Читать бесплатно онлайн книгу  Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 8 / "Atherstone" to "Austria"

автор Various

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition,

Volume 2, Slice 8, by Various

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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.net

Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 8

"Atherstone" to "Austria"

Author: Various

Release Date: November 13, 2010 [EBook #34312]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. BRITANNICA, VOLUME 2 SL 8 ***

Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber’s note:

One typographical error has been corrected. It appears in the text

like this

, 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.

Links to other EB articles:

Links to articles residing in other EB volumes will be made available when the respective volumes are introduced online.

 

THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA

A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION

ELEVENTH EDITION

 

VOLUME II SLICE VIII

Atherstone to Austria

 

Articles in This Slice

ATHERSTONE, WILLIAM GUYBON AUDEBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE ATHERSTONE AUDEFROI LE BATARD ATHERTON AUDIENCE ATHETOSIS AUDIFFRET-PASQUIER, EDMÉ ARMAND GASTON ATHIAS, JOSEPH AUDIT and AUDITOR ATHLETE AUDLEY, SIR JAMES ATHLETIC SPORTS AUDLEY, THOMAS AUDLEY ATHLONE AUDOUIN, JEAN VICTOR ATHOL AUDRAN ATHOLL, EARLS AND DUKES OF AUDRAN, EDMOND ATHOLL AUDREHEM, ARNOUL D’ ATHOS AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES ATHY AUE ATINA AUERBACH, BERTHOLD ATITLÁN AUERSPERG, ANTON ALEXANDER ATKINSON, EDWARD AUFIDENA ATKINSON, SIR HARRY ALBERT AUGEAS ATLANTA AUGER ATLANTIC AUGEREAU, PIERRE FRANÇOIS CHARLES ATLANTIC CITY AUGHRIM ATLANTIC OCEAN AUGIER, GUILLAUME VICTOR ÉMILE ATLANTIS AUGITE ATLAS AUGMENT ATLAS MOUNTAINS AUGMENTATION ATMOLYSIS AUGSBURG ATMOSPHERE AUGSBURG, CONFESSION OF ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY AUGSBURG, WAR OF THE LEAGUE OF ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY AUGURS ATOLL AUGUST ATOM AUGUSTA

(Georgia, U.S.A.)

ATONEMENT and DAY OF ATONEMENT AUGUSTA

(Maine, U.S.A.)

ATRATO AUGUSTA

(Sicily)

ATREK AUGUSTA BAGIENNORUM ATREUS AUGUSTAN HISTORY ATRI AUGUSTA PRAETORIA SALASSORUM ATRIUM AUGUSTI, JOHANN CHRISTIAN WILHELM ATROPHY AUGUSTINE, SAINT

(354-430)

ATROPOS AUGUSTINE, SAINT

(archbishop)

ATTA, TITUS QUINCTIUS AUGUSTINIAN CANONS ATTACAPA AUGUSTINIAN HERMITS ATTACHMENT AUGUSTINIANS ATTAINDER AUGUSTOWO ATTAINT, WRIT OF AUGUSTUS ATTALIA AUGUSTUS I ATTAR OF ROSES AUGUSTUS II ATTEMPT AUGUSTUS III ATTENTION AUGUSTUSBAD ATTERBOM, PER DANIEL AMADEUS AUK ATTERBURY, FRANCIS AULARD, FRANÇOIS VICTOR ALPHONSE ATTESTATION AULIC COUNCIL ATTHIS AULIE-ATA ATTIC AULIS ATTICA AULNOY, MARIE CATHERINE LE JUMEL DE BARNEVILLE DE LA MOTTE ATTIC BASE AULOS ATTICUS, TITUS POMPONIUS AUMALE, HENRI EUGÈNE PHILIPPE LOUIS D’ORLÉANS ATTICUS HERODES, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS AUMALE ATTILA AUMONT ATTIS AUNCEL ATTLEBOROUGH AUNDH ATTOCK AUNGERVYLE, RICHARD ATTORNEY AUNT SALLY ATTORNEY-GENERAL AURA ATTORNMENT AURANGABAD ATTRITION AURANGZEB ATTWOOD, THOMAS

(English composer)

AURAY ATTWOOD, THOMAS

(English political reformer)

AURELIA, VIA ATWOOD, GEORGE AURELIAN AUBADE AURELIANUS, CAELIUS AUBAGNE AURELLE DE PALADINES, LOUIS JEAN BAPTISTE D’ AUBE AUREOLA AUBENAS AURICH AUBER, DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT AURICLE AUBERGINE AURICULA AUBERVILLIERS AURIFABER AUBIGNAC, FRANÇOIS HÉDELIN AURIGA AUBIGNÉ, CONSTANT D’ AURILLAC AUBIGNÉ, JEAN HENRI MERLE D’ AURISPA, GIOVANNI AUBIGNÉ, THÉODORE AGRIPPA D’ AUROCHS AUBIN AURORA

(Roman goddess)

AUBREY, JOHN AURORA

(Illinois, U.S.A.)

AUBURN

(Maine, U.S.A.)

AURORA

(Missouri, U.S.A.)

AUBURN

(New York, U.S.A.)

AURORA

(New York, U.S.A.)

AUBURN

(colour)

AURORA POLARIS AUBUSSON, PIERRE D’ AURUNCI AUBUSSON AUSCULTATION AUCH AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS AUCHMUTY, SIR SAMUEL AUSSIG AUCHTERARDER AUSTEN, JANE AUCHTERMUCHTY AUSTERLITZ AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN AUSTIN, ALFRED AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN AUSTIN, JOHN AUCKLAND AUSTIN, SARAH AUCKLAND ISLANDS AUSTIN, STEPHEN FULLER AUCTION PITCH AUSTIN

(Minnesota, U.S.A.)

AUCTIONS and AUCTIONEERS AUSTIN

(Texas, U.S.A.)

AUCUBA AUSTRALASIA AUDAEUS AUSTRALIA AUDE

(river of France)

AUSTRASIA AUDE

(department of France)

AUSTRIA

ATHERSTONE, WILLIAM GUYBON (1813-1898), British geologist, one of the pioneers in South African geology, was born in 1813, in the district of Uitenhage, Cape Colony. Having qualified as M.D. he settled in early life as a medical practitioner at Grahamstown, subsequently becoming F.R.C.S. In 1839 his interest was aroused in geology, and from that date he “devoted the leisure of a long and successful medical practice” to the pursuit of geological science. In 1857 he published an account of the rocks and fossils of Uitenhage (the latter described more fully by R. Tate, Quart. Journal Geol. Soc., 1867). He also obtained many fossil reptilia from the Karroo beds, and presented specimens to the British Museum. These were described by Sir Richard Owen. Atherstone’s identification in 1867 as a diamond of a crystal found at De Kalk near the junction of the Riet and Vaal rivers, led indirectly to the establishment of the great diamond industry of South Africa. He encouraged the workings at Jagersfontein, and he also called attention to the diamantiferous neck at Kimberley. He was one of the founders of the Geological Society of South Africa at Johannesburg in 1895; and for some years previously he was a member of the Cape parliament. He died at Grahamstown, on the 26th of June 1898.

See the obituary by T. Rupert Jones, Natural Science, vol. xiv. (January 1899).

ATHERSTONE, a market-town in the Nuneaton parliamentary division of Warwickshire, England, 102½ m. N.W. from London by the London & North-Western railway. Pop. (1901) 5248. It lies in the upper valley of the Anker, under well-wooded hills to the west, and is on the Roman Watling Street, and the Coventry canal. The once monastic church of St Mary is rebuilt, excepting the central tower and part of the chancel. The chief industry is hat-making. On the high ground to the west lie ruins of the Cistercian abbey of Merevale, founded in 1149; they include the gatehouse chapel, part of the refectory and other remains exhibiting beautiful details of the 14th century. Coal is worked at Baxterley, 3 m. west of Atherstone.

Atherstone (Aderestone, Edridestone, Edrichestone), though not mentioned in any pre-Conquest record, is of unquestionably ancient origin. A Saxon barrow was opened near the town in 1824. It is traversed by Watling Street, and portions of the ancient Roman road have been discovered in modern times. Atherstone is mentioned in Domesday among the possessions of Countess Godiva, the widow of Leofric. In the reign of Henry III. it passed to the monks of Bec in Normandy, who in 1246 obtained the grant of an annual fair at the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin, and the next year of a market every Tuesday. This market became so much frequented that in 1319 a toll was levied upon all goods coming into the town, in order to defray the cost of the repair to the roads necessitated by the constant traffic, and in 1332 a similar toll was levied on all goods passing over the bridge called Feldenbrigge near Atherstone. The September fair and Tuesday markets are still continued. In the reign of Edward III. a house of Austin Friars was founded at Atherstone by Ralph Lord Basset of Drayton, which, however, never rose to much importance, and at its dissolution in 1536 was valued at 30 shillings and 3 pence only.

ATHERTON, or Chowbent, an urban district in the Leigh parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 13 m. W.N.W. of Manchester on the London & North-Western and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Pop. (1901) 16,211. The cotton factories are the principal source of industry; there are also iron-works and collieries. The manor was held by the local family of Atherton from John’s reign to 1738, when it passed by marriage to Robert Gwillym, who assumed that name. In 1797 his eldest daughter and co-heiress married Thomas Powys, afterwards the second Lord Lilford. Up to 1891 the lord of the manor held a court-leet and court-baron annually in November, but in that year Lord Lilford sold to the local board the market tolls, stallages and pickages, and since this sale the courts have lapsed. The earliest manufactures were iron and cotton. Silk-weaving, formerly an extensive industry, has now almost entirely decayed. The first chapel or church was built in 1645. James Wood, who became Nonconformist minister in the chapel at Atherton in 1691, earned fame and the familiar title of “General” by raising a force from his congregation, uncouthly armed, to fight against the troops of the Pretender (1715).

ATHETOSIS (Gr. ἄθετος, “without place”), the medical term applied to certain slow, purposeless, deliberate movements of the hands and feet. The fingers are separately flexed and extended, abducted and adducted in an entirely irregular way. The hands as a whole are also moved, and the arms, toes and feet may be affected. The condition is usually due to some lesion of the brain which has caused hemiplegia, and is especially common in childhood. It is occasionally congenital (so called), and is then due to some injury of the brain during birth. It is more usually associated with hemiplegia, in which condition there is first of all complete voluntary immobility of the parts affected: but later, as there is a return of a certain amount of power over the limbs affected, the slow rhythmic movements of athetosis are first noticed. This never develops, however, where there is no recovery of voluntary power. Its distribution is thus nearly always hemiplegic, and it is often associated with more or less mental impairment. The movements may or may not continue during sleep. They cannot be arrested for more than a moment by will power, and are aggravated by voluntary movements. The prognosis is unsatisfactory, as the condition usually continues unchanged for years, though improvement occasionally occurs in slight cases, or even complete recovery.

ATHIAS, JOSEPH (d. 1700), Jewish rabbi and printer, was born in Spain and settled in Amsterdam. His editions of the Hebrew Bible (1661, 1667) are noted for beauty of execution and the general correctness of the text. He also printed a Judaeo-German edition of the Bible in 1679, a year after the appearance of the edition by Uri Phoebus.

ATHLETE (Gr. ἀθλητής; Lat. athleta), in Greek and Roman antiquities, one who contended for a prize (ἀθλον) in the games; now a general term for any one excelling in physical strength. Originally denoting one who took part in musical, equestrian, gymnastic, or any other competitions, the name became restricted to the competitors in gymnastic contests, and, later, to the class of professional athletes. Whereas in earlier times competitors, who were often persons of good birth and position, entered the lists for glory, without any idea of material gain, the professional class, which arose as early as the 5th century B.C., was chiefly recruited from the lower orders, with whom the better classes were unwilling to associate, and took up athletics entirely as a means of livelihood. Ancient philosophers, moralists and physicians were almost unanimous in condemning the profession of athletics as injurious not only to the mind but also to the body. The attack made upon it by Euripides in the fragment of the Autolycus is well known. The training for the contests was very rigorous. The matter of diet was of great importance; this was prescribed by the aleiptes, whose duty it also was to anoint the athlete’s body. At one time the principal food consisted of fresh cheese, dried figs and wheaten bread. Afterwards meat was introduced, generally beef, or pork; but the bread and meat were taken separately, the former at breakfast, the latter at dinner. Except in wine, the quantity was unlimited, and the capacity of some of the heavy-weights must have been, if such stories as those about Milo are true, enormous. In addition to the ordinary gymnastic exercises of the palaestra, the athletes were instructed in carrying heavy loads, lifting weights, bending iron rods, striking at a suspended leather sack filled with sand or flour, taming bulls, &c. Boxers had to practise delving the ground, to strengthen their upper limbs. The competitions open to athletes were running, leaping, throwing the discus, wrestling, boxing and the pancratium, or combination of boxing and wrestling. Victory in this last was the highest achievement of an athlete, and was reserved only for men of extraordinary strength. The competitors were naked, having their bodies salved with oil. Boxers wore the caestus, a strap of leather round the wrists and forearms, with a piece of metal in the fist, which was sometimes employed with great barbarity. An athlete could begin his career as a boy in the contests set apart for boys. He could appear again as a youth against his equals, and though always unsuccessful, could go on competing till the age of thirty-five, when he was debarred, it being assumed that after this period of life he could not improve. The most celebrated of the Greek athletes whose names have been handed down are Milo of Crotona, Hipposthenes, Polydamas, Promachus and Glaucus. Cyrene, famous in the time of Pindar for its athletes, appears to have still maintained its reputation to at least the time of Alexander the Great; for in the British Museum are to be seen six prize vases carried off from the games at Athens by natives of that district. These vases, found in the tombs, probably, of the winners, are made of clay, and painted on one side with a representation of the contest in which they were won, and on the other side with a figure of Pallas Athena, with an inscription telling where they were gained, and in some cases adding the name of the eponymous magistrate of Athens, from which the exact year can be determined.

Amongst the Romans athletic contests had no doubt taken place from the earliest times, but according to Livy (xxxix. 22) professional Greek athletes were first introduced at Rome by M. Fulvius Nobilior in 186 B.C. After the institution of the Actian games by Augustus, their popularity increased, until they finally supplanted the gladiators. In the time of the empire, gilds or unions of athletes were formed, each with a temple, treasury and exercise-ground of its own. The profession, although it ranked above that of a gladiator or an actor, was looked upon as derogatory to the dignity of a Roman, and it is a rare thing to find a Roman name amongst the athletes on inscriptions. The system was entirely, and the athletes themselves nearly always, Greek. (See also Games, Classical.)

Krause, Gymnastik und Agonistik der Hellenen (1841); Friedländer, Sittengeschichte Roms, ii.; Reisch, in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyc.

ATHLETIC SPORTS. Various sports were cultivated many hundred years before the Christian era by the Egyptians and several Asiatic races, from whom the early Greeks undoubtedly adopted the elements of their athletic exercises (see Athlete), which reached their highest development in the Olympic games, and other periodical meetings of the kind (see Games, Classical). The original Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain were an athletic race, and the earliest monuments of Teutonic literature abound in records of athletic prowess. After the Norman conquest of England the nobles devoted themselves to the chase and to the joust, while the people had their games of ball, running at the quintain, fencing with club and buckler, wrestling and other pastimes on green and river. The chroniclers of the succeeding centuries are for the most part silent concerning the sports of the folk, except such as were regarded as a training for war, as archery, while they love to record the prowess of the kings and their courts. Thus it is told of Henry V. that he “was so swift a runner that he and two of his lords, without bow or other engine, would take a wild buck in a large park.” Several romances of the middle ages, quoted by Strutt (Sports and Pastimes of the People of England), chronicle the fact that young men of good family were taught to run, leap, wrestle and joust. In spite of the general silence of the historians concerning the sports of the people, it is evident that they were indulged in very largely, since several English sovereigns found it necessary to curtail, and even prohibit, certain popular pastimes, on the ground that they seduced the people from the practice of archery. Thus Edward III. prohibited weight-putting by statute. Nevertheless a variety of this exercise, “casting of the barre,” continued to be a popular pastime, and was afterwards one of the favourite sports of Henry VIII., who attained great proficiency at it. The prowess of the same monarch at throwing the hammer is a matter of history, and his reign seems to have been at a time of general athletic revival. We even find his secretary, Richard Pace, advising the sons of noblemen to practise their sports and “leave study and learning to the children of meaner people,” and Sir William Forest, in his Poesye of Princeelye Practice, thus admonishes his high-born readers:—

“In featis of maistries bestowe some diligence.

Too ryde, runne, lepe, or caste by violence

Stone, barre or plummett, or such other thinge,

It not refuseth any prince or kynge.”

Mr Montague Shearman, to whose volume on Athletics in the Badminton series the reader is referred, notes that Sir Thomas Elyot, who wrote at about the same period, deprecated too much study and flogging for schoolboys, saying: “A discrete master may with as much or more ease both to himself and his scholler lead him to play at tennis or shoote.” Elyot recommends the perusal of Galen’s De sanitate tuenda, and suggests as suitable athletic exercises within doors “deambulations, labouryng with poyses made of ledde, lifting and throwing the heavy stone or barre, playing at tennis,” and dwells upon “rennyng” as a “good exercise and laudable solace.” It is probable that the disciples of the “new learning,” who had become prominent in Sir Thomas’s time, endeavoured to combat the influence of athletic exercises, their point of view being exemplified by the dictum of Roger Ascham, who, in his Toxophilus, declares that “running, leaping and quoiting be too vile for scholars.”

In the 16th century the great football match played annually at Chester was abolished in favour of a series of foot-races, which took place in the presence of the mayor. A list of the common sports of that time is contained in some verses by Randel Holme, a minstrel of the North country, and makes mention of throwing the sledge, jumping, “wrastling,” stool-ball (cricket), running, pitching the bar, shooting, playing loggets, “nine holes or ten pins,” “football by the shinnes,” leap-frog, morris, shove-groat, leaping the bonfire, stow-ball (golf), and many other outdoor and indoor sports, some of them now obsolete. Shakespeare and the other Elizabethan poets abound in allusions to sport, which formed an important feature in school life and at every fair. The Stuart kings were warm encouragers of sport, the Basilikon Doron of James I., written for his son, containing a recommendation to the young prince to practise “running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dancing, and playing at the caitch, or tennise, archerie, palle-malle, and such like other fair and pleasant field games.”

An extraordinary variety of sports has been popular in Great Britain with high and low for the past five centuries, no other country comparing with it in this respect. Nor have Ireland and Scotland lagged behind England in athletic prowess. Indeed, so far as history and legend record, Ireland boasts of by far the most ancient organized sports known, the Tailtin Games, or Lugnasad, traditionally established by Lugaid of the Long Arm, one of the gods of Dia and Ana, in honour of his foster-mother Tailti, some three thousand years ago. For many centuries these games, and others like them, were kept up in Ireland, and though the almost constant wars which harried the country finally destroyed their organization, yet the Irish have always been, and still are, a very important factor in British athletics, as well as in America and the colonies.

The Scottish people have, like the Irish, ever delighted in feats of strength and skill, especially the Celtic highlanders, the character of whose country and mode of life have, however, prevented organized athletics from attaining the same prominence as in England. Nevertheless, the celebrated Highland games held at Braemar, Bridge of Allan, Luss, Aboyne and other places have served to bring into prominence many athletes of the first class, although the records, on account of the roughness of the grounds, have not generally vied with those made farther south.

The Briton does not lose his love of sport upon leaving his native soil, and the development of athletics in the United States and the British colonies has kept step with that of the mother-land. Upon the continent of Europe sports have occupied a more or less prominent place in the life of the nations, but their development has been but an echo of that in Great Britain. A great advance, however, has been made since the institution of the modern Olympic games.

About the year 1812 the Royal Military College at Sandhurst inaugurated regular athletic sports, but the example was not followed until about 1840, when Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Shrewsbury and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich came to the front, the “Crick Run” at Rugby having been started in 1837. At the two great English universities there were no organized sports of any kind until 1850, when Exeter College, Oxford, held a meeting; this example has been followed, one after the other, by the other colleges of both institutions. The first contest between Oxford and Cambridge occurred at Oxford in 1864, the programme consisting of eight events, of which four were won by each side. The same year saw the first contest of the Civil Servants, still an annual event.

In 1866 the Amateur Athletic Club was formed in London for “gentlemen amateurs,” most of its members being old university men. Its first championship meeting, held in that year, was the beginning of a series afterwards continued to the present day by the Amateur Athletic Association, founded in 1880, which has jurisdiction over British athletic sports. The most important individual English athletic organization is the London Athletic Club, which antedated the Amateur Athletic Club, and whose meetings have always been the most important events except the championships.

In America a revival of interest in athletic sports took place about the year 1870. Ten years later was formed the National Association of Amateur Athletes of America, which, in 1888, became the Amateur Athletic Union. This body controls athletics throughout the United States, and is allied with the Canadian Amateur Athletic Association. It is supreme in matters of amateur status, records and licensing of meetings, and has control over the following branches of sport: basket-ball, billiards, boxing, fencing (in connexion with the Amateur Fencers’ League of America), gymnastics, hand-ball (fives), running, jumping, walking, weight-putting (hammer, shot, discus, weights), hurdle-racing, lacrosse, pole-vaulting, swimming, tugs-of-war and wrestling. The Amateur Athletic Union has eight sectional groups, and is allied with the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (founded 1876) and the Western Intercollegiate Association. The first American intercollegiate athletic meeting took place at Saratoga in 1873, only three universities competing, though the next year there were eight and in 1875 thirteen. Professional athletes in America are confined almost entirely to base-ball, boxing, bicycling, wrestling and physical training.

The Canadian athletic championships are held independently of the American. Annual championship meetings are also held in South Africa, New Zealand and the different states of Australia. For the Australasian championships New Zealand joins with Australia.

The organization of university sports in America differs from that at Oxford and Cambridge, where there is no official control on the part of the university authorities, and where a man is eligible to represent his college or university while in residence. In nearly all American universities and colleges athletic and other sports are under the general control of faculty committees, to which the undergraduate athletic committees are subordinate, and which have the power to forbid the participation of any student who has not attained a certain standard of scholarship. For some years prior to 1906 no student of an American university was allowed to represent his university in any sport for longer than four years. Early in that year, however, many of the most important institutions, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Pennsylvania, entered upon a new agreement, that only students who have been in residence one year should play in ’varsity teams in any branch of athletics and that no student should play longer than three years. This, together with many other reformatory changes, was directly due to a widespread outcry against the growing roughness of play exhibited in American football, basket-ball, hockey and other sports, the too evident desire to win at all hazards, the extraordinary luxury of the training equipment, and the enormous gate-receipts of many of the large institutions—the Yale Athletic Association held a surplus of about $100,000 (£20,000) in December 1905, after deducting immense amounts for expenses. The new rule against the participation of freshmen in ’varsity sports was to discourage the practice of offering material advantages of different kinds to promising athletes, generally those at preparatory schools, to induce them to become students at certain universities.

At the present day athletic sports are usually understood to consist of those events recognized in the championship programmes of the different countries. Those in the competitions between Oxford and Cambridge are the 100 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1-mile and 3-mile runs; 120 yards hurdle-race; high and long jumps; throwing the hammer; and putting the weight (shot). To the above list the English A.A.A. adds the 4-mile and 10-mile runs; the 2-mile and 7-mile walking races; the 2-mile steeplechase; and the pole-vault. The American intercollegiate programme is identical with that of the Oxford-Cambridge meeting, except that a 2-mile run takes the place of the 3-mile, and the pole-vault is added. The American A.A.U. programme includes the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 1-mile and 5-mile runs; 120 yards high-hurdle race; 220 yards low-hurdle race; high and broad (long) jumps; throwing the hammer; throwing 56-℔ weight; putting 16-℔ shot; throwing the discus; and pole-vault. Of these the running contests are called “track athletics,” and the rest “field” events.

International athletic contests of any importance have, with the exception of the modern Olympic games, invariably taken place between Britons, Americans and Canadians, the continental European countries having as yet produced few track or field athletes of the first class, although the interest in sports in general has greatly increased in Europe during the last ten years. In 1844 George Seward, an American professional runner, visited England and competed with success against the best athletes there; and in 1863 Louis Bennett, called “Deerfoot,” a full-blooded Seneca Indian, repeated Seward’s triumphs, establishing running records up to 12 miles. In 1878 the Canadian, C.C. McIvor, champion sprinter of America, went to England, but failed to beat his British professional rivals. In 1881 L.E. Myers of New York and E.E. Merrill of Boston competed successfully in England, Myers winning every short-distance championship except the 100-yards, and Merrill all the walking championships save the 7-miles. The same year W.C. Davies of England won the 5-mile championship of America, but, like several other British runners who have had success in America, he competed under the colours of an American club. In 1882 the famous English runner, W.G. George, ran against Myers in America in races of 1 mile, ¾ mile and ½ mile, winning over the first two distances. In 1884 Myers again went to England and made new British records over 500, 600, 800 and 1000 yards, and world’s records over ½ mile and 1200 yards. The next year he won both the British ¼-mile and ½-mile championships. The same year a team of Irish athletes, among them W.J.M. Barry, won several Canadian championships. In 1888 a team of the Manhattan Athletic Club, New York, competed in England with fair success, and during the same season an Irish team from the Gaelic Athletic Association visited America without much success. In 1890 a team from the Salford Harriers was invited to America by the Manhattan Athletic Club, but the evidently commercial character of the enterprise caused its failure. One of the Harriers, E.W. Parry, won the American steeplechase championship. The next year saw another visit to Europe of the Manhattan athletes, who had fair success in England and won every event at Paris. In 1895 the London Athletic Club team competed in New York against the New York Athletic Club, but lost every one of the eleven events, several new records being established. During the previous summer (1894) occurred the first of the international matches between British and American universities which still retain their place as the most interesting athletic event. In that contest, which took place at Queen’s Club, London, Oxford beat Yale by 5½ to 3½ events. The next summer Cambridge, as the champion English university, visited America and was beaten by Yale (3 to 8). In 1899 both British universities competed at Queen’s Club against the combined athletes of Harvard and Yale, who were beaten by the odd event. The return match took place between the same universities at New York in the summer of 1901, the Americans winning 6 to 3 events. In 1904 Harvard and Yale beat Oxford and Cambridge at Queen’s Club by the same score.

Outside Great Britain and America the most important athletic events are undoubtedly the revived Olympic games. They were instituted by delegates from the different nations who met in Paris on the 16th of June 1894, principally at the instigation of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the result being the formation of an International Olympic Games Committee with Baron de Coubertin at its head, which resolved that games should be held every fourth year in a different country. The first modern Olympiad took place at Athens, 6th to 12th April 1896, in the ancient stadium, which was rebuilt through the liberality of a Greek merchant and seated about 45,000 people. The programme of events included the usual field and track sports, gymnastics, wrestling, pole-climbing, lawn tennis, fencing, rifle and revolver shooting, weight-lifting, swimming, the Marathon race and bicycle racing. Among the contestants were representatives of nearly every European nation, besides Americans and Australians. Great Britain took little direct interest in the occasion and was inadequately represented, but the United States sent five men from Boston and four from Princeton University, who, though none of them held American championships, succeeded in winning every event for which they were entered. The Marathon race of 42 kilometres (26 miles), commemorative of the famous run of the Greek messenger to Athens with the news of the victory of Marathon, was won by a Greek peasant. The second Olympiad was held in Paris in June 1900. Again Great Britain was poorly represented, but American athletes won eighteen of the twenty-four championship events. The third Olympiad was held at St Louis in the summer of 1904 in connexion with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, its success being due in great measure to James E. Sullivan, the physical director of the Exposition, and Caspar Whitney, the president of the American Olympic Games Committee. The games were much more numerous than at the previous Olympiads, including sports of all kinds, handicaps, inter-club competitions, and contests for aborigines. In the track and field competitions the American athletes won every championship except weight-throwing (56 ℔) and lifting the bar. The sports of the savages, among whom were American Indians, Africans of several tribes, Moros, Patagonians, Syrians, Ainus and Filipinos, were disappointing; their efforts in throwing the javelin, shooting with bow and arrow, weight-lifting, running and jumping, proving to be feeble compared with those of white races. The Americanized Indians made the best showing.

The Greeks, however, were not altogether satisfied with the cosmopolitan character of the revival of these celebrated games of their ancestors, and resolved to give the revival a more definitely Hellenic stamp by intercalating an additional series, to take place at Athens, in the middle of the quadrennial period. Their action was justified by the success which attended the first of this additional series at Athens in 1906. This success may have been partly due to the personal interest taken in the games by the king and royal family of Greece, and to the presence of King Edward VII., Queen Alexandra, and the prince and princess of Wales; but to whatever cause it should be assigned it was generally acknowledged that neither in France nor in America had the games acquired the same prestige as those held on the classical soil of Greece. In 1906 the governments of Germany, France and the United States made considerable grants of money to defray the expenses of the competitors from those countries. These games aroused much more interest in England than the earlier ones in the series, but though upwards of fifty British competitors took part in the contests, they were by no means representative in all cases of the best British athletics. The American representatives were slightly less numerous, but they were more successful. It was noteworthy that no British or Americans took part in the rowing races in the Bay of Phalerum, nor in the tennis, football or shooting competitions. The Marathon race, by far the most important event in the games, was won in 1906 by a British athlete, M.D. Sherring, a Canadian by birth. The Americans won a total of 75 prizes, the British 39, and the Swedes and Greeks each 28.

The games of the 4th Olympiad (1908) were held in London in connexion with the Franco-British Exhibition of that year. An immense sensation was caused by the finish for the Marathon race from Windsor Castle to the stadium in the Exhibition grounds in London. The first competitor to arrive was the Italian, Dorando Pietri, whose condition of physical collapse was such that, appearing to be on the point of death, he had to be assisted over the last few yards of the course. He was therefore disqualified, and J. Hayes, an American, was adjudged the winner; a special prize was presented to the Italian by Queen Alexandra. In the whole series of contests the United Kingdom made 38 wins, the Americans 22, and the Swedes 7. In the Olympic games proper, British athletes, including two wins by colonials from Canada and Africa, scored 25 successes, and the Americans 18. In the track events 8 wins fell to the British, including two Colonials, and 6 to American athletes; but the latter gained complete supremacy in the field events, of which they won 9, while British competitors secured only two of minor importance.

For records, &c., see the annual Sporting and Athletic Register; for the Olympic games see Theodore Andrea Cook’s volume, published in connexion with the Olympiad of 1908.

ATHLONE, a market-town of Co. Westmeath, Ireland, on both banks of the Shannon. Pop. of urban district (1901) 6617. The urban district, under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1900, is wholly in county Westmeath, but the same area is divided by the Shannon between the parliamentary divisions of South Westmeath and South Roscommon. Athlone is 78 m. W. from Dublin by the Midland Great Western railway, and is also served by a branch from Portarlington of the Great Southern & Western line, providing an alternative and somewhat longer route from the capital. The main line of the former company continues W. to Galway, and a branch N.W. serves counties Roscommon and Mayo. The Shannon divides the town into two portions, known as the Leinster side (east), and the Connaught side (west), which are connected by a handsome bridge opened in 1844. There is a swivel railway bridge. The rapids of the Shannon at this point are obviated by means of a lock communication with a basin, which renders the navigation of the river practicable above the town. The steamers of the Shannon Development Company ply on the river, and some trade by water is carried on with Limerick, and with Dublin by the river and the Grand and Royal canals. Athlone is an important agricultural centre, and there are woollen factories. The salmon fishing both provides sport and is a source of commercial wealth. There are two parish churches, St Mary and St Peter, both erected early in the 19th century, of which the first has near it an isolated church tower of earlier date. There are three Roman Catholic chapels, a court-house and other public offices. Early remains include portions of the castle, of the town walls (1576), of the abbey of St Peter and of a Franciscan foundation. On several islands of the picturesque Lough Ree, to the north, are ecclesiastical and other remains.

The military importance of Athlone dates from the erection of the castle and of a bridge over the river by John de Grey, bishop of Norwich and justiciar of Ireland, in 1210. It became the seat of the presidency of Connaught under Elizabeth, and withstood a siege by the insurgents in 1641. In the war of 1688 the possession of Athlone was considered of the greatest importance, and it consequently sustained two sieges, the first by William III. in person, which failed, and the second by General Godart van Ginkel (q.v.), who, on the 30th of June 1691, in the face of the Irish, forded the river and took possession of the town, with the loss of only fifty men. Ginkel was subsequently created earl of Athlone, and his descendants held the title till it became extinct in 1844. In 1797 the town was strongly fortified on the Roscommon side, the works covering 15 acres and containing two magazines, an ordnance store, an armoury with 15,000 stands of arms and barracks for 1500 men. The works are now dismantled. Athlone was incorporated by James I., and returned two members to the Irish parliament, and one member to the imperial parliament till 1885.

ATHOL, a township of Worcester county, northern Massachusetts, U.S.A., having an area of 35 sq. m. Pop. (1900) 7061, of whom 986 were foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 8536. Its surface is irregular and hilly. The village of Athol is on Miller’s river, and is served by the Boston & Albany and the Boston & Maine railways. The streams of the township furnish good water-power, and manufactures of varied character are its leading interests. Athol was first settled in 1735, and was incorporated as a township in 1762. It was named by its largest landowner Col. James Murray, after the ancestral home of the Murrays, dukes of Atholl.

See L.B. Caswell, Athol, Mass., Past and Present (Athol, 1899).

ATHOLL, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The Stewart line of the Scottish earls of Atholl, which ended with the 5th Stewart earl in 1595, the earldom reverting to the crown, had originated with Sir John Stewart of Balveny (d. 1512), who was created earl of Atholl about 1457 (new charter 1481). The 5th earl’s daughter, Dorothea, married William Murray, earl of Tullibardine (cr. 1606), who in 1626 resigned his earldom in favour of Sir Patrick Murray, on condition of the revival of the earldom of Atholl in his wife and her descendants. The earldom thus passed to the Murray line, and John Murray, their only son (d. 1642), was accordingly acknowledged as earl of Atholl (the 1st of the Murrays) in 1629.

John Stewart, 4th earl of Atholl, in the Stewart line (d. 1579), son of John, 3rd earl, and of Grizel, daughter of Sir John Rattray, succeeded his father in 1542. He supported the government of the queen dowager, and in 1560 was one of the three nobles who voted in parliament against the Reformation and the Confession of Faith, and declared their adherence to Roman Catholicism. Subsequently, however, he joined the league against Huntly, whom with Murray and Morton he defeated at Corrichie in October 1562, and he supported the projected marriage of Elizabeth with Arran. On the arrival of Mary from France in 1561 he was appointed one of the twelve privy councillors, and on account of his religion obtained a greater share of the queen’s favour than either Murray or Maitland. He was one of the principal supporters of the marriage with Darnley, became the leader of the Roman Catholic nobles, and with Lennox obtained the chief power in the government, successfully protecting Mary and Darnley from Murray’s attempts to regain his ascendancy by force of arms. According to Knox he openly attended mass in the queen’s chapel, and was especially trusted by Mary in her project of reinstating Roman Catholicism. The fortress of Tantallon was placed in his keeping, and in 1565 he was made lieutenant of the north of Scotland. He is described the same year by the French ambassador as “très grand catholique hardi et vaillant et remuant, comme l’on dict, mais de nul jugement et expérience.” He had no share in the murders of Rizzio or Darnley, and after the latter crime in 1567, he joined the Protestant lords against Mary, appeared as one of the leaders against her at Carberry Hill, and afterwards approved of her imprisonment at Lochleven Castle. In July he was present at the coronation of James, and was included in the council of regency on Mary’s abdication. He, however, was not present at Langside in May 1568, and in July became once more a supporter of Mary, voting for her divorce from Bothwell (1569). In March 1570 he signed with other lords the joint letter to Elizabeth asking for the queen’s intercession and supporting Mary’s claims, and was present at the convention held at Linlithgow in April in opposition to the assembly of the king’s party at Edinburgh. In 1574 he was proceeded against as a Roman Catholic and threatened with excommunication, subsequently holding a conference with the ministers and being allowed till midsummer to overcome his scruples. He had failed in 1572 to prevent Morton’s appointment to the regency, but in 1578 he succeeded with the earl of Argyll in driving him from office. On the 24th of March James took the government into his own hands and dissolved the regency, and Atholl and Argyll, to the exclusion of Morton, were made members of the council, while on the 29th Atholl was appointed lord chancellor. Subsequently, on the 24th of May, Morton succeeded in getting into Stirling Castle and in regaining his guardianship of James. Atholl and Argyll, who were now corresponding with Spain in hopes of assistance from that quarter, then advanced to Stirling with a force of 7000 men, when a compromise was arranged, the three earls being all included in the government. While on his way from a banquet held on the 20th of April 1579 on the occasion of the reconciliation, Atholl was seized with sudden illness, and died on the 25th, not without strong suspicions of poison. He was buried at St. Giles’s cathedral in Edinburgh. He married (1) Elizabeth, daughter of George Gordon, 4th earl of Huntly, by whom he had two daughters, and (2) Margaret, daughter of Malcolm Fleming, 3rd Lord Fleming, by whom, besides three daughters, he had John, 5th earl of Atholl, at whose death in 1595 the earldom in default of male heirs reverted to the crown.

John Murray, 1st earl of Atholl in the Murray line (see above), died in 1642. On the outbreak of the civil war he called out the men of Atholl for the king, and was imprisoned by the marquess of Argyll in Stirling Castle in 1640.

John Murray, 2nd earl and 1st marquess of Atholl (1631-1703), son of the 1st earl and of Jean, daughter of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, was born on the 2nd of May 1631. In 1650 he joined in the unsuccessful attempt to liberate Charles II. from the Covenanters, and in 1653 was the chief supporter of Glencairn’s rising, but was obliged to surrender with his two regiments to Monk on the 2nd of September 1654. At the restoration Atholl was made a privy councillor for Scotland and sheriff of Fife, in 1661 lord justice-general of Scotland, in 1667 a commissioner for keeping the peace in the western Highlands, in 1670 colonel of the king’s horseguards, in 1671 a commissioner of the exchequer, and in 1672 keeper of the privy seal in Scotland and an extraordinary lord of session. In 1670 he became earl of Tullibardine by the death of his cousin James, 4th earl, and on the 7th of February 1676 he was created marquess of Atholl, earl of Tullibardine, viscount of Balquhidder, Lord Murray, Balvenie and Cask. He at first zealously supported Lauderdale’s tyrannical policy, but after the raid of 1678, called the “Highland Host,” in which Atholl was one of the chief leaders, he joined in the remonstrance to the king concerning the severities inflicted upon the Covenanters, and was deprived of his office of justice-general and passed over for the chancellorship in 1681. In 1679, however, he was present at the battle of Bothwell Brig; in July 1680 he was made vice-admiral of Scotland, and in 1681 president of parliament. In 1684 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Argyll, and invaded the country, capturing the earl of Argyll after his return from abroad in June 1685 at Inchinnan. The excessive severities with which he was charged in this campaign were repudiated with some success by him after the Revolution.1 The same year he was reappointed lord privy seal, and in 1687 was made a knight of the Thistle on the revival of the order. At the Revolution he wavered from one side to the other, showing no settled purpose but waiting upon the event, but finally in April 1689 wrote to William to declare his allegiance, and in May took part in the proclamation of William and Mary as king and queen at Edinburgh. But on the occasion of Dundee’s insurrection he retired to Bath to drink the waters, while the bulk of his followers joined Dundee and brought about in great measure the defeat of the government troops at Killiecrankie. He was then summoned from Bath to London and imprisoned during August. In 1690 he was implicated in the Montgomery plot and subsequently in further Jacobite intrigues. In June 1691 he received a pardon, and acted later for the government in the pacification of the Highlands. He died on the 6th of May 1703. He married Amelia, daughter of James Stanley, 7th earl of Derby (through whom the later dukes of Atholl acquired the sovereignty of the Isle of Man), and had, besides one daughter, six sons, of whom John became 2nd marquess and 1st duke of Atholl; Charles was made 1st earl of Dunmore, and William married Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Nairne, 1st Lord Nairne, becoming in her right 2nd Lord Nairne.

John Murray, 2nd marquess and 1st duke of Atholl (1660-1724), was born on the 24th of February 1660, and was styled during his father’s lifetime Lord Murray, till 1696, when he was created earl of Tullibardine. He was a supporter of William and the Revolution in 1688, taking the oaths in September 1689, but was unable to prevent the majority of his clan, during his father’s absence, from joining Dundee under the command of his brother James. In 1693 as one of the commissioners he showed great energy in the examination into the massacre of Glencoe and in bringing the crime home to its authors. In 1694 he obtained a regiment, in 1695 was made sheriff of Perth, in 1696 secretary of state, and from 1696 to 1698 was high commissioner. In the latter year, however, he threw up office and went into opposition. At the accession of Anne he was made a privy councillor, and in 1703 lord privy seal for Scotland. The same year he succeeded his father as 2nd marquess of Atholl, and on the 30th of June he was created duke of Atholl, marquess of Tullibardine, earl of Strathtay and Strathardle, Viscount Balquhidder, Glenalmond and Glenlyon, and Lord Murray, Balvenie and Gask. In 1704 he was made a knight of the Thistle. In 1703-1704 an unsuccessful attempt was made by Simon, Lord Lovat, who used the duke of Queensberry as a tool, to implicate him in a Jacobite plot against Queen Anne; but the intrigue was disclosed by Robert Ferguson, and Atholl sent a memorial to the queen on the subject, which resulted in Queensberry’s downfall. But he fell nevertheless into suspicion, and was deprived of office in October 1705, subsequently becoming a strong antagonist of the government, and of the Hanoverian succession. He vehemently opposed the Union during the years 1705-1707, and entered into a project for resisting by force and for holding Stirling Castle with the aid of the Cameronians, but nevertheless did not refuse a compensation of £1000. According to Lockhart, he could raise 6000 of the best men in the kingdom for the Jacobites. On the occasion, however, of the invasion of 1708 he took no part, on the score of illness, and was placed under arrest at Blair Castle. On the downfall of the Whigs and the advent of the Tories to power, Atholl returned to office, was chosen a representative peer in the Lords in 1710 and 1713, in 1712 was an extraordinary lord of session, from 1713 to 1714 was once more keeper of the privy seal, and from 1712 to 1714 was high commissioner. On the accession of George I. he was again dismissed from office, but at the rebellion of 1715, while three of his sons joined the Jacobites, he remained faithful to the government, whom he assisted in various ways, on the 4th of June 1717 apprehending Robert Macgregor (Rob Roy), who, however, succeeded in escaping. He died on the 14th of November 1724. He married (1) Catherine, daughter of William Douglas, 3rd duke of Hamilton, by whom, besides one daughter, he had six sons, of whom John was killed at Malplaquet in 1709, William was marquess of Tullibardine, and James succeeded his father as 2nd duke on account of the share taken by his elder brother in the rebellion; and (2) Mary, daughter of William, Lord Ross, by whom he had three sons and several daughters.

The Atholl Chronicles have been privately printed by the 7th duke of Atholl (b. 1840). See also S. Cowan, Three Celtic Earldoms (1909).

1 A. Lang, Hist. of Scotland, iii. 407.

ATHOLL, or Athole, a district in the north of Perthshire, Scotland, covering an area of about 450 sq. m. It is bounded on the N. by Badenoch, on the N.E. by Braemar, on the E. by Forfarshire, on the S. by Breadalbane, on the W. and N.W. by Lochaber. The Highland railway bisects it diagonally from Dunkeld to the borders of Inverness-shire. It is traversed by the Grampian mountains and watered by the Tay, Tummel, Garry, Tilt, Bruar and other streams. Glen Garry and Glen Tilt are the chief glens, and Loch Rannoch and Loch Tummel the principal lakes. The population mainly centres around Dunkeld, Pitlochry and Blair Atholl. The only cultivable soil occurs in the valleys of the large rivers, but the deer-forest and the shootings on moor and mountain are among the most extensive in Scotland. It is said to have been named Athfotla (Atholl) after Fotla, son of the Pictish king Cruithne, and was under the rule of a Celtic mormaer (thane or earl) until the union of the Picts and Scots under Kenneth Macalpine in 843. The duke of Atholl’s seats are Blair Castle and Dunkeld House. What is called Atholl brose is a compound, in equal parts, of whisky and honey (or oatmeal), which was first commonly used in the district for hoarseness and sore throat.

ATHOS (Gr. Ἄγιον Ὄρος; Turk. Aineros; Ital. Monte Santo), the most eastern of the three peninsular promontories which extend, like the prongs of a trident, southwards from the coast of Macedonia (European Turkey) into the Aegean Sea. Before the 19th century the name Athos was usually confined to the terminal peak of the promontory, which was itself known by its ancient name, Acte. The peak rises like a pyramid, with a steep summit of white marble, to a height of 6350 ft., and can be seen at sunset from the plain of Troy on the east, and the slopes of Olympus on the west. On the isthmus are distinct traces of the canal cut by Xerxes before his invasion of Greece in 480 B.C. The peninsula is remarkable for the beauty of its scenery, and derives a peculiar interest from its unique group of monastic communities with their medieval customs and institutions, their treasures of Byzantine art and rich collections of documents. It is about 40 m. in length, with a breadth varying from 4 to 7 m.; its whole area belongs to the various monasteries. It was inhabited in the earliest times by a mixed Greek and Thracian population; of its five cities mentioned by Herodotus few traces remain; some inscriptions discovered on the sites were published by W.M. Leake (Travels in N. Greece, 1835, iii. 140) and Kinch. The legends of the monks attribute the first religious settlements to the age of Constantine (274-337), but the hermitages are first mentioned in historical documents of the 9th century. It is conjectured that the mountain was at an earlier period the abode of anchorites, whose numbers were increased by fugitives from the iconoclastic persecutions (726-842). The “coenobian” rule to which many of the monasteries still adhere was established by St Athanasius, the founder of the great monastery of Laura, in 969. Under a constitution approved by the emperor Constantine Monomachos in 1045, women and female animals were excluded from the holy mountain. In 1060 the community was withdrawn from the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople, and a monastic republic was practically constituted. The taking of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204 brought persecution and pillage on the monks; this reminded them of earlier Saracenic invasions, and led them to appeal for protection to Pope Innocent III., who gave them a favourable reply. Under the Palaeologi (1260-1453) they recovered their prosperity, and were enriched by gifts from various sources. In the 14th century the peninsula became the chosen retreat of several of the emperors, and the monasteries were thrown into commotion by the famous dispute over the mystical Hesychasts.

Owing to the timely submission of the monks to the Turks after the capture of Salonica (1430), their privileges were respected by successive sultans: a tribute is paid to the Turkish government, which is represented by a resident kaimakam, and the community is allowed to maintain a small police force. Under the present constitution, which dates from 1783, the general affairs of the commonwealth are entrusted to an assembly (σύναξις) of twenty members, one from each monastery; a committee of four members, chosen in turn, styled epistatae (ἐπιστάται), forms the executive. The president of the committee (ὁ πρῶτος) is also the president of the assembly, which holds its sittings in the village of Karyes, the seat of government since the 10th century. The twenty monasteries, which all belong to the order of St Basil, are: Laura (ἡ Λαῦρα), founded in 963; Vatopédi (Βατοπέδιον), said to have been founded by the emperor Theodosius; Rossikon (Ῥωσσικόν), the Russian monastery of St Panteleïmon; Chiliándari (Χιλιαντάριον: supposed to be derived from χίλιοι ἄνδρες or χίλια λεοντάρια), founded by the Servian prince Stephen Nemanya (1159-1195); Iveron (ἡ μονὴ τῶν Ἰβήρων), founded by Iberians, or Georgians; Esphigmenu (τοῦ Ἐσφιγμένου: the name is derived from the confined situation of the monastery); Kutlumush (Κουτλουμούση); Pandocratoros (τοῦ Παντοκράτορος); Philotheu (Φιλοθέου); Caracallu (τοῦ Καρακάλλου); St Paul (τοῦ ἁγίου Παύλου); St Denis (τοῦ ἁγίου Διονυσίου); St Gregory (τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου); Simópetra (Σιμόπετρα); Xeropotámu (τοῦ Ξηροποτάμου); St Xenophon (τοῦ ἁγίου Ξενοφῶντος); Dochiaríu (Δοχειαρείου); Constamonítu (Κωνσταμονίτου); Zográphu (τοῦ Ζωγράφου); and Stavronikítu (τοῦ Σταυρονικίτου, the last built, founded in 1545). The “coenobian” monasteries (κοινόβια), each under the rule of an abbot (ἡγοόμενος), are subjected to severe discipline; the brethren are clothed alike, take their meals (usually limited to bread and vegetables) in the refectory, and possess no private property. In the “idiorrhythmic” monasteries (ἰδιόρρυθμα), which are governed by two or three annually elected wardens (ἐπίτροποι), a less stringent rule prevails, and the monks are allowed to supplement the fare of the monastery from their private incomes. Dependent on the several monasteries are twelve sketae (σκῆται) or monastic settlements, some of considerable size, in which a still more ascetic mode of life prevails: there are, in addition, several farms (μετοχία), and many hundred sanctuaries with adjoining habitations (κελλία) and hermitages (ἀσκητήρια). The monasteries, with the exception of Rossikón (St Panteleïmon) and the Serbo-Bulgarian Chiliándari and Zográphu, are occupied exclusively by Greek monks. The large skete of St Andrew and some others belong to the Russians; there are also Rumanian and Georgian sketae. The great monastery of Rossikón, which is said to number about 3000 inmates, has been under a Russian abbot since 1875; it is regarded as one of the principal centres of the Russian politico-religious propaganda in the Levant. The tasteless style of its modern buildings is out of harmony with the quaint beauty of the other monasteries. Furnished with ample means, the Russian monks neglect no opportunity of adding to their possessions on the holy mountain; their encroachments are resisted by the Greek monks, whose wealth, however, was much diminished by the secularization of their estates in Rumania (1864). The population of the holy mountain numbers from 6000 to 7000; about 3000 are monks (καλόγεροι), the remainder being lay brothers (κοσμικοί). The monasteries, which are all fortified, generally consist of large quadrangles enclosing churches; standing amid rich foliage, they present a wonderfully picturesque appearance, especially when viewed from the sea. Their inmates, when not engaged in religious services, occupy themselves with husbandry, fishing and various handicrafts; the standard of intellectual culture is not high. A large academy, founded by the monks of Vatopedi in 1749, for a time attracted students from all parts of the East, but eventually proved a failure, and is now in ruins. The muniment rooms of the monasteries contain a marvellous series of documents, including chrysobulls of various emperors and princes, sigilla of the patriarchs, typica, iradés and other documents, the study of which will throw an important light on the political and ecclesiastical history and social life of the East from the middle of the 10th century. Up to comparatively recent times a priceless collection of classical manuscripts was preserved in the libraries; many of them were destroyed during the War of Greek Independence (1821-1829) by the Turks, who employed the parchments for the manufacture of cartridges; others fell a prey to the neglect or vandalism of the monks, who, it is said, used the material as bait in fishing; others have been sold to visitors, and a considerable number have been removed to Moscow and Paris. The library of Simopetra was destroyed by fire in 1891, and that of St Paul in 1905. There is now little hope of any important discovery of classical manuscripts. The codices remaining in the libraries are for the most part theological and ecclesiastical works. Of the Greek manuscripts, numbering about 11,000, 6618 have been catalogued by Professor Spyridion Lambros of Athens; his work, however, does not include the MSS. in some of the sketae, or those in the libraries of Laura and Vatopedi, of which catalogues (hitherto unpublished) have been prepared by resident monks. The canonic MSS. only of Vatopedi and Laura have been catalogued by Benessevich in the supplement to vol. ix. of the Bizantiyskiy Vremennik (St Petersburg, 1904). The Slavonic and Georgian MSS. have not been catalogued. Apart from the illuminated MSS., the mural paintings, the mosaics, and the goldsmith’s work of Mount Athos are of infinite interest to the student of Byzantine art. The frescoes in general date from the 15th or 16th century: some are attributed by the monks to Panselinos, “the Raphael of Byzantine painting,” who apparently flourished in the time of the Palaeologi. Most of them have been indifferently restored by local artists, who follow mechanically a kind of hieratic tradition, the principles of which are embodied in a work of iconography by the monk Dionysius, said to have been a pupil of Panselinos. The same spirit of conservatism is manifest in the architecture of the churches, which are all of the medieval Byzantine type. Some of the monasteries were seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1905.

