Eschines, 389-314 B.C. Athenian orator. He attained high office by military successes, was won over by Philip, and became chief of the Macedonian party at Athens. Was opposed by Demosthenes, but held his ground, and, as embassador to Philip and to the Amphictyonic Council, opposed the national party. Accused of having received bribes and assisting the enemies of Athens, his influence declined. The battle of Charoneia in 338 B.C. decided the fate of Greece. Ctesiphon proposed that a crown of gold be given Demosthenes. The form of the proposition being illegal, A. brought an action against him, and Demosthenes defended him in his famous Oration on the Crown. The latter won, and A. went into banishment. He founded a school of eloquence at Rhodes.

Eschylus, 525-456 B.C. First great Athenian tragic poet. He fought bravely at Marathon, Artemisium, Salamis and Platæa, improved the stage, and was recognized as chief in tragedy 484-468, when he was defeated in a tragic contest by Sophocles. He then left Athens and went to Syracuse, to the court of King Hiero. Ten years later he seems to have been again in Athens, but afterward returned to Sicily, where he is said to have been killed by a stone let fall by an eagle. His style was bold, majestic, full of energy and rich in imagery. He sought to teach high moral truth. Plays extant: Persians, Seven against Thebes, Suppliants, Prometheus, Agamemnon, Choephori, Eumenides.

Eschynite. Mineral found in the Ilmen Mountains, Siberia, containing columbium, thorium, cerium, lanthanum and yttrium.

Esculapius. God of the healing art; son of Apollo, reared and taught by the centaur Chiron. He sometimes even restored the dead to life, for which Zeus slew him with a thunderbolt. The serpent was sacred to him, and the cock was sacrificed to him. In the Iliad, he is the "blameless physician," but not divine.

Esculin. C2H4O13 Glucoside occurring in the horsechestnut and related plants.

Esculus Hippocastanum. Horse-chestnut; tree grown for shade and ornament, native of Asia.

Esculus hippocastanum.

Æsop. Greek fabulist, ab. 570 B.C.; said to have been a deformed slave, who gained his freedom, traveled, and conveyed instruction in the form of fables. Those attributed to him were long handed down by oral tradition.

Æsopus, CLAUDIUS. Roman actor of first century B.C. Esthacytes. Surface cells in Sponges that bear sensory hairs and have sensory functions.

Esthesiometer. Pair of compasses or bar with one fixed and one movable point by means of which the sensibility of the skin is tested, the points being brought together until it is no longer possible for the patient to tell whether one or two are pressed upon the surface.

Esthetic Intuitionism. View which regards virtues as excellences of conduct, clearly discernible by trained insight, although their nature does not admit of being stated in definite formulæ.

Esthetics. Science and philosophy of the Beautiful. Plato associates it with the Good, others with the intellect, and still others claimed utility as a factor. Baumgarten, 1750, asserted that the Beautiful is appreciated by the senses, without refer

ence to Utility, the Good or the Intellectual, and founded the modern school of Estheticism. Estivation. Summer sleep of animals, allied to hibernation. In botany, arrangement of organs of a flower in the

bud; præfloration.

Estus. Boiling or rising of the sea; term used by Hooke 1715, apparent

0-0

of the quincuncial or valvate type:

ly equivalent to Various forms of Estivation regarded as modification rise of tides. Æthalium.

a, quincuncial; b, half-imbricate; c, imbricate; d, contorted; e, vexillary; f. cochleate; h, valvate; g, valvate induplicate; i, valvate reduplicate.

Mass formed by the fusion of several plasmodia of the Mycetozoa or Myxomycetes. It is sometimes a foot in diameter and an inch thick, and is supported by the CAPILLITIUM (q. v.).

Æthelberht, Ethelred, etc. See ETHELBERT, etc. vade all space, whether containing matter or not. It is by Æther. Extremely elastic, rare medium, supposed to permeans of undulations in the æther that light and all other forms of radiation are propagated with the enormous speed in free space of 300,000 kilometers per second. According to Kelvin. the density of the æther is 9.36 x 10-19 compared with that of water, and its rigidity ab. 10" that of steel. As radiant energy is propagated by transverse vibrations, and as fluids are not capable of transmitting such vibrations, the æther must possess certain properties characteristic of a solid.

Ethiops Mineral. HgS. Black compound of mercury and sulphur, similar in composition to the native mineral metacinnabarite.

