Read Ebook: The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Atrebates to Bedlis Vol. 1 Part 3 by Various

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obtained a commandery, was made grand-prior, and in 1476 succeeded the Grand-master Orsini. In 1480 the Island of Rhodes, the head-quarters of the order, was invaded by a Turkish army of 100,000 men. The town was besieged for two months and then assaulted, but the Turks were obliged to retire with great loss. He died at Rhodes in 1503.

AUCH , a town in S.W. France, capital of department Gers; the seat of an archbishop, with one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in France; manufactures linens, leather, &c. Pop. 13,638.

AUCHTERAR?DER, a town, Perthshire, Scotland, with manufactures of tweeds, tartans, &c. The opposition to the presentee to the church of Auchterarder originated the struggle which ended in the formation of the Free Church of Scotland. Pop. , 3151.

AUCK?LAND, a town of New Zealand, in the North Island, founded in 1840, and situated on Waitemata Harbour, one of the finest harbours of New Zealand, where the island is only 6 miles across, there being another harbour on the opposite side of the isthmus. At dead low water there is sufficient depth in the harbour for the largest steamers. The working ship channel has an average depth of 36 feet, and varies in width from 1 to 2 miles. The harbour has two good entrances, with a lighthouse; and is defended by batteries. There are numerous wharves and jetties, and two graving-docks, one of which--the Calliope Dock, opened in 1887--is one of the largest in the whole of the Southern Seas. Its site is picturesque, the streets are spacious, and the public buildings--churches, educational establishments, including a university college--are numerous and handsome. It has a large and increasing trade, there being connection with the chief places on the island by rail, and regular communication with the other ports of the colony, Australia, and Fiji by steam. It was formerly the capital of the colony. Pop. 157,750.--The provincial district of Auckland forms the northern part of North Island, with an area of 25,364 sq. miles. Pop. 308,766. The surface is very diversified; volcanic phenomena are common, including geysers, hot lakes, &c.; rivers are numerous; wool, timber, kauri-gum, &c., are exported. Much gold has been obtained in the Thames Valley and elsewhere.

AUCKLAND, William Eden, Lord, an English statesman, born 1744; educated at Eton and Oxford, called to the bar 1768, Under-Secretary of State 1772, and in 1776 a lord of the Board of Trade. In 1778 he was nominated in conjunction with Lord Howe and others to act as mediator between Britain and the insurgent American colonies. He was afterwards Secretary of State for Ireland, Ambassador Extraordinary to France, Ambassador Extraordinary to the Netherlands, &c. He was raised to the peerage in 1788, and died in 1814.

AUCKLAND ISLANDS, a group of islands about 180 miles S. of New Zealand, discovered in 1806, and belonging to Britain. They are of volcanic origin and fertile; and the largest, which is 30 miles by 15, has two good harbours. There are no settled inhabitants.

AUDE , a maritime department in the S. of France; area 2448 sq. miles, mainly covered by hills belonging to the Pyrenees or the Cevennes, and traversed W. to E. by a valley drained by the Aude. The loftier districts are bleak and unproductive; the others tolerably fertile, yielding good crops of grain. The wines, especially the white wines, are famous; olives and other fruits are also cultivated. The manufactures are varied; the trade is facilitated by the Canal du Midi. Carcassonne is the capital; other towns are Narbonne and Castelnaudary. Pop. 286,552. The River Aude rises in the Eastern Pyrenees, and, flowing nearly parallel to the Canal du Midi, falls into the Mediterranean after a course of 130 miles.

AU?DENSHAW, a town of England, in Lancashire, 4 miles E. of Manchester, with cotton-mills, engineering-works, &c. Pop. , 7878.

AUDIOMETER, an instrument for the measurement of hearing, invented by Professor D. E. Hughes, of London, in 1879.

AU?DIPHONE, an acoustic instrument by means of which deaf persons are enabled to hear. It consists essentially of a fan-shaped plate of hardened caoutchouc, which is bent to a greater or less degree by strings, and is very sensitive to sound-waves. When used, the up edge is pressed against the upper front teeth, with the convexity outward, and the sounds being collected are conveyed from the teeth to the auditory nerve without passing through the external ear.

AU?DIT, an examination into accounts or dealings with money or property, along with vouchers or other documents connected therewith, especially by proper officers, or persons appointed for the purpose. Also the occasion of receiving the rents from the tenants on an estate.

AU?DITOR, a person appointed to examine accounts, public or private, to see whether they are correct and in accordance with vouchers. In Britain the public accounts are audited by the Exchequer and Audit Department, Somerset House, at the head of it being a comptroller and auditor-general, and an assistant-comptroller and auditor, with a large staff of clerks. In Scotland there is an auditor attached to the Court of Session appointed to tax costs in litigation.

