Part 13

A'GA, formerly title of Turkish officers of a lower military rank, now of men of great wealth and influence except learned men and ecclesiastics, to whom the corresponding title of _effendi_, meaning 'elder brother' and subsequently 'master', is given.

AG'ADES, a town of Africa, near the middle of the Sahara, capital of the Saharan oasis of Air or Asben; at one time a seat of great traffic, probably containing 60,000 inhabitants, now with a pop. of about 7000.

AGADIR, a little town on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, the Santa Cruz May of the Spaniards. It was seized by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, and captured by Mulai Ahmed in 1536. It was once one of the most important seaports of Morocco, but is now closed to commerce and only used as a customs station, its place being taken by Mogador. In July, 1910, the appearance of a French cruiser in the port of Agadir gave rise to a Franco-German dispute, and in 1911 Germany sent the gunboat _Panther_, and a few days later the _Berlin_, to Agadir for the protection of German subjects. See _France_, _Germany_.

AGALLOCHUM (a-gal'o-kum), a fragrant wood obtained from _Aloex[)y]lon Agall[)o]chum_, a leguminous tree of Cochin-China, and _Aquil[=a]ria Agall[)o]cha_, a large tree found in north-east Bengal, abounding in resin and an essential oil which yields a perfume used as incense.

AGAL'MATOLITE (Gr. _agalma_, image), a kind of stone, a clay-slate altered by heat and by the addition of alkalies, which is carved into images, &c., by the Chinese.

AG'AMA, a name of several lizards allied to the iguana, natives of both hemispheres.

AGAMEM'NON, in Greek mythology, son of Atreus, King of Mycenae and Argos, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the allied Greeks at the siege of Troy. Returning home after the fall of Troy, he was treacherously assassinated by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her paramour, Aegisthus, Agamemnon's cousin. He was the father of Orestes, Iphigen[=i]a, and Electra.

AG'AMI. See _Trumpeter_.

AGAMOGENESIS (-jen'e-sis; Gr. _a_, priv., _gamos_, marriage, _genesis_, reproduction), the production of young without the congress of the sexes, one of the phenomena of alternate generation. See _Generation_ and _Parthenogenesis_.

AGANIPPE (-nip'[=e]), daughter of the river-god Parmessos, or Termessos, nymph of a fountain on Mount Helicon, in Greece, sacred to the Muses, which had the property of inspiring with poetic fire whoever drank of it. The name is often given to the wife of Acrisius and mother of Danae.

AGAPE (ag'a-p[=e]; Gr. _agap[=e]_, love), in ecclesiastical history, the love-feast or feast of charity, in use among the primitive Christians, when a liberal contribution was made by the rich to feed the poor. For a time the agape coincided with the _eucharist_, which, at its origin, was clearly funerary in its intention. "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." During the first three centuries love-feasts were held in the churches without scandal, but in after-times they acquired a bad reputation, not undeservedly, and they were condemned at the Council of Carthage in 397. Some modern sects, as the Wesleyans, Sandemanians, Moravians, &c., have attempted to revive this feast.

AGAPEMONE (ag-a-pem'o-n[=e]; lit. 'the abode of love'), the name of a singular conventual establishment which has existed at Spaxton, near Bridgewater, Somersetshire, since 1859, the originator of it being a certain Henry James Prince, at one time a clergyman of the Church of England, who called himself the Witness of the First Resurrection. The life spent by the inmates appears to be a sort of religious epicureanism. Some of the proceedings of the inmates of the 'Abode of Love' have resulted in applications to the courts of law, where parties formerly members of the society have returned to the world and sought to regain their rights from Prince and his followers, and such cases have caused some scandal. In 1902 Prince was succeeded by T. H. Smyth-Pigott.

A'GAR-A'GAR, a dried seaweed of the Asiatic Archipelago, the _Gracilaria lichenoides_, much used in the East for soups and jellies, and also by paper and silk manufacturers.

[Illustration: _Agaricus campestris_, the Common Mushroom]

AGAR'IC (_Agar[)i]cus_), a large and important genus of fungi, characterized by having a fleshy cap or pileus, and a number of radiating plates or gills on which are produced the naked spores. The majority of the species are furnished with stems, but some are attached to the objects on which they grow by their pileus. Over a thousand species are known, and are arranged in five sections according to whether the colour of their spores is white, pink, brown, purple, or black. The chief British representatives are the common wild mushroom (_A. campestris_, L.), the Horse mushroom (_A. arvensis_, Schaeff.), _A. elvensis_, B. and Br., _A. silvaticus_, Schaeff., &c. Many of the species are edible, like the common mushroom, and supply a delicious article of food, while others are deleterious and even poisonous.