Ætiology. Science of the causes for the phenomena of natural history. The works of Darwin are examples. See ZOOLOGY. Etolia. Grecian State, s. e. of Acarnania. In Thucydides' time the people did not speak Greek, and ate raw flesh. It became subject to Rome 189 B.C., and in 146 was incorporated in the province of Achaia.

Ætolian League. Important ab. 250 B.C.; opposed to Achæan League and Kings of Macedon.

Etomorphæ. ACCIPITRES. (q.v.).

Afer, DOMITIUS. Roman orator of first century, infamous as an accuser and informer.

Affection. In mathematics, sense of the respective inequalities of two or more quantities compared with a common standard. Two angles or arcs of the same affection are either both less or both greater than 90°, of different affection are one less, the other greater, than 90°.

Affections. Emotions directed toward conscious beings, as love and anger; distinguished from the appetites by their less material nature, and from the sentiments by their more instinctive and immediate character.

Affidavit. Written or printed statement sworn to before an authorized person. In the absence of statutory requirement, it need not have a title nor the signature of the affiant, but it should have the signature of the officer administering the oath.

Affinities. In animals or plants, their relationships, as based on the truth of the idea that all living forms can be ultimately traced to common ancestors, which is the basal idea in the evolution doctrine. They are shown by the closeness of the similarity of structure, not only of the adults, but now biologists consider embryonic characters (especially when not kainogenetic) to be of even greater importance in deciding affinities. The more distant the affinities, of two forms, the further back in geologic time must we place the hypothetical common ancestors (See SYNTHETIC TYPES). The conditions of environment, that have caused differentiation of the descendants of these ancestors, have not acted uniformly as to time and place.

Affinity. In sex, or sexual attraction, shown in biology by Darwin's experiment of placing pollen on the stigma derived from two flowers, one nearly and the other distantly related to the fertilized flower. The pollen from the more distant relative was shown to be prepotent, its pollen tubes growing faster than those of the rival. This experiment has a wide and deep significance, and throws light on many obscure questions as to causes of human sterility.

Affinity, CHEMICAL. Force which causes atoms to unite to form compounds. The manner in which this force acts, or anything concerning its nature, is unknown.

Akbar Khan was afterward defeated, and Cabul laid waste. In 1846 the Afghans allied themselves with the Sikhs against the British, but were driven back. Shere Ali succeeded Dost M. in 1863. His refusal to receive a British Mission 1878 led to an invasion. Jelalabad and Kandahar were occupied; Yakub Khan succeeded Shere Ali 1879, and peace was negotiated, a British resident to be at Cabul, and the British to defend A. against foreign aggression, the Ameer receiving a subsidy. A revolt, in which the resident was slain, led the Ameer to put himself under British protection, and Cabul was occupied. Afghan Language. Of the Iranian family, related to modern Persian. It contains a considerable literature, mainly in the shape of ballads.

A Fortiori. Argument and conclusion which are stronger than a given proposition already accepted.

Afranius, LUCIUS, b. ab. 150 B.C. Chief writer of the class of Latin comedies called Togatæ, treating of Roman life. Only fragments remain.

Africa. One of the grand divisions of the eastern continent. It is rudely pear-shaped, with the smaller end toward the south. It lies almost entirely within the tropics, the equator dividing it into nearly equal parts. Its area is 11,092,750 sq. miles. Its surface is almost entirely a plain, bordered near the coast almost everywhere by mountains. In the north, this plain is low, most of the Sahara, Egypt and the Soudan being less than 1,500 ft. above the sea, and part of the former below its level. Further south, it rises to a plateau, large parts of which are 3,000 ft. or more above the sea. The surface of this plain is undulating, in some places hilly, and occasionally broken by mountains. The highest region is in Abyssinia, while further south, almost under the equator, is Mt. Kilimanjaro, 18,800 ft., the highest point in A. Another high range is the Atlas, near the Mediterranean shore, whose mean elevation is 2,021 feet. The climate is everywhere characterized by great heat. The n. part, including the deserts of Sahara and Egypt, is arid in the ex treme. The equatorial portion has an excessive rainfall, and is covered by luxuriant tropical vegetation. In the s. part is a second area deficient in moisture, the Kala-hari desert and surrounding regions, destitute of trees, though covered with grasses.