AUDLEY, a town of England, in Staffordshire, to the north-west of the district of The Potteries, with coal and iron mines. Pop. , 14,751.

AUERBACH, a manufacturing town of Germany, in Saxony. Pop. 2200.

AUGEAS , a fabulous king of Elis, in Greece, whose stable contained 3000 oxen, and had not been cleaned for thirty years. Hercules undertook to clear away the filth in one day in return for a tenth part of the cattle, and executed the task by turning the River Alphus through it. Augeas, having broken the bargain, was deposed and slain by Hercules.

AUGER , an instrument for boring holes considerably larger than those bored by a gimlet, used by carpenters and joiners, ship-wrights, &c.

AUGHRIM, a village in Co. Galway, Ireland, memorable for the decisive victory gained in the neighbourhood, 12th July, 1691, by the forces of William of Orange, under Ginkel, over the Irish and French troops, under St. Ruth. The total English casualties were about 1700, while the Irish lost at least 7000 men as well as all their war material. This battle caused the complete submission of the country.

AUGITE is the commonest member of the pyroxene group of minerals; a constituent of many igneous rocks, such as basalt, gabbro, &c. It crystallizes in short almost rectangular prisms of the monoclinic system, modifying planes causing cross-sections to be eight-sided. Its specific gravity is about 3.2; lustre vitreous; hardness sufficient to scratch glass; colour usually dark. It is a silicate of calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminium, and alters in geological time by slow recrystallization into hornblende, possibly with some loss of calcium. It may be imitated by the artificial fusion of its constituents. A transparent, green, non-aluminous variety found at Zillertal, in Tyrol, is used in jewellery.

AUGSBURG , a city of Bavaria, at the junction of the Wertach and Lech, antique in appearance, but with some fine streets, squares, and handsome or interesting buildings, including a splendid town hall, a lofty belfry , cathedral, with paintings by Domenichino, Holbein, &c.; St. Ulrich's Church; the bishop's palace, where the Augsburg Confession was presented to the Diet, afterwards a royal residence; the Fugger Palace, or mansion of the celebrated Fugger family; the public library; the theatre; the Academy of Arts; and the Fuggerei, a separate quarter of the city, consisting of fifty-three small houses, tenanted at a merely nominal rent by indigent Roman Catholics. Augsburg was a renowned commercial centre in the Middle Ages, and is still an important emporium of South German and Italian trade; industries: cotton spinning and weaving, dyeing, woollen manufacture, machinery and metal goods, books and printing, chemicals, &c. The Emperor Augustus established a colony here about 12 B.C. In 1276 it became a free city, and, besides being a great mart for the commerce between the north and south of Europe, it was a great centre of German art in the Middle Ages. It early took a conspicuous part in the Reformation. In 1806 it was incorporated in Bavaria. Pop. , 154,555.

AUGSBURG CONFESSION, a document which was presented by the Protestants at the Diet of Augsburg, 1530, to the Emperor Charles V and the Diet, and being signed by the Protestant States was adopted as their creed. Luther made the original draft; but as its style appeared too violent it was given to Melanchthon for amendment. The original is to be found in the imperial Austrian archives. Afterwards Melanchthon arbitrarily altered some of the articles, and there arose a division between those who held the original and those who held the altered Augsburg Confession. The former is received by the Lutherans, the latter by the German Reformed.

AUGUSTA , or AGOS?TA, a seaport in the south-east of Sicily, 12 miles north of Syracuse. It exports salt, oil, honey, &c. Pop. 17,250.

AUGUS?TA, capital of Maine, United States, on the River Kennebec, which is crossed by a bridge and is navigable for small vessels 43 miles from its mouth, while a dam enables steamboats to ply for 20 miles farther up and furnishes immense water-power. Pop. , 14,144.

AUGUSTA, the capital of Richmond county, Georgia, United States, on the left bank of the Savannah River, 231 miles from its mouth; well built, and connected with the river by high-level canals; an important manufacturing centre, having cotton-mills, machine-shops, and railroad works, &c. Pop. , 52,548.

AU?GUSTINS, or AUGUSTINES, members of several monastic fraternities who follow rules framed by the great St. Augustine, or deduced from his writings, of which the chief are the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, or Austin Canons, and the Begging Hermits or Austin Friars. The Austin Canons were introduced into Britain about 1100, and had about 170 houses in England and about twenty-five in Scotland. They took the vows of chastity and poverty, and their habit was a long black cassock with a white rochet over it, having over that a black cloak and hood. The Austin Friars, originally hermits, were a much more austere body, went barefooted, and formed one of the four orders of mendicants. An order of nuns had also the name of Augustines. Their garments, at first black, were afterwards violet.

