Hadrian (Hadrianapolis) or New Athens +(Novae Athenae); a handsome suburb with numerous +villas, baths and gardens; some traces remain of its walls, +which, like those of Themistocles, were fortified with rectangular +towers. An ornamental entrance near the Olympieum, +the existing Arch of Hadrian, marked the boundary +between the new and the old cities. The arch is surmounted by a +triple attic with Corinthian columns; the frieze above the keystone +bears, on the north-western side, the inscription <span class="grk" title="aid eis +Athaenai, Thaeseos hae prin polis">αἴδ᾽ εἴσ᾽ Ἀθῆναι, Θησέως ἡ πρὶν πόλις</span> and on the south-eastern, +<span class="grk" title="aid eis Hadrianou kai onchi Thaeseos polis">αἴδ᾽ εἴσ᾽ Ἁδριανοῦ καὶ οὐχὶ Θησέως πόλις</span>. One of the +principal monuments of Hadrian’s munificence was the sumptuous +library, in all probability a vast rectangular enclosure, +immediately north of the New Agora, the eastern side of which was +explored in 1885-1886. A portion of its western front, adorned with +monolith unfluted Corinthian columns, is still standing—the +familiar “Stoa of Hadrian”; another well-preserved portion, with six +pilasters, runs parallel to the west side of Aeolus Street. The +interior consisted of a spacious court surrounded by a colonnade +of 100 columns, into which five chambers opened at the eastern +end. A portico of four fluted Corinthian columns on the western +side formed the entrance to the quadrangle. This cloistered +edifice may be identified with the library of Hadrian mentioned +by Pausanias; the books were, perhaps, stored in a square +building which occupied a portion of the central area. Strikingly +similar in design and construction is a large quadrangular building, +the foundations of which were discovered by the British +School near the presumed Cynosarges; this may perhaps be the +Gymnasium of Hadrian, which Pausanias tells us also possessed +100 columns. A Pantheon and temples of Hera and Zeus +Panhellenius were likewise built by Hadrian; the aqueduct, +which he began, was completed by Antoninus Pius (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 138-161); +it was repaired in 1861-1869 and is still in use.</p> + +<p>The Stadium, in which the Panathenaic Games were held, +was first laid out by the orator Lycurgus about 330 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> It was +an oblong structure filling a natural depression near +the left bank of the Ilissus beneath the eastern declivity +<span class="sidenote">The Stadium and Odeum of Herodes Atticus.</span> +of the Ardettus hill, the parallel sides and +semicircular end, or <span class="grk" title="sphendonae">σφενδόνη</span> around the arena being +partially excavated from the adjoining slopes. The +immense building, however, which was restored in +1896 and the following years, was that constructed in Pentelic +marble about <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 143 by Tiberius Claudius Herodes Atticus, a +wealthy Roman resident, whose benefactions to the city rivalled +those of Hadrian. The seats, rising in tiers, as in a theatre, +accommodated about 44,000 spectators; the arena was 670 ft. +in length and 109 ft. in breadth. The Odeum, built beneath the +south-west slope of the Acropolis after <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 161 by Herodes +Atticus in memory of his wife Regilla, is comparatively well +preserved; it was excavated in 1848 and in 1857-1858. The +plan is that of the conventional Roman theatre; the semicircular +auditorium, which seated some 5000 persons, is, like +that of the Dionysiac theatre, partly hollowed from the rock. +The orchestra is paved with marble squares. The façade, in +Peiraic stone, displays three storeys of arched windows. The +whole building was covered with a cedar roof. The Stadium +had been already completed and the Odeum had not yet been +built when Pausanias visited Athens; these buildings were the +last important additions to the architectural monuments of the +ancient city.</p> +<div class="author">(J. D. B.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">II. The Modern City</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of the Greek War of Independence, Athens +was little more than a village of the Turkish type, the poorly +built houses clustering on the northern and eastern slopes of +the Acropolis. The narrow crooked lanes of this quarter still +contrast with the straight, regularly laid-out streets of the +modern city, which extends to the north-west, north and east of the +ancient citadel. The greater commercial advantages offered +by Nauplia, Corinth and Patras were outweighed by the historic +claims of Athens in the choice of a capital for the newly founded +kingdom, and the seat of government was transferred hither +from Nauplia in 1833. The new town was, for the most part, +laid out by the German architect Schaubert. It contains several +squares and boulevards, a large public garden, and many handsome +public and private edifices. A great number of the public +institutions owe their origin to the munificence of patriotic +Greeks, among whom Andreas Syngros and George Averoff may +be especially mentioned. The royal palace, designed by Friedrich +von Gärtner (1792-1847), is a tasteless structure; attached to +it is a beautiful garden laid out by Queen Amalia, which contains +a well-preserved mosaic floor of the Roman period. On the +south-east is the newly built palace of the crown prince. The +Academy, from designs by Theophil Hansen (1813-1891), is +constructed of Pentelic marble in the Ionic style: the colonnades +and pediments are richly coloured and gilded, and may perhaps +convey some idea of the ancient style of decoration. Close by is +the university, with a colonnade adorned with paintings, and +the Vallianean library with a handsome Doric portico of Pentelic +marble. The observatory, which is connected with the university, +stands on the summit of the Hill of the Nymphs; like +the Academy, it was erected at the expense of a wealthy Greek, +Baron Sina of Vienna. In the public garden is the Zappeion, a +large building with a Corinthian portico, intended for the display +of Greek industries; here also is a monument to Byron, erected +in 1896. The Boulē, or parliament-house, possesses a considerable +library. Other public buildings are the Polytechnic Institute, +built by contributions from Greeks of Epirus, the theatre, the +Arsakeion (a school for girls), the Varvakeion (a gymnasium), +the military school (<span class="grk" title="scholae enelpidon">σχολὴ εὐελπίδων</span>), and several +hospitals and orphanages. The cathedral, a large, modern structure +is devoid of architectural merit, but some of the smaller, ancient, +Byzantine churches are singularly interesting and beautiful. Among +private residences, the mansion built by Dr Schliemann, the +discoverer of Troy, is the most noteworthy; its decorations are +in the Pompeian style.