The coast is extremely simple, with few indentations or islands. As a result of its peculiar form of relief, a plain encircled by mountain ranges, nearly all the drainage is effected by a few

Africa, CHURCH OF. Beginning about 110, with Carthage as its chief city, it produced such eminent men as Cyprian, Tertullian, and Augustine, and was long, after Rome, the most influential part of Latin Christendom, till rent by the Donatist schism, crushed by the Vandals, and at last obliterated by the Saracens.

African Languages. Besides the Semitic and Hamitic groups, represented by Berber, Ethiopic, Egyptian, and the like, there is an interesting group, some fairly well studied, and others still lacking adequate analysis, as the Negro, in the Soudan; the Bantu, including Congo and Zulu; and the Hottentot. These are mainly agglutinative, but show advanced development and capacity of expression. See Cust, Modern Languages of Africa, London, 1883.

African M. E. Church. Founded in America 1816. It now has over 4,000 ministers and nearly 500,000 members.

African M. E. Zion Church. Organized in N. Y. 1820. It had in 1891 3,650 ministers and 425,000 members.

African Races. Much dispute has raged about the question of how many distinct races inhabit Africa, but it is certain that at least three distinct groups may be recognized. 1. S. African Negroes (Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Bushmen). 2. Midfrom Asia (Berbers, Moors, Nubians). African Negroes. 3. N. African races, which probably came

After-damp. Mixture of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and aqueous vapor, resulting from an explosion of fire-damp. It quickly causes death by asphyxia.

After-glow. Sudden increase in brilliancy of the diminishing evening twilight. This occurs when the rosy glow is at its brightest, and, like it, depends on the diffraction of solar rays by fine particles in the atmosphere.

look at a bright object. They were first described by Aristotle, After-images. Those which continue after one has ceased to and have been investigated by many eminent men, including Augustine, Newton, Buffon, Erasmus, Darwin, Goethe, Fechner and Helmholtz. The image which remains may, at first, be similar to the original object in brightness and color, in which case it is called positive; thus a rocket or a meteor leaves a trail of light, and the positions of a trotting-horse are fused into a bright light, the image is likely to be the opposite of the origcontinuous whole. But after the eye has been exposed to a inal; thus the image of the sun is seen as a dark circle, and this is called negative. When the object is colored the image is apt to be of a complementary color, the image of a red object, e.g., appearing green: this is called complementary. Afzelius, ADAM, 1750-1837. Swedish botanist; prof. Univ. Upsala 1812.

Afzelius, ARVID AUGUST, 1785-1871. Swedish historian, tr. Edda, 1818, ed., with E. G. Geijer, ballads, 1814-16.

Agallocha. Excæcaria Agallochum, Indian shrub of the natural family Euphorbiaceae, having an extremely acrid juice, used in Fiji as a cure for leprosy. Also, Eaglewood (Aquilaria Agallocha) of Java.

Agalmatolite. Image-stone. Chinese mineral used for. soft, and easily-worked hydrous silicates, in which the bases carvings. Also several compact, amorphous, light-colored, are usually aluminum or magnesium and potassium.

Agamic. Organisms not differentiated into sexes, as Bacteria. See ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION.

Agamemnon. Son of Atreus, king of Mycenæ, brother of Menelaus. He married Clytemnestra, daughter of Tyndareus, and succeeded Thyestes as king of Mycena; was commander-inchief of the Greek hosts at Troy; on his return was murdered

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Agaracin. Active principle from White (Larch) Agaric, Polyporus officinalis. It is a white, amorphous powder, and is used to check night-sweats of phthisical patients. Agar-agar. Gelatinous substance used in microscopy, derived from a red sea-weed, Gracilaria lichenoides, native of the Indian Ocean.

Agardh, JAKOB GEORG, b. 1813. Swedish botanist: prof. at Lund. Author of Algae maris mediterranei et adriatici, 1842; Species, genera et ordines Algarum. 1848-63; Theoria systematis plantarum, 1858.

Agardh, KARL ADOLF, 1785-1859. Swedish botanist. Dispositio Algarum Suecice, 1810-12: Synopsis Algarum Scandinavia, 1817; Species Algarum, 1823-28; Systema Algarum, 1824; Icones Algarum Europæum, 1828-35.

Agaric Mineral. CaCO,. Soft, crumbly variety of carbonate of lime.

Agaricini. Family of Fungi of the order Hymenomycetes, including the cultivated mushroom and many toadstools.

