صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

|

The wide introduction of the rabbit, as a wild animal, is well known. Amounting to a serious pest in Australasian colonies, it is also established in the Falklands and Kerguelen; its presence in much of Europe is attributed to early acclimatization, as it seems anciently to have been confined to the Iberian peninsula. The hare has been established in New Zealand and Barbadoes. Few other rodents have been designedly naturalized, but the North American grey squirrel (Sciurus cinereus) appears to be established as a wild animal in Woburn Park, Bedfordshire, England, and may probably spread thence.

To check the increase of the rabbit, stoats, weasels and polecats (the last in the form of the domesticated ferret) were introduced into New Zealand on a very large scale in the last quarter of the 19th century. They have spread widely, and have not confined their depredations to the rabbits, so that the indigenous flightless birds have suffered largely.

The observations of Spruce are of themselves almost conclu- | introduced locally. The sambar, or one or other of its subsive as to the possibility of Europeans becoming acclimatized species, has also been naturalized in Mauritius, and in the in the tropics; and if it is objected that this evidence applies Marianne Islands in the open Pacific. only to the dark-haired southern races, we are fortunately able to point to facts, almost equally well authenticated and conclusive, in the case of one of the typical Germanic races. In South Africa the Dutch have been settled and nearly isolated for over 200 years, and have kept themselves almost or quite free from native intermixture. They are still preponderatingly fair in complexion, while physically they are tall and strong. They marry young and have large families. The population, according to a census taken in 1798, was under. 22,000. In 1865 it was near 182,000, the majority being of " Dutch, German or French origin, mostly descendants of original settlers." In more recent times, the conditions have been so greatly changed by immigration, that the later statistics cease to have a definite meaning with regard to acclimatization. We have here a population which doubled itself every twenty-two years; and the greater part of this rapid increase must certainly be due to the old European immigrants. In the Moluccas, where the Dutch have had settlements for 250 years, some of the inhabit- | ants trace their descent to early immigrants; and these, well as most of the people of Dutch descent in the east, are quite as fair as their European ancestors, enjoy excellent health, and are very prolific. But the Dutch accommodate themselves admirably to a tropical climate, doing much of their work early in the morning, dressing very lightly, and living a quiet, temperate and cheerful life. They also pay great attention to drainage and general cleanliness. In addition to these examples, it is obvious that the rapid increase of English-speaking populations in the United States and in Australia is far greater than can be explained by immigration, and shows two conspicuous examples of acclimatization.

as

On the whole, we seem justified in concluding that, under favourable conditions, and with a proper adaptation of means to the end in view, man may become acclimatized with at least as much certainty and rapidity (counting by generations rather than by years) as any of the lower animals. The greatest difficulty in his way is not temperature, but the presence of parasitic diseases to resist which his body has not been prepared, and modern knowledge is rapidly defining these dangers and the modes of avoiding them. (A. R. W.)

APPENDIX

The task of collecting information as to animals which have become permanently naturalized away from their native haunts is anything but easy, as few regular records have been kept by acclimatizers. Moreover, recorders of local fauna have been almost unanimous in ignoring the introduced forms, except when they have had occasion to comment on the effects, real or supposed, of these immigrants on aboriginal faunas. Mammals. It is unnecessary here to dwell upon the worldwide distribution of the two rats Mus rattus and M. decumanus, and of the house-mouse M. musculus; their introduction has always been involuntary. Similarly nearly all our domestic mammals except the sheep have become feral somewhere or other, whether by intentional liberation or by escape; but the smaller ones more than the larger, such as pigs, goats, dogs and cats. This has been especially the case in Hawaii and New Zealand; in America, Australia and Hawaii, horses and cattle are also feral. Feral pigs are numerous in New Zealand.

The domestic Indian buffalo (Bos bubalus) exists as a wild animal in North Australia; it is very liable to revert to a wild state, being little altered from its still-existing wild ancestor. A more curious case is that of the one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius), a beast only known in domestication, and that in arid countries; yet a number of these have become feral in the Spanish marshes, where they wade about like quadrupedal flamingoes.

