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Agassiz

deposited in limestone caverns. Bricks made in Tuscany from a stone of this name are so light that they float in water.

Agassiz, ALEXANDER (8351910), zoologist, only son of Louis Agassiz, born at Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He graduated at Harvard, in 1855; became assistant curator (1860-5) and chief curator (1874-97) of the Museum of Comparative Zoology there; and in 1875 founded the zoological station at Newport, in R. I. He has specially distinguished himself by his studies in marine zoology-e.g. echinoderms, star-fishes, jellyfishes, etc. His publications include books on these branches of marine fauna; Report on the Echini of the Challenger' Expedition (1881); Three Cruises of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer 'Blake,' 1877-80 (1888); The Islands and Coral Reefs of Fiji (1899). In 1874-5 he surveyed Lake Titicaca and the copper mines of Peru and Chile, and in 1901-2 investigated the coral formations of the Maldive Is. He made a scientific expedition to the Tropical Pacific in 1900 and to the Eastern Pacific in 1904-5. To Harvard and other institutions he gave about a million dollars to promote zoological investigations.

Agassiz Association, a scciety first organized in 1875 ty H. H. Ballard, president of Lenox (Mass) Academy, to stimulate Scientific interest among his students, and in honor of Icuis Agassiz. In 1880 a general association for young people was organized, with local divisions called chapters' and with corresponding members in all parts of the world. The asscciation was incorporated in 1892, and has over ten thousand members.

Agassiz, ELIZABETH CABOT (Cary) (1822-1907), Amer. educator, born in Boston, became the wife of the late Prof. Louis Agassiz and his associate in his work. She accompanied him on several of his expeditions, and after his death wrote his Life (2 vols., 1885). Her other literary work includes Seaside Studies in Natural History (1865), in cooperation with her son. She took an active part in the affairs of Radcliffe College, formerly the Harvard 'Annex, and was its president 1894-1900.

Agassiz, LAKE, name given to the basin of a large sheet of water that in the Glacial Period covered a considerable area in the Red River Valley of Minnesota. North Dakota and Manitoba. The bed of the lake, now covered by a fertilizing silt, produces rich grain.

Agassiz, LOUIS (1807-73), a Swiss-American naturalist, especially distinguished in ichthyology and the study of glaciers, was born

Vol. 1-7

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at Motier in the canton of Fribourg. He became (1832) a professor at Neuchâtel. In 1839 he began his never-completed Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'Eau Douce de l'Europe Centrale, and published between 1833 and 1843 the five vols. of text(with five more of plates) of his Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles. Between 1839 and 1845 he made (chiefly on

Louis Agassiz.

the Unteraar Glacier in the Bernese Oberland) some cf the earliest recorded observations on the motion of glaciers. Narrative accounts of their journeys were published by Desor in his two series of Excursions et Séjours sur les Glaciers (1844-5); and Agassiz embodied his scientific cbservations in his Études sur les Glaciers (1840) and his Nouvelles Etudes (1847). Hi theory of glacier motion (dilatation of water frozen in the crevasses soon gave way, however, to that formulated by Forbes (gravitation plus plasticity). In 1848 Agassiz accepted the newlyfounded professorship of natural history in the Lawrence scientific school of Harvard University, a post which he held till his death, having in 1862 become a citizen of the U. S. He made many scientific journeys in America (particularly one to Brazil in 1865), and in 1858 founded at Harvard the Museum of Comparative Zoology, which is especially rich in fishes. He assailed with great earnestness Darwin's evclutionary theory, which to the end he refused to accept. Agassiz's memory is preserved in the Alps by the Agassizhorn (12,980 ft.), in the Bernese Oberland; in A izena by a peak 10,000 ft.) near the Grand Cannon of the Colorado; in Utah by a peak in the Uintah range; and in N. Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba by the basin termed Lake Agassiz. Besides the works men

Agate

tioned his publications include Contributions to the Natural History of the U. S. (4 vols. 1857-62); The Structure of Animal Life (1874); A Journey to Brazil (1868, namely Mrs. Agassiz's work). See his wife's Life and Correspondence of Agassiz (1886), and Marcou's Life, Letters and Works of Agassiz (1896).

Agassiz, MOUNT. (1.) A peak, 12,450 ft. in height, in the Uintah mountain range, in Utah, east of Salt Lake' city. (2.) Arizona, 70 miles N.E. of Prescott (height, 10,000 ft.). It bears the evidence of having been once an active volcano. (3.) N. H. near Bethlehem (height 2,400 ft.)

