most frequently in high latitudes, the corresponding phenomenon in the
southern hemisphere being called _Aurora Australis_, and both being also
called _Polar Light_, _Streamers_, &c. The northern aurora has been far the
most observed and studied. It usually manifests itself by streams of light
ascending towards the zenith from a dusky line of cloud or haze a few
degrees above the horizon, and stretching from the north towards the west
and east, so as to form an arc with its ends on the horizon, and its
different parts and rays are constantly in motion. Sometimes it appears in
detached places; at other times it almost covers the whole sky. It assumes
many shapes and a variety of colours, from a pale red or yellow to a deep
red or blood colour; and in far northern latitudes serves to illuminate the
earth and cheer the gloom of the long winter nights. The appearance of the
aurora borealis so exactly resembles the effects of experimental electrical
phenomena that there is every reason to believe that their causes are
similar. When electricity passes through rarefied air it exhibits a
diffused luminous stream which has all the characteristic appearances of
the aurora, and hence it is highly probable that this natural phenomenon is
occasioned by the passage of electricity through the upper regions of the
atmosphere. The synchronism of auroral display with disturbances of the
magnetic needle is an ascertained fact, and the connection between aurorae
and magnetism is further evident from the fact that the beams or
coruscations issuing from a point in the horizon west of north are
frequently observed to run in the magnetic meridian. What are known as
magnetic storms are invariably connected with exhibitions of the aurora,
and with spontaneous galvanic currents in the ordinary telegraph wires; and
this connection is found to be so certain that, upon remarking the display
of one of the three classes of phenomena, we can at once assert that the
other two are also present. In recent years it has been established that
aurorae wax and wane in frequency _pari passu_ with sun-spots in an 11-year
cycle, and that they often manifest themselves about the time of transit of
a conspicuous spot across the sun's central meridian. Also they frequently
recur at successive intervals of about 27 days, which is the period of a
solar rotation relative to the earth. It is therefore inferred that aurorae
are largely excited by influences proceeding from the sun, and it is
suggested that they are the result of the impinging upon our upper
atmosphere of streams of electric corpuscles expelled from the solar orb,
these streams when approaching our planet being mainly directed to its
higher latitudes as a consequence of its magnetic polarity. The aurora
borealis is said to be frequently accompanied by sound, which is variously
described as resembling the rustling of pieces of silk against each other,
or the sound of wind against the flame of a candle. The aurora of the
southern hemisphere is quite a similar phenomenon to that of the
north.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Angot, _Les Aurores Polaires_; Captain H. P.
Dawson, _Observations of the International Polar Expeditions, 1882-3, Fort
Rae_.
AURUNGABAD. See _Aurangabad_.
AURUNGZEBE. See _Aurangzib_.
AUSCULTA'TION, a method of distinguishing the state of the internal parts
of the body, particularly of the thorax and abdomen, by observing the
sounds arising in the part either through the immediate application of the
ear to its surface (immediate auscultation), or by applying the stethoscope
to the part, and listening through it (mediate auscultation). Auscultation
may be used with more or less advantage in all cases where morbid sounds
are produced, but its general applications are: the _auscultation_ of
respiration, the _auscultation_ of the voice; _auscultation_ of coughs;
_auscultation_ of sounds foreign to all these, but sometimes accompanying
them; _auscultation_ of the actions of the heart; obstetric _auscultation_.
The parts when struck also give different sounds in health and disease.
AUSO'NIA, an ancient poetical name of Italy.
AUSO'NIUS, Decimus Magnus (_c._ A.D. 310-395), Roman poet, born at
Burdigala (Bordeaux). 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'PICES, among the ancient Romans strictly omens or auguries derived from
birds, though the term was also used in a wider sense. Nothing of
importance was done without taking the auspices, which, however, simply
showed whether the enterprise was likely to result successfully or not,
without supplying any further information. Magistrates possessed the right
of taking the auspices, in which they were usually assisted by an augur.