</p> + +<p>The museums of Athens have steadily grown in importance +with the progress of excavation. They are admirably arranged, +and the remnants of ancient art which they contain +have fortunately escaped injudicious restoration. +<span class="sidenote">Museums.</span> +The National Museum, founded in 1866, is especially rich in +archaic sculptures and in sepulchral and votive reliefs. A copy +of the Diadumenos of Polyclitus from Delos, and temple sculptures +from Epidaurus and the Argive Heraeum, are among the +more notable of its recent acquisitions. It also possesses the +famous collection of prehistoric antiquities found by Schliemann +at Tiryns and Mycenae, other “Mycenaean” objects discovered +at Nauplia and in Attica, as well as the still earlier remains +excavated by Tsountas in the Cyclades and by the British School +at Phylakopi in Melos; terra-cottas from Tanagra and Asia +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page841" id="page841"></a>841</span> +Minor; bronzes from Olympia, Delphi and elsewhere, and +numerous painted vases, among them the unequalled white +<i>lekythi</i> from Athens and Eretria. The Epigraphical Museum +contains an immense number of inscriptions arranged by H.G. +Lolling and A. Wilhelm of the Austrian Institute. The Acropolis +Museum (opened 1878) possesses a singularly interesting collection +of sculptures belonging to the “archaic” period of Greek +art, all found on the Acropolis; here, too, are some fragments +of the pedimental statues of the Parthenon and several reliefs +from its frieze, as well as the slabs from the balustrade of the +temple of Nike. The Polytechnic Institute contains a museum +of interesting objects connected with modern Greek life and +history. In the Academy is a valuable collection of coins +superintended by Svoronos. Of the private collections those of +Schliemann and Karapanos are the most interesting: the latter +contains works of art and other objects from Dodona. There is +a small museum of antiquities at the Peiraeus.</p> + +<p>Owing to the numbers and activity of its institutions, both +native and foreign, for the prosecution of research and the +encouragement of classical studies, Athens has become +once more an international seat of learning. The +<span class="sidenote">Scientific institutions.</span> +Greek Archaeological Society, founded in 1837, +numbers some distinguished scholars among its +members, and displays great activity in the conduct of excavations. +Important researches at Epidaurus, Eleusis, Mycenae, +Amyclae and Rhamnus may be numbered among its principal +undertakings, in addition to the complete exploration of the +Acropolis and a series of investigations in Athens and Attica. +The French École d’Athènes, founded in 1846, is under the +scientific direction of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres. +Among its numerous enterprises have been the extensive +and costly excavations at Delos and Delphi, which have yielded +such remarkable results. The monuments of the Byzantine +epoch have latterly occupied a prominent place in its investigations. +The German Archaeological Institute, founded in 1874, +has carried out excavations at Thebes, Lesbos, Pares, Athens and +elsewhere; it has also been associated in the great researches at +Olympia, Pergamum and Troy, and in many other important +undertakings. The British School, founded in 1886, has been +unable, owing to insufficient endowment, to work on similar lines +with the French and German institutions; it has, however, +carried out extensive excavations at Megalopolis and in Melos, +as well as researches at Abae, in Athens (presumed site of the +Cynosarges), in Cyprus, at Naucratis and at Sparta. It has +also participated in the exploration of Cnossus and other important +sites in Crete. The American School, founded in 1882, is +supported by the principal universities of the United States. +In addition to researches at Sicyon, Plataea, Eretria and elsewhere, +it has undertaken two works of capital importance—the +excavation of the Argive Heraeum and of ancient Corinth. +An Austrian Archaeological Institute was founded in 1898.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding certain disadvantages inherent in its situation, +the trade and manufactures of Athens have considerably +increased in recent years. Industrial and commercial +activity is mainly centred at the Peiraeus, where +<span class="sidenote">Industry and commerce.</span> +cloth and cotton mills, 45 cognac distilleries, 14 steam +flour mills, 8 soap manufactories, 13 shipbuilding and +engineering works, chair manufactories, dye works, chemical +works, tanneries and a dynamite factory have been established. +The shipbuilding and engineering trades are active and advancing. +The export trade is, however, inconsiderable, as the +produce of the local industries is mainly absorbed by home +consumption. The principal exports are wine, cognac and +marble from Pentelicus. As a place of import, the Peiraeus +surpasses Patras, Syra and all the other Greek maritime towns, +receiving about 53% of all the merchandise brought into Greece. +The principal imports are coal, grain, manufactured articles and +articles of luxury. The total value of exports in 1904 was +£459,565; of imports, £2,459,278. The number of ships entered +and cleared in 1905 was 5020 with a tonnage of 5,796,590 +tons, of which 416, with a tonnage of 609,822 tons, were +British.</p> + +<p>The Peiraeus, which had never revived since its destruction by +the Romans in 86 <span class="scs">B.C.</span>, was at the beginning of the 19th century +a small fishing village known as Porto Leone. When +Athens became the capital in 1833 the ancient name of +<span class="sidenote">The Peiraeus.</span> +its port was revived, and since that time piers and +quays have been constructed, and spacious squares and broad +regular streets have been laid out. The town now possesses an +exchange, a large theatre, a gymnasium, a naval school, municipal +buildings and several hospitals and charitable institutions erected +by private munificence. The harbour, in which ships of all nations +may be seen, as well as great numbers of the picturesque sailing +craft engaged in the coasting trade, is somewhat difficult of +access to larger vessels, but has been improved by the construction +of new breakwaters and dry docks. The port and +the capital are now connected by railway with Corinth and the +principal towns of the Morea; the line opening up communication +with northern Greece and Thessaly, when its proposed +connexion with the Continental railway system has been effected, +will greatly enhance the importance of the Peiraeus, already one +of the most flourishing commercial towns in the Levant.