Agate, one of the many minerals which consist of cryptocrystalline silica, and which may be included under the general name of chalcedony. (See also JASPER, ONYX, PLASMA, CHRYSOPRASE, CARNELIAN.) It is also known as 'Scotch pebble,' and is largely used in the manufacture of jewelry. It enters into the construction of certain scientific instruments-e.g. the knife-edge on which the bcam of a chemical balance is suspended-both because of its great hardness (it is a little harder than steel), and because moist air and chemical fumes do nct rust or tarnish it. It is also used as the material for mortars and pcstles employed by chemists to pulverize hard subgtances. Aga'e is found chiefly in rounded nodules with irregular surfaces, formed mcst frequently in cavities cf igneous rocks into which silica, dissclved in water, has percclated. Layer after layer has been laid down within this cavity, the outermost and earlicst being often a ccating cf green chloride or ccladonite. The deposited silica, if pure, is colorless or gray, and translucent; but various impuritics are usually present, causing different colors in successive layers. The commonest cf these are the oxides of iron, producing red, brown, or yellow; but bands of green, purple, pink, and other tints are often found. The layers follow the outlines of the original cavity, and hence are mostly concentric, but are in other cases angular as in 'fortification' or 'parallel ribbon' agate. The great centre of agate working has for long been Oberstein, in Germany, where it is the chief industry of the population. Agate was formerly found abundantly in that district, as also in Hungary and various other places in Europe; but for many years the chief sources have been Brazil and Uruguay. Agate of considerable beauty is found at Agate Bay, Lake Superior, and the stream beds of Colorado. Montana and other Rocky Mountain regions furnish agaté pebbles

[graphic]

Agatha

of various size. The natural agate may be treated by various methods to heighten and vary its colors. Its layers are often porous though not equally so, and will absorb solutions of coloring matters to a varying extent. One method is to immerse in solution of sugar, or to boil in oil; when this has penetrated some depth, the agate is placed in sulphuric acid, which carbonizes these organic matters, producing brown and yellow rings of various intensity. It is believed that other secret methods are employed.

Agatha, ST. (d. 251), Sicilian maiden of the 3rd century, canonized on account of her indomitable chastity. Her festival is celebrated on February 5.

Agatharchides, or AGATHARCHUS, Greek historian and geographer of the 2nd century B.C., born at Cnidus, in Asia Minor. He wrote about the campaigns of Alexander the Great and the history of his successors the Diadochi, and described the Nile and its regions. Only fragments of his works survive.

Agathias OF MYRINA (536582), an advocate at Constantinople, whose work On the Reign of Justinian (five books, covering the period 552-558) was a continuation of Procopius, and

was

used by Gibbon (Decl. and Fall, Bury's ed., vol. iv. p. 420, etc.). Ed. in Bonn Series by Niebuhr; by Dindorf in Hist. Græc. Minores, vol. ii. (1871).

Agathocles, tyrant of Svracuse (361-289 B.C.), born at Rhegium, Italy; emigrated with his father to Syracuse, and entered the army as a common soldier. There he gained the favor of Damas, whose widow he married, and thus became the richest man in Syracuse. Having in 317 created an army of adventurers, he assembled about four hundred of the rich and influential citizens and killed them. During the ensuing two days four thousand people were slain, as many banished and their property confiscated, and Agathocles was proclaimed tyrant of the town. To gain popularity he cancelled all debts, and divided the confiscated property among the poor; framed good laws, regulated the finances, and created a powerful army and navy. By conquering nearly all of Sicily, he came into collision with the Carthaginians. They sent to Sicily an army under Hamilcar, who defeated Agathocles in 310, and besieged him in Syracuse. Upon this Agathocles conceived the daring project of attacking Carthage. He sailed to Africa, defeated the Carthaginians, and subdued the coast of N. Africa, when he was recalled by the victories of Agrigentum against Syracuse. He defeated the Ag

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rigentines, re-established order in Syracuse, and returned to Africa. But in 306 he suffered defeat, and had to flee back to Sicily. After concluding peace with the Carthaginians, he once more became master over Syracuse, and over most of the Greek cities in Sicily. His government was now marked by good laws and peaceful administration. In 289 he committed suicide, to escape the effects of poison administered by a slave at the instigation of one of his grandsons. His Life was written by Diodorus Siculus.

