118

ATTORNEY-GENERAL-AUDITORY OSSICLES

Attorney-General. Chief official counsel and prosecutor gusta Auscorum. Pop. ab. 15,000. The old city was across for Government. the river. The cathedral of St. Mary on the hill was com

Attraction. Mutual action between two bodies, in virtue of which, if they were free to move, they would approach each other. See FORCE.

Attribute. Property of an object, and one of its modes, as contrasted with it as a thing or substance.

Atwater, WILBUR OLIN, b. 1844. American agricultural chemist. A leader in development of agricultural experiment stations in the U.S., first director of the National Office of Experiment Stations, and has made a special study of human nutrition.

Atwood, or ATTWOOD, GEORGE, 1745-1807. English mathematician and physicist, inventor of Atwood's Machine. Rectilinear Motion and Rotation of Bodies, 1784; Arches, 1801.

Atwood's Machine. Device for determining the acceleration produced by gravity and for experimenting upon the laws of uniform acceleration. It

F Pg-Qg P-Q

particulars.

Auch.

Auckland. City and seaport of n. New Zealand, on Thames Gulf. Pop., 1891, 28,773; suburbs, 22,514.

Auckland Islands. Group s. of New Zealand, belonging to Gt. Britain.

consists in its simplest forms of a fric-menced in 1489, and is one of the most ornate in France in all tionless pulley, over which passes a fine flexible cord; to the ends of this cord are attached two nearly equal masses, P and Q. The effective force which acts downward upon the heavier mass is Pg-Qg, and the total mass put in motion is P+Q; hence the acceleration AA is observed by experiment and g calculated from the formula. The advantage of this machine over the direct observation of a freely falling body is due to the fact that in the latter case the motion is much too rapid to be accurately observed. We thus dilute, as it were, the intensity of gravity without in any way changing

Atwood's Machine.

its laws.

Atys, or ATTIS. Phrygian shepherd beloved by Cybele; unfaithful to her, she maddened him, or, as Ovid says, changed him into a pine tree.

Aubanel, JOSEPH MARIE JEAN BAPTISTE THEODORE, b. 1829. Provençal poet; one of the first felibrés, 1851.

Auber, DANIEL FRANCOIS ESPRIT, 1782-1871. French opera composer distinguished by the gracefulness and elegance of his music and the fecundity of his mind. His first opera was produced 1813; his last 1869. Le Maçon, 1825; La Muette de Portici, 1828; Fra Diavolo, 1830; Le Cheval de Bronze, 1835; Le Domino Noir, 1837; Les Diamans de la Couronne, 1841.

Auber, HARRIET, 1773-1862. English hymnist. Her Spirit of the Psalms, 1829, is often confounded with H. F. Lyte's book

of the same title, 1834.

Auberlen, KARL AUGUST, D.D., 1824-1864. Prof. at Basel 1851. Divine Revelation, tr. 1867.

Aubert, JEAN LOUIS, 1731-1814. Prof. at Paris 1773. Fables,

1756.

Aubigné, JEAN HENRI MERLE D', 1792-1872. Church historian; prof. at Geneva 1831. His History of the Reformation, 4 vols., 1835-47, was long extremely popular. Its sequel, on the Reformation in Calvin's time, 1862 and later, fills 8 vols. Aubigné, THEODORE AGRIPPA D'. 1550-1630. Huguenot officer under Henry IV. Universal History, 1550-1610, 3 vols., 1616-20; Memoirs.

Aublet, JEAN BAPTISTE CHRISTOPHORE FUSEE, 1723-1778. French botanist. Plants of Fr. Guiana, 1775.

Auburn. Capital of Androscoggin co., Me. Pop., 1890,

11,250.

Auburn. City of Cayuga co., N. Y., at outlet of Owasco Lake; settled 1793. Its leading industry is the manufacture of agricultural tools and machines. Pop., 1890, 25,858.

Auburn Theological Seminary, N. Y. Founded 1818 by Geneva Presb. Synod at Auburn, N. Y. It has 7 professors. ab. 50 students, a library of 23,000 vols., and an endowment of $550,000.

Aubusson, PIERRE D', 1423-1503. French soldier, grand master of the order of St. John of Jerusalem 1476, cardinal 1489. In 1480 he withstood the siege of Rhodes by 100,000 Turks under Mohammed II.

Aucassin et Nicolette. Early French romance in prose

and verse.