Before a war or campaign a Roman general always took the auspices, and
hence the operations were said to be carried out 'under his auspices'. See
_Augur_.
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.
AUS'TEN, Jane, English novelist, born 1775, at Steventon, in Hants, of
which parish her father was rector. Her principal novels are, _Sense and
Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice_, which Disraeli is said to have read
seventeen times; _Mansfield Park_; and _Emma_. Two more were published
after her death, entitled _Northanger Abbey_ and _Persuasion_, which were,
however, her most early attempts. Her novels are marked by ease, humour,
and a complete knowledge of the domestic life of the English middle classes
of her time. She died in 1817.
AUSTENITE, a constituent of high-carbon steel (q.v.).
AUS'TERLITZ, a town with 3703 inhabitants, in Moravia, 10 miles E. of
Bruenn, famous for the battle of 2nd Dec., 1805, fought between the French
(70,000 in number) and the allied Austrian and Russian armies (95,000). 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. (1920), 34,876.
AUSTIN, Alfred, English poet, born at Hedingley, near Leeds, in 1835,
educated at Stonyhurst and St. Mary's College, Oscott; took the degree of
B.A. at London in 1853, was called to the bar and practised, but gave up
law for literature in 1861. He published, in 1861, a satire called _The
Season_, followed by many poems, including _The Human Tragedy_, _The Golden
Age_, _Savonarola_ (a tragedy), _English Lyrics_, _Fortunatus the
Pessimist_, _Lyrical Poems_, _Narrative Poems_, _Prince Lucifer_, _Alfred
the Great_, _A Tale of True Love_, _Flodden Field_ (a tragedy), &c. His
works in prose include _The Garden that I love_, _In Veronica's Garden_,
_Spring and Autumn in Ireland_, _Haunts of Ancient Peace_, _The Bridling of
Pegasus_, &c. He was made Poet Laureate in 1896, about four years after the
death of Tennyson. He died in 1913.
AUS'TIN, John, an English writer on jurisprudence, born 1790, died 1859.
From 1826 to 1835 he filled the chair of jurisprudence at London
University. He served on several royal commissions, one of which took him
to Malta; lived for some years on the Continent, and finally settled at
Weybridge, in Surrey. His fame rests solely on his great works: _The
Province of Jurisprudence Determined_, published in 1832; and his _Lectures
on Jurisprudence_, published by his widow between 1861 and 1863.--His wife,
Sarah, one of the Taylors of Norwich, produced translations of German
works, and other books bearing on Germany or its literature; also,
_Considerations on National Education_, &c. Born 1793, died 1867. Her
daughter, Lady Duff Gordon, translated Meinhold's _Mary Schweidler, the
Amber Witch_, and other German works.
AUSTIN, ST. See _Augustine_.
AUSTIN FRIARS. See _Augustins_.
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.
[Illustration]
AUSTRALIA (older name, NEW HOLLAND), the largest island in the world, a
sea-girt continent, lying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, S.E. of
Asia; between lat. 10deg 39' and 39deg 11' S.; long. 113deg 5' and 153deg
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.
The interior, so far as explored, is largely composed of rocky tracts and
barren plains with little or no water. The whole continent forms an immense
plateau, highest in the east, low in the centre, and with a narrow tract of
land usually intervening between the elevated area and the sea. The base of
the table-land is granite, which forms the surface-rock in a great part of
the south-west, and is common in the higher grounds along the east side.
Secondary (cretaceous) and tertiary rocks are largely developed in the
interior. Silurian rocks occupy a large area in South Australia, on both
sides of Spencer Gulf. The mountainous region in the south-east and east is
mainly composed of volcanic, Silurian, carbonaceous, and carboniferous
rocks yielding good coal. No active volcano is known to exist, but in the
south-east there are some craters only recently extinct. The highest and
most extensive mountain-system is a belt about 150 miles wide skirting the
whole eastern and south-eastern border of the continent, and often called,
in whole or in part, the Great Dividing Range, from forming the great
water-shed of Australia. A part of it, called the Australian Alps, in the
south-east, contains the highest summits in Australia, Mount Kosciusko
(7175 feet), Mount Clarke (7256 feet), and Mount Townshend (7353 feet).