Agathon (c. 447-400 B.C.), Athenian tragic poet, contemporary and friend of Euripides, Aristophanes, and Socrates. He appears to have most nearly approached the great trio, Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and was the first to write a play, Anthos (The Flower'), with an invented plot; other writers had always based their dramas on the national legends. He is introduced as a speaker in Plato's Symposium.

Agave, or American Aloe, with Flower.

Agave Americana, or AMERICAN ALOE, belongs to the order Amaryllidaceae; it is also called the century plant, from the mistaken belief that it lives a hundred years before flowering, then flowers and dies. It lives for a varying number of years before flowering; the flowering axis sometimes rises to 20 ft. or more; then the plant apparently dies down to the ground; but a lateral bud springs from the underground part of the stem, and a new plant is formed. The Mex

Age

icans grow the plant to form dense hedges, and remove the buds for the sugary sap which exudes from the wounds thus made. This sap is collected in large quantities, and fermented and distilled to form pulque, the national intoxicant of Mexico. The interior 'head' of the A. is roasted by the Apaches, forming a staple food, and known as mescal. Other agaves of tropical America are known as maguey, and their fibres are the source of pita thread and several other fibres. A. rigida gives sisal hemp, used in ropemaking. The leaves of A. heteracantha yield a substitute for scap, and are also used for roofing. The fibre of this agave 'istle' is known as Tampico hemp.

Agde, dist. tn. (canton), dep. Hérault, France, on river of same name, 2 m. from the Mediterranean, 29 m. s.w. of Montpellier. Pop. (1901) 8,626.

Age. (1.) A historical period marked off by special characteristics. Thus, we speak of the Homeric Age, the Age of Pericles, the Augustan Age, the Elizabethan Age, to denote certain broad distinctions in literature and art; and further, we refer to certain ages as the Golden Age, the Iron Age, etc.-a form of reference originating with Hesiod, who divided the world's history into five periods:(a) The Golden Age, or reign of Saturn; of patriarchal simplicity, when the earth yielded her fruits spontaneously, and spring was eternal. (b) The Silver Age, or reign of Jupiter; a lawless time when troubles began, labor was imposed on man, and property began to be held. (c) The Brazen Age, or reign of Neptune; a period of lawlessness, war, and violence. (d) The Heroic Age, when men began to aspire to better things. (e) The Iron Age (Hesiod's own), from which justice and piety had disappeared (Hesiod's Theogonia). Ovid followed Hesiod, feaving out the Heroic Age. Varro (Fragments) recognized three ages: (a) Before the Deluge; (b) after the Deluge to 1st Olympiadmythical period; (c) after the 1st Olympiad historical period. Lucretius also noted three: (a) The Age of Stone; (b) the Age of Bronze; (c) the Age of Iron. This classification is also followed by modern archæologists, but with a special meaning. (See ARCHEOLOGY.) Historians divide European history from the fall of the Roman empire to the beginning of modern times into certain ill-defined periods: (a) The Dark Ages, marked by a decline of civilization, brought about by the influx of barbarians from the N. and E., extending to about the 11th century (Hallam). (b) The Middle Ages, or the 1,000 years between the fall of Rome (455) and the great

Age, in Law

movements (spread of humanism, discovery of America and seaway to India, invention of printing, reformation, etc.) of the 15th and 16th centuries. (c) The Feudal Ages, from the 10th to the 16th (2.) The word is also the term of human

century.

applied to

life; and again, to various stages of that life as in the memorable passage describing the seven ages of man, delineated by Jaques in As You Like It (ii. 7). For the biological consideration of length of life, see LONGEVITY. (3.) For legal distinctions, see MAJORITY and MINORITY.

Age, in Law. That period in the life of a man or woman when he is assumed to be capable of exercising the rights, and to be subject to the obligations of citizenship. In the United States and in England, the period of full legal age is deemed 21 for both sexes, though in some states of the Union women come of age at 18. Twenty-one is the age in England when a young man can become a member of Parliament: in the United States no one can be a representative in Congress until he is 25, nor a senator before he is 30, nor President of the nation before he is 35. The age of discretion, which carries with it liability to prosecution for crime, is usually fixed at 14. The age of consent, in the case of unlawful carnal intercourse, varies in different states, ranging from 14 to 18. At the age of 18, till the age of 45, the male citizen is liable to military service in the U. S. See MAJORITY and MINORITY.

