[1] While these writings are of great historical value, they do not,
of course, represent the Christian argument as conceived to-day. The
Church of Rome prefers medieval or modern statements of its position;
Protestantism can use only modern statements.
APOLOGUE (from the Gr. [Greek: apologos], a statement or account), a
short fable or allegorical story, meant to serve as a pleasant vehicle
for some moral doctrine or to convey some useful lesson. One of the best
known is that of Jotham in the Book of Judges (ix. 7-15); others are
"The City Rat and Field Rat," by Horace, "The Belly and its Members," by
the patrician Menenius Agrippa in the second book of Livy, and perhaps
most famous of all, those of Aesop. The term is applied more
particularly to a story in which the actors or speakers are taken from
the brute creation or inanimate nature. An apologue is distinguished
from a fable in that there is always some moral sense present, which
there need not be in a fable. It is generally dramatic, and has been
defined as "a satire in action." It differs from a parable in several
respects. A parable is equally an ingenious tale intended to correct
manners, but it can be _true_, while an apologue, with its introduction
of animals and plants, to which it lends our ideas and language and
emotions, is necessarily devoid of real truth, and even of all
probability. The parable reaches heights to which the apologue cannot
aspire, for the points in which brutes and inanimate nature present
analogies to man are principally those of his lower nature, and the
lessons taught by the apologue seldom therefore reach beyond prudential
morality, whereas the parable aims at representing the relations between
man and God. It finds its framework in the world of nature as it
actually is, and not in any grotesque parody of it, and it exhibits real
and not fanciful analogies. The apologue seizes on that which man has in
common with creatures below him, and the parable on that which he has in
common with God. Still, in spite of the difference of moral level,
Martin Luther thought so highly of apologues as counsellors of virtue
that he edited and revised Aesop and wrote a characteristic preface to
the volume. The origin of the apologue is extremely ancient and comes
from the East, which is the natural fatherland of everything connected
with allegory, metaphor and imagination. Veiled truth was often
necessary in the East, particularly with the slaves, who dared not
reveal their minds too openly. It is noteworthy that the two fathers of
apologue in the West were slaves, namely Aesop and Phaedrus. La Fontaine
in France; Gay and Dodsley in England; Gellert, Lessing and Hagedorn in
Germany; Tomas de Iriarte in Spain, and Krilov in Russia, are leading
modern writers of apologues. Length is not an essential matter in the
definition of an apologue. Those of La Fontaine are often very short,
as, for example, "Le Coque et la Perle." On the other hand, in the
romances of Reynard the Fox we have medieval apologues arranged in
cycles, and attaining epical dimensions. An Italian fabulist, Corti, is
said to have developed an apologue of "The Talking Animals" to the bulk
of twenty-six cantos. La Motte, writing at a time when this species of
literature was universally admired, attributes its popularity to the
fact that it _menage et flatte l'amour-propre_ by inculcating virtue in
an amusing manner without seeming to dictate or insist. This was the
ordinary 18th-century view of the matter, but Rousseau contested the
educational value of instruction given in this indirect form.
A work by P. Soulle, _La Fontaine et ses devanciers_ (1866), is a
history of the apologue from the earliest times until its final
triumph in France.
APOLOGY (from Gr. [Greek: apologia], defence), in its usual sense, an
expression of regret for something which has been wrongfully said or
done; a withdrawal or retraction of some charge or imputation which is
false. In an action for libel, the fact that an apology has been
promptly and fully made is a plea in mitigation of damages. The apology
should have the same form of publicity as the original charge. If made
publicly, the proper form is an advertisement in a newspaper; if made
within the hearing of a few only, a letter of apology, which may be read
to those who have heard what was said, should be sufficient. By the
English Libel Act 1843, s. 2, it was enacted that in an action for libel
contained in a newspaper it is a defence for the defendant to plead that
the libel was inserted without actual malice and without gross
negligence, and that before the commencement of the action and at the
earliest opportunity afterwards he inserted in the newspaper a full
apology for the libel, or, where the newspaper in which the libel
appeared was published at intervals exceeding one week, he offered to
publish the apology in any newspaper selected by the plaintiff. The
apology must be full and must be printed in as conspicuous a place and
manner as the libel was.
The word "apology" or "apologia" is also used in the sense of defence or
vindication, the only meaning of the Greek [Greek: apologia], especially
of the defence of a doctrine or system, or of religious or other
beliefs, &c., e.g. Justin Martyr's _Apology_ or J.H. Newman's _Apologia
pro vita sua_. (See APOLOGETICS.)