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is now widely distributed as a wild animal over New Zealand, where also the fallow-deer (C. dama) and the Indian sambar (C. aristotelis or unicolor) have been

Another carnivore of very similar habits, the Indian mongoose (Herpestus griseus or H. mungo), has been naturalized in Jamaica, whence it has been carried to other West Indian Islands, and in the Hawaiian group. It has also been tried, but unsuccessfully, in Australia. The first introduction into Jamaica took place in 1872, and ten years later the animal was credited with saving many thousands of pounds annually by its destruction of rats. But before an equal space of time had further elapsed, it had itself become a pest; the most recent information, however, is to the effect that its numbers are now on the decline, and that the disturbed faunal equilibrium is being readjusted. The civets, being celebrated for their odoriferous secretion, are likely animals to have been naturalized. W. T. Blanford (Fauna of British India," Mammals ") thinks that the presence of the Indian form, Viverricula malaccensis, in Socotra, the Comoro Islands and Madagascar is due to the assistance of

man.

The common fox of Europe has been introduced into Australia, where it is destructive to the native fauna and to lambs. Among primates, a Ceylonese monkey (Macacus pilealus) has been naturalized in Mauritius for centuries, the circumstances of introduction being unknown.

[ocr errors]

The common Australian opossum" or phalanger (Trichosurus vulpecula) has been naturalized in New Zealand, although very destructive to fruit trees; the value of its fur being probably the motive. It is said that the pelage of the New Zealand specimens is superior, as might be expected from the colder climate.

Birds. The introduction of mammals has been largely influenced by economic conditions, when, indeed, it was not absolutely accidental and unavoidable; but in the case of birds it has been more gratuitous, so to speak, in many cases, and hence is looked upon with especial dislike by naturalists. The domestic birds have comparatively seldom become feral, doubtless, as C. Darwin points out, from the reduction of their powers of flight in many cases. The guinea-fowl, however, has long been in this condition in Jamaica and St Helena, and the fowl in Hawaii and other Polynesian islands. The pheasant has been naturalized in the United States, New Zealand, Hawaii and St Helena. Its naturalization in western Europe is very ancient, but the race supposed to have been introduced by the Romans (Phasianus colchicus) has been much modified within the last century or two by the introduction of the ring-necked Chinese form (P. torquatus), which produces fertile hybrids with the old breed. Thus those acclimatized were usually, no doubt, of mixed blood, and further introductions of pure Chinese stock have tended to make the latter the dominant form, at any rate in the United States (where it is erroneously called Mongolian1) and in New Zealand. In Hawaii and St Helena the ring-neck appears to have been the only pheasant introduced pure, but in the former the Japanese race (P. versicolor) is also naturalized. bird, has recently been introduced into England. 1 The true Mongolian pheasant (P. mongolicus), a very different

[ocr errors]

The golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) is locally estab- | with the house-sparrow in the extent of its distribution by man lished in the United States, as appear to be other pheasants of is the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), now established all over less common species. The Reeves' pheasant (P. reevesi) is at New Zealand, as well as in Australia, the United States and large on some English estates. Of the partridges, the continental Jamaica. It bears a good character, and is one of the marked red-leg (Caccabis rufa) is established in England, and its ally, successes of naturalization. The redpoll (Acanthis linaria), the Asiatic chukore (C. chukar), in St Helena, as is the Cali- chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and greenfinch (Chloris chloris) are fornian quail (Lophortyx californica) in New Zealand and Hawaii. established in New Zealand, the last named being a pest there, The latter, however, though thriving as an aviary bird, has as is also the cirl-bunting (Emberiza cirlus)—the yellow-hammer failed at large in England, as did the bob-white (Ortyx virginianus) | (E. citrinella) being perhaps confused with this also. both there and in New Zealand.

The desirable character of the grouse as game-birds has led to many attempts at their acclimatization, but usually these have been unsuccessful; the red grouse (Lagopus scoticus), however, the only endemic British bird, is naturalized in some parts of Europe.

Of waterfowl, the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is naturalized to a small extent in Britain, and also, to a less degree, the Egyptian goose (Chenalopex aegyptiacus); the latter bird also occurs wild in New Zealand. The modern presence of the black swan of Australia (Chenopis atrata) in New Zealand appears to be due to a natural irruption of the species about half a century ago as much as to acclimatization by man, if not more so.

Birds of prey are, unjustly enough, regarded with so little favour that few attempts have been made to naturalize them; the continental little owl (Athene noctua), however, has for some time been well established in England, where it has hardly, if ever, appeared naturally.