Agen (anc. Aginum), cap. of dep. Lot-et-Garonne, France, on r. bk. of Garonne, 84 m. S.E. of Bordeaux; seat of a bishop and of an appeal court; plum-trees extensively grown. The staple industry is dried prunes. place of Joseph Scaliger and Lacépède. Pop. (1900) 20,879.

Birth

Agence Havas. See HAVAS. Agent. See PRINCIPAL AND AGENT.

Age of Reason, THE, a period of the French Revolution (the winter of 1793-4) when Reason was deified as a goddess, and the Christian religion was tabooed by Hébert and his atheistical followers. At Notre Dame, Paris, the goddess was worshipped amid tawdry ceremonies, even the bishops of the church taking part in them and exchanging their mitres for the representative liberty cap. After the wholesale executions, in March, 1794, a schism occurred in the atheist ranks, and religion, in the Feast of the Supreme Being, was officially restored, chiefly under the influence of Robespierre, who was bitterly hostile to Hébert and Danton.

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Ageratum, a genus of Compositæ, with white or lavender flowers; used as summer bedding plants, mostly in borders, for which they are well adapted on account of their compact and free-flowering habit.

Agesilaus (445-360 B.C.), king of Sparta from 398-360. After the death of his brother he became king with the aid of the general Lysander, Although insignificant, ugly, and lame, he soon made his great abilities felt. At this time Sparta was at the height of her power. Agesilaus resolved to attack the Persians. He invaded Asia, and defeated them in many battles, and in 396 gained a great victory at the river Pactolus, after which he was preparing to penetrate into the heart of the Persian empire and liberate the subjugated peoples, when he was called back to Sparta, which was threatened by a coalition of Athenians, Thebans, etc. Agesilaus beat the confederates at Coronea (394). In 371 Sparta was defeated by the Thebans, under Pelopidas and Epaminondas, at Leuctra, after which she lost her supremacy in Greece; indeed, her independence was in jeopardy. But the death of Epaminondas at Mantinea in 362 freed Sparta from her danger. After this Agesilaus once more turned his attention to the Persians. In 361 he went to Egypt, at the request of the king, Tachos, who promised him an army against the Persians; but upon his failure to do so, Agesilaus helped Nectanabis to become king. Agesilaus perished in a tempest while returning from this expedition, at the age of eighty-four years. Xenophon has written his Life in very eulogistic terms; also Cornelius Nepos and Plutarch.

Agglomerate, volcanic ash in which are scattered large blocks or bombs. It occurs in beds which are usually of no great areal extent, though their thickness may be considerable, and it is a very characteristic accumulation in the necks and choked-up vents of old craters. Like all volcanic ash, it is due to the explosive action of steam rising in the molten rock which fills an active crater; and it differs from ordinary ash-beds, or tuff, only in its relative coarseness. Very often, in addition to bombs cf igneous origin, large pieces of sedimentary rock are found in the agglomerate.

Agglutinative Languages, those languages which may be roughly characterized as adding qualifying words as suffixes, making longer or shorter compound words, instead of inflecting the principal word or allowing the qualifying word to stand alone. The principal languages of this group are Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish, Mongolian, and the

Agira

Dravidian languages (e.g. Tamil, Telugu) of S. India. It must be borne in mind that the agglutinative and inflectional types of language frequently approximate so closely as to become confused, and that in many instances no strict line of demarcation can be drawn between them.

Aggtelek (Hung. Baradlam), vil., co. Gömör, Hungary, 27 m. N.N.W. of Miskolcz, with the largest stalactite caves in Europe. Inclusive of the side branches, the windings of these caves are over five miles in length.

Agha Mohammed (1720-97), Shah of Persia, founder of the reigning Kajar dynasty. The son of Mohammed Hasan, chief of Astrabad, he raised the standard of revolt against Lutf Ali Khan, the last of the Zend dynasty, and gained the throne after a prolonged struggle. The murder of his rival, and the massacre of the inhabitants of the towns which had held out against him, show the barbarity of his nature; but he had sound ideas of policy, and was particularly jealous of Russian interference. He was killed by his own followers. See Forster's Journey from Bengal to England (1798).