Although an opponent of Darwin, his investigations in embryology have done more to establish the evolution doctrine than the work of any one man. Great as is his name as a discoverer in the field of Natural History, it is as a teacher that his influence has been greatest; a great educational movement in America is directly the result of his labors. Every teacher of Biology in America owes his best methods, enthusiasm, inspiration and success either directly to Agassiz or to his influence. The influence of Huxley on biological education in America has secondarily been grafted upon this original stem.

Agate. SiO,. Silica. Non-crystalline, translucent, variegated quartz, capable of taking a high polish. The colors sometimes shade gradually into each other, and are sometimes arranged in parallel bands. The differently colored portions are often affected differently by chemical reagents, and the natural colors can be materially changed by artificial means. Good agates are found in many parts of the U. S., especially ab. Lake Superior and at several points in the Rocky Mountains. Brazil and Hungary furnish large and fine stones, which are polished for market at Oberstein, Germany.

Agathias, 536-582. Greek rhetorician at Constantinople. Of his works near 100 poems and a history of the wars of the period remain.

Agatho. Pope 678-682.

Agathocles, 361-289 B.C. Tyrant of Syracuse from 317. Agathon, ab. 447-ab. 400 B.C. Athenian tragic poet.

Agave. Large genus of plants of the family Amaryllidacea, comprising the cen

tury plant and its relatives; noteworthy for their extremely succulent leaves of great dimensions.

Age of the Sun. From the commonly received hypotheses it is believed that the sun could not have existed in its present condition for more than 18,000,000 years.

Ages of the World. The Greek and Roman poets made four ages, named after the metals, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. The first passed in der the mild rule of peace and plenty unCronos (Saturn); the others became each worse than the preceding, till the present, the Iron Age, is one of fraud and toil and suffering. When it set in, Astraea went back to heaven, and Zeus destroyed the race by a flood in order to begin anew. Lucretius makes three ages, of stone, bronze, and iron, according to the material of which tools were successively made.

American Aloe (Agave americana).

Agent. One empowered to act for another. The authority may be given expressly or by implication, and before or after the act. Agency may be revoked at the will of the principal, unless it is coupled with an interest in the subject matter of the agency, as distinguished from the proceeds to which the agent may be entitled as compensation for services. However, the principal may be liable to the agent in damages for breach of contract in revoking the agency even when he has the power to do so. The acts of an agent within the apparent scope of his employment bind the principal, although these acts have been forbidden. In case of simple contracts, the principal may sue or be sued, although they were made in the name of the agent; but this rule does not apply to sealed instruments or negotiable paper. If an agent exceeds his authority in makthereby, he thereby becomes liable to the third party. As between themselves, the agent is bound to obey his principal's instructions, to keep and render their accounts, and to act with the utmost good faith. He cannot derive a benefit to himself from his principal's business. Nor can he delegate his authority unless empowered to do so, although, if the business is of a kind which requires the employment of subordinates by the agent, he has implied authority to employ them.

Agassiz, LOUIS JOHN RUDOLPH, M.D.,LL.D., 1807-1873. Swiss naturalist; prof. Harvard 1848; celebrated for his studies of the fishes of Brazil. 1829; fresh water fishes of central Europe, 1839; fossil fishes, 1844; Echinoderms, 1840; and the glacial theory, 1840-46. He pub. four folio vols, on Natural History of U. S., 1857-62; a Zoology, and a Catalogue of Zoological and Geological Memoirs. He visited Brazil 1865, the southern shores of N. America 1871. The Marine Laboratory of Biology was started 1872 on Penikese Island, which, though short-lived, was the real ancestor of six marine laboratories now located on our coast.

Agglomerate. Mass of angular stones imbedded in a paste of volcanic material; differing from a Breccia only in being constructed on a larger scale.

Agglutinative Languages. According to Max Muller's

classification, those which join two roots or root-words to make one word, often causing one of these roots to lose its independence. An English example is "Go llike," as compared with "godly," where the "like" has become a mere termination and does not count as a word. Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish, and similar tongues are agglutinative.

Aggregate. Fruit composed of a cluster of ripened ovaries from a single flower, as the raspberry and blackberry.

Aggregation. Change in structure of the protoplasm in cells of vegetable organs which are sensitive to shock, or, in general, display irritability.

Aghrim, IRELAND. Scene of a decisive English victory, July 12, 1691, over the Irish, who lost 4,000 killed.

Agias, ab. 740 B.C. Cyclic epic poet, author of a story of the return of the Greeks from Troy, not extant.