AGARIC MINERAL, or MOUNTAIN-MEAL, one of the purest of the native carbonates of lime, found chiefly in the clefts of rocks and at the bottom of some lakes in a loose or semi-indurated form resembling a fungus. The name is also applied to a stone of loose consistence found in Tuscany, of which bricks may be made so light as to float in water, and of which the ancients are supposed to have made their floating bricks. It is a hydrated silicate of magnesium, mixed with lime, alumina, and a small quantity of iron.

AGA'SIAS, a Greek sculptor of Ephesus, about 400 B.C., whose celebrated statue, known as the Borghese Gladiator, representing a soldier contending with a horseman, is now in the Louvre, Paris.

AGASSIZ (ag'as-[=e]), Louis John Rudolph, an eminent naturalist, born 1807, died 1873, son of a Swiss Protestant clergyman at Motiers, near the eastern extremity of the Lake of Neufchatel. He completed his education at Lausanne, and early developed a love of the natural sciences. He studied medicine at Zuerich, Heidelberg, and Munich. His attention was first specially directed to ichthyology by being called on to describe the Brazilian fishes brought to Europe from Brazil by Martius and Spix. This work was published in 1829, and was followed in 1830 by _Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'eaux douces de l'Europe Centrale_ (Fresh-water Fishes of Central Europe). Directing his attention to fossil ichthyology, five volumes of his _Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles_ appeared between 1834 and 1844. His researches led him to propose a new classification of fishes, which he divided into four classes, distinguished by the characters of the skin, as ganoids, placoids, cycloids, and ctenoids. His system has not been generally adopted, but the names of his classes have been taken as useful terms. In 1836 he began the study of glaciers, and in 1840 he published his _Etudes sur les Glaciers_, in 1847 his _Systeme Glaciaire_. From 1838 he had been professor of natural history at Neufchatel, when in 1846 pressing solicitations and attractive offers induced him to settle in America, where he was connected as a teacher first with Harvard University, Cambridge, and afterwards with Cornell University as well as Harvard. After his arrival in America he engaged in various investigations and explorations, and published numerous works, including: _Principles of Zoology_, in connection with Dr. A. Gould (1848); _Contributions to the Natural History of the United States_ (4 vols., 1857-62); _Zoologie Generale_ (1854); _Methods of Study in Natural History_ (1863). In 1865-6 he made zoological excursions and investigations in Brazil, which were productive of most valuable results. Agassiz held views on many important points in science different from those which prevailed among the scientific men of the day, and in

## particular he strongly opposed the evolution theory. Cf. _Letters and

Recollections_, edited by G. R. Agassiz.

AGASSIZ (ag'a-s[=e]), Mount, an extinct volcano in Arizona, United States, 10,000 feet in height; a place of summer resort, near the Great Canon of the Colorado.

AG'ATE, a semi-translucent compound mineral mass formed in the cavities of rocks by the successive deposition of various types of silica, or by the staining of a siliceous mass thus deposited along concentric zones. Bands or layers of various colours blended together, the base generally being chalcedony, and this mixed with variable proportions of jasper, amethyst, quartz, opal, heliotrope, and carnelian. The varying manner in which these materials are arranged causes the agate when polished to assume some characteristic appearances, and thus certain varieties are distinguished, as the ribbon agate, the fortification agate, the zone agate, the star agate, the moss agate, the clouded agate, &c. In Scotland they are cut and polished under the name of Scottish pebbles.

AGATHAR'CHUS, a Greek painter, native of Samos, the first to paint a scene for the acting of tragedies. The view, however, that he applied the rules of perspective to theatrical scene-painting is doubtful. He flourished about 480 B.C.

AGATH'IAS, a Greek poet and historian, born at Myrina, Asia Minor, about A.D. 530; author of an anthology, a collection of love poems, and a history of his own times, which is our chief authority for the period 552-8, during which time the Byzantine army was struggling against the Goths, Vandals, and Franks.