West of the Dividing Range are extensive plains or downs admirably adapted
for pastoral purposes. The deserts and scrubs, which occupy large areas of
the interior, are a characteristic feature of Australia. The former are
destitute of vegetation, or are covered only with a coarse, spiny grass
that affords no sustenance to cattle or horses; the latter are composed of
a dense growth of shrubs and low trees, often impenetrable till the
traveller has cleared a track with his axe.
[Illustration: COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Geological]
The rivers of Australia are nearly all subject to great irregularities in
volume, many of them at one time showing a channel in which there is merely
a series of pools, while at another they inundate the whole adjacent
country. The chief is the Murray, which, with its affluents the
Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, and Darling, drains a great part of the interior
west of the Dividing Range, and falls into the sea on the south coast
(after entering Lake Alexandrina). Its greatest tributary is the Darling,
which may even be regarded as the main stream. On the east coast are the
Hunter, Clarence, Brisbane, Fitzroy, and Burdekin; on the west, the Swan,
Murchison, Gascoyne, Ashburton, and De Grey; on the north, the Fitzroy,
Victoria, Flinders, and Mitchell. The Australian rivers are of little
service in facilitating internal communication. Many of them lose
themselves in swamps or sandy wastes of the interior. A considerable river
of the interior is Cooper's Creek, or the Barcoo, which falls into Lake
Eyre, one of a group of lakes on the south side of the continent having no
outlet, and accordingly salt. The principal of these are Lakes Eyre,
Torrens, and Gairdner, all of which vary in size and saltness according to
the season. Another large salt lake of little depth, Lake Amadeus, lies a
little west of the centre of Australia. Various others of less magnitude
are scattered over the interior.
The climate of Australia is generally hot and dry, but very healthy. In the
tropical portions there are heavy rains, and in most of the coast districts
there is a sufficiency of moisture, but in the interior the heat and
drought are extreme. Considerable portions now devoted to pasturage are
liable at times to suffer from drought. At Melbourne the mean temperature
is about 56deg, at Sydney about 63deg. The south-eastern settled districts
are at times subject to excessively hot winds from the interior, which
cause great discomfort, and are often followed by a violent cold wind from
the south ('southerly bursters'). In the mountainous and more temperate
parts snow-storms are common in winter (June, July, and August).
Australia is a region containing a vast quantity of mineral wealth.
Foremost come its rich and extensive deposits of gold, which, since the
precious metal was first discovered in 1851, have produced a total of
nearly L600,000,000. The greatest quantity has been obtained in Victoria,
but New South Wales and Queensland have also yielded a considerable amount,
and now Western Australia stands first in respect of annual output.
Australia also possesses silver, copper, tin, lead, zinc, antimony,
mercury, plumbago, &c., besides coal (now worked to a considerable extent
in New South Wales) and iron. Various precious stones are found, as the
garnet, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and even the diamond. Of building-stone
there are granite, limestone, marble, and sandstone.
[Illustration: COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Mean Annual Rainfall and
Temperature]
The Australian flora presents peculiarities which mark it off by itself in
a very decided manner. Many of its most striking features have an
unmistakable relation to the general dryness of the climate. The trees and
bushes have for the most part a scanty foliage, presenting little surface
for evaporation, or thick leathery leaves well fitted to retain moisture.
