Chapter XII: Part 12

AR'SENIC (symbol AS, atomic weight 75), a common element usually found combined with metals as arsenides, the commonest of which is arsenical pyrites, FeAsS. It has a steel colour and high metallic lustre, and tarnishes on exposure to the air, first changing to yellow, and finally to black. In hardness it equals copper; it is extremely brittle, and very volatile, beginning to sublime before it melts. It burns with a blue flame, and emits a smell of garlic. Its specific gravity is 5.76. It forms compounds with most of the metals. Combined with sulphur it forms orpiment and realgar, which are the yellow and red sulphides of arsenic. Orpiment is the true _arsenicum_ of the ancients. With oxygen arsenic forms two compounds, the more important of which is arsenious oxides or arsenic trioxide (As_4O_6), which is the _white arsenic_, or simply _arsenic_ of the shops. It is usually seen in white, glassy, translucent masses, and is obtained by sublimation from several ores containing arsenic in combination with metals, particularly from arsenical pyrites. Of all substances arsenic is that which has most frequently occasioned death by poisoning, both by accident and design. The best remedies against the effects of arsenic on the stomach are ferric hydroxide or magnesic hydroxide, or a mixture of both, with copious draughts of bland liquids of a mucilaginous consistence, which serve to procure its complete ejection from the stomach. Oils and fats generally, milk, albumen, wheat-flour, oatmeal, sugar or syrup, have all proved useful in counteracting its effect. Like many other virulent poisons it is a safe and useful medicine, especially in skin diseases, when judiciously employed. It is used as a flux for glass, and also for forming pigments. The arsenite of copper (Scheele's green) and a double arsenite and acetate of copper (emerald green) were formerly largely used to colour paper-hangings for rooms; but as poisonous gases are liable to be given off, the practice has been to a great extent abandoned. Arsenic compounds have been used for colouring confectionery, and other articles, bright green, but their chief industrial use is in the preparation of insecticides. Arsenic is found in crude oil of vitriol, and occasionally in products such as grape-sugar, beer, &c., in the manufacture of which oil of vitriol is employed. Plants die when placed in a solution of arsenic, but corn is often steeped in such a solution, previous to planting, for preventing smut, and the growth of the future plant is not injured thereby.

ARSHIN ([.a]r-sh[=e]n'), a Russian measure of length equal to 28 inches.

ARSIN'OE, a city of ancient Egypt on Lake Moeris, said to have been founded about 2300 B. C., but renamed after Arsinoe, wife and sister of Ptolemy II of Egypt, and called also _Crocodilopolis_, from the sacred crocodiles kept at it.

AR'SIS, a term applied in prosody to that syllable in a measure where the emphasis is put; in elocution, the elevation of the voice, in distinction from _thesis_, or its depression. _Arsis_ and _thesis_, in music, are the strong position and weak position of the bar, indicated by the down-beat and up-beat in marking time.

AR'SON, in English law, the malicious burning of a dwelling-house or outhouse of another man, which by the common law is felony, and which, if any person is therein, is capital. Also, the wilful setting fire to any church, chapel, warehouse, mill, barn, agricultural produce, ship, coal-mine, and the like. In Scotland it is called _wilful fire-raising_, and in both England and Scotland it is a considerable aggravation of the crime if the burning is to defraud insurers.

ART, in its most extended sense, as distinguished from nature on the one hand and from science on the other, has been defined as every regulated operation or dexterity by which organized beings pursue ends which they know beforehand, together with the rules and the result of every such operation or dexterity. Science consists in _knowing_, art in _doing_. In this wide sense it embraces what are usually called the useful arts. In a narrower and purely aesthetic sense it designates what are more specifically termed the fine arts, as architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry. The useful arts have their origin in positive practical needs, and restrict themselves to satisfying them. The fine arts minister to the sentiment of taste through the medium of the beautiful in form, colour, rhythm, or harmony. See _Fine Arts_, _Painting_, _Sculpture_, &c.--In the Middle Ages it was common to give certain branches of study the name of arts.--Cf. A. C. R. Carter, _History of Art_, _The Year's Art_.

ART COLLECTIONS. See _Collections, Artistic_.

ART, Teaching of. With the advent of the present industrial age the teaching of art has undergone a profound change. The fine and the industrial arts have been equally affected. In mediaeval times, and in the earlier classic ages, the system of apprenticeship prevailed, and all teaching of the arts and of the artistic crafts was given by masters of the various arts or trades to the apprentices who worked under their guidance as assistants. Standards of excellence were maintained by trade guilds, who enforced rules as to workmanship as well as rules for the economic conditions of each trade or craft. The painter of pictures, or of mural decorations, was trained in the same way as any other craftsman, working as an apprentice under a master.

When, in the last century, machinery driven by steam-power took the place of hand labour in industry, the small independent workshops gradually disappeared, as the industrial centres increased in those localities where coal or raw material was most easily obtained; and, as the processes of each trade or craft became more and more subdivided and specialized, the old system of apprenticeship, which had become unnecessary, broke down. The teaching and tradition of the small independent craft workshops had no counterpart in the new centralized industrial systems. Even the painters of pictures needed no longer to prepare their own materials, for special industries arose, and mechanical processes were developed, for the work which formerly had been done in the artists' workshops by apprentices. The fine arts in this way suffered the loss of their old systems of teaching and instruction.

To meet the need for a revival of art teaching in the crafts and other industries, there arose a movement towards the centralization of teaching in schools of art during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Following the impulse given to that movement by the great exhibition in 1850, the British Government founded the schools of science and art in London and in most of the important provincial towns. Earlier in the century bodies of artists had founded national academies for the teaching of art; and the teaching of drawing was gradually adopted as a part of ordinary school education. Step by step training in schools of art or technical schools took the place of the teaching formerly given during apprenticeship in every craft workshop. The ancient guilds were replaced by the new trades unions, but these took no part in the maintenance of artistic standards nor of quality in workmanship.