</p> + +<p>The population of Athens has rapidly increased. In 1834 it +was below 5000; in 1870 it was 44,510; in 1879, 63,374; in +1889, 107,251; in 1896, 111,486. The Peiraeus, which +<span class="sidenote">Population.</span> +in 1834 possessed only a few hundred inhabitants, +in 1879 possessed 21,618; in 1889, 34,327; in 1896, +43,848. The total population of Athens in 1907 was 167,479 +and of Peiraeus 67,982.</p> +<div class="author">(J. D. B.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc" style="clear: both;">III. History</p> + +<p>1. <i>The Prehistoric Period</i>.—The history of primitive Athens +is involved in the same obscurity which enshrouds the early +development of most of the Greek city-states. The Homeric +poems scarcely mention Attica, and the legends, though numerous, +are rarely of direct historical value. In the Minoan epoch Athens +is proved by the archaeological remains to have been a petty +kingdom scarcely more important than many other Attic communities, +yet enjoying a more unbroken course of development +than the leading states of that period. This accords with the +cherished tradition which made the Athenians children of the +soil, and free from admixture with conquering tribes. Many +legends, however, and the later state organization, point to an +immigration of an “Ionian” aristocracy in late Mycenaean days. +These Ionian newcomers are almost certainly responsible for the +absorption of the numerous independent communities of Attica +into a central state of Athens under a powerful monarchy (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Theseus</a></span>), for the introduction of new cults, and for the division +of the people into four tribes whose names—Geleontes, Hopletes, +Argadeis and Aegicoreis—recur in several true Ionian towns. +This centralization of power (<i>Synoecism</i>), to which many Greek +peoples never attained, laid the first foundations of Athenian +greatness. But in other respects the new constitution tended to +arrest development. When the monarchy was supplanted in the +usual Greek fashion by a hereditary nobility—a process accomplished, +according to tradition, between about 1000 and 683 +<span class="scs">B.C.</span>—all power was appropriated by a privileged class of +Eupatridae (<i>q.v.</i>); the Geomori and Demiurgi, who formed +the bulk of the community, enjoyed no political rights. It was +to their control over the machinery of law that the Eupatridae +owed their predominance. The aristocratic council of the +Areopagus (<i>q.v.</i>) constituted the chief criminal court, and +nominated the magistrates, among whom the chief archon (<i>q.v.</i>) +passed judgment in family suits, controlled admission to the +genos or clan, and consequently the acquisition of the franchise. +This system was further supported by religious prescriptions +which the nobles retained as a corporate secret. Assisted no +doubt by their judicial control, the Eupatridae also tended to +become sole owners of the land, reducing the original freeholders +or tenants to the position of serfs. During this period Athens +seems to have made little use of her militia, commanded by the +polemarch, or of her navy, which was raised in special local +divisions known as Naucraries (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Naucrary</a></span>); hence no +military <i>esprit de corps</i> could arise to check the Eupatrid +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page842" id="page842"></a>842</span> +ascendancy. Nor did the commons obtain relief through any +commercial or colonial enterprises such as those which alleviated +social distress in many other Greek states. The first attack upon +the aristocracy proceeded from a young noble named Cylon, who +endeavoured to become tyrant about 630 <span class="scs">B.C.</span> The people helped +to crush this movement; yet discontent must have been rife +among them, for in 611 the Eupatrids commissioned Draco (<i>q.v.</i>), +a junior magistrate, to draft and publish a code of criminal law. +This was a notable concession, by which the nobles lost that +exclusive legal knowledge which had formed one of their main +instruments of oppression.</p> + +<p>2. <i>The Rise of Athens</i>.—A still greater danger grew out of the +widespread financial distress, which was steadily driving many +of the agricultural population into slavery and threatened the +entire state with ruin. After a protracted war with the neighbouring +Megarians had accentuated the crisis the Eupatridae +gave to one of their number, the celebrated Solon (<i>q.v.</i>), free +power to remodel the whole state (594). By his economic +legislation Solon placed Athenian agriculture once more upon +a sound footing, and supplemented this source of wealth by +encouraging commercial enterprise, thus laying the foundation +of his country’s material prosperity. His constitutional reforms +proved less successful, for, although he put into the hands of +the people various safeguards against oppression, he could not +ensure their use in practice. After a period of disorder and +party-feud among the nobles the new constitution was superseded +in fact, if not in form, by the autocratic rule of Peisistratus (<i>q.v.</i>), and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus. The age of despotism, +which lasted, with interruptions, from 560 to 510, was a period +of great prosperity for Athens. The rulers fostered agriculture, +stimulated commerce and industry (notably the famous Attic +ceramics), adorned the city with public works and temples, +and rendered it a centre of culture. Their vigorous foreign policy +first made Athens an Aegean power and secured connexions with +numerous mainland powers. Another result of the tyranny was the +weakening of the undue influence of the nobles and the creation +of a national Athenian spirit in place of the ancient clan-feeling.</p> + +<p>The equalization of classes was already far advanced when +towards the end of the century a nobleman of the Alcmaeonid +family, named Cleisthenes (<i>q.v.</i>), who had taken the chief part +in the final expulsion of the tyrants, acquired ascendancy as +leader of the commons. The constitution which he promulgated +(508/7) gave expression to the change of political feeling by +providing a national basis of franchise and providing a new +state organization. By making effective the powers of the +Ecclesia (Popular Assembly) the Boulē (Council) and Heliaea, +Cleisthenes became the true founder of Athenian democracy.