non-living material. The refutation of abiogenesis has no further bearing on this possibility than to make it probable that if protoplasm ultimately be formed in the laboratory, it will be by a series of stages, the earlier steps being the formation of some substance, or substances, now unknown, which are not protoplasm. Such intermediate stages may have existed in the past, and the modern refutation of abiogenesis has no application to the possibility of these having been formed from inorganic matter at some past time. Perhaps the words archebiosis, or archegenesis, should be reserved for the theory that protoplasm in the remote past has been developed from not-living matter by a series of steps, and many of those, notably T. H. Huxley, who took a large share in the process of refuting contemporary abiogenesis, have stated their belief in a primordial archebiosis. (See BIOGENESIS and LIFE.) (P. C. M.) ABIPONES, a tribe of South American Indians of Guaycuran stock recently inhabiting the territory lying between Santa Fé and St Iago. They originally occupied the Chaco district of Paraguay, but were driven thence by the hostility of the Spaniards. According to Martin Dobrizhoffer, a Jesuit missionary, who, towards the end of the 18th century, lived among them for a period of seven years, they then numbered not more than 5000. They were a well-formed, handsome people, with black eyes and aquiline noses, thick black hair, but no beards. The hair from the forehead to the crown of the head was pulled out, this constituting a tribal mark. The faces, breasts and arms of the women were covered with black figures of various designs made with thorns, the tattooing paint being a mixture of ashes and blood. The lips and ears of both sexes were pierced. The men were brave fighters, their chief weapons being the bow and spear. No child was without bow and arrows; the bow-strings were made of foxes' entrails. In battle the Abipones wore an armour of tapir's hide over which a jaguar's skin was sewn. They were excellent swimmers and good horsemen. For five months in the year when the floods were out they lived on islands or even in shelters built in the trees. They seldom married before the age of thirty, and were singularly chaste. "With the Abipones," says Darwin," when a man chooses a wife, he bargains with the parents about the price. But it frequently happens that the girl rescinds what has been agreed upon between the parents and bridegroom, obstinately rejecting the very mention of marriage. She often runs away and hides herself, and thus eludes the bridegroom." Infanticide was systematic, never more than two children being reared in one family, a custom doubtless originating in the difficulty of subsistence. The young were suckled for two years. The Abipones are now believed to be extinct as a tribe.

Martin Dobrizhoffer's Latin Historia de Abiponibus (Vienna, 1784) was translated into English by Sara Coleridge, at the suggestion of Southey, in 1822, under the title of An Account of the Abipones (3 vols.).

ABITIBBI, a lake and river of Ontario, Canada. The lake, in 49° N., 80° W., is 60 m. long and studded with islands. It is shallow, and the shores in its vicinity are covered with small timber. It was formerly employed by the Hudson's Bay Company as part of a canoe route to the fur lands of the north. The construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway through this district has made it of some importance. Its outlet is Abitibbi river, a rapid stream, which after a course of 200 m. joins the Moose river, flowing into James Bay.

and on the S.W. by the Black Sea. Though the country is generally mountainous, with dense forests of oak and walnut, there are some deep, well-watered valleys, and the climate is mild. The soil is fertile, producing wheat, maize, grapes, figs, pomegranates and wine. Cattle and horses are bred. Honey is produced; and excellent arms are made. This country was subdued (c. 550) by the Emperor Justinian, who introduced Christianity. Native dynasties ruled from 735 to the 15th century, when the region was conquered by the Turks and became Mahommedan. The Russians acquired possession of it piecemeal between 1829 and 1842, but their power was not firmly established until after 1864. Area, 2800 sq. m. principal town is Sukhum-kaleh. Pop. 43,000, of whom twothirds are Mingrelians and one-third Abkhasians, a Cherkess or Circassian race. The total number of Abkhasians in the two governments of Kutais and Kuban was 72,103 in 1897; large numbers emigrated to the Turkish empire in 1864 and 1878. ABLATION (from Lat. ablatus, carried away), the process of removing anything; a term used technically in geology of the wearing away of a rock or glacier, and in surgery for operative removal.