Auch. French city on R. Gers, known to Romans as Au

Auction. Public competitive sale, in which goods are bought by the highest price. A sale by public outcry at a fixed price is not an auction. Auctioneers are required in most jurisdictions to be licensed and to give bonds for the faithful performance of their duties. Each bid is an offer which may be withdrawn before the hammer falls. Puffing or fictitious bidding instigated by the seller and secret agreements to stifle competition are fraudulent practices which will avoid the sale. In the Netherlands the mode of sale is reversed, the auctioneer starting with a high price, which is lowered until a bidder is willing to pay the amount named.

either by number or for choice, the winning number receiving Auction Pool. Selling chances in a pool by auction, the whole pool.

Audiffret-Pasquier, EDME ARMAND GASTON. DUC D', b. 1823. French senator for life 1871, pres. Senate 1876, Academician 1878.

Audiometer. Apparatus auxiliary to the HUGHES INDUCTION BALANCE (q.v.). It consists of movable and adjustable coils of wire. The unbalanced induced currents in one of these coils, to which the telephone is attached, causes the sound.

Audiphone. Instrument contrived to facilitate hearing. It consists of a thin plate of vulcanite, which is kept curved by strings under a certain degree of tension. This device, with its edge placed in contact with the teeth, takes up waves of sound from the air and conveys them to the bones of the head, and thence to the auditory nerves.

Auditor. One who examines accounts and compares the charges with vouchers or other papers. The U. S. Treasury Dept. has six. The first audits the accounts of the civil service, public debt, and customs; the second, those relating to Indian affairs and a part of the army; the third, those of the quartermaster-general, engineer corps, and commissary-general; the fourth, of the navy; the fifth, those of the internal revenue, counts. A private auditor examines the accounts of individpatent office, and state department; the sixth, the postal acuals. An auditor-general usually possesses greater powers, as his determinations are not subject to review.

The body of a church is often so called, to distinguish it from Auditorium. Room in which persons assemble to listen. its appendages.

the auditory nerve, middle ear, Eustachian tube, and external Auditory Apparatus. Parts concerned in hearing, i.e., ear or auricle.

Auditory Organs. Organs of hearing; in lower animals usually closed, sac-like spaces, into which project sensory hairs connected with nerves, and acted on by the vibrating fluid (endolymph) in which is suspended one or more otoliths, which may be secreted by the animal, as in jelly-fishes, or be sand grains introduced from without, as in cray-fishes. In land animals the endolymph is set in motion by means of a tympanum. In Amphibia and Sauropsida a columella auris (stapes) is added, re-enforced by the auditory ossicles in mammals.

Auditory Ossicles. Chain of bones which unites the tympanum and fenestra ovale in mammals. From without in

AUDITORY TENTACLES-AUGUSTUS

AUSONIUS-AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

presence of disease. It is called immediate when the ear is applied directly to the body, and mediate when some object, as a stethoscope, is interposed. Is employed chiefly in diseases of the heart, lungs, and pleura, and in pregnancy after the beats of the foetal heart are sufficiently strong to be heard. Ausonius, DECIMUS MAGNUS, ab. 310-ab.394. Latin author, b. at Bordeaux. He held many civil offices, taught rhetoric, and wrote letters, epigrams and poems which survive. His style was harsh, but not without merit.

Auspices. With the Romans, observing of birds, by means of which the will of the gods, or future events, were supposed to be ascertained. The chief magistrates, or the commander of an army, had the right of taking them.

Austen, JANE, 1775-1817. English novelist, noted for acute observations of character and society. Her books, Sense and Sensibility, 1811; Pride and Prejudice, 1813; Mansfield Park, 1814; Emma, 1816; Northanger Abbey, 1818; and Persuasion, 1818, are still highly valued.

Austerlitz. Town in Moravia, scene of a victory gained by 80,000 French under Bonaparte over as many Austrians and Russians Dec. 2, 1805. The French lost 12.000, the allies 30,000. A treaty of peace was signed at Presburg Dec. 25.

Austin. Capital of Texas, in Travis co., on left bank of Colorado R.; founded 1821. Pop. ab. 20,000.

Austin, ALFRED, b. 1835. English poet, author of many lyrics and several tragedies.

Austin, COE FINCH, 1831-1880. American botanist, author of numerous papers on Hepaticology.