AGATHOCLES (a-gath'o-kl[=e]z), a Sicilian Greek, one of the boldest adventurers of antiquity, born 361 B.C. By his ability and energy, and being entirely unscrupulous, he raised himself from being a potter to being tyrant of Syracuse and master of Sicily. Wars with the Carthaginians were the chief events of his life. He died at the age of seventy-two.

AG'ATHON, a Greek tragic poet, a friend of Euripides, and contemporary with Socrates and Alcibiades, born about 445 B.C., died about 402 B.C. The banquet which he gave to celebrate his first dramatic victory was made the groundwork of Plato's _Symposium_.

[Illustration: Agave (_Agave americana_)]

AGAVE (a-g[=a]'v[=e]), a genus of plants, nat. ord. Amaryllidaceae (which includes the daffodil and narcissus), popularly known as American aloes. They are generally large, and have a massive tuft of fleshy leaves with a spiny apex. They live for many years--ten to seventy according to treatment--before flowering. When this takes place, the tall flowering stem springs from the centre of the tuft of leaves, and grows very rapidly until it reaches a height of 15, 20, or even 40 feet, bearing towards the end a large number of flowers. The best-known species is _A. americ[=a]na_, known as the Maguey or 'tree of wonders', introduced into Spain in 1561, and now extensively grown in the warmer parts of this continent as well as in Asia (India in particular). This and other species yield various important products, the chief being the fibre obtained by maceration from the leaves and roots, and known commercially as American aloe, pita flax, or vegetable silk. The sap when fermented yields a beverage resembling cider, the _pulque_ beer of the Spaniards, or is distilled into an intoxicating spirit (Mezcal or Aguardiente). The leaves are used for feeding cattle; the fibres of the leaves are formed into thread, cord, and ropes, and are also good material for paper-making; an extract from the leaves is used as a substitute for soap; slices of the withered flower-stem are used as razor-strops.

AGDE ([.a]gd), a seaport of southern France, department of Herault, with a cathedral, an ancient and remarkable structure. The trade, chiefly coasting, is extensive. Pop. 9265.

AGE, a period of time representing the whole or a part of the duration of any individual thing or being, but used more specifically in a variety of senses. In law _age_ is applied to the periods of life when men and women are enabled to do that which before, for want of years and consequently of judgment, they could not legally do. A male at twelve years old may take the oath of allegiance; at fourteen is at years of discretion, and therefore may choose his guardian or be an executor, although he cannot act until of age; and at twenty-one is at his own disposal, and may alienate and devise his lands, goods, and chattels. In English law a male at fourteen and a female at twelve may consent or disagree to marriage, but it cannot be celebrated without the consent of the parents or guardians until the parties are of age. A female at fourteen is at years of legal discretion, and may choose a guardian; at seventeen may be an executrix; and at twenty-one may dispose of herself and her lands. So that full age in male or female is twenty-one years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person's birth, who till that time is an infant, and so styled in law. In France majority is attained at twenty-one, whilst the marriageable age is eighteen for males and fifteen for females, subject to consent of parents or guardians. In England no one can take a seat in Parliament under twenty-one, be ordained a priest under twenty-four, nor made a bishop under thirty. In France a seat in the Chamber of Deputies may be taken only at twenty-five and in the Senate at forty. The law of Scotland divides life into three periods--pupilarity, minority, and majority. The first extends up to the time of legal puberty, that is, twelve years for a female and fourteen for a male, when they may marry; the second extends from this point up to twenty-one years, which is the time when majority is attained.

The term is also applied to designate the successive epochs or stages of civilization in history or mythology. Hesiod speaks of five distinct ages:--1. The _golden_ or _Saturnian age_, a patriarchal and peaceful age. 2. The _silver age_, licentious and wicked. 3. The _brazen age_, violent, savage, and warlike. 4. The _heroic age_, which seemed an approximation to a better state of things. 5. The _iron age_, when justice and honour had left the earth. The term is also used in such expressions as the _dark ages_, the _middle ages_, the _Elizabethan age_, &c.

The _Archaeological Ages_ or _Periods_ are three--the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, these names being given in accordance with the materials chiefly employed for weapons, implements, &c., during the

## particular period. The Stone Age of Europe has been subdivided into

two--the Palaeolithic or earlier, and Neolithic or later. The word _age_ in this sense has no reference to the lapse of time--or not necessarily so--but simply refers to the stage at which a people has arrived in its progress towards civilization; thus there are races still in their stone age. The Palaeolithic or earlier stone age in Europe was doubtless immensely earlier than the Neolithic, the latter being marked by implements of much greater finish than the former. See _Stone Age_.