The

ABLATITIOUS (from Lat. ablatus, taken away), reducing or withdrawing; in astronomy a force which interferes between the moon and the earth to lessen the strength of gravitation is called "ablatitious," just as it is called "addititious" when it increases that strength.

ABLATIVE (Lat. ablativus, sc. casus, from ablatum, taken away), in grammar, a case of the noun, the fundamental sense of which is direction from; in Latin, the principal language in which the case exists, this has been extended, with or without a preposition, to the instrument or agent of an act, and the place or time at, and manner in, which a thing is done. The case is also found in Sanskrit, Zend, Oscan and Umbrian, and traces remain in other languages. The "Ablative Absolute," a grammatical construction in Latin, consists of a noun in the ablative case, with a participle, attribute or qualifying word agreeing with it, not depending on any other part of the sentence, to express the time, occasion or circumstance of a fact.

ABLUTION (Lat. ablutio, from abluere, "to wash off "), a washing, in its religious use, destined to secure that ceremonial or ritualistic purity which must not be confused with the physical or hygienic cleanliness of persons and things obtained by the use of soap and water.1 Indeed the two states may contradict each other, as in the case of the 4th-century Christian pilgrim to Jerusalem who boasted that she had not washed ner face for eighteen years for fear of removing therefrom the holy chrism of baptism. The purport, then, of ablutions is to remove, not dust and dirt, but the to us imaginary-stains contracted by contact with the dead, with childbirth, with menstruous women, with murder whether wilful or involuntary, with almost any form of bloodshed, with persons of inferior caste, with dead animal refuse, e.g. leather or excrement, with leprosy, madness and any form of disease. Among all races in a certain grade of development such associations are vaguely felt to be dangerous and to impair vitality. In a later stage the taint is regarded as alive, as a demon or evil spirit alighting on and passing into the things and persons exposed to contamination. In general, water, cows' urine and blood of swine are the materials used in ablutions. Of these water is the commonest, and its efficacy is enhanced if it be running, and still more if a magical or sacramental virtue has been imparted to it by ritual blessing or consecration. Some concrete examples will best illustrate the nature of such ablutions. In the Atharva-Veda, vii. 116, we have this allopathic remedy for fever. The patient's skin burns, that of a frog is cold to the touch; therefore tie to the foot of the bed a frog, bound with red and black thread, and wash down the sick man so that the water of ablution falls

In its technical ecclesiastical sense the ablution is the ritual of Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. The wine and water washing of the chalice and of the priest's fingers after the celebration used for this purpose are themselves sometimes called "the

I. 3

II

on the frog. Let the medicine man or magician pray that the fever may pass into the frog, and the frog be forthwith released, and the cure will be effected. In the old Athenian Anthesteria the blood of victims was poured over the unclean. A bath of bulls' blood was much in vogue as a baptism in the mysteries of Attis. The water must in ritual washings run off in order to carry away the miasma or unseen demon of disease; and accordingly in baptism the early Christians used living or running water. Nor was it enough that the person baptized should himself enter the water; the baptizer must pour it over his head, so that it run down his person. Similarly the Brahman takes care, after ablution of a person, to wipe the cathartic water off from head to feet downwards, that the malign influence may pass out through the feet. The same care is shown in ritual ablutions in the Bukovina and elsewhere.