Pigeons have been very little naturalized; the tame bird has become feral locally in various countries, and the Chinese turtledove (Turtur chinensis) is established in Hawaii, as is the small East Indian zebra dove (Geopelia striata) in the Seychelles, and the allied Australian (G. tranquilla) in St Helena. There has also been very little naturalization of parrots, but the rosella parrakeet of Australia (Platycercus eximius) is being propagated by escaped captives in the north island of New Zealand, and its ally the mealy rosella (P. pallidiceps) is locally wild in Hawaii, the stock in this case having descended from a single pair intentionally liberated. Attempts to naturalize that well-known Australian grass-parrakeet the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) in England have so far proved abortive, and none of the species experimented with in Norfolk and Bedfordshire effected a settlement. The greyheaded love-bird (Agapornis cana) of Madagascar is established in the Seychelles. Some of the passerine birds have been the most widely distributed, especially the house-sparrow (Passer domesticus), which is now an integral, and very troublesome, part of the fauna in the Australasian States and in North America. It is, in fact, as notorious an example of over-successful acclimatization as the rabbit, but in Hutton and Drummond's recent work on the New Zealand animals (London, 1905) it is not regarded in this light, considering that some very common exotic birds were needed to keep down the insects, which it certainly did. Even in the United States also, it has been found a useful destroyer of weed-seeds. The house-sparrow is also feral in Argentina, some of the West Indian islands, Hawaii and the Andamans.

The allied tree-sparrow (P. montanus) has been locally naturalized in the United States; it is a more desirable bird, being less prolific and pugnacious, but it is expelled from towns by the house-sparrow.

The so-called Java sparrow (Munia oryzivora), although a destructive bird to rice, has been widely distributed by accident or design, and is now found in several East Indian islands besides Java, in south China, St Helena, India, Zanzibar and the east African coast. An allied but much smaller weaver-finch, a form of the spice-bird (Munia nisoria punctata), is introduced and well distributed over the Hawaiian islands. The little rooibek of South Africa (Estrilda astrild) has been so long and well established in St Helena that it is known in the bird trade as the St Helena waxbill, and the brilliant scarlet weaver of Madagascar (Foudia madagascariensis) inhabits as an imported bird Mauritius, the Seychelles and even the remote Chagos Islands. Returning to the true finches, the only one which can compete

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

Among starlings, the Indian mynah (generally the house mynah, Acridotheres tristis, but some other species seem to have been confused with this) has been naturalized in the Andamans, Seychelles, Réunion, Australia, Hawaii and parts of New Zealand. Its alleged destructiveness to the Hawaiian avifauna seems open to doubt.

The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is naturalized in New Zealand, Australia and to some extent in the United States. Thrushes have not been widely introduced, but the song-thrush and blackbird (Turdus musicus and Merula merula) are common in New Zealand; attempts were made, but unsuccessfully, to establish the latter in the United States. The so-called hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis), really a member of this group, is one of the successful introductions into New Zealand. The robin (Erithacus rubecula) failed there. Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) and the Australian "magpie" or piping crow (Gymnorhina) are to be found in New Zealand, but only locally, especially the former.

Reptiles and Amphibians.-Very little naturalization has been effected, or indeed apparently attempted, in regard to these groups, but the occurrence of the edible frog of the continent of Europe (Rana esculenta) as an introduced animal in certain British localities is well known. An Australian tree-frog (Hyla peronii) is naturalized in many parts of the north island of New Zealand.

Fish. The instances of naturalization in this class are few, but important. The common carp (Cyprinus carpio), originally. a Chinese fish, has for centuries been acclimatized in Europe, where indeed it is in places a true domestic creature, with definite variations. It is, however, quite feral also, and has been introduced into North America.

The Prussian carp (Carassius vulgaris) is established in New Zealand, and the nearly-allied goldfish, a domestic form (C.. auratus) of Chinese origin, `has been widely distributed as a pet, and is feral in some places.

The gourami (Osphromenus olfax) of the East Indies has been established in Mauritius and Cayenne, being a valuable foodfish.

The most important case of naturalization of fish is, however, the establishment of some Salmonidae in Tasmania and New Zealand. These are the common trout and sea-trout (Salmo fario and S. trutta); they attain a great size. So far, attempts to establish the true salmon in alien localities have been unsuccessful, but the American rainbow trout (S. irideus) has thriven in New Zealand, and the brook char of the same continent (S. fontinalis) inhabits at least one stream there to the exclusion of the common trout.

[ocr errors]

Invertebrates. Many insects and other invertebrates, mostly noxious, have been accidentally naturalized, and some have been deliberately introduced, like the honey-bee, now feral in Australasia and North America, and the humble-bee, imported into New Zealand to effect the fertilization of red clover.

