[1] See the article ARTHROPODA for the use of the term "prosthomere."
[2] See fig. 12 in the article ARTHROPODA.
[3] Though ten is the prevailing number of retinula cells and
rhabdomeres in the lateral eye of Limulus, Watase states that they
may be as few as nine and as many as eighteen.
[4] A great deal of superfluous hypothesis has lately been put
forward in the name of "the principle of convergence of characters"
by a certain school of palaeontologists. The horse is supposed by
these writers to have originated by separate lines of descent in the
Old World and the New, from five-toed ancestors! And the important
consequences following from the demonstration of the identity in
structure of Limulus and Scorpio are evaded by arbitrary and even
phantastic invocations of a mysterious transcendental force which
brings about "convergence" irrespective of heredity and selection.
Morphology becomes a farce when such assumptions are made. (E. R. L.)
[5] A pair of round tubercles on the labram (camerostome or
hypostoma) of several species of Trilobites has been described and
held to be a pair of eyes (22). Sense-organs in a similar position
were discovered in Limulus by Patten (42) in 1894.
[6] The writer is indebted to R.I. Pocock, assistant in the Natural
History departments of the British Museum, for valuable assistance in
the preparation of this article and for the classification and
definition of the groups of Eu-arachnida here given. The general
scheme and some of the details have been brought by the writer into
agreement with the views maintained in this article. Pocock accepts
those views in all essential points and has, as a special student of
the Arachnida, given to them valuable expansion and confirmation. The
writer also desires to express his thanks to Messrs. Macmillan & Co.
for permission to use figs. 22, 43, 44 and 45, which are taken from
Parker and Haswell's _Text-book of Zoology_; and to Messrs. Swan
Sonnenschein & Co. for the loan of several figures from the
translations published by them of the admirable treatise on
_Embryology_ by Professors Korschelt and Heider; also to the
publishers of the treatise on _Palaeontology_ by Professor Zittel,
Herr Oldenbourg and The Macmillan Co., New York, for several cuts of
extinct forms.
[7] Pocock suggests that the area marked vii. in the outline figure
of the dorsal view of _Limulus_ (fig. 7) may be the tergum of the
suppressed prae-genital somite. Embryological evidence must settle
whether this is so or not.
ARAD, or O-ARAD, a town of Hungary, capital of the county of the same
name, 159 m. S.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 53,903. It is
situated on the right bank of the river Maros, and consists of the inner
town and five suburbs. Arad is a modern-built town, and contains many
handsome private and public buildings, including a cathedral. It is the
seat of a Greek-Orthodox bishop, and possesses a Greek-Orthodox
theological seminary, two training schools for teachers--one Hungarian,
and the other Rumanian--and a conservatoire for music. The town played
an important part in the Hungarian revolution of 1848-49, and possesses
a museum containing relics of this war of independence. One of the
public squares contains a martyrs' monument, erected in memory of the
thirteen Hungarian generals shot here on the 6th of October 1849, by
order of the Austrian general Haynau. It consists of a colossal figure
of Hungary, with four allegorical groups, and medallions of the
executed generals. Arad is an important railway junction, and has become
the largest industrial and commercial centre of south-eastern Hungary.
Its principal industries are: distilling, milling, machinery-making,
leather-working and saw-milling. A large trade is carried on in grain,
flour, alcohol, cattle and wood. Arad was a fortified place, and was
captured by the Turks during the wars of the 17th century, and kept by
them till the end of that century. The new fortress, built in 1763,
although small, was formidable, and played a great role during the
Hungarian struggle for independence in 1849. Bravely defended by the
Austrian general Berger until the 1st of July 1849, it was then captured
by the Hungarian rebels, who made it their headquarters during the
latter part of the insurrection. It was from it that Kossuth issued his
famous proclamation (11th August 1849), and it was here that he handed
over the supreme military and civil power to Gorgei. The fortress was
recaptured shortly after the surrender of Gorgei to the Russians at
Vilagos. The fortress is now used as an ammunition depot.