At the present time the teaching of art begins with the early school lessons in drawing, and is carried on in special technical classes or schools of art, where teachers of the 'fine arts' and of the artistic crafts give instruction to students preparing for professional work. In a few of the artistic trades the system of apprenticeship still survives, but the teaching given by that means is usually supplemented by attendance at a school of art or technical school. Under the Education Act of 1918 attendance at technical classes in the daytime became compulsory for apprentices in all industrial trades.

The subject of art teaching was formerly disregarded by the universities, but has become definitely within their province since the founding of the Slade professorships at Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities, and of the professorship of fine art at the University of Edinburgh.

The chief schools of art in Great Britain are the schools of the Royal Academy in London, the Slade School at University College, London, and the Royal College of Art at South Kensington, also the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and the other large metropolitan schools of the London County Council.

In most of the English provincial towns are municipal or other schools of art under the control of the Board of Education.

In Scotland the chief schools are the four central institutions--the Edinburgh College of Art, and the schools of art of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee. In each of these a diploma is given on the satisfactory completion of a prescribed course of study.

In Ireland the chief schools are those of the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, and the provincial schools of art under the Department of Agriculture and Technology.

On the Continent the chief centre of artistic training has for many years been in Paris. Advanced students from most European and American art schools spend some of the later period of their study in the schools of Paris, in painting, in sculpture, or in architecture. There is, naturally, a valuable incentive and stimulation due to this gathering together of advanced students from all countries, as well as to the high academic tradition and sense of style of the French.

The 'atelier' system, which is followed in the French schools, is simple and personal. The expenses of an 'atelier', or studio, are borne by a group of students by the consent and under the guidance of an artist of reputation, who visits the 'atelier' at stated intervals, but is not concerned in its administration. In this way the relations between the professor and his pupils are extremely direct and personal. Most of the distinguished artists of Paris are attached to some 'atelier' to which chosen pupils are admitted.

There are also in Paris excellent schools for training in the applied arts, schools for furniture-making, printing, jewellery, and other artistic trades. These are on private foundations, but also receive State aid.

The teaching of art that is given at the present day as a part of ordinary general education attempts little more than a training in the elements of drawing, with some practice in the use of colour. The purpose of the drawing lesson is the attainment of skill in the representation of objects rather than the training of the aesthetic sense, or of artistic judgment or taste.

In the schools of art opportunities are provided for training in drawing and painting, sculpture, and architecture, and in the general principles of design in these arts, and in many of the artistic crafts and industrial processes. In some localities, where particular industries or artistic trades are concentrated, special schools for artistic and technical training are provided. The present tendency is towards the development of special schools for particular artistic trades or professions.

A complete system of training in any art must of necessity include: (1) actual technical practice; (2) teaching of the canons of workmanship of the art; (3) acquaintance with its historical development, especially with the notable examples and the highest achievements of past masters in the art.

ARTA (ancient AMBRACIA), a gulf, town, and river of north-western Greece. The town was transferred by Turkey to Greece in 1881 (pop. 8000). It stands on the River Arta, which for a considerable distance above its mouth formed a part of the boundary between Greece and Turkey.--The province of Arta has an area of 395 sq. miles, and a pop. of 52,400.

ARTAXERX'ES (Old Pers. _Artakhsathra_, 'the mighty'), the name of several Persian kings:--1. ARTAXERXES, surnamed Longim[)a]nus, succeeded his father Xerxes I, 465 B.C. He subdued the rebellious Egyptians, terminated the war with Athens, governed his subjects in peace, and died 425 B.C.--2. ARTAXERXES, surnamed Mnemon, succeeded his father Darius II in the year 405 B.C. After having vanquished his brother Cyrus he made war on the Spartans, who had assisted his enemy, and forced them to abandon the Greek cities and islands of Asia to the Persians. On his death, 359 B.C., his son Ochus ascended the throne under the name of--3. ARTAXERXES OCHUS (359 to 339 B.C.). After having overcome the Phoenicians and Egyptians, and displayed great cruelty in both countries, he was poisoned by his general Bagoas.

ARTE'DI, Peter, a Swedish naturalist, born 1705, drowned at Amsterdam 1735. He studied at Upsala, turned his attention to medicine and natural history, and was a friend of Linnaeus. His _Bibliotheca Ichthyologica_ and _Philosophia Ichthyologica_, together with a life of the author, were published at Leyden in 1738.

ARTEL, a name for co-operative associations in Russia. These associations were known in ancient Russia as _drushina_ or _wataga_. The artels originally consisted of bodies of men associating for the purpose of jointly undertaking a piece of work and dividing the profits. Artels were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for the co-operation of their members in hunting and fishing. Inspired and stimulated by the Schulze-Delitzsch associations established in Germany, the Russian artels have extended their activity to various branches of industrial life. There are now consum artels, credit artels, and insurance artels, but the most important are the artisan and industrial artels. Some of the artels, however, are little more than trade guilds with mutual responsibility.

AR'T[)E]MIS, an ancient Greek divinity, identified with the Roman Diana. She was the daughter of Zeus (Jupiter) and Leto or Latona, and was the twin sister of Apollo, born in the Island of Delos. She is variously represented as a huntress, with bow and arrows; as a goddess of the nymphs, in a chariot drawn by four stags; and as the moon-goddess, with the crescent of the moon above her forehead. She was a maiden divinity, never conquered by love, except when Endymion made her feel its power. She demanded the strictest chastity from her worshippers, and she is represented as having changed Actaeon into a stag, and caused him to be torn in pieces by his own dogs, because he had secretly watched her as she was bathing. The Artemisia was a festival celebrated in her honour at Delphi. The famous temple of Artemis at Ephesus was considered one of the wonders of the world, but the goddess worshipped there was very different from the huntress goddess of Greece, being of Eastern origin, and regarded as the symbol of fruitful nature.