AGEN ([.a]-zha[n.]), one of the oldest towns in France, capital of department Lot-et-Garonne on the Garonne, 74 miles south-east of Bordeaux; see of a bishop; manufactures sailcloth and other articles, and has an extensive trade. The river is here crossed by a stone bridge, a suspension bridge, and a canal aqueduct. Pop. 23,294.

AGENOR (a-j[=e]'nor), a mythical Greek hero, King of Phoenicia, and father of Europa and Cadmus. Also one of the bravest among the Trojans, slain by Neoptolemus.

A'GENT, a person appointed by another to act for or perform any kind of business for him, the latter being called in relation to the former the _principal_. Ambassadors were originally styled diplomatic agents.--In India, it is the name for an officer to whom political power is given to deal with native states.--_Army Agent_ is a kind of military banker, authorized by the Government to manage the monetary affairs of a regiment. There are only a few of these agents, and consequently each has in charge the affairs of a number of different regiments.--_Crown Agents_ are officials appointed by the secretary of state for the colonies to act as commercial and financial agents in this country for the different British colonies that are not self-governing; those that are self-governing appoint their own agents, who are designated _agents-general_.--_Agent_ in mechanics is the general force producing a movement.

AGERATUM (a-jer'a-tum), a genus of composite plants of the warmer parts of America, one species of which, _A. mexic[=a]num_, is a well-known flower-border annual with dense lavender-blue heads. From it have been derived several varieties with flowers of different colours used chiefly as bedding plants.

AGER PUBLICUS. See _Agrarian Law_.

AGESILAUS (a-jes-i-l[=a]'us), a king of Sparta, born in 444 B.C., and elevated to the throne after the death of his brother Agis II. He acquired renown by his exploits against the Persians, Thebans, and Athenians. Though a vigorous ruler, and almost adored by his soldiers, he was of small stature and lame from his birth. He died in Egypt in the winter of 361-360 B.C. His life has been written by Xenophon, Plutarch, and Cornelius Nepos.

AGGLOM'ERATE, in geology, a collective name for masses consisting of angular fragments ejected from volcanoes. When a rock mass consists largely of fragments worn and rounded by water it is called a _conglomerate_, and such masses were originally, no doubt, gravels and shingles on sea beaches and river channels.

AGGLU'TINATE LANGUAGES, languages in which the modifying suffixes are, as it were, glued on to the root, both it and the suffixes retaining a kind of distinctive independence and individuality, as in the Japanese, Turkish, and other Turanian languages, and the Basque language.

AGG'REGATE, a term applied in geology to rocks composed of several different mineral constituents capable of being separated by mechanical means, as granite, where the quartz, felspar, and mica can be separated mechanically.--In botany it is applied to flowers composed of many small florets having a common undivided receptacle, the anthers being distinct and separate, the florets commonly standing on stalks, and each having a

## partial calyx.

AGGRY BEADS, glass beads of various forms and colours, prized by the natives of West Africa as ornaments, and as having magical and medicinal virtues. Their origin and history are not well known. Such beads have been found in various parts of the world, including North and South America, and often in graves. Some authorities believe that the oldest of them are the work of the ancient Egyptians, or the Phoenicians, while the later are probably of Venetian origin.

AGHA, see _Aga_.

AGHRIM, see _Aughrim_.

AGINCOURT ([.a]-zha[n.]-k[:o]r), a village of Northern France, department Pas de Calais, famous for the battle of 25th Oct., 1415, between the French and English. Henry V, King of England, eager to conquer France, landed at Harfleur, took the place by storm, and wished to march through Picardy to Calais, but was met by a French army under the Constable d'Albret. The English numbered about 15,000 men, while the French numbers are variously given as from 50,000 to 150,000. The confined nature and softness of the ground were to the disadvantage of the French, who were drawn up in three columns unnecessarily deep. The English archers attacked the first division in front and in flank, and soon threw them into disorder. The second division fled on the fall of the Duc d'Alencon, who was struck down by Henry himself; and the third division fled without striking a blow. Of the French 10,000 were killed, including the Constable d'Albret, with six dukes and princes. The English lost 1600 men killed, among them the Duke of York, Henry's uncle. After the battle the English continued their march to Calais.