Aghrim, or AUGHRIM, BATTLE OF (July 12, 1691), 30 m. s.w. of Athlone, in Ireland. William III.'s general, Ginkell, met and defeated a combined Irish and French force, adherents of James II. See AUGHRIM.

Agincourt (Fr. Azincourt), BATTLE OF, was fought on Oct. 25, 1415. Henry v. of England, with 9,000 to 15,000 men, one-third of them archers, was opposed by about 50,000 French under the Constable of France, D'Albret. The victory was complete in three hours. The French lost about 10,000, of whom many were 'gentle'; among them being the constable, Duke of Alençon, and Duke of Brabant. The English loss is variously estimated at from 1,600 (as by St. Rémy) to under 200, among them the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk. See Le Fèvre's (St. Rémy-present at the battle) Chronique (140835), and Nicolas's Hist. of the Battle of Agincourt (1827-useful compilation).

Agio (Ital.), rate of exchange between actual and face values of coinage or paper, or between the standards of different countries; also the amount of appreciation or depreciation from a customary rate of exchange.

Agira, tn., Catania, Sicily, 35 m. N.W. of Catania, crowns a lofty hill (2,130 ft.) 9 m. N. of its ry. stn.; one of the oldest Sikelian towns of Sicily; known in ancient times as Agyrium. Here Diodorus Siculus was born. Pop. (1901) 17,634.

Agis

Agis, three kings of Sparta (or four counting the legendary founder of the Agidæ dynasty). AGIS I. (II.) reigned 427-397 B.C.; several times invaded Attica, and defeated the Athenians and their allies at Mantinea (418), and besieged Athens (405).—AGIS II. (III.) reigned 338-331 B.C.; endeavored to crush the Macedonian supremacy in Greece during the absence of Alexander the Great in Asia. AGIS III. (IV.), king from 245-241 B.C., sought to revive the institutions of Lycurgus, but was put to death by his suspicious subjects. See Plutarch's Life, and Alfieri's tragedy Agide.

Agistment. An agreement by which the owner of land allows cattle to pasture on his land, generally for hire. The agistor has no lien on the cattle, and is liable for negligence. See BAIL

MENT.

Agitato, a term used in music, generally along with allegro or presto, to denote a restless and emotional style.

Aglaophon, the name of two Greek painters, supposed to be grandfather and grandson. The elder flourished about 500 B.C.; is famous as the father and instructor of Polygnotus and Aristophon. The painting of the Winged Victory, mentioned by the scholiast on the Birds of Aristophanes, is supposed to be by him. Antheus mentions two pictures by the younger (fl. 416 B.C.)-The Crowning of Alcibiades, and Nemea with Alcibiades on her Knees.

Agnadello, or GHIARA D'ADDA, BATTLE OF (May 14, 1509). Here, after the league of Cambray, the French, under Louis XII., defeated the Venetians.

Agnano, LAKE OF, Italy, 24 m. w. of Naples, filled the basin of an extinct crater, but was drained in 1870. The carbon-dioxide waters are now used in baths. Near it is the famous Grotto del Cane.

Agnates, or AGNATI. In Roman law, blood relations on the father's side, tracing their descent exclusively through males-e.g. one's father's brother's child, but not one's father's sister's child. In Scotch and English law, agnates include all blood relations on the father's side, the term cognates being employed to desig nate all persons related by blood to the mother.

Agnel, a French gold coin struck during the reign of Louis IX., but not used after the time of Charles IX. So called because it had a figure of the paschal lamb upon it.

Agnes, Sr., a Roman virgin, martyr to the Christian faith in the reign of Diocletian. At the age of twelve she was publicly humiliated and beheaded. Her feast is the 21st January.

Agnesi, MARIA GAETANA

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was

(1718-99), an accomplished linguist and mathematician, born in Milan. She succeeded her father as professor of mathematics at Bologna, and published Instituzioni Analitiche (1748).

Agnew, DANIEL HAYES (181892) American surgeon and medical writer, was born in Lancaster co., Penn., and studied medicine, at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. He lectured for a time in the Philadephia School of Anatomy, founded the School of Operative Surgery in that city, and was professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He was one of the surgeons who attended President Garfield after he was shot. His publications include a work on Practical Anatomy (1867), and Principles and Practice of Surgery (1878).

Agni, in Hindu mythology god of fire and of the earth, to whom many Vedic hymns are addressed. See Hopkins's Religions of India (1895).