ARTEMI'SIA, Queen of Caria, in Asia Minor, about 352-350 B.C., sister and wife of Maus[=o]lus, to whom she erected in her capital, Halicarnassus, a monument, called the Mausol[=e]um, which was reckoned among the seven wonders of the world.

ARTEMI'SIA, a genus of plants of numerous species, nat. ord. Compositae, comprising mugwort, southernwood, and wormwood. Certain alpine species are the flavouring ingredient in absinthe. See _Wormwood_.

ARTEMI'SIUM, a promontory in Euboea, an island of the Aegean, near which several naval battles between the Greeks and Persians were fought, 480 B.C.

AR'TEMUS WARD. See _Browne, Charles Farrar_.

AR'TERIES, the system of cylindrical vessels or tubes, membranous, elastic, and pulsatile, which convey the blood from the heart to all parts of the body, by ramifications which, as they proceed, diminish in size and increase in number, and terminate in minute capillaries uniting the ends of the arteries with the beginnings of the veins. There are two principal arteries or arterial trunks: the _aorta_, which rises from the left ventricle of the heart and ramifies through the whole body, sending off great branches to the head, neck, and upper limbs, and downwards to the lower limbs, &c.; and the _pulmonary artery_, which conveys venous blood from the right ventricle to the lungs, to be purified in the process of respiration.

ARTERIOT'OMY, the opening or cutting of an artery for the purpose of blood-letting, as, for instance, to relieve pressure of the brain in apoplexy.

ARTE'SIAN WELLS, so called from the French province of Artois, where they appear to have been first used on an extensive scale, are perpendicular borings into the ground through which water rises to the surface of the soil, producing a constant flow or stream, the ultimate sources of supply being higher than the mouth of the boring, and the water thus rising by the well-known law. They are generally sunk in valley plains and districts where the lower pervious strata are bent into basin-shaped curves. The rain falling on the outcrops of these saturates the whole porous bed, so that when the bore reaches it the water by hydraulic pressure rushes up towards the level of the highest portion of the strata. The supply is sometimes so abundant as to be used extensively as a moving power, and in arid regions for fertilizing the ground, to which purpose artesian springs have been applied from a very remote period. Thus many artesian wells have been sunk in the Algerian Sahara, which have proved an immense boon to the district. The water of most of these is potable, but a few are a little saline, though not to such an extent as to influence vegetation. The hollows in which London and Paris lie are both perforated in many places by borings of this nature. At London they were first sunk only to the sand, but afterwards into the chalk. One of the most celebrated artesian wells is that of Grenelle, near Paris, 1798 feet deep, completed in 1841, after eight years' work. Artesian wells are now common in many countries, and have been sunk to the depth of a mile or more. As the temperature of water from great depths is invariably higher than that at the surface, artesian wells have been made to supply warm water for heating manufactories, greenhouses, hospitals, fish-ponds, &c. They have also been made in the United States and Australia for the purpose of irrigation. Petroleum wells are generally of the same technical description. Artesian wells are now made with larger diameters than formerly, and altogether their construction has been rendered much more easy in modern times. See _Boring_.

ARTEVELD, or ARTEVELDE ([.a]r'te-velt, [.a]r'te-vel-de), the name of two men distinguished in the history of the Low Countries.--1. Jacob van, a brewer of Ghent, born about 1300, was selected by his fellow-townsmen to lead them in their struggles against Count Louis of Flanders. In 1338 he was appointed captain of the forces of Ghent, and for several years exercised a sort of sovereign power. A proposal to make the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England, Governor of Flanders led to an insurrection in which Arteveld lost his life (1345).--2. Philip, son of the former, at the head of the forces of Ghent gained a great victory over the Count of Flanders, Louis II, and for a time assumed the state of a sovereign prince. His reign proved short-lived. The Count of Flanders returned with a large French force, fully disciplined and skilfully commanded. Arteveld was rash enough to meet them in the open field at Roosebeke, between Courtrai and Ghent, in 1382, and fell with 25,000 Flemings.

ARTHRI'TIS (Gr. _arthron_, a joint), any inflammatory distemper that affects the joints, particularly chronic rheumatism or gout.

ARTHRO'DIA, a species of articulation, in which the head of one bone is received into a shallow socket in another; a ball-and-socket joint.

ARTHROP'ODA, one of the two primary divisions (Anarthropoda being the other) into which modern naturalists have divided the sub-kingdom Annulosa, having the body composed of a series of segments, some always being provided with articulated appendages. The division comprises Crustaceans, Spiders, Scorpions, Centipedes, and Insects.

ARTHROZO'A, a name sometimes given to all articulated animals, including the arthropoda and worms.

ARTHUR, Chester Alan, twenty-first President of the United States, born 1830, died 1886, was the son of Scottish parents, his father being pastor of Baptist churches in Vermont and New York. He chose law as a profession, and practised in New York. As a politician he became a leader in the Republican party. During the civil war he was energetic as quarter-master-general of New York in getting troops raised and equipped. He was afterwards collector of customs for the port of New York. In 1880 he was elected Vice-President, succeeding as President on the death of Garfield in 1881.

AR'THUR, KING, an ancient British hero of the sixth century, son of Uther Pendragon and the Princess Igerna, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. He married Guinevere, or Ginevra; established the famous order of the Round Table; and reigned, surrounded by a splendid Court, twelve years in peace. After this, as the poets relate, he conquered Denmark, Norway, and France, slew the giants of Spain, and went to Rome. From thence he is said to have hastened home on account of the faithlessness of his wife, and Modred, his nephew, who had stirred up his subjects to rebellion. He subdued the rebels, but died in consequence of his wounds, on the Island of Avalon. The story of Arthur is supposed to have some foundation in fact, and has ever been a favourite subject with our romanticists and our poets. It is generally believed that Arthur was one of the last great Celtic chiefs who led his countrymen from the west of England to resist the settlement of the Saxons in the country. But many authorities regard him as a leader of the Cymry of Cumbria and Strath-Clyde against the Saxon invaders of the east coast and the Picts and Scots north of the Forth and the Clyde. See _Grail_, _Merlin_, _Round Table_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Rhys, _Studies in the Arthurian Legend_; W. Lewis Jones, _King Arthur in History and Legend_.

