Part 3

ABENCERRAGES (ab-en-ser'a-jez), a powerful and distinguished Moorish family of Granada, the chief members of which, thirty-six in number, are said to have been massacred in the Alhambra by the king Abu-Hassan (latter half of the fifteenth century) on account of the attachment of his sister to one of them. There is a room in the Alhambra which is still called 'the hall of the Abencerrages'. The legend has furnished the subject of many poems both Arabic and Spanish (_Las Guerras Civiles de Granada_, by Gines Perez de Hita), and formed the basis for Chateaubriand's _Aventures du dernier des Abencerages_.

AB'EN EZRA (Ibn Ezra), a celebrated Jewish rabbi, born at Toledo about 1093, travelled in pursuit of knowledge in England, France, Italy, and Greece, and is supposed to have died in Rhodes about 1167. He is best known as a commentator on Scripture.

ABENSBERG ([:a]'b[.e]ns-ber_h_), a village of Bavaria, in the Danube valley, below Ingolstadt, celebrated for Napoleon's victory over the Austrians, 20th April, 1809.

ABEOKU'TA. See _Abbeokuta_.

AB'ER, a prefix in Celtic geographical proper names signifying the mouth or entrance of a river into the sea, or into another stream. It is used chiefly in Wales and Scotland, having the same meaning as _inver_.

ABERA'VON, a municipal borough of Wales in Glamorganshire, near the mouth of the Avon in Swansea Bay, embracing Aberavon proper and its harbour Port Talbot. There are collieries, ironworks, copper-works, &c. Since 1918 Aberavon gives its name to a parliamentary division of the county. Pop. (municipal borough) (1921), 15,370.

ABERBROTH'OCK. See _Arbroath_.

ABERCARN', an urban district or town of England, Monmouthshire, 10-1/2 miles north-west of Newport, with collieries, ironworks, &c. Pop. (1921), 20,123.

AB'ERCROMBIE, John, M.D., a Scottish writer on medical and moral science, and an eminent physician, born in Aberdeen, 1781, died at Edinburgh in 1844. He graduated at the university of Edinburgh in 1803, and subsequently pursued his studies in London, returning to Edinburgh in 1804, where he acquired an extensive practice as a physician. Apart from medical treatises, he is known from his _Inquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers_ and his _Philosophy of the Moral Feelings_.

AB'ERCROMBIE, Patrick, a Scottish historical writer and antiquary, born at Forfar, 1656; date of death uncertain. Educated at St. Andrews and abroad, he took the degree of M.D., and practised as a physician in Edinburgh. In 1685 he was appointed physician to James II. His chief work is _Martial Atchievements of the Scots Nation_, 2 vols. folio, 1711-6.

AB'ERCROMBY, Sir Ralph, a British general, born in 1734 in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. He entered the army in 1756 as cornet in the 3rd Dragoon Guards; and he gradually passed through all the ranks of the service until he became a major-general in 1787. He served as lieutenant-general in Flanders, 1793-5, and was then appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in the West Indies, where he captured the islands of Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad, with the settlements of Demerara and Essequibo. On his return in 1798 he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland; and he afterwards held a corresponding command in Scotland. His next and concluding service was in the expedition to Egypt, of which he was commander-in-chief. He landed, after a severe fight, at Aboukir, 8th March, 1801; and on the 21st of the same month the battle of Alexandria was fought, in which Sir Ralph was mortally wounded.

ABERDARE (-d[=a]r'), a town of South Wales, in Glamorganshire, pleasantly situated at the junction of the Cynon and Dare, 4 miles south-west of Merthyr-Tydfil, with extensive coal and iron mines in the vicinity. It belongs to the parliamentary borough of Merthyr-Tydfil. Pop. (1921), 55,010.