Water and fire, spices and sulphur, are used in ritual cleansings, says Iamblichus in his book on mysterics (v. 23), as being specially full of the divine nature. Nevertheless in all religions, and especially in the Brahmanic and Christian, the cathartic virtue of water is enhanced by the introduction into it by means of suitable prayers and incantations of a divine or magical power. Ablutions both of persons and things are usually cathartic, that is, intended to purge away evil influences (kalaipei, to make kalapós, pure). But, as Robertson Smith observes, "holiness is contagious, just as uncleanness is "; and common things and persons may become taboo, that is, so holy as to be dangerous and useless for daily life through the mere infection of holiness. Thus in Syria one who touched a dove became taboo for one whole day, and if a drop of blood of the Hebrew sin-offering fell on a garment it had to be ritually washed off. It was as necessary in the Hebrew religion for the priest to wash his hands after handling the sacred volume as before. Christians might not enter a church to say their prayers without first washing their hands. So Chrysostom says: "Although our hands may be already pure, yet unless we have washed them thoroughly, we do not spread them upwards in prayer." Tertullian (c. 200) had long before condemned this as a heathen custom; none the less, it was insisted on in later ages, and is a survival of the pagan lustrations or Teрiррavτηρia. Sozomen (vi. 6) tells how a priest sprinkled Julian and Valentinian with water according to the heathen custom as they entered his temple. The same custom prevails among Mahommedans. Porphyry (de Abst. ii. 44) relates that one who touched a sacrifice meant to avert divine anger must bathe and wash his clothes in running water before returning to his city and home, and similar scruples in regard to holy objects and persons have been observed among the natives of Polynesia, New Zealand and ancient Egypt. The rites, met within all lands, of pouring out water or bathing in order to produce rain from heaven, differ in their significance from ablutions with water and belong to the realm of sympathetic magic.

There are certain forms of purification which one does not know whether to describe as ablutions or anointings. Thus Demosthenes in his speech "On the crown" accused Aeschines of having "purified the initiated and wiped them clean with (not from) mud and pitch." Smearing with gypsum (TiTavos, titanos) had a similar purifying effect, and it has been suggested that the Titans were no more than old-world votaries who had so disguised themselves. Perhaps the use of ashes in mourning had the same origin. In the rite of death-bed penance given in the old Mozarabic Christian ritual of Spain, ashes were poured over the sick man.

AUTHORITIES.-W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites; Jul. Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentums (=Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, iii. 2nd ed., Berlin, 1897); John Spencer, De legibus Hebraeorum ritualibus (Tubingac, 1732); Art. "Clean and Unclean "in Hastings' Bible Dictionary and in Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. iv.; J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris (London, 1906); Joseph Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church, bk. viii.; Hermann Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda's, Berlin, 1894. (F. C. C.) ABNAKI ("the whitening sky at daybreak," i.e. Easterners), a confederacy of North American Indians of Algonquian stock, 1 By J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to Greek Religion, p. 493.

called Terrateens by the New England tribes and colonial writers. It included the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Norridgewock, Malecite and other tribes. It formerly occupied what is now Maine and southern New Brunswick. All the tribes were loyal to the French during the early years of the 18th century, but after the British success in Canada most of them withdrew to St Francis, Canada, subsequently entering into an agreement with the British authorities. The Abnaki now number some 1600.

For details see Handbook of American Indians, edited by F. W. Hodge (Washington, 1907).

ABNER (Hebrew for "father of [or is a] light"), in the Bible, first cousin of Saul and commander-in-chief of his army (1 Sam. xiv. 50, xx. 25). He is only referred to incidentally in Saul's history (1 Sam. xvii. 55, xxvi. 5), and is not mentioned in the account of the disastrous battle of Gilboa when Saul's power was crushed. Seizing the only surviving son, Ishbaal, he set him up as king over Israel at Mahanaim, east of the Jordan. David, who was accepted as king by Judah alone, was meanwhile reigning at Hebron, and for some time war was carried on between the two parties. The only engagement between the rival factions which is told at length is noteworthy, inasmuch as it was preceded by an encounter at Gibeon between twelve chosen men from each side, in which the whole twenty-four seem to have perished (2 Sam. ii. 12). In the general engagement: which followed, Abner was defeated and put to flight. He was closely pursued by Asahel, brother of Joab, who is said to have been "light of foot as a wild roe." As Asahel would not desist from the pursuit, though warned, Abner was compelled to slay him in self-defence. This originated a deadly feud between the leaders of the opposite parties, for Joab, as next of kin to Asahel, was by the law and custom of the country the avenger of his blood. For some time afterwards the war was carried on, the advantage being invariably on the side of David. At length Ishbaal lost the main prop of his tottering cause by remonstrating with Abner for marrying Rizpah, one of Saul's concubines, an alliance which, according to Oriental notions, implied pre-> tensions to the throne (cp. 2 Sam. xvi. 21 sqq.; 1 Kings ii. 21 sqq.). Abner was indignant at the deserved rebuke, and immediately opened negotiatons with David, who welcomed him on the condition that his wife Michal should be restored to him. This was done, and the proceedings were ratified by a feast. Almost immediately after, however, Joab, who had been sent away, perhaps intentionally returned and slew Abner at the gate of Hebron. The ostensible motive for the assassination was a desire to avenge Asahel, and this would be a sufficient justification for the deed according to the moral standard of the time. The conduct of David after the event was such as to show that he had no complicity in the act, though he could not venture to punish its perpetrators (2 Sam. iii. 31-39; cp. 1 Kings ii. 31 seq.). (See DAVID.)