Authorities.—R.N.C. Curzon, Visits to Monasteries in the Levant (London, 1849); J.P. Fallmerayer, Fragmenta aus dem Orient (Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1845); V. Langlois, Le Mont Athos et ses monastères, with a complete bibliography (Paris, 1867); Duchesne and Bayet, Mémoirs sur une mission en Macédoine et au Mont Athos (Paris, 1876); Texier and Pullan, Byzantine Architecture (London, 1864); H. Brockhaus, Die Kunst in den Athosklöstern (Leipzig, 1891); A. Riley, Athos, or the Mountain of the Monks (London, 1887); S. Lambros, Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts on Mount Athos (2 vols., Cambridge, 1895 and 1900); M.I. Gedeon, ὁ Ἄθως (Constantinople, 1885); P. Meyer, “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der neueren Geschichte und des gegenwärtigen Zustandes der Athosklöster,” in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 1890; Die Haupturkunden für die Geschichte der Athosklöster (Leipzig, 1894); G. Millet, J. Pargoire and L. Petit, Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de l’Athos (Paris, 1904); H. Gelzer, Vom Heiligen Berge und aus Makedonien (Leipzig, 1904); K. Vlachu (Blachos), Ἡ Χερσόνησος τοῦ Ἁγίου Ὄρους (Athens, 1903); G. Smurnakes, Τὸ Ἅγιον Ὄρος Ἀρχαιολογία ὄρους Ἀθῶ, (Athens, 1904).

(J. D. B.)

ATHY (pronounced Athý), a market-town of Co. Kildare, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, 45 m. S.W. of Dublin on a branch of the Great Southern & Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 3599. It is intersected by the river Barrow, which is here crossed by a bridge of five arches. The crossing of the river here was guarded and disputed from the earliest times, and the name of the town is derived from a king of Munster killed here in the 2nd century. There are picturesque remains of Woodstock Castle of the 12th or 13th century, and White Castle built in 1506, and rebuilt in 1575 by a member of the family whose name it bears, and still occupied. Both were erected to defend the ford of the Barrow. There are also an old town gate, and an ancient cemetery with slight monastic remains. Previous to the Union Athy returned two members to the Irish parliament. The trade, chiefly in grain, is aided by excellent water communication, by a branch of the Grand Canal to Dublin, and by the river Barrow, navigable from here to Waterford harbour.

ATINA, the name of three ancient towns of Italy.

1. A town (mod. Àtena) of Lucania, upon the Via Popillia, 7 m. N. of Tegianum, towards which an ancient road leads, in the valley of the river now known as Diano. Its ancient importance is vouched for by its walls of rough cyclopean work, which may have had a total extent of some 2 m. (see G. Patroni in Notizie degli scavi, 1897, 112; 1901, 498). The date of these walls has not as yet been ascertained, recent excavations, which led to the discovery of a few tombs in which the earliest objects showing Greek influence may go back to the 7th century B.C., not having produced any decisive evidence on the point. To the Roman period belong the remains of an amphitheatre and numerous inscriptions.

2. A town (mod. Atina) of the Volsci, 12 m. N. of Casinum, and about 14 m. E. of Arpinum, on a hill 1607 ft. above sea-level. The walls, of carefully worked polygonal blocks of stone, are still preserved in parts, and the modern town does not fill the whole area which they enclose. Cicero speaks of it as a prosperous country town, which had not as yet fallen into the hands of large proprietors; and inscriptions show that under the empire it was still flourishing. One of these last is a boundary stone relating to the assignation of lands in the time of the Gracchi, of which six other examples have been found in Campania and Lucania.

3. A town of the Veneti, mentioned by Pliny, H.N. iii. 131.

ATITLÁN, or Santiago de Atitlán, a town in the department of Sololá, Guatemala, on the southern shore of Lake Atitlán. Pop. (1905) about 9000, almost all Indians. Cotton-spinning is the chief industry. Lake Atitlán is 24 m. long and 10 m. broad, with 64 m. circumference. It occupies a crater more than 1000 ft. deep and about 4700 ft. above sea-level. The peaks of the Guatemala Cordillera rise round it, culminating near its southern end in the volcanoes of San Pedro (7000 ft.) and Atitlán (11,719 ft.). Although the lake is fed by many small mountain torrents, it has no visible outlet, but probably communicates by an underground channel with one of the rivers which drain the Cordillera. Mineral springs abound in the neighbourhood. The town of Sololá (q.v.) is near the north shore of the lake.

ATKINSON, EDWARD (1827-1905), American economist, was born at Brookline, Massachusetts, on the 10th of February 1827. For many years he was engaged in managing various business enterprises, and became, in 1877, president of the Boston Manufacturers’ Mutual Fire Insurance Company, a post which he held till his death. He was a strong controversialist and a prolific writer on such economic subjects as banking, railways, cotton manufacture, the tariff and free trade, and the money question. He was appointed in 1887 a special commissioner to report upon the status of bimetallism in Europe. He also made a special study of mill construction and fire prevention, and invented an improved cooking apparatus, called the “Aladdin oven.” He was an active supporter of anti-imperialism. He died at Boston on the 11th of December 1905.

His principal works were Right Methods of Preventing Fires in Mills (1881); Distribution of Products (1885); Industrial Progress of the Nation (1889); Taxation and Work (1892); Science of Nutrition (10th ed., 1898).

ATKINSON, SIR HARRY ALBERT (1831-1892), British colonial statesman, prime minister and speaker of the legislative council, New Zealand, was born at Chester in 1831, and in 1855 emigrated to Taranaki, New Zealand, where he became a farmer. In 1860 the Waitara war broke out, and from its outset Atkinson, who had been selected as a captain of the New Plymouth Volunteers, distinguished himself by his contempt for appearances and tradition, and by the practical skill, energy and courage which he showed in leading his Forest Rangers in the tiresome and lingering bush warfare of the next five years. For this work he was made a major of militia, and thanked by the government. Elected to the house of representatives in 1863, he joined Sir Frederick Weld’s ministry at the end of November 1864 as minister of defence, and, during eleven months of office, was identified with the well-known “self-reliance” policy, a proposal to dispense with imperial regulars, and meet the Maori with colonials only. Parliament accepted this principle, but turned out the Weld ministry for other reasons. For four years Atkinson was out of parliament; in October 1873 he re-entered it, and a year later became minister of lands under Sir Julius Vogel. Ten months later he was treasurer, and such was his aptitude for finance that, except during six months in 1876, he thenceforth held that post whenever his party was in power. From October 1874 to January 1891 Atkinson was only out of office for about five years. Three times he was premier, and he was always the most formidable debater and fighter in the ranks of the Conservative opponents of the growing Radical party which Sir George Grey, Sir Robert Stout and John Ballance led in succession. It was he, who was mainly responsible for the abolition of the provinces into which the colony was divided from 1853 to 1876. He repealed the Ballance land-tax in 1879, and substituted a property-tax. He greatly reduced the cost of the public service in 1880, and again in 1888. In both these years he raised the customs duties, amongst other taxes, and gave them a quasi-protectionist character. In 1880 he struck 10% off all public salaries and wages; in 1887 he reduced the salary of the governor by one-third, and the pay and number of ministers and members of parliament. By these resolute steps revenue was increased, expenditure checked, and the colony’s finance reinstated. Atkinson was an advocate of compulsory national assurance, and the leasing as opposed to the selling of crown lands. Defeated in the general election of December 1890, he took the appointment of speaker of the legislative council. There, while leaving the council chamber after the sitting of the 28th of June 1892, he was struck down by heart disease and died in a few minutes. Though brusque in manner and never popular, he was esteemed as a vigorous, upright and practical statesman. He was twice married, and had seven children, of whom three sons and a daughter survived him.

(W. P. R.)

ATLANTA, the capital and the largest city of Georgia, U.S.A., and the county-seat of Fulton county, situated at an altitude of 1000-1175 ft., in the N.W. part of the state, near the Chattahoochee river. Pop. (1860) 9554; (1880) 37,409; (1890) 65,533; (1900) 89,872, of whom 35,727 were negroes and 2531 were foreign-born; (1910) 154,839. It is served by the Southern, the Central of Georgia, the Georgia, the Seaboard Air Line, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis (which enters the city over the Western & Atlantic, one of its leased lines), the Louisville & Nashville, the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic, and the Atlanta & West Point railways. These railway communications, and the situation of the city (on the Piedmont Plateau) on the water-parting between the streams flowing into the Atlantic Ocean and those flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, have given Atlanta its popular name, the “Gate City of the South.” Atlanta was laid out in the form of a circle, the radius being 1¾ m. and the centre the old railway station, the Union Depot (the new station is called the Terminal); large additions have been made beyond this circle, including West End, Inman Park on the east, and North Atlanta. Among the best residence streets are Peachtree and West Peachtree streets to the north, and the older streets to the south of the business centre of the city—Washington Street, Whitehall, Pryor and Capitol Avenues. Among the principal office buildings are the Empire, the Equitable, the Prudential, the Fourth National, the Austell, the Peters, the Century, the English-American and the Candler buildings; and there are many fine residences, particularly in Peachtree and Washington streets, Inman Park and Ponce de Leon Circle. Among prominent public buildings are the State Capitol (completed 1889), containing a law library of about 65,000 volumes and a collection of portraits of famous Georgians, the north-west front of the Capitol grounds containing an equestrian statue (unveiled in 1907) of John Brown Gordon (1832-1904), a distinguished Confederate general in the American Civil War and governor of Georgia in 1887-1890; the court house; the Carnegie library, in which the young men’s library, organized in 1867, was merged in 1902; the post office building; and the Federal prison (about 4 m. south of the city). The principal parks are: the Piedmont (189 acres), the site of the Piedmont Exposition of 1887 and of the Cotton States and International Exposition of 1895; the Grant, given to the city by L.P. Grant, an Atlanta railroad builder, in 1882, and subsequently enlarged by the city (in its south-east corner is Fort Walker); the Lakewood, 6 m. south of the city; and Ponce de Leon Park, owned by an electric railway company and having mineral springs and a fine baseball ground. Four miles south of the centre of Atlanta is Fort McPherson, an important United States military post, occupying a reservation of 40 acres and having barracks for the accommodation of 1000 men. In Oakland Cemetery is a large monument to Confederate soldiers; another monument in Oakland, “To the unknown Confederate Dead,” is a reproduction of the Lion of Lucerne; in West View Cemetery (4 m. west of the city) is a memorial erected by the United Confederate Veterans. The city obtains its water-supply from the Chattahoochee river (above the mouth of Peachtree Creek), whence the water is pumped by four pumps, which have a daily capacity of 55,000,000 gallons. Atlanta is widely known for its public spirit and enterprise, to which the expositions of 1881, 1887 and 1895 bear witness. The air is bracing, largely because of the city’s altitude; the mean annual temperature is 60.8° F. (winter 44.1°, spring 60.5°, summer 77°, autumn 61.5°).

Atlanta is an important educational centre. Its public-school system was organized in 1871. Here are the Georgia School of Technology, founded in 1885 (opened 1888) as a branch of the university of Georgia; the Atlanta College of Physicians and Surgeons (established in 1898 by the union of the Atlanta Medical College, organized in 1855, and the Southern Medical College, organized in 1878); the Atlanta School of Medicine (1905); the Georgia College of Eclectic Medicine; the Atlanta Theological Seminary (1901, Congregational), the only theological school of the denomination in the South in 1908; the Atlanta Dental College; the Southern College of Pharmacy (1903); Washington Seminary (1877) for girls; and the following institutions for negroes—Atlanta University, founded in 1869, which is one of the best institutions in the country for the higher education of negroes, standing particularly for “culture” education (as opposed to industrial training), which has done particularly good work in the department of sociology, under the direction of Prof. W.E.B. du Bois (b. 1868), one of the most prominent teachers of negro descent in the country, and which had in 1908 339 students; Clark University, founded in 1870 by the Freedman’s Aid and Southern Educational Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church; the Atlanta Baptist College, founded in 1867; Morris Brown College (African Methodist Episcopal, founded in 1882, and opened in 1885), which has college preparatory, scientific, academic, normal and missionary courses, correspondence courses in English and theology, an industrial department, and departments of law, theology (Turner Theological Seminary), nurse-training, music and art; the Gammon Theological Seminary (Methodist Episcopal, chartered in 1888), which has its buildings just outside the city limits; and the Spelman Seminary for women and girls (Baptist) opened in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary—the present name being adopted in 1883 in honour of the parents of Mrs John D. Rockefeller—and incorporated in 1888. At Decatur (pop. 1418 in 1900), a residential suburb, 6 m. east-north-east of Atlanta, is the Agnes Scott College (1890) for white girls; connected with the college is a school of music, art and expression, and an academy.

The city’s principal charitable institutions are the Grady Memorial hospital (opened in 1892), supported by the city and named in honour of Henry W. Grady; the Presbyterian hospital; the Baptist Tabernacle Infirmary; the Wesley Memorial hospital; St Joseph’s infirmary; the Municipal hospital for contagious diseases; the Florence Crittenden home. Three miles south-east of the city is a (state) soldiers’ home, for aged, infirm and disabled Confederate veterans. The Associated Charities of Atlanta was organized in 1905.

The principal newspapers are the Constitution (morning), edited from 1880 until 1889 by Henry W. Grady (1851-1889),1 one of the most eloquent of Southern orators, who did much to promote the reconciliation of the North and the South after the Civil War, and whose statue stands opposite the post office; the Journal (evening), of which Hoke Smith (b. 1855), a prominent political leader, secretary of the interior in President Cleveland’s cabinet in 1893-1896, and later governor of Georgia, was long the proprietor; and the Georgian (evening), founded in 1906 as a Prohibition organ.

As regards commerce and manufactures, Atlanta ranks first among the cities of Georgia. In 1907 its whosesale and retail trade was estimated at $100,000,000. The city is said to receive two-fifths of the total freight delivered in the state of Georgia. From 1895 to 1907 the bank clearings increased from about $65,000,000 to about $260,000,000. In recognition of the city’s financial strength, Atlanta has been designated by the secretary of the treasury as one of the cities whose bonds will be accepted as security for Federal deposits. Atlanta is the Southern headquarters for a number of fire and life insurance companies, and is the third city of the United States in the amount of insurance business written and reported to resident agents, the annual premium receipts averaging about $10,000,000. It is an important horse and mule market, and handles much tobacco.

The development of manufactures has been especially notable. In 1880 the capital invested in manufacturing industries was approximately $2,468,000; in 1890 it was $9,508,962; in 1900 it had increased to $16,045,156; and in 1905, when only establishments under the “factory system” were counted in the census, to $21,631,162. In 1900 the total product was valued at $16,707,027, and the factory product at $14,418,834; and in 1905 the factory product was valued at $25,745,650, an increase of 78.6% in five years. Among the products are cotton goods (the product value of which in 1905 was 14% of the total value of the city’s manufactures), foundry and machine-shop products, lumber, patent medicines, confectionery, men’s clothing, mattresses, spring-beds and other furniture. Since 1904 part of the power utilized for manufacturing has been obtained from the Chattahoochee river, 15 m. from the city. There are many manufactories just outside the city limits.

History.—Atlanta owes its origin to the development of pioneer railroads of Georgia. In 1836 the Western & Atlantic, the first road built into North Georgia, was chartered, and the present site of Atlanta was chosen as its southern terminal, which it reached in 1843, and which was named “Terminus.” The Georgia and the Central of Georgia then projected branches to Terminus in order to connect with the Western & Atlantic, and completed them in 1845 and 1846. The town charter of 1843 changed the name to Marthasville, in honour of the daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin; and the city charter of 1847 changed this to Atlanta. The population in 1850 was 2572; in 1860, 9554. Manufacturing interests soon became important, and during the Civil War Atlanta was the seat of Confederate military factories and a depot of supplies. In 1864 it was the objective point of the first stage of General William T. Sherman’s invasion of Georgia (see American Civil War), which is therefore generally known as the “Atlanta campaign.”

After the battles around Marietta (q.v.), and the crossing of the Chattahoochee river on the 8th and 9th of July, Sherman continued his advance against Atlanta. His plan of operations was directed primarily to the seizure of the Decatur railway, by which the Confederate commander, General J.E. Johnston, might receive support from Virginia and the Carolinas. The three Union armies under Sherman’s command, outnumbering the Confederates about 3 to 2, began their movement on the 16th of July; the Army of the Cumberland (Gen. G.H. Thomas) on the right marching from Marietta by the fords of the Upper Chattahoochee on Atlanta, the Army of the Ohio (Gen. J.M. Schofield) in the centre direct on Decatur, and the Army of the Tennessee (Gen. J.B. McPherson) still farther east towards Stone Mountain. At the moment of marching out to meet the enemy, Johnston was relieved of his command and was replaced by Gen. J.B. Hood (July 17). Hood at once prepared to attack Thomas as soon as that general should have crossed Peachtree Creek (6 m. north of the city) and thus isolated himself from Schofield and McPherson. Sherman’s confidence in Thomas and his troops was, however, justified. Hood’s attack (battle of Peachtree Creek, July 20) was everywhere repulsed, and Schofield and McPherson closed up at the greatest speed. Hood had to retire to Atlanta, with a loss of more than 4000 men, and the three Union armies gradually converged on the north and east sides of the city. But Hood, who had been put in command as a fighting general, was soon ready to attack afresh. This time he placed Gen. W.J. Hardee’s corps, the largest of his army, to the south of Atlanta, facing the left flank of McPherson’s army. As Hardee’s attack rolled up the Union army from left to right, the remainder of the Confederate army was to issue from the Atlanta fortifications and join in the battle. Hardee opened his attack at noon on the 22nd of July (battle of Atlanta). The troops of the Army of the Tennessee were swiftly driven back, and their commander, McPherson, killed; but presently the Federals re-formed and a severe struggle ensued, in which most of Hood’s army joined. The veterans of the Army of the Tennessee, led by Gen. J.A. Logan, offered a stubborn resistance, however, and Schofield’s army now intervened. After prolonged attacks lasting to nightfall, Hood had once more to draw off, with about 10,000 men killed and wounded. The Confederates now abandoned all idea of regaining the Decatur line, and based themselves on Jonesboro’ and the Macon railway. Sherman quickly realized this, and the Army of the Tennessee, now commanded by Gen. O.O. Howard, was counter-marched from left to right, until it formed up on the right of the Union line about Ezra Church (about 4 m. west of Atlanta). The railway from Chattanooga to Atlanta, destroyed by Johnston as he fell back in May and June, was now repaired and working up to Thomas’s camps. Hood had meanwhile extended his entrenchments southwards to cover the Macon railway, and Howard’s movement led to another engagement (battle of Ezra Church, July 28) in which the XV. corps under Logan again bore the brunt of Hood’s attack. The Confederates were once more unsuccessful, and the losses were so heavy that the “fighting” policy ordered by the Confederate government was countermanded. Sherman’s cavalry had hitherto failed to do serious damage to the railway, and the Federal general now proceeded to manoeuvre with his main body so as to cut off Hood from his Southern railway lines (August). Covered by Howard at Ezra Church, Schofield led this advance, but the new Confederate lines baffled him. A bombardment of the Atlanta fortifications was then begun, but it had no material result. Another cavalry raid effected but slight damage to the line, and Sherman now decided to take his whole force to the south side. This apparently dangerous movement (August 25) is a remarkable illustration of Sherman’s genius for war, and in fact succeeded completely. Only a small force was left to guard the Chattanooga railway, and the Union forces, Howard on the right, Thomas in the centre, and Schofield on the left, reached the railway after some sharp fighting (action of Jonesboro’, September 1). The defence of Atlanta was now hopeless; Hood’s forces retreated southward the same evening, and on the 2nd of September the Union detachment left behind on the north side entered Atlanta unopposed.

All citizens were now ordered to leave, the place was turned into a military camp, and when Sherman started on his “March to the Sea,” on the 15th of November, a large part of the city was burned. Consequently the present city is a product of the post-bellum development of Georgia. The military government of Georgia was established here in 1865. In 1868 Atlanta was made the capital of the state.

In 1881 an International Cotton Exposition was held in Atlanta. This was American, even local, in character; its inception was due to a desire to improve the cultivation and manufacture of cotton; but it brought to the notice of the whole country the industrial transformation wrought in the Southern states during the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1887 the Piedmont Exposition was held in Atlanta. The Cotton States and International Exposition, also held at Atlanta, in 1895, attracted widespread attention, and had exhibits from thirty-seven states and thirteen foreign countries.

1 Grady was succeeded as managing editor by Clark Howell (b. 1863); and Joel Chandler Harris was long a member of the editorial staff.

ATLANTIC, a city and the county-seat of Cass county, Iowa, U.S.A., on East Nishnabatna river, about 80 m. W. by S. of Des Moines. Pop. (1890) 4351; (1900) 5046; (1905, state census) 5180 (625 foreign-born); (1910) 4560. It is served by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railway, and by an inter-urban electric line connecting with Elkhorn and Kimballton, and is the trade centre of a fine agricultural country; among its manufactures are machine-shop products, canned corn, flour, umbrellas, drugs and bricks. The municipality owns the water-works and electric-lighting plant. Atlantic was chartered as a city in 1869.

ATLANTIC CITY, a city of Atlantic county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the Atlantic Ocean, 58 m. S.E. of Philadelphia and 137 m. S. by W. of New York. Pop. (1890) 13,055; (1900) 27,838, of whom 6513 were of negro descent and 3189 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 46,150. It is served by the Atlantic City (Philadelphia & Reading) and the West Jersey & Seashore (Pennsylvania system) railways. Atlantic City is the largest and most popular all-the-year-round resort in the United States, and has numerous fine hotels. The city extends for 3 m. along a low sandy island (Absecon Beach), 10 m. long by ¾ m. wide, separated from the mainland by a narrow strip of salt water and 4 or 5 m. of salt marshes, partly covered with water at highest storm tide. There are good bathing, boating, sailing, fishing and wild-fowl shooting. A “Board Walk” stretches along the beach for about 5 m.—the newest part of it is of concrete—and along or near this walk are the largest hotels, and numerous shops, and places of amusement; from the walk into the ocean extend several long piers. Other features of the place are the broad driveway (Atlantic Avenue) and an automobile boulevard. There are several seaside sanitoriums and hospitals, including the Atlantic City hospital, the Mercer Memorial home, and the Children’s Seashore home. On the north end of the beach is Absecon Lighthouse, 160 ft. high. The municipality owns the water-works. Oysters are dredged here and are shipped hence in large quantities. There was a settlement of fishermen on the island in the latter part of the 18th century. In 1852 a movement was made to develop it as a seaside resort for Philadelphia, and after the completion of the Camden & Atlantic City railway in 1854 the growth of the place was rapid. A heavy loss occurred by fire on the 3rd of April 1902.

ATLANTIC OCEAN, a belt of water, roughly of an

-shape, between the western coasts of Europe and Africa and the eastern coasts of North and South America. It extends northward to the Arctic Basin and southward to the Extent. Great Southern Ocean. For purposes of measurement the polar boundaries are taken to be the Arctic and Antarctic circles, although in discussing the configuration and circulation it is impossible to adhere strictly to these limits. The Atlantic Ocean consists of two characteristic divisions, the geographical equator forming a fairly satisfactory line of division into North and South Atlantic. The North Atlantic, by far the best-known of the main divisions of the hydrosphere, is remarkable for the immense length of its coast-line and for the large number of enclosed seas connected with it, including on the western side the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of St Lawrence and Hudson Bay, and on the eastern side the Mediterranean and Black Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Atlantic is connected with the Arctic Basin by four main channels: (1) Hudson Strait, about 60 m. wide, communicating with the gulfs and straits of the North American Arctic archipelago; (2) Davis Strait, about 200 m. wide, leading to Baffin Bay; (3) Denmark Strait, between Greenland and Iceland, 130 m. wide; and (4) the “Norwegian Sea,” about 400 m. wide, extending from Iceland to the Faeroe Islands, the Shetland Islands and the coast of Norway. The width of the North Atlantic in lat. 60°, approximately where it breaks up into the branches just named, is nearly 2000 m.; in about lat. 50° N. the coasts of Ireland and Newfoundland approach to 1750 m.; the breadth then increases rapidly to lat. 40° N., and attains its maximum of 4500 m. in lat. 25° N.; farther south the minimum breadth is reached between Africa and South America, Cape Palmas being only 1600 m. distant from Cape St Roque. In marked contrast to this, the South Atlantic is distinguished by great simplicity of coast-line; inland seas there are none, and it attains its greatest breadth as it merges with the Southern Ocean; in lat. 35° S. the width is 3700 m.

The total area of the North Atlantic, not counting inland seas connected with it, is, according to G. Karstens, 36,438,000 sq. kilometres, or 10,588,000 sq. m.; including the inland seas the area is 45,641,000 sq. kilometres or 13,262,000 sq. m. The area of the South Atlantic is 43,455,000 sq. kilometres, or 12,627,000 sq. m. Although not the most extensive of the great oceans, the Atlantic has by far the largest drainage area. The “long slopes” of the continents on both sides are directed towards the Atlantic, which accordingly receives the waters of a large proportion of the great rivers of the world, including the St Lawrence, the Mississippi, the Orinoco, the Amazon, the rivers of the La Plata, the Congo, the Niger, the Loire, the Rhine, the Elbe and the great rivers of the Mediterranean and the Baltic. Sir J. Murray estimates the total area of land draining to the Atlantic to be 13,432,000 sq. m., or with the Arctic area nearly 20,000,000 sq. m., nearly four times the area draining to the Pacific Ocean, and almost precisely four times the area draining to the Indian Ocean. Murray’s calculations give the amount of precipitation received on this area at 15,800 cub. m. annually, and the river discharge from it at 3900 cub. m.

The dominant feature of the relief of the Atlantic basin is a submarine ridge running from north to south from about lat. 50° N. to lat. 40° S., almost exactly in the central line, and following the

-shape of the coasts. Over Relief of the bed. this ridge the average depth is about 1700 fathoms. Towards its northern end the ridge widens and rises to the plateau of the Azores, and in about 50° N. lat. it merges with the “Telegraph Plateau,” which extends across nearly the whole ocean from Ireland to Newfoundland. North of the fiftieth parallel the depths diminish towards the north-east, two long submarine ridges of volcanic origin extend north-eastwards to the south-west of Iceland and to the Faeroe Islands, and these, with their intervening valleys, end in a transverse ridge connecting Greenland, through Iceland and the Faeroe Islands, with North-western Scotland and the continental mass of Europe. The mean depth over this ridge is about 250 fathoms, and the maximum depth nowhere reaches 500 fathoms. The main basin of the Atlantic is thus cut off from the Arctic basin, with which the area north of the ridge has complete deep-water communication. This intermediate region, which has Atlantic characteristics down to 300 fathoms, and at greater depths belongs more properly to the Arctic Sea, commonly receives the name of Norwegian Sea. On both sides of the central ridge deep troughs extend southwards from the Telegraph plateau to the Southern Ocean, the deep water coming close to the land all the way down on both sides. In these troughs the depth is seldom much less than 3000 fathoms, and this is exceeded in a series of patches to which Murray has given the name of “Deeps.” In the eastern trough the Peake Deep lies off the Bay of Biscay in 20° W. long., Monaco Deep and Chun Deep off the north-west of Africa, Moseley Deep off the Cape Verde Islands, Krech Deep off the Liberian coast, and Buchanan Deep off the mouth of the Congo. The western trough extends northwards into Davis Strait, forming a depression in the Telegraph plateau; to the south of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are Sigsbee Deep, Libbey Deep and Suhm Deep, each of small area; north-east of the Bahamas Nares Deep forms the largest and deepest depression in the Atlantic, in which a sounding of 4561 fathoms was obtained (70 m. north of Porto Rico) by the U.S. ship “Blake” in 1883. Immediately to the south of Nares Deep lies the smaller Makarov Deep; and off the coast of South America are Tizard Deep and Havergal Deep.

Before the Antarctic expeditions of 1903-1904 our knowledge of the form of the sea bottom south of 40° S. lat. was almost wholly derived from the soundings of the expedition of Sir J.C. Ross in the “Erebus” and “Terror” (1839-1843), and the bathymetrical maps published were largely the result of deductions based on one sounding taken by Ross in 68° 34′ S. lat., 12° 49′ W. long., in which he recorded a depth exceeding 4000 fathoms. The Scottish Antarctic expedition has shown this sounding to be erroneous; the “Scotia” obtained samples of bottom, in almost the same spot, from a depth of 2660 fathoms. Combining the results of recent soundings, Dr W.S. Bruce, the leader of the Scottish expedition, finds that there is a ridge “extending in a curve from Madagascar to Bouvet Island, and from Bouvet Island to the Sandwich group, whence there is a forked connexion through the South Orkneys to Graham’s Land, and through South Georgia to the Falkland Islands and the South American continent.” Again, the central ridge of the South Atlantic extends a thousand miles farther south than was supposed, joining the east and west ridge, just described, between the Bouvet Islands and the Sandwich group.

The foundations of our knowledge of the relief of the Atlantic basin may be said to have been laid by the work of H.M.S. “Challenger” (1873-1876), and the German ship “Gazelle” (1874-1876), the French expedition in the “Travailleur” (1880), and the U.S. surveying vessel “Blake” (1877 and later). Large numbers of additional soundings have been made in recent years by cable ships, by the expeditions of H.S.H. the prince of Monaco, the German “Valdivia” expedition under Professor Chun (1898), and the combined Antarctic expeditions (1903-1904).

The Atlantic Ocean contains a relatively small number of islands. The only continental groups, besides some islands in the Mediterranean, are Iceland, the British Isles, Islands. Newfoundland, the West Indies, and the Falklands, and the chief oceanic islands are the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, Ascension, St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Bouvet Island.

The mean depth of the North Atlantic is, according to G. Karstens, 2047 fathoms. If we include the enclosed seas, the North Atlantic has a mean depth of 1800 Mean depth, and bottom deposits. fathoms. The South Atlantic has a mean depth of 2067 fathoms.

The greater part of the bottom of the Atlantic is covered by a deposit of Globigerina ooze, roughly the area between 1000 and 3000 fathoms, or about 60% of the whole. At a depth of about 3000 fathoms, i.e. in the “Deeps,” the Globigerina ooze gradually gives place to red clay. In the shallower tropical waters, especially on the central ridge, considerable areas are covered by Pteropod ooze, a deposit consisting largely of the shells of pelagic molluscs. Diatom ooze is the characteristic deposit in high southern latitudes. The terrigenous deposits consist of blue muds, red muds (abundant along the coast of Brazil, where the amount of organic matter present is insufficient to reduce the iron in the matter brought down by the great rivers to produce blue muds), green muds and sands, and volcanic and coral detritus.

The question of the origin of the Atlantic basin, like that of the other great divisions of the hydrosphere, is still unsettled. Most geologists include the Atlantic with the other oceans in the view they adopt as to its age; but E. Suess and M. Neumayr, while they regard the basin of the Pacific as of great antiquity, believe the Atlantic to date only from the Mesozoic age. Neumayr finds evidence of the existence of a continent between Africa and South America, which protruded into the central North Atlantic, in Jurassic times. F. Kossmat has shown that the Atlantic had substantially its present form during the Cretaceous period.

In describing the mean distribution of temperature in the waters of the Atlantic it is necessary to treat the northern and southern divisions separately. The heat equator, or line of maximum mean surface temperature, starts Distribution of temperature. from the African coast in about 5° N. lat., and closely follows that parallel to 40° W. long., where it bends northwards to the Caribbean Sea. North of this line, near which the temperature is a little over 80° F., the gradient trends somewhat to the east of north, and the temperature is slightly higher on the western than on the eastern side until, in 45° N. lat., the isothermal of 60° F. runs nearly east and west. Beyond this parallel the gradient is directed towards the north-west, and temperatures are much higher on the European than on the American side. From the surface to 500 fathoms the general form of the isothermals remains the same, except that instead of an equatorial maximum belt there is a focus of maximum temperature off the eastern coast of the United States. This focus occupies a larger area and becomes of greater relative intensity as the depth increases until, at 500 fathoms, it becomes an elongated belt extending right across the ocean in about 30° N. lat. Below 500 fathoms the western centres of maximum disappear, and higher temperatures occur in the eastern Atlantic off the Iberian peninsula and north-western Africa down to at least 1000 fathoms; at still greater depths temperature gradually becomes more and more uniform. The communication between the Atlantic and Arctic basins being cut off, as already described, at a depth of about 300 fathoms, the temperatures in the Norwegian Sea below that level are essentially Arctic, usually below the freezing-point of fresh water, except where the distribution is modified by the surface circulation. The isothermals of mean surface temperature in the South Atlantic are in the lower latitudes of an ~-shape, temperatures being higher on the American than on the African side. In latitudes south of 30° S. the curved form tends to disappear, the lines running more and more directly east and west. Below the surface a focus of maximum temperature appears off the coast of South America in about 30° S. lat., and of minimum temperature north and north-east of this maximum. This distribution is most marked at about 300 fathoms, and disappears at 500 fathoms, beyond which depth the lines tend to become parallel and to run east and west, the gradient slowly diminishing.

The Atlantic is by far the saltest of the great oceans. Its saltest waters are found at the surface in two belts, one extending east and west in the North Atlantic between 20° and 30° N. lat., and another of almost equal salinity Salinity. extending eastwards from the coast of South America in 10° to 20° S. lat. In the equatorial region between these belts the salinity is markedly less, especially in the eastern part. North of the North Atlantic maximum the waters become steadily fresher as latitude increases until the channels opening into the Arctic basin are reached. In all of these water of relatively high salinity usually appears for a long distance towards the north on the eastern side of the channel, while on the western side the water is comparatively fresh; but great variations occur at different seasons and in different years. In the higher latitudes of the South Atlantic the salinity diminishes steadily and tends to be uniform from east to west, except near the southern extremity of South America, where the surface waters are very fresh. Our knowledge of the salinity of waters below the surface is as yet very defective, large areas being still unrepresented by a single observation. The chief facts already established are the greater saltness of the North Atlantic compared with the South Atlantic at all depths, and the low salinity at all depths in the eastern equatorial region, off the Gulf of Guinea.

The wind circulation over the Atlantic is of a very definite character. In the South Atlantic the narrow land surfaces of Africa and South America produce comparatively little effect in disturbing the normal planetary circulation. Meteorology. The tropical belt of high atmospheric pressure is very marked in winter; it is weaker during the summer months, and at that season the greater relative fall of pressure over the land cuts it off into an oval-shaped anticyclone, the centre of which rests on the coolest part of the sea surface in that latitude, near the Gulf of Guinea. South of this anticyclone, from about the latitude of the Cape, we find the region where, on account of the uninterrupted sea surface right round the globe, the planetary circulation is developed to the greatest extent known; the pressure gradient is steep, and the region is swept continuously by strong westerly winds—the “roaring forties.”

In the North Atlantic the distribution of pressure and resulting wind circulation are very largely modified by the enormous areas of land and frozen sea which surround the ocean on three sides. The tropical belt of high pressure persists all the year round, but the immense demand for air to supply the ascending currents over the heated land surfaces in summer causes the normal descending movement to be largely reinforced; hence the “North Atlantic anticyclone” is much larger, and its circulation more vigorous, in summer than in winter. Again, during the winter months pressure is relatively high over North America, Western Eurasia and the Arctic regions; hence vast quantities of air are brought down to the surface, and circulation must be kept up by ascending currents over the ocean. The Atlantic anticyclone is, therefore, at its weakest in winter, and on its polar side the polar eddy becomes a trough of low pressure, extending roughly from Labrador to Iceland and Jan Mayen, and traversed by a constant succession of cyclones. The net effect of the surrounding land is, in fact, to reverse the seasonal variations of the planetary circulation, but without destroying its type. In the intermediate belt between the two high-pressure areas the meteorological equator remains permanently north of the geographical equator, moving between it and about 11° N. lat.

The part of this atmospheric circulation which is steadiest in its action is the trade winds, and this is, therefore, the most effective in producing drift movement of the surface waters. The trade winds give rise, in the region most exposed to their influence, to two westward-moving drifts—the equatorial currents, which are separated in parts of their course by currents moving in the opposite direction along the equatorial belt. These last may be of the nature of “reaction” currents; they are collectively known as the equatorial counter-current. On reaching the South American coast, the southern equatorial current splits into two parts at Cape St Roque: one branch, Currents. the Brazil current, is deflected southwards and follows the coast as a true stream current at least as far as the river Plate. The second branch proceeds north-westwards towards the West Indies, where it mingles with the waters of the northern equatorial; and the two drifts, blocked by the <-shape of the land, raise the level of the surface in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and in the whole area outside the West Indies. This congestion is relieved by what is probably the most rapid and most voluminous stream current in the world, the Gulf Stream, which runs along the coast of North America, separated from it by a narrow strip of cold water, the “cold wall,” to a point off the south-east of Newfoundland. At this point the Gulf Stream water mixes with that from the Labrador current (see below), and a drift current eastwards is set up under the influence of the prevailing westerly winds: this is generally called the Gulf Stream drift. When the Gulf Stream drift approaches the eastern side of the Atlantic it splits into two parts, one going southwards along the north-west coast of Africa, the Canaries current, and another turning northwards and passing to the west of the British Isles. Most of the Canaries current re-enters the northern equatorial, but a certain proportion keeps to the African coast, unites with the equatorial return currents, and penetrates into the Gulf of Guinea. This last feature of the circulation is still somewhat obscure; it is probably to be accounted for by the fact that on this part of the coast the prevailing winds, although to a considerable extent monsoonal, are off-shore winds, blowing the surface waters out to sea, and the place of the water thus removed is filled up by the water derived either from lower levels or from “reaction” currents.

The movements of the northern branch of the Gulf Stream drift have been the object of more careful and more extended study than all the other currents of the ocean put together, except, perhaps, the Gulf Stream itself. The cruises of the “Porcupine” and “Lightning” which led directly to the despatch of the “Challenger” expedition, were altogether within its “sphere of influence”; so also was the great Norwegian Atlantic expedition. More recently, the area has been further explored by the German expedition in the ss. “National,” the Danish “Ingolf” expedition, and the minor expeditions of the “Michael Sars,” “Jackal,” “Research,” &c., and since 1902 it has been periodically examined by the International Council for the Study of the Sea. Much has also been done by the discussion of observations made on board vessels belonging to the mercantile marine of various countries. It may now be taken as generally admitted that the current referred to breaks into three main branches. The first passes northwards, most of it between the Faeroe and Shetland Islands, to the coast of Norway, and so on to the Arctic basin, which, as Nansen has shown, it fills to a great depth. The second, the Irminger stream, passes up the west side of Iceland; and the third goes up to the Greenland side of Davis Strait to Baffin Bay. These branches are separated from one another at the surface by currents moving southwards: one passes east of Iceland; the second, the Greenland current, skirts the east coast of Greenland; and the third, the Labrador current already mentioned, follows the western side of Davis Strait.

The development of the equatorial and the Brazil currents in the South Atlantic has already been described. On the polar side of the high-pressure area a west wind drift is under the control of the “roaring forties,” and on reaching South Africa part of this is deflected and sent northwards along the west coast as the cold Benguella current which rejoins the equatorial. In the central parts of the two high-pressure areas there is practically no surface circulation. In the North Atlantic this region is covered by enormous banks of gulf-weed (Sargassum bucciferum), hence the name Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea is bounded, roughly, by the lines of 20°-35° N. lat. and 40°-75° W. long.

The sub-surface circulation in the Atlantic may be regarded as consisting of two parts. Where surface water is banked up against the land, as by the equatorial and Gulf Stream drift currents, it appears to penetrate to very considerable depths; the escaping stream currents are at first of great vertical thickness and part of the water at their sources has a downward movement. In the case of the Gulf Stream, which is not much impeded by the land, this descending motion is relatively slight, being perhaps largely due to the greater specific gravity of the water; it ceases to be perceptible beyond about 500 fathoms. On the European-African side the descending movement is more marked, partly because the coast-line is much more irregular and the northward current is deflected against it by the earth’s rotation, and partly because of the outflow of salt water from the Mediterranean; here the movement is traceable to at least 1000 fathoms. The northward movement of water across the Norwegian Sea extends down from the surface to the Iceland-Shetland ridge, where it is sharply cut off; the lower levels of the Norwegian Sea are filled with ice-cold Arctic water, close down to the ridge. The south-moving currents originating from melting ice are probably quite shallow. The second part of the circulation in the depth is the slow “creep” of water of very low temperature along the bottom. The North Atlantic being altogether cut off from the Arctic regions, and the vertical circulation being active, this movement is here practically non-existent; but in the South Atlantic, where communication with the Southern Ocean is perfectly open, Antarctic water can be traced to the equator and even beyond.

The tides of the Atlantic Ocean are of great complexity. The tidal wave of the Southern Ocean, which sweeps uninterruptedly round the globe from the east to west, generates a secondary wave between Africa and South America, which travels north at a rate dependent only on the depth of the ocean. With this “free” wave is combined a “forced” wave, generated, by the direct action of the sun and moon, within the Atlantic area itself. Nothing is known about the relative importance of these two waves.

(H. N. D.)

See also Oceans and Oceanography.

ATLANTIS, Atlantis, or Atlantica, a legendary island in the Atlantic Ocean, first mentioned by Plato in the Timaeus. Plato describes how certain Egyptian priests, in a conversation with Solon, represented the island as a country larger than Asia Minor and Libya united, and situated just beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar). Beyond it lay an archipelago of lesser islands. According to the priests, Atlantis had been a powerful kingdom nine thousand years before the birth of Solon, and its armies had overrun the lands which bordered the Mediterranean. Athens alone had withstood them with success. Finally the sea had overwhelmed Atlantis, and had thenceforward become unnavigable owing to the shoals which marked the spot. In the Critias Plato adds a history of the ideal commonwealth of Atlantis. It is impossible to decide how far this legend is due to Plato’s invention, and how far it is based on facts of which no record remains. Medieval writers, for whom the tale was preserved by the Arabian geographers, believed it true, and were fortified in their belief by numerous traditions of islands in the western sea, which offered various points of resemblance to Atlantis. Such in particular were the Greek Isles of the Blest, or Fortunate Islands, the Welsh Avalon, the Portuguese Antilia or Isle of Seven Cities, and St Brendan’s island, the subject of many sagas in many languages. These, which are described in separate articles, helped to maintain the tradition of an earthly paradise which had become associated with the myth of Atlantis; and all except Avalon were marked in maps of the 14th and 15th centuries, and formed the object of voyages of discovery, in one case (St Brendan’s island) until the 18th century. In early legends, of whatever nationality, they are almost invariably described in terms which closely resemble Homer’s account of the island of the Phaeacians (Od. viii.)—a fact which may be an indication of their common origin in some folk-tale current among several races. Somewhat similar legends are those of the island of Brazil (q.v.), of Lyonnesse (q.v.), the sunken land off the Cornish coast, of the lost Breton city of Is, and of Mayda or Asmaide—the French Isle Verte and Portuguese Ilha Verde or “Green Island”—which appears in many folk-tales from Gibraltar to the Hebrides, and until 1853 was marked on English charts as a rock in 44° 48′ N. and 26° 10′ W. After the Renaissance, with its renewal of interest in Platonic studies, numerous attempts were made to rationalize the myth of Atlantis. The island was variously identified with America, Scandinavia, the Canaries and even Palestine; ethnologists saw in its inhabitants the ancestors of the Guanchos, the Basques or the ancient Italians; and even in the 17th and 18th centuries the credibility of the whole legend was seriously debated, and sometimes admitted, even by Montaigne, Buffon and Voltaire.

For the theory that Atlantis is to be identified with Crete in the Minoan period, see “The Lost Continent” in The Times (London) for the 19th of February 1909. See also “Dissertation sur l’Atlantide” in T.H. Martin’s Études sur le Timée (1841).

ATLAS, in Greek mythology, the “endurer,” a son of the Titan Iapetus and Clymene (or Asia), brother of Prometheus. Homer, in the Odyssey (i. 52) speaks of him as “one who knows the depths of the whole sea, and keeps the tall pillars which hold heaven and earth asunder.” In the first instance he seems to have been a marine creation. The pillars which he supported were thought to rest in the sea, immediately beyond the most western horizon. But as the Greeks’ knowledge of the west increased, the name of Atlas was transferred to a hill in the north-west of Africa. Later, he was represented as a king of that district, rich in flocks and herds, and owner of the garden of the Hesperides, who was turned into a rocky mountain when Perseus, to punish him for his inhospitality, showed him the Gorgon’s head (Ovid, Metam. iv. 627). Finally, Atlas was explained as the name of a primitive astronomer, who was said to have made the first celestial globe (Diodorus iii. 60). He was the father of the Pleiades and Hyades; according to Homer, of Calypso. In works of art he is represented as carrying the heavens or the terrestrial globe. The Farnese statue of Atlas in the Naples museum is well known.

The plural form Atlantes is the classical term in architecture for the male sculptured figures supporting a superstructure as in the baths at Pompeii, and in the temple at Agrigentum in Sicily. In 18th-century architecture half-figures of men with strong muscular development were used to support balconies (see Caryatides and Telamones).

A figure of Atlas supporting the heavens is often found as a frontispiece in early collections of maps, and is said to have been first thus used by Mercator. The name is hence applied to a volume of maps (see Map), and similarly to a volume which contains a tabular conspectus of a subject, such as an atlas of ethnographical, subjects or anatomical plates. It is also used of a large size of drawing paper.

The name “atlas,” an Arabic word meaning “smooth,” applied to a smooth cloth, is sometimes found in English, and is the usual German word, for “satin.”

ATLAS MOUNTAINS, the general name for the mountain chains running more or less parallel to the coast of North-west Africa. They extend from Cape Nun on the west to the Gulf of Gabes on the east, a distance of some 1500 m., traversing Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. To their south lies the Saharan desert. The Atlas consist of many distinct ranges, but they can be roughly divided into two main chains: (1) the Maritime Atlas, i.e. the ranges overlooking the Mediterranean from Ceuta to Cape Bon; (2) the inner and more elevated ranges, which, starting from the Atlantic at Cape Ghir in Sús, run south of the coast ranges and are separated from them by high plateaus. This general disposition is seen most distinctly in eastern Morocco and Algeria. The western inner ranges are the most important of the whole system, and in the present article are described first as the Moroccan Ranges. The maritime Atlas and the inner ranges in Algeria and Tunisia are then treated under the heading Eastern Ranges.

The Moroccan Ranges.—This section of the Atlas, known to the inhabitants of Morocco by its Berber name, Idráren Dráren or the “Mountains of Mountains,” consists of five distinct ranges, varying in length and height, but disposed more or less parallel to one another in a general direction from south-west to north-east, with a slight curvature towards the Sahara.

1. The main range, that known as the Great Atlas, occupies a central position in the system, and is by far the longest and loftiest chain. It has an average height of over 11,000 ft., whereas the loftiest peaks in Algeria do not exceed 8000 ft., and the highest in Tunisia are under 6000 ft. Towards the Dahra district at the north-east end the fall is gradual and continuous, but at the opposite extremity facing the Atlantic between Agadir and Mogador it is precipitous. Although only one or two peaks reach the line of perpetual snow, several of the loftiest summits are snowclad during the greater part of the year. The northern sides and tops of the lower heights are often covered with dense forests of oak, cork, pine, cedar and other trees, with walnuts up to the limit of irrigation. Their slopes enclose well-watered valleys of great fertility, in which the Berber tribes cultivate tiny irrigated fields, their houses clinging to the hill-sides. The southern flanks, being exposed to the hot dry winds of the Sahara, are generally destitute of vegetation.