ABERDEEN', a university city and royal, municipal, and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, capital of the county of same name, mainly on the north bank of the Dee at its entrance into the North Sea, and between this river and the Don, with a part also on the south bank of the Dee, while the municipal limits include the adjacent Woodside. The site is in places somewhat hilly. Aberdeen is one of the oldest towns in Scotland, and was constituted a royal burgh by William the Lion in 1179. The streets are generally spacious and regular, the houses built of fine grayish-white granite. There are many handsome public buildings, as the County and Municipal Buildings, Marischal College, Grammar School, Infirmary, Arts School, Art Gallery, Music Hall Buildings, public library, &c. The finest street, Union Street, made in 1800, is carried over a valley by a granite bridge having an arch of 132 feet span. The small portion of the city called Old Aberdeen, long a separate town, consists mainly of a single street, stretching northwards to the River Don. Its chief buildings are King's College and St. Machar's Cathedral. Noteworthy features of the college buildings are the crown-tower and the chapel, the latter containing some very fine old carved woodwork. The cathedral, now used as a parish church, was commenced about 1357. There are several bridges over the Dee and Don. Over the latter is a fine old bridge (Brig o' Balgownie) of one arch, erected according to some accounts by Robert Bruce. There are docks 34 acres in area, an extensive tidal harbour and basin, and a graving-dock. The shipping trade is extensive. The industries embrace wool, jute, linen, combs, soap, preserved provisions, chemicals, paper, shipbuilding, engineering, and especially the cutting and polishing of granite. The fishing industry is of great importance. The city of Aberdeen returns two members to Parliament. Pop. 158,969.--_The County of Aberdeen_ forms the north-eastern portion of Scotland, and is bounded on the east and north by the North Sea. Area, 1,261,521 acres. It is divided into six districts (Mar, Formartine, Buchan, Alford, Garioch, and Strathbogie), and is generally hilly, there being in the south-west some of the highest mountains in Scotland, as Ben Macdhui (4295 feet), Cairntoul (4245), Cairngorm (4090), Lochnagar, &c. Its most valuable mineral is granite, large quantities of which are exported. The principal rivers are the Dee and the Don, both of which enter the sea at the town of Aberdeen. Cereals (except wheat) and other crops succeed well, and the number of acres under cultivation is nearly double that of any other Scottish county. Great numbers of cattle are fattened and sent to London and the south. On the banks of the upper Dee is situated Balmoral, a favourite residence of Queen Victoria. Aberdeenshire and Kincardine unite in sending three members to Parliament. Pop. 300,980.--_Aberdeen University_, as now constituted, derives its origin from two different foundations; one, the University and King's College (Old Aberdeen), founded in 1494 by Bishop Elphinstone (who was bishop of Aberdeen from 1483-1514) under the authority of a papal bull obtained at the instance of James IV; the other, Marischal College and University (New Aberdeen), founded in 1593 by Geo. Keith, Earl Marischal, by a charter ratified by act of Parliament. The two foundations existed as separate universities, both having the right of conferring degrees, till 1860, when they were united and incorporated into one university, the University of Aberdeen. Holding the funds of both colleges and dating as from the foundation of King's College in 1494, the university has about 300 bursaries or exhibitions, mostly open to public competition, and a number of money prizes and scholarships. The classes for arts and divinity are held in King's College, and those for law and medicine in Marischal College. There is a full teaching staff in the faculties of arts, medicine, science, and divinity, and two professors in that of law. There are in all 25 professors and some 900 matriculated students. The constitution of the university is similar to that of Edinburgh and the other Scottish universities. The library contains over 80,000 volumes. The university unites with those of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St. Andrews in sending three members to Parliament.

ABERDEEN', George Hamilton Gordon, Earl of, British statesman, born 28th Jan., 1784, died 14th Dec., 1860. He began his diplomatic life in 1801 as attache to Lord Cornwallis's embassy to France, which resulted in the signing of the treaty of Amiens. In 1806 he entered Parliament as a Scottish representative peer, and in 1813 was entrusted with a successful mission to Austria for the purpose of inducing the emperor to join the coalition of sovereigns against Bonaparte. In 1814 he was created a British peer, and in 1828 he became foreign secretary in the Duke of Wellington's administration. During the short premiership of Sir Robert Peel in 1834-5 he acted as colonial secretary, and when Sir Robert again became premier in 1841 he took office as Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He was a warm supporter of Catholic Emancipation, and endeavoured, though without result, to bring in a compromise bill in 1846, during the struggle which divided the Established Church of Scotland. Quitting office with his chief in 1846, he came, on the death of Peel in 1850, to be regarded as the leader of the Conservative free-trade party. On the Derby ministry failing to maintain its place, Lord Aberdeen returned to office in the end of 1852 as head of a coalition ministry. The principal event which marked his administration was the Crimean war; but the bad management of this irritated the country, and the ministry resigned in 1855. This event marks the close of Lord Aberdeen's public career. From his travels and his acquaintance with Greece and its antiquities he was called by Byron "the travelled thane, Athenian Aberdeen".

AB'ERDEVINE. See _Siskin_.