ÅBO (Finnish Turku), a city and seaport, the capital of the province of Åbo-Björneborg, in the grand duchy of Finland, on the Aura-joki, about 3 m. from where it falls into the gulf of Bothnia. Pop. (1810) 10,224; (1870) 19,617; (1904) 42,639. It is 381 m. by rail from St Petersburg via Tavastehus, and is in regular steamer communication with St Petersburg, Vasa, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Hull. It was already a place of importance when Finland formed part of the kingdom of Sweden. When the Estates of Finland seceded from Sweden and accepted the Emperor Alexander of Russia as their grand duke at the Dict of Borgå in 1809, Åbo became the capital of the new state, and so remained till 1819 when the seat of government was transferred to Helsingfors. In November 1827 nearly the whole city was burnt down, the university and its valuable library being entirely destroyed. Before this calamity Abo contained 1110 houses and 13,000 inhabitants; and its university had 40 professors, more than 500 students, and a library of upwards of 30,000 volumes, together with a botanical garden, an 1 The object of the story of the encounter is to explain the name Helkath-hazzurim, the meaning of which is doubtful (Ency. Bib. col. 2006; Batten in Zeit. f. alt-test. Wissens. 1906, pp. 90 sqq.).

observatory and a chemical laboratory. The university has since been removed to Helsingfors. Åbo remains the ecclesiastical capital of Finland, is the seat of the Lutheran archbishop and contains a fine cathedral dating from 1258 and restored after the fire of 1827. The cathedral is dedicated to St Henry, the patron saint of Finland, an English missionary who introduced Christianity into the country in the 12th century. Åbo is the seat of the first of the three courts of appeal of Finland. It has two high schools, a school of commerce and a school of navigation. The city is second only to Helsingfors for its trade; sail-cloth, cotton and tobacco are manufactured, and there are extensive saw-mills. There is also a large trade in timber and a considerable butter export. Ship-building has considerably developed, torpedo-boats being built here for the Russian navy. Vessels drawing 9 or 10 feet come up to the town, but ships of greater draught are laden and discharged at its harbour (Bornholm, on Hyrvinsala Island), which is entered yearly by from 700 to 800 ships, of about 200,000 tons.

ÅBO-BJÖRNEBORG, a province occupying the S.W. corner of Finland and including the Åland islands. It has a total area of 24,171 square kilometres and a population (1900) of 447,098, of whom 379,622 spoke Finnish and 67,260 Swedish; 446,900 were of the Lutheran religion. The province occupies a prominent position in Finland for its manufacture of cottons, sugar refinery, wooden goods, metals, machinery, paper, &c. Its chief towns are: Åbo (pop. 42,639), Björneborg (16,053), Raumo (5501), Nystad (4165), Mariehamn (1171), Nådendal (917). ABODE (from "abide," to dwell, properly "to wait for," to bide), generally, a dwelling. In English law this term has a more restricted meaning than domicile, being used to indicate the place of a man's residence or business, whether that be either temporary or permanent. The law may regard for certain purposes, as a man's abode, the place where he carries on business, though he may reside elsewhere; so that the term has come to have a looser significance than residence, which has been defined as "where a man lives with his family and sleeps at night" (R. v. Hammond, 1852, 17 Q.B. 772). In serving a notice of action, a solicitor's place of business may be given as his abode (Roberts v. Williams, 1835, 5 L.J.M.C. 23), and in more recent decisions it has been similarly held that where a notice was required to be served under the Public Health Act 1875, either personally or to some inmate of the owner's or occupier's "place of abode," a place of business was sufficient.