</p> + +<p>This revolution was accompanied by a conflict with Sparta +and other powers. But a spirit of harmony and energy now +breathed within the nation, and in the ensuing wars Athens +worsted powerful enemies like Thebes and Chalcis (506). A +bolder stroke followed in 500, when a force was sent to support +the Ionians in revolt against Persia and took part in the sack +of Sardis. After the failure of this expedition the Athenians +apparently became absorbed in a prolonged struggle with Aegina +(<i>q.v.</i>). In 493 the imminent prospect of a Persian invasion +brought into power men like Themistocles and Miltiades (<i>qq.v.</i>), +to whose firmness and insight the Athenians largely owed their +triumph in the great campaign of 490 against Persia. After a +second political reaction, the prospect of a second Persian war, +and the naval superiority of Aegina led to the assumption of a +bolder policy. In 483 Themistocles overcame the opposition of +Aristides (<i>q.v.</i>), and passed his famous measure providing for a +large increase of the Athenian fleet. In the great invasion of +480-479 the Athenians displayed an unflinching resolution which +could not be shaken even by the evacuation and destruction of +their native city. Though the traditional account of this war +exaggerates the services of Athens as compared with the other +champions of Greek independence, there can be no doubt that +the ultimate victory was chiefly due to the numbers and efficiency +of the Athenian fleet, and to the wise policy of her great statesman +Themistocles (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Salamis</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Plataea</a></span>).</p> + +<p>3. <i>Imperial Athens</i>.—After the Persian retreat and the +reoccupation of their city the Athenians continued the war with +unabated vigour. Led by Aristides and Cimon they rendered +such prominent service as to receive in return the formal leadership +of the Greek allies and the presidency of the newly formed +Delian League (<i>q.v.</i>). The ascendancy acquired in these years +eventually raised Athens to the rank of an imperial state. For +the moment it tended to impair the good relations which had +subsisted between Athens and Sparta since the first days of the +Persian peril. But so long as Cimon’s influence prevailed the +ideal of “peace at home and the complete humiliation of Persia” +was steadily unheld. Similarly the internal policy of Athens +continued to be shaped by the conservatives. The only notable +innovations since the days of Cleisthenes had been the reduction +of the archonship to a routine magistracy appointed partly by +lot (487), and the rise of the ten elective strategi (generals) as +chief executive officers (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Strategus</a></span>). But the triumph of +the navy in 480 and the great expansion of commerce and +industry had definitely shifted the political centre of gravity +from the yeoman class of moderate democrats to the more radical +party usually stigmatized as the “sailor rabble.” Though +Themistocles soon lost his influence, his party eventually found +a new leader in Ephialtes and after the failure of Cimon’s foreign +policy (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Cimon</a></span>) triumphed over the conservatives. The year +461 marks the reversal of Athenian policy at home and abroad. +By cancelling the political power of the Areopagus and multiplying +the functions of the popular law-courts, Ephialtes +abolished the last checks upon the sovereignty of the commons. +His successor, Pericles, who commonly ranked as the “completer +of the democracy,” merely developed the full democracy so as +to secure its effectual as well as its theoretical supremacy. The +foreign policy of Athens was now directed towards an almost +reckless expansion (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Pericles</a></span>). The unparalleled success of +the Athenian arms at this period extended the bounds of empire +to their farthest limits. Besides securing her Aegean possessions +and her commerce by the defeat of Corinth and Aegina, her +last rivals on sea, Athens acquired an extensive dominion in +central Greece and for a time quite overshadowed the Spartan +land-power. The rapid loss of the new conquests after 447 +proved that Athens lacked a sufficient land-army to defend +permanently so extensive a frontier. Under the guidance of +Pericles the Athenians renounced the unprofitable rivalry with +Sparta and Persia, and devoted themselves to the consolidation +and judicious extension of their maritime influence.</p> + +<p>The years of the supremacy of Pericles (443-429) are on the +whole the most glorious in Athenian history. In actual extent +of territory the empire had receded somewhat, but in point of +security and organization it now stood at its height. The Delian +confederacy lay completely under Athenian control, and the +points of strategic importance were largely held by cleruchies +(<i>q.v.</i>; see also <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Pericles</a></span>) and garrisons. Out of a citizen body +of over 50,000 freemen, reinforced by mercenaries and slaves, a +superb fleet exceeding 300 sail and an army of 30,000 drilled +soldiers could be mustered. The city itself, with its fortifications +extending to the port of Peiraeus, was impregnable to a land +attack. The commerce of Athens extended from Egypt and +Colchis to Etruria and Carthage, and her manufactures, which +attracted skilled operatives from many lands, found a ready sale +all over the Mediterranean. With tolls, and the tribute of the +Delian League, a fund of 9700 talents (£2,300,000) was amassed +in the treasury.</p> + +<p>Yet the material prosperity of Athens under Pericles was +less notable than her brilliant attainments in every field of +culture. Her development since the Persian wars had been +extremely rapid, but did not reach its climax till the latter part +of the century. No city ever adorned herself with such an array +of temples, public buildings and works of art as the Athens of +Pericles and Pheidias. Her achievements in literature are hardly +less great. The Attic drama of the period produced many great +masterpieces, and the scientific thought of Europe in the departments +of logic, ethics, rhetoric and history mainly owes its origin +to a new movement of Greek thought which was largely fostered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page843" id="page843"></a>843</span> +by the patronage of Pericles himself. Besides producing +numerous men of genius herself Athens attracted all the great +intellects of Greece. The brilliant summary of the historian +Thucydides in the famous Funeral Speech of Pericles (delivered +in 430), in which the social life, the institutions and the culture +of his country are set forth as a model, gives a substantially true +picture of Athens in its greatest days.