At several points the crest of the range has been deeply eroded by old glaciers and running waters, and thus have been formed a number of devious passes. The central section, culminating in Tizi n ’Tagharat or Tinzár, a peak estimated at 15,000 ft. high, maintains a mean altitude of 11,600 ft., and from this great mass of schists and sandstones a number of secondary ridges radiate in all directions, forming divides between the rivers Dra’a, Sús, Um-er-Rabíā, Sebú, Mulwíya and Ghír, which flow respectively to the south-west, the west, north-west, north, north-east and south-east. All are swift and unnavigable, save perhaps for a few miles from their mouths. With the exception of the Dra’a, the streams rising on the side of the range facing the Sahara do not reach the sea, but form marshes or lagoons at one season, and at another are lost in the dry soil of the desert.

For a distance of 100 m. the central section nowhere presents any passes accessible to caravans, but south-westward two gaps in the range afford communication between the Tansíft and Sús basins, those respectively of Gindáfi and Bíbáwan. A few summits in the extreme south-west in the neighbourhood of Cape Ghir still exceed 11,000 ft., and although the steadily rising ground from the coast and the prominence of nearer summits detract from the apparent height, this is on an average greater than that of the European Alps. The most imposing view is to be obtained from the plain of Marrákesh, only some 1000 ft. above sea-level, immediately north of the highest peaks. Besides huge masses of old schists and sandstones, the range contains extensive limestone, marble, diorite, basalt and porphyry formations, while granite prevails on its southern slopes. The presence of enormous glaciers in the Ice Age is attested by the moraines at the Atlantic end, and by other indications farther east. The best-known passes are: (1) The Bíbáwan in the upper Wad Sús basin (4150 ft.); (2) the Gindáfi, giving access from Marrákesh to Tárudánt, rugged and difficult, but low; (3) the Tagharat, difficult and little used, leading to the Dra’a valley (11,484 ft.); (4) the Gláwi (7600 ft.); (5) Tizi n ’Tilghemt (7250 ft.), leading to Tafilet (Tafílált) and the Wad Ghír.

2. The lower portion of the Moroccan Atlas (sometimes called the Middle Atlas), extending north-east and east from an undefined point to the north of the Great Atlas to near the frontier of Algeria, is crossed by the pass from Fez to Tafílált. Both slopes are wooded, and its forests are the only parts of Morocco where the lion still survives. From the north this range, which is only partly explored, presents a somewhat regular series of snowy crests.

3. The Anti-Atlas or Jebel Saghru, also known as the Lesser Atlas, running parallel to and south of the central range, is one of the least elevated chains in the system, having a mean altitude of not more than 5000 ft., although some peaks and even passes exceed 6000 ft. At one point it is pierced by a gap scarcely five paces wide with walls of variegated marbles polished by the transport of goods. As to the relation of the Anti-Atlas to the Atlas proper at its western end nothing certain is known.

The two more or less parallel ranges which complete the western system are less important:—(4) the Jebel Bani, south of the Anti-Atlas, a low, narrow rocky ridge with a height of 3000 ft. in its central parts; and (5) the Mountains of Ghaiáta, north of the Middle Atlas, not a continuous range, but a series of broken mountain masses from 3000 to 3500 ft. high, to the south of Fez, Táza and Tlemçen.

The Eastern Ranges.—The eastern division of the Atlas, which forms the backbone of Algeria and Tunisia, is adequately known with the exception of the small portion in Morocco forming the province of Er-Ríf. The lesser range, nearer the sea, known to the French as the Maritime Atlas, calls for little detailed notice. From Ceuta, above which towers Jebel Músa—about 2800 ft.—to Melilla, a distance of some 150 m., the Ríf Mountains face the Mediterranean, and here, as along the whole coast eastward to Cape Bon, many rugged rocks rise boldly above the general level. In Algeria the Maritime Atlas has five chief ranges, several mountains rising over 5000 ft. The Jurjura range, extending through Kabylia from Algiers to Bougie, contains the peaks of Lalla Kedija (7542 ft.), the culminating point of the maritime chains, and Babor (6447 ft.). (See further Algeria.) The Mejerda range, which extends into Tunisia, has no heights exceeding 3700 ft. It was in these coast mountains of Algeria that the Romans quarried the celebrated Numidian marbles.

The southern or main range of the Eastern division is known by the French as the Saharan Atlas. On its western extremity it is linked by secondary ranges to the mountain system of Morocco. The Saharan Atlas is essentially one chain, though known under different names: Jebel K’sur and Jebel Amur on the west, and Jebel Aures in the east. The central part, the Záb Mountains, is of lower elevation, the Saharan Atlas reaching its culminating point, Jebel Shellia (7611 ft. above the sea), in the Aures. This range sends a branch northward which joins the Mejerda range of the Maritime Atlas, and another branch runs south by Gafsa to the Gulf of Gabes. Here Mount Sidi Ali bu Musin reaches a height of 5700 ft., the highest point in Tunisia. In the Saharan Atlas the passes leading to or from the desert are numerous, and in most instances easy. Both in the east (at Batna) and the west (at Ain Sefra) the mountains are traversed by railways, which, starting from Mediterranean seaports, take the traveller into the Sahara.

History and Exploration.—The name Atlas given to these mountains by Europeans—but never used by the native races—is derived from that of the mythical Greek god represented as carrying the globe on his shoulders, and applied to the high and distant mountains of the west, where Atlas was supposed to dwell. From time immemorial the Atlas have been the home of Berber races, and those living in the least accessible regions have retained a measure of independence throughout their recorded history. Thus some of the mountain districts of Kabylia had never been visited by Europeans until the French military expedition of 1857. But in general the Maritime range was well known to the Romans. The Jebel Amur was traversed by the column which seized El Aghuat in 1852, and from that time dates the survey of the mountains.

The ancient caravan route from Mauretania to the western Sudan crossed the lower Moroccan Atlas by the pass of Tilghemt and passed through the oasis of Tafílált, formerly known as Sajilmása [”Sigilmassa”], on the east side of the Anti-Atlas. The Moroccan system was visited, and in some instances crossed, by various European travellers carried into slavery by the Salli rovers, and was traversed by René Caillé in 1828 on his journey home from Timbuktu, but the first detailed exploration was made by Gerhard Rohlfs in 1861-1862. Previous to that almost the only special report was the misleading one of Lieut. Washington, attached to the British embassy of 1837, who from insufficient data estimated the height of Mount Tagharat, to which he gave the indefinite name of Miltsin (i.e. Mul et-Tizin, “Lord of the Peaks”), as 11,400 ft. instead of about 15,000 ft.

In 1871 the first scientific expedition, consisting of Dr (afterwards Sir) J.D. Hooker, Mr John Ball and Mr G. Maw, explored the central part of the Great Atlas with the special object of investigating its flora and determining its relation to that of the mountains of Europe. They ascended by the Ait Mízan valley to the Tagharat pass (11,484 ft.), and by the Amsmiz valley to the summit of Jebel Tezah (11,972 ft.). In the Tagharat pass Mr Maw was the only one of the party who reached the watershed; but from Jebel Tezah a good view was obtained southward across the great valley of the Sús to the Anti-Atlas, which appeared to be from 9000 to 10,000 ft. high. Dr Oskar Lenz in 1879-1880 surveyed a part of the Great Atlas north of Tárudant, determined a pass south of Iligh in the Anti-Atlas, and penetrated thence across the Sahara to Timbuktu. He was followed in 1883-1884 by Vicomte Ch. de Foucauld, whose extensive itineraries include many districts that had never before been visited by any Europeans. Such were parts of the first and middle ranges, crossed once; three routes over the Great Atlas, which was, moreover, followed along both flanks for nearly its whole length; and six journeys across the Anti-Atlas, with a general survey of the foot of this range and several passages over the Jebel Bani. Then came Joseph Thomson, who explored some of the central parts, and made the highest ascent yet achieved, that of Mount Likimt, 13,150 ft., but broke little new ground, and failed to cross the main range (1888); and Walter B. Harris, who explored some of the southern slopes and crossed the Atlas at two points during his expedition to Tafílált in 1894. In 1901 and again in 1905 the marquis de Segonzac, a Frenchman, made extensive journeys in the Moroccan ranges. He crossed the Great Atlas in its central section, explored its southern border, and, in part, the Middle and Anti-Atlas ranges. A member of his expeditions, de Flotte Rocquevaire, made a triangulation of part of the western portion of the main Atlas, his labours affording a basis for the co-ordination of the work of previous explorers. (See also Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Sahara.)

Authorities.—Vicomte Ch. de Foucauld, Reconnaissance au Maroc 1883-1884 (Paris, 1888, almost the sole authority for the geography of the Atlas; his book gives the result of careful surveys, and is illustrated with a good collection of maps and sketches); Hooker, Ball and Maw, Marocco and the Great Atlas (London, 1879, a most valuable contribution, always scientific and trustworthy, especially as to botany and geology); Joseph Thomson, Travels in the Atlas and Southern Morocco (London, 1889, valuable geographical and geological data); Louis Gentil, Mission de Segonzac, &c. (Paris, 1906; the author was geologist to the 1905 expedition); Gerhard Rohlfs, Adventures in Morocco (London, 1874); Walter B. Harris, Tafilet, a Journey of Exploration in the Atlas Mountains, &c. (London, 1895), full of valuable information; Budgett Meakin, The Land of the Moors (London, 1901), first and last chapters; Dr Oskar Lenz Timbuktu: Reise durch Marokko, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1884).

ATMOLYSIS (Gr. ἀτμός, vapour: λύειν, to loosen), a term invented by Thomas Graham to denote the separation of a mixture of gases by taking advantage of their different rates of diffusion through a porous septum or diaphragm (see Diffusion).

ATMOSPHERE (Gr. ἀτμός, vapour; σφαῖρα, a sphere), the aeriform envelope encircling the earth; also the envelope of a particular gas or gases about any solid or liquid. Meteorological phenomena seated more directly in the atmosphere obtained early recognition; thus Hesiod, in his Works and Days, speculated on the origin of winds, ascribing them to the heating effects of the sun on the air. Ctesibius of Alexandria, Hero and others, founded the science of pneumatics on observations on the physical properties of air. Anaximenes made air the primordial substance, and it was one of the Aristotelian elements. A direct proof of its material nature was given by Galileo, who weighed a copper ball containing compressed air.

Before the development of pneumatic chemistry, air was regarded as a distinct chemical unit or element. The study of calcination and combustion during the 17th and 18th centuries culminated in the discovery that air consists chiefly of a mixture of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen. Cavendish, Priestley, Lavoisier and others contributed to this result. Cavendish made many analyses: from more than 500 determinations of air in winter and summer, in wet and clear weather, and in town and country, he discerned the mean composition of the atmosphere to be, oxygen 20.833% and nitrogen 79.167% The same experimenter noticed the presence of an inert gas, in very minute amount; this gas, afterwards investigated by Rayleigh and Ramsay, is now named argon (q.v.).

The constancy of composition shown by repeated analyses of atmospheric air led to the view that it was a chemical compound of nitrogen and oxygen; but there was no experimental confirmation of this idea, and all observations tended to the view that it is simply a mechanical mixture. Thus, the gases are not present in simple multiples of their combining weights; atmospheric air results when oxygen and nitrogen are mixed in the prescribed ratio, the mixing being unattended by any manifestation of energy, such as is invariably associated with a chemical action; the gases may be mechanically separated by atmolysis, i.e. by taking advantage of the different rates of diffusion of the two gases; the solubility of air in water corresponds with the “law of partial pressures,” each gas being absorbed in amount proportional to its pressure and coefficient of absorption, and oxygen being much more soluble than nitrogen (in the ratio of .04114 to .02035 at 0°); air expelled from water by boiling is always richer in oxygen.

Various agencies are at work tending to modify the composition of the atmosphere, but these so neutralize each other as to leave it practically unaltered. Minute variations, however, do occur. Bunsen analysed fifteen examples of air collected at the same place at different times, and found the extreme range in the percentage of oxygen to be from 20.97 to 20.84. Regnault, from analyses of the air of Paris, obtained a variation of 20.999 to 20.913; country air varied from 20.903 to 21.000; while air taken from over the sea showed an extreme variation of 20.940 to 20.850. Angus Smith determined London air to vary in oxygen content from 20.857 to 20.95, the air in parks and open spaces showing the higher percentage; Glasgow air showed similar results, varying from 20.887 in the streets to 20.929 in open spaces.

In addition to nitrogen and oxygen, there are a number of other gases and vapours generally present in the atmosphere. Of these, argon and its allies were the last to be definitely isolated. Carbon dioxide is invariably present, as was inferred by Dr David Macbride (1726-1778) of Dublin in 1764, but in a proportion which is not absolutely constant; it tends to increase at night, and during dry winds and fogs, and it is greater in towns than in the country and on land than on the sea. Water vapour is always present; the amount is determined by instruments termed hygrometers (q.v.). Ozone (q.v.) occurs, in an amount supposed to be associated with the development of atmospheric electricity (lightning, &c.); this amount varies with the seasons, being a maximum in spring, and decreasing through summer and autumn to a minimum in winter. Hydrogen dioxide occurs in a manner closely resembling ozone. Nitric acid and lower nitrogen oxides are present, being formed by electrical discharges, and by the oxidation of atmospheric ammonia by ozone. The amount of nitric acid varies from place to place; rain-water, collected in the country, has been found to contain an average of 0.5 parts in a million, but town rain-water contains more, the greater amounts being present in the more densely populated districts. Ammonia is also present, but in very varying amounts, ranging from 135 to 0.1 parts (calculated as carbonate) in a million parts of air. Ammonia is carried back to the soil by means of rain, and there plays an important part in providing nitrogenous matter which is afterwards assimilated by vegetable life.

The average volume composition of the gases of the atmosphere may be represented (in parts per 10,000) as follows:—

Oxygen

2065.94

Ozone

0.015

Nitrogen

7711.60

Aqueous vapour

140.00

Argon (about)

79.00

Nitric acid

0.08

Carbon dioxide

3.36

Ammonia

0.005

In addition to these gases, there are always present in the atmosphere many micro-organisms or bacteria (see Bacteriology); another invariable constituent is dust (q.v.), which plays an important part in meteorological phenomena.

Reference should be made to the articles Barometer, Climate and Meteorology for the measurement and variation of the pressure of the atmosphere, and the discussion of other properties.

ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY. 1. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that experiments due to Benjamin Franklin showed that the electric phenomena of the atmosphere are not fundamentally different from those produced in the laboratory. For the next century the rate of progress was slow, though the ideas of Volta in Italy and the instrumental devices of Sir Francis Ronalds in England merit recognition. The invention of the portable electrometer and the water-dropping electrograph by Lord Kelvin in the middle of the 19th century, and the greater definiteness thus introduced into observational results, were notable events. Towards the end of the 19th century came the discovery made by W. Linss (6)1 and by J. Elster and H. Geitel (7) that even the most perfectly insulated conductors lose their charge, and that this loss depends on atmospheric conditions. Hard on this came the recognition of the fact that freely charged positive and negative ions are always present in the atmosphere, and that a radioactive emanation can be collected. Whilst no small amount of observational work has been done in these new branches of atmospheric electricity, the science has still not developed to a considerable extent beyond preliminary stages. Observations have usually been limited to a portion of the year, or to a few hours of the day, whilst the results from different stations differ much in details. It is thus difficult to form a judgment as to what has most claim to acceptance as the general law, and what may be regarded as local or exceptional.

2. Potential Gradient.—In dry weather the electric potential in the atmosphere is normally positive relative to the earth, and increases with the height. The existence of earth currents (q.v.) shows that the earth, strictly speaking, is not all at one potential, but the natural differences of potential between points on the earth’s surface a mile apart are insignificant compared to the normal potential difference between the earth and a point one foot above it. What is aimed at in ordinary observations of atmospheric potential is the measurement of the difference of potential between the earth and a point a given distance above it, or of the difference of potential between two points in the same vertical line a given distance apart. Let a conductor, say a metallic sphere, be supported by a metal rod of negligible electric capacity whose other end is earthed. As the whole conductor must be at zero (i.e. the earth’s) potential, there must be an induced charge on the sphere, producing at its centre a potential equal but of opposite sign to what would exist at the same spot in free air. This neglects any charge in the air displaced by the sphere, and assumes a statical state of conditions and that the conductor itself exerts no disturbing influence. Suppose now that the sphere’s earth connexion is broken and that it is carried without loss of charge inside a building at zero potential. If its potential as observed there is −V (volts), then the potential of the air at the spot occupied by the sphere was +V. This method in one shape or another has been often employed. Suppose next that a fixed insulated conductor is somehow kept at the potential of the air at a given point, then the measurement of its potential is equivalent to a measurement of that of the air. This is the basis of a variety of methods. In the earliest the conductor was represented by long metal wires, supported by silk or other insulating material, and left to pick up the air’s potential. The addition of sharp points was a step in advance; but the method hardly became a quantitative one until the sharp points were replaced by a flame (fuse, gas, lamp), or by a liquid jet breaking into drops. The matter leaving the conductor, whether the products of combustion or the drops of a liquid, supplies the means of securing equality of potential between the conductor and the air at the spot where the matter quits electrical connexion with the conductor. Of late years the function of the collector is discharged in some forms of apparatus by a salt of radium. Of flame collectors the two best known are Lord Kelvin’s portable electrometer with a fuse, or F. Exner’s gold leaf electroscope in conjunction with an oil lamp or gas flame. Of liquid collectors the representative is Lord Kelvin’s water-dropping electrograph; while Benndorf’s is the form of radium collector that has been most used. It cannot be said that any one form of collector is superior all round. Flame collectors blow out in high winds, whilst water-droppers are apt to get frozen in winter. At first sight the balance of advantages seems to lie with radium. But while gaseous products and even falling water are capable of modifying electrical conditions in their immediate neighbourhood, the “infection” produced by radium is more insidious, and other drawbacks present themselves in practice. It requires a radium salt of high radioactivity to be at all comparable in effectiveness with a good water-dropper. Experiments by F. Linke (8) indicated that a water-dropper having a number of fine holes, or having a fine jet under a considerable pressure, picks up the potential in about a tenth of the time required by the ordinary radium preparation protected by a glass tube. These fine jet droppers with a mixture of alcohol and water have proved very effective for balloon observations.

Table I.—Annual Variation Potential Gradient.

Place and Period.

Jan.

Feb.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Karasjok (

10

), 1903-1904

143

150

137

94

74

65

70

67

67

87

120

126

Sodankylä (

31

), 1882-1883

94

133

148

155

186

93

53

77

47

72

71

71

Potsdam (

9

), 1904

167

95

118

88

93

72

73

65

97

101

108

123

Kew (

12

), 1898-1904

127

141

113

87

77

70

61

72

76

96

126

153

Greenwich (

13

), 1893-1894, 1896

110

112

127

107

83

71

76

84

83

104

104

139

Florence (

14

), 1883-1886

132

110

98

84

86

81

77

90

89

99

129

125

Perpignan (

15

), 1886-1888

121

112

108

89

91

92

89

82

74

99

122

121

Lisbon (

16

), 1884-1886

104

105

104

92

91

93

87

92

100

99

115

117

Tokyo (

17

), 1897-1898, 1900-1901

165

145

117

86

62

58

41

59

59

97

134

176

Batavia (

18

)(2 m.), 1887-1890

97

115

155

127

129

105

79

62

69

79

90

93

Batavia (7.8 m.) 1890-1895

100

89

103

120

98

103

85

99

73

101

117

112

3. Before considering observational data, it is expedient to mention various sources of uncertainty. Above the level plain of absolutely smooth surface, devoid of houses or vegetation, the equipotential surfaces under normal conditions would be strictly horizontal, and if we could determine the potential at one metre above the ground we should have a definite measure of the potential gradient at the earth’s surface. The presence, however, of apparatus or observers upsets the conditions, while above uneven ground or near a tree or a building the equipotential surfaces cease to be horizontal. In an ordinary climate a building seems to be practically at the earth’s potential; near its walls the equipotential surfaces are highly inclined, and near the ridges they may lie very close together. The height of the walls in the various observatories, the height of the collectors, and the distance they project from the wall vary largely, and sometimes there are external buildings or trees sufficiently near to influence the potential. It is thus futile to compare the absolute voltages met with at two stations, unless allowance can be made for the influence of the environment. With a view to this, it has become increasingly common of late years to publish not the voltages actually observed, but values deduced from them for the potential gradient in the open in volts per metre. Observations are made at a given height over level open ground near the observatory, and a comparison with the simultaneous results from the self-recording electrograph enables the records from the latter to be expressed as potential gradients in the open. In the case, however, of many observatories, especially as regards the older records, no data for reduction exist; further, the reduction to the open is at best only an approximation, the success attending which probably varies considerably at different stations. This is one of the reasons why in the figures for the annual and diurnal variations in Tables I., II. and III., the potential has been expressed as percentages of its mean value for the year or the day. In most cases the environment of a collector is not absolutely invariable. If the shape of the equipotential surfaces near it is influenced by trees, shrubs or grass, their influence will vary throughout the year. In winter the varying depth of snow may exert an appreciable effect. There are sources of uncertainty in the instrument itself. Unless the insulation is perfect, the potential recorded falls short of that at the spot where the radium is placed or the water jet breaks. The action of the collector is opposed by the leakage through imperfect insulation, or natural dissipation, and this may introduce a fictitious element into the apparent annual or diurnal variation. The potentials that have to be dealt with are often hundreds and sometimes thousands of volts, and insulation troubles are more serious than is generally appreciated. When a water jet serves as collector, the pressure under which it issues should be practically constant. If the pressure alters as the water tank empties, a discontinuity occurs in the trace when the tank is refilled, and a fictitious element may be introduced into the diurnal variation. When rain or snow is falling, the potential frequently changes rapidly. These changes are often too rapid to be satisfactorily dealt with by an ordinary electrometer, and they sometimes leave hardly a trace on the photographic paper. Again rain dripping from exposed parts of the apparatus may materially affect the record. It is thus customary in calculating diurnal inequalities either to take no account of days on which there is an appreciable rainfall, or else to form separate tables for “dry” or “fine” days and for “all” days. Speaking generally, the exclusion of days of rain and of negative potential comes pretty much to the same thing, and the presence or absence of negative potential is not infrequently the criterion by reference to which days are rejected or are accepted as normal.

4. The potential gradient near the ground varies with the season of the year and the hour of the day, and is largely dependent on the weather conditions. It is thus difficult to form even a rough estimate of the mean value at any place unless hourly readings exist, extending over the whole or the greater part of a year. It is even somewhat precipitate to assume that a mean value deduced from a single year is fairly representative of average conditions. At Potsdam, G. Lüdeling (9) found for the mean value for 1904 in volts per metre 242. At Karasjok in the extreme north of Norway G.C. Simpson (10) in 1903-1904 obtained 139. At Kremsmünster for 1902 P.B. Zölss(11) gives 98. At Kew (12) the mean for individual years from 1898 to 1904 varied from 141 in 1900 to 179 in 1899, the mean from the seven years combined being 159. The large difference between the means obtained at Potsdam and Kremsmünster, as compared to the comparative similarity between the results for Kew and Karasjok, suggests that the mean value of the potential gradient may be much more dependent on local conditions than on difference of latitude.

At any single station potential gradient has a wide range of values. The largest positive and negative values recorded are met with during disturbed weather. During thunderstorms the record from an electrograph shows large sudden excursions, the trace usually going off the sheet with every flash of lightning when the thunder is near. Exactly what the potential changes amount to under such circumstances it is impossible to say; what the trace shows depends largely on the type of electrometer. Large rapid changes are also met with in the absence of thunder during heavy rain or snow fall. In England the largest values of a sufficiently steady character to be shown correctly by an ordinary electrograph occur during winter fogs. At such times gradients of +400 or +500 volts per metre are by no means unusual at Kew, and voltages of 700 or 800 are occasionally met with.

5. Annual Variation.—Table I. gives the annual variation of the potential gradient at a number of stations arranged according to latitude, the mean value for the whole year being taken in each case as 100. Karasjok as already mentioned is in the extreme north of Norway (69° 17′ N.); Sodankylä was the Finnish station of the international polar year 1882-1883. At Batavia, which is near the equator (6° 11′ S.) the annual variation seems somewhat irregular. Further, the results obtained with the water-dropper at two heights—viz. 2 and 7.8 metres—differ notably. At all the other stalions the difference between summer and winter months is conspicuous. From the European data one would be disposed to conclude that the variation throughout the year diminishes as one approaches the equator. It is decidedly less at Perpignan and Lisbon than at Potsdam, Kew and Greenwich, but nowhere is the seasonal difference more conspicuous than at Tokyo, which is south of Lisbon.

Table II.—Diurnal Variation Potential Gradient.

Station.

Karasjok.

Sodankylä.

Kew(

19

,

12

).

Greenwich.

Florence.

Perpignan.

Lisbon.

Tokyo.

Batavia.

Cape

Horn(

20

).

Period.

1903-4.

1882-83.

1862-

1864.

1898-

1904.

1893-96.

1883-85.

1886-88.

1884-86.

1897-98

1900-1.

1887-

1890.

1890-

1895.

1882-83.

Days.

 

All.

All.

Quiet.

All.

All.

Fine.

All.

All.

Dry.

Dry.

Pos.

h l

5.5

3.0

2.5

3.5

1.0

3.35

1.3 

3.0

1.8

 

8.4

1.5

3.0

0.5

1.7

2.0

2

7.8

3.5

2.0

Hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

83

91

87

93

97

92

78

84

101

147

125

82

2

73

85

79

88

89

83

72

80

98

141

114

73

3

66

82

74

84

87

77

71

78

97

135

109

85

4

63

84

72

83

86

75

72

81

99

128

102

81

5

60

89

71

85

86

74

77

83

121

127

101

85

6

68

91

77

93

92

82

92

92

154

137

117

95

7

81

97

92

103

100

100

107

101

167

158

147

106

8

87

100

106

112

102

112

114

105

149

104

119

118

9

94

98

107

115

100

113

111

104

117

67

82

119

10

101

102

100

112

101

107

100

104

87

42

55

123

11

99

98

90

101

96

100

96

102

70

35

46

123

Noon.

103

102

92

94

97

95

99

108

61

30

43

115

1

106

105

90

89

96

92

99

111

54

30

42

112

2

108

107

91

87

94

90

97

114

49

30

43

94

3

108

108

92

88

95

89

99

109

53

33

46

89

4

109

108

98

93

97

89

105

108

61

41

53

88

5

110

108

108

99

102

94

113

108

76

67

73

84

6

119

110

121

108

108

113

126

111

95

91

108

110

7

129

102

134

115

111

121

131

116

107

120

145

107

8

136

111

139

118

115

129

129

114

114

137

155

123

9

139

111

138

119

117

132

120

109

119

146

155

112

10

133

104

128

115

117

127

109

102

120

148

147

99

11

121

108

113

108

111

114

97

92

119

151

143

85

12

102

93

99

99

104

100

86

85

112

147

130

98

Table III.—Diurnal Variation Potential Gradient.

Station.

Karasjok.

Sodankylä.

Kew.

Greenwich.

Bureau

Central (

21

).

Eiffel

Tower (

21

).

Perpignan (

21

).

Batavia.

(2 m.)

Period.

1903-4.

1882-83.

1898-1904.

1894 and ’96.

1894-99.

1896-98.

1885-95.

1887-90.

 

Winter.

Summer.

Winter.

Summer.

Winter.

Equinox.

Summer.

Winter.

Summer.

Winter.

Summer.

Summer.

Winter.

Summer.

Winter.

Summer.

Hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

76

104

90

99

91

93

96

87

110

79

102

90

72

88

145

149

2

66

96

79

84

86

88

90

84

101

71

92

83

67

83

139

142

3

57

89

78

90

82

85

85

76

98

70

88

79

66

81

137

135

4

55

83

74

99

81

84

84

77

96

69

84

76

67

83

131

127

5

50

79

74

111

82

87

90

78

94

75

94

78

72

92

132

123

6

61

83

80

114

86

97

101

82

101

83

106

87

84

107

138

136

7

78

89

86

117

95

109

113

94

107

98

118

97

104

114

166

153

8

82

93

95

122

104

118

120

97

111

111

120

103

122

108

118

92

9

90

93

91

109

111

119

119

98

102

113

106

110

126

100

74

64

10

104

93

106

101

114

110

110

102

98

111

94

109

114

93

43

40

11

102

92

98

97

107

95

97

103

86

108

84

107

98

90

35

36

Noon.

119

90

98

100

102

86

87

107

94

106

77

104

99

95

31

30

1

116

94

116

97

99

81

80

107

85

112

79

107

96

93

29

33

2

118

97

113

97

97

80

76

109

82

112

81

110

94

90

28

32

3

119

100

121

93

99

82

76

111

78

111

78

107

95

88

24

41

4

115

99

111

96

103

88

80

116

81

113

80

105

102

92

30

49

5

120

106

105

106

108

96

87

112

93

120

85

106

115

98

60

74

6

131

104

115

92

111

109

98

114

98

124

97

109

128

110

88

94

7

136

110

118

102

114

120

111

117

99

124

123

113

133

122

119

122

8

134

113

117

106

112

124

123

113

108

116

134

110

131

127

138

135

9

137

125

115

90

111

123

129

111

118

104

130

109

124

125

145

147

10

125

135

112

90

108

118

125

110

124

97

122

105

111

117

148

148

11

114

126

113

103

103

109

116

102

120

90

115

101

96

108

149

152

12

96

111

95

85

96

99

105

93

116

83

108

94

83

95

148

146

At the temperate stations the maximum occurs near midwinter; in the Arctic it seems deferred towards spring.

6. Diurnal Variation.—Table II. gives the mean diurnal variation for the whole year at a number of stations arranged in order of latitude, the mean from the 24 hourly values being taken as 100. The data are some from “all” days, some from “quiet,” “fine” or “dry” days. The height, h, and the distance from the wall, l, were the potential is measured are given in metres when known. In most cases two distinct maxima and minima occur in the 24 hours. The principal maximum is usually found in the evening between 8 and 10 P.M., the principal minimum in the morning from 3 to 5 A.M. At some stations the minimum in the afternoon is indistinctly shown, but at Tokyo and Batavia it is much more conspicuous than the morning minimum.

7. In Table III. the diurnal inequality is shown for “winter” and “summer” respectively. In all cases the mean value for the 24 hours is taken as 100. By “summer” is meant April to September at Sodankylä, Greenwich and Batavia; May to August at Kew, Bureau Central (Paris), Eiffel Tower and Perpignan; and May to July at Karasjok. “Winter” includes October to March at Sodankylä, Greenwich and Batavia; November to February at Kew and Bureau Central; November to January at Karasjok, and December and January at Perpignan. Mean results from March, April, September and October at Kew are assigned to “Equinox.”

At Batavia the difference between winter and summer is comparatively small. Elsewhere there is a tendency for the double period, usually so prominent in summer, to become less pronounced in winter, the afternoon minimum tending to disappear. Even in summer the double period is not prominent in the arctic climate of Karasjok or on the top of the Eiffel Tower. The diurnal variation in summer at the latter station is shown graphically in the top curve of fig. 1. It presents a remarkable resemblance to the adjacent curve, which gives the diurnal variation at mid-winter at the Bureau Central. The resemblance between these curves is much closer than that between the Bureau Central’s own winter and summer curves. All three Paris curves show three peaks, the first and third representing the ordinary forenoon and afternoon maxima. In summer at the Bureau Central the intermediate peak nearly disappears in the profound afternoon depression, but it is still recognizable. This three-peaked curve is not wholly peculiar to Paris, being seen, for instance, at Lisbon in summer. The December and June curves for Kew are good examples of the ordinary nature of the difference between midwinter and midsummer. The afternoon minimum at Kew gradually deepens as midsummer approaches. Simultaneously the forenoon maximum occurs earlier and the afternoon maximum later in the day. The two last curves in the diagram contrast the diurnal variation at Kew in potential gradient and in barometric pressure for the year as a whole. The somewhat remarkable resemblance between the diurnal variation for the two elements, first remarked on by J.D. Everett (19), is of interest in connexion with recent theoretical conclusions by J.P. Elster and H.F.K. Geitel and by H. Ebert.

In the potential curves of the diagram the ordinates represent the hourly values expressed—as in Tables II. and III.—as percentages of the mean value for the day. If this be overlooked, a wrong impression may be derived as to the absolute amplitudes of the changes. The Kew curves, for instance, might suggest that the range (maximum less minimum hourly value) was larger in June than in December. In reality the December range was 82, the June only 57 volts; but the mean value of the potential was 243 in December as against 111 in June. So again, in the case of the Paris curves, the absolute value of the diurnal range in summer was much greater for the Eiffel Tower than for the Bureau Central, but the mean voltage was 2150 at the former station and only 134 at the latter.

8. Fourier Coefficients.—Diurnal inequalities such as those of Tables II. and III. and intended to eliminate irregular changes, but they also to some extent eliminate regular changes if the hours of maxima and minima or the character of the diurnal variation alter throughout the year. The alteration that takes place in the regular diurnal inequality throughout the year is best seen by analysing it into a Fourier series of the type

c1 sin(t + a1) + c2 sin(2t + a2) + c3 sin(3t + a3) + c4 sin(4t + a4) + ...

where t denotes time counted from (local) midnight, c1, c2, c3, C4, ... are the amplitudes of the component harmonic waves of periods 24, 12, 8 and 6 hours; a1, a2, a3, a4, are the corresponding phase angles. One hour of time t is counted as 15°, and a delay of one hour in the time of maximum answers to a diminution of 15° in a1, of 30° in a2, and so on. If a1, say, varies much throughput the year, or if the ratios of c2, c3, c4, ... to c1, vary much, then a diurnal inequality derived from a whole year, or from a season composed of several months, represents a mean curve arising from the superposition of a number of curves, which differ in shape and in the positions of their maxima and minima. The result, if considered alone, inevitably leads to an underestimate of the average amplitude of the regular diurnal variation.

It is also desirable to have an idea of the size of the irregular changes which vary from one day to the next. On stormy days, as already mentioned, the irregular changes hardly admit of satisfactory treatment. Even on the quietest days irregular changes are always numerous and often large.

Table IV. aims at giving a summary of the several phenomena for a single station, Kew, on electrically quiet days. The first line gives the mean value of the potential gradient, the second the mean excess of the largest over the smallest hourly value on individual days. The hourly values are derived from smoothed curves, the object being to get the mean ordinate for a 60-minute period. If the actual crests of the excursions had been measured the figures in the second line would have been even larger. The third line gives the range of the regular diurnal inequality, the next four lines the amplitudes of the first four Fourier waves into which the regular diurnal inequality has been analysed. These mean values, ranges and amplitudes are all measured in volts per metre (in the open). The last four lines of Table IV. give the phase angles of the first four Fourier waves.

Table IV.—Absolute Potential Data at Kew (12).

 

Jan.

Feb.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Mean Potential Gradient

 

201

224

180

138

123

111

98

114

121

153

200

243

Mean of individual daily ranges

 

203

218

210

164

143

143

117

129

141

196

186

213

Range in Diurnal inequality

 

73

94

83

74

71

57

55

60

54

63

52

82

Amplitudes of Fourier waves

c

1

22

22

17

13

18

9

6

6

9

7

14

30

c

2

21

33

34

31

22

23

24

26

23

30

17

21

c

3

7

10

5

5

3

1

3

2

3

6

5

7

c

4

2

3

5

6

4

1

4

3

4

3

2

3

 

 

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

°

Phase angles of Fourier waves

a

1

206

204

123

72

86

79

48

142

154

192

202

208

a

1

170

171

186

193

188

183

185

182

199

206

212

175

a

3

11

9

36

96

100

125

124

107

16

18

38

36

a

1

235

225

307

314

314

277

293

313

330

288

238

249

It will be noticed that the difference between the greatest and least hourly values is, in all but three winter months, actually larger than the mean value of the potential gradient for the day; it bears to the range of the regular diurnal inequality a ratio varying from 2.0 in May to 3.6 in November.

At midwinter the 24-hour term is the largest, but near midsummer it is small compared to the 12-hour term. The 24-hour term is very variable both as regards its amplitude and its phase angle (and so its hour of maximum). The 12-hour term is much less variable, especially as regards its phase angle; its amplitude shows distinct maxima near the equinoxes. That the 8-hour and 6-hour waves, though small near midsummer, represent more than mere accidental irregularities, seems a safe inference from the regularity apparent in the annual variation of their phase angles.

Table V.—Fourier Series Amplitudes and Phase Angles.

Place.

Period.

Winter.

Summer.

c1.

c2.

a1.

a2.

c1.

c2.

a1.

a2.

 

 

 

 

°

°

 

 

°

°

Kew

1862-64

0.283

0.160

184

193

0.127

0.229

111

179

 ”

1898-1904

.102

.103

206

180

.079

.213

87

186

Bureau Central

1894-98

.220

.104

223

206

.130

.200

95

197

Eiffel Tower

1896-98

..

..

..

..

.133

.085

216

171

Sonnblick (

22

)

1902-03

..

..

..

..

.208

.120

178

145

Karasjok

1903-04

.356

.144

189

155

.165

.093

141

144

Kremsmünster (

23

)

1902

.280

.117

224

194

.166

.153

241

209

Potsdam

1904

.269

.101

194

185

.096

.152

343

185

9. Table V. gives some data for the 24-hour and 12-hour Fourier coefficients, which will serve to illustrate the diversity between different stations. In this table, unlike Table IV., amplitudes are all expressed as decimals of the mean value of the potential gradient for the corresponding season. “Winter” means generally the four midwinter, and “summer” the four midsummer, months; but at Karasjok three, and at Kremsmünster six, months are included in each season. The results for the Sonnblick are derived from a comparatively small number of days in August and September. At Potsdam the data represent the arithmetic means derived from the Fourier analysis for the individual months comprising the season. The 1862-1864 data from Kew—due to J.D. Everett (19)—are based on “all” days; the others, except Karasjok to some extent, represent electrically quiet days. The cause of the large difference between the two sets of data for c1 at Kew is uncertain. The potential gradient is in all cases lower in summer than winter, and thus the reduction in c1 in summer would appear even larger than in Table V. if the results were expressed in absolute measure. At Karasjok and Kremsmünster the seasonal variation in a1 seems comparatively small, but at Potsdam and the Bureau Central it is as large as at Kew. Also, whilst the winter values of a1 are fairly similar at the several stations the summer values are widely different. Except at Karasjok, where the diurnal changes seem somewhat irregular, the relative amplitude of the 12-hour term is considerably greater in summer than in winter. The values of a2 at the various stations differ comparatively little, and show but little seasonal change. Thus the 12-hour term has a much greater uniformity than the 24-hour term. This possesses significance in connexion with the view, supported by A.B. Chauveau (21), F. Exner (24) and others, that the 12-hour term is largely if not entirely a local phenomenon, due to the action of the lower atmospheric strata, and tending to disappear even in summer at high altitudes. Exner attributes the double daily maximum, which is largely a consequence of the 12-hour wave, to a thin layer near the ground, which in the early afternoon absorbs the solar radiation of shortest wave length. This layer he believes specially characteristic of arid dusty regions, while comparatively non-existent in moist climates or where foliage is luxuriant. In support of his theory Exner states that he has found but little trace of the double maximum and minimum in Ceylon and elsewhere. C. Nordmann (25) describes some similar results which he obtained in Algeria during August and September 1905. His station, Philippeville, is close to the shores of the Mediterranean, and sea breezes persisted during the day. The diurnal variation showed only a single maximum and minimum, between 5 and 6 P.M. and 4 and 5 A.M. respectively. So again, a few days’ observations on the top of Mont Blanc (4810 metres) by le Cadet (26) in August and September 1902, showed only a single period, with maximum between 3 and 4 P.M., and minimum about 3 A.M. Chauveau points to the reduction in the 12-hour term as compared to the 24-hour term on the Eiffel Tower, and infers the practical disappearance of the former at no great height. The close approach in the values for c1 in Table V. from the Bureau Central and the Eiffel Tower, and the reduction of c2 at the latter station, are unquestionably significant facts; but the summer value for c2 at Karasjok—a low level station—is nearly as small as that at the Eiffel Tower, and notably smaller than that at the Sonnblick (3100 metres). Again, Kew is surrounded by a large park, not devoid of trees, and hardly the place where Exner’s theory would suggest a large value for c2, and yet the summer value of c2 at Kew is the largest in Table V.

10. Observations on mountain tops generally show high potentials near the ground. This only means that the equipotential surfaces are crowded together, just as they are near the ridge of a house. To ascertain how the increase in the voltage varies as the height in the free atmosphere increases, it is necessary to employ kites or balloons. At small heights Exner (27) has employed captive balloons, provided with a burning fuse, and carrying a wire connected with an electroscope on the ground. He found the gradient nearly uniform for heights up to 30 to 40 metres above the ground. At great heights free balloons seem necessary. The balloon carries two collectors a given vertical distance apart. The potential difference between the two is recorded, and the potential gradient is thus found. Some of the earliest balloon observations made the gradient increase with the height, but such a result is now regarded as abnormal. A balloon may leave the earth with a charge, or become charged through discharge of ballast. These possibilities may not have been sufficiently realized at first. Among the most important balloon observations are those by le Cadet (1) F. Linke (28) and H. Gerdien (29). The following are samples from a number of days’ results, given in le Cadet’s book. h is the height in metres, P the gradient in volts per metre.

Aug. 9, 1893

{

h

824

830

1060

1255

1290

1745

1940

2080

2310

2520

P

37

43

43

41

42

34

25

21

18

16

Sep. 11, 1897

{

h

1140

1378

1630

1914

237

2786

3136

3364

3912

4085

P

43

38

33

25

22

21

19

19

14

13

The ground value on the last occasion was 150. From observations during twelve balloon ascents, Linke concludes that below the 1500-metre level there are numerous sources of disturbance, the gradient at any given height varying much from day to day and hour to hour; but at greater heights there is much more uniformity. At heights from 1500 to 6000 metres his observations agreed well with the formula

dV/dh = 34 − 0.006 h,

V denoting the potential, h the height in metres. The formula makes the gradient diminish from 25 volts per metre at 1500 metres height to 10 volts per metre at 4000 metres. Linke’s mean value for dV/dh at the ground was 125. Accepting Linke’s formula, the potential at 4000 metres is 43,750 volts higher than at 1500 metres. If the mean of the gradients observed at the ground and at 1500 metres be taken as an approximation to the mean value of the gradient throughout the lowest 1500 metres of the atmosphere, we find for the potential at 1500 metres level 112,500 volts. Thus at 4000 metres the potential seems of the order of 150,000 volts. Bearing this in mind, one can readily imagine how close together the equipotential surfaces must lie near the summit of a high sharp mountain peak.

11. At most stations a negative potential gradient is exceptional, unless during rain or thunder. During rain the potential is usually but not always negative, and frequent alternations of sign are not uncommon. In some localities, however, negative potential gradient is by no means uncommon, at least at some seasons, in the absence of rain. At Madras, Michie Smith (30) often observed negative potential during bright August and September days. The phenomenon was quite common between 9.30 A.M. and noon during westerly winds, which at Madras are usually very dry and dusty. At Sodankylä, in 1882-1883, K.S. Lemström and F.C. Biese (31) found that out of 255 observed occurrences of negative potential, 106 took place in the absence of rain or snow. The proportion of occurrences of negative potential under a clear sky was much above its average in autumn. At Sodankylä rain or snowfall was often unaccompanied by change of sign in the potential. At the polar station Godthaab (32) in 1882-1883, negative potential seemed sometimes associated with aurora (see Aurora Polaris).

Lenard, Elster and Geitel, and others have found the potential gradient negative near waterfalls, the influence sometimes extending to a considerable distance. Lenard (33) found that when pure water falls upon water the neighbouring air takes a negative charge. Kelvin, Maclean and Gait (34) found the effect greatest in the air near the level of impact. A sensible effect remained, however, after the influence of splashing was eliminated. Kelvin, Maclean and Galt regard this property of falling water as an objection to the use of a water-dropper indoors, though not of practical importance when it is used out of doors.

12. Elster and Geitel (35) have measured the charge carried by raindrops falling into an insulated vessel. Owing to observational difficulties, the exact measure of success attained is a little difficult to gauge, but it seems fairly certain that raindrops usually carry a charge. Elster and Geitel found the sign of the charge often fluctuate repeatedly during a single rain storm, but it seemed more often than not opposite to that of the simultaneous potential gradient. Gerdien has more recently repeated the experiments, employing an apparatus devised by him for the purpose. It has been found by C.T.R. Wilson (36) that a vessel in which freshly fallen rain or snow has been evaporated to dryness shows radioactive properties lasting for a few hours. The results obtained from equal weights of rain and snow seem of the same order.

13. W. Linss (6) found that an insulated conductor charged either positively or negatively lost its charge in the free atmosphere; the potential V after time t being connected with its initial value V0 by a formula of the type V = V0e−at where a is constant. This was confirmed by Elster and Geitel (7), whose form of dissipation apparatus has been employed in most recent work. The percentage of the charge which is dissipated per minute is usually denoted by a+ or a− according to its sign. The mean of a+ and a− is usually denoted by a± or simply by a, while q is employed for the ratio a−/a+. Some observers when giving mean values take Σ(a−/a+) as the mean value of q, while others take Σ(a−)/Σ(a+). The Elster and Geitel apparatus is furnished with a cover, serving to protect the dissipator from the direct action of rain, wind or sunlight. It is usual to observe with this cover on, but some observers, e.g. A. Gockel, have made long series of observations without it. The loss of charge is due to more than one cause, and it is difficult to attribute an absolutely definite meaning even to results obtained with the cover on. Gockel (37) says that the results he obtained without the cover when divided by 3 are fairly comparable with those obtained under the usual conditions; but the appropriate divisor must vary to some extent with the climatic conditions. Thus results obtained for a+ or a− without the cover are of doubtful value for purposes of comparison with those found elsewhere with it on. In the case of q the uncertainty is much less.

Table VI.—Dissipation. Mean Values.

Place.

Period.

Season.

Observer or

Authority.

a+

q

Karasjok

1903-4

Year

Simpson (

10

)

3.57

1.15

Wolfenbüttel

 

Year

Elster and Geitel (

39

)

1.33

1.05

Potsdam

1904

Year

Lüdeling (

40

)

1.13

1.33

Kremsmüster

1902

Year

Zölss (

42

)

1.32

1.18

  ”

1903

Year

Zölss (

41

)

1.35

1.14

Freiburg

 

Year

Gockel (

43

)

..

1.41

Innsbruck

1902

 

Czermak (

44

)

1.95

0.94

  ”

1905

Jan. to June

Defant (

45

)

1.47

1.17

Mattsee (Salzburg)

1905

July to Sept.

von Schweidler (

46

)

..

0.99

Seewalchen

1904

July to Sept.

von Schweidler (

38

)

..

1.18

Trieste

1902-3

Year

Mazelle (

47

)

0.58

1.09

Misdroy

1902

 

Lüdeling (

40

)

1.09

1.58

Swinemünde

1904

Aug. and Sept.

Lüdeling (

40

)

1.23

1.37

Heligoland (sands)

1903

Summer

Elster and Geitel (

40

)

1.14

1.71

Heligoland plateau

”

”

Elster and Geitel (

40

)

3.07

1.50

Juist (Island)

 

”

Elster and Geitel (

48

)

1.56

1.56

Atlantic and German Ocean

1904

August

Boltzmann (

49

)

1.83

2.69

Arosa (1800 m.)

1903

Feb. to April

Saake (

50

)

1.79

1.22

Rothhorn (2300 m.)

1903

September

Gockel (

43

)

..

5.31

Sonnblick (3100 m.)

1903

September

Conrad (

22

)

..

1.75

Mont Blanc (4810 m.)

1902

September

le Cadet (

43

)

..

10.3 

Table VI. gives the mean values of a± and q found at various places. The observations were usually confined to a few hours of the day, very commonly between 11 A.M. and 1 P.M., and in absence of information as to the diurnal variation it is impossible to say how much this influences the results. The first eight stations lie inland; that at Seewalchen (38) was, however, adjacent to a large lake. The next five stations are on the coast or on islands. The final four are at high levels. In the cases where the observations were confined to a few months the representative nature of the results is more doubtful.

On mountain summits q tends to be large, i.e. a negative charge is lost much faster than a positive charge. Apparently q has also a tendency to be large near the sea, but this phenomenon is not seen at Trieste. An exactly opposite phenomenon, it may be remarked, is seen near waterfalls, q becoming very small. Only Innsbruck and Mattsee give a mean value of q less than unity. Also, as later observations at Innsbruck give more normal values for q, some doubt may be felt as to the earlier observations there. The result for Mattsee seems less open to doubt, for the observer, von Schweidler, had obtained a normal value for q during the previous year at Seewalchen. Whilst the average q in at least the great majority of stations exceeds unity, individual observations making q less than unity are not rare. Thus in 1902 (51) the percentage of cases in which q fell short of 1 was 30 at Trieste, 33 at Vienna, and 35 at Kremsmünster; at Innsbruck q was less than 1 on 58 days out of 98.

In a long series of observations, individual values of q show usually a wide range. Thus during observations extending over more than a year, q varied from 0.18 to 8.25 at Kremsmünster and from 0.11 to 3.00 at Trieste. The values of a+, a− and a± also show large variations. Thus at Trieste a+ varied from 0.12 to 4.07, and a− from 0.11 to 3.87; at Vienna a+ varied from 0.32 to 7.10, and a− from 0.78 to 5.42; at Kremsmünster a± varied from 0.14 to 5.83.