AUGUS?TULUS, Romulus, the last of the Western Roman emperors; reigned for one year , when he was overthrown by Odoacer and banished.

AUK, a name of certain swimming birds, family Alcidae, including the great auk, the little auk, the puffin, &c. The genus Alca, or auks proper, contains only two species, the great auk , and the razor-bill . The great auk or gair-fowl, a bird about 3 feet in length, used to be plentiful in northerly regions, and also visited the British shores, but has become extinct. Some seventy skins, about as many eggs, with bones representing perhaps a hundred individuals, are preserved in various museums. Though the largest species of the family, the wings were only 6 inches from the carpal joint to the tip, totally useless for flight, but employed as fins in swimming, especially under water. The tail was about 3 inches long; the beak was high, short, and compressed; the head, neck, and upper parts were blackish; a large spot under each eye, and most of the under parts white. Its legs were placed so far back as to cause it to sit nearly upright. The razor-bill is about 15 inches in length, and its wings are sufficiently developed to be used for flight. It is found in numbers on some parts of the British shores, as the Isle of Man.

AULAP?OLAY, or ALLEPPI, a seaport on the south-west coast of Hindustan, Travancore, between the sea and a lagoon, with a safe roadstead all the year round; exports timber, coir, coconuts, &c. Pop. 24,918.

AULIC , an epithet given to a council in the old German Empire, one of the two supreme courts of the German Empire, the other being the court of the imperial chamber . It had not only concurrent jurisdiction with the latter court, but in many cases exclusive jurisdiction, in all feudal processes, and in criminal affairs, over the immediate feudatories of the Emperor and in affairs which concerned the imperial Government.

AULLAGAS , a salt lake of Bolivia, which receives the surplus waters of Lake Titicaca through the Rio Desaguadero, and has only one perceptible insignificant outlet, so that what becomes of its superfluous water is still a matter of uncertainty.

AURANGABAD?, a town of India, in the territory of the Nizam of Hyderabad, 175 miles from Bombay. It contains a ruined palace of Aurangzib and a mausoleum erected to the memory of his favourite wife. It was formerly a considerable trading centre, but its commercial importance decreased when Hyderabad became the capital of the Nizam. Pop. 34,000.

AURANGZIB , one of the greatest of the Mogul emperors of Hindustan, born in Oct. 1618 or 1619. When he was nine years old his weak and unfortunate father, Shah Jehan, succeeded to the throne. Aurangzib was distinguished, when a youth, for his serious look, his frequent prayers, his love of solitude, his profound hypocrisy, and his deep plans. In his twentieth year he raised a body of troops by his address and good fortune, and obtained the government of the Deccan. He stirred up dissensions between his brothers, made use of the assistance of one against the other, and finally shut his father up in his harem, where he kept him prisoner. He then murdered his relatives one after the other, and in 1659 ascended the throne. Notwithstanding the means by which he had got possession of power, he governed with much wisdom. Two of his sons, who endeavoured to form a party in their own favour, he caused to be arrested and put to death by slow poison. He carried on many wars, conquered Golconda and Bijapur, and drove out, by degrees, the Mahrattas from their country. After his death, on 4th March, 1707, the Mogul Empire declined.

AURANTIA?CEAE, the orange tribe, a nat. ord. of plants, polypetalous dicotyledons, with leaves containing a fragrant essential oil in transparent dots, and a superior pulpy fruit, originally natives of India; examples comprise the orange, lemon, lime, citron, and shaddock.

AURAY , a seaport of North-West France, department Morbihan, with a deaf and dumb institute, and within 2 miles of St. Anne of Auray, a famous place of pilgrimage. Pop. 6653.

AURE?LIAN, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, Emperor of Rome, of humble origin, was born about A.D. 212, rose to the highest rank in the army, and on the death of Claudius II was chosen emperor. He delivered Italy from the barbarians , and conquered the famous Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra. He followed up his victories by the reformation of abuses, and the restoration throughout the Empire of order and regularity. He lost his life, A.D. 275, by assassination, when heading an expedition against the Persians.

AURE?OLA, or AU?REOLE, in paintings, an illumination surrounding the whole figure of a holy person, as Christ, a saint, or a martyr, intended to represent a luminous cloud or haze emanating from him. It is generally of an oval shape, or may be nearly or quite circular, and is of similar character with the nimbus surrounding the heads of sacred personages.

AURICH , a German town, province of Hanover. Pop. 6070.