Agnomen, a name added by the Romans to those of any person, to commemorate his services, or in allusion to his charactere.g. Cnæus Marcius Coriolanus.

Agnone, tn., Campobasso, Italy, on the w. slope of the Apennines, 22 m. N.w. of Campobasso; metal industries (iron, copper, etc.). Pop. (1901) 10,189.

It

Agnosticism. The word agnosticism was coined by Professor Huxley in 1869; but while the name is new the thing is old. may possibly have been suggested to Huxley by the inscription which St. Paul found upon an altar in Athens- Αγνώστω θεω, Το an unknown God' (Acts 17:23). By its form i suggests, and, Huxley tells us, was meant to suggest, a theory the exact opposite of gnosticism, which was a vague and theosophical method of speculation widely prevalent in the early church. Agnosticism restricts our cognition to the manifestations and transformations of matter and energy, and disclaims all knowledge of spiritual existence, whether of God or man. While

accepting the conclusions of science and sensible experience, it rejects, as unfounded conjecture, all assertions regarding the unseen. Agnostics do not deny that behind the phenomena of knowing, feeling, and willing, there may be a permanent entity or soul; but they maintain that nothing can be proved or disproved respecting the soul's distinct existence, substance, or durability, Similarly, they admit that behind the material phenomena of the universe there may exist a Universal Being; but they hold it impossible to determine whether or not the nature of this Being is conscious and spiritual. To all such questions there is but one

Agnus Dei

answer: we do not know, and nothing leads us to suppose that we shall ever know. At the same time, it is to be remembered that agnostics emphatically protest against their views being confound d with the dogmatic affirmations of atheism and materialism, inasmuch as the latter theories desert the purely n scient attitude with regard to spiritual existence. History, however, ap pears to prove that much of religious agnosticism tends to issue in ultimate scepticism. There are many shades and varieties of agnosticism, but all reasoned and systematic forms of it at the present day are based more or less overtly upon the speculations of Kant. The conclusion of Kant's critical analysis of human reason is that we can know only the phenomenal, while such ideas as God, the soul, and immortality can be apprehended only by practical faith. The negative side of this theory has been adopted and popularized in Britain by Herbert Spencer, whose works present the most elaborate and impressive exposition of agnosticism to be had in English. Agnosticism will always be found to rest upon a subjective theory of knowledge, and can be refuted only by the demonstration that our knowledge of reality, so far as it goes, is genuine and trustworthy. See Huxley's Lectures and Essays, Herbert Spencer's First Principles, and Leslie Stephen's An Agnostic's Apology (1893). A masterly criticism_of the theory is to be found in Dr. James Ward's Naturalism and Agnosticism (Gifford Lectures, 1899); cf. also Flint's Agnosticism (1903).

Agnostus, an important genus of trilobites characteristic of Cambrian strata in Europe and America. The head and tailshields are semicircular in outline and quite similar, the thorax consists of two segments and there are no eyes.

Agnus, FELIX (1839) American soldier and journalist, was born in Lyons, France, and came to the U. S. in 1860. He served under Garibaldi, and in the Civil War, as a member of the famous Duryea Zouaves and saved Gen. Kilpatrick's life at Big Bethel. In 1864 he was with Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, and he had charge of disarming Confederate forts after the war. He was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers (1865) and soon afterward became editor and publisher of the Baltimore American.

Agnus Dei (Lat. 'Lamb of God'), a title of our Lord (John 1: 29) hence a symbolical representation of Christ as a lamb with a halo, and supporting a banner, as found in the catacombs. Also

Agonic Lines

the figure of a lamb impressed on wax from the Paschal candles and blessed by the Pope on the Thursday following Easter. Also a prayer which since the 6th centuty has been used in the service of the mass-Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. In the Greek Church the cloth which covers the chalice is known as an Agnus Dei, this symbol being embroidered upon it. In medieval heraldry and religion the Agnus Dei was associated with St. John, and was consequently borne by th se under the patronage of that saint.

Agonic Lines, imaginary lines on the earth's surface connecting those points where the magnetic needle shows no declination. There are two such-a smaller, contained entirely in Siberia and China; and a larger, which passes through Russia, the Indian Ocean, Australia, Antarctic Ocean, Brazil, Atlantic Ocean, and E. Canada.