APONEUROSIS ([Greek: apo], away, and [Greek: neuron], a sinew), in
anatomy, a membrane separating muscles from each other.
APOPHTHEGM (from the [Greek: apophthegma]), a short and pointed
utterance. The usual spelling up to Johnson's day was _apothegm_, which
Webster and Worcester still prefer; it indicates the pronunciation--i.e.
"apothem"--better than the other, which, however, is more usual in
England and follows the derivation. Such sententious remarks as
"Knowledge is Power" are apophthegms. They become "proverbs" by age and
acceptance. Plutarch made a famous collection in his _Apophthegmata
Laconica_.
APOPHYGE (Gr. [Greek: apophugae], a flying off), in architecture, the
lowest part of the shaft of an Ionic or Corinthian column, or the
highest member of its base if the column be considered as a whole. The
apophyge is the inverted cavetto or concave sweep, on the upper edge of
which the diminishing shaft rests.
APOPHYLLITE, a mineral often classed with the zeolites, since it behaves
like these when heated before the blowpipe and has the same mode of
occurrence; it differs, however, from the zeolites proper in containing
no aluminium. It is a hydrous potassium and calcium silicate,
H7KCa4(SiO3)8 + 4-1/2(H2O). A small amount of fluorine is often present,
and it is one of the few minerals in which ammonium has been detected.
The temperature at which the water is expelled is higher than is usually
the case with zeolites; none is given off below 200 deg., and only about
half at 250 deg.; this is slowly reabsorbed again from moist air, and is
therefore regarded as water of crystallization, the remainder being
water of constitution. When heated before the blowpipe, the mineral
exfoliates, owing to loss of water, and on this account was named
apophyllite by R.J. Hauy in 1806, from the Greek [Greek: apo], from, and
[Greek: phullon], a leaf.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Apophyllite always occurs as distinct crystals, which belong to the
tetragonal system. The form is either a square prism terminated by the
basal planes (fig. 2), or an acute pyramid (fig. 1). A prominent feature
of the mineral is its perfect basal cleavage, on which the lustre is
markedly pearly, presenting, in white crystals, somewhat the appearance
of the eye of a fish after boiling, hence the old name fish-eye-stone or
ichthyophthalmite for the mineral. On other surfaces the lustre is
vitreous. The crystals are usually transparent and colourless, sometimes
with a greenish or rose-red tint. Opaque white crystals of cubic habit
have been called albine; xylochlore is an olive-green variety. The
hardness is 4-1/2, and the specific gravity 2.35.
The optical characters of the mineral are of special interest, and have
been much studied. The sign of the double refraction may be either
positive or negative, and some crystals are divided into optically
biaxial sectors. The variety known as leucocyclite shows, when examined
in convergent polarized light, a peculiar interference figure, the rings
being alternately white and violet-black and not coloured as in a normal
figure seen in white light.
Apophyllite is a mineral of secondary origin, commonly occurring, in
association with other zeolites, in amygdaloidal cavities in basalt and
melaphyre. Magnificent groups of greenish and colourless tabular
crystals, the crystals several inches across, were found, with flesh-red
stilbite, in the Deccan traps of the Western Ghats, near Bombay, during
the construction of the Great Indian Peninsular railway. Groups of
crystals of a beautiful pink colour have been found in the silver veins
of Andreasberg in the Harz and of Guanaxuato in Mexico. Crystals of
recent formation have been detected in the Roman remains at the hot
springs of Plombieres in France. (L. J. S.)
APOPHYSIS (Gr. [Greek: apophysis], offshoot), a bony protuberance, in
human physiology; also a botanical term for the swelling of the
spore-case in certain mosses.
APOPLEXY (Gr. [Greek: apoplaexia], from [Greek: apoplaessein], to strike
down, to stun), the term employed by Galen to designate the "sudden loss
of feeling and movement of the whole body, with the exception of
respiration," to which, after the time of Harvey, was added "and with
the exception of the circulation." Although the term is occasionally
employed in medicine with other significations, yet in its general
acceptation apoplexy may be defined as a sudden loss of consciousness,
of sensibility, and of movement without any _essential_ modification of
the respiratory and circulatory functions occasioned by some brain
disease. It was discovered that the majority of the cases of apoplexy
were due to cerebral haemorrhage, and what looked like cerebral
haemorrhage, red softening; and the idea for a long time prevailed that
apoplexy and cerebral haemorrhage could be employed as synonymous terms,
and that an individual who, in popular parlance, "had an apoplectic
stroke," had necessarily suffered from haemorrhage into his brain. A
small haemorrhage may not, however, cause an apoplectic fit, nor is an
apoplectic fit always caused by haemorrhage; it may be due to sudden
blocking of a large vessel by a clot from a distant part (embolism), or
by a sudden clotting of the blood in the vessel itself (thrombosis).