AURILLAC , a town of France, capital of the department Cantal, in a valley watered by the Jordanne, about 270 miles S. of Paris; well built, with wide streets; copper-works, paper-works, manufactures of lace, tapestry, leather, &c. Pop. 18,036.

AURO?RA, an American city, of Kane county, Illinois, on Fox River, 40 miles W. by S. of Chicago; it has flourishing manufactures, railway-works, and a considerable trade. Pop. , 36,265.

AURO?RA , in classical mythology, the goddess of the dawn, daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister of Helios and Seln . She was represented as a charming figure, 'rosy-fingered', clad in a yellow robe, rising at dawn from the ocean and driving her chariot through the heavens. Among the mortals whose beauty captivated the goddess, poets mentioned Orion, Tithnus, and Cephlus.

AURO?RA, one of the New Hebrides Islands, S. Pacific Ocean, about 30 miles long by 5 wide. It rises to a considerable elevation, and is covered with a luxuriant vegetation.

AUSO?NIA, an ancient poetical name of Italy.

AUSO?NIUS, Decimus Magnus , Roman poet, born at Burdigala . Valentinian entrusted to him the education of his son Gratian, and appointed him afterwards quaestor and pretorian prefect. Gratian appointed him consul in Gaul, and after this emperor's death he lived upon an estate at Bordeaux, devoted to literary pursuits. He wrote epigrams, idyls, eclogues, letters in verse, &c., still extant, and was probably a Christian. He was rather a man of letters than a poet, and his poems are devoid of inspiration.

AUS?SIG, a town in Bohemia, in the republic of Czecho-Slovakia, formerly in Austria, near the junction of the Bila with the Elbe, 42 miles N.N.W. of Prague; has large manufactures of woollens, chemicals, &c. The town is now known as Ousti nad Labem. Pop. 40,000.

AUSTENITE, a constituent of high-carbon steel .

AUS?TERLITZ, a town with 3703 inhabitants, in Moravia, 10 miles E. of Br?nn, famous for the battle of 2nd Dec., 1805, fought between the French and the allied Austrian and Russian armies . The decisive victory of the French led to the Peace of Pressburg between France and Austria.

AUS?TIN, capital of the State of Texas, on the Colorado, about 200 miles from its mouth, and accessible to steamboats during certain seasons. There is a State university and other institutions, and a splendid capitol built of red granite. Pop. , 34,876.

AUSTRALASIA, a division of the globe usually regarded as comprehending the Islands of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, New Ireland, New Britain, the Admiralty Islands, New Guinea, and the Arru Islands, besides numerous other islands and island groups; estimated area, 3,400,000 sq. miles; pop. 6,000,000. It forms one of the three portions into which some geographers have divided Oceania, the other two being Malaysia and Polynesia. The British territories in Australasia comprise the Commonwealth of Australia, the Australian dependencies of Papua and Northern Territory, New Zealand and adjacent islands, and the crown colony of Fiji.

AUSTRALIA , the largest island in the world, a sea-girt continent, lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, S.E. of Asia; between lat. 10? 39' and 39? 11' S.; long. 113? 5' and 153? 16' E.; greatest length, from W. to E., 2400 miles; greatest breadth, from N. to S., 1700 to 1900 miles. It is separated from New Guinea on the north by Torres Strait, from Tasmania on the south by Bass Strait. It is divided into two unequal parts by the Tropic of Capricorn, and consequently belongs partly to the South Temperate, partly to the Torrid Zone. It is occupied by five British colonies, namely, New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland in the east; South Australia in the middle, stretching from sea to sea; and Western Australia in the west, which, with the Island of Tasmania, form the Commonwealth of Australia. Their area and population are as follows:--

Area in Pop. sq. m. in 1920 New South Wales 309,432 2,091,115 Victoria 87,884 1,528,151 Queensland 670,500 752,245 South Australia 380,070 491,177 Western Australia 975,920 330,819 Tasmania 26,215 212,847 Northern Territory 523,620 3,992 Federal Territory 940 1,972

Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth are the chief towns. The population of the Commonwealth of Australia was 4,895,894 in 1917 and 5,412,318 in 1920.

Although there are numerous spacious harbours on the coasts, there are few remarkable indentations, the principal being the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the N., the Great Australian Bight, and Spencer's Gulf, on the S. The chief projections are Cape York Peninsula and Arnhem Land in the north. Parallel to the N.E. coast runs the Great Barrier Reef for 1000 miles. In great part the E. coast is bold and rocky, and is fringed with many small islands. Part of the S. coast is low and sandy, and part presents cliffs of several hundred feet high. The N. and W. coasts are generally low, with some elevations at intervals.

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