The spread of the European house-fly has been deliberately encouraged in New Zealand, as wherever it penetrates the native flesh-fly, a more objectionable pest, disappears.

The wide distribution of three common cockroaches (Periplaneta americana, Blatta orientalis and Ectobia germanica) is well known, but these are chiefly house-insects.

די

[merged small][ocr errors]

The Romans are credited with having purposely introduced the edible snail (Helix pomatia) into England, and the common garden snail and slugs (Helix aspersa, Limax agrestis and Arion hortensis) have been unwittingly, established in New Zealand, In that country, also, the earthworms of Europe are noticed to replace native forms as the ground is broken.

General Remarks.-A great deal has been said about the upsetting of the balance of nature by naturalization, and as to the ill-doing of exotic forms. But certain considerations should be borne in mind in this connexion. In the first place, naturalization experiments fail at least as often as they succeed, and often 'quite inexplicably. Thus, the linnet and partridge have failed to establish themselves in New Zealand. This may ultimately throw some light on the disappearance of native forms; for these have at times declined without any assignable cause.

Secondly, native forms often disappear with the clearing off of the original forest or other vegetation, in which case their recession is to a certain extent unavoidable, and the fauna which has established itself in the presence of cultivation is needed to replace them.

Thirdly, the ill effect of introduced forms on existing ones may often be due rather to the spread of disease and parasites than to actual attack; thus, in Hawaii the native birds have been found suffering from a disease which attacks poultry. And the recession of the New Zealand earthworms and flies before exotic forms probably falls under this category. As man cannot easily avoid introducing parasites, and must keep domestic animals and till the land, a certain disturbance in aboriginal faunas is absolutely unavoidable. Under certain circumstances, however, the native animals may recover, for in some cases they even profit by man's advent, and at times themselves become pests, like the Kea parrot (Nestor notabilis), which attacks sheep in New Zealand, and the bobolink or rice-bird (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) in North America. Finally, it should never be forgotten that the worst enemies of declining forms have been collectors who have not given these species the chance of recovering themselves. (F. FN.) ACCOLADE (from Ital. accolata, derived from Lat. collum, the neck), a ceremony anciently used in conferring knighthood; but whether it was an actual embrace (according to the use of the modern French word accolade), or a slight blow on the neck or cheek, is not agreed. Both these customs appear to be of great antiquity. Gregory of Tours writes that the early kings of France, in conferring the gilt shoulder-belt, kissed the knights on the left cheek; and William the Conqueror is said to have made use of the blow in conferring the honour of knighthood on his son Henry. At first it was given with the naked fist, a veritable box on the ear, but for this was substituted a gentle stroke with the flat of the sword on the side of the neck, or on either shoulder as well. In Great Britain the sovereign, in conferring knighthood, still employs this latter form of accolade. "Accolade" is also a technical term in music-printing for a sort of brace joining separate staves; and in architecture it denotes a form of decoration on doors and windows.

ACCOLTI, BERNARDO (1465-1536), Italian poet, born at Arezzo, was the son of Benedetto Accolti. Known in his own day as l' Unico Aretino, he acquired great fame as a reciter of impromptu verse. He was listened to by large crowds, composed of the most learned men and the most distinguished prelates of the age. Among others, Cardinal Bembo has left on record a testimony to his extraordinary talent. His high reputation with his contemporaries seems scarcely justified by the poems he published, though they give evidence of brilliant fancy. It is probable that he succeeded better in his extemporary productions than in those which were the fruit of deliberation. His works, under the title Virginia, Comedia, Capitoli e Strambotti di Messer Bernardo Accolti Aretino, were published at Florence in 1513, and have been several times reprinted.

ACCOLTI, PIETRO (1455-1532), brother of the preceding, known as the cardinal of Ancona, was born in Florence on the 15th of March 1455, and died at Rome on the 12th of December 1532 (Ciaconi, Vitae Pontificum, 1677, iii. 295). He was made bishop of Ancona, 1505, and cardinal on the 17th of March 1511, by Julius II. He was abbreviator under Leo X., and in that capacity drew up in 1520 the bull against Luther (L. Cardella, Memorie Storiche de' Cardinali, 1793, iii. 450). He held successively the suburban sees of Albano and Sabina, also the sees of Cadiz, Maillezais, Arras and Cremona, and was made archbishop of Ravenna, 1524, by Clement VII.