</p> + +<p>This brilliant epoch, however, was not without its darker side. +The payment for public service which Pericles had introduced +may have contributed to raise the general level of culture of the +citizens, but it created a dangerous precedent and incurred the +censure of notable Greek thinkers. Moreover, all this prosperity +was obtained at the expense of the confederates, whom Athens +exploited in a somewhat selfish and illiberal manner. In fact +it was the cry of “tyrant city” which went furthest to rouse +public opinion in Greece against Athens and to bring on the +Peloponnesian War (<i>q.v.</i>) which ruined the Athenian empire +(431-404). The issue of this conflict was determined less by any +intrinsic superiority on the part of her enemies than by the +blunders committed by a people unable to carry out a consistent +foreign policy on its own initiative, and served since Pericles +by none but selfish or short-sighted advisers. It speaks well for +the patriotic devotion and discipline of her commons that +Athens, weakened by plague and military disasters, should have +withstood for so long the blows of her numerous enemies from +without, and the damage inflicted by traitors within her walls +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Antiphon</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Theramenes</a></span>).</p> + +<p>4. <i>The Fourth Century</i>—After the complete defeat of Athens +by land and sea, it was felt that her former services on behalf +of Greece and her high culture should exempt her from total +ruin. Though stripped of her empire, Athens obtained very +tolerable terms from her enemies. The democratic constitution, +which had been supplanted for a while by a government of +oligarchs, but was restored in 403 after the latter’s misrule had +brought about their own downfall (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Critias</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Theramenes</a></span>, +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Thrasybulus</a></span>), henceforth stood unchallenged by the Greeks. +Indeed the spread of democracy elsewhere increased the prestige +of the Athenian administration, which had now reached a high +pitch of efficiency. Athenian art and literature in the 4th century +declined but slightly from their former standard; philosophy +and oratory reached a standard which was never again equalled +in antiquity and may still serve as a model. In the wars of the +period Athens took a prominent part with a view to upholding +the balance of power, joining the Corinthian League in 395, +and assisting Thebes against Sparta after 378, Sparta against +Thebes after 369. Her generals and admirals, Conon, Iphicrates, +Chabrias, Timotheus, distinguished themselves by their military +skill, and partially recovered their country’s predominance in +the Aegean, which found expression in the temporary renewal +of the Delian League (<i>q.v.</i>). By the middle of the century Athens +was again the leading power in Greece. When Philip of Macedon +began to grow formidable she seemed called upon once more +to champion the liberties of Greece. This ideal, when put +forward by the consummate eloquence of Demosthenes and +other orators, created great enthusiasm among the Athenians, +who at times displayed all their old vigour in opposing Philip, +notably in the decisive campaign of 338. But these outbursts +of energy were too spasmodic, and popular opinion repeatedly +veered back in favour of the peace-party. With her diminished +resources Athens could not indeed hope to cope with the great +Macedonian king; however much we may sympathize with the +generous ambition of the patriots, we must admit that in the +light of hard facts their conduct appears quixotic.</p> + +<p>5. <i>The Hellenistic Period</i>.—Philip and Alexander, who +sincerely admired Athenian culture and courted a zealous +co-operation against Persia, treated the conquered city with +marked favour. But the people would not resign themselves +to playing a secondary part, and watched for every opportunity +to revolt. The outbreak headed by Athens after Alexander’s +death (323) led to a stubborn conflict with Macedonia. After +his victory the regent Antipater punished Athens by the loss of +her remaining dependencies, the proscription of her chief patriots, +and the disfranchisement of 12,000 citizens. The Macedonian +garrison which was henceforth stationed in Attic territory +prevented the city from taking a prominent part in the wars +of the Diadochi. Cassander placed Athens under the virtual +autocracy of Demetrius of Phalerum (317-307), and after the +temporary liberation by Demetrius Poliorcetes (306-300), +secured his interests through a dictator named Lachares, who +lost the place again to Poliorcetes after a siege (295). After a +vain attempt to expel the garrison in 287, the Athenians regained +their liberty while Macedonia was thrown into confusion by the +Celts, and in 279 rendered good service against the invaders +of the latter nation with a fleet off Thermopylae. When Antigonus +Gonatas threatened to restore Macedonian power in +Greece, the Athenians, supported perhaps by the king of Egypt, +formed a large defensive coalition; but in the ensuing “Chremonidean +War” (266-263) a naval defeat off Andros led to their +surrender and the imposition of a Macedonian garrison. The +latter was finally withdrawn in 229 by the good offices of Aratus +(<i>q.v.</i>). At this period Athens was altogether overshadowed +in material strength by the great Hellenistic monarchies and +even by the new republican leagues of Greece; but she could +still on occasion display great energy and patriotism. The +prestige of her past history had now perhaps attained its zenith. +Her democracy was respected by the Macedonian kings; the +rulers of Egypt, Syria, and especially of Pergamum, courted her +favour by handsome donations of edifices and works of art, +to which the citizens replied by unbecoming flattery, even to +the extent of creating new tribes named after their benefactors. +If Athens lost her supremacy in the fields of science and scholarship +to Alexandria, she became more than ever the home of +philosophy, while Menander and the other poets of the New +Comedy made Athenian life and manners known throughout the +civilized world.</p> + +<p>6. <i>Relations with the Roman Republic</i>.