ARTHUR'S SEAT, a picturesque hill within the King's Park in the immediate vicinity of Edinburgh; has an altitude of 822 feet; descends rollingly to the N. and E. over a base each way of about five furlongs; presents an abrupt shoulder to the S., and breaks down precipitously to the W. It is composed of a diversity of eruptive rocks, with some interposed and up-tilted sedimentary ones; and derives its name somehow from the legendary King Arthur.

AR'TIAD (Gr. _artios_, even-numbered), in chemistry, a name given to an element of even equivalency, as a dyad, tetrad, &c.: opposed to a perissad, an element of uneven equivalency, such as a monad, triad, &c.

ARTICHOKE (_Cyn[)a]ra Scol[)y]mus_), sometimes called 'the Globe Artichoke', a well-known plant of the nat. ord. Compositae, somewhat resembling a thistle, with large divided prickly leaves. The erect flower-stem terminates in a large round head of numerous imbricated oval spiny scales which surround the flowers. The fleshy bases of the scales with the large receptacle are the parts that are eaten. Artichokes were introduced into England early in the sixteenth century. The Jerusalem artichoke (a corruption of the It. _girasole_, a sunflower), or _Helianthus tuber[=o]sus_, is a species of sunflower, whose roots are used like potatoes; it was introduced into England in the early part of the seventeenth century.

ARTICLE, in grammar, a part of speech used before nouns to limit or define their application. In English _a_ or _an_ is usually called the indefinite article (the latter form being used before a vowel sound), and _the_, the definite article, but they are also described as adjectives. _An_ was originally the same as _one_, and _the_ as _that_. In Latin there were no articles, and Greek has only the definite article.

ARTICLES, LORDS OF THE, in Scottish history, a committee chosen equally from each estate or division of Parliament to prepare the various measures, which, when completed, were laid before the Parliament for adoption or rejection. They were first appointed in 1369, and gradually became a recognized part of the Scottish legislative machinery. Abolished 1690.

ARTICLES, THE SIX, in English ecclesiastical history, articles imposed by a statute (often called the Bloody Statute) passed in 1541, the thirty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII. They decreed the acknowledgment of transubstantiation, the sufficiency of communion in one kind, the obligation of vows of chastity, the propriety of private masses, celibacy of the clergy, and auricular confession. Acceptance of these doctrines was made obligatory on all persons under the severest penalties; the Act, however, was relaxed in 1544, and repealed in 1549.

ARTICLES, THE THIRTY-NINE, of the Church of England, a statement of the particular points of doctrine, thirty-nine in number, maintained by the English Church; first promulgated by a convocation held in London in 1562-3, and confirmed by royal authority; founded on and superseding an older code issued in the reign of Edward VI. The first five articles contain a profession of faith in the Trinity; the incarnation of Jesus Christ, His descent to hell, and His resurrection; the divinity of the Holy Ghost. The three following relate to the canon of the Scripture. The eighth article declares a belief in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds. The ninth and following articles contain the doctrine of original sin, of justification by faith alone, of predestination, &c. The nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first declare the Church to be the assembly of the faithful; that it can decide nothing except by the Scriptures. The twenty-second rejects the doctrine of purgatory, indulgences, the adoration of images, and the invocation of saints. The twenty-third decides that only those lawfully called shall preach or administer the sacraments. The twenty-fourth requires the liturgy to be in English. The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth declare the sacraments effectual signs of grace (though administered by evil men), by which God excites and confirms our faith. They are two: baptism and the Lord's supper. Baptism, according to the twenty-seventh article, is a sign of regeneration, the seal of our adoption, by which faith is confirmed and grace increased. In the Lord's supper, according to article twenty-eight, the bread is the communion of the body of Christ, the wine the communion of his blood, but only through faith (article twenty-ninth); and the communion must be administered in both kinds (article thirty). The twenty-eighth article condemns the doctrine of transubstantiation, and the elevation and adoration of the host; the thirty-first rejects the sacrifice of the mass as blasphemous; the thirty-second permits the marriage of the clergy; the thirty-third maintains the efficacy of excommunication. The remaining articles relate to the supremacy of the king, the condemnation of Anabaptists, &c. They were ratified anew in 1604 and 1628. All candidates for ordination must subscribe these articles, but they are not binding upon laymen, except judges and certain university officials. This formulary is now accepted by the Episcopalian Churches of Scotland, Ireland, and America.

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION are the rules framed by a company for the administration of its affairs. Public companies usually have separate articles of their own, but this is not essential. When a registered company has no articles, its business procedure is regulated by the statutory form, found in Schedule 1 of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, and known as Table A. When separate articles are used they must be printed, signed, stamped, and filed along with the memorandum of association. Unlike the memorandum, the articles may be altered at any time, by special resolution, provided the alteration is within the powers given by the memorandum. Thus, where preferred shares are created by the memorandum, their privileges are more secure than if merely issued under the articles. The articles are intended merely for internal administration, and, while binding in questions between the company and its members as such, they do not affect third parties, unless the company has acted _ultra vires_ and this was discoverable from the articles, which the public can inspect at a nominal fee.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sir F. B. Palmer, _Company Law_; A. Coles, _Guide for the Company Secretary_; A. F. Topham, _Principles of Company Law_.

ARTICLES OF WAR. See _Military Law_.

ARTICULA'TA, the third great section of the animal kingdom according to the arrangement of Cuvier, applied to invertebrates such as insects and worms, in which the body displays a jointed structure. The name is now obsolete. See _Arthropoda_.

ARTICULA'TION, in anatomy a joint; the joining or juncture of the bones. This is of three kinds: (1) _Diarthr[=o]sis_, or a movable connection, such as the ball-and-socket joint; (2) _Synarthr[=o]sis_, immovable connection, as by suture, or junction by serrated margins; (3) _Symphysis_, or union by means of another substance, by a cartilage, tendon, or ligament.