Austin, MRS. JANE GOODWIN, 1831-1894. American novelist.

A Nameless Nobleman, 1881; Standish, 1889; Dr. Le Baron,

1890; Betty Alden, 1891. These deal with colonial history. Austin, JOHN, d. 1669. English R. C. author. His Devotions, 1668, include some fine hymns.

Austin, JOHN, 1790-1859. Prof. Univ. London 1826-32. Province of Jurisprudence, 1832; Sequel, 1861-63.-His wife, SARAH (TAYLOR), 1793-1867, wrote on education, and tr. Ranke's Hist. Popes, 1840, and other German and French books. Austin, STEPHEN F., ab. 1790-1836. Pioneer in Texas, founder of Austin, and in command of the Texan army 1835. Australasia. One of the six great geographic divisions of the globe, comprising Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania, New Zealand and numerous other islands of the Pacific.

Australia. Largest island or smallest continent on the globe, between s. Pacific and Indian Oceans; length from e. to w. ab. 2,500 miles, breadth ab. 2,000; area ab. 2,947,117 sq. m. Its surface is that of a low plateau, elevated but a few hundred feet above the sea. It is level or rolling, and broken here and there by ranges of hills. On the e. and w. the borders of the plateau are outlined by mountain ranges. Its average eleva- | tion is ab. 800 feet. The highest summit of the Australian Alps, in the s. e., is Mt. Kosciusko, 7,176 ft. On the e. coast the rainfall is sufficient for agriculture, but in the interior it is much less, and a large part is a desert, as yet imperfectly explored. It has few rivers of importance. The inhabited parts are mainly on and near the s. and e. coasts. A. was visited or mentioned by the French, Dutch, and Spaniards 1542-1616, seen by Dampier 1688, and for a time called New Holland. Capt. Cook explored the e. coast 1770. The penal settlement of Botany Bay was made 1787-88 in New South Wales. Of the other colonies, Western A. was set off 1829, South A. 1834, Victoria (s.e.) 1859, and Queensland (n.e.) 1859. Each of these has its parliament, with a governor appointed by the queen; a scheme of confederation is in progress. Gold was discovered Feb. 1851, 20 m. n. of Bathurst, New S. Wales, and soon after at Ballarat, 80 m. w. of Melbourne, causing a vast influx of miners and adventurers from Europe, America, and China. Of late years labor troubles have been rife. Pop., 1891, 3,173,000, chiefly in Victoria and New S. Wales; Western A., with over a third of the territory, had but 46,290. Ab. 30,000 natives remain. Australian Aborigines. Once estimated at 150,000, but now much reduced. They are considered the lowest of the human race. The cephalic index is 71, the average capacity of the cranium (97.6 in Europeans) is 76, but the smallest skull had a capacity of 63 cubic in. There seems to be a dwarf type averaging 5 ft. high and a type 7 inches taller, of which a woman was found 7 ft. in ht. The West Australians are the lowest. The limbs are long and slender, the belly protuberant, the skull thick-boned, prognathous, with narrow forehead and retreating, small chin. The superciliary ridges are prominent, the hair abundant, soft, and curling. The lips are large, the toes turn in. They hate to work, but are good hunters, gentle in disposition, but irascible when irritated. Their memories are strong and they learn quickly, but cannot master principles; they have no words for numerals above four or five. The mode of life is communistic. They are generous, always sharing what

121

is gotten, taking no thought of the future. They mature at ten or twelve; have no sense of modesty; the men are more dressed (chiefly ornaments) than women. Wives are either bought or captured, always from a different family and caste, and the children belong to the caste of the mother. The heads of children are often artificially deformed. Tattooing is practiced, also painting; white is the color for mourning. They are nomadic, build only rude bark huts, and eat anything, including reptiles and worms. They cultivate nothing, but cook everything except human flesh, which is eaten raw. They make no pottery, but are skillful in making simple weapons; the tomaboomerang does not return to the thrower if it hits anything; hawk, club, spear, boomerang, and shield are remarkable. The it is used mainly in killing birds. Rude canoes and rafts are made. Polygamy is practiced. There is no marriage ceremony, except that the wife has her left little finger cut off as a sign of servitude. The boys pass through three degrees of initiation into the tribe, accompanied by elaborate ceremonies and torture; these degrees are taken at 9, 16, and 20 years. The men love to dance, sing, and feast, often ending with a free-fight and the eating of the slain. Chiefs are temporary leaders. They have no written language nor worship. The dead are either buried, burned, or exposed.