Agincourt. Village of N. France. Here some 10,000 English under Henry V. gained a memorable victory over 60,000 French, Oct. 25, 1415, with loss of 1,600. The French lost 10,000 slain, including 3 dukes, 5 counts, 90 barons, and 1,500 knights, besides 14,000 prisoners.

Agio. Difference of value between moneys, whether paper or metallic.

Agiotage. Stock-jobbing, as distinguished from commercial speculation. The latter is usually actual purchase, delivery, and sale of goods, while agiotage refers to successive conveyances of title for the purpose of gambling in the differences existing from time to time in the price.

Agis. Three kings of Sparta. I., 427-398 B.C.; active in Peloponnesian war; he several times invaded Attica. II., 338330 B.C., revolted when Alexander was in Asia; was defeated and killed by Antipater. III., 244-240 B.C.: undertook to reform the Spartan state; was thrown into prison by his colleague and slain by order of the Ephors.

Aglossa. Tribe of Anura (Batrachia), characterized by the absence of the tongue. The eustachian canals meet in one opening in pharynx. The hind feet are webbed. Pipa dorsigera, the Surinam Toad, is an example. The male of this species places the eggs, when spawned, upon the back of the female, and the skin grows up around each to form a brood-pouch in which the larval stages of the young are passed. There are first external branchia; these give way to internal ones, and finally respiration is confined to the lungs. A swimming tail is present for a time, although the young are never aquatic.

Aglyphodonta. Group of Colubriformia, including nonpoisonous snakes, with numerous solid conical teeth. The head is covered with large shields. The principal families are Colubrida; including most common snakes, and the Peropoda, Pythons, Old-World Constrictors with premaxillary teeth, and the New-World Boas and Anacondas.

Agni. God of Fire, first of the three great gods of the ancient Hindu pantheon, to whom, with Indra and Soma, the hymns of the Rig-Veda are chiefly addressed. God of both celestial and terrestrial fire, he manifested himself in the heavens by the sun and moon, and was produced on earth at the hands of the sacrificer by rubbing two pieces of wood together.

Agnodice. Athenian midwife, tried for practicing in a man's dress, and acquitted. Believed to have been the first

woman accoucheur.

Agnoëtæ. Two heretical sects, followers (I.) of Theophronius of Cappadocia, an Arian, ab. 370, who ascribed to Deity only partial knowledge of the future: (II. and chiefly) of Themistius of Alexandria, a Monophysite, ab. 550, who held that Jesus was ignorant as to many matters, especially the Day of Judgment.

Agnosticism. Doctrine that of the ground of the universe, whether personal or impersonal, conscious or unconscious, free or blindly necessary, nothing can be known. An agnostic, properly, is neither believer nor unbeliever, but one who suspends his opinion for lack of evidence.

Agnostus. Small genus of Trilobites, showing the structure of that family in a very simple form. The thorax contains only two segments; the head and tail are nearly equal and alike; eyes are wanting. Numerous species occur in the Ordovician and Cambrian strata.

Agnus Dei (LAMB OF GOD). Form of words based on St. John i. 29, incorporated in the Mass ab. 680, retained by Luther, and by Ch. of England in the Litany.

Agobard, 779-840. Abp. of Lyons from 814. He wrote against verbal inspiration, image-worship, ordeals, adoptionism, etc. His works were collected 1605 and 1666.

Agonalia. In Roman Antiquity, festivals in honor of Janus, Jan. 9, May 21, and Dec. 11.

Agonic Line. See DECLINATION.

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Agonothetes, or AGONOTHETA. President of the ancient sacred games in Greece. Sometimes this was the person who met the expenses of them, but at the Olympic, Pythian, and other public games he was the representative of the states con

cerned.

Agora. Public square or market-place of a Greek city; also applied to the assemblies held there. It corresponded to the Forum in Rome and other Italian cities.

Agoranomoi. Magistrates in ancient Greek cities who regulated the commerce, police, and customs duties, somewhat as the Ediles did in Rome.

Agostino da Montefeltro, b. ab. 1840. Italian preachercalled "the modern Savonarola." He is a Franciscan monk. Agoult, MARIE CATHERINE SOPHIA, COUNTESS D' (b. Flavig ny), ( DANIEL STERN"), 1805-1876. French novelist. History of the Revolution of 1848, 1851.

Agra. City of British India, on the Jumna River; capital of the Mogul emperors and their successors 1504-1647. It contains

a splendid mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, built by Shah Jehan ab. 1660. Pop., 1891. 168,710.