F. Cristofori (Storia dei Cardinali, 1888) and others have confused him with his nephew BENEDETTO (1497-1549), son of Michaele; who followed him in several of his preferments, was made cardinal, 1527, by Clement VII., and is known as a writer in behalf of papal claims and as a Latin poet.

ACCOMMODATION (Lat. accommodare, to make fit, from ad, to, cum, with, and modus, measure), the process of fitting, adapting, adjusting or supplying with what is needed (c.g. housing).

In theology the term "accommodation" is used rather loosely to describe the employment of a word, phrase, sentence or idca, in a context other than that in which it originally occurred; the actual wording of the quotation may be modified to a greater or lesser extent. Such accommodation, though sometimes purely literary or stylistic, generally has the definite purpose of instruction, and is frequently used both in the New Testament and in pulpit utterances in all periods as a means of producing a reasonably accurate impression of a complicated idea in the minds of those who are for various reasons unlikely to comprehend it otherwise. There are roughly three main kinds. (1) A later Biblical passage quotes from an earlier, partly as a literary device, but also with a view to demonstration. Sometimes it is plain that the writer deliberately" accommodates " a quotation (cf. John xviii. 8, 9 with xvii. 12). But New Testament quotations of Old Testament predictions are often for us accommodations--striking or forced as the case may be

[ocr errors]

while the New Testament writer, "following the exegetical methods current among the Jews of his time, Matthew ii. 15, 18, xxvi. 31, xxvii. 9" (S. R. Driver in Zechariah in Century Bible, pp. 259, 271), puts them forward as arguments. To say that he is merely describing a New Testament fact in Old Testament phraseology" may be true of the result rather than of his design. (2) Much besides in the Bible-parable, metaphor, &c.-has been called an "accommodation," or divine condescension to human weakness. (3) German 18th-century rationalism (see APOLOGETICS) held that the Biblical writers made great use of conscious accommodation-intending moral commonplaces when they seemed to be enunciating Christian dogmas. Another expression for this, used, e.g., by J. S. Semler, is "econ

ACCOLTI, BENEDETTO (1415-1466), Italian jurist and historian, was born at Arezzo, in Tuscany, of a noble family, several members of which were distinguished like himself for their attainments in law. He was for some time professor of jurisprudence in the university of Florence, and on the death of the celebrated Poggio, in 1459, became chancellor of the Florentine republic. He died at Florence. In conjunction with his brother Leonardo, he wrote in Latin a history of the first crusade, entitled De Bello a Christianis contra Barbaros gesto pro Christi Sepulchro et ·Judaea recuperandis libri tres (Venice, 1432, translated into Italian, 1543, and into French, 1620), which, though itself of little interest, is said to have furnished Tasso with the historicomy," which also occurs in the kindred sense of "reserve" (or basis for his Jerusalem Delivered. Another work of Accolti's De Praestantia Virorum sui Aevi-was published at Parma in 1689. His brother Francesco (1418-1483) was also a distinguished jurist, and was the author of Consilia seu responsa (Pisa, 1481); Commentaria super lib. ii. decretalium (Bologna, 1481); Commentaria (Pavia, 1493); de Balneis Puteolanis (1475).

[ocr errors]

of Disciplina Arcani-a modern term for the supposed early Catholic habit of reserving esoteric truths). Isaac Williams on Reserve in Religious Teaching, No. 8o of Tracts for the Times, made a great sensation; see R. W. Church's comments in The Oxford Movement. Strictly, accommodation (2) or (3) modifies, in form or in substance, the content of religious belief; reserve,

from prudence or cunning, withholds part. "Economy" is used in both senses.

ACCOMMODATION BILL. An accommodation bill, as its name implies, is a bill of exchange accepted and sometimes endorsed without any receipt of value in order to afford temporary pecuniary aid to the person accommodated. (See BILL OF EXCHANGE.)

[ocr errors]

ACCOMPANIMENT (i.e. that which "accompanies "), a musical term for that part of a vocal or instrumental composition added to support and heighten the principal vocal or instrumental part; either by means of other vocal parts, single instruments or the orchestra. The accompaniment may be obbligato or ad libitum, according as it forms an essential part of the composition or not. The term obbligato or obbligato accompaniment is also used for an independent instrumental solo accompanying a vocal piece. Owing to the early custom of only writing the accompaniment in outline, by means of a figured bass," to be filled in by the performer, and to the changes in the number, quality and types of the instruments of the orchestra," additional " accompaniments have been written for the works of the older masters; such are Mozart's "additional " accompaniments to Handel's Messiah or those to many of the elder Bach's works by Robert Franz. In common parlance any support given, e.g. by the piano, to a voice or instrument is loosely called an accompaniment, which may be merely is loosely called an accompaniment, which may be merely "vamped " by the introduction of a few chords, or may rise to the dignity of an artistic composition. In the history of song the evolution of the art side of an accompaniment is important, and in the higher forms the vocal and instrumental parts practically constitute a duet, in which the instrumental part may be at least as important as that of the voice.