ABOMASUM (caillette), the fourth or rennet stomach of Ruminantia. From the omasum the food is finally deposited in the abomasum, a cavity considerably larger than either the second or third stomach, although less than the first. The base of the abomasum is turned to the omasum. It is of an irregular conical form. It is that part of the digestive apparatus which is analogous to the single stomach of other Mammalia, as the food there undergoes the process of chymification, after being macerated and ground down in the three first stomachs.

ABOMEY, capital of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, West Africa, now included in the French colony of the same name. It is 70 m. N. by rail of the seaport of Kotonu, and has a population of about 15,000. Abomey is built on a rolling plain, 800 ft. above sea-level, terminating in short bluffs to the N.W., where it is bounded by a long depression. The town was surrounded by a mud wall, pierced by six gates, and was further protected by a ditch 5 ft. deep, filled with a dense growth of prickly acacia, the usual defence of West African strongholds. Within the walls, which had a circumference of six miles, were villages separated by fields, several royal palaces, a market-place and a large square containing the barracks. In November 1892, Behanzin, the king of Dahomey, being defeated by the French, set fire to Abomey and fled northward. Under French administration the town has been rebuilt, placed (1905) in railway communication with the coast, and given an ample water supply by the sinking of artesian wells.

ABOMINATION (from Lat. ab, from, and ominare, to forebode), anything contrary to omen, and therefore regarded with aversion; a word used often in the Bible to denote evil doctrines

or ceremonial practices which were impure. An incorrect derivation was ab homine (i.e. inhuman), and the spelling of the adjective" abominable" in the first Shakespeare folio is always abhominable." Colloquially "abomination" and abominable" are used to mean simply excessive in a disagreeable sense. ABOR HILLS, a tract of country on the north-east frontier of India, occupied by an independent tribe called the Abors. It lies north of Lakhimpur district, in the province of eastern Bengal and Assam, and is bounded on the east by the Mishmi Hills and on the west by the Miri Hills, the villages of the tribe extending to the Dibong river. The term Abor is an Assamese word, signifying "barbarous" or "independent," and is applied in a general sense by the Assamese to many frontier tribes; but in its restricted sense it is specially given to the above tract. The Abors, together with the cognate tribes of Miris, Daphlas and Akas, are supposed to be descended from a Tibetan stock. They are a quarrelsome and sulky race, violently divided in their political relations. In former times they committed frequent raids upon the plains of Assam, and have been the object of more than one retaliatory expedition by the British government. In 1893-94 occurred the first Bor Abor expedition. Some military police sepoys were murdered in British territory, and a force of 600 troops was sent, who traversed the Abor country, and destroyed the villages concerned in the murder and all other villages that opposed the expedition. A second expedition became necessary later on, two small patrols having been treacherously murdered; and a force of 100 British troops traversed the border of the Abor country and punished the tribes, while a blockade was continued against them from 1894 to 1900. See Colonel Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal, 1872.

ABORIGINES, a mythical people of central Italy, connected in legendary history with Aeneas, Latinus and Evander. They were supposed to have descended from their mountain home near Reate (an ancient Sabine town) upon Latium, whence they expelled the Siceli and subsequently settled down as Latini under a King Latinus (Dion Halic. i. 9. 60). The most generally accepted etymology of the name (ab origine), according to which they were the original inhabitants (=Gk. avróxloves) of the country, is inconsistent with the fact that the oldest authorities (e.g. Cato in his Origines) regarded them as Hellenic immigrants, not as a native Italian people. Other explanations suggested are arborigines, "tree-born," and aberrigines, "nomads." Historical and ethnographical discussions have led to no result; the most that can be said is that, if not a general term, "aborigines" may be the name of an Italian stock, about whom the ancients knew no more than ourselves.

In modern times the term "Aborigines" has been extended in signification, and is used to indicate the inhabitants found in a country at its first discovery, in contradistinction to colonies or new races, the time of whose introduction into the country is known.