Agraphia. Pathological state in which the power of expressing ideas by means of written symbols is lost or impaired. Usually found associated with APHASIA (q. v.).

Agrarianism. Tendency to introduce modifications of bution of ownership or conditions of tenure, or substitution of the established land system, either for a more equal distristate for individual proprietorship.

Agrarian Laws. Pertaining to rights of ownership in land or its distribution in the community. Those of ancient Rome were intended to relieve the condition of the common people by regulating the distribution of public land; invariably opposed by the patricians and rich plebeians. The first. proposed by Spurius Cassius 486 B.C.. resulted in his death 485. That brought forward by Tiberius Gracchus 135 was a virtual reenactment of the Licinian law of 366, limiting ownership to 500 jugera (350 acres). Tiberius was murdered with 300 of his friends. Gains Gracchus, who pushed this with other reforms still further 132-123 B.C., lost his life with some 3,000 of his followers 121 B.C.

Agricola, CNATUS JULIUS, 37-93. Roman general and statesman; governor of Aquitania 73; consul 77; governor of Britain 78-85; recalled because of Domitian's jealousy; father-in-law of Tacitus, who wrote his life.

Agricola, or BAUER, GEORG, 1494-1555. "Father of Metallurgy." Prof. at Chemnitz, in the Saxon mining district. He made many excursions to the mines and metal works of Germany. Austria and Italy, and wrote painstaking and lucid descriptions of all the metallurgical processes then in use. His De Re Metallica, pub. 1546, is the first systematic treatise on the mining and smelting of metalliferous minerals and contains true accounts of methods still in use.

Agricola, or SCHNEIDER, JOHANN, 1492-1566. German reformer, charged with Antinomianism.

Agricola, or HUYSMANN, RUDOLPHUS, 1443-1485. Frisian scholar, who taught in Italy and Germany, and promoted the revival of learning.

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Agricultural Education. No colleges teaching the various arts and sciences connected with agriculture were founded before the 19th century. In Great Britain, the first and still the largest of these, that at Cirencester, was established and is still maintained by private benefactions and the fees of students. Most of the continental schools and colleges have been instituted directly or indirectly by government. In the U. S. efforts had been made for the establishment of agricultural colleges in several States before the middle of the century, and in a few cases, notably in Mich. and Pa., such colleges were in operation before 1861. The real beginning of agricultural education in this country dates from 1862. In that year Congress passed "the Land Grant Act," which donated to each State a certain amount of public land for the endowment of "at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The amount of land so donated amounted to 30,000 acres for each senator and representative to which the State was entitled, and the endowment resulting from its sale amounts in some of the larger States to several hundred thousand dollars. In 1890 another Act was passed making a continuous direct appropriation in money to the colleges established under the former act. The amount of this appropriation was $15,000 to the institutions in each State for the first year, increasing $1,000 each year till a maximum of $25.000 yearly is reached. The instruction given in the colleges so established (and several of the States have more than one) is both theoretical and practical. The course usually covers a period of four years; no tuition fees are required. In many of the colleges considerable attention is given to studies of a general and literary nature, though all give large attention to studies directly connected with farming, such as botany, chemistry, entomology, veterinary science, and geology, and to the more technical branches of practical agriculture and horticulture, stock-breeding, dairyhusbandry, etc. All of them have illustrative and experimental farms, on which the students are shown the applications of the principles learned in the class-room, and most of them require of the students more or less practice in the more intricate operations of the farm and garden. Many of the colleges also offer shorter courses of from three months to two years to those who cannot spend a longer time, but wish to get as much as possible of the more technical instruction.

Agricultural Experiment Station. The investigation of problems concerning the nutrition of plants began in Europe about fifty years ago. It was inaugurated by the promulgation of Liebig's "mineral theory" of the nutrition of plants in its relation to the fertility of the soil. Since then a large number of stations have been established for the investigation and systematic study of all problems of near or remote interest to agriculture. The work of most of the stations covers the whole ground of agricultural industry, though some confine their work to particular lines of inquiry. In this country the work was begun soon after the establishment of agricultural colleges, though the first station was not established until 1877 at Middletown, Conn. In the following ten years something more than a dozen stations had been established in various parts of the country, both by State aid and individual enterprise. In 1887 great impetus was given to the work by the passage by Congress of the "Hatch Act," granting $15,000 yearly for the

establishment in each State of a Station in connection with its Agricultural College. These stations, though still young, have already reached important results on many lines of agricultural science, and are coming to be relied upon more and more by the farmer for the solution of difficult problems and for expert advice and assistance in details of farm management.