14. Annual Variation.—When observations are made at irregular hours, or at only one or two fixed hours, it is doubtful how representative they are. Results obtained at noon, for example, probably differ more from the mean value for the 24 hours at one season than at another. Most dissipation results are exposed to considerable uncertainty on these grounds. Also it requires a long series of years to give thoroughly representative results for any element, and few stations possess more than a year or two’s dissipation data. Table VII. gives comparative results for winter (October to March) and summer at a few stations, the value for the season being the arithmetic mean from the individual months composing it. At Karasjok (10), Simpson observed thrice a day; the summer value there is nearly double the winter both for a+ and a−. The Kremsmünster (42) figures show a smaller but still distinct excess in the summer values. At Trieste (47), Mazelle’s data from all days of the year show no decided seasonal change in a+ or a−; but when days on which the wind was high are excluded the summer value is decidedly the higher. At Freiburg (43), q seems decidedly larger in winter than in summer; at Karasjok and Trieste the seasonal effect in q seems small and uncertain.

Table VII.—Dissipation.

Place

Winter

Summer

a+ a− a±

q

a+ a− a±

q

Karasjok 1903-1904

2.28

2.69

2.49

1.18

4.38

4.94

4.65

1.13

Kremsmüster 1903

1.14

1.30

1.22

1.14

1.38

1.56

1.47

1.12

Freiburg

..

..

..

1.57

..

..

..

1.26

Trieste 1902-1903

0.56

0.59

0.58

1.07

0.55

0.61

0.58

1.13

Trieste calm days

..

..

0.35

..

..

..

0.48

..

15. Diurnal Variation.—P.B. Zölss (41, 42) has published diurnal variation data for Kremsmünster for more than one year, and independently for midsummer (May to August) and midwinter (December to February). His figures show a double daily period in both a+ and a−, the principal maximum occurring about 1 or 2 P.M. The two minima occur, the one from 5 to 7 A.M., the other from 7 to 8 P.M.; they are nearly equal. Taking the figures answering to the whole year, May 1903 to 1904, a+ varied throughout the day from 0.82 to 1.35, and a− from 0.85 to 1.47. At midsummer the extreme hourly values were 0.91 and 1.45 for a+, 0.94 and 1.60 for a−. The corresponding figures at midwinter were 0.65 and 1.19 for a+, 0.61 and 1.43 for a−. Zölss’ data for q show also a double daily period, but the apparent range is small, and the hourly variation is somewhat irregular. At Karasjok, Simpson found a+ and a− both larger between noon and 1 P.M. than between either 8 and 9 A.M. or 6 and 7 P.M. The 6 to 7 P.M. values were in general the smallest, especially in the case of a+; the evening value for q on the average exceeded the values from the two earlier hours by some 7%.

Summer observations on mountains have shown diurnal variations very large and fairly regular, but widely different from those observed at lower levels. On the Rothhorn, Gockel (43) found a+ particularly variable, the mean 7 A.M. value being 4½ times that at 1 P.M. q (taken as Σ(a−/a+) varied from 2.25 at 5 A.M. and 2.52 at 9 P.M. to 7.82 at 3 P.M. and 8.35 at 7 P.M. On the Sonnblick, in early September, V. Conrad (22) found somewhat similar results for q, the principal maximum occurring at 1 P.M., with minima at 9 P.M. and 6 A.M.; the largest hourly value was, however, scarcely double the least. Conrad found a− largest at 4 A.M. and least at 6 P.M., the largest value being double the least; a+ was largest at 5 A.M. and least at 2 P.M., the largest value being fully 2½ times the least. On Mont Blanc, le Cadet (43) found q largest from 1 to 3 P.M., the value at either of these hours being more than double that at 11 A.M. On the Patscherkofel, H. von Ficker and A. Defant (52), observing in December, found q largest from 1 to 2 P.M. and least between 11 A.M. and noon, but the largest value was only 1½ times the least. On mountains much seems to depend on whether there are rising or falling air currents, and results from a single season may not be fairly representative.

16. Dissipation seems largely dependent on meteorological conditions, but the phenomena at different stations vary so much as to suggest that the connexion is largely indirect. At most stations a+ and a− both increase markedly as wind velocity rises. From the observations at Trieste in 1902-1903 E. Mazelle (47) deduced an increase of about 3% in a+ for a rise of 1 km. per hour in wind velocity. The following are some of his figures, the velocity v being in kilometres per hour:—

v

0 to 4.

20 to 24.

40 to 49.

60 to 69.

a

0.33

0.64

1.03

1.38

q

1.13

1.19

1.00

0.96

For velocities from 0 to 24 km. per hour q exceeded unity in 74 cases out of 100; but for velocities over 50 km. per hour q exceeded unity in only 40 cases out of 100. Simpson got similar results at Karasjok; the rise in a+ and a− with increased wind velocity seemed, however, larger in winter than in summer. Simpson observed a fall in q for wind velocities exceeding 2 on Beaufort’s scale. On the top of the Sonnblick, Conrad observed a slight increase of a± as the wind velocity increased up to 20 km. per hour, but for greater velocities up to 80 km. per hour no further decided rise was observed.

At Karasjok, treating summer and winter independently, Simpson (10) found a+ and a− both increase in a nearly linear relation with temperature, from below −20° to +15° C. For example, when the temperature was below −20° mean values were 0.76 for a+ and 0.91 for a−; for temperatures between -10° and -5° the corresponding means were 2.45 and 2.82; while for temperatures between +10° and +15° they were 4.68 and 5.23. Simpson found no certain temperature effect on the value of q. At Trieste, from 470 days when the wind velocity did not exceed 20 km. per hour, Mazelle (47) found somewhat analogous results for temperatures from 0° to 30° C.; a−, however, increased faster than a+, i.e. q increased with temperature. When he considered all days irrespective of wind velocity, Mazelle found the influence of temperature obliterated. On the Sonnblick, Conrad (22) found a± increase appreciably as temperature rose up to 4° or 5° C.; but at higher temperatures a decrease set in.

Observations on the Sonnblick agree with those at low-level stations in showing a diminution of dissipation with increase of relative humidity. The decrease is most marked as saturation approaches. At Trieste, for example, for relative humidities between 90 and 100 the mean a± was less than half that for relative humidities under 40. With certain dry winds, notably Föhn winds in Austria and Switzerland, dissipation becomes very high. Thus at Innsbruck Defant (45) found the mean dissipation on days of Föhn fully thrice that on days without Föhn. The increase was largest for a+, there being a fall of about 15% in q. In general, a+ and a− both tend to be less on cloudy than on bright days. At Kiel (53) and Trieste the average value of q is considerably less for wholly overcast days than for bright days. At several stations enjoying a wide prospect the dissipation has been observed to be specially high on days of great visibility when distant mountains can be recognized. It tends on the contrary to be low on days of fog or rain.

The results obtained as to the relation between dissipation and barometric pressure are conflicting. At Kremsmünster, Zölss (42) found dissipation vary with the absolute height of the barometer, a± having a mean value of 1.36 when pressure was below the normal, as against 1.20 on days when pressure was above the normal. He also found a± on the average about 10% larger when pressure was falling than when it was rising. On the Sonnblick, Conrad (22) found dissipation increase decidedly as the absolute barometric pressure was larger, and he found no difference between days of rising and falling barometer. At Trieste, Mazelle (47) found no certain connexion with absolute barometric pressure. Dissipation was above the average when cyclonic conditions prevailed, but this seemed simply a consequence of the increased wind velocity. At Mattsee, E.R. von Schweidler (46) found no connexion between absolute barometric pressure and dissipation, also days of rising and falling pressure gave the same mean. At Kiel, K. Kaehler (53) found a+ and a− both greater with rising than with falling barometer.

V. Conrad and M. Topolansky (54) have found a marked connexion at Vienna between dissipation and ozone. Regular observations were made of both elements. Days were grouped according to the intensity of colouring of ozone papers, 0 representing no visible effect, and 14 the darkest colour reached. The mean values of a+ and a− answering to 12 and 13 on the ozone scale were both about double the corresponding values answering to 0 and 1 on that scale.

17. A charged body in air loses its charge in more than one way. The air, as is now known, has always present in it ions, some carrying a positive and others a negative charge, and those having the opposite sign to the charged body are attracted and tend to discharge it. The rate of loss of charge is thus largely dependent on the extent to which ions are present in the surrounding air. It depends, however, in addition on the natural mobility of the ions, and also on the opportunities for convection. Of late years many observations have been made of the ionic charges in air. The best-known apparatus for the purpose is that devised by Ebert. A cylinder condenser has its inner surface insulated and charged to a high positive or negative potential. Air is drawn by an aspirator between the surfaces, and the ions having the opposite sign to the inner cylinder are deposited on it. The charge given up to the inner cylinder is known from its loss of potential. The volume of air from which the ions have been extracted being known, a measure is obtained of the total charge on the ions, whether positive or negative. The conditions must, of course, be such as to secure that no ions shall escape, otherwise there is an underestimate. I+ is used to denote the charge on positive ions, I- that on negative ions. The unit to which they are ordinarily referred is 1 electrostatic unit of electricity per cubic metre of air. For the ratio of the mean value of I+ to the mean value of I−, the letter Q is employed by Gockel (55), who has made an unusually complete study of ionic charges at Freiburg. Numerous observations were also made by Simpson (10)—thrice a day—at Karasjok, and von Schweidler has made a good many observations about 3 P.M. at Mattsee (46) in 1905, and Seewalchen (38) in 1904. These will suffice to give a general idea of the mean values met with.

Station.

Authority.

I

+

I

−

Q

Freiburg

Gockel

0.34

0.24

1.41

Karasjok

Simpson

0.38

0.33

1.17

Mattsee

von Schweidler

0.35

0.29

1.19

Seewalchen

von Schweidler

0.45

0.38

1.17

Gockel’s mean values of I+ and Q would be reduced to 0.31 and 1.38 respectively if his values for July—which appear abnormal—were omitted. I+ and I− both show a considerable range of values, even at the same place during the same season of the year. Thus at Seewalchen in the course of a month’s observations at 3 P.M., I+ varied from 0.31 to 0.67, and I− from 0.17 to 0.67.

There seems a fairly well marked annual variation in ionic contents, as the following figures will show. Summer and winter represent each six months and the results are arithmetic means of the monthly values.

 

Freiburg.

Karasjok.

 

I

+

I

−

Q

I

+

I

−

Q

Winter

0.29

0.21

1.49

0.33

0.27

1.22

Summer

0.39

0.28

1.34

0.44

0.39

1.13

If the exceptional July values at Freiburg were omitted, the summer values of I+ and Q would become 0.33 and 1.25 respectively.

18. Diurnal Variation.—At Karasjok Simpson found the mean values of I+ and I− throughout the whole year much the same between noon and 1 P.M. as between 8 and 9 A.M. Observations between 6 and 7 P.M. gave means slightly lower than those from the earlier hours, but the difference was only about 5% in I+ and 10% in I−. The evening values of Q were on the whole the largest. At Freiburg, Gockel found I+ and I− decidedly larger in the early afternoon than in either the morning or the late evening hours. His greatest and least mean hourly values and the hours of their occurrence are as follows:—

Winter.

Summer.

I

+

I

−

I

+

I

−

Max.

Min.

Max.

Min.

Max.

Min.

Max.

Min.

0.333

0.193

0.242

0.130

0.430

0.244

0.333

0.192

2 PM

7 PM

2 PM

8 PM

4 PM

9 to

4 PM

9 to

 

 

 

 

 

10 PM

 

10 PM

Gockel did not observe between 10 P.M. and 7 A.M.

19. Ionization seems to increase notably as temperature rises. Thus at Karasjok Simpson found for mean values:—

Temp. less than −20°

−10° to −5°

10° to 15°

I

+

= 0.18, I

−

= 0.36

I

+

= 0.36, I

−

= 0.30

I

+

= 0.45, I

−

= 0.43

Simpson found no clear influence of temperature on Q. Gockel observed similar effects at Freiburg—though he seems doubtful whether the relationship is direct—but the influence of temperature on I+ seemed reduced when the ground was covered with snow. Gockel found a diminution of ionization with rise of relative humidity. Thus for relative humidities between 40 and 50 mean values were 0.306 for I+ and 0.219 for I−; whilst for relative humidities between 90 and 100 the corresponding means were respectively 0.222 and 0.134. At Karasjok, Simpson found a slight decrease in I− as relative humidity increased, but no certain change in I+. Specially large values of I+ and I− have been observed at high levels in balloon ascents. Thus on the 1st of July 1901, at a height of 2400 metres, H. Gerdien (29) obtained 0.86 for I+ and 1.09 for I−.

20. In 1901 Elster and Geitel found that a radioactive emanation is present in the atmosphere. Their method of measuring the radioactivity is as follows (48): A wire not exceeding 1 mm. in diameter, charged to a negative potential of at least 2000 volts, is supported between insulators in the open, usually at a height of about 2 metres. After two hours’ exposure, it is wrapped round a frame supported in a given position relative to Elster and Geitel’s dissipation apparatus, and the loss of charge is noted. This loss is proportional to the length of the wire. The radioactivity is denoted by A, and A=1 signifies that the potential of the dissipation apparatus fell 1 volt in an hour per metre of wire introduced. The loss of the dissipation body due to the natural ionization of the air is first allowed for. Suppose, for instance, that in the absence of the wire the potential falls from 264 to 255 volts in 15 minutes, whilst when the wire (10 metres long) is introduced it falls from 264 to 201 volts in 10 minutes, then

10A = (254 − 201) × 6 − (264 − 255) × 4 = 342; or A = 34.2.

The values obtained for A seem largely dependent on the station. At Wolfenbüttel, a year’s observations by Elster and Geitel (56) made A vary from 4 to 64, the mean being 20. In the island of Juist, off the Friesland coast, from three weeks’ observations they obtained only 5.2 as the mean. On the other hand, at Altjoch, an Alpine station, from nine days’ observations in July 1903 they obtained a mean of 137, the maximum being 224, and the minimum 92. At Freiburg, from 150 days’ observations near noon in 1903-1904, Gockel (57) obtained a mean of 84, his extreme values being 10 and 420. At Karasjok, observing several times throughout the day for a good many months, Simpson (10) obtained a mean of 93 and a maximum of 432. The same observer from four weeks’ observations at Hammerfest got the considerably lower mean value 58, with a maximum of 252. At this station much lower values were found for A with sea breezes than with land breezes. Observing on the pier at Swinemünde in August and September 1904, Lüdeling (40) obtained a mean value of 34.

Elster and Geitel (58), having found air drawn from the soil highly radioactive, regard ground air as the source of the emanation in the atmosphere, and in this way account for the low values they obtained for A when observing on or near the sea. At Freiburg in winter Gockel (55) found A notably reduced when snow was on the ground, I+ being also reduced. When the ground was covered by snow the mean value of A was only 42, as compared with 81 when there was no snow.

J.C. McLennan (59) observing near the foot of Niagara found A only about one-sixth as large as at Toronto. Similarly at Altjoch, Elster and Geitel (56) found A at the foot of a waterfall only about one-third of its normal value at a distance from the fall.

21. Annual and Diurnal Variations.—At Wolfenbüttel, Elster and Geitel found A vary but little with the season. At Karasjok, on the contrary, Simpson found A much larger at midwinter—notwithstanding the presence of snow—than at midsummer. His mean value for November and December was 129, while his mean for May and June was only 47. He also found a marked diurnal variation, A being considerably greater between 3 and 5 A.M. or 8.30 to 10.30 P.M. than between 10 A.M. and noon, or between 3 and 5 P.M.

At all seasons of the year Simpson found A rise notably with increase of relative humidity. Also, whilst the mere absolute height of the barometer seemed of little, if any, importance, he obtained larger values of A with a falling than with a rising barometer. This last result of course is favourable to Elster and Geitel’s views as to the source of the emanation.

22. For a wire exposed under the conditions observed by Elster and Geitel the emanation seems to be almost entirely derived from radium. Some part, however, seems to be derived from thorium, and H.A. Bumstead (60) finds that with longer exposure of the wire the relative importance of the thorium emanation increases. With three hours’ exposure he found the thorium emanation only from 3 to 5% of the whole, but with 12 hours’ exposure the percentage of thorium emanation rose to about 15. These figures refer to the state of the wire immediately after the exposure; the rate of decay is much more rapid for the radium than for the thorium emanation.

23. The different elements—potential gradient, dissipation, ionization and radioactivity—are clearly not independent of one another. The loss of a charge is naturally largely dependent on the richness of the surrounding air in ions. This is clearly shown by the following results obtained by Simpson (10) at Karasjok for the mean values of a± corresponding to certain groups of values of I±. To eliminate the disturbing influence of wind, different wind strengths are treated separately.

Table VIII.—Mean Values of a±.

Wind

Strength.

I

±

0 to 0.1.

0.1 to 0.2

0.2 to 0.3

0.3 to 0.4

0.4 to 0.5

0 to 1

0.45

0.60

1.26

2.04

3.03

1 to 2

0.65

1.08

1.85

2.92

3.83

2 to 3

..

..

2.70

3.88

5.33

Simspon concluded that for a given wind velocity dissipation is practically a linear function of ionization.

24. Table IX. will give a general idea of the relations of potential gradient to dissipation and ionization.

Table IX.—Potential, Dissipation, Ionization.

Potential

gradients

volts per

metre.

q

Karasjok (Simpson (

10

)).

Kremsmünster (

41

).

Freiburg (

43

).

Rothhorn (

43

).

a+ a−

I

+

I

−

Q

0 to 50

..

1.12

..

..

..

..

..

..

50 to 100

1.14

1.31

..

4.29

4.67

0.43

0.39

1.11

100 to 150

1.24

1.69

..

3.38

3.93

0.37

0.32

1.15

150 to 200

1.48

1.84

..

1.85

2.58

0.36

0.28

1.28

200 to 300

..

..

3.21

1.37

1.58

0.26

0.19

1.42

300 to 400

..

..

4.33

0.60

0.85

..

..

..

400 to 500

..

..

5.46

..

..

..

..

..

500 to 700

..

..

8.75

..

..

..

..

..

If we regard the potential gradient near the ground as representing a negative charge on the earth, then if the source of supply of that charge is unaffected the gradient will rise and become high when the operations by which discharge is promoted slacken their activity. A diminution in the number of positive ions would thus naturally be accompanied by a rise in potential gradient. Table IX. associates with rise in potential gradient a reduced number of both positive and negative ions and a diminished rate of dissipation whether of a negative or a positive charge. The rise in q and Q indicates that the diminished rate of dissipation is most marked for positive charges, and that negative ions are even more reduced then positive.

At Kremsmünster Zölss (41) finds a considerable similarity between the diurnal variations in q and in the potential gradient, the hours of the forenoon and afternoon maxima being nearly the same in the two cases.

No distinct relationship has yet been established between potential gradient and radioactivity. At Karasjok Simpson (10) found fairly similar mean values of A for two groups of observations, one confined to cases when the potential gradient exceeded +400 volts, the other confined to cases of negative gradient.

At Freiburg Gockel (55, 57) found that when observations were grouped according to the value of A there appeared a distinct rise in both a− and I+ with increasing A. For instance, when A lay between 100 and 150 the mean value of a- was 1.27 times greater than when A lay between 0 and 50; while when A lay between 120 and 150 the mean value of I+ was 1.53 times larger than when A lay between 0 and 30. These apparent relationships refer to mean values. In individual cases widely different values of a− or I+ are associated with the same value of A.

25. If V be the potential, ρ the density of free electricity at a point in the atmosphere, at a distance r from the earth’s centre, then assuming statical conditions and neglecting variation of V in horizontal directions, we have

r−2(d/dr)(r² dV/dr) + 4πρ = 0.

For practical purposes we may treat r² as constant, and replace d/dr by d/dh, where h is height in centimetres above the ground.

We thus find

ρ = −(1/4π) d²V/dh².

If we take a tube of force 1 sq. cm. in section, and suppose it cut by equipotential surfaces at heights h1 and h2 above the ground, we have for the total charge M included in the specified portion of the tube

4πM = (dV/dh)h1 − (dV/dh)h2.

Taking Linke’s (28) figures as given in § 10, and supposing h1 = 0, h2 = 15 × 104, we find for the charge in the unit tube between the ground and 1500 metres level, remembering that the centimetre is now the unit of length, M = (1/4π) (125 − 25)/100. Taking 1 volt equal 1⁄300 of an electrostatic unit, we find M = 0.000265. Between 1500 and 4000 metres the charge inside the unit tube is much less, only 0.000040. The charge on the earth itself has its surface density given by σ = −(1/4π) × 125 volts per metre, = 0.000331 in e ectrostatic units. Thus, on the view now generally current, in the circumstances answering to Linke’s experiments we have on the ground a charge of −331 × 10−6 C.G.S. units per sq. cm. Of the corresponding positive charge, 265 × 10−6 lies below the 1500 metres level, 40 × 10−6 between this and the 4000 metres level, and only 26 × 10−6 above 4000 metres.

There is a difficulty in reconciling observed values of the ionization with the results obtained from balloon ascents as to the variation of the potential with altitude. According to H. Gerdien (61), near the ground a mean value for d²V/dh² is −(1⁄10) volt/(metre)². From this we deduce for the charge ρ per cubic centimetre (1/4π) × 10−5 (volt/cm²), or 2.7 × 10−9 electrostatic units. But taking, for example, Simpson’s mean values at Karasjok, we have observed

ρ ≡ I+ − I1 = 0.05 × (cm./metre)3 = 5 × 10−8,

and thus (calculated ρ)/(observed ρ) = 0.05 approximately. Gerdien himself makes I+ − I− considerably larger than Simpson, and concludes that the observed value of ρ is from 30 to 50 times that calculated. The presumption is either that d²V/dh² near the ground is much larger numerically than Gerdien supposes, or else that the ordinary instruments for measuring ionization fail to catch some species of ion whose charge is preponderatingly negative.

26. Gerdien (61) has made some calculations as to the probable average value of the vertical electric current in the atmosphere in fine weather. This will be composed of a conduction and a convection current, the latter due to rising or falling air currents carrying ions. He supposes the field near the earth to be 100 volts per metre, or 1⁄300 electrostatic units. For simplicity, he assumes I+ and I− each equal 0.25 × 10−6 electrostatic units. The specific velocities of the ions—i.e. the velocities in unit field—he takes to be 1.3 × 300 for the positive, and 1.6 × 300 for the negative. The positive and negative ions travel in opposite directions, so the total current is (1⁄300)(0.25 × 10−6)(1.3 × 300 + 1.6 × 300), or 73 × 10−8 in electrostatic measure, otherwise 2.4 × 10−16 amperes per sq. cm. As to the convection current, Gerdien supposes—as in § 25—ρ = 2.7 × 10−9 electrostatic units, and on fine days puts the average velocity of rising air currents at 10 cm. per second. This gives a convection current of 2.7 × 10−8 electrostatic units, or about 1⁄27 of the conduction current. For the total current we have approximately 2.5 × 10−16 amperes per sq. cm. This is insignificant compared to the size of the currents which several authorities have calculated from considerations as to terrestrial magnetism (q.v.). Gerdien’s estimate of the convection current is for fine weather conditions. During rainfall, or near clouds or dust layers, the magnitude of this current might well be enormously increased; its direction would naturally vary with climatic conditions.

27. H. Mache (62) thinks that the ionization observed in the atmosphere may be wholly accounted for by the radioactive emanation. If this is true we should have q = αn², where q is the number of ions of one sign made in 1 cc. of air per second by the emanation, α the constant of recombination, and n the number of ions found simultaneously by, say, Ebert’s apparatus. Mache and R. Holfmann, from observations on the amplitude of saturation currents, deduce q = 4 as a mean value. Taking for α Townsend’s value 1.2 × 10−6, Mache finds n = 1800. The charge on an ion being 3.4 × 10−10 Mache deduces for the ionic charge, I+ or I−, per cubic metre 1800 × 3.4 × 10−10 × 106, or 0.6. This is at least of the order observed, which is all that can be expected from a calculation which assumes I+ and I− equal. If, however, Mache’s views were correct, we should expect a much closer connexion between I and A than has actually been observed.

28. C.T.R. Wilson (63) seems disposed to regard the action of rainfall as the most probable source of the negative charge on the earth’s surface. That great separation of positive and negative electricity sometimes takes place during rainfall is undoubted, and the charge brought to the ground seems preponderatingly negative. The difficulty is in accounting for the continuance in extensive fine weather districts of large positive charges in the atmosphere in face of the processes of recombination always in progress. Wilson considers that convection currents in the upper atmosphere would be quite inadequate, but conduction may, he thinks, be sufficient alone. At barometric pressures such as exist between 18 and 36 kilometres above the ground the mobility of the ions varies inversely as the pressure, whilst the coefficient of recombination α varies approximately as the pressure. If the atmosphere at different heights is exposed to ionizing radiation of uniform intensity the rate of production of ions per cc., q, will vary as the pressure. In the steady state the number, n, of ions of either sign per cc. is given by n = √(q/α), and so is independent of the pressure or the height. The conductivity, which varies as the product of n into the mobility, will thus vary inversely as the pressure, and so at 36 kilometres will be one hundred times as large as close to the ground. Dust particles interfere with conduction near the ground, so the relative conductivity in the upper layers may be much greater than that calculated. Wilson supposes that by the fall to the ground of a preponderance of negatively charged rain the air above the shower has a higher positive potential than elsewhere at the same level, thus leading to large conduction currents laterally in the highly conducting upper layers.

29. Thunder.—Trustworthy frequency statistics for an individual station are obtainable only from a long series of observations, while if means are taken from a large area places may be included which differ largely amongst themselves. There is the further complication that in some countries thunder seems to be on the increase. In temperate latitudes, speaking generally, the higher the latitude the fewer the thunderstorms. For instance, for Edinburgh (64) (1771 to 1900) and London (65) (1763 to 1896) R.C. Mossman found the average annual number of thunderstorm days to be respectively 6.4 and 10.7; while at Paris (1873-1893) E. Renou (66) found 27.3 such days. In some tropical stations, at certain seasons of the year, thunder is almost a daily occurrence. At Batavia (18) during the epoch 1867-1895, there were on the average 120 days of thunder in the year.

As an example of a large area throughout which thunder frequency appears fairly uniform, we may take Hungary (67). According to the statistics for 1903, based on several hundred stations, the average number of days of thunder throughout six subdivisions of the country, some wholly plain, others mainly mountainous, varied only from 21.1 to 26.5, the mean for the whole of Hungary being 23.5. The antithesis of this exists in the United States of America. According to A.J. Henry (68) there are three regions of maximum frequency: one in the south-east, with its centre in Florida, has an average of 45 days of thunder in the year; a second including the middle Mississippi valley has an average of 35 days; and a third in the middle Missouri valley has 30. With the exception of a narrow strip along the Canadian frontier, thunderstorm frequency is fairly high over the whole of the United States to the east of the 100th meridian. But to the west of this, except in the Rocky Mountain region where storms are numerous, the frequency steadily diminishes, and along the Pacific coast there are large areas where thunder occurs only once or twice a year.

30. The number of thunderstorm days is probably a less exact measure of the relative intensity of thunderstorms than statistics as to the number of persons killed annually by lightning per million of the population. Table X. gives a number of statistics of this kind. The letter M stands for “Midland.”

Table X.—Deaths by Lightning, per annum, per million Inhabitants.

Hungary

7.7

Upper Missouri and Plains

15

Netherlands

2.8

Rocky Mountains and Plateau

10

England, N. M.

1.8

South Atlantic

8

 ”   E.

1.3

Central Mississippi

7

 ”   S. M.

1.2

Upper   ”

7

 ”   York and W. M.

1.1

Ohio Valley

7

 ”   N.

1.0

Middle Atlantic

6

Wales

0.9

Gulf States

5

England, S. E.

0.8

New England

4

 ”   N. W.

0.7

Pacific Coast

<1*

 ”   S. W.

0.6

North and South Dakota

20

London

0.1

California

0

* Note in case of Pacific coast, Table X., “<1” means “less than 1.”

The figure for Hungary is based on the seven years 1897-1903; that for the Netherlands, from data by A.J. Monné (69) on the nine years 1882-1890. The English data, due to R. Lawson (70), are from twenty-four years, 1857-1880; those for the United States, due to Henry (68), are for five years, 1896-1900. In comparing these data allowance must be made for the fact that danger from lightning is much greater out of doors than in. Thus in Hungary, in 1902 and 1903, out of 229 persons killed, at least 171 were killed out of doors. Of the 229 only 67 were women, the only assignable explanation being their rarer employment in the fields. Thus, ceteris paribtis, deaths from lightning are much more numerous in a country than in an industrial population. This is well brought out by the low figure for London. It is also shown conspicuously in figures given by Henry. In New York State, where the population is largely industrial, the annual deaths per million are only three, but of the agricultural population eleven. In states such as Wyoming and the Dakotas the population is largely rural, and the deaths by lightning rise in consequence. The frequency and intensity of thunderstorms are unquestionably greater in the Rocky Mountain than in the New England states, but the difference is not so great as the statistics at first sight suggest.

Table XI.—Annual Variation of Thunderstorms.

 

Jan.

Feb.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Ediburgh

1.8

1.4

1.4

3.8

12.3

20.8

28.2

19.1

7.0

2.3

1.1

0.8

London

0.6

0.5

1.6

6.6

12.7

18.3

25.5

19.2

9.3

3.1

1.7

0.9

Paris

0.2

0.4

2.3

7.5

14.9

21.6

22.0

17.0

9.9

3.5

0.4

0.4

Netherlands

2.2

1.8

3.7

6.5

14.0

14.7

15.6

14.7

10.3

10.1

3.8

2.5

France

2.2

2.8

4.1

8.4

13.8

18.7

14.6

13.5

10.0

6.3

3.1

2.4

Switzerland

0.2

0.3

0.5

4.9

11.9

22.9

29.9

18.0

9.8

1.1

0.3

0.2

Hungary (

a

)

0.0

0.1

1.6

5.7

20.9

25.0

23.2

15.9

5.7

1.3

0.4

0.2

Hungary (

b

)

0.0

0.0

1.0

3.2

11.8

20.6

30.7

25.3

6.9

0.5

0.0

0.0

United States

0.1

0.1

1.2

4.0

14.3

25.0

27.2

20.4

5.8

1.4

0.3

0.1

Hong-Kong

0.0

2.1

4.3

8.5

12.8

23.4

14.9

21.3

10.6

2.1

0.0

0.0

Trevandrum

3.2

3.8

13.1

20.9

18.6

4.9

1.2

3.5

2.5

12.9

12.0

3.3

Batavia

10.4

9.2

11.1

10.5

7.9

5.5

4.3

3.8

5.4

8.8

12.2

10.9

31. Even at the same place thunderstorms vary greatly in intensity and duration. Also the times of beginning and ending are difficult to define exactly, so that several elements of uncertainty exist in data as to the seasonal or diurnal variation. The monthly data in Table XI. are percentages of the total for the year. In most cases the figures are based on the number of days of thunder at a particular station, or at the average station of a country; but the second set for Hungary relates to the number of lightning strokes causing fire, and the figures for the United States relate to deaths by lightning. The data for Edinburgh, due to R.C. Mossman (64), refer to 130 years, 1771 to 1900. The data for London (1763-1896) are also due to Mossman (65); for Paris (1873-1893) to Renou (66); for the Netherlands (1882-1900) to A.J. Monné (69); for France(71) (1886-1899) to Frou and Hann; for Switzerland to K. Hess (72); for Hungary (67) (1896-1903) to L. von Szalay and others; for the United States (1890-1900) to A.J. Henry (68); for Hong-Kong (73) (1894-1903) to W. Doberck. The Trevandrum (74) data (1853-1864) were due originally to A. Broun; the Batavia data (1867-1895) are from the Batavia Observations, vol. xviii.

Most stations in the northern hemisphere have a conspicuous maximum at midsummer with little thunder in winter. Trevandrum (8° 31′ N.) and Batavia (6° 11′ S.), especially the former, show a double maximum and minimum.

Table XII.—Diurnal Variation of Thunderstorms.

Hour.

0-2.

2-4.

4-6.

6-8.

8-10.

10-12.

0′-2′.

2′-4′.

4′-6′.

6′-8′.

8′-10′.

10′-12′.

Finland (

76

)

2.3

2.0

2.2

3.0

4.6

12.1

18.9

19.2

16.1

10.1

6.1

3.4

Edinburgh (

64

)

1.7

2.0

1.4

1.7

4.7

14.2

22.4

23.7

11.9

9.2

5.1

2.0

Belgium (

77

)

3.0

2.9

1.7

1.8

2.0

6.4

12.9

21.6

19.4

15.8

8.4

4.1

Brocken (

78

)

1.6

2.5

1.3

1.3

4.2

3.1

12.1

28.6

22.4

10.1

7.2

5.6

Switzerland (

72

)

3.1

2.3

2.1

1.6

2.0

7.3

13.8

20.9

20.8

14.6

8.0

3.5

Italy (

77

)

1.3

1.6

1.4

2.0

3.0

8.5

19.5

26.5

16.6

9.8

8.3

1.5

Hungary (i.) (

67

)

2.1

1.9

1.9

2.1

2.9

11.5

18.1

22.0

17.9

10.7

6.2

2.8

Hungary (ii.) (

67

)

6.9

4.2

2.3

2.0

2.0

5.0

9.9

16.9

18.2

10.7

11.7

10.0

Hungary (iii.) (

75

)

2.3

1.9

2.0

2.4

2.7

7.9

16.1

22.1

19.1

12.7

7.6

3.2

Hungary (iv.) (

75

)

2.6

2.2

1.9

1.9

3.6

13.3

19.9

20.7

15.2

9.2

6.2

3.3

Trevandrum (

74

)

5.6

4.9

4.3

1.3

1.4

2.0

13.3

24.5

15.9

13.3

7.6

5.9

Agustia (

74

)

2.9

2.9

0.3

0.0

1.7

2.9

15.1

36.1

22.2

9.3

4.6

2.0

32. Daily Variation.—The figures in Table XII. are again percentages. They are mostly based on data as to the hour of commencement of thunderstorms. Data as to the hour when storms are most severe would throw the maximum later in the day. This is illustrated by the first two sets of figures for Hungary (67). The first set relate as usual to the hour of commencement, the second to the hours of occurrence of lightning causing fires. Of the two other sets of figures for Hungary (75), (iii.) relates to the central plain, (iv.) to the mountainous regions to north and south of this. The hour of maximum is earlier for the mountains, thunder being more frequent there than in the plains between 8 A.M. and 4 P.M., but less frequent between 2 and 10 P.M. Trevandrum (8° 31′ N., 76° 59′ E., 195 ft. above sea-level) and Agustia (8° 37′ N., 77° 20′ E., 6200 ft. above sea-level) afford a contrast between low ground and high ground in India. In this instance there seems little difference in the hour of maximum, the distinguishing feature being the great concentration of thunderstorm occurrence at Agustia between noon and 6 P.M.

Table XIII.

Year.

Nether-

lands.

France.

Hungary.

U.S.A.

Year.

Nether-

lands.

France.

Hungary.

U.S.A.

1882

 98

..

141

..

1893

102

288

233

209

1883

117

..

195

..

1894

111

300

333

336

1884

 95

..

229

..

1895

119

309

280

426

1885

 93

..

192

..

1896

109

266

299

341

1886

102

251

319

..

1897

119

297

350

362

1887

 78

292

236

..

1898

 95

299

386

367

1888

 94

286

232

..

1899

112

299

368

563

1889

126

294

258

..

1900

108

..

401

713

1890

 93

299

265

..

1901

..

..

502

..

1891

 98

317

302

204

1902

..

..

322

..

1892

 86

324

350

251

1903

..

..

256

..

33. Table XIII. gives some data as to the variability of thunder from year to year. The figures for the Netherlands (69) and France (71) are the number of days when thunder occurred somewhere in the country. Its larger area and more varied climate give a much larger number of days of thunder to France. Notwithstanding the proximity of the two countries, there is not much parallelism between the data. The figures for Hungary (67) give the number of lightning strokes causing fire; those for the United States (68) give the number of persons killed by lightning. The conspicuous maximum in 1901 and great drop in 1902 in Hungary are also shown by the statistics as to the number of days of thunder. This number at the average station of the country fell from 38.4 in 1901 to 23.1 in 1902. On the whole, however, the number of destructive lightning strokes and of days of thunder do not show a close parallelism.

Table XIV.

Decade ending

1810.

1820.

1830.

1840.

1850.

1860.

1870.

1880.

1890.

1900.

Edinburgh

4.9

5.7

7.7

6.7

5.7

6.5

5.4

10.6

9.4

9.2

London

9.5

8.3

11.5

11.8

10.5

11.9

9.6

15.7

13.0

..

Tilsit

..

..

12.5

12.1

16.1

15.3

11.9

17.6

21.8

..

Germany, South

..

..

..

..

..

49

66

91

143

175

  ”    West

..

..

..

..

..

92

106

187

244

331

  ”    North

..

..

..

..

..

124

135

245

288

352

  ”    East

..

..

..

..

..

102

143

186

210

273

  ”    Whole

..

..

..

..

..

90

116

189

254

318

34. Table XIV. deals with the variation of thunder over longer periods. The data for Edinburgh (64) and London (65) due to Mossman, and those for Tilsit, due to C. Kassner (79), represent the average number of days of thunder per annum. The data for Germany, due to O. Steffens (80), represent the average number of houses struck by lightning in a year per million houses; in the first decade only seven years (1854-1860) are really included. Mossman thinks that the apparent increase at Edinburgh and London in the later decades is to some extent at least real. The two sets of figures show some corroborative features, notably the low frequency from 1860 to 1870. The figures for Germany—representing four out of six divisions of that country—are remarkable. In Germany as a whole, out of a million houses the number struck per annum was three and a half times as great in the decade 1890 to 1900 as between 1854 and 1860. Von Bezold (81) in an earlier memoir presented data analogous to Steffens’, seemingly accepting them as representing a true increase in thunderstorm destructiveness. Doubts have, however, been expressed by others—e.g. A. Gockel, Das Gewitter, p. 106—as to the real significance of the figures. Changes in the height or construction of buildings, and a greater readiness to make claims on insurance offices, may be contributory causes.

35. The fact that a considerable number of people sheltering under trees are killed by lightning is generally accepted as a convincing proof of the unwisdom of the proceeding. When there is an option between a tree and an adjacent house, the latter is doubtless the safer choice. But when the option is between sheltering under a tree and remaining in the open it is not so clear. In Hungary (67), during the three years 1901 to 1903, 15% of the total deaths by lightning occurred under trees, as against 57% wholly in the open. In the United States (68) in 1900, only 10% of the deaths where the precise conditions were ascertained occurred under trees, as against 52% in the open. If then the risk under trees exceeds that in the open in Hungary and the United States, at least five or six times as many people must remain in the open as seek shelter under trees. An isolated tree occupying an exposed position is, it should be remembered, much more likely to be struck than the average tree in the midst of a wood. A good deal also depends on the species of tree. A good many years’ data for Lippe (82) in Germany make the liability to lightning stroke as follows—the number of each species being supposed the same:—Oak 57, Fir 39, Pine 5, Beech 1. In Styria, according to K. Prohaska (83), the species most liable to be struck are oaks, poplars and pear trees; beech trees again are exceptionally safe. It should, however, be borne in mind that the apparent differences between different species may be partly a question of height, exposure or proximity to water. A good deal may also depend on the soil. According to Hellmann, as quoted by Henry (82), the liability to lightning stroke in Germany may be put at chalk 1, clay 7, sand 9, loam 22.

36. Numerous attempts have been made to find periodic variations in thunderstorm frequency. Among the periods suggested are the 11-year sun-spot period, or half this (cf. v. Szalay (67)). Ekholm and Arrhenius (84) claim to have established the existence of a tropical lunar period, and a 25.929-day period; while P. Polis (85) considers a synodic lunar period probable. A.B. MacDowall (86) and others have advanced evidence in favour of the view that thunderstorms are most frequent near new moon and fewest near full moon. Much more evidence would be required to produce a general acceptance of any of the above periods.

37. St Elmo’s Fire.—Luminous discharges from masts, lightning conductors, and other pointed objects are not very infrequent, especially during thunderstorms. On the Sonnblick, where the phenomenon is common, Elster and Geitel (87) have found St Elmo’s fire to answer to a discharge sometimes of positive sometimes of negative electricity. The colour and appearance differ in the two cases, red predominating in a positive, blue in a negative discharge. The differences characteristic of the two forms of discharge are described and illustrated in Gockel’s Das Gewitter. Gockel states (l.c. p. 74) that during snowfall the sign is positive or negative according as the flakes are large or are small and powdery. The discharge is not infrequently accompanied by a sizzling sound.

38. Of late years many experiments have been made on the influence of electric fields or currents on plant growth. S. Lemström (88), who was a pioneer in this department, found an electric field highly beneficial in some but not in all cases. Attempts have been made to apply electricity to agriculture on a commercial scale, but the exact measure of success attained remains somewhat doubtful. Lemström believed atmospheric electricity to play an important part in the natural growth of vegetation, and he assigned a special rôle to the needles of fir and pine trees.

Bibliography.—The following abbreviations are here used:—M.Z., Meteorologische Zeitschrift; P.Z., Physikalische Zeitschrift; S., Sitzungsberichte k. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturw. Klasse, Theil ii. 2; P.T., “Philosophical Transactions Royal Society of London”; T.M., Terrestrial Magnetism, edited by Dr L.A. Bauer.

Text-books:—(1) G. le Cadet, Étude du champ électrique de l’atmosphère (Paris, 1898); (2) Svante A. Arrhenius, Lehrbuch der kosmischen Physik (Leipzig, 1903); (3) A. Gockel, Das Gewitter (Cologne, 1905).

Lists of original authorities:—(4) F. Exner, M.Z., vol. 17, 1900, p. 529 (especially pp. 542-3); (5) G.C. Simpson, Q.J.R. Met. Soc., vol. 31, 1905, p. 295 (especially pp. 305-6). References in the text:—(6) M.Z., vol. 4, 1887, p. 352; (7) T.M., vol. 4, 1899, p. 213; (8) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 661; (9) M.Z., vol. 23, 1906, p. 114; (10) P.T., vol. 205 A, 1906, p. 61; (11) P.Z., vol. 5, p. 260; (12) C. Chree, P.T., vol. 206 A, p. 299; (13) Annual volumes, Greenwich Magnetical and Meteorological Observations; (14) M.Z., vol. 8, 1891, p. 357; (15) M.Z., vol. 7, 1890, p. 319 and vol. 8, 1891, p. 113; (16) Annual volumes, Annaes do Obs. do Infante D. Luiz; (17) Annual Reports, Central Meteorological Observatory of Japan; (18) Observations made at the Mag. and Met. Obs. at Batavia, vol. 18, 1895; (19) J.D. Everett, P.T., vol. 158, 1868, p. 347; (20) M.Z., vol. 6, 1889, p. 95; (21) A.B. Chauveau, Ann. bureau central météorologique, Paris, année 1900, “Mémoires,” p. C1; (22) V. Conrad, S., 113, p. 1143; (23) P.B. Zölss, P.Z., vol. 5, p. 260; (24) T.M., vol. 7, 1902, p. 89; (25) Revue générale des sciences, 1906, p. 442; (26) T.M., vol. 8, 1903, p. 86. and vol. 9, 1904, p. 147; (27) S., 93, p. 222; (28) M.Z., vol. 22, 1905, p. 237; (29) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 632; (30) Phil. Mag., vol. 20, 1885, p. 456; (31) Expédition polaire finlandaise, vol. 3 (Helsingfors, 1898); (32) A. Paulsen, Bull. de l’Acad. ... de Danemarke, 1894, p. 148; (33) Wied. Ann., vol. 46, 1892, p. 584; (34) P.T., vol. 191 A, p. 187; (35) M.Z., vol. 5, 1888, p. 95; S., 99, p. 421; T.M., vol. 4, 1899, p. 15; (36) Camb. Phil. Soc. Proc., vol. 11, p. 428, and vol. 12, pp. 17 and 85; (37) P.Z., vol. 4, pp. 267 and 873; (38) E.R. v. Schweidler, S., 113, p. 1433; (39) S., 111, July 1902; (40) Veröffentl. des Kg. Preuss. Met. Inst., 1904; (41) P.Z., vol. 5, p. 106; (42) S., 114, p. 198; (43) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 871; (44) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 93; (45) M.Z., vol. 23, 1906, p. 229; (46) S., 114, p. 1705; (47) S., 114, p. 399; (48) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 522; (49) S., 113, p. 1455; (50) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 627; (51) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 90; (52) S., 114, p. 151; (53) M.Z., vol. 23, 1906, p. 253; (54) P.Z., vol. 5, p. 749; (55) M.Z., vol. 23, 1906, pp. 53 and 339; (56) P.Z., vol. 5, p. 11; (57) P.Z., vol. 5, p. 591; (58) T.M., vol. 9, 1904, p. 49; (59) P.Z., vol. 4, p. 295; (60) P.Z., vol. 5, p. 504; (61) T.M., vol. 10, 1905, p. 65; (62) S., 114, p. 1377; (63) Camb. Phil. Soc. Proc., vol. 13, p. 363; (64) Trans. R.S. Edin., vol. 39, p. 63, and vol. 40, p. 484; (65) Q.J.R. Met. Soc., vol. 24, 1898, p. 31; (66) M.Z., vol. 11, 1894, p. 277; (67) Jahrbücher der Konigl. Ung. Reichsanstalt für Met. und Erdmag., vol. 33, 1903, III. Theil with appendix by L. von Szalay; (68) U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Weather Bureau Bulletin, No. 30, 1901; (69) M.Z., vol. 19, 1902, p. 297; (70) Q.J.R. Met. Soc., vol. 15, 1889, p. 140; (71) M.Z., vol. 20, 1903, p. 227; (72) M.Z., vol. 20, 1903, p. 522; (73) M.Z., vol. 23, 1906, p. 367; (74) M.Z., vol. 22, 1905, p. 175; (75) J. Hegyfoky, M.Z., vol. 20, 1903, p. 218; (76) M.Z., vol. 22, 1905, p. 575; (77) S. Arrhenius, M.Z., vol. 5, 1888, p. 348; (78) G. Hellmann, M.Z., vol. 22, 1905, p. 223; (79) M.Z., vol. 11, 1894, p. 239; (80) M.Z., vol. 23, 1906, p. 468; (81) Berlin Sitz., 1889, No. 16; (82) A.J. Henry, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Bull., No. 26, 1899; (83) M.Z., vol. 16, 1899, p. 128; (84) K. Sven. Vet. Akad. Hand., Bd. 19, No. 8, Bd. 20, No. 6, Bd. 31, Nos. 2 and 3; (85) M.Z., vol. 11, 1894, p. 230; (86) Nature, vol. 65, 1902, p. 367; (87) M.Z., vol. 8, 1891, p. 321; (88) Brit. Assoc. Report for 1898, p. 808, also Electricity in Agriculture and Horticulture (London, 1904).

(C. Ch.)

1 see Authorities below.

ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAY. About 1840-1845 great interest was excited by a method of propelling railway trains through the agency of atmospheric pressure. Various inventors worked at the realization of this idea. On the system worked out in England by Jacob Samuda and S. Clegg, a continuous pipe or main was laid between the rails, and in it a partial vacuum was maintained by means of air pumps. A piston fitting closely in it was connected to the leading vehicle of the train by an iron plate which passed through a longitudinal groove or aperture running the whole length of the pipe. This aperture was covered by a valve consisting of a continuous strip of leather, strengthened on each side with iron plates; one edge was fastened, while the other was free to rise, and was closed against a composition of beeswax and tallow placed in the groove, the surface of which was slightly melted by a heater, carried on each train, in order to secure an air-tight joint. Connected behind the piston was a frame carrying four wheels which lifted and sustained the continuous valve for a distance of about 15 ft. Thus the piston having atmospheric pressure on one side of it and a vacuum equal to 15 or 16 in. of mercury on the other, was forced along the tube, taking the train with it. Various advantages were claimed by the advocates of the system, including cheapness of operation as compared with steam locomotives, and safety from collision, because the main was divided into sections by separating valves and only one train could be in each section at a given time. It was installed on about 2 m. of line between Kingstown and Dalkey (Ireland) in 1843 and worked till 1855; it was also tried on the London and Croydon and on the South Devon lines, but was soon abandoned. The same principle is applied in the system of pneumatic despatch (q.v.) to the transmission of small parcels in connexion with postal and telegraph work.

For further particulars see three papers by J. Samuda, P.W. Barlow and G. Berkeley, with reports of the discussions upon them, in Proc. Inst. C.E., 1844 and 1845.

ATOLL (native name atollon in the Maldive Islands), a horse-shoe or ring shaped coral reef enclosing a lagoon. The usual shape is that of a partly submerged dish with a broken edge, forming the ring of islands, standing upon a conical pedestal. The dish is formed of coral rock and the shells of various reef-dwelling mollusca, covered, especially at the seaward edges, with a film of living coral polyps that continually extend the fringe, and enlarge the diameter of the atoll. The lagoon tends to deepen when the land is stationary by the death of the coral animals in the still water, and the patchy disintegration of the “hard” coral, while waves and storms tear off blocks of rock and pile them up at the margin, increasing the height of the islands, which become covered by vegetation. The lagoon entrance in the open part of the horse-shoe is always to leeward of prevailing winds, since the coral growth is there slower than where the waves constantly renew the polyps’ food supply. The conical pedestal rising from the depths is frequently a submarine volcanic cone or island, though any submerged peak may be crowned by an atoll. For the theory of atoll formation see Coral-reefs.