ACCOMPLICE (from Fr. complice, conspirator, Lat. complex, a sharer, associate, complicare, to fold together; the ac- is possibly due to confusion with "accomplish," to complete, Lat. complere, to fill up), in law, one who is associated with another or others in the commission of a crime, whether as principal or accessory. The term is chiefly important where one of those charged with a crime turns king's evidence in the expectation of obtaining a pardon for himself. Accordingly, as his evidence is tainted with self-interest, it is a rule of practice to direct a jury to acquit, where the evidence of an accomplice is not corroborated by independent evidence both as to the circumstances of the offence and the participation of the accused in it. An accomplice who has turned king's evidence usually receives a pardon, but has no legal right to exemption from punishment till he has actually received it.

ACCORAMBONI, VITTORIA (1557-1585), an Italian lady famous for her great beauty and accomplishments and for her tragic history. She was born in Rome of a family belonging to the minor noblesse of Gubbio, which migrated to Rome with a view to bettering their fortunes. After refusing several offers of marriage for Vittoria, her father betrothed her to Francesco Peretti (1573), a man of no position, but a nephew of Cardinal Montalto, who was regarded as likely to become pope. Vittoria was admired and worshipped by all the cleverest and most brilliant men in Rome, and being luxurious and extravagant although poor, she and her husband were soon plunged in debt. Among her most fervent admirers was P. G. Orsini, duke of Bracciano, one of the most powerful men in Rome, and her brother Marcello, wishing to see her the duke's wife, had Peretti murdered (1581). The duke himself was suspected of complicity, inasmuch as he was believed to have murdered his first wife, Isabella de' Medici. Now that Vittoria was free he made her an offer of marriage, which she willingly accepted, and they were married shortly after. But her good fortune aroused much jealousy, and attempts were made to annul the marriage; she was even imprisoned, and only liberated through the interference of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. On the death of Gregory XIII., Cardinal Montalto, her first husband's uncle, was elected in his place as Sixtus V. (1585); he vowed vengeance on the duke of Bracciano and Vittoria, who, warned in time, fled first to Venice and thence to Salò in Venetian territory. Here the

[ocr errors]

duke died in November 1585, bequeathing all his personal property (the duchy of Bracciano he left to his son by his first wife) to his widow. Vittoria, overwhelmed with grief, went to live in retirement at Padua, where she was followed by Lodovico Orsini, a relation of her late husband and a servant of the Venetian republic, to arrange amicably for the division of the property. But a quarrel having arisen in this connexion Lodovico hired a band of bravos and had Vittoria assassinated (22nd of December 1585). He himself and nearly all his accomplices were afterwards put to death by order of the republic. About Vittoria Accoramboni much has been written, and she has been greatly maligned by some biographers. Her story formed the basis of Webster's drama, The Tragedy of Paolo Giordano Ursini (1612), and of Ludwig Tieck's novel, Vittoria Accoramboni (1840); it is told more accurately in D. Gnoli's volume, Vittoria Accoramboni (Florence, 1870), and an excellent sketch of her life is given in Countess E. Martinengo-Cesaresco's Lombard Studies (London, 1902). (L. V.*) between two parties, one of whom has a right of action against ACCORD (from Fr. accorder, to agree), in law, an agreement the other, to give and accept in substitution for such right any good legal consideration. Such an agreement when executed discharges the cause of action and is called Accord and Satisfaction.

monica), a small portable reed wind instrument with keyboard, ACCORDION (Fr. accordéon; Ger. Handharmonica, Ziehharthe smallest representative of the organ family, invented in 1829 by Damian, in Vienna.