Owing to the prevailing idea in former times that cerebral haemorrhage
and apoplexy were synonymous terms, the word apoplexy was applied to
haemorrhage into other organs than the brain; thus the terms pulmonary
apoplexy, retinal apoplexy and splenic apoplexy were used.
The term "apoplexy" is now used in clinical medicine to denote that form
of coma or deep state of unconsciousness which is due to sudden
disturbance of the cerebral circulation occasioned by a local cause
within the cranial cavity, as distinct from the loss of consciousness
due to sudden failure of the heart's action (syncope) or the coma of
narcotic or alcoholic poisoning, of _status epilepticus_, of uraemia or
of head injury.
The sudden coma of sunstroke and heat-stroke might be included, although
owing to the suddenness with which a person may be struck down, the term
_heat apoplexy_ is frequently used, and, from an etymological point of
view, quite justifiably. The older writers use the term _simple
apoplexy_ for a sudden attack which could not be explained by any
visible disease. Again, _congestive apoplexy_ was applied to those cases
of coma where, at the autopsy, nothing was found to account for the coma
and death except engorgement of the vessels of the brain and its
membranes. In senile dementia and in general paralysis the brain is
shrunken and the convolutions atrophied, the increased space in the
ventricles and between the convolutions being filled up with the
cerebro-spinal fluid. In these diseases apoplectic states may arise,
terminating fatally; the excess of fluid found in such cases was
formerly thought to be the cause of the symptoms, consequently the
condition was called _serous apoplexy_. Such terms are no longer used,
owing to the better knowledge of the pathology of brain disease.
Having thus narrowed down the application of the term "apoplexy," we are
in a position to consider its chief features, and the mechanism by which
it is produced. Apoplexy may be rapidly fatal, but it is very seldom
_instantly_ fatal. The onset is usually sudden, and sometimes the
individual may be struck down in an instant, senseless and motionless,
"warranting those epithets, which the ancients applied to the victims of
this disease, of _attoniti_ and _siderati_, as if they were
thunder-stricken or planet-struck" (Sir Thomas Watson). The attack,
however, may be less sudden and, not infrequently, attended by a
convulsion; while occasionally, in the condition termed _ingravescent
apoplexy_, the coma is gradual in its onset, occupying hours in its
development. Although unexpected, various warning symptoms, sometimes
slight, sometimes pronounced, occur in the majority of cases. Such are,
fulness in the head, headache, giddiness, noises in the ears, mental
confusion, slight lapses of consciousness, numbness or tingling in the
limbs. A characteristic apoplectic attack presents the following
phenomena: the individual falls down suddenly and lies without sense or
motion, except that his pulse keeps beating and his breathing continues.
He appears to be in a deep sleep, from which he cannot be roused; the
breathing is laboured and stertorous, and is accompanied with puffing
out of the cheeks; the pulse may be beating more strongly than natural,
and the face is often flushed and turgid. The reflexes are abolished.
Although apoplexy may occur without paralysis, and paralysis without
apoplexy, the two, owning the same cause, very frequently co-exist, or
happen in immediate sequence and connexion; consequently there is in
most cases definite evidence of paralysis affecting usually one side of
the body in addition to the coma. Thus the pupils are unequal; there may
be asymmetry of the face, or the limbs may be more rigid or flaccid on
one side than on the other. These signs of localized disease enable a
distinction to be made from the coma of narcotic poisoning and
alcoholic intoxication. It must be borne in mind that a person smelling
strongly of liquor and found lying in the street in a comatose state may
be suffering from apoplexy, and the error of sending a dying man to a
police cell may be avoided by this knowledge.
If the fit is only moderately severe, the reflexes soon return, and the
patient may in a few hours show indications of returning consciousness
by making some movements or opening his eyes when spoken to, although
later it may be found that he is unable to speak, or may be paralysed or
mentally afflicted (see PARALYSIS). In severe cases the coma deepens and
the patient dies, usually from interference with the breathing, or, less
commonly, from arrest of the heart's action.