ATOM (Gr. ἄτομος, indivisible, from ἀ- privative, and τέμνειν, to cut), the term given in physical science to the ultimate indivisible particle of matter, and so by analogy to something minutely small in size. If we examine such a substance as sugar we find that it can be broken up into fine grains, and these again into finer, the finest particles still appearing to be of the same nature as sugar. The same is true in the case of a liquid such as water; it can be divided into drops and these again into smaller drops, or into the finest spray the particles of which are too small to be detected by our unaided vision. In fact, so far as the direct evidence of our senses tells us, matter appears to be indefinitely divisible. Moreover, small particles do not seem to exist in the water until it is broken up; so far as we can see, the material of the water is continuous not granular. This conception of matter, as infinitely divisible and continuous, was taught by Anaxagoras more than four centuries before the Christian era, and in the philosophy of Aristotle the same ideas are found. Theories of matter. But some phenomena are difficult to reconcile with this view; for example, a cubic foot of air can be compressed into less than one five-hundredth of a cubic foot, or, if allowed to expand, the air originally occupying the cubic foot can be made to fill, apparently uniformly, a space of a million cubic feet or more. This enormous capacity for expansion and contraction is astonishing if we believe matter to be continuous, but if we imagine air to be made up of little particles separated by relatively large empty spaces the changes in volume are more easily conceivable. Moreover, if we attribute such a structure to gases, we are led to attribute it to liquids and to solids also, since gases can be liquefied without any abrupt change, and many substances usually solid can be converted into gases by heating them. This conception of the grained structure of matter is very ancient; traces of it are to be found in Indian philosophy, perhaps twelve centuries before the Christian era, and the Greek philosophers Democritus and Epicurus, in the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C., taught it very definitely. Their view was that “matter is not indefinitely divisible, but that all substances are formed of indivisible particles or atoms which are eternal and unchangeable, that the atoms are separated from one another by void, and that these atoms, by their combinations, form the matter we are conscious of.” The Roman poet Lucretius (De Rerum Natura) was an eloquent exponent of this theory, but throughout the middle ages, indeed until the 17th century, it was eclipsed by the prestige of Aristotle. In the time, however, of Boyle1 and Newton, we again find an atomic theory of matter; Newton2 regarded a gas as consisting of small separate particles which repelled one another, the tendency of a gas to expand being attributed to the supposed repulsion between the particles.

Let us consider some common phenomena in the light of these rival theories as to the nature of matter. When a few lumps of sugar are added to a glass of water and stirred, the sugar soon disappears and we are left with a uniform liquid resembling water, except that it is sweet. What has become of the sugar? Does it still exist? The atomist would say, “Yes, it is broken up into its atoms, and these are distributed throughout the spaces between the particles of water.” The rival philosopher, who believes water to be continuous and without spaces between its particles, has a greater difficulty in accounting for the disappearance of the sugar; he would probably say that the sugar, and the water also, had ceased to exist, and that a new continuous substance had been formed from them, but he could offer no picture of how this change had taken place. Or consider a well-marked case of what we are in the habit of calling chemical combination. If 127 parts of iodine, which is an almost black solid, and 100 parts of mercury, which is a white liquid metal, be intimately mixed by rubbing them together in a mortar, the two substances wholly disappear, and we obtain instead a brilliant red powder quite unlike the iodine or the mercury; almost the only property that is unchanged is the weight. The question again arises, what has become of the original substances? The atomist has an easy answer; he says that the new body is made up by the juxtaposition of the atoms of iodine and mercury, which still exist in the red powder. His opponent would be disposed to say that the iodine and the mercury ceased to exist when the red powder was formed, that they were components but not constituents of it. The fact that the two components can be recovered from the compound by destroying it does not decide the question. It is remarkable that pure chemistry, even to-day, has no very conclusive arguments for the settlement of this controversy; but the sister science of physics is steadily accumulating evidence in favour of the atomic conception.

From Dalton’s

New System of Chemical Philosophy

.

Hydrogen Gas.

Nitrous Gas.

Carbonic Acid Gas.

Until the time of John Dalton, the atomic conception remained purely qualitative, and until then it does not appear to have advanced chemistry or to have found further confirmation in the facts of chemistry. Dalton (1803) gave the atomic theory a Dalton. quantitative form, and showed that, by means of it, a vast number of the facts of chemistry could be predicted or explained. In fact, he did so much to make the atomic theory of matter probable that he is popularly regarded as its originator. Dalton lived in a period marked by great advances in experimental chemistry. Rather before the commencement of the 19th century the work of Lavoisier had rendered it very probable that chemical changes are not accompanied by any change in weight, and this principle of the conservation of matter was becoming universally accepted; chemists were also acquiring considerable skill in chemical analysis, that is, in the determination of the nature and relative amounts of the elements contained in compounds. But Sir H.E. Roscoe and A. Harden, New View of the Atomic Theory (1896), have shown, from a study of Dalton’s manuscript notes, that we do not owe his atomic theory to such experiments. If their view is correct, the theory appears to be a remarkable example of deductive reasoning. Dalton, who was a mathematical physicist even more than a chemist, had given much thought to the study of gases. Following Newton, he believed a gas to be made up of particles or atoms, separated from one another by considerable spaces. Certain difficulties that he met with in his speculations led him to the conclusion that the particles of any one kind of gas, though all of them alike, must differ from those of another gas both in size and weight. He thus arrived at the conception of a definite atomic weight peculiar to the particles of each gas, and he thought that he could determine these atomic weights, in terms of one of them, by means of the quantitative analysis of compounds. The conclusion that each element had a definite atomic weight, peculiar to it, was the new idea that made his speculations fruitful, because it allowed of quantitative deduction and verification. He drew simple diagrams, three of which, taken from Dalton’s New System of Chemical Philosophy, part ii. (1810), are reproduced here, in which gases are represented as composed of atoms. Knowing that the gas which he called “nitrous gas” was composed of oxygen and nitrogen, and believing it to be the simplest compound of these two elements, he naturally represented its atom as formed of an atom of oxygen and an atom of nitrogen in juxtaposition. When two elements form more than one compound, as is the case with oxygen and carbon, he assigned to the compound which he thought the more complex an atom made up of two atoms of the one element and one atom of the other; the diagram for carbonic acid illustrates this, and an extension of the same plan enabled him to represent any compound, however complex its structure. The table here given contains some of Dalton’s diagrams of atoms. They are not all considered to be correct at the present time; for example, we now think that the ultimate particle of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, and that that of ammonia contains three atoms of hydrogen to one of nitrogen. But these differences between Dalton’s views and our present ones do not impair the accuracy of the arguments which follow. The diagrams show that Dalton formed a very definite conception of the nature of chemical combination; it was the union of a small number of atoms of one kind with a small number of another kind to form a compound atom, or as we now say a “molecule,” this identical process being repeated millions of times to form a perceptible amount of a compound. The conceptions of “element,” “compound” and “mixture” became more precise than they had been hitherto; in an element all the atoms are alike, in a compound all the molecules are alike, in a mixture there are different kinds of molecules. If we accept the hypothesis that each kind of atom has a specific and invariable weight, we can, with the aid of the above theory, make most important inferences concerning the proportions by weight in which substances combine to form compounds. These inferences are often summarized as the laws of constant, multiple and reciprocal proportions.

The law of constant proportions asserts that when two elements unite to form a compound the weights that combine are in an invariable ratio, a ratio that is characteristic of that compound. Thus if Dalton’s diagram for the molecule, Law of constant proportions. or compound atom, of water be correct, it follows that in all samples of water the total number of the hydrogen atoms is equal to that of the oxygen atoms; consequently, the ratio of the weight of oxygen to that of hydrogen in water is the same as the ratio of the weights of an oxygen and a hydrogen atom, and this is invariable. Different samples of water cannot therefore differ ever so little in percentage composition, and the same must be true for every compound as distinguished from a mixture. Apart from the atomic theory there is no obvious reason why this should be so. We give the name bread to a substance containing variable proportions of flour and water. Similarly the substance we call wine is undeniably variable in composition. Why should not the substance we call water also vary more or less? The Aristotelian would find no difficulty in such a variability; it is only the disciple of Dalton to whom it seems impossible. It is evident that we have in this law a definite prediction that can be tested by experiment.

The law of multiple proportions asserts that if two elements form more than one compound, then the weights of the one element which are found combined with unit weight of the other in the different compounds, must be in the ratio of two or more whole numbers. If we compare Dalton’s Law of multiple proportions. diagrams of the two oxides of carbon or of the three oxides of nitrogen that are given in the preceding table, we at once see the necessity of this law; for the more complex molecule has to be formed from the simpler one by the addition of one or more whole atoms. In the oxides of carbon the same weight of carbon must be combined with weights of oxygen that are as 1 : 2, and in the oxides of nitrogen a fixed weight of nitrogen must be in union with weights of oxygen that are as 1 : 2 : ½, which are the same ratios as 2 : 4 : 1. This law has been abundantly verified by experiment; for example, five oxides of nitrogen are known, and independent analyses show that, if we consider the same weight of nitrogen in every case, the weights of oxygen combined with it are to one another as 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5. The discovery of this law is due to Dalton; it is a direct deduction from his atomic theory. Here again, apart from this theory, there is no obvious reason why the composition of different substances should be related in so simple a way. As Dalton said, “The doctrine of definite proportions appears mysterious unless we adopt the atomic hypothesis.” “It appears like the mystical ratios of Kepler which Newton so happily elucidated.” The chemists of Dalton’s time were not unanimous in accepting these laws; indeed C.L. Berthollet (Essai de statique chimique, 1803) expressly controverted them. He maintained that, under varying conditions, two substances could combine in an indefinitely large number of different ratios, that there could in fact be a continuous variation in the combining ratio. This view is clearly inconsistent with the atomic theory, which requires that when the combining ratio of two substances changes it should do so, per saltum, to quite another value.

The law of reciprocal proportions, or, as it might well be named, the law of equivalence, cannot be adequately enunciated in a few words. The following gives a partial statement of it. Law of reciprocal proportions. If we know the weights a and b of two elements that are found in union with unit weight of a third element, then we can predict the composition of the compounds which the first two elements can form with each other; either the weights a and b will combine exactly, or if not, these weights must be multiplied by integers to obtain the composition of a compound. To see how this law follows from Dalton’s theory let us consider his diagrams for the molecules of water, ethylene and the oxides of carbon. In water and in ethylene experiment shows that 8 parts by weight of oxygen and 6 parts of carbon, respectively, are in union with one part of hydrogen; also, if the diagrams are correct, these numbers must be in the ratio of the atomic weights of oxygen and carbon. We can therefore predict that all oxides of carbon will have compositions represented by the ratio of 8m parts of oxygen to 6n parts of carbon, where m and n are whole numbers. This prediction is verified by the result of analysis. Similarly, if we know by experiment the composition of water and of ammonia, we can predict the probable composition of the oxides of nitrogen. Experiment shows that, in water and ammonia, we have, respectively, 8 parts of oxygen and 4.67 parts of nitrogen in union with one part of hydrogen; we can therefore infer that the oxides of nitrogen will all have the composition of 8m parts of oxygen to 4.67n parts of nitrogen. Experiment alone can tell us the values of m and n; all that the theory tells us is that they are whole numbers. In this particular case, n turns out to be 3, and m has in succession the values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

It is evident that these laws all follow from the idea that a compound molecule can only alter through the addition or subtraction of one or more complete atoms, together with the idea that all the molecules in a pure substance are alike. Fortunately, the compounds at first examined by the chemists engaged in verifying these laws were comparatively simple, so that the whole numbers referred to above were small. The astonishing variety of ratios in which carbon and hydrogen combine was not at first realized. Otherwise Berthollet’s position would have been a much stronger one, and the atomic theory might have had to wait a long while for acceptance. Even at the present time, it would be too much to say that all the complex organic substances have been proved by analysis to obey these laws; all we can assert is that their composition and properties can be satisfactorily explained on the assumption that they do so.

The above statement does not by any means exhaust the possible predictions that can be made from the atomic theory, but it shows how to test the theory. If chemical compounds can be proved by experiment to obey these laws, then the atomic theory acquires a high degree of probability; if they are contradicted by experiment then the atomic theory must be abandoned, or very much modified. Dalton himself made many analyses with the purpose of establishing his views, but his skill as an analyst was not very great. It is in the work of the great Swedish chemist J.J. Berzelius, and somewhat later, in the experiments of the Belgian chemist J.S. Stas, that we find the most brilliant and vigorous verification of these laws, and therefore of the atomic theory.

We shall now give an outline of the experimental evidence for the truth of these laws.

The law of the conservation of matter, an important element in the atomic theory, has been roughly verified by innumerable analyses, in which, a given weight of a substance having been taken, each ingredient in it is isolated Experimental evidence. and its weight separately determined; the total weight of the ingredients is always found to be very nearly equal to the weight of the original substance. But on account of experimental errors in weighing and measuring, and through loss of material in the transfer of substances from one vessel to another, such analyses are rarely trustworthy to more than one part in about 500; so that small changes in weight consequent on the chemical change could not with certainty be proved or disproved. A few experimenters have carried the verification much further. Stas, in his syntheses of silver iodide, weighed the silver and the iodine separately, and after converting them into the compound he weighed this also. In each of a number of experiments he found that the weight of the silver iodide did not differ by one twenty-thousandth of the whole from the sum of the weights of the silver and the iodine used. His analyses of another compound, silver iodate, confirm the law to one part in 78,000. In E.W. Morley’s experiments on the synthesis of water the hydrogen, the oxygen and the water that had been formed were separately determined; taking the mean of his results, the sum of the weights of the ingredients is not found to differ from the weight of the product by one part in 10,000. It is evident that if our experiments are solely directed to the verification of this law, they should, if possible, be carried out in a hermetically closed vessel, the vessel and its contents being weighed before and after the chemical change. The extremely careful experiments of this kind, by H. Landolt and others, made it at first appear that the change in weight, if there is any, consequent on a chemical change can rarely exceed one-millionth of the weight of the reacting substances, and that it must often be much less. The small discrepancies found are so easily accounted for by attributing them to experimental errors that, until recently, every chemist would have regarded the law as sufficiently verified. Landolt’s subsequent experiments showed, what was already noticed in the earlier ones, that these minute changes in weight are nearly always losses, the products weigh less than the components, while if they had been purely experimental errors, due to weighing, they might have been expected to be as frequently gains as losses. Landolt was disposed to attribute these losses in weight to the containing vessel, which was of glass or quartz, not being absolutely impervious, but in 1908 he showed that, by making allowance for the moisture adsorbed on the vessel, the errors were both positive and negative, and were less than one in ten million. He concluded that no change of weight can be detected. Modern researches (see Radioactivity) on the complex nature of the atom have a little shaken the belief in the absolute permanence of matter. But it seems pretty clear that if there is any change in weight consequent on chemical change, it is too minute to be of importance to the chemist, though the methods of modern physics may settle the question. (See Element.)

The law of constant proportions is easily verified to a moderate degree of accuracy by such experiments as the following. We can prepare, in the laboratory, a white powder that proves to be calcium carbonate, that is, it appears to be wholly composed of carbon dioxide and lime. We find in nature two other unlike substances, marble and Iceland spar, each of which is wholly composed of carbon dioxide and lime. Thus these three substances, unlike in appearance and origin, are composed of the same ingredients: if small variations in the combining ratio of the components were possible, we might expect to find them in such a case as this. But analysis has failed to find such differences; the ratio of the weights of lime and carbon dioxide is found to be the same in all three substances. Such analyses, which do not always admit of great accuracy, have been confirmed by a few carefully planned experiments in which two components were brought together under very varied conditions, and the resulting compound analysed. Stas carried out such experiments on the composition of silver chloride and of ammonium chloride, but he never found a variation of one part in 10,000 in the composition of the substances.

The two laws discussed above were more or less accepted before the promulgation of the atomic theory, but the law of multiple proportions is the legitimate offspring of this theory. Berzelius saw at once that it afforded an admirable test for the correctness of Dalton’s views, and he made numerous experiments expressly designed to test the law. One of these experiments may be described. Two chlorides of copper are known, one a highly coloured substance, the other quite white. Berzelius took 8 grams of copper, converted it into the coloured chloride, and sealed up the whole of this in solution, together with a weighed strip of copper. After some time the colour entirely disappeared; the strip of copper was then taken out and reweighed, and it was found to have lost 8.03 grams. Thus the chlorine, which in the coloured compound was in union with 8 grams of copper, appears, in the colourless chloride, to be combined with 16.03 grams, or almost exactly double the amount. It is easy to verify this result. In a series of repetitions of the experiment, by different observers, the following numbers were obtained for the ratio of the copper in the two chlorides: 1.98, 1.97, 2.03, 2.003, the mean value being 1.996. It will be noticed that the ratio found is sometimes above and sometimes below the number 2, which is required by the atomic theory, and therefore the deviations may not unreasonably be attributed to experimental errors. Such experiments—and numerous ones of about this degree of accuracy have been made on a variety of substances—give a high degree of probability to the law, but leave it an open question whether it has the exactitude of the law of the conservation of matter, or whether it is only approximately true. The question is, however, vital to the atomic theory. It is, therefore, worth while to quote a verification of great exactitude from the work of Stas and J.B.A. Dumas3 on the composition of the two oxides of carbon. From their work it follows that the ratio of the weights of oxygen combined with unit weight of carbon in the two oxides is 1.99995, or with somewhat different data, 1.9996.

The law of reciprocal proportion, of which some examples have been already given, is part of a larger law of equivalence that underlies most of our chemical methods and calculations. One section of the law expresses the fact that the weights of two substances, not necessarily elements, that are equivalent in one reaction, are often found to be equivalent in a number of other reactions. The neutralization of acids by bases affords many illustrations, known even before the atomic theory, of the truth of the statement. It is universally found that the weights of two bases which neutralize the same weight of one acid are equivalent in their power of neutralizing other acids. Thus 5 parts by weight of soda, 7 of potash and 3.5 of quicklime will each neutralize 4.56 parts of hydrochloric acid or 7.875 of nitric or 6.125 parts of sulphuric acid; these weights, in fact, are mutually equivalent to one another. The Daltonian would say that each of these weights represents a certain group of atoms, and that these groups can replace, or combine with, each other, to form new molecules. The change from a binary compound, that is, one containing two elements, to a ternary compound in which these two elements are associated with a third, sometimes affords a very good test for the theory. The atomic theory can picture the change from the binary to the ternary compound simply as the addition of one or more atoms of the third element to the previously existing molecule; in such a case the combining ratio of the first two elements should be absolutely the same in both compounds. Berzelius tested this prediction. He showed that lead sulphide, a black substance containing only lead and sulphur, could be converted by oxidation into lead sulphate, a white compound containing oxygen as well as lead and sulphur. The whole of the lead and sulphur of the sulphide was found to be present in the sulphate; in other words, the combining ratio of the lead and sulphur was not altered by the addition of the oxygen. This is found to be a general rule. It was verified very exactly by Stas’s experiments, in which he removed the oxygen from the ternary compound silver iodate and found that the whole of the silver and the iodine remained in combination with each other as silver iodide; his results prove, to one part in ten millions, that the combining ratio of the silver and the iodine is unaltered by the removal of the oxygen.

The above gives some idea of the evidence that has been accumulated in favour of the laws of chemical combination, laws which can be deduced from the atomic theory. Whenever any of these laws, or indeed any prediction from the theory, can be tested it has so far proved to be in harmony with experiment. The existence of the periodic law (see Element), and the researches of physicists on the constitution of matter (q.v.), also furnish very strong support to the theory.

Dalton was of the opinion that it was possible to determine the weights of the elementary atoms in terms of any one by the analysis of compounds. It is evident that this is practicable if the number and kind of atoms contained Atomic weight. in the molecule of a compound can be determined. To take the simplest possible case, if Dalton had been correct in assuming that the molecule of water was made up of one atom of oxygen and one of hydrogen, then the experimental fact that water contains eight parts by weight of oxygen to one part of hydrogen, would at once show that the atom of oxygen is eight times as heavy as the atom of hydrogen, or that, taking the atomic weight of hydrogen as the unit, the atomic weight of oxygen is 8. Similarly, Dalton’s diagram for ammonia, together with the fact that ammonia contains 4.67 parts of nitrogen to one of hydrogen, at once leads to the conclusion that the atomic weight of nitrogen is 4.67. But, unfortunately, the assumption as to the number of atoms in the molecules of these two compounds was an arbitrary one, based on no valid evidence. It is now agreed that the molecule of water contains two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen, so that the atomic weight of oxygen becomes 16, and similarly that the molecule of ammonia contains three atoms of hydrogen and one of nitrogen, and that consequently the atomic weight of nitrogen is 14. On account of this difficulty, the atomic weights published by Dalton, and the more accurate ones of Berzelius, were not always identical with the values now accepted, but were often simple multiples or submultiples of these.

The “symbols” for the elements used by Dalton, apparently suggested by those of the alchemists, have been rejected in favour of those which were introduced by Berzelius. The latter employed the first letter, or the first two letters, Formulae. of the name of an element as its symbol. The symbol, like that of Dalton, always stands for the atomic weight of the element, that is, while H stands for one part by weight of hydrogen, O stands for 16 parts of oxygen, and so on. The symbols of compounds become very concise, as the number of atoms of one kind in a molecule can be expressed by a sub-index. Thus the symbol or formula H2O for water expresses the view that the molecule of water consists of one atom of oxygen and two of hydrogen; and if we know the atomic weights of oxygen and hydrogen, it also tells us the composition of water by weight. Similarly, the modern formula for ammonia is NH3.

The superiority of this notation over that of Dalton is not so obvious when we consider such simple cases as the above, but chemists are now acquainted with very complex molecules containing numerous atoms; cane sugar, for example, has the formula C12H22O11. It would be a serious business to draw a Daltonian diagram for such a molecule.

Dalton believed that the molecules of the elementary gases consisted each of one atom; his diagram for hydrogen gas makes the point clear. We now believe that the molecule of an element is frequently made up of two or more atoms; thus the formulae for the gases hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen are H2, O2, N2, while gaseous phosphorus and sulphur are probably P4 and S6, and gaseous mercury is Hg1,—that is, the molecule of this element is monatomic. This view, as to the frequently complex nature of the elementary molecule, is logically and historically connected with the striking hypothesis of Amadeo Avogadro and A.M. Ampère. These natural philosophers suggested that equal volumes of all gaseous substances must contain, at the same temperature and pressure, the same number of molecules. Their hypothesis explains so many facts that it is now considered to be as well established as the parts of the theory due to Dalton.4 This principle at once enables the weights of molecules to be compared even when their composition is unknown; it is only necessary to determine the specific gravities of the various gases referred to some one of them, say hydrogen; the numbers so obtained giving the weights of the molecules referred to that of the hydrogen molecule.

The atomic theory has been of priceless value to chemists, but it has more than once happened in the history of science that a hypothesis, after having been useful in the discovery and the co-ordination of knowledge, has been abandoned Present position of the atomic theory. and replaced by one more in harmony with later discoveries. Some distinguished chemists have thought that this fate may be awaiting the atomic theory, and that in future chemists may be able to obtain all the guidance they need from the science of the transformations of energy. But modern discoveries in radioactivity5 are in favour of the existence of the atom, although they lead to the belief that the atom is not so eternal and unchangeable a thing as Dalton and his predecessors imagined, and in fact, that the atom itself may be subject to that eternal law of growth and decay of which Lucretius speaks.

(F. H. Ne.)

1 Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist (1661); The Usefulness of Natural Philosophy (1663).

2 Sir Isaac Newton, Principia, bk. ii. prop. 23.

3 Freund, The Study of Chemical Composition.

4 It will be seen that in the three gas diagrams of Dalton that are reproduced above, equal numbers of molecules are contained in equal volumes, but if Dalton held this view at one time he certainly afterwards abandoned it.

5 Rutherford, Radioactivity.

ATONEMENT and DAY OF ATONEMENT. “Atone” (originally—see below—“at one”) and “atonement” terms ordinarily used as practically synonymous with satisfaction, reparation, compensation, with a view to reconciliation. As the English technical terms The religious doctrine. representing a theological doctrine which plays an important part not only in Christianity but in most religions, the underlying ideas require more detailed analysis. A doctrine of atonement makes the following presuppositions. (a) There is a natural relation between God and man in which God looks favourably upon man. (b) This relation has been disturbed so that God regards man’s character and conduct with disapproval, and inflicts suffering upon him by way of punishment. In the higher religions the disturbance is due, as just implied, to unsatisfactory conduct on man’s part, i.e. sin. (c) The normal relation may be restored, i.e. sin may be forgiven; and this restoration is the atonement.

The problem of the atonement is the means or condition of the restoration of man to God’s favour; this has been variously found (a) in the endurance of punishment; (b) in the payment of compensation for the wrong done, the compensation consisting of sacrifices and other offerings; (c) in the performance of magical or other ritual, the efficacy of the ritual consisting in its being pleasing to or appointed by God, or even in its having a coercive power over the deity; (d) in repentance and amendment of life. Most theories of atonement would combine two or more of these, and would include repentance and amendment. Some or all of the conditions of atonement may be fulfilled, according to various views, either by the sinner or vicariously on his behalf by some kinsman; or by his family, clan or nation; or by some one else.

In the Old Testament, “atonement,” “make an atonement” represent the Hebrew kippur and its derivatives. It is doubtful whether this root meant originally to “cover” or “wipe out”; but probably it is used as a technical Old Testament. term without any consciousness of its etymology. The Old Testament presents very varied teaching on this subject without attempting to co-ordinate its doctrines in a harmonious system. In some cases there is no suggestion of any forgiveness; sinners are “cut off” from the chosen people; individuals and nations perish in their iniquity.1 Some passages refer exclusively to the endurance of punishment as a condition of pardon;2 others to the penitence and amendment of the sinner.3 In Ezekiel xxxvi. 25-31, repentance is called forth by the divine forgiveness.

Sacrifice and other rites are also spoken of as conditions of the restoration of man to happy relations with God. The Priestly Code (Leviticus and allied passages) seems to confine the efficacy of sacrifice to ritual, venial and involuntary sins,4 and requires that the sacrifices should be offered at Jerusalem by the Aaronic priests; but these limitations did not belong to the older religion; and even in later times popular faith ascribed a larger efficacy to sacrifice. On the other hand, other passages protest against the ascription of great importance to sacrifice; or regard the rite as a consequence rather than a cause of forgiveness.5 The Old Testament has no theory of sacrifice; in connexion with sin the sacrifice was popularly regarded as payment of penalty or compensation. Lev. xvii. 11 suggests a mystic or symbolic explanation by its statement “the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your lives:6 for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.” The Old Testament nowhere explains why this importance is attached to the blood, but the passage is often held to mean that the life of the victim represented the forfeited life of the offerer.

The atoning ritual reached its climax on the Day of Atonement יום הכפורים ἡμέρα ἐξιλασμοῦ, in the Mishna simply “the Day,” (Yōmā), observed annually on the 10th day of the 7th month (Tisri), in the autumn, about October, Jewish day of atonement. shortly before the Feast of Tabernacles or vintage festival. At one time the year began in Tisri. The laws of the Day of Atonement belong to the Priestly Code.7 There is no trace of this function before the exile; the earliest reference to any such special time of atonement being the proposal of Ezek. xlv. 18-20 to establish two days of atonement, in the first and seventh months.8 No doubt, however, both the principles and ritual are partly derived from earlier times. The object of the observances was to cleanse the sanctuary, the priesthood and the people from all their sins, and to renew and maintain favourable relations between Yahweh and Israel. The ritual includes features found on other holy days, sacrifices, abstinence from work, &c.; and also certain unique acts. The Day of Atonement is the only fast provided in the Law; it is only on this occasion that (a) the Jews are required to “afflict their souls,” (b) the High Priest enters the Holy of Holies, (c) the High Priest offers incense before the mercy seat and sprinkles it with blood, and (d) the scapegoat or Azazel is sent away into the wilderness, bearing upon him all the iniquities of the people. In later Judaism, especially from about 100 B.C., great stress was laid on the Day of Atonement, and it is now the most important religious function of the Jews. On that day many attend the synagogues who are seldom or never seen in them at other times.

The idea of vicarious atonement appears in the Old Testament in different forms. The nation suffers for the sin of the individual;9 and the individual for the sin of his kinsfolk10 or of the nation.11 Above all the Servant of Yahweh12 appears as atoning for sinners by his sufferings and death. Again, the Old Testament speaks of the restoration of heathen nations, and of the salvation of the heathen;13 but does not formulate any theory of atonement in this connexion. The Old Testament, however, only prepares the way for the Christian doctrine of the atonement; this is clear, inasmuch as its teaching is largely concerned with the nation, and hardly touches on the future life. Moreover, it could not define the relation of Christ to the atonement. Later Judaism emphasized the idea of vicarious atonement for Israel through the sufferings of the righteous, especially the martyrs; but it is very doubtful whether the idea of the atonement through the death of the Messiah is a pre-Christian Jewish doctrine.14

In the New Testament, the English version uses “atonement” once, Rom. v. 11, for καταλλαγή (R.V. here and elsewhere “reconciliation”). This Greek word corresponds to the idea suggested by the etymology of at-one-ment, New Testament. the re-uniting in amity of those at variance, a sense which the word had in the 17th century but has since lost. But the idea which is now usually expressed by “atonement” is rather represented in the New Testament by ἱλασμός and its cognates, e.g. 1 John ii. 2 R.V., “He (Jesus) is the propitiation (ἱλασμός) for our sins.” But these words are rare, and we read more often of “salvation” (σωτηρία) and “being saved,” which includes or involves that restoration to divine favour which is called atonement. The leading varieties of teaching, the Sayings of Jesus, Paul, the Johannine writings, the Epistle to the Hebrews, connect the atonement with Christ especially with His death, and associate it with faith in Him and with repentance and amendment of life.15

These ideas are also common to Christian teaching generally. The New Testament, however, does not indicate that its writers were agreed as to any formal dogma of the atonement, as regards the relation of the death of Christ to the sinner’s restoration to God’s favour; but various suggestions are made as to the solution of the problem. St Paul’s teaching connects with the Jewish doctrine of vicarious suffering, represented in the Old Testament by Is. liii., and probably, though not expressly, with the ritual sacrifices. Christ suffering on behalf of sinners satisfies the divine righteousness, which was outraged by their sin.16 His work is an expression of God’s love to man;17 the redeeming power of Christ’s death is also explained by his solidarity with humanity as the second Adam,18—the redeemed sinner has “died with Christ.”19 Some atoning virtue seems also attributed to the Resurrection;20 Christ’s sayings connect admission to the kingdom of God with susceptibility to the influence of His personality, faith in Himself and His mission, and the loyalty that springs from faith.21 In John, Christ is a “propitiation” (ἱλασμός) provided by the love of God that man may be cleansed from sin; He is also their advocate (Παράκλητος) with God that they may be forgiven, for His name’s sake.22 Hebrews speaks of Christ as transcending the rites and officials of the law; He accomplishes the realities which they could only foreshadow; in relation to the perfect, heavenly sacrifice which atones for sin, He is both priest and victim.23

The subsequent development of the Christian doctrine has chiefly shaped itself according to the Pauline formula of vicarious atonement; the sufferings of Christ were accepted as a substitute for the punishment which men deserved, Later interpretation. and so the divine righteousness was satisfied—a formula, however, which left much room for controversy. The creeds and confessions are usually vague. Thus the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins”; the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ ... who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven ... I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins”; the Athanasian Creed, “Who (Christ) suffered for our salvation.” In the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England we have (ii.) “Christ suffered ... to reconcile his Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men”; and (xxxi.) “The offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world.” The council of Trent declared that “Christus ... nobis sua sanctissima passione ligno crucis justificationem meruit et pro nobis deo patri satisfecit,” “Christ earned our justification by His most holy passion and satisfied God the Father for us.” The Confession of Augsburg uses words equivalent to the Articles quoted above which were based upon it. The Westminster Confession declares: “The Lord Jesus Christ, by His perfect obedience and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the Eternal Spirit once offered up to God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father, and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him.”

Individual theologians have sought to define more exactly the points on which the standards are vague. For instance, how was justice satisfied by Christ? The early Fathers, from Irenaeus (d. c. 200) to Anselm (d. 1109),24 held, inter alia, that Christ paid a ransom to Satan to induce him to release men from his power. Anselm and the scholastics regarded the atonement as an offering to God of such infinite value as to outweigh men’s sins, a view sometimes styled the “Commerical Theory.”25 The leading reformers emphasized the idea that Christ bore the punishment of sin, sufferings equivalent to the punishments deserved by men, a view maintained later on by Jonathan Edwards junior. But the intellectual activity of the Reformation also developed other views; the Socinians, with their humanitarian theory of the Person of Christ, taught that He died only to assure men of God’s forgiving love and to afford them an example of obedience—“Forgiveness is granted upon the ground of repentance and obedience.”26 Grotius put forward what has been called the Governmental Theory, viz. that the atonement took place not to satisfy the wrath of God, but in the practical interests of the divine government of the world, “The sufferings and death of the Son of God are an exemplary exhibition of God’s hatred of moral evil, in connexion with which it is safe and prudent to remit that penalty, which so far as God and the divine attributes are concerned, might have been remitted without it.”27

The formal legal view continued to be widely held, though it was modified in many ways by various theologians. For instance, it has been held that Christ atoned for mankind not by enduring the penalty of sin, but by identifying Modern views. Himself with the sinner in perfect sympathy, and feeling for him an “equivalent repentance” for his sin. Thus McLeod Campbell (q.v.) held that Christ atoned by offering up to God a perfect confession of the sins of mankind and an adequate repentance for them, with which divine justice is satisfied, and a full expiation is made for human guilt. A similar view was held by F.D. Maurice.28 Others hold that the effect of the atoning death of Christ is not to propitiate God, but to reconcile man to God; it manifests righteousness, and thus reveals the heinousness of sin; it also reveals the love of God, and conveys the assurance of His willingness to forgive or receive the sinner; thus it moves men to repentance and faith, and effects their salvation; so substantially Ritschl.29 In England much influence has been exerted by Dr R.W. Dale’s Atonement (1875), the special point of which is that the death of Christ is not required by the personal demand of God to be propitiated, but by the necessity of honouring an ideal law of righteousness; thus, “the death of Christ is the objective ground on which the sins of men are remitted, because it was an act of submission to the righteous authority of the law by which the human race was condemned ... and because in consequence of the relation between Him and us—His life being our own—His submission is the expression of ours, and carries ours with it ... (and) because in His submission to the awful penalty of sin ... there was a revelation of the righteousness of God, which must otherwise have been revealed in the infliction of the penalties of sin on the human race.”30 This view, however, leads to a dilemma; if the law of righteousness is simply an expression of the divine will, satisfaction to law is equivalent to propitiation offered to God; if the law has an independent position, the view is inconsistent with pure monotheism.

The present position may be illustrated from a work representing the more liberal Anglican theology. Bishop Lyttelton in Lux Mundi31 stated that the death of Christ is propitiatory towards God because it expressed His perfect obedience, it manifested God’s righteous wrath against sin, and in virtue of Christ’s human nature involved man’s recognition of the righteousness of God’s condemnation of sin; also because in some mysterious way death has a propitiatory value; and finally because Christ is the representative of the human race. Towards man, the death of Christ has atoning efficacy because it delivers from sin, bestows the divine gift of life and conveys the assurance of pardon. The benefits of the atonement are appropriated by “the acceptance of God’s forgiveness in Christ, our self-identification with Christ’s atoning attitude, and then working out, by the power of the life bestowed upon us, all the (moral and spiritual) consequence of forgiveness.”

At present the belief in an objective atonement is still widely held; whether in the form of penal theories—the old forensic view that the death of Christ atones by paying the penalty of man’s sin—or in the form of governmental theories; that the Passion fulfilled a necessity of divine government by expressing and vindicating God’s righteousness. But there is also a widespread inclination to minimize, ignore or deny the objective aspect of the atonement, the effect of the death of Christ on God’s attitude towards men; and to follow the moral theories in emphasizing the subjective aspect of the atonement, the influence of the Passion on man. There is a tendency to eclectic views embracing the more attractive features of the various theories; and attempts are made to adapt, interpret and qualify the imagery and language of older formulae, in order so to speak, to issue them afresh in new editions, compatible with modern natural science, psychology and historical criticism. Such attempts are necessary in a time of transition, but they involve a measure of obscurity and ambiguity.

Bibliography.—Atonement: H. Bushnell, Vicarious Sacrifice (1871); J. McLeod Campbell, Nature of the Atonement (1869); T.J. Crawford, Doctrine of the Holy Spirit respecting the Atonement (1871); R.W. Dale, Atonement (1875); J. Denney, Death of Christ, Atonement and the Modern Mind (1903); A. Lyttelton, Lux Mundi, pp. 201 ff. (Atonement), (1889); R. Moberly, Atonement and Personality; A. Ritschl, Die christliche Lehre van der Rechtfertigung und Versohnung (1870-1874); G.B. Stevens, Christian Doctrine of Salvation (1905).

Day of Atonement: articles in Hastings’ Bible Dictionary, and in the Encyclopaedia Biblica.

(W. H. Be.)

1 Cf. Exodus xii. 15, &c.; Josh. vii. 24 (Achan); Jer. li. 62 (Babylon).

2 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14 (David); Isaiah xl. 2 (Jerusalem): in such cases, however, the context implies repentance.

3 Ezek. xviii., Micah vi.

4 Lev. iv. 2, “sin unwittingly,” bishegagā, c. 450 B.C., &c.

5 Psalm l. 10, li. 16-19; Isaiah i. 11; Micah vi. 6-8.

6 Heb. nephesh, also translated “soul.”

7 Lev. xvi., xxiii. 27-32; Numb. xxix. 7-11.

8 So Davidson, &c. with LXX. The A.V. with Hebrew text has “seventh day of the month.”

9 e.g. Achan, Josh. vii. 10-15.

10 2 Sam. xxi. 1-9; Deut. v. 9, 10.

11 Ezek. xxi. 3, 4.

12 Isaiah liii.

13 Isaiah xix. 25, xlix. 6.

14 Köberle, Sunde und Gnade, pp. 592 ff.

15 Mark x. 45; Matt. xxvi. 28; 1 Cor. xv. 3; John xi. 48-52; Heb. ii. 9.

16 Rom. iii. 25.

17 Rom. v. 8.

18 Rom. v. 15-19.

19 Rom. vi. 8.

20 Rom. iv. 25.

21 Matt. xxv. 34 f.; Mark viii. 34 ff., ix. 36 f., x. 21.

22 1 John ii. 1, 2, 12, iii. 5, 8, iv. 10.

23 Heb. ii. 17, ix. 14.

24 Stevens, Christian Doctrine of Salvation, p. 138.

25 Ibid. p. 151.

26 Shedd, Hist. of Christ. Doctr. ii. 385 ff.; cf. van Oosterzee, Christ. Dogmatics, 611.

27 Shedd ii. 358 f.

28 Crawford, Scripture Doctrine of the Atonement, pp. 327 ff.

29 Orr, Ritschlian Theology, pp. 149 ff.

30 Dale, Atonement, pp. 430 ff.

31 Pp. 209, 212, 214, 216, 219, 221, 225.

ATRATO, a river of western Colombia, South America, rising on the slopes of the Western Cordilleras, in 5° 36′ N. lat., and flowing almost due north to the Gulf of Uraba, or Darien, where it forms a large delta. Its length is about 400 m., but owing to the heavy rainfall of this region it discharges no less than 175,000 cub. ft. of water per second, together with a very large quantity of sediment, which is rapidly filling the gulf. The river is navigable to Quibdo (250 m.), and for the greater part of its course for large vessels, but the bars at its mouth prevent the entrance of sea-going steamers. Flowing through the narrow valley between the Cordillera and coast range, it has only short tributaries, the principal ones being the Truando, Sucio and Murri. The gold and platinum mines of Choco were on some of its affluents, and the river sands are auriferous. The Atrato at one time attracted considerable attention as a feasible route for a trans-isthmian canal, which, it was estimated, could be excavated at a cost of £11,000,000.

ATREK, a river which rises in 37° 10′ N. lat. and 59° E., in the mountains of the north-east of the Persian province of Khorasan, and flows west along the borders of Persia and the Russian Transcaspian province, till it falls, after a course of 350 m., into the south-eastern corner of the Caspian, a short distance north-north-west of Astarabad.

ATREUS, in Greek legend, son of Pelops and Hippodameia, and elder brother of Thyestes. Having murdered his stepbrother Chrysippus, Atreus fled with Thyestes to Mycenae, where he succeeded Eurystheus in the sovereignty. His wife Aërope was seduced by Thyestes, who was driven from Mycenae. To avenge himself, Thyestes sent Pleisthenes (Atreus’ son whom Thyestes had brought up as his own) to kill Atreus, but Pleisthenes was himself slain by his own father. After this Atreus, apparently reconciled to his brother, recalled him to Mycenae and invited him to a banquet to eat of his son, whom Atreus had slain. Thyestes fled in horror. Subsequently Atreus married the daughter of Thyestes, Pelopia, who had by her own father a son, Aegisthus, who was adopted by Atreus. Thyestes was found by Agamemnon and Menelaus, the sons of Atreus, and imprisoned at Mycenae. Aegisthus being sent to murder Thyestes, mutual recognition took place, and Atreus was slain by the father and son, who seized the throne, and drove Agamemnon and Menelaus out of the country (Thucydides i. 9; Hyginus, Fabulae; Apollodorus). Homer does not speak of the horrors of the story, which are first found in the tragedians; he merely states (Iliad, ii. 105) that Atreus at his death left the kingdom to Thyestes.

See T. Voigt in Dissert. philol. Halenses. vi. (1886).

ATRI, a town of the Abruzzi, Italy, in the province of Teramo, 6 m. W. of the station of that name on the railway from Ancona to Foggia, and 18 m. due E.S.E. of Teramo, on the site of the ancient Hadria (q.v.). Pop. (1901) 13,448. Its Gothic cathedral (1285-1305) is remarkably fine; and the interior, though spoilt by restoration in 1657, contains some important frescoes of the end of the 15th century by Andrea di Lecce and his pupils. The crypt was originally a cistern of the Roman period. The palace of the Acquaviva family, who were dukes of Atri from 1398 to 1775, is a massive building situated in the principal square.

ATRIUM (either from ater, black, referring to the blackening of the walls from the smoke of the hearth, or from the Greek αἴθριον, open to the sky, or from an Etruscan town, Atria, where the style of building is supposed to have originated), the principal entrance hall or court of a Roman dwelling, giving access and light to the rooms round it. The centre of the roof over the atrium was open to the sky and called the compluvium; the rain-water from the roof collected in the gutters was discharged into a marble tank underneath, which was known as the impluvium. In the early periods of Roman civilization the atrium was the common public apartment, and was used for the reception of visitors and clients, and for ordinary domestic purposes, as cooking and dining. In it were placed the ancestral pictures, the marriage-couch, the hearth and generally a small altar. At a somewhat later period, and among the wealthy, separate apartments were built for kitchens and dining-rooms, and the atrium was kept as a general reception-room for clients and visitors. There were many varieties of the atrium, depending on the way in which the roof was carried. These are described by Vitruvius under the title of cavaedium.

Other buildings, both consecrated and unconsecrated, were called by the term (corresponding to the English “hall”), such as the Atrium Vestae, where the vestal virgins lived, and the Atrium Libertatis, the residence of the censor, where Asinius Pollio established the first public library at Rome.

The word atrium in Rome had a second signification, being given to an open court with porticos round, sometimes placed in front of a temple. A similar arrangement was adopted by the early Christians with relation to the Basilica, in front of which there was an open court surrounded by colonnades or arcades. The church of San Clemente at Rome, that of Sant’ Ambrogio at Milan and the cathedral of Parenzo in Istria still retain their atria.

ATROPHY (Gr. ἀ- priv., τροφἠ, nourishment), a term in medicine used to describe a state of wasting due to some interference with the function of healthy nutrition (see Pathology). In the living organism there are always at work changes involving the waste of its component tissues, which render necessary, in order to maintain and preserve life, the supply and proper assimilation of nutritive material. It is also essential for the maintenance of health that a due relation exist between these processes of waste and repair, so that the one may not be in excess of the other. When the appropriation of nutriment exceeds the waste, hypertrophy (q.v.) or increase in bulk of the tissues takes place. When, on the other hand, the supply of nutritive matter is suspended or diminished, or when the power of assimilation is impaired, atrophy or wasting is the result. Thus the whole body becomes atrophied in many diseases; and in old age every part of the frame, with the single exception of the heart, undergoes atrophic change. Atrophy may, however, affect single organs or parts of the body, irrespective of the general state of nutrition, and this may be brought about in a variety of ways. One of the most frequently observed of such instances is atrophy from disuse, or cessation of function. Thus, when a limb is deprived of the natural power of motion, either by paralysis or by painful joint disease, the condition of exercise essential to its nutrition being no longer fulfilled, atrophy of all its textures sooner or later takes place. The brain in imbeciles is frequently observed to be shrivelled, and in many cases of blindness there is atrophy of the optic nerve and optic tract. This form of atrophy is likewise well exemplified in the case of those organs and structures of the body which subserve important ends during foetal life, but which, ceasing to be necessary after birth, undergo a sort of natural atrophy, such as the thymus gland, and certain vessels specially concerned in the foetal circulation. The uterus after parturition undergoes a certain amount of atrophy, and the ovaries, after the child-bearing period, become shrunken. Atrophy of a part may also be caused by interruption to its normal blood-supply, as in the case of the ligature or obstruction of an artery. Again, long-standing disease, by affecting the nutrition of an organ and by inducing the deposit of morbid products, may result in atrophy, as frequently happens in affections of the liver and kidneys. Parts that are subjected to continuous pressure are liable to become atrophied, as is sometimes seen in internal organs which have been pressed upon by tumours or other morbid growths, and is well illustrated in the Chinese practice of foot-binding. Atrophy may manifest itself simply by loss of substance; but, on the other hand, it is often found to co-exist with degenerative changes in the textures affected and the formation of adventitious growth, so that the part may not be reduced in bulk although atrophied as regards its proper structure. Thus, in the case of the heart, when affected with fatty degeneration, there is atrophy of the proper muscular texture, but as this is largely replaced by fatty matter, the organ may undergo no diminution in volume, but may, on the contrary, be increased in size. Atrophy is usually a gradual and slow process, but sometimes it proceeds rapidly. In the disease known by the name of acute yellow atrophy of the liver, that organ undergoes such rapidly destructive change as results in its shrinking to half, or one-third, of its normal size in the course of a few days. The term progressive muscular atrophy (synonyms, wasting or creeping palsy) is applied to an affection of the muscular system, which is characterized by the atrophy and subsequent paralysis of certain muscles, or groups of muscles, and is associated with morbid changes in the anterior roots of the nerves of the spinal cord. This disease begins insidiously, and is often first observed to affect the muscles of one hand, generally the right. The attention of the sufferer is first attracted by the power of the hand becoming weakened, and then there is found to be a wasting of certain of its muscles, particularly those of the ball of the thumb. Gradually other muscles in the arms and legs become affected in a similar manner, their atrophy being attended with a corresponding diminution in power. Although sometimes arrested, this disease tends to progress, until in course of time the greater part of the muscular system is implicated and a fatal result ensues.

ATROPOS, in Greek mythology, the eldest of the three Fates (see Fate). Her name, the “Unalterable” (ἀ- privative, and τρέπειν, to turn), indicates her function, that of rendering the decisions of her sisters irreversible or immutable. Atropos is most frequently represented with scales, a sun-dial or a cutting instrument, the “abhorred shears,” with which she slits the thin-spun thread of life that has been placed on the spindle by Clotho and drawn off by Lachesis.

ATTA, TITUS QUINCTIUS, or Quinticius (d. 77 B.C.), Roman comedy writer, was, like Titinius and Afranius, distinguished as a writer of fabulae togatae, national comedies. He had the reputation of being a vivid delineator of character, especially female. He also seems to have published a collection of epigrams. The scanty fragments contain many archaisms, but are lively in style. According to Horace (Epistles, ii 1. 79) the plays of Atta were still put on the stage in his time.

Aulus Gellius vii. 9; fragments in Neukirch, De fabula togata Romanorum (1833); Ribbeck, Comicorum Latinorum reliquiae (1855).

ATTACAPA (Choctaw for “cannibal”), a tribe of North-American Indians, whose home was in south-west Louisiana; they are now practically extinct.

ATTACHMENT,1 in law, a process from a court of record, awarded by the justices at their discretion, on a bare suggestion, or on their own knowledge, and properly grantable in cases of contempt. It differs from arrest (q.v.), in that he who arrests a man carries him to a person of higher power to be forthwith disposed of; but he that attaches keeps the party attached, and presents him in court at the day assigned, as appears by the words of the writ. Another difference is, that arrest is only upon the body of a man, whereas an attachment is often upon his goods. It is distinguished from distress in not extending to lands, as the latter does; nor does a distress touch the body, as an attachment does. Every court of record has power to fine and imprison for contempt of its authority. Attachment being merely a process to bring the defendant before the court, is not necessary in cases of contempt in the presence of the court itself. Attachment will be granted in England against peers and members of parliament only for such gross contempts as rescues, disobedience to the sovereign’s writs and the like. Attachment will not lie against a corporation. The county courts in this respect are regulated by acts of 1846 and 1849. They can only punish for contempts committed in presence of the court (see Contempt of Court). Attachments are granted on a rule in the first instance to show cause, which must be personally served before it can be made absolute, except for non-payment of costs on a master’s allocatur, and against a sheriff for not obeying a rule to return a writ or to bring in the body. The offender is then arrested, and when committed will be compelled to answer interrogatories, exhibited against him by the party at whose instance the proceedings have been had; and the examination when taken is referred to the master, who reports thereon, and on the contempt being reported, the court gives judgment according to its discretion, in the same manner as upon a conviction for a misdemeanour at common law. Sir W. Blackstone observes that “this method of making the defendant answer upon oath to a criminal charge is not agreeable to the genius of the common law in any other instance”; and the elasticity of the legal definitions of contempt of court, especially with respect to comments on judicial proceedings, is the subject of much complaint.