Agricultural State. Third of the stages through which most advanced branches of mankind have passed. It has followed the hunting and the pastoral state.

Agriculture. Literally culture of a field. The meaning has been both restricted and enlarged; thus the culture of fruits, vegetables and flowers is horticulture, while A. now includes not only field culture but other branches of domestic industry, as stock breeding, dairy husbandry, poultry keeping, apiculture, sericulture, etc. The history of A. is that of the human race. From remotest times fields have been cultivated and flocks and herds kept for the use of man. The De Re Rustica of Columella and the Georgics of Virgil are among the earliest written works treating upon A., but many of the ancient Greek and Roman writers gave attention to rural life. While population remained small and widely scattered, while the wants of man were few and easily supplied, though most obtained their support directly from the soil, A. still remained in a most primitive state, since the soil in its original fertility needs only the slightest preparation to produce luxuriant crops, and when the fertility is depleted, large areas of virgin soil are accessible, a condition that still obtains in all new and thinly settled countries. It is only when, with advancing civilization,

an ever increasing population, and large areas depleted of their fertility, it becomes necessary to study the laws of nature in their application to plant and animal life, that the science begins to develop and the art to demand more and more skill in manifold directions. It is almost entirely within the present century that the practice of A. may be said to have been established upon a scientific basis. For though Sir Anthony Fitzherbert wrote The Booke of Husbandrie in 1523, and Thomas Tusser gave us his 500 Points of Good Husbandrie in 1573, it was not till Liebig's Chemistry in its Relations to Agriculture and Physiology, 1840, that any rational scientific principles were established as a foundation for agricultural practice. Since then progress has been rapid in all branches of A. and its allied industries.

The laws of heredity, founded upon the observations of T. A. Knight, Darwin, and others, when applied to the breeding and rearing of live stock, have given rise to very great improvement in all the races of domestic animals, and to the formation of innumerable breeds. Practically all this improvement has taken place in the last hundred years. Robert Bakewell, b. 1725, was one of the first to improve his stock by an application of scientific laws in their selection and propagation. He was remarkably successful, particularly with sheep, and was followed by his pupil and admirer Charles Colling, who in connection with his brother Robert and Thomas Bates, so improved the native cattle of Durham and Northumberland that a new breed (now called Short Horn) may be said to have been formed. Their successes led to such increased activity in England and in other countries that the average productive capacity of do

mestic animals has probably nearly doubled, and individual animals have shown a far greater development.

In no one line has the advance of A. within the last century been more marked than in the applications of mechanics to the operations of the farm, and in the substitution of horse- and steam-power for manual labor. So marked has the latter been that it is no doubt an important factor in the decline of the rural population in the older settled parts of the country that has been so marked a feature of the last two federal censuses. These labor-saving inventions are largely the result of American ingenuity, and some of the more important include the cotton gin, mowing machine, reaper, binder, steam plow, threshing machine, and many others in all branches of A. and domestic industry.

In the domain of horticulture and the culture of plants in general remarkable progress has also been made. The discovery of the laws governing the cross fertilization of flowers has had remarkable results in the formation of new and improved varieties through hybridization. A better knowledge of the use and effects of fertilizers and more careful and intelligent cultivation have also had great influence in the production of plants and fruits of a highly improved quality and productive

ness.

In the same way the discovery of important principles or the invention of ingenious devices has resulted in economy of production or in increase in amount or quality of product in almost all the minor branches of A.; e.g., the discovery by Goffart that fodder could be preserved in a green state in pits or silos has led to great economy in feeding animals, particularly cows giving milk, and the practice known as ensilage has been extensively adopted. The invention by Lefeldt and Lentsch of a machine for separating the cream from milk has led to a revolution in the methods of making butter, and resulted in both economy of production and improved quality of product. The literature of A. is voluminous and goes back to remote antiquity. Morton's Cyclopaedia of A., Stephen's Book of the Farm. Loudon's Encyclopædia of A., are the more important general reference works. The Breeder's Gazette, the Cultivator and Country Gentleman, the Rural New Yorker, the American Agriculturist, Hoard's Dairyman, American Gardening, Garden and Forest, are some of the more important American periodicals.