—In 228 Athens +entered into friendly intercourse with Rome, in whose interest +she endured the desperate attacks of Philip V. of Macedonia +(200-199). In return for help against King Perseus she acquired +some new possessions, notably the great mart of Delos, +which became an Athenian cleruchy (166). By her treacherous +attack upon the frontier-town of Oropus (156) Athens indirectly +brought about the conflict between Rome and the Achaean +League which resulted in the eventual loss of Greek independence, +but remained herself a free town with rights secured by treaty. +In spite of the favours displayed by Rome, the more radical +section of the people began to chafe at the loss of their international +importance. This discontent was skilfully fanned by +Mithradates the Great at the outset of his Roman campaigns. +His emissary, the philosopher Aristion, induced the people to +declare war against Rome and to place him in chief command. +The town with its port stood a long siege against Sulla, but was +stormed in 86. The conqueror allowed his soldiers to loot, but +inflicted no permanent punishment upon the people. This +war left Athens poverty-stricken and stripped of her commerce: +her only importance now lay in the philosophical schools, which +were frequented by many young Romans of note (Cicero, +Atticus, Horace, &c.). Greek became fashionable at Rome, and +a visit to Athens a sort of pilgrimage for educated Romans +(cf. Propertius iv. 21: “Magnum iter ad doctas proficisci +cogor Athenas”). In the great civil wars Athens sided with +Pompey and held out against Caesar’s lieutenants, but received +a free pardon “in consideration of her great dead.” Similarly +the triumvirs after Philippi condoned her enthusiasm for the +cause of Brutus. Antony repeatedly made Athens his headquarters +and granted her several new possessions, including +Eretria and Aegina—grants which Octavian subsequently +revoked.</p> + +<p>7. <i>The Roman Empire</i>.—Under the new settlement Athens +remained a free and sovereign city—a boon which she repaid +by zealous Caesar-worship, for the favours bestowed upon her +tended to pauperize her citizens and to foster their besetting +sin of calculating flattery. Hadrian displayed his special +fondness for the city by raising new buildings and relieving +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page844" id="page844"></a>844</span> +financial distress. He amended the constitution in some respects, +and instituted a new national festival, the Panhellenica. In the +period of the Antonines the endowment of professors out of the +imperial treasury gave Athens a special status as a university +town. Her whole energies seem henceforth devoted to academic +pursuits; the military training of her youth was superseded +by courses in philosophy and rhetoric; the chief organs of +administration, the revived Areopagus and the senior Strategus, +became as it were an education office. Save for an incursion +by Goths in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 267 and a temporary occupation by Alaric in +395, Athens spent the remaining centuries of the ancient world +in quiet prosperity. The rhetorical schools experienced a +brilliant revival under Constantine and his successors, when +Athens became the <i>alma mater</i> of many notable men, including +Julian, Libanius, Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus, and in her +professors owned the last representatives of a humane and +moralized paganism. The freedom of teaching was first curtailed +by Theodosius I.; the edict of Justinian (529), forbidding the +study of philosophy, dealt the death-blow to ancient Athens.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>The authorities for the history of ancient Athens will mostly be +found under <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Greece</a></span>: <i>History</i>, and the various biographies. The +following books deal with special periods or subjects only:—(1) +<i>Early Athens</i>: W. Warde Fowler, <i>The City-State</i>, ch. vi. (London, +1893). (2) <i>The fifth and fourth centuries</i>: the “Constitution of Athens,” +ascribed to Xenophon; W. Oncken, <i>Athen und Hellas</i> (Leipzig, 1865); +U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, <i>Aus Kydathen</i> (Berlin, 1880); +L. Whibley, <i>Political Parties at Athens</i> (Cambridge, 1889); G. Gilbert, +<i>Beiträge zur inneren Geschichte Athens</i> (Leipzig, 1877); J. Beloch, +<i>Die attische Politik seit Perikles</i> (Leipzig, 1884). (3) <i>The Hellenistic +and Roman periods</i>: J.P. Mahaffy, <i>Greek Life and Thought</i>, from +323 to 146 (London, 1887), chs. v., vi., xvii.; A. Holm, <i>Greek History</i> +(Eng. trans., London, 1898), iv. chs. vi. and xxiii.; Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, +<i>Antigonos von Karystos</i> (Berlin, 1881), pp. 178-291; +W. Capes, <i>University Life in Ancient Athens</i> (London, 1877); A. +Dumont, <i>Essai sur l’Ephebie attique</i> (Paris, 1875). (4) <i>The Latin +rule</i>: G. Finlay, <i>History of Greece</i> (Oxford ed., 1877), vol. iv. ch. vi. +(5) <i>Constitutional History</i>: The Aristotelian “Constitution of +Athens”; U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, <i>Aristoteles und Athen</i> +(Berlin and Leipzig, 1893), vol. ii.; G. Gilbert, <i>Greek Constitutional +Antiquities</i> (Eng. trans., London, 1895), pp. 95-453; A.H.J. +Greenidge, <i>Handbook of Greek Constitutional History</i> (Oxford, 1896), +ch. vi.; J.W. Headlam, <i>Election by Lot at Athens</i> (Cambridge, 1891). +(6) <i>Finance and statistics</i>: A. Boeckh, <i>The Public Economy of the +Athenians</i> (Eng. trans., London, 1828); Ed. Meyer, <i>Forschungen +zur alten Geschichte</i> (Halle, 1899), vol. ii. pp. 149-195. (7) <i>Inscriptions</i>: +<i>Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum</i>, with supplements (Berlin, +1873-1895). (8) <i>Coins</i>: B.V. Head, <i>Historia Numorum</i> (Oxford, +1887), pp. 309-328.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(M. O. B. C.)</div> + +<p>8. <i>Byzantine Period</i>.—The city now sank into the position +of a provincial Byzantine town. Already it had been robbed +of many of its works of art, among them the Athena Promachos +and the Parthenos of Pheidias, for the adornment of Constantinople, +and further spoliation took place when the church of St +Sophia was built in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 532. The Parthenon, the Erechtheum, +the “Theseum” and other temples were converted into Christian +churches and were thus preserved throughout the middle ages. +The history of Athens for the next four centuries is almost a +blank; the city is rarely mentioned by the Byzantine chronicles +of this period. The emperor Constantine II. spent some months +here in <span class="scs">A.D.