The mechanism by which apoplexy is produced has been a matter of much
dispute; the condition was formerly ascribed to the pressure exerted by
the clot on the rest of the brain, but there is no increase of
intracranial pressure in an apoplectic fit occurring as a result of the
sudden closure of a large vessel by embolism or thrombosis. Suddenness
of the lesion appears to be, then, the essential element common to all
cases of apoplexy from organic brain disease. It is the sudden shock to
the delicate mechanism that produces the unconsciousness; but seeing
that the coma is usually deeper and more prolonged in cerebral
haemorrhage than when occasioned by vascular occlusion, and that an
ingravescent apoplexy coma gradually develops and deepens as the amount
of haemorrhage increases, we may presume that increase of intracranial
pressure does play an important part in the degree and intensity of the
coma caused by the rupture of a vessel. Apoplexy seldom occurs under
forty years of age, but owing to the fact that disease of the cerebral
vessels may exist at any age, from causes which are fully explained in
the article NEUROPATHOLOGY, no period of life is exempt; consequently
cases of true apoplexy are not wanting even in very young children.
Recognizing that there are two causes of apoplexy in advanced life, viz.
(1) sudden rupture of a diseased vessel usually associated with high
arterial pressure, enlarged, powerfully acting heart and chronic renal
disease, and (2) the sudden clotting of blood in a large diseased vessel
favoured by a low arterial pressure due to a weak-acting heart, it is
obvious that the character of the pulse forms a good guide to the
diagnosis of the cause, the prevention and warding off of an attack, and
the treatment of such should it occur.
Anything which tends directly or indirectly to increase arterial
pressure within the cerebral blood-vessels may bring on an attack of
cerebral haemorrhage; and although the identification of an apoplectic
habit of body with a stout build, a short neck and florid complexion is
now generally discredited, it being admitted that apoplexy occurs as
frequently in thin and spare persons who present no such peculiarity of
conformation, yet a plethoric habit of body, occasioned by immoderate
eating or drinking associated with the gouty diathesis, leads to a
general arterio-sclerosis and high arterial pressure. All conditions
which can give rise to a local intracranial or a general bodily increase
of the arterial pressure, i.e. severe exertion of body and mind, violent
emotions, much stooping, overheated rooms, exposure to the sun, sudden
shocks to the body, constipation and straining at stool, may, by
suddenly increasing the strain on the wall of a diseased vessel, lead to
its rupture.
The outlook of apoplexy is generally unfavourable in cases where the
coma is profound; death may take place at different intervals after the
onset. If the patient, after recovering from the initial coma, suffers
with continual headache and lapses into a drowsy state, the result is
likely to be serious; for such a condition probably indicates that an
inflammatory change has taken place about the clot or in the area of
softening.
_Treatment._--The patient should be placed in the recumbent position
with the head and shoulders slightly raised. He should be moved as
little as possible from the place where the attack occurred. The medical
man who is summoned will probably give the following directions: an
ice-bag to be applied to the head; a few grains of calomel or a drop of
croton oil in butter to be placed on the tongue, or an enema of castor
oil to be administered. He may find it necessary to draw off the water
with a catheter. The practice of blood-letting, once so common in this
disease, is seldom resorted to, although in some cases, where there is
very high arterial tension and a general state of plethora, it might be
beneficial. Depletives are not employed where there is evidence of
failure of the heart's action; indeed the cautious administration of
stimulants may be necessary, either subcutaneously or by the mouth (if
there exist a power of swallowing), together with warm applications to
the surface of the body; a water-bed may be required, and careful
nursing, is essential to prevent complications, especially the formation
of bedsores. (F. W. Mo.)
APOROSE (from Gr. [Greek: ha], without, and [Greek: poros], passage), a
biological term meaning imperforate, or not porous: there is a group of
corals called _Aporosa_.
APOSIOPESIS (the Greek for "becoming silent"), a rhetorical device by
which the speaker or writer stops short and leaves something
unexpressed, but yet obvious, to be supplied by the imagination. The
classical example is the threat, "Quos ego----!" of Neptune (in Virgil,
_Aen._ i. 135).
APOSTASY ([Greek: apostasis], in classical Greek a defection or revolt
from a military commander), a term generally employed to describe a
complete renunciation of the Christian faith, or even an exchange of one
form of it for another, especially if the motive be unworthy. In the
first centuries of the Christian era, apostasy was most commonly induced
by persecution, and was indicated by some outward act, such as offering
incense to a heathen deity or blaspheming the name of Christ.[1] In the
Roman Catholic Church the word is also applied to the renunciation of
monastic vows (_apostasis a monachatu_), and to the abandonment of the
clerical profession for the life of the world (_apostasis a clericatu_).
Such defection was formerly often punished severely.