The Aborigines' Protection Society was founded in 1838 in England as the result of a royal commission appointed at the instance of Sir T. Fowell Buxton to inquire into the treatment of the indigenous populations of the various British colonies. The inquiry revealed the gross cruelty and injustice with which the natives had been often treated. Since its foundation the society has done much to make English colonization a synonym for humane and generous treatment of savage races.

ABORTION (from Lat. aboriri, to fail to be born, or perish), in obstetrics, the premature separation and expulsion of the contents of the pregnant uterus. It is a common terminology to call premature labour of an accidental type a "miscarriage," in order to distinguish "abortion" as a deliberately induced act, whether as a medical necessity by the accoucheur, or as a criminal proceeding (see MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE); otherwise the term "abortion" would ordinarily be used when occurring before the eighth month of gestation, and "premature labour " subsequently. As an accident of pregnancy, it is far from uncommon, although its relative frequency, as compared with that of completed gestation, has been very differently estimated by accoucheurs. It is more liable to occur in the earlier than

in the later months of pregnancy, and it would also appear to occur more readily at the periods corresponding to those of the menstrual discharge. It may be induced by numerous causes, both of a local and general nature. Malformations of the pelvis, accidental injuries and the diseases and displacements to which the uterus is liable, on the one hand; and, on the other, various morbid conditions of the ovum or placenta leading to the death of the foetus, are among the direct local causes. The general causes embrace certain states of the system which are apt to exercise a more or less direct influence upon the progress of utero-gestation. The tendency to recurrence in persons who have previously miscarried is well known, and should ever be borne in mind with the view of avoiding any cause likely to lead to a repetition of the accident. Abortion resembles ordinary labour in its general phenomena, excepting that in the former hemorrhage often to a large extent forms one of the leading symptoms. The treatment embraces the means to be used by rest, astringents and sedatives, to prevent the occurrence when it merely threatens; or when, on the contrary, it is inevitable, to accomplish as speedily as possible the complete removal of the entire contents of the uterus.

Among primitive savage races abortion is practised to a far less extent than infanticide (q.v.), which offers a simpler way of getting rid of inconvenient progeny. But it is common among the American Indians, as well as in China, Cambodia and India, although throughout Asia it is generally contrary both to law and religion. How far it was considered a crime among the civilized nations of antiquity has long been debated. Those who maintain the impunity of the practice rely for their authority upon certain passages in the classical authors, which, while bitterly lamenting the frequency of this enormity, yet never allude to any laws by which it might be suppressed. For example, in one of Plato's dialogues (Theaet.), Socrates is made to speak of artificial abortion as a practice, not only common but allowable; and Plato himself authorizes it in his Republic (lib. v.). Aristotle (Polit. lib. vii. c. 17) gives it as his opinion that no child ought to be suffered to come into the world, the mother being above forty or the father above fifty-five years of age. Lysias maintained, in one of his pleadings quoted by Harpocration, that forced abortion could not be considered homicide, because a child in utero was not an animal, and had no separate existence. Among the Romans, Ovid (Amor. lib. ii.), Juvenal (Sat. vi. 594) and Seneca (Consol. ad Hel. 16) mention the frequency of the offence, but maintain silence as to any laws for punishing it. On the other hand, it is argued that the authority of Galen and Cicero (pro Cluentio) place it beyond a doubt that, so far from being allowed to pass with impunity, the offence in question was sometimes punished by death; that the authority of Lysias is of doubtful authenticity; and that the speculative reasonings of Plato and Aristotle, in matters of legislation, ought not to be confounded with the actual state of the laws. Moreover, Stobaeus (Serm. 73) has preserved a passage from Musonius, in which that philosopher expressly states that the ancient law-givers inflicted punishments on females who caused themselves to abort. After the spread of Christianity among the Romans, however, foeticide became equally criminal with the murder of an adult, and the barbarian hordes which afterwards overran the empire also treated the offence as a crime punishable with death. This severe penalty remained in force in all the countries of Europe until the Middle Ages. With the gradual disuse of the old barbarous punishments so universal in medieval times came also a reversal of opinion as to the magnitude of the crime involved in killing a child not yet born. But the exact period of transition is not clearly marked.