</span> 662-663. In 869 the see of Athens became an archbishopric. +In 995 Attica was ravaged by the Bulgarians under +their tsar Samuel, but Athens escaped; after the defeat of +Samuel at Belasitza (1014) the emperor Basil II., who blinded +15,000 Bulgarian prisoners, came to Athens and celebrated +his triumph by a thanksgiving service in the Parthenon (1018). +From the Runic description on the marble lion of the Peiraeus it +has been inferred that Harold Hardrasda and the Norsemen +in the service of the Byzantine emperors captured the Peiraeus +in 1040, but this conclusion is not accepted by Gregorovius +(bk. i. pp. 170-172). Like the rest of Greece, Athens suffered +greatly from the rapacity of its Byzantine administrators. The +letters of Acominatus, archbishop of Athens, towards the close +of the 12th century, bewail the desolate condition of the city in +language resembling that of Jeremiah in regard to Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>9. <i>Period of Latin Rule: 1204-1458</i>.—After the Latin conquest +of Constantinople in 1204, Otho de la Roche was granted +the lordship of Athens by Boniface of Montferrat, king of Thessalonica, +with the title of Megaskyr (<span class="grk" title="megas kyrios">μέγας κύριος</span> = great lord). His +nephew and successor, Guy I., obtained the title duke of Athens +from Louis IX. of France in 1258. On the death of Guy II., +last duke of the house of la Roche, in 1308, the duchy passed +to his cousin, Walter of Brienne. He was expelled in 1311 by +his Catalonian mercenaries; the mutineers bestowed the duchy +“of Athens and Neopatras” on their leader, Roger Deslaur, and, +in the following year, on Frederick of Aragon, king of Sicily. +The Sicilian kings ruled Athens by viceroys till 1385, when the +Florentine Nerio Acciajuoli, lord of Corinth, defeated the +Catalonians and seized the city. Nerio, who received the title +of duke from the king of Naples, founded a new dynasty. His +palace was in the Propylaea; the lofty “Tower of the Franks,” +which adjoined the south wing of that building, was possibly +built in his time. This interesting historical monument was +demolished by the Greek authorities in 1874, notwithstanding +the protests of Penrose, Freeman and other scholars. The +Acciajuoli dynasty lasted till June 1458, when the Acropolis +after a stubborn resistance was taken by the Turks under Omar, +the general of the sultan Mahommed II., who had occupied the +lower city in 1456. The sultan entered Athens in the following +month; he was greatly struck by its ancient monuments and +treated its inhabitants with comparative leniency.</p> + +<p>10. <i>Period of Turkish Rule: 1458-1833</i>.—After the Turkish +conquest Athens disappeared from the eyes of Western civilization. +The principal interest of the following centuries lies in +the researches of successive travellers, who may be said to +have rediscovered the city, and in the fate of its ancient monuments, +several of which were still in fair preservation at the +beginning of this period. The Parthenon was transformed +into a mosque; the existing minaret at its south-western corner +was built after 1466. The Propylaea served as the residence +of the Turkish commandant and the Erechtheum as his harem. +In 1466 the Venetians succeeded in occupying the city, but +failed to take the Acropolis. About 1645 a powder magazine +in the Propylaea was ignited by lightning and the upper portion +of the structure was destroyed. Under Francesco Morosini +the Venetians again attacked Athens in September 1687; a +shot fired during the bombardment of the Acropolis caused a +powder magazine in the Parthenon to explode, and the building +was rent asunder. After capturing the Acropolis the Venetians +employed material from its ancient edifices in repairing its walls. +They withdrew in the following year, when the Turks set fire +to the city. The central sculptures of the western pediment of +the Parthenon, which Morosini intended to take to Venice, were +unskilfully detached by his workmen, and falling to the ground +were broken to pieces. Several ancient monuments were sacrificed +to provide material for a new wall with which the Turks +surrounded the city in 1778.</p> + +<p>During the 18th century many works of art, which still remained +<i>in situ</i>, fell a prey to foreign collectors. The removal +to London in 1812 of most of the remaining sculptures of the +Parthenon by Lord Elgin possibly rescued many of them from +injury in the period of warfare which followed. In 1821 the +Greek insurgents surprised the city, and in 1822 captured the +Acropolis. Athens again fell into the hands of the Turks in 1826, +who bombarded and took the Acropolis in the following year; +the Erechtheum suffered greatly, and the monument of Thrasyllus +was destroyed. The Turks remained in possession of the +Acropolis till 1833, when Athens was chosen as the capital of +the newly established kingdom of Greece; since that date the +history of the city forms part of that of modern Greece. (See +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Greece</a></span>: <i>History, modern</i>.)</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p><span class="sc">General Bibliography</span>.—W.M. Leake, <i>Topography of Athens +and the Demi</i> (2nd ed., London, 1841); C. Wachsmuth, <i>Die Stadt +Athen im Alterthum</i> (vol. i., Leipzig, 1874; vol. ii. part i., Leipzig, +1890); E. Burnouf, <i>La Ville et l’acropole d’Athènes aux diverses +époques</i> (Paris, 1877); F.C. Penrose, <i>Principles of Athenian Architecture</i> +(London, 1888); J.E. Harrison, <i>Mythology and Monuments +of Ancient Athens</i> (London, 1890); E. Curtius and A. Milchhöfer, +<i>Stadtgeschichte von Athen</i> (Berlin, 1891); H. Hitzig and H. Blümner, +<i>Pausanias</i> (text and commentary; vol. i., Berlin, 1896); J.G. +Frazer, <i>Pausanias</i> (translation and commentary; 6 vols., London, +1898. The commentary on Pausanias’ description of Athens, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page845" id="page845"></a>845</span> +contained in vol. ii. with supplementary notes in vol. v., is an invaluable +digest of recent researches); H. Omont, <i>Athènes au XVII<span class="sp">e</span> siècle</i> +(Paris, 1898, with plans and views of the town and acropolis and +drawings of the sculptures of the Parthenon); J.H. Middleton and +E.A. Gardner, <i>Plans and Drawings of Athenian Buildings</i> (London, +1900); E.A. Gardner, <i>Ancient Athens</i> (London, 1902); W. Judeich, +<i>Topographie von Athen</i> (Munich, 1905; forming vol. iii. part ii. second +half, in 3rd edition of I. von Müller’s <i>Handbuch der klass. +Altertumswissenschaft</i>). The history of excavations on the Acropolis is +summarized in M.L. d’Ooge, <i>Acropolis of Athens</i> (1909); see also +A. Bötticher, <i>Die Akropolis von Athen</i> (Berlin, 1888); O. Jahn, +<i>Pausaniae descriptio arcis Athenarum</i> (Bonn, 1900); A. Furtwängler, +<i>Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture</i> (appendix; London, 1895); A. +Milchhöfer, <i>Über die alten Burgheiligtümer in Athen</i> (Kiel, 1899). +For the Parthenon, A. Michaelis, <i>Der Parthenon</i> (texts and plates, +Leipzig, 