AGIO ([=a]'ji-[=o]), the difference between the real and the nominal value of money, as between paper money and actual coin. It is used to denote both the difference between two currencies in the same country and the variations in the currencies of different countries. The term is derived from the It. _aggiungere_, to add, augment, hence _agiotage_. See _Disagio_ and _Balance of Trade_.

AGIRA ([.a]-j[=e]'r[.a]), (ancient AGYRIUM), a town of Sicily south-west of Etna. Pop. 22,485.

AGIS ([=a]'jis), the name of four Spartan kings, the most important of whom was Agis IV, who succeeded to the throne in 244 B.C., and reigned four years. He attempted a reform of the abuses which had crept into the State--his plan comprehending a redistribution of the land, a division of wealth, and the cancelling of all debts. Opposed by his colleague Leonidas, advantage was taken of his absence, in an expedition against the Aetolians, to depose him. Agis at first took sanctuary in a temple, but he was treacherously seized and strangled, after going through the form of a trial.

AGISTMENT (from the Lat. _ad_, to, and Fr. _giste_, lodging), a term designating the pasturing of horses, cattle, or sheep of another. See _Bailment_.

AGITATORS, an alternative form of _Adjutators_, a name given to the representatives elected in 1647 by the different regiments of the English parliamentary army.

AGLAIA (a-gl[=a]'ya), wife of Hephaistos, in Greek mythology, one of the three Graces, the other two being Euphrosyne and Thalia.

AGLOSSA, a sub-order of anurous amphibia, the frogs, without a tongue.

AGNANO ([.a]-ny[:a]'n[=o]), until 1870 a lake of Italy, west of Naples, occupying probably the crater of an extinct volcano, but now drained.

AG'NATES, in the civil law, relations on the male side, in opposition to _cognates_, relations on the female side.

AGNELLO PASS, see _European War_.

AGNES, St., a virgin martyr who, according to the story, suffered martyrdom because she steadfastly refused to marry Sempronius, the prefect of Rome, and adhered to her religion in spite of repeated temptations and threats, A.D. 303. She was first led to the stake, but as the flames did not injure her she was beheaded. Her festival is celebrated on 21st Jan. For superstitions connected with St. Agnes' Eve see Keats's poem _The Eve of St. Agnes_. Tintoret's most remarkable picture is _The Martyrdom of St. Agnes_.

AGNES, St., the most southerly of the Scilly Islands. A lighthouse was erected here as early as 1680; another on the Wolf Rock near the island was completed in 1858.

AGNESI ([.a]-ny[=a]'s[=e]), Maria Gaetana, a learned Italian lady, born at Milan in 1718. In her ninth year she was able to speak Latin, in her eleventh Greek; she then studied the oriental languages, and at the age of thirteen mastered Hebrew, besides French, Spanish, and German. She was called the 'Walking Polyglot'. She next studied geometry, philosophy, and mathematics. She was appointed, in 1750, professor of mathematics in the University of Bologna, ultimately took the veil, and died in 1799. Her sister, Maria Theresa, composed several cantatas and three operas.

[Illustration: Agni--Moore's _Hindoo Pantheon_]

AG'NI, the Hindu god of fire, second only to Indra, and one of the eight guardians of the world, and especially the lord of the south-east quarter. He is celebrated in many of the hymns of the Rig Veda. He is often represented as of a red or flame colour, and rides on a ram or a goat. He is still worshipped as the personification of fire, and the friction of two sticks for procuring the temple fire is still regarded as the symbol of Agni's miraculous rebirth.

AGNOETAE, a monophysitic sect of the sixth century.

AGNOLO, Baccio d' (b[.a]ch'[=o] d[.a]n'yo-l[=o]), a Florentine wood-carver, sculptor, and architect; designed some of the finest palaces, &c., in Florence, such as the Villa Borghese, the Palais Bartolini, &c.; born 1460, died 1543.

AGNO'MEN (Lat.), an additional name given by the Romans to an individual in allusion to some quality, circumstance, or achievement by which he was distinguished, as _Africanus_ added to P. Cornelius Scipio.

AGNONE ([.a]-ny[=o]'n[=a]), a town of S. Italy, province of Molise, famous for the excellence of its copper wares. Pop. 6000.