ARTIFICIAL LIMBS. Artificial limbs of a primitive kind have been in use from very early times; but, as the material of which they were made was perishable, few specimens have been preserved. In the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London there is a good specimen of a Roman artificial leg which is believed to date back to the third century B.C. This leg is made of wood, covered with thin bronze; it has an iron sole-plate, and was fastened on by means of a waist-belt.

In Irish legend we are told of Nuada, who led the tribe of the Dananns back to Ireland, having an artificial hand made of silver; from this he received the name of Argetlam or Silver-handed. In mediaeval times Goetz von Berlichingen, who lost his right hand at the siege of Landshut (1505), had a hand made of iron to supply its place.

Great improvements have been made in the manufacture of artificial limbs during the last fifty years. After the Franco-Prussian war the French Government adopted an artificial arm and hand known as the 'Beaufort' and issued it to the soldiers who required it. This hand had a movable thumb controlled by a cord passing up the arm and fastened to a loop band over the opposite shoulder. An Englishman named Heather Bigg invented a hand with a movable thumb which was worked by a piston and controlled by a rubber ball fastened under the arm-pit. These designs have been improved upon from time to time, and an artificial hand can now be made which is capable of opening and closing at will, and of lifting and holding light articles.

Artificial legs vary in design, from the simple pin leg to ingenious contrivances such as the 'Anglesey' leg, which is made of seasoned willow wood with steel ankles and knee-joints. This 'Anglesey' leg is the standard best-quality limb in Great Britain. The German artificial-limb makers use leather instead of wood. These leather legs fit comfortably, but are too heavy, as they have to be supported by steel bands.

ARTILLERY, all ordnance such as guns and howitzers as opposed to small arms and machine-guns. The term is also used for the troops who serve these arms.

Generally speaking, artillery is divided into field, heavy, and siege artillery. For details of organization see _Army_. The earliest form of artillery was a metal tube which was placed in a convenient position on the ground. The charge of gunpowder was ignited by placing a match to a hole bored at the closed end, and the resulting explosion forced the projectile--a stone--more or less in the required direction. Later on this primitive weapon was provided with wheels. In another form one man fired it while a second man supported it on his shoulder. In the later Middle Ages guns of various calibres were known by the names of birds of prey or reptiles; among such were falcons and falconets, culverins and demi-culverins. The fourteenth century saw the development of artillery for siege purposes--chiefly by the Germans--and in the next century it began to be employed in open warfare; while in 1537 the present Honourable Artillery Company was formed in London to encourage the use of all 'weapons of volley'. These weapons of volley were not even confined to fire-arms, but included bows and cross-bows. The earliest English troops raised as artillery personel were called the Regiment of Firelocks. Of late years artillery science has made almost inconceivable progress, thanks to which, _inter alia_, it is no longer necessary for the target to be visible from the gun-position. This fact, combined with the use of smokeless powder, makes the locating of hostile batteries exceedingly difficult. All field artillery, by which is meant guns and howitzers, which accompany mobile troops are designed on the quick-firing principle, by which the inevitable recoil at the moment of firing is absorbed by an arrangement known as the recoil-carriage, thus preventing any movement of the gun-carriage proper, and avoiding unnecessary labour for the gun-detachments, while at the same time allowing the men composing it to remain under cover of the shield with which the guns are provided. With the quick-firing gun, propellent and projectile are combined in one cartridge similar to that in use with small arms; with the howitzer they are separated. This difference is due to the fact that whereas guns are designed for a flat trajectory with a deep zone of fire-effect, howitzers are intended for high-angle fire with an almost vertical fall of shrapnel-bullets. This effect is produced by varying the charge for different ranges. A field battery consists of 6 guns or howitzers and 12 ammunition-wagons. Both guns and wagons are of the limbered type, i.e. in two detachable parts, and the weight behind the team of an English gun is approximately 2 tons.

As to tactical principles, it is recognized that the function of artillery is to assist the other arms, that it cannot by itself win a battle, and that its true _metier_ is to prepare the way for and assist the infantry. During 1914-18 some 700,000 officers and men served with the Royal Regiment.

ARTILLERY COMPANY, THE HONOURABLE, the oldest existing body of volunteers in Great Britain, instituted in 1537, revived in 1610. It comprises six companies of infantry, besides artillery, and furnishes a guard of honour to the sovereign when visiting the city of London. Previous to 1842 the Company elected their own officers, but since that date they have been appointed by the Crown.

ARTILLERY SCHOOLS, institutions established for the purpose of giving a special training to the officers, and in some cases the men, belonging to the artillery service. In Great Britain the artillery schools are at Woolwich and Shoeburyness. The Department of Artillery studies at Woolwich give artillery officers the means of continuing their studies after they have completed the usual course at the Royal Military College, and of qualifying for appointments requiring exceptional scientific attainments. The School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness gives instruction in gunnery to officers and men, and conducts all experiments connected with artillery and stores. The sands at the mouth of the Thames afford ample opportunity for artillery practice and firing at long ranges. The Royal Artillery Institution at Woolwich contains a museum, lecture-room, and printing-press, from which professional and scientific papers are periodically issued.

ARTIODAC'TYLA (Gr. _artios_, even numbered, _dakt[)y]los_, a finger or toe), a section of the Ungulata or hoofed mammals, comprising all those in which the number of the toes is even (two or four), including the ruminants, such as the ox, sheep, deer, &c., and also a number of non-ruminating animals, as the hippopotamus and the pig.

ARTISANS' AND LABOURERS' DWELLINGS ACT, an English Act of Parliament passed in 1868 to empower town councils and other local authorities to demolish or improve dwellings unfit for human habitation, and to build and maintain better dwellings in lieu thereof. Other Acts for the same object were passed in 1875, 1879, and 1882. See _Housing_.