Attachment of Debts.—It was suggested by the common law commissioners in 1853 that a remedy analogous to that of Foreign Attachment (see below) might be made available to creditors, after judgment, against debts due to their debtors. Accordingly, the Common Law Procedure Act 1854 enacted that any creditor, having obtained judgment in the superior courts, should have an order that the judgment debtor might be examined as to any debts due and owing to him before a master of the court. The rules and regulations under the Judicature Act 1873 retained the process for attachment of debts as established by the Procedure Act of 1854. On affidavit that the judgment was still unsatisfied, and that any other person within the jurisdiction was indebted to the judgment debtor, the judge was empowered to attach all debts due from such third person (called the garnishee) to the judgment debtor, to answer the judgment debt. This order binds the debts in the hands of the garnishee, and if he does not dispute his liability execution issues against him at once. If he disputes his liability the question must be tried. Payment by the garnishee or execution against him is a complete discharge as against the judgment debtor. These provisions were, by an order in council of the 18th of November 1867, extended to the county courts. By the Wages Attachment Abolition Act 1870 it is enacted that no order for the attachment of the wages of any servant, labourer or workman shall be made by the judge of any court of record or inferior court, and by the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 it is enacted that the wages of a seaman or apprentice are not subject to attachment.

In the United States attachment of debts is a statutory remedy accorded in most of the states in certain circumstances for the security of creditors, by the seizure by the sheriff of the debtor’s goods or the imposition of a lien upon his land, before judgment, and sometimes at the very commencement of the action. In some states it is only allowed in special cases, as when the debtor has absconded, or is a non-resident or guilty of fraud; in a few it may be had, as of right, at the commencement of ordinary actions. The common-law courts of the United States (by act of Congress) follow the practice in this regard of the state in which they sit. Such attachments (on mesne process) can generally be dissolved by the substitution of a bond with surety. The body can also be attached in most states on civil actions of tort (for a wrongful or negligent act to the damage of another), but not in actions on contract.

Foreign Attachment is an important custom prevailing in the city of London, whereby a creditor may attach money owing to his debtor, or property belonging to him in the possession of third parties. The person holding the property or owing the money must be within the city at the time of being served with the process, but all persons are entitled to the benefit of the custom. The plaintiff having commenced his action, and made a satisfactory affidavit of his debt, is entitled to issue attachment, which thereupon affects all the money or property of the defendant in the hands of the third party, the garnishee. The garnishee, of course, has as against the attachment all the defences which would be available to him against the defendant, his alleged creditor. The garnishee may plead payment under the attachment, if there has been no fraud or collusion, in bar to an action by the defendant for his debt or property. The court to which this process belongs is the mayor’s court of London, the procedure in which is regulated by the Mayor’s Court of London Procedure Act 1857. This custom, and all proceedings relating thereto, are expressly exempted from the operation of the Debtor’s Act 1869. Similar customs exist in Bristol and a few other towns in England and also in Scotland.

A Writ of Attachment enforces answers and obedience to decrees and orders of the High Court of Justice, and is made out without order upon an affidavit of the due service of the process, &c., with whose requirements compliance is sought. A corporation, however, is proceeded against by distringas and not by attachment. It was formerly competent to the plaintiff to compel the appearance of a defendant in chancery by attachment, but the usual course was to enter appearance for him in case of default. It is one of the modes of execution allowed for the recovery of property other than land or money.

Attachment of the Forest was the proceeding in the courts of attachments, Woodmote, or Forty Days’ courts. These courts have fallen into desuetude. They were held before the verderers of the royal forests in different parts of the kingdom once in every forty days, for the purpose of inquiring into all offences against “vert (greensward) and venison.” The attachment was by the bodies of the offenders, if taken in the very act of killing venison, or stealing wood, or preparing so to do, or by fresh and immediate pursuit after the act was done; else they must be attached by their goods. These attachments were received by the verderers and enrolled, and certified under their seals to the Swainmote, or Court of Justice-seat, which was the superior of the forest courts.

1 “To attach” is first used in English in the legal sense of arrest or seizure, and the sense of “fasten to” is comparatively late. The Old French atachier, modern attacher, from which the English “attach” is derived, is from a word for a peg or nail, in English “tack,” which is found in many forms in Scandinavian and Celtic languages, and is ultimately connected with the root seen in Latin tangere, to touch. The Italian attacare, especially in the phrase attacare battaglia, to join battle, gave the French attaquer, whence the English “attack,” which is therefore by origin a doublet of “attach.”

ATTAINDER (from the O. Fr. ataindre, ateindre, to attain, i.e. to strike, accuse, condemn; Lat. attingere, tangere, to touch; the meaning has been greatly affected by the confusion with Fr. taindre, teindre, to taint, stain, Lat. tingere, to dye), in English law, was the immediate and inseparable consequence from the common law upon the sentence of death. When it was clear beyond all dispute that the criminal was no longer fit to live he was called attaint, and could not, before the Evidence Act 1843, be a witness in any court. This attainder took place after judgment of death, or upon such circumstances as were equivalent to judgment of death, such as judgment of outlawry on a capital crime, pronounced for absconding from justice. Conviction without judgment was not followed by attainder. The consequences of attainder were (1) forfeiture, (2) corruption of blood. On attainder for treason, the criminal forfeited to the crown his lands, rights of entry on lands, and any interest he might have in lands for his own life or a term of years. For murder, the offender forfeited to the crown the profit of his freeholds during life, and in the case of lands held in fee-simple, the lands themselves for a year and a day; subject to this, the lands escheated to the lord of the fee. These forfeitures related back to the time of the offence committed. Forfeitures of goods and chattels ensued not only on attainder, but on conviction for a felony of any kind, or on flight from justice, and had no relation backwards to the time of the offence committed. By corruption of blood, “both upwards and downwards,” the attainted person could neither inherit nor transmit lands. The lands escheated to the lord of the fee, subject to the crown’s right of forfeiture. The doctrine of attainder has, however, ceased to be of much importance. The Forfeiture Act 1870 enacted that henceforth no confession, verdict, inquest, conviction or judgment of or for any treason or felony, or felo de se, should cause any attainder or corruption of blood, or any forfeiture or escheat. Sentence of death, penal servitude or imprisonment with hard labour for more than twelve months, after conviction for treason or felony, disqualifies from holding or retaining a seat in parliament, public offices under the crown or otherwise, right to vote at elections, &c., and such disability is to remain until the punishment has been suffered or a pardon obtained. Provision was made for the due administration of convicts’ estates, in the interests of themselves and their families. Forfeiture consequent on outlawry was exempted from the provisions of the act. The United States constitution (Art. III. s. 3) says: “The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.”

Bills of Attainder, in English legal procedure, were formerly a parliamentary method of exercising judicial authority. They were ordinarily initiated in the House of Lords and the proceedings were the same as on other bills, but the parties against whom they were brought might appear by counsel and produce witnesses in both Houses. In the case of an impeachment (q.v.), the House of Commons was prosecutor and the House of Lords judge; but such bills being legislative in form, the consent of crown, lords and commons was necessary to pass them. Bishops, who do not exercise but who claim the right to vote in cases of impeachment (q.v.), have a right to vote upon bills of attainder, but their vote is not conclusive in passing judgment upon the accused. First passed in 1459, such bills were employed, more particularly during the reigns of the Tudor kings, as a species of extrajudicial procedure, for the direct punishment of political offences. Dispensing with the ordinary judicial forms and precedents, they took away from the accused whatever advantages he might have gained in the courts of law; such evidence only was admitted as might be necessary to secure conviction; indeed, in many cases bills of attainder were passed without any evidence being produced at all. In the reign of Henry VIII. they were much used, through a subservient parliament, to punish those who had incurred the king’s displeasure; many distinguished victims who could not have been charged with any offence under the existing laws being by this means disposed of. In the 17th century, during the disputes with Charles I., the Long Parliament made effective use of the same procedure, forcing the sovereign to give his consent. After the Restoration it became less frequent, though the Jacobite movement in Scotland produced several instances of attainder, without, however, the infliction of the extreme penalty of death. The last bill of attainder passed in England was in the case of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, one of the Irish rebel leaders of 1798.

A bill for reversing attainder took a form contrary to the usual rule. It was first signed by the sovereign and presented by a peer to the House of Lords by command of the crown, then passed through the ordinary stages and on to the commons, to whom the sovereign’s assent was communicated before the first reading was taken, otherwise the whole proceedings were null and void.

A Bill of Pains and Penalties resembles a bill of attainder in object and procedure, but imposes a lesser punishment than death. The most notable instances of the passing of a bill of pains and penalties are those of Bishop Atterbury in 1722, and of Queen Caroline, wife of George IV., in 1820.

The constitution of the United States declares that “no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.”

ATTAINT, WRIT OF, an obsolete method of procedure in English law, for inquiring by a jury of twenty-four whether a false verdict had been given in a trial before an ordinary jury of twelve. If it were found that an erroneous judgment had been given, the wrong was redressed and the original jury incurred infamy, with imprisonment and forfeiture of their goods, which punishments were, however, commuted later for a pecuniary penalty. In criminal cases a writ of attaint was issued at suit of the king, and in civil cases at the suit of either party. In criminal cases it appears to have become obsolete by the end of the 15th century. Procedure by attaint in civil cases had also been gradually giving place to the practice of granting new trials, and after the decision in Bushell’s case in 1670 (see Jury) it became obsolete, and was finally abolished by the Juries Act 1825, except as regards jurors guilty of embracery (q.v.).

ATTALIA, an ancient city of Pamphylia, which derived its name from Attalus II., king of Pergamum; the modern Adalia (q.v.). It was important as the nearest seaport to the rich districts of south-west Phrygia. A much-frequented “half-sea” route led through it to the Lycus and Maeander valleys, and so to Ephesus and Smyrna. This was the natural way from any part of central Asia Minor to Syria and Egypt, and accordingly we hear of Paul and Barnabas taking ship at Attalia for Antioch. Originally the port of Perga, Attalia eclipsed the old Pamphylian capital in early Christian times and became the metropolis. There are extensive remains of the ancient walls, including some portions which go back to the foundation of the Pergamenian city. The most conspicuous monument is the triple Gate of Hadrian, flanked by a tower built by the empress Julia. This lies about half-way round the enceinte and formerly admitted the road from Perga.

ATTAR [or Otto] OF ROSES (Pers. ’aṭar, essence), a perfume consisting of essential oil of roses, prepared by distilling, or, in some districts, by macerating the flowers. The manufacture is chiefly carried out in India, Persia and the Balkans; the last named supplying the bulk of the European demand. It is used by perfumery manufacturers as an ingredient. The genuine attar of roses is costly and it is frequently adulterated.

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try), in law, an act done with intent to commit a crime, and forming one of a series of acts which would constitute its actual commission if it were not interrupted. An attempt must proceed beyond mere preparation, but at the same time it must fall short of the ultimate purpose in any part of it. The actual point, however, at which an act ceases to be an attempt, and becomes criminal, depends upon the circumstances of each particular case. A person may be guilty of an attempt to commit a crime, even if its commission in the manner proposed was impossible. Every attempt to commit a treason, felony or indictable misdemeanour is in itself an indictable misdemeanour, punishable by fine or imprisonment, unless the attempt to commit is specifically punishable by statute as a felony, or in a defined manner as a misdemeanour; and a person who has been indicted for a felony or misdemeanour may, if the evidence so warrants, be found guilty only of the attempt, provided that it too is a misdemeanour.

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being “stretched” or “tense”), in psychology, the concentration of consciousness upon a definite object or objects. The result is brought about, not by effecting any change in the perceptions themselves, but simply by isolating them from other objects. Since all consciousness involves this isolation, attention may be defined generally as the necessary condition of consciousness. Such a definition, however, throws no light upon the nature of the psychological process, which is partly explained by the general law that the greater the number of objects on which attention is concentrated the less will each receive (“pluribus intentus, minor est ad singula sensus”), and conversely. There are also special circumstances which determine the amount of attention, e.g. influences not subject to the will, such as the vividness of the impression (e.g. in the case of a shock), strong change in pleasurable or painful sensations. Secondly, an exercise of volition is employed in fixing the mind upon a definite object. This is a purely voluntary act, which can be strengthened by habit and is variable in different individuals; to it the name “attention” is sometimes restricted. The distinction is expressed by the words “reflex” or “passive,” and “volitional” or “active.” It is important to notice that in every case of attention to an object, there must be in consciousness an implicit apprehension of surrounding objects from which the particular object is isolated. These objects are known as the “psychic fringe,” and are essential to the systematic unity of the attention-process. Attempts have been made to examine the attention-process from the physiological standpoint by investigating the muscular and neural changes which accompany it, and even to assign to it a specific local centre. It has, for example, been remarked that uniformity of environment, resulting in practically automatic activity, produces mental equilibrium and the comparative disappearance of attention-processes; whereas the necessity of adapting activity to abnormal conditions produces a comparatively high degree of attention. In other words, attention is absent where there is uniformity of activity in accordance with uniform, or uniformly changing, environment. In spite of the progress made in this branch of study, it has to be remembered that all psycho-physical experiments are to some extent vitiated by the fact that the phenomena can scarcely remain normal under inspection.

See G.F. Stout, Analytic Psychology (London, 1896), especially part ii. chap. 2; also Psychology, Brain, &c.

ATTERBOM, PER DANIEL AMADEUS (1790-1855), Swedish poet, son of a country parson, was born in the province of Östergötland on the 19th of January 1790. He studied in the university of Upsala from 1805 to 1815, and became professor of philosophy there in 1828. He was the first great poet of the romantic movement which, inaugurated by the critical work of Lorenzo Hammersköld, was to revolutionize Swedish literature. In 1807, when in his seventeenth year, he founded at Upsala an artistic society, called the Aurora League, the members of which included V.F. Palmblad, A.A. Grafström (d. 1870), Samuel Hedborn (d. 1849), and other youths whose names were destined to take a foremost rank in the literature of their generation. Their first newspaper, Polyfem, was a crude effort, soon abandoned, but in 1810 there began to appear a journal, Fosforos, edited by Atterbom, which lasted for three years and finds a place in classic Swedish literature. It consisted entirely of poetry and aesthetico-polemical essays; it introduced the study of the newly arisen Romantic school of Germany, and formed a vehicle for the early works, not of Atterbom only, but of Hammersköld, Dahlgren, Palmblad and others. Later, the members of the Aurora League established the Poetisk Kalender (1812-1822), in which their poems appeared, and a new critical organ, Svensk Litteraturtidning (1813-1824). Among Atterbom’s independent works the most celebrated is Lycksalighetens Ö (The Fortunate Island), a romantic drama of extraordinary beauty, published in 1823. Before this he had published a somewhat in the manner of Novalis. Of a dramatized fairy tale, Fågel blå (The Blue Bird), only a fragment, which is among the most exquisite of his writings, is preserved. As a purely lyrical poet he has not been excelled in Sweden, but his more ambitious works are injured by his weakness for allegory and symbolism, and his consistent adoption of the mannerisms of Tieck and Novalis. In his later years he became less violent in literary controversy. He became in 1835 professor of aesthetics and literature at Upsala, and four years later he was admitted to the Swedish Academy. He died on the 21st of July 1855. His Svenska Siare och Skalder (6 vols., 1841-1855, supplement, 1864) consists of a series of biographies of Swedish poets and men of letters, which forms a valuable history of Swedish letters down to the end of the “classical” period. Atterbom’s works were collected (13 vols., Örebro) in 1854-1870.

ATTERBURY, FRANCIS (1662-1732), English man of letters, politician and bishop, was born in the year 1662, at Milton or Middleton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, a parish of which his father was rector. He was educated at Westminster school and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a tutor. In 1682 he published a translation of Absalom and Ahithophel into Latin verse; but neither the style nor the versification was that of the Augustan age. In English composition he succeeded much better. In 1687 he published An Answer to some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation, a reply to Obadiah Walker, who, elected master of University College in 1676, had printed in a press set up by him there an attack on the Reformation, written by Abraham Woodhead. Atterbury’s treatise, though highly praised by Bishop Burnet, is perhaps more distinguished for the vigour of his rhetoric than for the soundness of his arguments, and the Papists were so much galled by his sarcasms and invectives that they accused him of treason, and of having, by implication, called King James a Judas.

After the Revolution, Atterbury, though bred in the doctrines of non-resistance and passive obedience, readily swore fealty to the new government. He had taken holy orders in 1687, preached occasionally in London with an eloquence which raised his reputation, and was soon appointed one of the royal chaplains. But he ordinarily resided at Oxford, where he was the chief adviser and assistant of Dean Aldrich, under whom Christ Church was a stronghold of Toryism. Thus he became the inspirer of his pupil, Charles Boyle, in the attack (1698) on the Whig scholar, Richard Bentley (q.v.), arising out of Bentley’s impugnment of the genuineness of the Epistles of Phalaris. He was figured by Swift in the Battle of the Books as the Apollo who directed the fight, and was, no doubt, largely the author of Boyle’s essay. Bentley spent two years in preparing his famous reply, which proved not only that the letters ascribed to Phalaris were spurious, but that all Atterbury’s wit, eloquence and skill in controversial fence was only a cloak for an audacious pretence of scholarship.

Atterbury was soon occupied, however, in a dispute about matters still more important and exciting. The rage of religious factions was extreme. High Church and Low Church divided the nation. The great majority of the clergy were on the High Church side; the majority of King William’s bishops were inclined to latitudinarianism. In 1700 Convocation, of which the lower house was overwhelmingly Tory, had not been suffered to meet for ten years. This produced a lively controversy, into which Atterbury threw himself with characteristic energy, publishing a series of treatises written with much wit, audacity and acrimony. By the mass of the clergy he was regarded as the most intrepid champion that had ever defended their rights against the oligarchy of Erastian prelates. In 1701 he was rewarded with the archdeaconry of Totnes and a prebend in Exeter cathedral. The lower house of Convocation voted him thanks for his services; the university of Oxford created him a doctor of divinity; and in 1704, soon after the accession of Anne, while the Tories still had the chief weight in the government, he was promoted to the deanery of Carlisle.

Soon after he had obtained this preferment the Whig party came into power. From that party he could expect no favour. Six years elapsed before a change of fortune took place. At length, in the year 1710, the prosecution of Sacheverell produced a formidable explosion of High Church fanaticism. At such a moment Atterbury could not fail to be conspicuous. His inordinate zeal for the body to which he belonged, his turbulent and aspiring temper, his rare talents for agitation and for controversy, were again signally displayed. He bore a chief part in framing that artful and eloquent speech which the accused divine pronounced at the bar of the Lords, and which presents a singular contrast to the absurd and scurrilous sermon which had very unwisely been honoured with impeachment. During the troubled and anxious months which followed the trial, Atterbury was among the most active of those pamphleteers who inflamed the nation against the Whig ministry and the Whig parliament. When the ministry had been changed and the parliament dissolved, rewards were showered upon him. The lower house of Convocation elected him prolocutor, in which capacity he drew up, in 1711, the often-cited Representation of the State of Religion; and, in August 1711, the queen, who had selected him as her chief adviser in ecclesiastical matters, appointed him dean of Christ Church on the death of his old friend and patron Aldrich.

At Oxford he was as conspicuous a failure as he had been at Carlisle, and it was said by his enemies that he was made a bishop because he was so bad a dean. Under his administration Christ Church was in confusion, scandalous altercations took place, and there was reason to fear that the great Tory college would be ruined by the tyranny of the great Tory doctor. In 1713 he was removed to the bishopric of Rochester, which was then always united with the deanery of Westminster. Still higher dignities seemed to be before him. For, though there were many able men on the episcopal bench, there was none who equalled or approached him in parliamentary talents. Had his party continued in power it is not improbable that he would have been raised to the archbishopric of Canterbury. The more splendid his prospects the more reason he had to dread the accession of a family which was well known to be partial to the Whigs, and there is every reason to believe that he was one of those politicians who hoped that they might be able, during the life of Anne, to prepare matters in such a way that at her decease there might be little difficulty in setting aside the Act of Settlement and placing the Pretender on the throne. Her sudden death confounded the projects of these conspirators, and, whatever Atterbury’s previous views may have been, he acquiesced in what he could not prevent, took the oaths to the house of Hanover, and did his best to ingratiate himself with the royal family. But his servility was requited with cold contempt; and he became the most factious and pertinacious of all the opponents of the government. In the House of Lords his oratory, lucid, pointed, lively and set off with every grace of pronunciation and of gesture, extorted the attention and admiration even of a hostile majority. Some of the most remarkable protests which appear in the journals of the peers were drawn up by him; and, in some of the bitterest of those pamphlets which called on the English to stand up for their country against the aliens who had come from beyond the seas to oppress and plunder her, critics easily detected his style. When the rebellion of 1715 broke out, he refused to sign the paper in which the bishops of the province of Canterbury declared their attachment to the Protestant succession, and in 1717, after having been long in indirect communication with the exiled family, he began to correspond directly with the Pretender.

In 1721, on the discovery of the plot for the capture of the royal family and the proclamation of King James, Atterbury was arrested with the other chief malcontents, and in 1722 committed to the Tower, where he remained in close confinement during some months. He had carried on his correspondence with the exiled family so cautiously that the circumstantial proofs of his guilt, though sufficient to produce entire moral conviction, were not sufficient to justify legal conviction. He could be reached only by a bill of pains and penalties. Such a bill the Whig party, then decidedly predominant in both Houses, was quite prepared to support, and in due course a bill passed the Commons depriving him of his spiritual dignities, banishing him for life, and forbidding any British subject to hold intercourse with him except by the royal permission. In the Lords the contest was sharp, but the bill finally passed by eighty-three votes to forty-three.

Atterbury took leave of those whom he loved with a dignity and tenderness worthy of a better man, to the last protesting his innocence with a singular disingenuousness. After a short stay at Brussels he went to Paris, and became the leading man among the Jacobite refugees there. He was invited to Rome by the Pretender, but Atterbury felt that a bishop of the Church of England would be out of place at the Vatican, and declined the invitation. During some months, however, he seemed to stand high in the good graces of James. The correspondence between the master and the servant was constant. Atterbury’s merits were warmly acknowledged, his advice was respectfully received, and he was, as Bolingbroke had been before him, the prime minister of a king without a kingdom. He soon, however, perceived that his counsels were disregarded, if not distrusted. His proud spirit was deeply wounded. In 1728 he quitted Paris, fixed his residence at Montpelier, gave up politics, and devoted himself entirely to letters. In the sixth year of his exile he had so severe an illness that his daughter, Mrs Morice, herself very ill, determined to run all risks that she might see him once more. She met him at Toulouse, received the communion from his hand, and died that night.

Atterbury survived the severe shock of his daughter’s death two years. He even returned to Paris and to the service of the Pretender, who had found out that he had not acted wisely in parting with one who, though a heretic, was the most able man of the Jacobite party. In the ninth year of his banishment he published a luminous, temperate and dignified vindication of himself against John Oldmixon, who had accused him of having, in concert with other Christ Church men, garbled the new edition of Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion. The charge, as respected Atterbury, had not the slightest foundation; for he was not one of the editors of the History, and never saw it till it was printed. A copy of this little work he sent to the Pretender, with a letter singularly eloquent and graceful. It was impossible, the old man said, that he should write anything on such a subject without being reminded of the resemblance between his own fate and that of Clarendon. They were the only two English subjects who had ever been banished from their country and debarred from all communication with their friends by act of parliament. But here the resemblance ended. One of the exiles had been so happy as to bear a chief part in the restoration of the royal house. All that the other could now do was to die asserting the rights of that house to the last. A few weeks after this letter was written Atterbury died, on the 22nd of February 1732. His body was brought to England, and laid, with great privacy, under the nave of Westminster Abbey. No inscription marks his grave.

It is agreeable to turn from Atterbury’s public to his private life. His turbulent spirit, wearied with faction and treason, now and then required repose, and found it in domestic endearments, and in the society of the most illustrious literary men of his time. Of his wife, Katherine Osborn, whom he married while at Oxford, little is known; but between him and his daughter there was an affection singularly close and tender. The gentleness of his manners when he was in the company of a few friends was such as seemed hardly credible to those who knew him only by his writings and speeches. Though Atterbury’s classical attainments were not great, his taste in English literature was excellent; and his admiration of genius was so strong that it overpowered even his political and religious antipathies. His fondness for Milton, the mortal enemy of the Stuarts and of the Church, was such as to many Tories seemed a crime; and he was the close friend of Addison. His favourite companions, however, were, as might have been expected, men whose politics had at least a tinge of Toryism. He lived on friendly terms with Swift, Arbuthnot and Gay. With Prior he had a close intimacy, which some misunderstanding about public affairs at last dissolved. Pope found in Atterbury not only a warm admirer, but a most faithful, fearless and judicious adviser.

See F. Williams, Memoirs and Correspondence of Atterbury with Notes, &c. (1869); Stuart Papers, vol. i.: Letters of Atterbury to the Chevalier St George, &c. (1847); J. Nichols, Epistolary Correspondence, &c. (1783-1796); and H.C. Beeching, Francis Atterbury, (1909).

ATTESTATION (Lat. adtestare, attestare, to bear witness, testis, a witness), the verification of a deed, will or other instrument by the signature to it of a witness or witnesses, who endorse or subscribe their names under a memorandum, to the effect that it was signed or executed in their presence. The essence of attestation is to show that at the execution of the document there was present some disinterested person capable of giving evidence as to what took place. The clause at the end of the instrument, immediately preceding the signatures of the witnesses to the execution, and stating that they have witnessed it, is known as the attestation clause. In Scots law, the corresponding clause is called the testing-clause (see Deed; Will or Testament; Witness).

ATTHIS (an adjective meaning “Attic”), the name given to a monograph or special treatise on the religious and political history, antiquities and topography of Attica and Athens. During the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., a class of writers arose, who, making these subjects their particular study, were called atthidographi, or compilers of atthides. The first of these was Clidemus or Clitodemus (about 378 B.C.); the last, Ister of Cyrene (died 212 B.C.); the most important was Philochorus (first half of the 3rd century B.C.), of whose work considerable fragments have been preserved. The names of the other atthidographi known to us are Phanodemus, Demon, Androtion, Andron, Melanthius. They laid no claim to literary skill; their style was monotonous and soon became wearisome. They were in fact chroniclers or annalists—not historians. Their only object was to set down, in plain and simple language, all that seemed worthy of note in reference to the legends, history, constitution, religion and civilization of Attica. They followed the order of the olympiads and archons, and their work was supported by the authority of original documents, monuments and inscriptions. Their writings were much used by historians, as well as by the scholiasts and grammarians.

Fragments in Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, i.

ATTIC (i.e. “in the Attic style”), an architectural term given to the masonry rising above the main cornice of a building, the earliest example known being that of the monument of Thrasyllus at Athens. It was largely employed by the Romans, who in their arches of triumph utilized it for inscriptions or for bas-relief sculpture. It was used also to increase the height of enclosure walls such as those of the Forum of Nerva. By the Italian revivalists it was utilized as a complete storey, pierced with windows, as found in Palladio’s work at Vicenza and in Greenwich hospital. The largest attic in existence is that which surmounts the entablature of St Peter’s at Rome, which measures 39 ft. in height. The term is also employed in modern terminology to designate an upper storey in a roof, and the feature is sometimes introduced to hide a roof behind.

ATTICA, a district of ancient Greece, triangular in shape, projecting in a south-easterly direction into the Aegean Sea, the base line being formed by the continuous chain of Mounts Cithaeron and Parnes, the apex by the promontory of Sunium. It was washed on two sides by the sea, and the coast is broken up into numerous small bays and harbours, which, however, are with few exceptions exposed to the south wind. The surface of Attica, as of the rest of Greece, is very mountainous, and between the mountain chains lie several plains of no great size, open on one side to the sea. On the west its natural boundary is the Corinthian Gulf, so that it would include Megaris; indeed, before the Dorian invasion, which resulted in the foundation of Megara, the whole country was politically one, in the hands of the Ionian race. This is proved by the column which, as we learn from Strabo, once stood on the Isthmus of Corinth, bearing on one side in Greek the inscription, “This land is Peloponnesus, not Ionia,” and on the other, “This land is not Peloponnesus, but Ionia.”

The position of Attica was one main cause of its historical importance. Hence in part arose the maritime character of its inhabitants; and when they had once taken to the sea, the string of neighbouring islands, Ceos, Cythnos and others, some of which lay within sight of their coasts, and from one to another of which it was possible to sail without losing sight of land, served to tempt them on to further enterprises. Similarly on land, the post it occupied between northern Greece and the Peloponnese materially influenced its relation to other states, both in respect of its alliances, such as that with Thessaly, towards which it was drawn by mutual hostility to Boeotia, which lay between them; and also in respect of offensive combinations of other powers, as that between Thebes and Sparta, which throughout an important part of Greek history were closely associated in their politics, through mutual dread of their powerful neighbour.

The mountains of Attica, which form its most characteristic feature, are a continuation of that chain which, starting from Tymphrestus at the southern extremity of Pindus, passes through Phocis and Boeotia under the names Mountains. of Parnassus and Helicon; from this proceeds the range which, as Cithaeron in its western and Parnes in its eastern portion, separates Attica from Boeotia, throwing off spurs southward towards the Saronic Gulf in Aegaleos and Hymettus, which bound the plain of Athens. Again, the eastern extremity of Parnes is joined by another line of hills, which, separating from Mount Oeta, skirts the Euboic Gulf, and, after entering Attica, throws up the lofty pyramid of Pentelicus, overlooking the plain of Marathon, and then sinks towards the sea at Sunium to rise once more in the outlying islands. Finally, at the extreme west of the whole district, Cithaeron is bent round at right angles in the direction of the isthmus, at the northern approach to which it abuts against the mighty mass of Mount Geraneia, which is interposed between the Corinthian and the Saronic Gulf. Both Cithaeron and Parnes are about 4600 ft. high, Pentelicus 3635, and Hymettus 3370, while Aegaleos does not rise higher than 1534 ft. At the present day they are extremely bare, and in this respect almost repellent; but the lack of colour is compensated by the delicacy of the outlines, the minute articulation of the minor ridges and valleys, and the symmetrical grouping of the several mountains.

The soil is light and thin, and requires very careful agriculture not only on the rocky mountain sides but to some extent also in the maritime plains. This fact had considerable influence on the inhabitants, both by enforcing Soil. industrious habits and by leading them at an early period to take to the sea. Still, the level ground was sufficiently fertile to form a marked contrast to the rest of the district. Thucydides attributes to the nature of the soil (i. 2 τὸ λεπτόγεων), which presented no attraction to invaders, the permanence of the same inhabitants in the country, whence arose the claim to indigenousness on which the Athenians so greatly prided themselves; while at the same time the richer ground fostered that fondness for country life, which is proved by the enthusiastic terms in which it is always spoken of by Aristophanes. That we are not justified in judging of the ancient condition of the soil by, the aridity which prevails at the present day, is shown by the fact that out of the 182 demes (see Cleisthenes) into which Attica was divided, one-tenth were named from trees or plants.

The climate of Attica has always been celebrated. In approaching Attica from Boeotia a change of temperature is felt as soon as a person descends from Cithaeron or Parnes, and the sea breeze, which in modern times is called Climate. ὁ ἐμβάτης, or that which sets towards shore, moderates the heat in summer. The Attic comedians and Plato speak with enthusiasm of their native climate, and the fineness of the Athenian intellect was attributed to the clearness of the Attic atmosphere. It was in the neighbourhood of Athens itself that the air was thought to be purest. So Euripides describes the inhabitants as “ever walking gracefully through the most luminous ether” (Med. 829); and Milton—

“Where, on the Aegean shore, a city stands,

Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil—

Athens, the eye of Greece.”

Or again Xenophon says “one would not err in thinking that this city is placed near the centre of Greece—nay, of the civilized world—because, the farther removed persons are from it, the severer is the cold or heat they meet with” (Vectigal. i. 6). The air is so clear that one can see from the Acropolis the lines of white marble that streak the sides of Pentelicus. The brilliant colouring which is so conspicuous in an Athenian sunset is due to the same cause. The epithet “violet-crowned,” used of Athens by Pindar, is due either to the blue haze on the surrounding hills, or to the use of violets (or irises) for festal wreaths. This otherwise perfect climate is slightly marred by the prevalence of the north wind. This is expressed on the Horologium of Andronicus Cyrrhestes, called the Temple or Tower of the Winds, at Athens, where Boreas is represented as a bearded man of stern aspect, thickly clad, and wearing strong buskins; he blows into a conch shell, which he holds in his hand as a sign of his tempestuous character.

Of the flora of Attica, the olive is the most important. This tree, we learn from Herodotus (v. 82), was thought at one time to have been found in that country only; and the enthusiastic praises of Sophocles (Oed. Col. 700) Vegetation. teach us that it was the land in which it flourished best. So great was the esteem in which it was held, that in the early legend of the struggle between the gods of sea and land, Poseidon and Athena, for the patronage of the country, the sea-god is represented as having to retire vanquished before the giver of the olive; and at a later period the evidences of this contention were found in an ancient olive tree in the Acropolis, together with three holes in the rock, said to have been made by the trident of Poseidon, and to be connected with a salt well hard by. The fig also found its favourite home in this country, for Demeter was said to have bestowed it as a gift on the Eleusinian Phytalus, i.e. “the gardener.” Both Cithaeron and Parnes must have been wooded in former times; for on the former are laid the picturesque silvan scenes in the Bacchae of Euripides, and it was from the latter that the wood came which caused the neighbouring deme of Acharnae to be famous for its charcoal—the ἄνθρακες Παρνήσιοι of the Acharnians of Aristophanes (348). From the thymy slopes of Hymettus Minerals. came the famous Hymettian honey. Among the other products we must notice the marble—both that of Pentelicus, which afforded a material of unrivalled purity and whiteness for building the Athenian temples, and the blue marble of Hymettus—the trabes Hymettiae of Horace—which used to be transported to Rome for the construction of palaces. But the richest of all the sources of wealth in Attica was the silver mines of Laurium, the yield of which was so considerable as to render silver the principal medium of exchange in Greece, so that “a silver piece” (ἀργύριον) was the Greek equivalent term for money. Hence Aeschylus speaks of the Athenians as possessing a “fountain of silver” (Pers. 235), and Aristophanes makes his chorus of birds promise the audience that, if they show him favour, owls from Laurium (i.e. silver pieces with the emblem of Athens) shall never fail them (Birds, 1106). The reputation of these coins for purity of metal and accuracy of weight was so great that they had a very wide circulation, and in consequence it was thought undesirable to make any alteration in the types lest their genuineness should be doubted. This accounts for the somewhat inartistic character which the Athenian coins maintained to the last (see further Numismatics: Greek, § Athens). In Strabo’s time, though the mines had almost ceased to yield, silver was obtained in considerable quantities from the scoriae; and at the present day a large amount of lead is got in the same way, the work being chiefly carried on by two companies, one of which is French and the ether Greek. In the ancient workings, many of which are in the same condition as they were left 1800 years ago, there are in all 2000 shafts and galleries.

It has been already mentioned that the base line of Attica is formed by the chain of Cithaeron and Parnes, running from west to east; and that from this transverse chains run southward, dividing Attica into a succession of plains. Plain of Megara. The westernmost of these, which is separated from the innermost bay of the Corinthian Gulf, called the Mare Alcyonium, by an offshoot of Cithaeron, and is bounded on the east by a ridge which ends towards the Saronic Gulf in a striking two-horned peak called Kerata, is the plain of Megara. It is only for geographical purposes that we include this district under Attica, for both the Dorian race of the inhabitants, and its dangerous proximity to Athens, caused it to be at perpetual feud with that city; but its position as an outpost for the Peloponnesians, together with the fact of its having once been Ionian soil, sufficiently explains the bitter hostility of the Athenians towards the Megarians. The great importance of Megara arose from its commanding all the passes into the Peloponnese. These were three in number: one along the shores of the Corinthian Gulf, which, owing to the nature of the ground, makes a long detour; the other two starting from Megara, and passing, the one by a lofty though gradual route over the ridge of Geraneia, the other along the Saronic Gulf, under the dangerous precipices of the Scironian rocks.

To the east of the plain of Megara lies that of Eleusis, bounded on the one side by the chain of Kerata, and on the other by that of Aegaleos, through a depression in which was the line of the sacred way, where the torchlight processions Plain of Eleusis. from Athens used to descend to the coast, the “brightly gleaming shores” (λαμπάδες ἀκταί) of Sophocles (Oed. Col. 1049). The deep bay which here runs into the land is bounded on its southern side by the rocky island of Salamis, which was at all times an important possession to the Athenians on account of its proximity to their city; and the winding channel which separates that island from the mainland in the direction of the Peiraeus was the scene of the battle of Salamis, while on the last declivities of Mt. Aegaleos, which here descends to the sea, was the spot where, as Byron wrote—

“A king sate on the rocky brow

Which looks o’er sea-born Salamis.”

The eastern portion of the plain of Eleusis was called the Thriasian plain, and the city itself was situated in the recesses of the bay just mentioned.

Next in order to the plain of Eleusis came that of Athens, which is the most extensive of all, reaching from the foot of Parnes to the sea, and bounded on the west by Aegaleos, and on the east by Hymettus. Its most Plain of Athens. conspicuous feature is the broad line of dark green along its western side, formed by the olive-groves of Colonus and the gardens of the Academy, which owe their fertility to the waters of the Cephisus. This river is fed by copious sources on the side of Mt. Parnes, and thus, unlike the other rivers of Attica, has a constant supply of water, which was diverted in classical times, as it still is, into the neighbouring plantations (cf. Sophocles, Oed. Col. 685). The position of Colonus itself is marked by two bare knolls of light-coloured earth, which caused the poet in the same chorus to apply the epithet “white” (ἀργῆτα) to that place. On the opposite side of the plain runs the other river, the Ilissus, which rises from two sources on the side of Mt. Hymettus, and skirts the eastern extremity of the city of Athens; but this, notwithstanding its celebrity, is a mere brook, which stands in pools a great part of the year, and in summer is completely dry. The situation of Athens relatively to the surrounding objects is singularly harmonious; for, while it forms a central point, so as to be the eye of the plain, and while the altar-rock of the Acropolis and the hills by which it is surrounded are conspicuous from every point of view, there is no such exactness in its position as to give formality, since it is nearer to the sea than to Parnes, and nearer to Hymettus than to Aegaleos. The most striking summit in the neighbourhood of the city is that of Lycabettus, on the north-eastern side; and the variety is still further increased by the continuation of the ridge which it forms for some distance northwards through the plain. Three roads lead to Athens from the Boeotian frontier over the intervening mountain barrier—the easternmost over Parnes, from Delium and Oropus by Decelea, which was the usual route of the invading Lacedaemonians during the Peloponnesian War; the westernmost over Cithaeron, by the pass of Dryoscephalae, or the “Oakheads,” leading from Thebes by Plataea to Eleusis, and so to Athens, which we hear of in connexion with the battle of Plataea, and with the escape of the Plataeans at the time of the siege of that city in the Peloponnesian War; the third, midway between the two, by the pass of Phyle, near the summit of which, on a rugged height overlooking the Athenian plain, is the fort occupied by Thrasybulus in the days of the Thirty Tyrants. On the sea-coast to the south-west of Athens rises the hill of Munychia, a mass of rocky ground, forming the acropolis of the town of Peiraeus. It was probably at one time an island; this was Strabo’s opinion, and at the present day the ground which joins it to the mainland is low and swampy, and seems to have been formed by alluvial soil brought down by the Cephisus. On one side of this, towards Hymettus, lay the open roadstead of Phalerum, on the other the harbour of Peiraeus, a completely land-locked inlet, safe, deep and spacious, the approach to which was still further narrowed by moles. The eastern side of the hill was further indented by two small but commodious havens, which were respectively called Zea and Munychia.

The north-eastern boundary of the plain of Athens is formed by the graceful pyramid of Pentelicus, which received its name from the deme of Pentele at its foot, but was far more commonly known as Brilessus in ancient times. This Eastern Attica. mountain did not form a continous chain with Hymettus, for between them intervenes a level space of ground 2 m. in width, which formed the entrance to the Mesogaea, an elevated undulating plain in the midst of the mountains, reaching nearly to Sunium. At the extremity of Hymettus, where it projects into the Saronic Gulf, was the promontory of Zoster (“the Girdle”), which was so called because it girdles and protects the neighbouring harbour; but in consequence of the name, a legend was attached to it, to the effect that Latona had loosed her girdle there. From this promontory to Sunium there runs a lower line of mountains, and between these and the sea a fertile strip of land intervenes, which was called the Paralia. Beyond Sunium, on the eastern coast, were two safe ports, that of Thoricus, which is defended by the island of Helene, forming a natural breakwater in front of it, and that of Prasiac, now called Porto Raphti (“the Tailor”), from a statue at the entrance to which the natives have given that name. In the north-east corner is the little plain of Marathon (q.v.), the scene of the battle against the Persians (490 B.C.). It lies between Parnes, Pentelicus and the sea. The bay in front is sheltered by Euboea, and on the north by a projecting tongue of land, called Cynosura. The mountains in the neighbourhood were the home of the Diacrii or Hyperacrii, who, being poor mountaineers, and having nothing to lose, were the principal advocates of political reform; while, on the other hand, the Pedieis, or inhabitants of the plains, being wealthy landholders, formed the strong conservative element, and the Parali, or occupants of the sea-coast, representing the mercantile interest, held an intermediate position between the two (see Cleisthenes). Finally, there was one district of Attica, the territory of Oropus, which properly belonged to Boeotia, as it was situated to the north of Parnes; but on this the Athenians always endeavoured to retain a firm hold, because it facilitated their communications with Euboea. The command of that island was of the utmost importance to them; for, if Aegina could rightly be called “the eyesore of the Peiraeus,” Euboea was quite as truly a thorn in the side of Attica; for we learn from Demosthenes (De Cor. p. 307) that at one period the pirates that made it their headquarters so infested the neighbouring sea as to prevent all navigation.

The place in Attica which has been the chief scene of excavations (independently of Athens and its vicinity) is Eleusis (q.v.), where the remains of the sanctuary of Demeter, the home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, together with other Excavations. buildings in its neighbourhood, were cleared by the Greek Archaeological Society in 1882-1887 and 1895-1896. Of the other classical ruins in Attica the best-known is the temple of Athena at Sunium, which forms a conspicuous object on the headland, to which it gave the name of Cape Colonnae, still used by the peasants. It is in the Doric style, of white marble, and eleven columns of the peristyle and one of the pronaos are now standing. At Thoricus there is a theatre, which was cleared of earth by the archaeologists of the American School in 1886. In the neighbourhood of Rhamnus are the remains of two temples that stood side by side, the larger of which was dedicated to Nemesis, the smaller probably to Themis, of which goddess a fine statue was discovered in its ruins in the course of the excavations of the Greek Archaeological Society in 1890. The same Society, in 1884,1886 and 1887, excavated the sanctuary of Amphiaraus, 4 m. from Oropus; in ancient times this was the resort of numerous invalids, who came thither to consult the healing divinity. Within it were found a temple of Amphiaraus, a large altar, and a long colonnade, which may have been the dormitory where the patients slept in hope of obtaining counsel in dreams. There were also baths and a small theatre, and numerous inscriptions relating to the arrangement and observances of the sanctuary and oracle. The walls and towers also of the city of Eleutherae and the fortress of Phyle are fine specimens of Hellenic fortifications.

Of the condition of Attica in medieval and modern times little need be said, for it has followed for the most part the fortunes of Athens. The population, however, has undergone a great change, independently of the large admixture of Slavonic blood that has affected the Greeks of the mainland generally, by the immigration of Albanian colonists, who now occupy a great part of the country. The district formed part of the nome (administrative division) of Boeotia and Attica until 1899, when it became a separate nome.

Bibliography.—J.G. Frazer, Pausanias’s Description of Greece, vols. ii. and v. (London, 1898); W.M. Leake, The Demi of Attica (2nd ed., London, 1841); Chr. Wordsworth, Athens and Attica (4th ed., London, 1869); C. Bursian, Geographic von Griechenland, vol. i. (Leipzig, 1862); Baedeker’s Greece (4th Eng. ed., Leipzig, 1908); Karten von Attica, published by the German Archaeological Institute of Athens, with explanatory text, chiefly by Professor Milchhofer (1875-1903); see also Athens, Eleusis and Greece: Topography.

(H. F. T.)

ATTIC BASE, the term given in architecture to the base of the Roman Ionic order, consisting of an upper and lower torus, separated by a scotia (q.v.) and fillets. It was the favourite base of the Romans, and was employed by them for columns of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and in Byzantine and Romanesque work would seem to have been generally adopted as a model.

ATTICUS, TITUS POMPONIUS (109-32 B.C.), Roman patron of letters, was born at Rome three years before Cicero, with whom he and the younger Marius were educated. His name was Titus Pomponius, that of Atticus, by which he is known, being given him afterwards from his long residence in Athens (86-65) and his intimate acquaintance with the Greek literature and language. His family is said to have been of noble and ancient descent; his father belonged to the equestrian order, and was very wealthy. When Pomponius was still a young man his father died, and he at once took the prudent resolution of transferring himself and his fortune to Athens, in order to escape the dangers of the civil war, in which he might have been involved through his connexion with the murdered tribune, Sulpicius Rufus. Here he lived in retirement, devoting himself entirely to study. On his return to Rome, he took possession of an inheritance left him by his uncle and assumed the name of Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus. From this time he kept aloof from political strife, attaching himself to no particular party, and continuing on intimate terms with men so opposed as Caesar and Pompey, Antony and Octavian. His most intimate friend, however, was Cicero, whose correspondence with him extended over many years, and who seems to have found his prudent counsel and sympathy a remedy for all his many troubles. His private life was tranquil and happy. He did not marry till he was fifty-three years of age, and his only child became the wife of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the distinguished minister of Augustus. In 32, being seized with an illness believed to be incurable, he starved himself to death. Of his writings none is extant, but mention is made of two: a Greek history of Cicero’s consulship, and some annals, in Latin, an epitome of the events of Roman history down to the year 54. His most important work was his edition of the letters addressed to him by Cicero. He also formed a large library at Athens, and engaged a staff of slaves to make copies of valuable works.

See Life by Cornelius Nepos; Berwick, Lives of Messalla Corvinus and T.P.A. (1813); Fialon, Thesis in T.P.A. (1861); Boissier, Cicéron et ses amis (1888: Eng. trans. A.D. Jones, 1897); Peter, Historicorum Romanorum Fragmenta.

ATTICUS HERODES, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS (c. A.D. 101-177), Greek rhetorician, was born at Marathon in Attica. He belonged to a wealthy and distinguished family, and received a careful education under the most distinguished masters of the time, especially in rhetoric and philosophy. His talents gained him the favourable notice of Hadrian, who appointed him praefect of the free towns in the province of Asia (125). On his return to Athens, he attained great celebrity as an orator and teacher of rhetoric, and was elected to the office of archon. In 140 he was summoned by Antoninus Pius to undertake the education of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, and received many marks of favour, amongst them the consulship (143). He is principally celebrated, however, for the vast sums he expended on public purposes. He built at Athens a great race-course of Pentelic marble, and a splendid musical theatre, called the Odeum in memory of his wife Regilla, which still exists. At Corinth he built a theatre, at Delphi a stadium, at Thermopylae hot baths, at Canusium in Italy an aqueduct. He even contemplated cutting a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, but was afraid to carry out his plan because the same thing had been unsuccessfully attempted before by the emperor Nero. Many of the partially ruined cities of Greece were restored by Atticus, and numerous inscriptions testify their gratitude to their benefactor. His latter years were embittered by family misfortune, and having incurred the enmity of the Athenians, he withdrew from Athens to his villa near Marathon, where he died. He enjoyed a very high reputation amongst his contemporaries, and wrote numerous works, of which the only one to come down to us is a rhetorical exercise On the Constitution (ed. Hass, 1880), advocating an alliance of the Thebans and Peloponnesians against Archelaus, king of Macedonia. The genuineness of this speech, which is of little merit, has been disputed.

Philostratus, Vit. Soph. ii. 1; Fiorillo, Herodis Attici quae supersunt (1801); A Biographical Notice of A.H. (London, 1832), privately printed; Fuelles, De Herodis Attici Vita (1864); Vidal-Lablache, Hérode Atticus (1871).

ATTILA (d. 453), king of the Huns, became king in 433, along with his brother Bleda, on the death of his uncle Roua. We hear but little as to Bleda, who died about 445, possibly slain by his brother’s orders. In the first eight years of his reign Attila was chiefly occupied in the wars with other barbarian tribes, by which he made himself virtually supreme in central Europe. His own special kingdom comprised the countries which are now called Hungary and Transylvania, his capital being possibly not far from the modern city of Buda-Pest; but having made the Ostrogoths, the Gepidae and many other Teutonic tribes his subject-allies, and having also sent his invading armies into Media, he seems for nearly twenty years to have ruled practically without a rival from the Caspian to the Rhine. Very early in his reign, Honoria, grand-daughter of the emperor Theodosius II., being subjected to severe restraint on account of an amorous intrigue with one of the chamberlains of the palace, sent her ring to the king of the Huns and called on him to be her husband and her deliverer. Nothing came of the proposed engagement, but the wrongs of Honoria, his affianced wife, served as a convenient pretext for some of the constantly recurring embassies with which Attila, fond of trampling on the fallen majesty of Rome, worried and bullied the two courts of Constantinople and Ravenna. Another frequent subject of complaint was found in certain sacred vessels which the bishop of Sirmium had sent as a bribe to the secretary of Attila, and which had been by him, fraudulently, as his master contended, pawned to a silversmith at Rome. There were also frequent and imperious demands for the surrender of fugitives who had sought shelter from the wrath of Attila within the limits of the empire. One of the return embassies from Constantinople, that sent in 448, had the great advantage of being accompanied by a rhetorician named Priscus, whose minute journalistic account of the negotiations, including as it does a vivid picture of the great Hun in his banquet-hall, is by far the most valuable source of information as to the court and camp of Attila. What lends additional interest to the story is the fact that in the ambassador’s suite there was an interpreter named Vigilas, who for fifty pounds of gold had promised to assassinate Attila. This base design was discovered by the Hunnish king, but had never been revealed to the head of the embassy or to his secretary. The situations created by this strange combination of honest diplomacy and secret villainy are described by Priscus with real dramatic power.