ABERGAVEN'NY (sometimes pron. ab-[.e]r-ge'ni, the Roman GOBANNIUM), a municipal borough and market town of England, in Monmouthshire, situated amid delightful scenery in the beautiful valley of the Usk. It manufactures woollens and shoes, and has considerable trade. Pop. (1921), 9252.

ABERNETHY (ab-[.e]r-neth'i), John, an eminent English surgeon, of somewhat eccentric habits, born in 1764 in London, a pupil of the celebrated John Hunter. In 1787 he became assistant surgeon at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and shortly after lecturer on anatomy and surgery. In 1815 he was elected principal surgeon, and under his auspices the hospital attained a celebrity which it had never before enjoyed. He published _Surgical Observations_; _The Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases_; and _Lectures_, explanatory of Hunter's opinions of the vital processes; besides smaller essays. He died in 1831.

ABERRA'TION, in astronomy, the difference between the true and the observed position of a heavenly body, the result of the combined effect of the motion of light and the motion of the eye of the observer caused by the annual or diurnal motion of the earth; or of the motion of light and that of the body from which the light proceeds. When the auxiliary cause is the annual revolution of the earth round the sun it is called _annual aberration_, in consequence of which a fixed star may appear as much as 20.4" from its true position; when the auxiliary cause is the diurnal rotation of the earth on its axis it is called _diurnal aberration_, which amounts at the greatest to 0.3"; and when the auxiliary cause is the motion of the body from which the light proceeds it is called _planetary aberration_.

ABERSYCHAN (ab-[.e]r-sik'an), a town of Monmouthshire, England, about 10 miles north of Newport, in a rich coal-mining district. Pop. (1921), 27,089.

ABERTIL'LERY, an urban district or town of England, Monmouthshire, 16 miles north-west of Newport, with tinplate works, coal-mines, &c. Since 1918 it gives its name to a parliamentary division of the county. Pop. (1921), 38,805.

ABERYSTWITH (ab-[.e]r-ist'with), a seaport and fashionable watering-place of Wales, county of Cardigan, on Cardigan Bay. The town is well built, and the surrounding country is picturesque. There is here a University College of the University of Wales, occupying a handsome Gothic building. Pop. (1921), 12,289.

ABEYANCE, in law, a legal term meaning that the title to dignity, office, or real or personal property is not vested in anyone, but is suspended until the right thereto is determined by the appearance of the true owner. Under English law, when a nobleman dies leaving no male issue, the title, if descendible to his heirs general, as in the case of baronies by writ, is said to be in abeyance, until the king, by his prerogative, terminates the abeyance in favour of one of the co-heiresses. See _Property_.

ABGAR, title of the Syrian rulers at Edessa. The fourteenth prince of the dynasty, a contemporary of the Roman emperor Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), is said to have written a letter to our Saviour.

ABHOR'RERS, in English history a name given to the Court party in 1679-80, who, on petitions being presented to Charles II praying him to summon Parliament, signed counter-petitions expressing _abhorrence_ for those who were thus attempting to encroach on the royal prerogative.

A'BIB, the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and the seventh of the civil year, corresponding to the latter part of March and the first of April. Also called _Nisan_.

ABIES (ab'i-es), a genus of trees. See _Fir_ and _Spruce_.

AB'INGDON, a town of England, in Berkshire, 50 miles north-west of London, on the right bank of the Thames. It was an important place in Anglo-Saxon times, and Offa, King of Mercia, had a palace in it. Formerly a parliamentary borough, it now gives name to a parliamentary division of Berks. Pop. (1921), 7167.

ABIOGENESIS (a-b[=i]-o-jen'e-sis), the doctrine or hypothesis that living matter may be produced from non-living; spontaneous generation. See _Generation (Spontaneous)_.

ABJURA'TION, Oath of, an oath which by an English Act passed in 1701 had to be taken by all holders of public offices, clergymen, teachers, members of the universities, and lawyers, abjuring and renouncing the exiled Stuarts: superseded in 1858 by a more comprehensive oath, declaring allegiance to the present royal family.--_Abjuration of the realm_ was an oath that a person guilty of felony, who had taken sanctuary, might take. This oath permitted him to go into exile, and not return on pain of death, unless by the king's permission. In ecclesiastical language the term is applied to renunciation of heresy.

ABKHA'SIA, a Russian district, at the western extremity and south of the Caucasus, between the mountains and the Black Sea. The Abkhasians form a race distinguished from their neighbours in various respects. At one time they were Christians, but afterwards adopted Mahommedanism. Many of them migrated into Turkish territory in 1864 and 1878.