ARTOCARPA'CEAE, a nat. ord. of plants, the bread-fruit order, by some botanists ranked as a sub-order of the Urticaceae or nettles. They are trees or shrubs, with a milky juice, which in some species hardens into caoutchouc, and in the cow-tree (_Bros[)i]mum Galactodendron_) is a milk as good as that obtained from the cow. Many of the plants produce an edible fruit, of which the best known is the bread-fruit (Artocarpus).

ARTOIS ([.a]r-twae), a former province of France, anciently one of the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, now almost completely included in the department of Pas-de-Calais.

ARTOIS, THE BATTLE OF. See _European War_.

ARTS, the name given to certain branches of study in the Middle Ages, originally called the 'liberal arts' to distinguish them from the 'servile arts' or mechanical occupations. These arts were usually given as grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. Hence originated the terms 'art classes', 'degrees in arts', 'Master of Arts', &c., still in common use in universities, the faculty of arts being distinguished from those of divinity, law, medicine, or science. See _University_.

ARTSYBASHEV, Mikhail, Russian author, born in 1878. After a number of short stories he wrote, at the age of twenty-five, a novel entitled _Sanin_, published in 1907, which placed him at once among the most famous contemporary Russian authors. Whatever opinion literary critics may hold of this novel, his wonderful realism, simplicity of style, and psychological analysis cannot be disputed.

ART UNIONS, associations for encouraging art, an object which they mainly pursue by disposing of pictures, sculptures, &c., by lottery among subscribers. They seem to have originated in France during the time of Napoleon I. They soon afterwards took root in Germany, where they have been very successful. The first art union established in Britain was that at Edinburgh in 1834. Art unions were legalized by the Art Unions Act, 1846 See _Lottery_.

ARTVIN, a town in the Republic of Georgia, in the Caucasus, about 35 miles inland from Batum. Pop. 6720.

ARUBA ([.a]-roe'b[.a]), an island off the north coast of Venezuela, belonging to Holland (a dependency of Curacoa), about 30 miles long and 7 broad; surface generally rock, quartz being abundant, and containing considerable quantities of gold; a phosphate which is exported for manure is also abundant. The climate is healthy. Pop. 9481 (1916).

ARU ISLANDS. See _Arru Islands_.

tum_).

1, Spadix. 2, Stamen. 3, Female flower. 4, Fruit.]

A'RUM, a genus of plants, nat. ord. Araceae. _A. macul[=a]tum_ (the common wake-robin, lords-and-ladies, or cuckoo pint) is abundant in woods and hedges in England and Ireland, but is rare in Scotland. It has acrid properties, but its corm yields a starch which is known by the name of Portland sago or arrowroot. At one time this was prepared to a considerable extent in Portland Island. All the species of this genus develop much heat during flowering.

AR'UNDEL, a town in Sussex, England, on the River Arun, 4 miles from its mouth, the river being navigable to the town for vessels of 250 tons. The castle of Arundel, the chief residence of the dukes of Norfolk, stands on a knoll on the north-east side of the town. Pop. (1921), 2741.

AR'UNDEL, Thomas, third son of Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, born 1352, died 1413. He was Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury. He concerted with Bolingbroke to deliver the nation from the oppression of Richard II, and was a bitter persecutor of the Lollards and followers of Wycliffe.

ARUNDELIAN MARBLES, a series of ancient sculptured marbles discovered by William Petty, who explored the ruins of Greece at the expense of and for Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, who lived in the time of James I and Charles I, and was a liberal patron of scholarship and art. After the Restoration they were presented by the grandson of the collector to the University of Oxford. Among them is the _Parian Chronicle_, a chronological account of the principal events in Grecian, and particularly in Athenian, history, during a period of 1186 years, from the reign of Cecrops (1450 B.C.) to the archonship of Diognetus (264 B.C.).

ARUN'DO. See _Phragmites_.

ARUSPICES (a-rus'pi-s[=e]z), or HARUSPICES, a class of priests in ancient Rome, of Etrurian origin, whose business was to inspect the entrails of victims killed in sacrifice, and by them to foretell future events.

ARUWIMI, a large river of equatorial Africa, a tributary of the Congo, on the north bank.

ARVAL BROTHERS (_Fratres Arv[=a]les_), a college or company of twelve members elected for life from the highest ranks in ancient Rome, so called from offering annually public sacrifices for the fertility of the fields (Lat. _arvum_, a field).

ARVE ([.a]rv), a river rising in the Savoyan Alps, passes through the valley of Chamonix, and falls into the Rhone near Geneva, after a course of about 50 miles.

ARVIC'OLA, a genus of rodent animals, sub-ord. Muridae or Mice. There are three British species. _A. amphibia_ is the water-vole (or water-rat), and _A. agrestis_ is the field-vole or short-tailed field-mouse. They are prolific animals, having three or four litters in the year, each consisting of from four to ten young.

A'RYAN, or INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY OF LANGUAGES. See _Indo-European Family_.

AS, a Roman weight of 12 ounces, answering to the libra or pound, and equal to 237.5 grains avoirdupois, or 327.1873 grammes French measure. In the most ancient times of Rome the copper or bronze coin which was called _as_ actually weighed an _as_, or a pound, but in 264 B.C. it was reduced to 2 ounces, in 217 to 1 ounce, and in 191 to 1/2 ounce.

A'SA, great grandson of Solomon and third King of Judah; he ascended the throne at an early age, and distinguished himself by his zeal in rooting out idolatry with its attendant immoralities. He died after a prosperous reign of forty-one years.

ASAFE'TIDA, or ASAFOETIDA, a fetid inspissated sap from Central Asia, the solidified juice of the _Narthex Asafetida_, a large umbelliferous plant. It is used in medicine as an anti-spasmodic, and in cases of flatulency, in hysteric paroxysms, and other nervous affections. Notwithstanding its very disagreeable odour it is used as a seasoning in the East, and sometimes in Europe. An inferior sort is the product of certain species of Ferula.