1871); L. Magne, <i>Le Parthénon</i> (Paris, 1895); J. Durm, +<i>Der Zustand der antiken athenischen Bauwerken</i> (Berlin, 1895); +F.C. Penrose in <i>Journal of Royal Institute of British Architects</i> for +1897; N.M. Balanos in <span class="grk" title="Ephemeris tes kyberneseos">Ἐφήμερις τῆς κυβερνήσεως</span> (Athens, +August 25, 1898). For the Dionysiac theatre, A.E. Haigh, <i>The +Attic Theatre</i> (Oxford, 1889); W. Dörpfeld and E. Reisch, <i>Das +griechische Theater</i> (Athens, 1896); Puchstein, <i>Die griechische Bühne</i> +(Berlin, 1901). For the “Theseum,” B. Sauer, <i>Das sogenannte +Theseion</i> (Leipzig, 1899). For the Peiraeus, E.I. Angelopoulos, +<span class="grk" title="Peri Peiraios kai tun limenou">Περὶ Πειραιῶς καὶ τῶν λιμένων αὐτοῦ</span> (Athens, 1898). For the +Attic Demes, A. Milchhöfer, <i>Untersuchungen über die Demenordnung +des Kleisthenes</i> (in transactions of Berlin Academy, Berlin, 1892); +Pauly-Wissowa, <i>Realencyclopädie der class. Altertumswissenschaft</i> +(supplement, part i., article “Athenai”; Stuttgart, 1903). For +the controversies respecting the Agora, the Enneacrunus and the +topography of the town in general, see W. Dörpfeld, <i>passim</i> in +<i>Athenische Mittheilungen</i>; C. Wachsmuth, “Neue Beiträge zur +Topographie von Athen,” in <i>Abhandlungen der sächsischen Gesellschaft +der Wissenschaften</i> (Leipzig, 1897). A. Milchhöfer, “Zur +Topographie von Athen,” in <i>Berlin. philol. Wochenschrift</i> (1900), +Nos. 9, 11, 12. For the Byzantine and medieval periods, William +Miller, <i>Latins in the Levant</i> (London, 1908); F. Gregorovius, +<i>Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter</i> (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1889). +Periodical Literature. <i>Mittheilungen des kais. deutsch. arch. Instituts</i> +(Athens, from 1876); <i>Bulletin de correspondance hellénique</i> (Athens, +from 1877); <i>Papers of the American School</i> (New York, 1882-1897); +<i>Annual of the British School</i> (London, from 1894); <i>Journal of +Hellenic Studies</i> (London, from 1880); <i>American Journal of Archaeology</i> +(New York, from 1885); <i>Jahrbuch des kais. deutsch. arch. +Instituts</i> (Berlin, from 1886). The best maps are those in <i>Die Karten +van Attika</i>, published with explanatory text by the German +Archaeological Institute (Berlin, 1881). See also Baedeker’s <i>Greece</i> +(London, 1895); Murray’s <i>Greece and the Ionian Islands</i> (London, +1900); Guide Joanne, vol. i. <i>Athènes et ses environs</i> (Paris, 1896); +Meyer’s <i>Turkei und Griechenländer</i> (5th ed., 1901).</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(J. D. B.)</div> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENS,<a name="ar229" id="ar229"></a></span> a city and the county-seat of Clarke county, Georgia, +U.S.A., in the N.E. part of the state, about 73 m. E. by N. of +Atlanta. Pop. (1890) 8639; (1900) 10,245, of whom 5190 +were negroes and only 114 were foreign-born; (1910, census) +14,913. It is served by the Georgia, the Central of Georgia, the +Southern, the Seaboard Air Line and the Gainesville Midland +railways. Athens is an important educational centre. It was +founded in 1801 as the seat of the university of Georgia, which +had been chartered in 1785. Franklin College, the academic +department of the university, was opened in 1801, and afterwards +the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (the School +of Science, 1872), the State Normal School (co-educational, 1891), +the School of Pharmacy (1903), the University Summer School +(1903), the School of Forestry (1906), and the Georgia State +College of Agriculture (1906), also branches of the university, +were established at Athens, and what had been the Lumpkin +Law School (incorporated in 1859) became the law department +of the university in 1867. Branches of the university not in +Athens are: the North Georgia Agricultural College (established +in 1871; became a part of the university in 1872), at Dahlonega; +the medical department, at Augusta (1873; founded as the +Georgia Medical College in 1829); the Georgia School of Technology +(1885), at Atlanta; the Georgia Normal and Industrial +College for Girls (1889), at Milledgeville; and the Georgia +Industrial College for Colored Youth (1890), near Savannah. +At Athens also are several secondary schools, and the Lucy Cobb +Institute (for girls), opened in 1858 and named in honour of a +daughter of its founder, Gen. T.R.R. Cobb (1823-1862). The +city has various manufactures, the most important being +fertilizers, cotton goods, and cotton-seed oil and cake; the value +of the total factory product in 1905 was $1,158,205, an increase +of 70.9% in five years. Athens was chartered as a city in 1872.</p> + + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="bold">ATHENS,<a name="ar230" id="ar230"></a></span> a village and the county-seat of Athens county, +Ohio, U.S.A., in the township of Athens, on the Hocking river, +about 76 m. E.S.E. of Columbus. Pop. (1890) 2620; (1900) +3066; (1910) 5463; of the township (1910) 10,156. It +is served by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern, the Toledo +& Ohio Central (Ohio Central Lines), and the Hocking Valley +railways. The village is built on rolling ground rising about +70 ft. above the river (which nearly encircles it), and commands +views of some of the most beautiful scenery in the state. There +are several ancient mounds in the vicinity. Athens is the seat +of Ohio University (co-educational), a state institution established +in 1804, and having in 1908 a college of liberal arts, +a state normal college (1902), a commercial college, a college +of music and a state preparatory school. In 1908 the University +had 53 instructors and 1386 students. South of the village, +and occupying a fine situation, is a state hospital for the insane. +In the vicinity there are many coal mines, and among the manufactures +are bricks, furniture, veneered doors, and shirts. The +municipality operates the water-works. When the Ohio Company, +through Manasseh Cutler, obtained from congress their +land in what is now Ohio, it was arranged that the income from +two townships was to be set aside “for the support of a literary +institution.” In 1795 the townships (Athens and Alexander) +were located and surveyed, and in 1800 Rufus Putnam and two +other commissioners, appointed by the Territorial legislature, +laid out a town, which was also called Athens. Settlers slowly +came; the town became the county-seat in 1805, was incorporated +as a village in 1811, and was re-incorporated in 1828.</p> + +<hr class="art" /> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th +Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. 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