is attached a keyboard with from 5 to 50 keys. The keys on The accordion consists of a bellows of many folds, to which being depressed, while the bellows are being worked, open valves admitting the wind to free reeds, consisting of narrow lower board of the bellows, having their free ends bent, some tongues of metal riveted some to the upper, some to the inwards, some outwards. Each key produces two notes, one from the inwardly bent reed when the bellows are compressed, American organ; see HARMONIUM) when the bellows are exthe other from the outwardly bent reed by suction (as in the panded. The pitch of the note is determined by the length and thickness of the reeds, reduction of the length tending to sharpen hand plays the melody on the keyboard, while the left works the note, while reduction of the thickness lowers it. The right the bellows and manipulates the two or three bass harmony keys, which sound the simple chords of the tonic and dominant. The archetype of the accordion is the cheng (q.v.), or Chinese organ, between which and the harmonium it forms a connecting link structurally, although not invented for some thirty years after the harmonium. The timbre of the accordion is coarse

and devoid of beauty, but in the hands of a skilful performer the best instruments are not entirely without artistic merit. Improvements in the construction of the accordion produced the concertina (q.v.), melodion and melophone.

See Adolf Mueller, Accordion-Schule oder vollständige Anleitung, das Accordion in kurzer Zeit richtig spielen zu erlernen (Wien, 1834). See also FREE REED VIBRATOR. (K. S.)

ACCORSO (ACCURSIUS), MARIANGELO (c. 1490-1544), Italian critic, was born at Aquila, in the kingdom of Naples. He was a great favourite with Charles V., at whose court he resided for thirty-three years, and by whom he was employed on various foreign missions. To a perfect knowledge of Greek and Latin he added an intimate acquaintance with several modern languages. In discovering and collating ancient manuscripts, for which his travels abroad gave him special opportunities, he displayed uncommon diligence. His work entitled Diatribae in Ausonium, Solinum et Ovidium (1524) is a monument of erudition and critical skill. He was the first editor of the Letters of Cassiodorus, with his Treatise on the Soul (1538); and his edition of Ammianus Marcellinus (1533) contains five books more than any former one. The affected use of antiquated terms, introduced by some of the Latin writers of that age, is humorously ridiculed by him, in a dialogue in which an Oscan, a Volscian and a Roman are introduced as interlocutors (1531). Accorso was accused of plagiarism in his notes on Ausonius, a charge which he most solemnly and energetically repudiated."

[ocr errors]

ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, computare, to calculate), counting, reckoning, especially of moneys paid and received, hence a statement made as to the receipt and payment of moneys; also any statement as to acts or conduct, or quite simply any narrative report of events, &c. A further sense-development is that of esteem, consideration.

[ocr errors]

As a stock-exchange term "account" is used in several senses. (1) The periodical settlements occurring, in London, monthly for British government and a few other first-class securities, and fortnightly for all others. The settlement extends over four days in mining shares and three days in other securities. The first day is the carry-over, "contango," or making-up, day, on which speculative commitments are carried over, or continued: that is, the bulls, who have bought stock for the rise, arrange the rate of interest that they have to give on their stock to a moneylender, or bear, who will pay for it or take it in for them; | and the bears, who have sold for the fall, arrange the rate that they receive from the bulls or, if the stock is scarce and oversold, the backwardation or rate that they have to pay to holders of the stock who will lend it them to enable them to complete their bargains. On the second day, called ticket-day or name day, a ticket giving the name and address of the ultimate buyer and the firm which will pay for the stock is passed through the various intermediaries to the ultimate seller, so that the actual transfer of the stock can be made directly. In the mining market the passing of names takes two days. On the last day, account day, pay day or settling day, cheques are paid to meet speculative differences, or against the delivering of stock. (2) The period between two settlements. A nineteen-day account is one in which nineteen days elapse between one pay-day and another. (3) The volume or condition of commitments. A speculator is said to have a large account open when he has dealt heavily either for the rise or fall. A bull account exists in a stock or group of stocks when it or they have been bought for the rise by a large number of operators; in the contrary case, when there have been heavy sales for the fall, a bear account is developed. ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, formerly an officer in the English Court of Chancery, who received all moneys lodged in court, and by whom they were deposited in bank and disbursed. The office was abolished by the Chancery Funds Act 1872, and the duties transferred to the paymaster-general (q.v.).