In England the Anglo-Saxons seem to have regarded abortion only as an ecclesiastical offence. Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) tells us that if anything is done to "a woman quick or great with child, to make an abortion, or whereby the child within her is killed, it is not murder or manslaughter by the law of England, because it is not yet in rerum natura." But the common law appears, nevertheless, to have treated as a mis

demeanour any attempt to effect the destruction of such an infant, though unsuccessful. Blackstone (1723-1780), to be sure, a hundred years later, says that, "if a woman is quick with child, and by poison or otherwise killeth it in her womb, or if any one beat her, whereby the child dieth in her body, and she is delivered of a dead child, this, though not murder, was, by the ancient law, homicide or manslaughter." Whatever may have been the exact view taken by the common law, the offence was made statutory by an act of 1803, making the attempt to cause the miscarriage of a woman, not being, or not being proved, to be quick with child, a felony, punishable with fine, imprisonment, whipping or transportation for any term not exceeding fourteen years. Should the woman have proved to have quickened, the attempt was punishable with death. The provisions of this statute were re-enacted in 1828. The English law on the subject is now governed by the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which makes the attempting to cause miscarriage by administering poison or other noxious thing, or unlawfully using any instrument equally a felony, whether the woman be, or be not, with child. No distinction is now made as to whether the foetus is or is not alive, legislation appearing to make the offence statutory with the object of prohibiting any risk to the life of the mother. If a woman administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or unlawfully uses any instrument or other means to procure her own miscarriage, she is guilty of felony. The punishment for the offence is penal servitude for life or not less than three years, or imprisonment for not more than two years. If a child is born alive, but in consequence of its premature birth, or of the means employed, afterwards dies, the offence is murder; the general law as to accessories applies to the offence.

In all the countries of Europe the causing of abortion is now punishable with more or less lengthy terms of imprisonment. Indeed, the tendency in continental Europe is to regard the abortion as a crime against the unborn child, and several codes (notably that of the German Empire) expressly recognize the life of the foetus, while others make the penalty more severe if abortion has been caused in the later stages of pregnancy, or if the woman is married. According to the weight of authority in the United States abortion was not regarded as a punishable offence at common law, if the abortion was produced with the consent of the mother prior to the time when she became quick with child; but the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania and North Carolina held it a crime at common law, which might be committed as soon as gestation had begun (Mills v. Com. 13 Pa. St. 630; State v. Slagle, 83 N.C. 630). The attempt is a punishable offence in several states, but not in Ohio. Nor was it ever murder at common law to take the life of the child at any period of gestation, even in the very act of delivery (Mitchell v. Com. 78 Ky. 204). If the death of the woman results it is murder at common law (Com. v. Parker, 9 Met. [Mass.] 263). It is now a statutory offence in all states of the Union, but the woman must be actually pregnant. In most states not only is the person who causes the abortion punishable, but also any one who supplies any drug or instrument for the purpose. The woman, however, is not an accomplice (except by statute as in Ohio, State v. M'Coy, 39 N.E. 316), nor is she guilty of any crime unless by statute as in New York (Penal Code, § 295) and California (Penal Code, § 275) and Connecticut (Gen. Stats. 1902, § 1156). She may be a witness, and her testimony does not need corroboration. The attempt is also a crime in New York (1905, People v. Conrad, 102 App. D. 566).

AUTHORITIES.-Ploucquet, Commentarius Medicus in processus criminales super homicidio et infanticidio, &c. (1736); Burke Ryan, Infanticide, its Law, Prevalence, Prevention and History (1862); G. Greaves, Observations on the Laws referring to Child-Murder and Criminal Abortion (1864); Storer and Heard, Criminal Abortion, its Nature, Evidence and Law (Boston, 1868); J. Cave Browne, Infanticide, its Origin, Progress and Suppression (1857); T. R. Beck, Medical Jurisprudence (1842); A. S. Taylor, Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence (1894); Sir J. Stephen, History of the Criminal Law of England (1883); Sir W. O. Russell, Crimes and Misdemeanours (3 vols., 1896); Archbold's Pleading and Evidence in Criminal Cases (1900); Roscoe's Evidence in Criminal Cases (1898);