ABLAINCOURT. See _Somme_.

AB'LATIVE, a term applied to a case of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in Latin, Sanskrit, and some other languages; originally given to the case in Latin because separation from (_ab_, from _latus_, taken) was considered to be one of the chief ideas expressed by the case.

ABNAKI, a Confederacy of Algonquin tribes, formerly occupying what is now Maine and Southern New Brunswick. Their territory, to which they removed after 1724, is in Canada on the St. John River and at St. Francis.

ABO ([=o]'b[=o]), a town and port in Finland, the see of an archbishop, and the capital of Finland till 1819, when it was supplanted by Helsingfors. Pop. (1919), 56,168.

ABOLITIONISTS. See _Slavery_.

ABOMA'SUM, or ABOMA'SUS, the fourth stomach of ruminating animals, next the _omasum_ or third stomach.

ABO'MEY, or AGBO'MEY, the capital of the French territory and former kingdom of Dahomey, in West Africa, in a fertile plain, near the coast of Guinea. Pop. 11,000.

ABORIGINES (ab-o-rij'i-n[=e]z), the name given in general to the earliest known inhabitants of a country, those who are supposed to have inhabited the land from the beginning (Lat. _ab origine_). (The singular of the word is _Aboriginal_, or sometimes _Aborigine_.)

ABORTION, in medicine, the expulsion of the foetus before it is capable of independent existence. This may take place at any period of pregnancy before the completion of the twenty-eighth week. A child born after that time is said to be _premature_. Abortion may be the result of the general debility or ill-health of the mother, of a plethoric constitution, of special affections of the uterus, of severe exertions, sudden shocks, &c. Various medicinal substances, generally violent emmenagogues or drastic medicines, are believed to have the effect of provoking abortion, and are sometimes resorted to for this purpose. Attempts to procure abortion are punishable by law in all civilized states. When the death of the woman ensues as a result of the attempt, the crime is murder.--The term is applied in botany to denote the suppression by non-development of one or more of the parts of a flower, which consists normally of four whorls--namely, calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sir W. O. Russell, _Crimes and Misdemeanours_ (3 vols.); A. S. Taylor, _Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence_.

ABOUKIR ([.a]-b[:o]-k[=e]r'; ancient ZEPHYRION, near ruins of Can[=o]pus), a small village on the Egyptian coast, 10 miles east of Alexandria. In Aboukir Bay took place the naval battle in which Nelson annihilated a French fleet on the night of 1st and 2nd Aug., 1798, thus totally destroying the naval power of France in the Mediterranean. Near this place, on 25th July, 1799, Napoleon defeated the Turks under Mustapha; and on 8th March, 1801, Sir Ralph Abercromby effected the landing of a British army against the French.

ABOU-SIMBEL. See _Ipsambul_.

ABOUT ([.a]-b[:o]), Edmond Francois Valentin, a French novelist and miscellaneous writer, born 14th Feb., 1828, died 17th Jan., 1885. He was educated at the Lycee Charlemagne and the Ecole Normale, Paris; and was sent at Government expense to the French school at Athens; on his return to Paris, he devoted himself to literature. Principal novels: _Tolla_, _Le Roi des Montagnes_, _Germaine_, _Madelon_, _Le Fellah_, _La Vieille Roche_, _L'Infame_, _Les Mariages de Province_, _Le Roman d'un Brave Homme_ (against Zola and the naturalist school), &c.; miscellaneous works: _La Grece Contemporaine_, _La Question Romaine_, _La Prusse en 1860_, _Rome Contemporaine_, &c. In 1884 he was elected a member of the Academy. About wrote in a bright, humorous, and interesting style, and his novels have been very popular.

ABRACADAB'RA, a word of Eastern origin used in incantations. When written on paper so as to form a triangle, the first line containing the word in full, the one below it omitting the last letter, and so on each time until only one letter remained, and worn as an amulet, it was supposed to be an antidote against certain diseases.

A B R A C A D A B R A A B R A C A D A B R A B R A C A D A B A B R A C A D A A B R A C A D A B R A C A A B R A C A B R A A B R A B A

A'BRAHAM, originally ABRAM (Assyrian _Aburamu_, lofty father), the greatest of the Hebrew patriarchs, was born at Ur in Chaldea in 2153 B.C. according to Hales, in 1996 B.C. according to Ussher, while Bunsen says he lived 2850 B.C. He migrated, accompanied by his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, to Canaan, where he led a nomadic life, which extended over 175 years. His two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, were the progenitors of the Jews and Arabs respectively.