[ocr errors]

was published in London by John Gouge or Gough in 1543. It is described as A Profitable Treatyce called the Instrument or Boke to learn to knowe the good order of the kepyng of the famouse reconynge, called in Latin, Dare and Habere, and, in Englyshe, Debitor and Creditor. A short book of instruction was also published in 1588 by John Mellis of Southwark, in which he says, “I am but the renuer and reviver of an auncient old copie printed here in London the 14 of August 1543: collected, published, made, and set forth by one Hugh Oldcastle, Scholemaster, who, as appeareth by his treatise, then taught Arithmetike, and this booke in Saint Ollaves parish in Marke Lane." John Mellis refers to the fact that the principle of accounts he explains (which is a simple system of double entry) is "after the forme of Venice." The very interesting and able book described as The Merchants Mirrour, or directions for the perfect ordering and keeping of his accounts; framed by way of Debitor and Creditor, after the (so tearmed) Italian manner, by Richard Dafforne, accountant, published in 1635, contains many references to early books on the science of accountancy. In a chapter in this book, headed Opinion of Book-keeping's Antiquity," the author states, on the authority of another writer, that the form of book-keeping referred to had then been in use in Italy about two hundred years, "but that the same, or one in many parts very like this, was used in the time of Julius Caesar, and in Rome long before." He gives quotations of Latin book-keeping terms in use in ancient times, and refers to "ex Oratione Ciceronis pro Roscio Comaedo "; and he adds: "That the one side of their booke was used for Debitor, the other for Creditor, is manifest in a certaine place, Naturalis Historiae Plinii, lib. 2, cap. 7, where hee, speaking of Fortune, saith thus: Huic Omnia Expensa.

66

Huic Omnia Feruntur accepta et in tota Ratione mortalium sola Utramque Paginam facit."

An early Dutch writer appears to have suggested that doubleentry book-keeping was even in existence among the Greeks, pointing to scientific accountancy having been invented in remote times.

There were several editions of Richard Dafforne's book printed-the second edition having been published in 1636, the third in 1656, and another was issued in 1684. The book is a very complete treatise on scientific accountancy, it was beautifully prepared and contains elaborate explanations; the numerous editions tend to prove that the science was highly

a continuous supply of literature on the subject, many of the authors styling themselves accountants and teachers of the art, and thus proving that the professional accountant was then known and employed. Very early in the 18th century the services of an accountant practising in the city of London were made use of in the course of an investigation into the transactions of a director of the South Sea Company, who had been dealing in the company's stock. During this investigation the accountant appears to have examined the books of at least two firms of merchants. His report is described Observations made upon examining the books of Sawbridge and Company, by Charles Snell, Writing Master and Accountant in Foster Lane, London. In 1799, when Holden's Triennial Directory of London, Westminster and Southwark was first published, 11 individuals and firms were therein described as accountants; in the same directory, for the period 1809-1811, the number had risen to 24; and in that for 1822-1824, there were 73 firms of practising accountants recorded.

ACCOUNTANTS. The term "accountant" is one to which, of late years, its original meaning has been more generally at-appreciated in the 17th century. From this time there has been tributed-that of an expert in the science of book-keeping. It is sometimes adopted by book-keepers, but this is an erroneous application of the term; it properly describes those competent to design and control the systems of accounts required for the record of the multifarious and rapid transactions of trade and finance. It assumes the possession of a wide knowledge of the principles upon which accountancy is based, which may be shortly described as constituting a science by means of which all mercantile and financial transactions, whether in money or in money's worth, including operations completed and engagements undertaken to be fulfilled at once or in a future, however remote, may be recorded; and this science comprises a knowledge of the methods of preparing statistics, whether relating to finance or to any transactions or circumstances which can be stated by numeration, and of ascertaining or estimating on correct bases the cost of any operation whether in money, in commodities, in time, in life or in any wasting property. Generally, accountancy may be described as being the science by means of which all operations, as far as they are capable of being shown in figures, are accurately recorded and their results ascertained and stated.

The origin of the profession of accountancy in Great Britain is difficult to trace; auditors of accounts were naturally of very early existence, being mentioned as officers of im

History. portance in the statutes of Westminster in the reign of Edward I. The art of accountancy on a scientific principle must certainly have been understood in Italy before 1495, when Friar Luca dal Borgo published at Venice his treatise on book-keeping; but the first known English book on the science

[ocr errors]

Modern development.

The earliest English books dealing with scientific book-keeping were written at a time when the English and Dutch were very actively engaged in foreign trade, in succession to the Italian merchants of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries; but it was not until the beginning of the 19th century that, in consequence of the adoption of improved methods of manufacture and transit, resulting from the application of water and steam power to manufactures and methods of conveyance which largely increased the trade of Great Britain, the profession of an accountant became one which men of scientific knowledge and capacity adopted for

« السابقةمتابعة »