In 450 Theodosius II., the incapable emperor of the East, died, and his throne was occupied by a veteran soldier named Marcian, who answered the insulting message of Attila in a manlier tone than his predecessor. Accordingly the Hun, who had something of the bully in his nature, now turned upon Valentinian III., the trembling emperor of the West, and demanded redress for the wrongs of Honoria, and one-half of Valentinian’s dominions as her dowry. Allying himself with the Franks and Vandals, he led his vast many-nationed army to the Rhine in the spring of 451, crossed that river, and sacked, apparently, most of the cities in Belgic Gaul. Most fortunately for Europe, the Teutonic races already settled in Gaul rallied to the defence of the empire against invaders infinitely more barbarous than themselves. Prominent in this new coalition was Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, whose capital city was Toulouse. His firm fighting alliance with the Roman general Aëtius, with whom he had had many a conflict in previous years, was one of the best auguries for the new Europe that was to arise out of the ruins of the Roman empire. Meanwhile Attila had reached the Loire and was besieging the strong city of Orléans. The citizens, under the leadership of their bishop Anianus, made a heroic defence, but the place was on the point of being taken when, on the 24th of June, the allied Romano-Gothic army was seen on the horizon. Attila, who knew the difficulty that he should have in feeding his immense army if his march was further delayed, turned again to the north-east, was persuaded by the venerable bishop Lupus to spare the city of Troyes, but halted near that place in the Catalaunian plains and offered battle to his pursuers Aëtius and Theodoric. The battle which followed—certainly one of the decisive battles of the world—has been well described by the Gothic historian Jordanes as “ruthless, manifold, immense, obstinate.” It lasted for the whole day, and the number of the slain is variously stated at 175,000 and 300,000. All such estimates are, of course, untrustworthy, but there is no doubt that the carnage was terrible. The Visigothic king was slain, but the victory, though hardly earned, remained with his people and his allies. Attila did not venture to renew the engagement on the morrow, but retreated, apparently in good order, on the Rhine, recrossed that river and returned to his Pannonian home. From thence in the spring of 452 he again set forth to ravage or to conquer Italy. Her great champion Aëtius showed less energy in her cause than he had shown in his defence of Gaul. After a stubborn contest, Attila took and utterly destroyed Aquileia, the chief city of Venetia, and then proceeded on his destructive course, capturing and burning the cities at the head of the Adriatic, Concordia, Altinum and Patavium (Padua). The fugitives from these cities, but especially from the last, seeking shelter in the lagoons of the Adriatic, laid the foundations of that which was one day to become the glorious city of Venice. Upon Milan and the cities of western Lombardy the hand of Attila seems to have weighed more lightly, plundering rather than utterly destroying; and at last when Pope Leo I., at the head of a deputation of Roman senators, appeared in his camp on the banks of the Mincio, entreating him not to pursue his victorious career to the gates of Rome, he yielded to their entreaties and consented to cross the Alps, with a menace, however, of future return, should the wrongs of Honoria remain unredressed. As he himself jokingly said: he knew how to conquer men, but the Lion and the Wolf (Leo and Lupus) were too strong for him. No further expeditions to Italy were undertaken by Attila, who died suddenly in 453, in the night following a great banquet which celebrated his marriage with a damsel named Ildico. Notwithstanding some rumours of violence it is probable that his death was natural and due to his own intemperate habits.

Under his name of Etzel, Attila plays a great part in Teutonic legend (see Nibelungenlied) and under that of Atli in Scandinavian Saga, but his historic lineaments are greatly obscured in both. He was short of stature, swarthy and broad-chested, with a large head which early turned grey, snub nose and deep-set eyes. He walked with proud step, darting a haughty glance this way and that as if he felt himself lord of all.

The chief authorities for the life of Attila are Priscus, Jordanes, the Historia Miscella, Apollonius Sidonius and Gregory of Tours.

(T. H.)

ATTIS, or Atys, a deity worshipped in Phrygia, and later throughout the Roman empire, in conjunction with the Great Mother of the Gods. Like Aphrodite and Adonis in Syria, Baal and Astarte at Sidon, and Isis and Osiris in Egypt, the Great Mother and Attis formed a duality which symbolized the relations between Mother Earth and her fruitage. Their worship included the celebration of mysteries annually on the return of the spring season. Attis was also known as Papas, and the Bithynians and Phrygians, according to evidence of the time of the late Empire, called him Zeus. He was never worshipped independently, however, though the worship of the Great Mother was not always accompanied by his. He was confused with Pan, Sabazios, Men and Adonis, and there were resemblances between the orgiastic features of his worship and that of Dionysus. His resemblance to Adonis has led to the theory that the names of the two are identical, and that Attis is only the Semitic companion of Syrian Aphrodite grafted on to the Phrygian Great Mother worship (Haakh, Stuttgarter-Philolog.-Vers., 1857, 176 ff.). It is likely, however, that Attis, like the Great Mother, was indigenous to Asia Minor, adopted by the invading Phrygians, and blended by them with a deity of their own.

Legends.—According to Pausanias (vii. 17), Attis was a beautiful youth born of the daughter of the river Sangarius, who was descended from the hermaphroditic Agdistis, a monster sprung from the earth by the seed of Zeus. Having become enamoured of Attis, Agdistis struck him with frenzy as he was about to wed the king’s daughter, with the result that he deprived himself of manhood and died. Agdistis in repentance prevailed upon Zeus to grant that the body of the youth should never decay or waste. In Arnobius (v. 5-8) Attis emasculates himself under a pine tree, which the Great Mother bears into her cave as she and Agdistis together wildly lament the death of the youth. Zeus grants the petition as in the version of Pausanias, but permits the hair of Attis to grow, and his little finger to move. The little finger, digitus, δάκτυλος, is interpreted as the phallus by Georg Kaibel (Gottinger Nachrichten, 1901, p. 513). In Diodorus (in. 58, 59) the Mother is the carnal lover of Attis, and, when her father the king discovers her fault and kills her lover, roams the earth in wild grief. In Ovid (Fasti, iv. 223 ff.) she is inspired with chaste love for him, which he pledges himself to reciprocate. On his proving unfaithful, the Great Mother slays the nymph with whom he has sinned, whereupon in madness he mutilates himself as a penalty. Another form of the legend (Paus. vii. 17), showing the influence of the Aphrodite-Adonis myth, relates that Attis, the impotent son of the Phrygian Caläust Lydia to institute the worship of the Great Mother, and was there slain by a boar sent by Zeus.

See Great Mother of the Gods; J.G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris (1906).

(G. Sn.)

ATTLEBOROUGH, a township of Bristol county, in south-east Massachusetts, U.S.A. Pop. (1890) 7577; (1900) 11,335, of whom 3237 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 16,215 It is traversed by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway, and by inter-urban electric lines. It has an area of 28 sq. m. The population is largely concentrated in and about the village which bears the name of the township. In Attleborough are the Attleborough Home Sanitarium, and a public library (1885). The principal manufactures of the township are jewelry, silverware, cotton goods, cotton machinery, coffin trimmings, and leather. In 1905 the total value of the township’s factory products was $10,050,384, of which $5,544,285 was the value of jewelry, Attleborough ranking fourth among the cities of the country in this industry, and producing 10.4% of the total jewelry product of the United States. Attleborough was incorporated in 1694, though settled soon after 1661 (records since 1672) as part of Rehoboth. In 1887 the township was divided in population, wealth and area by the creation of the township of North Attleborough—pop. (1890) 6727; (1900) 7253, of whom 1786 were foreign-born; (1905, state census) 7878. This township produced manufactured goods in 1900 to the value of $3,990,731, jewelry valued at $2,785,567; it maintains the Richards memorial library.

See J. Daggett, A Sketch of the History of Attleborough to 1887 (Boston, 1894).

ATTOCK, a town and fort of British India, in the Rawalpindi district of the Punjab, 47 m. by rail from Peshawar, and situated on the eastern bank of the Indus. Pop. (1901) 2822. The place is of both political and commercial importance, as the Indus is here crossed by the military and trade route through the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. Alexander the Great, Tamerlane and Nadir Shah are believed to have successively crossed the Indus at or about this spot in their respective invasions of India. The river runs past Attock in a deep rapid channel about 200 yds. broad, but is easily crossed in boats or on inflated skins of oxen. The rocky gorges through which it flows, with a distant view of the Hindu Kush, form some of the finest scenery in the world. In 1883 an iron girder bridge of five spans was opened, which carries the North-Western railway to Peshawar, and has also a subway for wheeled traffic and foot passengers. The fort of Attock was built by the emperor Akbar in 1581, on a low hillock beside the river. The walls are of polished stone, and the whole structure is handsome; but from a military point of view it is of little importance, being commanded by a hill, from which it is divided only by a ravine. On the opposite side of the river is the village of Khairabad, with a fort, also erected by Akbar according to some, or by Nadir Shah according to others. The military importance of Attock has diminished, but it still has a small detachment of British troops.

ATTORNEY (from O. Fr. atorné, a person appointed to act for another, from atourner, legal Lat. attornare, attorn, literally to turn over to another or commit business to another), in English law, in its widest sense, any substitute or agent appointed to act in “the turn, stead or place of another.” Attorneys are of two kinds, attorneys-in-fact and attorneys-at-law. An attorney-in-fact is simply an agent, the extent of whose capacity to act is bounded only by the powers embodied in his authority, his power of attorney. An attorney-at-law was a public officer, conducting legal proceedings on behalf of others, known as his clients, and attached to the supreme courts of common law at Westminster. Attorneys-at-law corresponded to the solicitors of the courts of chancery and the proctors of the admiralty, ecclesiastical, probate and divorce courts. Since the passing of the Judicature Act of 1873, however, the designation “attorney” has become obsolete in England, all persons admitted as solicitors, attorneys or proctors of an English court being henceforth called “solicitors of the supreme court” (see Solicitor).

In the United States an attorney-at-law exercises all the functions distributed in England between barristers, attorneys and solicitors, and his full title is “attorney and counsellor-at-law.” When acting in a court of admiralty he is styled “proctor” or “advocate.” Formerly, in some states, there existed a grade among lawyers of attorneys-at-law, which was inferior to that of counsellors-at-law, and in colonial times New Jersey established a higher rank still—that of serjeant-at-law. Now the term attorney-at-law is precisely equivalent to that of lawyer. Attorneys are admitted by some court to which the legislature confides the power, and on examination prescribed by the court, or by a board of state examiners, as the case may be. The term of study required is generally two or three years, but in some states less. In one no examination is required. College graduates are often admitted to examination after a shorter term of study than that required from those not so educated. In the courts of the United States, admission is regulated by rules of court and based upon a previous admission to the state bar. In almost all states aliens are not admitted as attorneys, and in many states women are ineligible, but during recent years several states have passed statutes permitting them to practise. Since 1879 women have been eligible to practise before the U.S. Supreme Court, if already admitted to practise in some state court, under the same conditions as men. A state attorney or district attorney is the local public prosecutor. He is either elected by popular vote at the state elections for the district in which he resides and goes out of office with the political party for which he was elected, or he is appointed by the governor of the state for that district and for the same term. He represents the state in criminal prosecutions and also in civil actions within his district. There is a United States district attorney in each federal district, similarly representing the federal government before the courts.

An attorney is an officer of the court which admits him to practise, and he is subject to its discipline. He is liable to his client in damages for failure to exercise ordinary care and skill, and he can bring action for the value of his services. He has a lien on his client’s papers, and usually on any judgment in favour of his client to secure the payment of his fees. (See also under Bar, The.)

ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in England, the chief law officer appointed to manage all the legal affairs and suits in which the crown is interested. He is appointed by letters-patent authorizing him to hold office during the sovereign’s pleasure. He is ex officio the leader of the bar, and only counsel of the highest eminence are appointed to the office. The origin of the office is uncertain, but as far back as 1277 we find an attornatus regis appointed to look after the interests of the crown, in proceedings affecting it before the courts. He has precedence in all the courts, and in the House of Lords he has precedence of the lord advocate, even in Scottish appeals, but unlike the lord advocate and the Irish attorney-general he is not necessarily made a privy councillor. He is a necessary party to all proceedings affecting the crown, and has extensive powers of control in matters relating to charities, lunatics’ estates, criminal prosecutions, &c. The attorney-general and the solicitor-general are always members of the House of Commons (except for temporary difficulties in obtaining a seat) and of the ministry, being selected from the party in power, and their advice is at the disposal of the government and of each department of the government, while in the House of Commons they defend the legality of ministerial action if called in question. Previously to 1895 there was no restriction placed on the law officers as to their acceptance of private practice, but since that date this privilege has been withdrawn, and the salary of the attorney-general is fixed at £7000 a year and in addition such fees according to the ordinary professional scales as he may receive for any litigious business he may conduct on behalf of the crown. The crown has also as a legal adviser an attorney-general in Ireland. In Scotland he is called lord advocate (q.v.). There is also an attorney-general in almost all the British colonies, and his duties are very similar to those of the same officer in England. In the self-governing colonies he is appointed by the administration of the colony, and in the crown colonies by royal warrant under the signet and sign-manual. There is an attorney-general for the duchy of Cornwall and also one for the duchy of Lancaster, each of whom sues in matters relating to that duchy.

The United States has an officer of this name, who has a seat in the cabinet. His duties are in general to represent the federal government before the United States Supreme Court, to advise the president on questions of law, and to advise similarly the heads of the state departments with reference to matters affecting their department. His opinions are published by the government periodically for the use of its officials and they are frequently cited by the courts. Every state but one or two has a similar officer. He represents the state in important legal matters, and is often required to assist the local prosecutor in trials for capital offences. He appears for the public interest in suits affecting public charities. He is generally elected by the people for the same term as the governor and on the same ticket.

ATTORNMENT (from Fr. tourner, to turn), in English real property law, the acknowledgment of a new lord by the tenant on the alienation of land. Under the feudal system, the relations of landlord and tenant were to a certain extent reciprocal. So it was considered unreasonable to the tenant to subject him to a new lord without his own approval, and it thus came about that alienation could not take place without the consent of the tenant. Attornment was also extended to all cases of lessees for life or for years. The necessity for attornment was abolished by an act of 1705. The term is now used to indicate an acknowledgment of the existence of the relationship of landlord and tenant. An attornment-clause, in mortgages, is a clause whereby the mortgagor attorns tenant to the mortgagee, thus giving the mortgagee the right to distrain, as an additional security.

ATTRITION (Lat. attritio, formed from atterere, to rub away), a rubbing away; a term used in pathology and geology. Theologians have also distinguished “attrition” from “contrition” in the matter of sin, as an imperfect stage in the process of repentance; attrition being due to servile fear of the consequences of sin, contrition to filial fear of God and hatred of sin for His sake. It has been held among the Roman Catholics that in the sacrament of penance attrition becomes contrition.

ATTWOOD, THOMAS (1765-1838), English composer, the son of a coal merchant who had musical tastes, was born in London on the 23rd of November 1765. At the age of nine he became a chorister in the Chapel Royal, where he remained for five years. In 1783 he was sent to study abroad at the expense of the prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), who had been favourably impressed by his skill at the harpsichord. After spending two years at Naples, Attwood proceeded to Vienna, where he became a favourite pupil of Mozart. On his return to London in 1787 he held for a short time an appointment as one of the chamber musicians to the prince of Wales. In 1796 he was chosen organist of St Paul’s, and in the same year he was made composer to the Chapel Royal. His court connexion was further confirmed by his appointment as musical instructor to the duchess of York, and afterwards to the princess of Wales. For the coronation of George IV. he composed the anthem, “The King shall rejoice,” a work of high merit. The king, who had neglected him for some years on account of his connexion with the princess of Wales, now restored him to favour, and in 1821 appointed him organist to his private chapel at Brighton. Soon after the institution of the Royal Academy of Music in 1823, Attwood was chosen one of the professors. He was also one of the original members of the Philharmonic Society, founded in 1813. He wrote the anthem, “O Lord, grant the King a Long Life,” which was performed at the coronation of William IV., and he was composing a similar work for the coronation of Queen Victoria when he died at his house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, on the 24th of March 1838. He was buried under the organ in St Paul’s cathedral. His services and anthems were published in a collected form after his death by his pupil Walmisley. Of his secular compositions several songs and glees are well known and popular. The numerous operas which he composed in early life are now practically forgotten. Of his songs the most popular was “The Soldier’s Dream,” and the best of his glees were “In peace Love tunes the shepherd’s reed,” and “To all that breathe the air of Heaven.” Attwood was a friend of Mendelssohn, for whom he professed an admiration at a time when the young German’s talent was little appreciated by the majority of English musicians.

ATTWOOD, THOMAS (1783-1856), English political reformer, was born at Halesowen, Worcestershire, on the 6th of October 1783. In 1800 he entered his father’s banking business in Birmingham, where he was elected high bailiff in 1811. He took a leading part in the public life of the city, and became very popular with the artisan class. He is now remembered for his share in the movement which led to the carrying of the Reform Act of 1832. He was one of the founders, in January 1830, of the Political Union, branches of which were soon formed throughout England. Under his leadership vast crowds of working-men met periodically in the neighbourhood of Birmingham to demonstrate in favour of reform of the franchise, and Attwood used his power over the multitude to repress any action on their part which might savour of illegality. His successful exertions in favour of reform made him a popular hero all over the country, and he was presented with the freedom of the city of London. After the passing of the Reform Act in 1832 he was elected one of the members for the new borough of Birmingham, for which he sat till 1839. He failed in the House of Commons to maintain the reputation which he had made outside it, for in addition to an eager partisanship in favour of every ultra-democratic movement, he was wearisomely persistent in advocating his peculiar monetary theory. This theory, which became with him a monomania, was that the existing currency should be rectified in favour of state-regulated and inconvertible paper-money, and the adoption of a system for altering the standard of value as prices fluctuated. His waning influence with his constituents led him to retire from parliament in 1837, and, though invited to re-enter political life in 1843, he had by that time become a thoroughly spent force. He died at Great Malvern on the 6th of March 1856.

His grandson, C.M. Wakefield, wrote his life “for private circulation” (there is a copy in the British Museum), and his economic theories are set forth in a little book, Gemini, by T.B. Wright and J. Harlow, published in 1844.

ATWOOD, GEORGE (1746-1807), English mathematician, was born in the early part of the year 1746. He entered Westminster school, and in 1759 was elected to a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1769, with the rank of third wrangler and first Smith’s prizeman. Subsequently he became a fellow and a tutor of the college, and in 1776 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. In the year 1784 he left Cambridge, and soon afterwards received from William Pitt the office of a patent searcher of the customs, which required but little attendance, and enabled him to devote a considerable portion of his time to his special studies. He died in July 1807. Atwood’s published works, exclusive of papers contributed to the Philosophical Transactions, for one of which he obtained the Copley medal, are as follows:—Analysis of a Course of Lectures on the Principles of Natural Philosophy (Cambridge, 1784); Treatise on the Rectilinear Motion and Rotation of Bodies (Cambridge, 1784), which gives some interesting experiments, by means of which mechanical truths can be ocularly exhibited and demonstrated, and describes the machine, since called by Atwood’s name, for verifying experimentally the laws of simple acceleration of motion; Review of the Statutes and Ordinances of Assize which have been established in England from the 4th year of King John, 1202, to the 37th of his present Majesty (London, 1801), a work of some historical research; Dissertation on the Construction and Properties of Arches (London, 1801), with supplement, pt. i., 1801, pt. ii., 1804, an elaborate work, now completely superseded.

AUBADE (a French word from aube, the dawn), the dawn-song of the troubadours of Provence, developed by the Minnesingers (q.v.) of Germany into the Tagelied, the song of the parting at dawn of lovers at the warning of the watchman. In France in modern times the term is applied to the performance of a military band in the early morning in honour of some distinguished person.

AUBAGNE, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône on the Huveaune, 11 m. E. of Marseilles by rail. Pop. (1906) 6039. The town carries on the manufacture of earthenware and pottery, leather, &c. and the cultivation of fruit and wine. There is a fountain to the memory of the statesman, F. Barthélemy (d. 1830), born at Aubagne.

AUBE, a department of north-eastern France, bounded N. by the department of Marne, N.W. by Seine-et-Marne, W. by Yonne, S. by Yonne and Cote-d’Or, and E. by Haute-Marne; it was formed in 1790 from Basse-Champagne, and a small portion of Burgundy. Area, 2326 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 243,670. The department belongs to the Seine basin, and is watered chiefly by the Seine and the Aube. These rivers follow the general slope of the department, which is from south-east, where the Bois du Mont (1200 ft.), the highest point, is situated, to north-west. The southern and eastern districts are fertile and well wooded. The remainder of the department, with the exception of a more broken and picturesque district in the extreme north-west, forms part of the sterile and monotonous plain known as Champagne Pouilleuse. The climate is mild but damp. The annual rainfall over the greater part varies from 24 to 28 in.; but in the extreme south-east it at times reaches a height of 36 in. Aube is an agricultural department; more than one third of its surface consists of arable land of which the chief products are wheat and oats, and next to them rye, barley and potatoes; vegetables are extensively cultivated in the valleys of the Seine and the Aube. The vine flourishes chiefly on the hills of the south-east; the wines of Les Riceys, Bar-sur-Aube, Bouilly and Laines-aux-Bois are most esteemed. The river valleys abound in natural pasture, and sainfoin, lucerne and other forage crops are largely grown; cattle-raising is an important source of wealth, and the cheeses of Troyes are well known. There are excellent nurseries and orchards in the neighbourhood of Troyes, Bar-sur-Seine, Méry-sur-Seine and Brienne. Chalk, from which blanc de Troyes is manufactured, and clay are abundant; and there are peat workings and quarries of building-stone and limestone. The spinning and weaving of cotton and the manufacture of hosiery, of both of which Troyes is the centre, are the main industries of the department; there are also a large number of distilleries, tanneries, oil works, tile and brick works, flour-mills, saw-mills and dye-works. The Eastern railway has works at Romilly, and there are iron works at Clairvaux and wire-drawing works at Plaines; but owing to the absence of coal and iron mines, metal working is of small importance. The exports of Aube consist of timber, cereals, agricultural products, hosiery, wine, dressed pork, &c.; its imports include wool and raw cotton, coal and machinery, especially looms. The department is served by the Eastern railway, of which the main line to Belfort crosses it. The river Aube is navigable for 28 m. (from Arcis-sur-Aube to its confluence with the Seine); the Canal de la Haute-Seine extends beside the Seine from Bar-sur-Seine to Marcilly (just outside the department) a distance of 46 m.; below Marcilly the Seine is canalized.

Aube is divided into 5 arrondissements with 26 cantons and 446 communes. It falls within the educational circumscription (académie) of Dijon and the military circumscription of the XX. army corps; its court of appeal is in Paris. It constitutes the diocese of Troyes and part of the archiepiscopal province of Sens. The capital of the department is Troyes; of the arrondissements the capitals are Troyes, Bar-sur-Aube, Arcis-sur-Aube, Bar-sur-Seine and Nogent-sur-Seine. The architecture of the department is chiefly displayed in its churches, many of which possess stained glass of the 16th century. Besides the cathedral and other churches of Troyes, those of Mussy-sur-Seine (13th century), Chaource (16th century) and Nogent-sur-Seine (15th and 16th centuries), are of note. The abbey buildings of Clairvaux are the type of the Cistercian abbey.

AUBENAS, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Ardèche, 19 m. S.W. of Privas by road. Pop. (1906) 3976 (town), 7064 (commune). Aubenas is beautifully situated on the slope of a hill, on the right bank of the Ardèche, but its streets generally are crooked and narrow. It has a castle of the 13th and 16th centuries, now occupied by several of the public institutions of the town. These include a tribunal and chamber of commerce, and a conditioning-house for silk. Iron and coal mines are worked in the vicinity. As the centre of the silk trade of southern France Aubenas is a place of considerable traffic. It has also a large silk spinning and weaving industry, and carries on tanning and various minor industries together with trade in silk. The district is rich in plantations of mulberries and olives.

AUBER, DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT (1782-1871), French musical composer, the son of a Paris printseller, was born at Caen in Normandy on the 29th of January 1782. Destined by his father to the pursuits of trade, he was allowed, nevertheless, to indulge his fondness for music, and learnt to play at an early age on several instruments, his first teacher being the Tirolean composer, I.A. Ladurner. Sent at the age of twenty to London to complete his business training, he was obliged to leave England in consequence of the breach of the treaty of Amiens (1804). He had already attempted musical composition, and at this period produced several concertos pour basse, in the manner of the violoncellist, Lamarre, in whose name they were published. The praise given to his concerto for the violin, which was played at the Conservatoire by Mazas, encouraged him to undertake the resetting of the old comic opera, Julie (1811). Conscious by this time of the need of regular study of his chosen art, he placed himself under the severe training of Cherubini, by which the special qualities of the young composer were admirably developed. In 1813 he made his début in an opera in one act, the Séjour militaire, the unfavourable reception of which put an end for some years to his attempts as composer. But the failure in business and death of his father, in 1819, compelled him once more to turn to music, and to make that which had been his pastime the serious employment of his life. He produced another opera, the Testament et les billets-deux (1819), which was no better received than the former. But he persevered, and the next year was rewarded by the complete success of his Bergère châtelaine, an opera in three acts. This was the first in a long series of brilliant successes. In 1822 began his long association with A.E. Scribe, who shared with him, as librettist, the success and growing popularity of his compositions. The opera of Leicester, in which they first worked together (1823), is remarkable also as showing evidences of the influence of Rossini. But his own style was an individual one, marked by lightness and facility, sparkling vivacity, grace and elegance, clear and piquant melody—characteristically French. In La Muette de Portici, familiarly known as Masaniello, Auber achieved his greatest musical triumph. Produced at Paris in 1828, it rapidly became a European favourite, and its overture, songs and choruses were everywhere heard. The duet, “Amour sacré de la patrie,” was welcomed like a new Marseillaise; sung by Nourrit at Brussels in 1830, it became the signal for the revolution which broke out there. Of Auber’s remaining operas (about 50 in all) the more important are: Le Maçon (1825), La Fiancée (1829), Fra Diavolo (1830), Lestocq (1834), Le Cheval de bronze (1835), L’Ambassadrice (1836), Le Domino noir (1837), Le Lac des fées (1839), Les Diamants de la couronne (1841), Haydée (1847), Marco Spada (1853), Manon Lescaut (1856), and La Fiancée du roi des Garbes (1864). Official and other dignities testified the public appreciation of Auber’s works. In 1829 he was elected member of the Institute, in 1830 he was named director of the court concerts, and in 1842, at the wish of Louis Philippe, he succeeded Cherubini as director of the Conservatoire. He was also a member of the Legion of Honour from 1825, and attained the rank of commander in 1847. Napoleon III. made Auber his Imperial Maître de Chapelle in 1857.

One of Auber’s latest compositions was a march, written for the opening of the International Exhibition in London in 1862. His fascinating manners, his witty sayings, and his ever-ready kindness and beneficence won for him a secure place in the respect and love of his fellow-citizens. He remained in his old home during the German siege of Paris, 1870-71, but the miseries of the Communist war which followed sickened his heart, and he died in Paris on the 13th of May 1871.

See Adolph Kohut, “Auber,” vol. xvii. of Musiker Biographien (Leipzig, 1895).

AUBERGINE (diminutive of Fr. auberge, a variant of alberge, a kind of peach), or Egg Plant (Solanum melongena, var. ovigerum), a tender annual widely cultivated in the warmer parts of the earth, and in France and Italy, for the sake of its fruits, which are eaten as a vegetable. The seed should be sown early in February in a warm pit, where the plants are grown till shifted into 8-in. or 10-in. pots, in well-manured soil. Liquid manure should be given occasionally while the fruit is swelling; about four fruits are sufficient for one plant. The French growers sow them in a brisk heat in December, or early in January, and in March plant them out four or eight in a hot-bed with a bottom heat of from 60° to 68°, the sashes being gradually more widely opened as the season advances, until at about the end of May they may be taken off. The two main branches which are allowed are pinched to induce laterals, but when the fruits are set all young shoots are taken off in order to increase their size. The best variety is the large purple, which produces oblong fruit, sometimes reaching 6 or 7 in. in length and 10 or 12 in. in circumference. The fruit of the ordinary form almost exactly resembles the egg of the domestic fowl. It is also grown as an ornamental plant, for covering walls or trellises; especially the black-fruited kind.

AUBERVILLIERS, or Aubervilliers-les-Vertus, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine, on the canal St Denis, 2 m. from the right bank of the Seine and 1 m. N. of the fortifications of Paris. Pop. (1906) 33,358. Its manufactures include cardboard, glue, oils, colours, fertilizers, chemical products, perfumery, &c. During the middle ages and till modern times Aubervilliers was the resort of numerous pilgrims, who came to pay honour to Notre Dame des Vertus. In 1814 the locality was the scene of a stubborn combat between the French and the Allies.

AUBIGNAC, FRANÇOIS HÉDELIN, Abbé d’ (1604-1676), French author, was born at Paris on the 4th of August 1604. His father practised at the Paris bar, and his mother was a daughter of the great surgeon Ambroise Paré. François Hédelin was educated for his father’s profession, but, after practising for some time at Nemours he abandoned law, took holy orders, and was appointed tutor to one of Richelieu’s nephews, the duc de Fronsac. This patronage secured for him the abbey of Aubignac and of Mainac. The death of the duc de Fronsac in 1646 put an end to hopes of further preferment, and the Abbé d’Aubignac retired to Nemours, occupying himself with literature till his death on the 25th of July 1676. He took an energetic share in the literary controversies of his time. Against Gilles Ménage he wrote a Térence justifié (1656); he laid claim to having originated the idea of the “Carte de tendre” of Mlle de Scudéry’s Clélie; and after being a professed admirer of Corneille he turned against him because he had neglected to mention the abbé in his Discours sur le poème dramatique. He was the author of four tragedies: La Cyminde (1642), La Pucelle d’Orléans (1642), Zénobie (1647) and Le Martyre de Sainte Catherine (1650). Zénobie was written with the intention of affording a model in which the strict rules of the drama, as understood by the theorists, were observed. In the choice of subjects for his plays, he seems to have been guided by a desire to illustrate the various kinds of tragedy—patriotic, antique and religious. The dramatic authors whom he was in the habit of criticizing were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity for retaliation offered by the production of these mediocre plays. It is as a theorist that D’Aubignac still arrests attention. It has been proved that to Jean Chapelain belongs the credit of having been the first to establish as a practical law the convention of the unities that plays so large a part in the history of the French stage; but the laws of dramatic method and construction generally were codified by d’Aubignac in his Pratique du théâtre. The book was only published in 1657, but had been begun at the desire of Richelieu as early as 1640. His Conjectures académiques sur l’Iliade d’Homère, which was not published until nearly forty years after his death, threw doubts on the existence of Homer, and anticipated in some sense the conclusions of Friedrich August Wolf in his Prolegomena ad Homerum (1795).

The contents of the Pratique du théâtre are summarized by F. Brunetière in his notice of Aubignac in the Grande Encydopédie. See also G. Saintsbury, Hist. of Criticism, bk. v., and H. Rigault, Hist. de la querelle des anciens et modernes. (1859).

AUBIGNÉ, CONSTANT D’ [Baron de Surineau] (c. 1584-1647), French adventurer, was the son of Théodore Agrippa d’Aubigné, and the father of Madame de Maintenon. Born a Protestant, he became by turns Catholic or Protestant as it suited his interests. He betrayed the Protestants in 1626, revealing to the court, after a voyage to England, the projects of the English upon La Rochelle. He was renounced by his father; then imprisoned by Richelieu’s orders at Niort, where he was detained ten years. After having tried his fortunes in the Antilles, he died in Provence, leaving in destitution his wife, Jeanne de Cardillac, whom he had married in 1627. He had two children, Charles, father of the duchess of Noailles, and Françoise, known in history as Madame de Maintenon.

See T. Lavallée, La Famille d’Aubigné et l’enfance de Madame de Maintenon (Paris, 1863).

AUBIGNÉ, JEAN HENRI MERLE D’ (1794-1872), Swiss Protestant divine and historian, was born on the 16th of August 1794, at Eaux Vives, near Geneva. The ancestors of his father, Aimé Robert Merle d’Aubigné (1755-1799), were French Protestant refugees. Jean Henri was destined by his parents to a commercial life; but at college he decided to be ordained. He was profoundly influenced by Robert Haldane, the Scottish missionary and preacher who visited Geneva. When in 1817 he went abroad to further his education, Germany was about to celebrate the tercentenary of the Reformation; and thus early he conceived the ambition to write the history of that great epoch. At Berlin he received stimulus from teachers so unlike as J.A.W. Neander and W.M.L. de Wette. After presiding for five years over the French Protestant church at Hamburg, he was, in 1823, called to become pastor of a congregation in Brussels and preacher to the court. He became also president of the consistory of the French and German Protestant churches. At the Belgian revolution of 1830 he thought it advisable to undertake pastoral work at home rather than to accept an educational post in the family of the Dutch king. The Evangelical Society had been founded with the idea of promoting evangelical Christianity in Geneva and elsewhere, but it was found that there was also needed a theological school for the training of pastors. On his return to Switzerland, d’Aubigné was invited to become professor of church history in an institution of the kind, and continued to labour in the cause of evangelical Protestantism. In him the Evangelical Alliance found a hearty promoter. He frequently visited England, was made a D.C.L. by Oxford University, and received civic honours from the city of Edinburgh. He died suddenly in 1872.

His principal works are—Discours sur l’étude de l’histoire de Christianisme (Geneva, 1832); Le Luthéranisme et la Réforme (Paris, 1844); Germany, England and Scotland, or Recollections of a Swiss Pastor (London, 1848); Trois siècles de lutte en Écosse, ou deux rois et deux royaumes; Le Protecteur ou la république d’Angleterre aux jours de Cromwell (Paris, 1848); Le Concile et l’infaillibililé (1870); Histoire de la Réformation au XVIième siècle (Paris, 1835-1853; new ed:, 1861-1862, in 5 vols.); and Histoire de la Réformation en Europe au temps de Calvin (8 vols., 1862-1877).

The first portion of his Histoire de la Réformation, which was devoted to the earlier period of the movement in Germany, gave him at once a foremost place amongst modern French ecclesiastical historians, and was translated into most European tongues. The second portion, dealing with reform in the time of Calvin, was not less thorough, and had a subject hitherto less exhaustively treated, but it did not meet with the same success. This part of the subject, with which he was most competent to deal, was all but completed at the time of his death. Among his minor treatises, the most important are the vindication of the character and aims of Oliver Cromwell, and the sketch of the contendings of the Church of Scotland.

Indefatigable in sifting original documents, Aubigné had amassed a wealth of authentic information; but his desire to give in all cases a full and graphic picture, assisted by a vivid imagination, betrayed him into excess of detail concerning minor events, and in a few cases into filling up a narrative by inference from later conditions. Moreover, in his profound sympathy with the Reformers, he too frequently becomes their apologist. But his work is a monument of painstaking sincerity, and brings us into direct contact with the spirit of the period.

AUBIGNÉ, THÉODORE AGRIPPA D’ (1552-1630), French poet and historian, was born at St Maury, near Pons, in Saintonge, on the 8th of February 1552. His name Agrippa (aegre partus) was given him through his mother dying in childbirth. In his childhood he showed a great aptitude for languages; according to his own account he knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew at six years of age; and he had translated the Crito of Plato before he was eleven. His father, a Huguenot who had been one of the conspirators of Amboise, strengthened his Protestant sympathies by showing him, while they were passing through that town on their way to Paris, the heads of the conspirators exposed upon the scaffold, and adjuring him not to spare his own head in order to avenge their death. After a brief residence he was obliged to flee from Paris to avoid persecution, but was captured and threatened with death. Escaping through the intervention of a friend, he went to Montargis. In his fourteenth year he was present at the siege of Orléans, at which his father was killed. His guardian sent him to Geneva, where he studied for a considerable time under the direction of Beza. In 1567 he made his escape from tutelage, and attached himself to the Huguenot army under the prince of Condé. Subsequently he joined Henry of Navarre, whom he succeeded in withdrawing from the corrupting influence of the house of Valois (1576), and to whom he rendered valuable service, both as a soldier and as a counsellor, in the wars that issued in his elevation to the throne as Henry IV. After a furious battle at Casteljaloux, and suffering from fever from his wounds, he wrote his Tragiques (1571). He was in the battle of Coutras (1587), and at the siege of Paris (1590). His career at camp and court, however, was a somewhat chequered one, owing to the roughness of his manner and the keenness of his criticisms, which made him many enemies and severely tried the king’s patience. In his tragédie-ballet Circe (1576) he did not hesitate to indulge in the most outspoken sarcasm against the king and other members of the royal family. Though he more than once found it expedient to retire into private life he never entirely lost the favour of Henry, who made him governor of Maillezais. After the conversion of the king to Roman Catholicism, d’Aubigné remained true to the Huguenot cause, and a fearless advocate of the Huguenot interests. The first two volumes of the work by which he is best known, his Histoire universelle depuis 1550 jusqu’à l’an 1601, appeared in 1616 and 1618 respectively. The third volume was published in 1619, but, being still more free and personal in its satire than those which had preceded it, it was immediately ordered to be burned by the common hangman. The work is a lively chronicle of the incidents of camp and court life, and forms a very valuable source for the history of France during the period it embraces. In September 1620 its author was compelled to take refuge in Geneva, where he found a secure retreat for the last ten years of his life, though the hatred of the French court showed itself in procuring a sentence of death to be recorded against him more than once. He devoted the period of his exile to study, and the superintendence of works for the fortifications of Bern and Basel which were designed as a material defence of the cause of Protestantism. He died at Geneva on the 29th of April 1630.

A complete edition of his works according to the original MSS. was begun by E. Réaume and F. de Caussade (1879). It contains all the literary works, the Aventures du baron de Faeneste (1617), and the Mémoires (6 vols., 1873-1892). The best edition of the Histoire universelle is by A. de Ruble. The Mémoires were edited by L. Lalanne (1854).

AUBIN, a town of southern France, in the department of Aveyron on the Enne, 30 m. N.W. of Rodez. In 1906 the urban population was 2229, the communal population 9986. Aubin is the centre of important coal-mines worked in the middle ages, and also has iron-mines, the product of which supplies iron works close to the town. Sheep-breeding is important in the vicinity. The church dates from the 12th century.

AUBREY, JOHN (1626-1697), English antiquary, was born at Easton Pierse or Percy, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, on the 12th of March 1626, his father being a country gentleman of considerable fortune. He was educated at the Malmesbury grammar school under Robert Latimer, who had numbered Thomas Hobbes among his earlier pupils, and at his schoolmaster’s house Aubrey first met the philosopher about whom he was to leave so many curious and interesting details. He entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1642, but his studies were interrupted by the Civil War. In 1646 he became a student of the Middle Temple, but was never called to the bar. He spent much of his time in the country, and in 1649 he brought into notice the megalithic remains at Avebury. His father died in 1652, leaving to Aubrey large estates, and with them, unfortunately, complicated lawsuits. Aubrey, however, lived gaily, and used his means to gratify his passion for the company of celebrities and for every sort of knowledge to be gleaned about them. Anthony à Wood prophesied that he would one day break his neck while running downstairs after a retreating guest, in the hope of extracting a story from him. He took no active share in the political troubles of the time, but from his description of a meeting of the Rota Club, founded by James Harrington, the author of Oceana, he appears to have been a theorizing republican. His reminiscences on this subject date from the Restoration, and are probably softened by considerations of expediency. In 1663 he became a member of the Royal Society, and in the next year he met Joan Somner, “in an ill hour,” he tells us. This connexion did not end in marriage, and a lawsuit with the lady complicated his already embarrassed affairs. He lost estate after estate, until in 1670 he parted with his last piece of property, Easton Pierse. From this time he was dependent on the hospitality of his numerous friends. In 1667 he had made the acquaintance of Anthony à Wood at Oxford, and when Wood began to gather materials for his invaluable Athenae Oxonienses, Aubrey offered to collect information for him. From time to time he forwarded memoranda to him, and in 1680 he began to promise the “Minutes for Lives,” which Wood was to use at his discretion. He left the task of verification largely to Wood. As a hanger-on in great houses he had little time for systematic work, and he wrote the “Lives” in the early morning while his hosts were sleeping off the effects of the dissipation of the night before. He constantly leaves blanks for dates and facts, and many queries. He made no attempt at a fair copy, and, when fresh information occurred to him, inserted it at random. He made some distinction between hearsay and authentic information, but had no pretence to accuracy, his retentive memory being the chief authority. The principal charm of his “Minutes” lies in the amusing details he has to recount about his personages, and in the plainness and truthfulness that he permits himself in face of established reputations. In 1592 he complained bitterly that Wood had destroyed forty pages of his MS., probably because of the dangerous freedom of Aubrey’s pen. Wood Was prosecuted eventually for insinuations against the judicial integrity of the earl of Clarendon. One of the two statements called in question was certainly founded on information provided by Aubrey. This perhaps explains the estrangement between the two antiquaries and the ungrateful account that Wood gives of the elder man’s character. “He was a shiftless person, roving and magotic-headed, and sometimes little better than crased. And being exceedingly credulous, would stuff his many letters sent to A.W. with follies and misinformations, which sometimes would guide him into the paths of error.”1 In 1673 Aubrey began his “Perambulation” or “Survey” of the county of Surrey, which was the result of many years’ labour in collecting inscriptions and traditions in the country. He began a “History of his Native District of Northern Wiltshire,” but, feeling that he was too old to finish it as he would wish, he made over his material, about 1695, to Thomas Tanner, afterwards bishop of St Asaph. In the next year he published his only completed, though certainly not his most valuable work, the Miscellanies, a collection of stories on ghosts and dreams. He died at Oxford in June 1697, and was buried in the church of St Mary Magdalene.

Beside the works already mentioned, his papers included: “Architectonica Sacra,” notes on ecclesiastical antiquities; and “Life of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury,” which served as the basis of Dr Blackburn’s Latin life, and also of Wood’s account. His survey of Surrey was incorporated in R. Rawlinson’s Natural History and Antiquities of Surrey (1719); his antiquarian notes on Wiltshire were printed in Wiltshire; the Topographical Collections of John Aubrey, corrected and enlarged by J.E. Jackson (Devizes, 1862); part of another MS. on “The Natural History of Wiltshire” was printed by John Britton in 1847 for the Wiltshire Topographical Society; the Miscellanies were edited in 1890 for the Library of Old Authors; the “Minutes for Lives” were partially edited in 1813. A complete transcript, Brief Lives chiefly of Contemporaries set down by John Aubrey between the Years 1669 and 1696, was edited for the Clarendon Press in 1898 by the Rev. Andrew Clark from the MSS. in the Bodleian, Oxford.

See also John Britton, Memoir of John Aubrey (1845); David Masson, in the British Quarterly Review, July 1856; Émile Montégut, Heures de lecture d’un critique (1891); and a catalogue of Aubrey’s collections in The Life and Times of Anthony Wood ..., by Andrew Clark (Oxford, 1891-1900, vol. iv. pp. 191-193), which contains many other references to Aubrey.

1 “Life of Anthony à Wood written by Himself” (Athen. Oxon., ed. Bliss).

AUBURN, a city and the county-seat of Androscoggin county, Maine, U.S.A., on the Androscoggin river, opposite Lewiston (with which it practically forms an industrial unit), in the S.W. part of the state. Pop. (1890) 11,250; (1900) 12,951, of whom 2076 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 15,064. It is served by the Grand Trunk and the Maine Central railways. The river furnishes abundant water-power, and the city ranked fourth in the state as a manufacturing centre in 1905. Boots and shoes are the principal products; in 1905 seven-tenths of the city’s wage-earners were engaged in their manufacture, and Auburn’s output ($4,263,162 = 66.5% of the total factory product of the city) was one-third of that of the whole state. Other manufactures are butter, bread and other bakery products, cotton goods, furniture and leather. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks. Auburn was first settled in 1786, and was incorporated in 1842, but the present charter dates only from 1869.

AUBURN, a city and the county-seat of Cayuga county, New York, U.S.A., 25 m. S.W. of Syracuse, on an outlet of Owasco Lake. Pop. (1890) 25,858; (1900) 30,345, of whom 5436 were foreign-born, 2084 being from Ireland and 1023 from England; (1910) 34,668. It is served by the Lehigh Valley and the New York Central & Hudson River railways, and by inter-urban electric lines. The city is attractively situated amidst a group of low hills in the heart of the lake country of western New York; the streets are wide, with a profusion of shade trees. Auburn has a city hall, the large Burtis Auditorium, the Auburn hospital, two orphan asylums, and the Seymour library in the Case Memorial building. There is a fine bronze statue of William H. Seward, who made his home here after 1823, and was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery. In Auburn are the Auburn (State) prison (1816), in connexion with which there is a women’s prison; the Auburn Theological Seminary (Presbyterian), founded in 1819, chartered in 1820, and opened for students in 1821; the Robinson school for girls; and the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, for the education of working girls, with a building erected in 1907. The city owns its water-supply system, the water being pumped from Owasco Lake, about 2½ m. S.S.E. of the city. There is a good water-power, and the city has important manufacturing interests. The principal manufactures are cordage and twine, agricultural implements, engines, pianos, boots and shoes, cotton and woollen goods, carpets and rugs, rubber goods, flour and machinery. The total factory product in 1905 was valued at $13,420,863; of this $2,890,301 was the value of agricultural implements, in the manufacture of which Auburn ranked fifth among the cities of the United States. There are a number of grey and blue limestone quarries, one of which is owned and operated by the municipality.

Settled soon after the close of the War of Independence, Auburn was laid out in 1793 by Captain John L. Hardenburgh, a veteran of the war, and for some years was known as Hardenburgh’s Corners. In 1805, when it was made the county-seat, it was renamed Auburn. It was incorporated in 1814, and was chartered as a city in 1848.

See C. Hawley, Early Chapters of Cayuga History (Auburn, 1879).

AUBURN (from the Low Lat. alburnus, whitish, light-coloured), ruddy-brown; the meaning has changed from the original one of brownish-white or light yellow (citrinus, in Promptorium Parvulorum), probably through the intensification of the idea of brown caused by the early spelling “abron” or “abrown.”

AUBUSSON, PIERRE D’ (1423-1503), grand-master of the order of St John of Jerusalem, and a zealous opponent of the Turks, was born in 1423. He belonged to a noble French family, and early devoted himself to the career of a soldier in the service of the emperor Sigismund. Under the archduke Albert of Austria he took part in a campaign against the Turks, and on his return to France sided with the Armagnacs against the Swiss, greatly distinguishing himself at the battle of St Jacob in 1444. He then joined the order of the knights of Rhodes, and successfully conducted an expedition against the pirates of the Levant and an embassy to Charles VII. He soon rose to the most important offices in the order, and in 1476 was elected grand-master. It was the period of the conquests of Mahommed II., who, supreme in the East, now began to threaten Europe. In December 1479 a large Turkish fleet appeared in sight of Rhodes; a landing was effected, and a vigorous attack made upon the city. But in July of the next year, being reinforced from Spain, the knights forced the Mussulmans to retire, leaving behind them 9000 dead. The siege, in which d’Aubusson was seriously wounded, enhanced his renown throughout Europe. Mahommed was furious, and would have attacked the island again but for his death in 1481. His succession was disputed between his sons Bayezid and Jem. The latter, after his defeat by Bayezid, sought refuge at Rhodes under a safe-conduct from the grand-master and the council of the knights. What followed remains a stain on d’Aubusson’s memory. Rhodes not being considered secure, Jem with his own consent was sent to France. Meanwhile, in spite of the safe-conduct, d’Aubusson accepted an annuity of 45,000 ducats from the sultan; in return for which he undertook to guard Jem in such a way as to prevent his design of appealing to the Christian powers to aid him against his brother. For six years Jem, in spite of frequent efforts to escape, was kept a close prisoner in various castles of the Rhodian order in France, until in 1489 he was handed over to Pope Innocent VIII., who had been vying with the kings of Hungary and Naples for the possession of so valuable a political weapon. D’Aubusson’s reward was a cardinal’s hat (1489), and the power to confer all benefices connected with the order without the sanction of the papacy; the order of St John received the wealth of the suppressed orders of the Holy Sepulchre and St Lazarus. The remaining years of his life d’Aubusson spent in the attempt to restore discipline and zeal in his order, and to organize a grand international crusade against the Turks. The age of the Renaissance, with Alexander Borgia on the throne of St Peter, was, however, not favourable to such an enterprise; the death of Jem in 1495 had removed the most formidable weapon available against the sultan; and when in 1501 d’Aubusson led an expedition against Mytilene, dissensions among his motley host rendered it wholly abortive. The old man’s last years were embittered by chagrin at his failure, which was hardly compensated by his success in extirpating Judaism in Rhodes, by expelling all adult Jews and forcibly baptizing their children. In the summer of 1503 he died.

See P. Bouhours, Hist, de Pierre d’Aubusson (Paris, 1676; Hague, 1793; abridged ed. Bruges, 1887); G.E. Streck, Pierre d’Aubusson, Grossmeister, &c. (Chemnitz, 1873); J.B. Bury in Cambridge Mod. Hist. vol. i. p. 85, &c. (for relations with Jem).