ASAGRAE'A. See _Sabadilla_.

ASA'MA, an active volcano of Japan, about 50 miles north-west of Tokio, 8260 feet high.

A'SAPH, a Levite and psalmist appointed by David as leading chorister in the divine services. His office became hereditary in his family, or he founded a school of poets and musicians, which were called, after him, "the sons of Asaph". See _Psalms_.

ASAPH, ST., a small cathedral city and bishop's see in Wales, 15 miles north-west of Flint; founded about 550 by St. Kentigern or St. Mungo, bishop of Glasgow, and named after his disciple St. Asaph, from whom both the diocese and town took their name. The cathedral was built about the close of the fifteenth century; it consists of a choir, a nave, two aisles, and a transept. Pop. 1833.

ASARABAC'CA, a small hardy European plant, nat. ord. Aristolochiaceae (_As[)a]rum europoeum_). Its leaves are acrid, bitter, and nauseous, and its root is extremely acrid. Both the leaves and root were formerly used as an emetic. It entered into the composition of medicated snuffs recommended in cases of headache.

AS'ARUM. See _Asarabacca_.

ASBEN, AIR, or AHIR, a kingdom of Africa, in the Sahara. It consists of a succession of mountain groups and valleys, with a generally western slope, and attains in its highest summits a height of over 5000 feet. The valleys are very fertile, and often of picturesque appearance. The inhabitants are Tuaregs or Berbers, with an admixture of negro blood. They live partly in villages, partly as nomads. The country is nominally ruled over by a sultan, who resides in the capital, Agades. Pop. about 60,000.

ASBES'TOS, or ASBESTUS, a remarkable and highly-useful mineral, a fibrous variety of several members of the hornblende family, composed of separable filaments, with a silky lustre. The fibres are sometimes delicate, flexible, and elastic; at other times stiff and brittle. It is incombustible, and anciently was wrought into a soft, flexible cloth, which was used as a shroud for dead bodies. In modern times it has been manufactured into incombustible cloth, gloves, felt, paper, &c.; is employed in gas-stoves; is much used as a covering to steam boilers and pipes; is mixed with metallic pigments, and used as a paint on wooden structures, roofs, partitions, &c., to render them fire-proof, and is employed in various other ways, the manufacture having recently greatly developed. Some varieties are compact, and take a fine polish, others are loose, like flax or silky wool. _Ligniform asbestos_, or _mountain-wood_, is a variety presenting an irregular filamentous structure, like wood. _Rock-cork_, _mountain-leather_, _fossil-paper_, and _fossil-flax_ are varieties. Asbestos is found in many parts of the world, but is chiefly supplied by Italy, Canada, and Australia. Mineralogically it is distinct from chrysotile, which is used for similar purposes.

ASBJOERNSEN ([.a]s'byeurn-sen), Peter Kristen, born 1812, died 1885, a distinguished Norwegian naturalist and collector of the popular tales and legends, fairy stories, &c., of his native country.

ASBURY PARK, a small town on the coast of New Jersey, United States, a great summer resort. Its population increases during the summer months from 10,000 to 100,000.

AS'CALON, or ASH'KELON, a ruined town of Palestine, on the sea-coast, 40 miles W.S.W. of Jerusalem. It was occupied by the Crusaders under Richard I after a great battle with Saladin (1192) and by General Allenby's troops in Nov., 1917.

ASCA'NIUS, the son of Aeneas and Creusa, and the companion of his father's wanderings from Troy to Italy.

AS'CARIS. See _Nematoda_.

ASCEN'SION (discovered on Ascension Day), an island of volcanic origin belonging to Britain, near the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, about lat. 7deg 55' S.; long. 14deg 25' W.; 700 miles north-west of St. Helena; area, about 34 sq. miles. Pop. 196 (1914). It is retained by Britain as a naval sanatorium, coaling and victualling station, and store depot. It has a steam factory, naval and victualling yards, hospitals, and a coal depot. It is celebrated for its turtle, which are the finest in the world. Wild goats are plentiful, and oxen, sheep, pheasants, guinea-fowl, and rabbits have been introduced, and thrive well. The village of Georgetown, the seat of government, stands on the west side of the island, which is governed under the admiralty by a naval officer.

ASCENSION, RIGHT, of a star or other heavenly body, in astronomy, the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator which comes to the meridian at the same instant with the star.

ASCENSION DAY, the day on which the ascension of the Saviour is commemorated, often called _Holy Thursday_: a movable feast, always falling on the Thursday but one before Whitsuntide.

ASCET'ICISM and ASCET'ICS (from the Gr. _ask[=e]sis_, meaning practice, bodily exercise, or athletic training). The early Christians, who devoted themselves to severe exercises of piety and strove to distinguish themselves from the world by abstinence from sensual enjoyments and by voluntary penances, adopted the name to signify the practice of spiritual things. Ascetics and asceticism have played an important part in the Christian Church, but the principle of striving after a higher and more spiritual life by subduing the animal appetites and passions has no necessary connection with Christianity. Thus there were ascetics among the Jews previous to Christ, and asceticism was inculcated by the Stoics, while in its most extreme form it may still be seen among the Brahmans and Buddhists. Monasticism was but one phase of asceticism. It must also be borne in mind that in the history of asceticism, pagan, Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan, we are often dealing not only with religious but distinctly abnormal temperaments. See _Monasticism_.

ASCH ([.a]sh), a town of Czecho-Slovakia, in the extreme north-western corner of former Bohemia, with manufactures of cotton, woollen, and silk goods, bleachfields, dyeworks, &c. Pop. 21,583.

ASCHAFFENBURG ([.a]-sh[.a]f'en-boer_h_), a town of Bavaria, on the Main and Aschaff, 26 miles E.S.E. of Frankfort. The chief edifice is the castle of Johannisberg, built between 1605 and 1614, and for centuries the summer residence of the Elector. There are manufactures of coloured paper, tobacco, liqueurs, &c. Pop. 29,891.