Australian Province. Zoological region including Aus tralia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and usually also Polynesia. Characteristic animals are the Echidna, Ornithorhynchus, Marsupials, Mud-fish (Ceratodus), Cockatoos, and Birds of Paradise. There is an absence of Placental Mammals. New Zealand moreover lacks Marsupials, Monotremes, and Reptiles, except lizards, and possessed the now extinct Dinornis and Apteryx.

embracing Lorraine, Belgium, and right bank of the Rhine; after Charlemagne, it was merged into Germany.

Austrasia, or EAST KINGDOM. Under the Merovingians,

Austria, HISTORY OF. In 796 the territory between the Ens and Raab was made a margraviate; in 12th cent. it was joined to the Mark above the Ens, and made a duchy. It became the possession of the House of Hapsburg 1282, and rapidly increased in power and extent of territory. Albert V., 1404-1439, obtained which from 1438 was held by this house. Bohemia and Hungary, and was elected to the imperial throne, A. was made an archduchy by Frederic III.; the Netherlands were acquired by Maximilian I., whose son Philip married Johanna of Spain. His son Charles V. was elected emperor 1519, and abdicated in favor of his brother Ferdinand 1558. On his death, the inheritance was divided among his three sons, Maximilian II. receiving the imperial crown, with A., Hungary, and Bohemia. All these his son, Rudolf II., was forced to cede to his brother Matthias, who became emperor 1612, and concluded the long wars with the Turks by a 20 years' truce.

Matthias ceded Bohemia and Hungary to his cousin Ferdinand, afterward emperor, who undertook to root out Protestantism from his dominions, thus beginning the Thirty Years' War. Under Leopold I. Vienna was rescued by John Sobieski from the Turks called in by Hungary. Hungary was reduced and declared a hereditary kingdom. The War of Spanish Succession, 1702-13, ended with the peace of Utrecht, which secured to A. part of the Netherlands and possessions in Italy; some of these were soon lost. With Charles VI. (d. 1740) the male line of the Hapsburgs expired. The succession of Maria Theresa was maintained by the aid of Hungary. She was forced to yield Silesia to Frederic the Great after a vain effort to recover it by the Seven Years' War. Her husband was elected emperor as Francis I. 1745. Her son, Joseph II., made unsuccessful efforts at reform in his dominions. War with France followed the French Revolution 1792; by the treaty of Campo Formio, 1797, A. lost Lombardy and the Netherlands, receiving Venice; war renewed 1799, ending in the peace of Luneville 1801. Francis II. declared himself hereditary emperor of A. 1804, and abdicated the imperial throne of Germany 1806. The alliance with Napoleon by his marriage with Maria Louisa, daughter of Francis, did not hinder Francis from aiding in his downfall. A. gained territory by the peace of Vienna. Her influence was henceforth commanding in Europe, and adverse to constitutionalism. Opposition to her rule was brought Hungary, and ended with the triumph of conservatism, though to a crisis by the events of 1848, which resulted in war with feudalism disappeared. In 1850 A. was excluded from the German confederation. Her rivalry with Prussia was ended by constitution was adopted, and the emperor proclaimed King of the war of 1866, which caused the loss of Venetia. In 1867 a Hungary. In 1878 Bosnia and Herzogovina were added to this vast and mongrel empire, a congeries of countries, races, and religions, of which two of the largest and most populous provinces, Galicia and Bohemia, have not equal or adequate rights. Austria-Hungary. Area 241,136 sq. m. tion is very mountainous, being occupied by the e. part of the Alps. The Carpathian Mts. form parts of the e. and s.

The s. w. por

122

AUSTRO-COLUMBIAN REGION-AUTOMATIC SIGNALS

boundaries, rising to heights of 8,000 to 9,000 ft., and inclosing the plains of Hungary in their great curve. The remainder of the country presents no marked features of relief. Nearly all of it is drained by the Danube, which is navigable throughout its course here, as are several of its branches for hundreds of miles each. Ab. 400,000,000 bushels of cereals are annually produced, and ab. 375,000,000 gallons of wine. Its mineral resources are valuable, comprising gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, and tin. Coal is mined extensively. The entire mineral product has an annual value of ab. $55,000,000. The manufacturing industries are large and varied, including mainly cotton, linen, woolen, and silk goods, and iron and steel, with an annual product estimated at $650,000,000. External commerce is not great, owing to the small extent of seacoast. The extent of railroads in operation is ab. 15,000 m. Austria and Hungary are closely allied in their internal affairs; each has its own council and parliament, while the army and navy are common, and in foreign affairs the two governments are a unit. The capital of Austria is Vienna, of Hungary Buda-Pesth. Other important cities are Prague, Lemberg, Gratz, Brunn, and Trieste. Pop., 1890, 41,284,960.