ABRAHAM, Heights or Plains of. See _Quebec_.

ABRAHAM A SANTA CLARA, a German pulpit orator, whose real name was Ulrich Megerle, born in 1644. As a preacher he acquired so great a reputation that, in 1669, he was appointed court-preacher in Vienna, where he died in 1709. His sermons are full of homely, grotesque humour, often of coarse wit, and impartial severity towards all classes of society. His principal work and masterpiece is _Judas, the Archknave_ (4 vols.), 1686-95.

ABRAHAMITES, 1, A sect of Syrian Deists of the ninth century, whose doctrines were allied to those of the Paulicians.--2, A sect of Bohemian Deists of the late eighteenth century, who professed to be followers of John Huss and claimed that they followed the religion of Abraham before his circumcision. Believing in one God, they rejected the Trinity, and accepted nothing of the Bible except the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. Refusing to join either the Jewish or Christian folds, they were excluded from the edict of toleration promulgated by the Emperor Joseph II, and expelled to Transylvania in 1783. Some were martyred, others became Roman Catholics.

ABRAHAM-MEN, originally a set of vagabonds who had been discharged from Bethlehem Hospital, London; but as many assumed, without right, the badge worn by them, the term came to signify an impostor who travelled about the country seeking alms, under the pretence of lunacy.

ABRAM, a town (urban district) of England, Lancashire, 3-1/2 miles from Wigan; a colliery centre. Pop. (1921), 6858.

AB'RAMIS, a genus of fishes. See _Bream_.

ABRAN'TES, a fortified town of Portugal, on the right bank of the Tagus (here navigable), 73 miles north-east of Lisbon, with which it carries on an active trade. Pop. 8000.

ABRANTES, Duke of. See _Junot_.

ABRAX'AS (or ABRASAX) STONES, the name given to stones or gems found in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere, cut into almost every variety of shape, but generally having a human trunk and arms, with a cock's head, two serpents' tails for the legs, &c., and the mystico-theosophical word Abraxas or Abrasax in Greek characters engraved upon them. Eventually they came to be used as charms and amulets. Basilides (A.D. 130) and other gnostics gave the name of Abraxas to Almighty God, the Supreme Deity, since the numerical value of its letters in Greek gave the sum of 365, and they believed that 365 orders of spirits emanated from God. Not all abraxas stones, however, are of gnostic origin, just as the name of abraxas cannot be applied to all gnostic stones. Cf. King: _The Gnostics and their Remains_, London, 1887.

ABRIN, or ABRINE, a poisonous substance, being the active principle in the seeds of _Abrus precatorius_ (see _Abrus_). A minute quantity introduced into the blood is fatal to many animals, but it is employed in ailments of the eyes, and as a remedy for lupus and certain skin diseases.

ABROGA'TION, the repealing of a law by a competent authority.

ABROLHOS (a-brole'-yoce) a group of rocky islands 50 miles off the east coast of Brazil, the largest of which is Santa Barbara. Another group called Abrolhos lies off the west coast of Australia.

ABRO'MA, a genus of small trees, natives of India, Java, &c., one species of which, _A. augusta_, has a bark yielding a strong white fibre, from which good cordage is made.

ABRUPT', in botany, terminating suddenly, as if a part were cut short off.

AB'RUS, a genus of papilionaceous plants, order Leguminosae, one species of which, _Abrus precatorius_, a delicate twining shrub, a native of the East Indies, and found also in tropical parts of Africa and America, has round brilliant scarlet seeds, used to make necklaces and rosaries. Its root is sweetish and mucilaginous, and is used as a substitute for liquorice _(Indian liquorice_). The seeds yield a strong poison.

ABRUZZI ([.a]-br[u:]t's[=e]), a division of Italy on the Adriatic, between Umbria and the Marches on the north, and Apulia on the south. It is united with Molise to form a _compartimento_, comprising the four provinces of Aquila degli Abruzzi, Campobasso, Chicti, and Teramo. The sea-coast of about 80 miles does not possess a single harbour. The interior is rugged and mountainous, being traversed throughout by the Apennines. The lower parts consist of fertile plains and valleys, yielding corn, wine, oil, almonds, saffron, &c.; area, 6387 sq. miles. Pop. 1,480,748.