The most widely-spread types of Australian vegetation are the various kinds
of gum tree (_Eucalyptus_), the shea-oak (_Casuar[=i]na_), the acacia or
wattle, the grass tree (_Xanthorrhoea_), many varieties of Proteaceae, and
a great number of ferns and tree-ferns. Of the gum tree there are found
upwards of 150 species, many of which are of great value. Individual
specimens of the 'peppermint' (_E. amygdal[)i]na_) have been found to
measure from 480 to 500 feet in height. As timber trees the most valuable
members of this genus are the _E. rostr[=a]ta_ (or red gum), _E.
leucox[)y]lon_, and _E. margin[=a]ta_ (jarrah), the timber of which is
hard, and almost indestructible. A number of the gum trees have deciduous
bark. The wattle or acacia includes about 300 species, some of them of
considerable economic value, yielding good timber or bark for tanning. The
most beautiful and most useful is that known as the golden wattle (_A.
dealb[=a]ta_) which in spring is adorned with rich masses of fragrant
yellow blossom. Palms--of which there are twenty-four species, all except
the coco-palm peculiar to Australia--are confined to the north and east
coasts. In the 'scrubs' already mentioned hosts of densely-intertwisted
bushes occupy extensive areas. The _mallee_ scrub is formed by a species of
dwarf eucalyptus, the _mulga_ scrub by a species of thorny acacia. A plant
which covers large areas in the arid regions is the _spinifex_ or porcupine
grass, a hard, coarse, and excessively spiny plant, which renders
travelling difficult, wounds the feet of horses, and is utterly uneatable
by any animal. Other large tracts are occupied by herbs or bushes of a more
valuable kind, from their affording fodder. Foremost among those stands the
salt-bush (_Atriplex nummularia_, ord. Chenopodiaceae). Beautiful flowering
plants are numerous. Australia also possesses great numbers of turf-forming
grasses, such as the kangaroo-grass (_Anthistiria austr[=a]lis_), which
survives even a tolerably-protracted drought. The native fruit trees are
few and unimportant, and the same may be said of the plants yielding roots
used as food; but exotic fruits and vegetables may now be had in the
different colonies in great abundance and of excellent quality. The vine,
the olive, and mulberry thrive well, and quantities of wine are now
produced. The cereals of Europe and maize are extensively cultivated, and
large tracts of country, particularly in Queensland, are under the
sugar-cane.
The Australian fauna is almost unique in its character. Its great feature
is the nearly total absence of all the forms of mammalia which abound in
the rest of the world, their place being supplied by a great variety of
marsupials--these animals being nowhere else found, except in the opossums
of America. There are about 110 kinds of marsupials (of which the kangaroo,
wombat, bandicoot, and phalangers or opossums, are the best-known
varieties), over twenty kinds of bats, a wild dog (the dingo), and a number
of rats and mice. Two extraordinary animals, the platypus, or water-mole of
the colonist (Ornithorhynchus), and the porcupine ant-eater (Echidna)
constitute the lowest order of mammals (Monotremata), and are confined to
Australia. Their young are produced from eggs. Australia now possesses a
large stock of the domestic animals of Britain, which thrive there
remarkably well. The breed of horses is excellent. Horned cattle and sheep
are largely bred, the first attaining a great size, while the sheep improve
in fleece and their flesh in flavour. There are upwards of 650 different
species of birds, the largest being the emu, or Australian ostrich, and a
species of cassowary. Peculiar to the country are the black swan, the
honey-sucker, the lyre-bird, the brush-turkey, and other mound-building
birds, the bower-birds, &c. The parrot tribe preponderates over most other
groups of birds in the continent. There are many reptiles, the largest
being the alligator, found in some of the northern rivers. There are
upwards of sixty different species of snakes, some of which are very
venomous. Lizards, frogs, and insects are also numerous in various parts.
The seas, rivers, and lagoons abound in fish of numerous varieties, and
other aquatic animals, many of them peculiar. Whales and seals frequent the
coasts. On the northern coasts are extensive fisheries of trepang, much
visited by native traders from the Indian Archipelago. Some animals of
European origin, such as the rabbit and the sparrow, have developed into
real pests in several of the colonies.