Austro-Columbian Region. All America s. of Mexico. Austrogæa. Australasian province plus the Austromalayan Archipelago.

Austromalaya. Papua and adjacent islands n. of Aus

tralia.

Autarachna. Division of Arachnida, including Acarina, Araneina, and Arthrogastra.

Authors. Game of cards printed with names of writers and titles of their works; invented in Salem, Mass., and pub. 1861. Numerous variations exist. The method of play was copied from the older game of DR. BUZBY (q. v.).

Automatic Action. Action of a living body not immediately due to external changes of environment, but the result of changes arising in the organ or body itself, and determined by causes other than the circumstances of the moment. These actions may be continuous or rhythmical, as beating of heart; or irregular and variable, as all actions resultant on volition. Automatic Cut-Off Engine. One in which the valve gear which distributes the motor fluid from the generator to tion the engine itself will alter the point at which the supply the cylinder is so constructed that without human intervenof fluid shall be cut off from the cylinder. The object is to cause the engine under wide variations of load to make the same number of revolutions in a given time. In attaining this, it is sought to supply to the cylinder at each stroke only so much fluid as is necessary to overcome the load at the specified speed. Automatism is secured in two general ways: the cutoff is varied directly, by the load, or indirectly, by the speed as affected by the load. In the first system, the effort on the engine shaft is transmitted to the load through a series of springs of requisite strength and stiffness on that shaft. The springs are therefore more or less strained as the load increases or diminishes. The positions of levers attached to these springs are made to adjust the point of cut-off in some of the methods alluded to in article ADJUSTABLE CUT-OFF (q.v.).

In the second system, a governor driven by the engine shaft is so arranged that the plane or position of a revolving mass shall be varied by variations in the speed of the engine. This revolving mass is so linked to the distributing gear that the longer fraction of the piston stroke, as the speed of the governor valve shall remain open for admission of steam a shorter or is faster or slower. This latter is the most usual system, but has the theoretical disadvantage that the variation of load must precede the variation in speed, which must occur before the

Autoclave. Apparatus designed to heat liquids at tem- variation in cut-off can occur which is to offset the first varia

tion and keep the speed constant. The cut-off must therefore always be hunting the load, and cannot get nearer to it than a certain number of revolutions. But, practically, by running at a high number of revolutions per minute and with a sensitive governor the time becomes very small during which such irregularity may exist, and the percentage of irregularity correspondingly low.

Automatic Signals. Signals, usually indicating danger, which are displayed on railroads without direct manipulation, being operated by rods and levers which are connected with the

Autoclave

peratures above their boiling-points. Largely used in the manufacture of coal-tar colors. It is heated in oil or lead bath.

Autocracy. Government in which the law-making and executive powers are united in one person; despotism.

Auto da Fé. Execution by fire of those condemned by the inquisition in Spain and Portugal, 1481-1761.

Autœcious. In mycology, parasitic Fungi which carry out their entire life-history on a single plant; also, in bryology, mosses where the antheridia and archegonia are borne upon the same plant.

Autogamy. Self-fertilization of flowers, the pollen acting on the pistil of the same flower in which they are both borne; known also as close-fertilization.

Autogonia (AUTOGENESIS). Spontaneous generation of living organisms from inorganic (or at least, unorganized)

matter.

Autograph. Handwriting of a person in distinction from the work of an amanuensis. The collection of these has become a popular pursuit, and large prices are paid for those of distinguished persons. This has led to the imposition of imitations and necessitates care in their selection. Reproductions by photographic and etching processes have been published. The handwriting indicates habit rather than character.

Autolycus, ab. 330 B.C. Greek mathematician, who wrote On the Moving Sphere, and On the Risings and Settings of the Stars.

track; e.g., the opening of a switch may be made to set a signal in the danger position at a point several hundred feet