Agoo, pueblo, prov. of La Unión, Luzon, Philippines, 20 m. s. of San Fernando, by road. The inhabitants are peaceful and prosperous, and produce sugarcane, cotton, corn and rice. E. of the tn. is Mt. Santo Tomás (7,418 ft.). Pop. (1903) 10,653.

Agora (Gr. assembly'), the market-place of ancient Greek towns, corresponding to the Roman forum, and the centre of the religious, commercial, and political life of the town or city. The most famous agoræ were those of Elis and Athens, the latter being a large irregular area bordered by the Acropolis, Colonos Agoræus Hill, and the Areopagus Hill. See Pausanias, vi. 24, and Vitruvius, v. 1; also Hirt's Die Geschichte der Baukunst bei den Alten, vol. iii. (1821-7), and Gardner's Ancient Athens (1903).

Agoraphobia (Gr. 'fear of the public square'), a nervous disease characterized by fear in certain situations, usually large spaces. The patient suffers palpitation of the heart, trembling, coldness, and other symptoms of terror, which come upon him suddenly in the market-place, street, or theatre; he will slink round the edge of a square rather than cross it. provement in general health, and keeping the mind well occupied usually drive it away.

Im

Agoult, MARIE CATHERINE SOPHIE DE FLAVIGNY, COMTESSE D' (1805-76), French author under the peudonym 'Daniel Stern,' daughter of Vicomte Flavigny and Marie Bethmann of the Frankfort banking family, was educated in Paris; married Count d'Agoult in 1827, but left him to live with Franz Liszt; travelled much in Switzerland, where she met George Sand, and in Germany and Italy. To Liszt she bore a son and two daughters, of whom

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Blandine married Émile Ollivier, and Cosima married first Hans von Bülow, and later Richard Wagner. Daniel Stern' wrote Nélida (1845), an autobiographical romance; Lettres républicaines (1848); Hist. de la Révolution de 1848 (1851-3); Esquisses morales et politiques (1849), by which she is best know; and Mes Souvenirs, 1806-33 (1877).

Agramonte

fort, which covers a large area near the river, was built in 1566. It is surrounded by high walls with red stone towers, but has not the strength to resist modern systems of attack. Jehangir commenced the palace, and erected Sikandra, the mausoleum of his father, Akbar, and the tomb of Itmad-udDaula, his father-in-law. Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque), the

The Taj Mahal, or 'Peerless Tomb,' Agra.

Agouta, a small, rat-like insectivore (Solenodon paradoxus) of Hayti, closely related to the Almiqui (q. v.). It is nocturnal in habits and a poultry-thief.

Agouti, a S. American rodent of the genus Dasyprocta; it has three toes on the hind limbs, and all the toes end in hooflike claws. The agoutis are small animals whose head and body suggest those of a hare (except the short round ears), but whose legs and feet are more like those of pigs. They are brownish and unspotted, live in the forest in companies, dwell in burrows, whence they rarely emerge until dark. They often damage plantations, especially of sugar-cane, and are hunted to eat, by the aid of dogs, in eluding which they are as wily as a fox. See Rodway, In the Guiana Forest (1894).

Agra, chief tn., Agra dist., United Provinces, India, on the r. bk. of the Jumma, 120 m. from Delhi. It was founded by the Mogul emperor Akbar, who made it the seat of government. The

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Jama Masjid, and the celebrated Taj Mahal, a magnificent tomb of white marble, are monuments of the reign of Shah Jehan, the son of Jehangir. The fort was captured from the Mahrattas by Lord Lake in 1803. In 1857 Agra stood a siege of some months during the mutiny. It is an important market for grain and sugar. The chief industries are shoes, gold lace, and delicate mosaic work. Pop. (1901) 188,022. Pop. of dist. (1901) 1,060,528.-The AGRA

CANAL, for irrigation and navigation, taps the Jumna 10 m. below Delhi, and re-enters 20 m. below Agra, with branches to that city and to Muttra.

Agram (Croat. Zagreb; Hung. Zágráb). (1.) County, Croatia, Hungary, 1,573 sq. m., and pop. (1900) 477,740. (2.) Chief tn. of Croatia, and an arch-episcopal see of Hungary, near the I. bk. of the Save, 139 m. by rail N.E. of Fiume. Manufactures of linen, tobacco, and hides. Pop. (1900) 57,690.

Agramonte, IGNACIO (1841

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