[Illustration: COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Surface Features]
The natives belong to the Australian negro stock, and are sometimes
considered the lowest as regards intelligence in the whole human family,
though this is doubtful. At the census of 1891 they were believed to number
about 60,000, exclusive of those in the unexplored parts. They are of a
dark-brown or black colour, with jet-black curly but not woolly hair, of
medium size, but inferior muscular development. In the settled parts of the
continent they are inoffensive, and rapidly dying out. They have no fixed
habitations; in the summer they live almost entirely in the open air, and
in the more inclement weather they shelter themselves with bark erections
of the rudest construction. They have no cultivation and no domestic
animals. Their food consists of such animals as they can kill, and no kind
of living creature seems to be rejected, snakes, lizards, frogs, and even
insects being eaten, often half raw. They are ignorant of the potter's art.
In their natural condition they wear little or no clothing. They speak a
number of different languages or dialects. The women are regarded merely as
slaves, and are frequently maltreated. They have no religion; they practise
polygamy, and are said sometimes to resort to cannibalism, but only in
exceptional circumstances. They are occasionally employed by the settlers
in light kinds of work, and as horse-breakers; but they dislike continuous
occupation, and soon give it up. The weapons of all the tribes are
generally similar, consisting of spears, shields, boomerangs, wooden axes,
clubs, and stone hatchets. Of these the boomerang is the most singular,
being an invention confined to the Australians.
The five colonies, independently of each other, having declared their
desire for a federal union, the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. A
Convention, which sat at Adelaide in 1897-8, drafted a Constitution Bill,
and on 9th July, 1900, the British Parliament passed the Act to constitute
the Commonwealth. There is now a Governor-General and Central or Federal
Parliament, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, while
each State has also (as before) a Governor, an administration, and a
Parliament of its own. Each Parliament consists of two Houses corresponding
to the British House of Lords and House of Commons, but both Houses are
elected by popular vote. Altogether the machinery of government very much
resembles that of the home country. The aggregate annual revenue of the
colonies is over L30,000,000. The public debt on 30th June, 1917, was
L372,517,623. The former militia and volunteer units have been gradually
merged into the new Citizen Army started by the Australian Government in
1911. The Government also agreed in the same year to furnish an Australian
fleet unit, upon which King George conferred the title of 'Royal Australian
Navy'. There is no established Church in the colonies. The denomination
which numbers most adherents is the English or Anglican Church, next to
which come the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists. Education is
well provided for, instruction in the primary schools being in some cases
free and compulsory, and the higher education being more and more attended
to. There are flourishing universities in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.
Newspapers are exceedingly numerous, and periodicals of all kinds are
abundant. There is as yet no native literature of any distinctive type, but
names of Australian writers of ability both in prose and poetry are
beginning to be known beyond their own country.
Pastoral and agricultural pursuits and mining are the chief occupations of
the people, though manufactures and handicrafts also employ large numbers.
The total land area under cultivation was calculated at 13,298,576 acres in
1919-20. For sheep-rearing and the growth of wool the Australian colonies
are unrivalled, and while the production of gold has considerably
decreased, that of wool is constantly on the increase. The great bulk of
the wool exported goes to Britain, which receives over 300,000,000 pounds
from the Australian colonies annually (L37,256,915 in 1919-20). The
commerce is rapidly extending, and becoming every year more important to
Britain, whence the colonists derive their chief supplies of manufactured
goods in return for wool, gold, and other produce. Next to wool come gold,
tin, copper, wheat, preserved meat, and tallow, hides and skins, cotton,
tobacco, sugar, and wine as the most important items of export. The chief
imports consist of textile fabrics, haberdashery, and clothing, machinery
and metal goods. The aggregate imports in 1920 amounted to about
L97,456,899 in value, the exports to L148,564,523. There are upwards of
23,000 miles of railway in actual use or in course of construction, and
about 133,000 miles of telegraph. In 1912 the building of the
Trans-Australian railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie was commenced. The
longest telegraph line is that running northwards across the continent from
Adelaide. The two chief routes for mails between Britain and the Australian
colonies are by way of the Suez Canal, and by San Francisco across the
American continent. The coinage is the same as in the mother country. Banks
and banking offices are numerous, including post office or other savings
banks for the reception of small sums.