AUBUSSON, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Creuse, picturesquely situated on the river Creuse 24 m. S.E. of Guéret by rail. Pop. (1906) 6475. It has celebrated manufactories of carpets, &c., employing about 2000 workmen, the artistic standard of which is maintained by a national school of decorative arts, founded in 1869. Nothing certain is known as to the foundation of this industry, but it was in full activity at least as far back as 1531. From the 10th to the 13th century Aubusson was the centre of a viscounty, and the viscountess Marguerite, wife of Rainaud VI., was sung by many a troubadour. After the death of the viscount Guy II. (a little later than 1262) Aubusson was incorporated in the countship of La Marche by Hugh XII. of Lusignan, and shared in its fortunes. Louis XIV. revived the title of viscount of Aubusson in favour of François, first marshall de la Feuillade (1686). From the family of the old viscounts was descended Pierre d’Aubusson (q.v.). Admiral Sallandrouze de Lamornaix (1840-1902) belonged to a family of tapestry manufacturers established at Aubusson since the beginning of the 19th century. Aubusson was also the native place of the novelists Leonard Sylvain, Julien Sandeau and Alfred Assollant (1827-1886).

See Le Père Anselme, Hist. généalogique de la maison de France, vol. v. pp. 318 et seq.; P. Mignaton, Hist. de la maison d’Aubusson (Paris, 1886); Cyprien Pérathon, Hist. d’Aubusson (Limoges, 1886).

(A. T.)

AUCH, a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Gers, 55 m. W. of Toulouse on the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 9294. Auch is built on the summit and sides of a hill at the foot of which flow the yellow waters of the Gers. It consists of a lower and upper quarter united in several places by flights of steps. The streets are in general steep and narrow, but there is a handsome promenade in the upper town, laid out in the 18th century by the intendant Antoine Mégret d’Etigny. Three bridges lead from the left to the right bank of the Gers, on which the suburb of Patte d’Oie is situated. The most interesting part of the town lies in the old quarter around the Place Salinis, a spacious terrace which commands an extensive view over the surrounding country. On its eastern side it communicates with the left bank of the river by a handsome series of steps; on its north side rises the cathedral of Sainte-Marie. This church, built from 1489 to 1662, belongs chiefly to the Gothic style, of which it is one of the finest examples in southern France. The façade, however, with its two square and somewhat heavy flanking towers dates from the 17th century, and is Greco-Roman in architecture. Sainte-Marie contains many artistic treasures, the chief of which are the magnificent stained-glass windows of the Renaissance which light the apsidal chapels, and the 113 choir-stalls of carved oak, also of Renaissance workmanship. The archbishop’s palace adjoins the cathedral; it is a building of the 18th century with a Romanesque hall and a tower of the 14th century. Opposite the south side of the cathedral stands the lycée on the site of a former Jesuit college. Only scanty remains are left of the once celebrated abbey of St Orens. The ecclesiastical seminary contains an important library with a collection of manuscripts, and there is a public library in the Carmelite chapel, a building of the 17th century. The former palace of the intendants of Gascony is now used as the préfecture. Auch is the seat of an archbishopric, a prefect and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a lycée, training-colleges, a school of design, a branch of the Bank of France and an important lunatic asylum. The manufactures include agricultural implements, leather, vinegar and plaited sandals, and there is a trade in brandy, wine, cattle, poultry and wool; there are quarries of building-stone in the neighbourhood.

Auch (Elimberris) was the capital of a Celtiberian tribe, the Ausci, and under the Roman domination was one of the most important cities in Gaul. In the 4th century this importance was increased by the foundation of its bishopric, and after the destruction of Eauze in the 9th century it became the metropolis of Novempopulana. Till 732, Auch stood on the right bank of the Gers, but in that year the ravages of the Saracens drove the inhabitants to take refuge on the left bank of the river, where a new city was formed. In the 10th century Count Bernard of Armagnac founded the Benedictine abbey of St Orens, the monks of which, till 1308, shared the jurisdiction over Auch with the archbishops—an arrangement which gave rise to constant strife. The counts of Armagnac possessed a castle in the city, which was the capital of Armagnac in the middle ages. During the Religious Wars of the 16th century Auch remained Catholic, except for a short occupation in 1569 by the Huguenots under Gabriel, count of Montgomery. In the 18th century it was capital of Gascony, and seat of a generality. Antoine Mégret d’Etigny, intendant from 1751 to 1767, did much to improve the city and its commerce.

AUCHMUTY, SIR SAMUEL (1756-1822), British general, was born at New York in 1756, and served as a loyalist in the American War of Independence, being given an ensigncy in the royal army in 1777, and in 1778 a lieutenancy in the 45th Foot, without purchase. When his regiment returned to England after the war, having neither private means nor influence, he exchanged into the 52nd, in order to proceed to India. He took part in the last war against Hyder Ali; he was given a staff appointment by Lord Cornwallis in 1790, served in the operations against Tippoo Sahib, and continued in various staff appointments up to 1797, when he returned to England a brevet lieut.-colonel. In 1800 he was made lieut.-colonel and brevet colonel; and in the following year, as adjutant-general to Sir David Baird in Egypt, took a distinguished share in the march across the desert and the capture of Alexandria. On his return to England in 1803 he was knighted, and three years later he went out to the River Plate as a brigadier-general. Auchmuty was one of the few officers who came out of the disastrous Buenos Aires expedition of 1806-7 with enhanced reputation. While General Whitelocke, the commander, was cashiered, Auchmuty was at once re-employed and promoted major-general, and was sent out in 1810 to command at Madras. In the following year he commanded the expedition organized for the conquest of Java, which the governor-general, Lord Minto, himself accompanied. The storming of the strongly fortified position of Meester Cornelis (28th August 1811), stubbornly defended by the Dutch garrison under General Janssens, practically achieved the conquest of the island, and after the action of Samarang (September 8th) Janssens surrendered. Auchmuty received the thanks of parliament and the order of K.C.B. (G.C.B. in 1815), and in 1813, on his return home, was promoted to the rank of lieut.-general. In 1821 he became commander-in-chief in Ireland, and a member of the Irish privy council. He died suddenly on the 11th of August 1822.

AUCHTERARDER (Gaelic, “upper high land”), a police burgh of Perthshire, Scotland, 13¾ m. S.W. of Perth by the Caledonian railway. Pop. (1901) 2276. It is situated on Ruthven Water, a right-hand tributary of the Earn. The chief manufactures are those of tartans and other woollens, and of agricultural implements. At the beginning of the 13th century it obtained a charter from the earl of Strathearn, afterwards became a royal burgh for a period, and was represented in the Scottish parliament. Its castle, now ruinous, was built as a hunting-lodge for Malcolm Canmore, but of the abbey which it possessed as early as the reign of Alexander II. (1198-1249) no remains exist. The ancient church of St Mungo, now in ruins, was a building in the Norman or Early Pointed style. The town was almost entirely burned down by the earl of Mar in 1716 during the abortive Jacobite rising. It was in connexion with this parish that the ecclesiastical dispute arose which led to the disruption in the Church of Scotland in 1843. The estate of Kincardine, 1 m. south, gives the title of earl of Kincardine to the duke of Montrose. The old castle, now in ruins, was dismantled in 1645 by the marquis of Argyll in retaliation for the destruction of Castle Campbell in Dollar Glen on the south side of the Ochils. The old ruined castle of Tullibardine, 2 m west of the burgh, once belonged to the Murrays of Tullibardine, ancestors of the duke of Atholl, who derives the title of marquis of Tullibardine from the estate. The ancient chapel adjoining, also ruinous, was a burial-place of the Murrays.

AUCHTERMUCHTY (Gaelic, “the high ground of the wild sow”), a royal and police burgh of Fifeshire, Scotland, built on an elevation about 9 m. W. by S. of Cupar, with a station on a branch of the North British railway from Ladybank to Mawcarse Junction. Pop. 1387. The rapid Loverspool Burn divides the town. The principal industries include the weaving of linen and damasks, bleaching, distilling and malting. John Glas, founder of the sect known as Glassites or Sandemanians, was a native of the town. A mile and a half to the south-west is the village of Strathmiglo (pop. 966), on the river Eden, with a linen factory and bleaching works.

AUCKLAND, GEORGE EDEN, Earl of (1784-1849), English statesman, was the second son of the 1st Baron Auckland. He completed his education at Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. His elder brother was drowned in the Thames in the following year; and in 1814, on the death of his father, he took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Auckland. He supported the Reform party steadily by his vote, and in 1830 was made president of the Board of Trade and master of the Mint. In 1834 he held office for a few months as first lord of the admiralty, and in 1835 he was appointed governor-general of India. He proved himself to be a painstaking and laborious legislator, and devoted himself specially to the improvement of native schools, and the expansion of the commercial industry of the nation committed to his care. These useful labours were interrupted in 1838 by complications in Afghanistan, which excited the fears not only of the Anglo-Indian government but of the home authorities. Lord Auckland resolved to enter upon a war, and on the 1st of October 1838 published at Simla his famous manifesto dethroning Dost Mahommed. The early operations were crowned with success, and the governor-general received the title of earl of Auckland. But reverses followed quickly, and in the ensuing campaigns the British troops suffered the most severe disasters. Lord Auckland had the double mortification of seeing his policy a complete failure and of being superseded before his errors could be rectified. In the autumn of 1841 he was succeeded in office by Lord Ellenborough, and returned to England in the following year. In 1846 he was made first lord of the admiralty, which office he held until his death, on the 1st of January 1849. He died unmarried, and the earldom became extinct, the barony (see below) passing to his brother Robert.

See S.J. Trotter, The Earl of Auckland (“Rulers of India” series), 1893.

AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN, 1st Baron (1745-1814), English statesman, son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Bart., of Windlestone Hall, Durham, and of Mary, daughter of William Davison, was born in 1745, educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1768. In 1771 he published Principles of Penal Law, and was early recognized as an authority on commercial and economic questions, and in 1772 he was appointed an under secretary of state. He represented New Woodstock in the parliaments of 1774 and 1780, and Heytesbury in those of 1784 and 1790. In 1776 he was appointed a commissioner on the board of trade and plantations. In 1778 he carried an act for the improvement of the treatment of prisoners, and accompanied the earl of Carlisle as a commissioner to North America on an unsuccessful mission to settle the disputes with the colonists. On his return in 1779 he published his widely read Four Letters to the Earl of Carlisle, and in 1780 became chief secretary for Ireland. He was elected to the Irish House of Commons as member for Dungannon in 1781 and sworn of the Irish privy council, and while in Ireland established the National Bank. He advised the increase of the secret service fund, and was reputed, according to Lord Charlemont (a political opponent), as especially skilful in the arts of corruption and in overcoming political prejudices. He resigned in 1782, but in the following year he took office again as vice-treasurer of Ireland under the coalition ministry, which he had been instrumental in arranging, and was included in the privy council, resigning with the government in December. He opposed strongly Pitt’s propositions for free trade between England and Ireland in 1785, but took office with Pitt as a member of the committee on trade and plantations, and negotiated in 1786 and 1787 Pitt’s important commercial treaty with France, and agreements concerning the East India Companies and Holland. In 1787 he published his History of New Holland. Next year he was sent as ambassador to Spain, and after his return was created (September 1789) Baron Auckland in the Irish peerage. The same year he was sent on a mission to Holland, and represented English interests there with great zeal and prudence during the critical years of 1790 to 1793, obtaining the assistance of the Dutch fleet in 1790 on the menace of a war with Spain, signing the convention relating to the Netherlands the same year, and in 1793 attending the congress at Antwerp. He retired from the public service in the latter year, received a pension of £2300, and was created Baron Auckland of West Auckland, Durham, in the English peerage. During his retirement in the country at Beckenham, he continued his intimacy with Pitt, his nearest neighbour at Holwood, who at one time had thoughts of marrying his daughter; and with Pitt’s sanction he published his Remarks on the Apparent Cicumstances of the War in 1795, to prepare public opinion for a peace. In 1798 he was included in Pitt’s government as joint postmaster-general, and supported strongly the income tax and the Irish Union, assisting in drawing up the act embodying the latter. In 1799 he brought in a bill to check adultery by preventing the marriage of the guilty parties, and the same year took a mischievous part in the cabal against Sir Ralph Abercromby. He severely criticized Pitt’s resignation in 1801, from which he had endeavoured to dissuade him, and retained office under Addington. This terminated his friendship with Pitt, who excluded him from his administration in 1804 though he increased his pension. Auckland was included in Granville’s ministry of “All the Talents” as president of the board of trade in 1806. He held the appointments of auditor and director of Greenwich hospital, recorder of Grantham, and chancellor of the Marischal College in Aberdeen. He died on the 28th of May 1814.

He had married in 1776 Eleanor, sister of the first Lord Minto, and had a large family. Emily Eden (1797-1869), the novelist, was one of his daughters. On the death of his son George, 2nd baron and earl of Auckland (q.v.), the barony passed to the 1st baron’s younger son Robert John (1790-1870), bishop of Bath and Wells, from whom the later barons were descended, and who was also the father of Sir Ashley Eden (1831-1887), lieutenant-governor of Bengal. The 1st baron had two distinguished brothers—Morton Eden (1752-1830), a diplomatist, who married Lady Elizabeth Henley, and in 1799 was created 1st Baron Henley (his family, from 1831, taking the name of Henley instead of Eden); and Sir Robert Eden, governor of Maryland, whose son, Sir Frederic Morton Eden (1766-1809), was a well-known economist.

Lord Auckland’s Journal and Correspondence, published in 1861-1862, throws much light on the political history of the time.

AUCKLAND, a city and seaport on the east coast of North Island, New Zealand, in Eden county; capital of the province of its name, and the seat of a bishop. Pop. (1906) 37,736; including suburbs, 82,101. It is situated at the mouth of an arm of Hauraki Gulf, and is only 6 m. distant from the head of Manukau harbour on the western coast. The situation is extremely beautiful. The Hauraki Gulf, a great square inlet opening northward, is studded with islands of considerable elevation; Rangitoto, which protects the harbour, is a volcanic cone reaching nearly 1000 ft. The isthmus on which the town stands (which position has caused it to be likened to Corinth) can be crossed without surmounting any great elevation, and offers a feasible canal route. A number of small extinct volcanoes, however, appear in all directions. To the west the Titirangi hills exceed 1400 ft. Some of the volcanic soil is barren, but much of the district is clothed in luxuriant vegetation.

Auckland harbour, one of the best in New Zealand, is approachable by the largest vessels at the lowest tide. There are two graving docks. Queen Street, the principal thoroughfare, leads inland from the main dock, and contains the majority of the public buildings. There is a small government house, standing in beautiful grounds, adjoining Albert Park, with plantations of oaks and pines. The government offices, art gallery and exchange, with St Mary’s cathedral (Anglican), a building in a combination of native timbers, St Paul’s and St Patrick’s cathedral (Roman Catholic), are noteworthy buildings. The art gallery and free library contain excellent pictures, and valuable books and MSS. presented by Sir G. Grey. The museum contains one of the best existing collections of Maori art. There are an opera-house and an academy of music. The Auckland University College and the grammar school are the principal educational establishments. The parks are the Domain, with a botanical garden, the Albert Park near the harbour, with a bronze statue of Queen Victoria, the extensive grounds at One Tree Hill on the outskirts, and Victoria Park on Freeman’s Bay. The principal thoroughfares are served by electric tramway. Of the suburbs, Newton, Parnell and Newmarket are in reality outlying parts of the town itself. Devonport, Birkenhead and Northcote are beautifully situated on the north shore of the inlet, and are served by steam-ferries. Several other residential suburbs lie among the hills on the mainland, such as Mount Albert, Mount Eden and Epsom. Onehunga is a small port on Manukau harbour, served by rail. In Parnell is the former residence of Bishop Selwyn, who, arriving in the colony in 1842, assisted to draw up the constitution of the Anglican church. There are many associations with his name in the neighbourhood. The prospect over the town and its environs from Mount Eden is justly famous. The hill is terraced with former native fortifications.

Auckland has industries of sugar-refining, ship-building and paper-, rope- and brick-making, and timber is worked. The town was founded as capital of the colony in 1840 by Governor Hobson. There is communication both south and north by rail, and regular steamers serve the ports of the colony, the principal Pacific Islands, Australia, &c. From 1853 to 1876 Auckland was the seat of the provincial government, and until 1865 that of the central government, which was then transferred to Wellington. The first session of the general assembly took place here in 1854. Auckland is under municipal government.

AUCKLAND ISLANDS, a group in the Pacific Ocean, discovered in 1806 by Captain Briscoe, of the English whaler “Ocean,” in 50° 24′ S., 166° 7′ E. The islands, of volcanic origin, are very fertile, and are covered with forest. They were granted to the Messrs Enderby by the British government as a whaling station, but the establishment was abandoned in 1852. The islands belong politically to New Zealand.

AUCTION PITCH, a card game which is a popular variation of All Fours (q.v.). The name is derived from the rule that the first card played, or pitched, is the trump suit, and that the eldest hand has the privilege of pitching it or of selling out to the highest bidder. A full pack is used, and the cards rank as in All Fours, namely from ace down to 2, ace being highest in cutting also. From four to seven may play, each player being provided with seven white counters, and also with red counters in case stakes are played for. Each player receives six cards in every deal, three at a time, no trump being turned. The object is to get rid of the white counters, one of which may be put into the pool either (1) for holding the highest trump played; (2) for having the lowest trump dealt to one; (3) for taking the Jack (knave) of trumps; or (4) for winning the game, namely the greatest number of pips that count. In case of a tie of pips no game is scored. If the eldest hand decides to pitch and not to sell out, he may do so, but is obliged to make four points or be set back that number. If he decides to sell, he says “I pass,” and the player at his left bids for the privilege of pitching the trump or passes, &c. When a bid has been made the rest must pass or bid higher, and the eldest hand must either accept a bid or undertake to make as many points as the bidder. If no bid is made he pitches the trump himself, without the obligation of making anything. The first card played is the trump suit, the winner of the trick leading again. In trumps a player must follow suit if he can, and the same rule applies in plain suits, excepting that a trump may be played at any time (“follow suit or trump”). In play the highest card wins the trick unless trumped. When the hand is played out each player puts a white counter into the pool for every point won, and the first player to get rid of all his seven white counters wins the pool and takes from it all the red counters, which represent cash. This ends the game. In case two players count out during the same deal, the bidder has the first right to the pool, the rule being “bidder counts out first.” If the two players who count out are neither of them bidder, then they go out in regular order, i.e. high first, then low, Jack and game. If a bidder fails to make his points he is set back that number. A revoke is punished by the offender being set back the number of points bid and forfeiting a red counter to the pool.

AUCTIONS and AUCTIONEERS. An auction (Lat. auctio, increase) is a proceeding at which people are invited to compete for the purchase of property by successive offers of advancing sums. The advantages of conducting a sale in this way are obvious, and we naturally find that auctions are of great antiquity. Herodotus describes a custom which prevailed in Babylonian villages of disposing of the maidens in marriage by delivering them to the highest bidders in an assembly annually held for the purpose (Book i. 196). So also among the Romans the quaestor sold military booty and captives in war by auction—sub hasta—the spear being the symbol of quiritarian ownership. The familiarity of such proceedings is forcibly suggested by the conduct of the Praetorian Guard when Sulpicianus was treating for the imperial dignity after the murder of Pertinax. Apprehending that they would not obtain a sufficient price by private contract, the Praetorians proclaimed from their ramparts that the Roman world was to be disposed of by public auction to the best bidder. Thereupon Julian proceeded to the foot of the ramparts and outbid his competitor (Gibbon, vol. i. ch. v.). Though, however, auctions were undoubtedly common among the Romans both in public and private transactions, the rules whereby they were governed are by no means clearly enunciated in the Corpus Juris Civilis.

In England the method of conducting auctions has varied. In some places it has been usual to set up an inch of lighted candle, the person making the last bid before the fall of the wick becoming the purchaser. By an act of William III. (1698), this method of sale was prescribed for goods and merchandise imported from the East Indies. Lord Eldon speaks of “candlestick biddings,” where the several bidders did not know what the others had offered. A “dumb bidding” was the name given to a proceeding at which a price was put by the owner under a candlestick with a stipulation that no bidding should avail if not equal to it. In a “Dutch auction” property is offered at a certain price and then successively at lower prices until one is accepted.

According to the practice now usual in England, a proposed auction is duly advertised, and a printed catalogue in the case of chattels, or particulars of sale in the case of land, together with conditions of sale, are circulated. Sometimes, in sales of goods, the conditions are merely suspended in the auction room. At the appointed time and place, the auctioneer, standing in a desk or rostrum, “puts up” the several lots in turn by inviting biddings from the company present. He announces the acceptance of the last bid by a tap with his hammer and so “knocks down” the lot to the person who has made it. Sometimes property is offered on lease to the highest bidder. “Roup” is the Scottish term for an auction. A bid in itself is only an offer, and may accordingly be retracted at any time before its acceptance by the fall of the hammer or otherwise. Puffing is unlawful. Unless a right to bid is expressly reserved on behalf of the vendor, he must neither bid himself nor employ any one else to bid. When a right to bid has been expressly reserved, the seller or any one person (but no more) on his behalf may bid at the auction. If it is simply announced that the sale is to be subject to a reserved or upset price, no bidding by or on behalf of the seller is permissible: it is only lawful to declare by some appropriate terms that the property is withdrawn. Where a sale is expressed to be without reserve, or where an upset price has been reached, the auctioneer must, after the lapse of a reasonable interval, accept the bid of the highest bona fide bidder. By not doing so he would render the vendor liable in damages. The auctioneer must not make a pretence of receiving bids which are not in fact made, as it would be fraudulent to run up the price by such an artifice. A “knock-out” is a combination of persons to prevent competition between themselves at an auction by an arrangement that only one of their number shall bid, and that anything obtained by him shall be afterwards disposed of privately among themselves. Such a combination is not illegal. A “mock auction” is a proceeding at which persons conspire by artifice to make it appear, contrary to the fact, that a bona fide sale is being conducted, and so attempt to induce the public to purchase articles at prices far above their value. Those who invite the public to enter the room where the supposed auction is proceeding, or otherwise endeavour to attract bidders, are called “barkers.” A conspiracy to defraud in this way is an indictable offence.

American law is in general the same as the English law with regard to auctions. As to bidding by the vendor, however, it is less stringent. For, though puffing or by-bidding, as it is often called, will, under both systems alike, render an auction sale voidable at the option of a purchaser when it amounts to fraud, the weight of authority in the United States is in favour of the view that an owner may, without notice, employ a person to bid for him, if he does so with no other purpose than to prevent a sacrifice of the property under a given price.

By a charter of Henry VII., confirmed by Charles I., the business of selling by auction was confined to an officer called an outroper, and all other persons were prohibited from selling goods or merchandise by public claim or outcry (see Henry Blackstone’s Reports, vol. ii. p. 557). The only qualification now required by an auctioneer is a licence on which a duty of £10 has to be paid, and which must be renewed before the 5th of July in each year. A liability to a penalty of £100 is incurred by acting as an auctioneer without being duly licensed. The duty formerly imposed upon the purchase-money payable by virtue of a sale at auction was abolished by an act of 1845. An auctioneer is bound under a penalty of £20 to see that his full name and address are displayed before the commencement of an auction and during its continuance in the place where he conducts it. He is the agent of the vendor only, except in so far that, after he has knocked down a lot to the highest bidder, he has authority to affix the name of the latter to a memorandum of the transaction, so as to render the contract of sale enforceable where written evidence is necessary. An auctioneer does not, by merely announcing that a sale of certain articles will take place, render himself liable to those who, in consequence, attend at the time and place advertised, if the sale is not in fact proceeded with, provided he acts in good faith. One of the chief risks run by an auctioneer is that of being held liable for the conversion of goods which he has sold upon the instructions of a person whom he believed to be the owner, but who in fact had no right to dispose of them.

The number of auctioneers’ licences issued during the year ended the 31st of March 1908 was in England 6639, in Scotland 760, and in Ireland 839. A central organization having its headquarters in London, the Auctioneers’ Institute of the United Kingdom, was founded in 1886, in order to elevate the status and further the interests of auctioneers, estate agents and valuers. It has nearly 2000 members.

(H. Ha.)

AUCUBA, the Japanese name for a small genus of the Dogwood order (Cornaceae). The familiar Japanese laurel of gardens and shrubberies is Aucuba japonica. It bears male and female flowers on distinct plants; the red berries often last till the next season’s flowers appear. There are numerous varieties in cultivation, differing in the variegation of their leaves.

AUDAEUS, or Audius, a church reformer of the 4th century, by birth a Mesopotamian. He suffered much persecution from the Syrian clergy for his fearless censure of their irregular lives, and was expelled from the church, thereupon establishing an episcopal monastic community. He was afterwards banished into Scythia, where he worked successfully among the Goths, not living to see the destruction of his labours by Athanaric. The Audaeans celebrated the feast of Easter on the same day as the Jewish Passover, and they were also charged with attributing to the Deity a human shape, an opinion which they appear to have founded on Genesis i. 26. Theodoret groundlessly accuses them of Manichean tendencies.

The main source of information is Epiphanius (Haer. 70).

AUDE, a river of south-western France, rising in the eastern Pyrenees and flowing into the Golfe du Lion. Rising in a small lake a short distance east of the Puy de Carlitte, it soon takes a northerly direction and flows for many miles through deep gorges of great beauty as far as the plain of Axat. Beyond Axat its course again lies through defiles which become less profound as the river nears Carcassonne. Below that town it receives the waters of the Fresquel and turns abruptly east. From this point to its junction with the Cesse its course is parallel with that of the Canal du Midi. The river skirts the northern spurs of the Corbières, some distance below which it is joined by the Orbieu and the Cesse. It then divides into two branches, the northernmost of which, the Aude proper, runs east and empties into the Mediterranean some 12 m. east-north-east of Narbonne, while the other branch, the Canal de la Robine, turning south, traverses that town, below which its course to the sea lies between two extensive lagoons, the Étang de Bages et de Sigean and the Étang de Gruissan. The Aude has a length of 140 m. and a basin 2061 sq. m. in extent. There is practically no traffic upon it.

AUDE, a maritime department of southern France, formed in 1790 from part of the old province of Languedoc. Area, 2448 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 308,327. It is bounded E. by the Mediterranean, N. by the departments of Hérault and Tarn, N.W. by Haute-Garonne, W. by Ariège, and S. by Pyrénées-Orientales. The department is traversed on its western boundary from S. to N. by a mountain range of medium height, which unites the Pyrenees with the southern Cévennes; and its northern frontier is occupied by the Montagne Noire, the most westerly portion of the Cévennes. The Corbières, a branch of the Pyrenees, run in a south-west and north-east direction along the southern district. The Aude (q.v.), its principal river, has almost its entire length in the department, and its lower course, together with its tributary the Fresquel, forms the dividing line between the Montagne Noire and the Pyrenean system.

The lowness of the coast causes a series of large lagoons, the chief of which are those of Bages et Sigean, Gruissan, Lapalme and Leucate. The climate is warm and dry, but often sudden in its alterations. The wind from the north-west, known as the cers, blows with great violence, and the sea-breeze is often laden with pestilential effluvia from the lagoons. The agriculture of the department is in a flourishing condition. The meadows are extensive and well watered, and are pastured by numerous flocks and herds. The grain produce, consisting mainly of wheat, oats, rye and Indian corn, exceeds the consumption, and the vineyards yield an abundant supply of both white and red wines, those of Limoux and the Narbonnais being most highly esteemed. Truffles are abundant. The olive and chestnut are the chief fruits. Mines of iron, manganese, and especially of mispickel, are worked, and there are stone-quarries and productive salt-marshes. Brewing, distilling, cooperage, iron-founding, hat-making and machine construction are carried on, and there are flour-mills, brick-works, saw-mills, sulphur refineries and leather and paper works. The formerly flourishing textile industries are now of small importance. The department imports coal, lime, stone, salt, raw sulphur, skins and timber and exports agricultural and mineral products, bricks and tiles, and other manufactured goods. It is served by the Southern railway. The Canal du Midi, following the courses of the Fresquel and the Aude, traverses it for 76 m.; and a branch, the Canal de la Robine, which passes through Narbonne to the sea, has a length of 24 m. The capital is Carcassonne, and the department is divided into the four arrondissements of Carcassonne, Limoux, Narbonne and Castelnaudary, with 31 cantons and 439 communes. It belongs to the 16th military region, and to the académie (educational division) of Montpellier, where also is its court of appeal. It forms the diocese of Carcassonne, and part of the province of the archbishop of Toulouse. Carcassonne, Narbonne and Castelnaudary are the principal towns. At Alet, which has hot springs of some note, there are ruins of a fine Romanesque cathedral destroyed in the religious wars of the 16th century. The extensive buildings of the Cistercian abbey of Fontfroide, near Bizanet, include a Romanesque church, a cloister, dormitories and a refectory of the 12th century. A curious polygonal church of the 11th century at Rieux-Minervois, the abbey-church at St Papoul, with its graceful cloister of the 14th century, and the remains of the important abbey of St Hilaire, founded in the 6th century and rebuilt from the 12th to the 15th century, are also of antiquarian interest. Rennes-les-Bains has mineral springs of repute.

AUDEBERT, JEAN BAPTISTE (1759-1800), French artist and naturalist, was born at Rochefort in 1759. He studied painting and drawing at Paris, and gained considerable reputation as a miniature-painter. Employed in preparing plates for the Histoire des coléoptères of G.A. Olivier (1756-1814), he acquired a taste for natural history. In 1800 appeared his first original work, L’Histoire naturelle des singes, des makis et des galéopithèques, illustrated by sixty-two folio plates, drawn and engraved by himself. The colouring in these plates was unusually beautiful, and was applied by a method devised by himself. Audebert died in Paris in 1800, leaving complete materials for another great work, Histoire des colibris, des oiseaux-mouches, des jacamars et des promérops, which was published in 1802. Two hundred copies were printed in folio, one hundred in large quarto, and fifteen were printed with the whole text in letters of gold. Another work, left unfinished, was also published after the author’s death, L’Histoire des grimpereaux et des oiseaux de paradis. The last two works also appeared together in two volumes, Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets métalliques (1802).

AUDEFROI LE BATARD, French trouvère, flourished at the end of the 12th century and was born at Arras. Of his life nothing is known. The seigneur de Nesles, to whom some of his songs are addressed, is probably the châtelain of Bruges who joined the crusade of 1200. Audefroi was the author of at least five lyric romances: Argentine, Belle Idoine, Belle Isabeau, Belle Emmelos and Béatrix. These romances follow older chansons in subject, but the smoothness of the verse and beauty of detail hardly compensate for the spontaneity of the shorter form.

See A. Jeanroy, Les Origines de la poésie lyrique en France au moyen âge (Paris, 1889).

AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear), the act or state of hearing, the term being therefore transferred to those who hear or listen, as in a theatre, at a concert or meeting. In a more technical sense, the term is applied to the right of access to the sovereign enjoyed by the peers of the realm individually and by the House of Commons collectively. More particularly it means the ceremony of the admission of ambassadors, envoys or others to an interview with a sovereign or an important official for the purpose of presenting their credentials. In France, audience is the term applied to the sitting of a law court for hearing actions. In Spain, audiencia is the name given to certain tribunals which try appeals from minor courts. The Spanish judges were originally known as oidores, hearers, from the Spanish oir, to hear; but they are now called ministros, or magistrados togados, robed judges, as the gown of the Spanish judge is called a toga. The audiencia pretorial, i.e. of the praetor, was a court in Spanish America from which there was no appeal to the viceroy, but only to the council of the Indies in Spain. It is not the custom in Spain to speak of audiencias reales, royal courts, but of the audiencias del Reino, courts of the kingdom.

In England the Audience-court was an ecclesiastical court, held by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, in which they once exercised a considerable part of their jurisdiction, dealing with such matters as they thought fit to reserve for their own hearing. It has been long disused and is now merged in the court of arches.

AUDIFFRET-PASQUIER, EDMÉ ARMAND GASTON, Duc d’ (1823-1905), French statesman, was the grand-nephew and adopted son of Baron Etienne Denis Pasquier. He was created duke in 1844, and became auditor at the council of state in 1846. After the revolution of 1848 he retired to private life. Under the empire he was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature, but was elected in February 1871 to the National Assembly, and became president of the right centre in 1873. After the fall of Thiers, he directed the negotiations between the different royalist parties to establish a king in France, but as he refused to give up the tricolour for the flag of the old régime, the project failed. Yet he retained the confidence of the chamber, and was its president in 1875 when the constitutional laws were being drawn up. Nominated senator under the new constitution, he likewise was president of the senate from March 1876 to 1879 when his party lost the majority. Henceforth he was less prominent in politics. He was distinguished by his moderation and uprightness; and he did his best to dissuade MacMahon from taking violent advisers. In 1878 he was elected to the French Academy, but never published anything.

AUDIT and AUDITOR. An audit is the examination of the accounts kept by the financial officers of a state, public corporations and bodies, or private persons, and the certifying of their accuracy. In the United Kingdom the public accounts were audited from very early times, though, until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in no very systematic way. Prior to 1559 this duty was carried out, sometimes by auditors specially appointed, at other times by the auditors of the land revenue, or by the auditor of the exchequer, an office established as early as 1314. But in 1559 an endeavour was made to systematize the auditing of the public accounts, by the appointment of two auditors of the imprests. These officers were paid by fee and did their work by deputy, but as the results were thoroughly unsatisfactory the offices were abolished in 1785. An audit board, consisting of five commissioners, was appointed in their place, but in order to concentrate under one authority the auditing of the accounts of the various departments, some of which had been audited separately, as the naval accounts, the Exchequer and Audit Act of 1866 was passed. This statute, which sets forth at length the duties of the audit office, empowered the sovereign to appoint a “comptroller and auditor-general,” with the requisite staff to examine and verify the accounts prepared by the different departments of the public service. In examining accounts of the appropriation of the several supply grants, the comptroller and auditor-general “ascertains first whether the payments which the account department has charged to the grant are supported by vouchers or proofs of payments; and second, whether the money expended has been applied to the purpose or purposes for which such grant was intended to provide.” The treasury may also submit certain other accounts to the audit of the comptroller-general. All public moneys payable to the exchequer (q.v.) are paid to the “account of His Majesty’s exchequer” at the Bank of England, and daily returns of such payments are forwarded to the comptroller. Quarterly accounts of the income and charge of the consolidated fund are prepared and transmitted to him, and in case of any deficiency in the consolidated fund, he may certify to the bank to make advances.

In the United States the auditing of the Federal accounts is in the charge of the treasury department, under the supervision of the comptroller of the treasury, under whom are six auditors, (1) for the treasury department, (2) for the war, (3) for the interior, (4) for the navy, (5) for the state, &c., (6) for the post office, as well as a register and assistant register, who keep all general receipt and expenditure ledgers; there are official auditors in most of the states and in many cities. In practically all European countries there is a department of the administration, charged with the auditing of the public accounts, as the cour des comptes in France, the Rechnungshof des deutschen Reiches in Germany, &c. All local boards, large cities, corporations, and other bodies have official auditors for the purpose of examining and checking their accounts and looking after their expenditure. So far as regards the work which auditors discharge in connexion with the accounts of joint-stock companies, building societies, friendly societies, industrial and provident societies, savings banks, &c., the word auditor is now almost synonymous with “skilled accountant,” and his duties are discussed in the article Accountants.

In Scotland there is an “auditor” who is an official of the court of session, appointed to tax costs in litigation, and who corresponds to the English taxing-master. In France there are legal officers, called auditors, attached to the Conseil d’État, whose duties consist in drawing up briefs and preparing documents. On the continent of Europe, lawyers skilled in military law are called “auditors” (see Military Law).

Auditor is also the designation of certain officials of the Roman curia. The auditores Rotae are the judges of the court of the Rota (so called, according to Hinschius, probably from the form of the panelling in the room where they originally met). These were originally ecclesiastics appointed to hear particular questions in dispute and report to the pope, who retained the decision in his own hands. In the Speculum juris of Durandus (published in 1272 and re-edited in 1287 and 1291) the auditores palatii domini papae are cited as permanent officials appointed to instruct the pope on questions as they arose. The court of the Rota appears for the first time under this name in the bull Romani Pontificis of Martin V. in 1422, and the auditores by this time had developed into a permanent tribunal to which the definitive decision of certain disputes, hitherto relegated to a commission of cardinals or to the pope himself, was assigned. From this time the powers of the auditores increased until the reform of the curia by Sixtus V., when the creation of the congregations of cardinals for specific purposes tended gradually to withdraw from the Rota its most important functions. It still, however, ranks as the supreme court of justice in the papal curia, and, as members of it, the auditores enjoy special privileges. They are prelates, and, besides the rights enjoyed by these, have others conceded by successive popes, e.g. that of holding benefices in plurality, of non-residence, &c. When the pope says mass pontifically the subdeacon is always an auditor. The auditores must be in priest’s or deacon’s orders, and have always been selected—nominally at least—after severe tests as to their moral and intellectual qualifications. They are twelve in number, and, by the constitution of Pius IV., four of them were to be foreigners; one French, one Spanish, one German and one Venetian; while the nomination of others was the privilege of certain, cities. No bishop, unless in partibus (see Bishop), may be an auditor. On the other hand, from the auditores, as the intellectual élite of the curia, the episcopate, the nunciature and the cardinalate are largely recruited. The auditor camerae (uditore generale della reverenda camera apostolica) is an official formerly charged with important executive functions. In 1485, by a bull of Innocent VIII., he was given extensive jurisdiction over all civil and criminal causes arising in the curia, or appealed to it from the papal territories. In addition he received the function of watching over the execution of all sentences passed by the curia. This was extended later, by Pius IV., to a similar executive function in respect of all papal bulls and briefs, wherever no special executor was named. This right was confirmed by Gregory XVI. in 1834, and the auditor may still in principle issue letters monitory. In practice, however, this function was at all times but rarely exercised, and, since 1847, has fallen to a prelate locum tenens, who also took over the auditor’s jurisdiction in the papal states (Hinschius, Kathol. Kirchenrecht, i. 409, &c.).

Auditores (listeners), in the early Church, was another name. for catechumens (q.v.).

AUDLEY, or Audeley, SIR JAMES (c. 1316-1386), one of the original knights, or founders, of the order of the Garter, was the eldest son of Sir James Audley of Stratton Audley in Oxfordshire. When the order of the Garter was founded, he was instituted as one of the first founders, and his stall in St George’s chapel, Windsor, was the eleventh on the side of Edward, the Black Prince. He appears to have served in France in 1346, and in August 1350 took part in the naval fight off Sluys. When hostilities were renewed between England and France in 1354 Sir James was in constant attendance upon the Black Prince, and earned a great reputation for valour. At the battle of Poitiers on the 19th of September 1356 he took his stand in front of the English army, and after fighting for a long time was severely wounded and carried from the fight. After the victory, the prince inquired for Sir James, who was brought to the royal tent, where Edward told him he had been the bravest knight on his side, and granted him an annuity of five hundred marks. Sir James made over this gift to the four esquires who had attended him during the battle, and received from the prince a further pension of six hundred marks. In 1359 he was one of the leaders of an expedition into France, in 1360 he took the fortress of Chaven in Brittany, and was present at Calais when peace was made between England and France in October 1360. He was afterwards governor of Aquitaine and great seneschal of Poitou, and took part in the capture of the town of La Roche-sur-Yon by Edmund, earl of Cambridge. He died in 1386 at Fontenay-le-Comte, where he had gone to reside, and was buried at Poitiers.

See Jean Froissart, Chronigues, translated by T. Johnes (Hafod, 1810); G.F. Beltz, Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London, 1841).

AUDLEY, THOMAS AUDLEY, Baron (c. 1488-1544), lord chancellor of England, whose parentage is unknown, is believed to have studied at Buckingham College, Cambridge. He was educated for the law, entered the Middle Temple (becoming autumn reader in 1526), was town clerk of Colchester, and was on the commission of the peace for Essex in 1521. In 1523 he was returned to parliament for Essex, and represented this constituency in subsequent parliaments. In 1527 he was groom of the chamber, and became a member of Wolsey’s household. On the fall of the latter in 1529, he was made chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and the same year speaker of the House of Commons, presiding over the famous assembly styled the Black or Long Parliament of the Reformation, which abolished the papal jurisdiction. The same year he headed a deputation of the Commons to the king to complain of Bishop Fisher’s speech against their proceedings. He interpreted the king’s “moral” scruples to parliament concerning his marriage with Catherine, and made himself the instrument of the king in the attack upon the clergy and the preparation of the act of supremacy. In 1531 he had been made a serjeant-at-law and king’s serjeant; and on the 20th of May 1532 he was knighted, and succeeded Sir Thomas More as lord keeper of the great seal, being appointed lord chancellor on the 26th of January 1533. He supported the king’s divorce from Catherine and the marriage with Anne Boleyn; and presided at the trial of Fisher and More in 1535, at which his conduct and evident intention to secure a conviction has been generally censured. Next year he tried Anne Boleyn and her lovers, was present on the scaffold at the unfortunate queen’s execution, and recommended to parliament the new act of succession. In 1537 he condemned to death as traitors the Lincolnshire and the Yorkshire rebels. On the 29th of November 1538 he was created Baron Audley of Walden; and soon afterwards presided as lord steward at the trials of Henry Pole, Lord Montacute, and of the unfortunate marquess of Exeter. In 1539, though inclining himself to the Reformation, he made himself the king’s instrument in enforcing religious conformity, and in the passing of the Six Articles Act. On the 24th of April 1540 he was made a knight of the Garter, and subsequently managed the attainder of Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, and the dissolution of Henry’s marriage with Anne of Cleves. In 1542 he warmly supported the privileges of the Commons in the case of George Ferrers, member for Plymouth, arrested and imprisoned in London, but his conduct was inspired as usual by subservience to the court, which desired to secure a subsidy, and his opinion that the arrest was a flagrant contempt has been questioned by good authority. He resigned the great seal on the 21st of April 1544, and died on the 30th, being buried at Saffron Walden, where he had prepared for himself a splendid tomb. He received several grants of monastic estates, including the priory of Christ Church in London and the abbey of Walden in Essex, where his grandson, Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk, built Audley End, doubtless named after him. In 1542 he re-endowed and re-established Buckingham College, Cambridge, under the new name of St Mary Magdalene, and ordained in the statutes that his heirs, “the possessors of the late monastery of Walden,” should be visitors of the college in perpetuum. A Book of Orders for the Warre both by Sea and Land (Harleian MS. 297, f. 144) is attributed to his authorship. He married (1) Christina, daughter of Sir Thomas Barnardiston, and (2) Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Grey, marquess of Dorset, by whom he had two daughters. His barony became extinct at his death.

AUDOUIN, JEAN VICTOR (1797-1841), French naturalist, was born at Paris on the 27th of April 1797. He began the study of law, but was diverted from it by his strong predilection for natural history, and entered the medical profession. In 1824 he was appointed assistant to P.A. Latreille (1762-1833) in the entomological chair at the Paris museum of natural history, and succeeded him in 1833. In 1838 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences. He died in Paris on the 9th of November 1841. His principal work, Histoire des insectes nuisibles à la vigne (1842), was completed after his death by Henry Milne-Edwards and Émile Blanchard. His papers mostly appeared in the Annales des sciences naturelles, which, with A.T. Brongniart and J.B.A. Dumas, he founded in 1824, and in the proceedings of the Société Entomologique de France, of which he was one of the founders in 1832.

AUDRAN, the name of a family of French artists and engravers. The first who devoted himself to the art of engraving was Claude Audran, born 1597, and the last was Benoit, Claude’s great-grandson, who died in 1772. The two most distinguished members of the family are Gérard and Jean.

Gérard, or Girard, Audran, the most celebrated French engraver, was the third son of Claude Audran, and was born at Lyons in 1640. He was taught the first principles of design and engraving by his father; and, following the example of his brother, went to Paris to perfect himself in his art. He there, in 1666, engraved for Le Brun “Constantine’s Battle with Maxentius,” his “Triumph,” and the “Stoning of Stephen,” which gave great satisfaction to the painter, and placed Audran in the very first rank of engravers at Paris. Next year he set out for Rome, where he resided three years, and engraved several fine plates. That great patron of the arts, J.B. Colbert, was so struck with the beauty of Audran’s works, that he persuaded Louis XIV. to recall him to Paris. On his return he applied himself assiduously to engraving, and was appointed engraver to the king, from whom he received great encouragement. In the year 1681 he was admitted to the council of the Royal Academy. He died at Paris in 1703. His engravings of Le Brun’s “Battles of Alexander” are regarded as the best of his numerous works. “He was,” says the Abbé Fontenay, “the most celebrated engraver that ever existed in the historical line. We have several subjects, which he engraved from his own designs, that manifested as much taste as character and facility. But in the ‘Battles of Alexander’ he surpassed even the expectations of Le Brun himself.” Gérard published in 1683 a work entitled Les Proportions du corps humain mesurées sur les plus belles figures de l’antiquité.

Jean Audran, nephew of Gérard, was born at Lyons in 1667. After having received instructions from his father, he went to Paris to perfect himself in the art of engraving under his uncle, next to whom he was the most distinguished member of his family. At the age of twenty his genius began to display itself in a surprising manner; and his subsequent success was such, that in 1707 he obtained the title of engraver to the king, Louis XIV., who allowed him a pension, with apartments in the Gobelins; and the following year he was made a member of the Royal Academy. He was eighty years of age before he quitted the graver, and nearly ninety when he died. The best prints of this artist are those which appear not so pleasing to the eye at first sight. In these the etching constitutes a great part; and he has finished them in a bold, rough style. The “Rape of the Sabines,” after Poussin, is considered his masterpiece.

AUDRAN, EDMOND (1842-1901), French musical composer, was born at Lyons on the 11th of April 1842. He studied music at the École Niedermeyer, where he won the prize for composition in 1859. Two years later he accepted the post of organist of the church of St Joseph at Marseilles. He made his first appearance as a dramatic composer at Marseilles with L’Ours et le Pacha (1862), a musical version of one of Scribe’s vaudevilles. This was followed by La Chercheuse d’Esprit (1864), a comic opera, also produced at Marseilles. Audran wrote a funeral march on the death of Meyerbeer, which was performed with some success, and made various attempts to win fame as a writer of sacred music. He produced a mass (Marseilles, 1873), an oratorio, La Sulamite (Marseilles, 1876), and numerous minor works, but he is known almost entirely as a composer of the lighter forms of opera. His first Parisian success was made with Les Noces d’Olivette (1879), a work which speedily found its way to London and (as Olivette) ran for more than a year at the Strand theatre (1880-1881). Audran’s music has, in fact, met with as much favour in England as in France, and all save a few of his works have been given in a more or less adapted form in London theatres. Besides those already mentioned, the following have been the most undeniably successful of Audran’s many comic operas: Le Grand Mogol (Marseilles, 1876; Paris, 1884; London, as The Grand Mogul, 1884), La Mascotte (Paris, 1880; London, as The Mascotte, 1881), Gillette de Narbonne (Paris, 1882; London, as Gillette, 1883), La Cigale et la Fourmi (Paris, 1886; London, as La Cigale, 1890), Miss Hélyett (Paris, 1890; London, as Miss Decima 1891), La Poupée (Paris, 1896; London, 1897). Audran was one of the best of the successors of Offenbach. He had little of Offenbach’s humour, but his music is distinguished by an elegance and a refinement of manner which lift it above the level of opéra bouffe to the confines of genuine opéra comique. He was a fertile if not a very original melodist, and his orchestration is full of variety, without being obtrusive or vulgar. Many of his operas, La Mascotte in particular, reveal a degree of musicianship which is rarely associated with the ephemeral productions of the lighter stage. He died in Paris on the 16th of August 1901.

AUDREHEM, ARNOUL D’ (c. 1305-1370), French soldier, was born at Audrehem, in the present department of Pas de Calais, near St Omer. Nothing is known of his career before 1332, when he is heard of at the court of the king of France. Between 1335 and 1342 he went three times to Scotland to aid King David Bruce in his wars. In 1342 he became captain for the king of France in Brittany; then he seems to have served in the household of the duke of Normandy, and in 1346, as one of the main defenders of Calais, was taken as a prisoner to England by Edward III. From 1349 he holds an important place in the military history of France, first as captain in Angoulême, and from June 1351, in succession to the lord of Beaujeu, as marshal of France. In March 1352 he was appointed lieutenant for the king in the territory between the Loire and the Dordogne, in June 1353 in Normandy, and in 1355 in Artois, Picardy and the Boulonnais. It was Audrehem who arrested Charles the Bad, king of Navarre, and his partisans, at the banquet given by the dauphin at Rouen in 1356. At Poitiers he was one of those who advised King John to attack the English, and, charging in the front line of the French army, was slightly wounded and taken prisoner. From England he was several times given safe-conducts to France, and he took an active part in the negotiations for the treaty of Bretigny, recovering his liberty the same time as King John. In 1361, as the king’s lieutenant in Languedoc, he prevented the free companies from seizing the castles, and negotiated the treaty with their chiefs under which they followed Henry, count of Trastamara (later Henry II. of Castile), into Spain. In 1365 he himself joined du Guesclin in the expedition to Spain, was taken prisoner with him by the Black Prince at the battle of Najera (1367), and was unable to pay his ransom until 1369. In 1368, on account of his age, he was relieved of the office of marshal, being appointed bearer of the oriflamme, with a pension of 2000 livres. He was sent to Spain in 1370 by Charles V., to urge his friend du Guesclin to return to France, and in spite of his age he took part in the battle of Pontvallain (December 1370), but fell ill and died, probably at Saumur, in the latter part of December 1370.