ASCHAM (as'kam), Roger, a learned Englishman, born in 1515 of a respectable family in Yorkshire, died 1568. He was entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, 1530, and was elected fellow in 1534 and tutor in 1537. He was Latin secretary to Edward VI and also to Mary. He was tutor to Princess Elizabeth during her girlhood, and he became her secretary after she ascended the throne. In 1544 he wrote his _Toxophilus, or Schole of Shooting_, in praise of his favourite amusement and exercise--archery. Between 1563 and 1568 he wrote his _Scholemaster_, a treatise on the best method of teaching children Latin. Some of his writings, including many letters, were in Latin. He wrote the best English style of his time. His life was written by Dr. Johnson to accompany an edition of his works published in 1769.

ASCHERSLEBEN ([.a]sh'[.e]rz-l[=a]-ben), a town of Prussian Saxony, in the district of Magdeburg, near the junction of the Eine with the Wipper. Industries: woollens, machinery and metal goods, sugar, paper, &c. Pop. 28,968.

ASCID'IA (Gr. _askos_, a wine-skin), the name given to the 'Sea-squirts' or main section of the Tunicata, a class of animals of low grade, resembling a double-necked bottle, of a leathery or gristly nature, found at low-water mark on the sea-beach, and dredged from deep water attached to stones, shells, and fixed objects. One of the prominent openings admits the food and the water required in respiration, the other is the excretory aperture. A single _ganglion_ represents the nervous system, placed between the two apertures. Male and female reproductive organs exist in each ascidian. They pass through peculiar phases of development, the young ascidian appearing like a tadpole-body. They may be _single_ or _simple_, _social_ or _compound_. In _social ascidians_ the peduncles of a number of individuals are united into a common tubular stem, with a partial common circulation of blood. In these animals evolutionists see a link between the Mollusca and the Vertebrata.

1, Perophora: _a_, mouth; _b_, vent; _c_, intestinal canal; _d_, stomach; _e_, common tubular stem. 2, Ascidia echinata. 3, Ascidia virginea. 4, Cynthia quadrangularis. 5, Botryllus violaceus.]

ASCLEPLIADA'CEAE, an order of gamopetalous Dicotyledons, the distinguishing characteristic of which is that the anthers adhere to the five stigmatic processes, the whole sexual apparatus forming a single mass. The pollination arrangements are peculiar, recalling those of orchids. The members of this order are shrubs, or sometimes herbaceous plants, occasionally climbing, almost always with a milky juice. Many of them are employed as purgatives, diaphoretics, tonics, and febrifuges, and others as articles of food. Asclepias is the typical genus. See _Asclepias_, _Calotropis_, _Stapelia_, _Stephanotis_.

ASCLE'PIADES (-d[=e]z), the name of a number of ancient Greek writers--poets, grammarians, &c--of whom little is known, and also of several ancient physicians, the most celebrated of whom was _Asclepiades_, of Bithynia, who acquired considerable repute at Rome about the beginning of the first century B.C.

ASCLE'PIAS, or SWALLOW-WORT, a genus of plants, the type and the largest genus of the nat. ord. Asclepiadaceae. Most of the species are North American herbs, having opposite, alternate, or verticillate leaves. Many of them possess powerful medicinal qualities. _A. decumbens_ is diaphoretic and sudorific, and has the singular property of exciting general perspiration without increasing in any sensible degree the heat of the body; _A. curassavica_ is emetic, and its roots are frequently sent to England as ipecacuanha; the roots of _A. tuber[=o]sa_ are famed for diaphoretic properties. Many other species are also used as medicines, and several are cultivated for the beauty of their flowers.

ASCLEPIOS. See _Aesculapius_.

AS'COLI, or ASCOLI PICENO (ancient, ASC[)U]LUM), a province in Central Italy.--The capital of the province, also called _Ascoli Piceno_, episcopal see of the Marches (the ancient Asc[)u]lum), is situated 90 miles north-east of Rome and contains, among several handsome new buildings, the remains of temples, an ancient theatre, &c. It has also many fine pre-Renaissance buildings, such as the Gothic Church S. Francesco and the Palazzo del Commune. At Castel Trosino, near Ascoli, a necropolis of the seventh century was discovered in 1895. Population of the town, 28,882; of the province, 261,835 (1915).

AS'COLI SATRIANO (ancient, ASC[)U]LUM AP[)U]LUM), a town of S. Italy, province Foggia. Pop. 9700.

ASCOMYCE'TES (-t[=e]z), one of the main subdivisions of the Eumycetes or Higher Fungi, distinguished by their principal spores being produced in organs called _asci_. Typically, an _ascus_ is a cylindrical or club-shaped structure containing at maturity eight _ascospores_, which are usually liberated explosively and thereafter dispersed by the wind. As a rule numerous asci are massed together in a layer or _ascus-hymenium_, which is variously disposed on a more or less massive fruit-body, according to the form and structure of which the group is further subdivided into a number of sections and families, the chief being Erysiphales, Plectascineae, Pyrenomycetes, Discomycetes (q.v.).

ASCO'NIUS (Quintus A. Pedianus), a Roman writer of the first century A.D., who wrote a life of Sallust, a reply to the detractors of Virgil, and commentaries on Cicero's orations, some of which are extant.

AS'COT, an English race-course adjacent to the S.W. extremity of the great park of Windsor. The races, which take place in the second week in June, constitute, for value of stakes and quality of horses, the best meeting of the year, as it is the most fashionable.

AS'GARD (literally, gods' yard, or the abode of the gods), in Scandinavian mythology the home of the gods or _Aesir_, rising, like the Greek Olympus, from _midgard_, or the middle world, that is, the earth. It was here that Odin and the rest of the gods, the twelve Aesir, dwelt--the gods in the mansion called Gladsheim, the goddesses dwelling in Vingulf. Walhalla, in which heroes slain in battle dwelt, was also here. Below the boughs of the ash tree Yggdrasill the gods assembled every day in council.