The town of Uj-Arad, i.e. New Arad (pop. 6124), situated on the opposite
bank of the Maros, is practically a suburb of Arad, with which it is
connected by a bridge. The town was founded during the Turkish wars of
the 17th century. The works erected by the Turks for the capture of the
fortress of Arad formed the nucleus of the new town.
Vilagos, the town where the famous capitulation of Gorgei to the
Russians took place on the 13th of August 1849, lies 21 m. by rail
north-east of Arad.
ARAEOSTYLE (Gr. [Greek: araios], weak or widely spaced, and [Greek:
stylos], column), an architectural term for the intercolumniation (q.v.)
given to those temples where the columns had only timber architraves to
carry.
ARAEOSYSTYLE (Gr. [Greek: araios], widely spaced, and [Greek: systylos],
with columns set close together), an architectural term applied to a
colonnade, in which the intercolumniation (q.v.) is alternately wide and
narrow, as in the case of the western porch of St Paul's cathedral and
the east front of the Louvre by Perrault.
ARAGO, DOMINIQUE FRANCOIS JEAN (1786-1853), French physicist, was born
on the 26th of February 1786, at Estagel, a small village near
Perpignan, in the department of the eastern Pyrenees. He was the eldest
of four brothers. Jean (1788-1836) emigrated to America and became a
general in the Mexican army. Jacques Etienne Victor (1799-1855) took
part in L.C. de S. de Freycinet's exploring voyage in the "Uranie" from
1817 to 1821, and on his return to France devoted himself to journalism
and the drama. The fourth brother, Etienne Vincent (1802-1892), is said
to have collaborated with H. de Balzac in the _Heritiere de Birague_,
and from 1822 to 1847 wrote a great number of light dramatic pieces,
mostly in collaboration. A strong republican, he was obliged to leave
France in 1849, but returned after the amnesty of 1859. In 1879 he was
nominated director of the Luxembourg museum.
Showing decided military tastes Francois Arago was sent to the municipal
college of Perpignan, where he began to study mathematics in preparation
for the entrance examination of the polytechnic school. Within two years
and a half he had mastered all the subjects prescribed for examination,
and a great deal more, and, on going up for examination at Toulouse, he
astounded his examiner by his knowledge of Lagrange. Towards the close
of 1803 he entered the polytechnic school, with the artillery service as
the aim of his ambition, and in 1804, through the advice and
recommendation of S.D. Poisson, he received the appointment of secretary
to the Observatory of Paris. He now became acquainted with Laplace, and
through his influence was commissioned, with J.B. Biot, to complete the
meridional measurements which had been begun by J.B.J. Delambre, and
interrupted since the death of P.F.A. Mechain (1744-1804). The two left
Paris in 1806 and began operations among the mountains of Spain, but
Biot returned to Paris after they had determined the latitude of
Formentera, the southernmost point to which they were to carry the
survey, leaving Arago to make the geodetical connexion of Majorca with
Ivica and with Formentera.
The adventures and difficulties of the latter were now only beginning.
The political ferment caused by the entrance of the French into Spain
extended to these islands, and the ignorant populace began to suspect
that Arago's movements and his blazing fires on the top of Mount Galatzo
were telegraphic signals to the invading army. Ultimately they became so
infuriated that he was obliged to cause himself to be incarcerated in
the fortress of Belver in June 1808. On the 28th of July he managed to
escape from the island in a fishing-boat, and after an adventurous
voyage he reached Algiers on the 3rd of August. Thence he procured a
passage in a vessel bound for Marseilles, but on the 16th of August,
just as the vessel was nearing Marseilles, it fell into the hands of a
Spanish corsair. With the rest of the crew, Arago was taken to Rosas,
and imprisoned first in a windmill, and afterwards in the fortress of
that seaport, until the town fell into the hands of the French, when the
prisoners were transferred to Palamos. After fully three months'
imprisonment they were released on the demand of the dey of Algiers, and
again set sail for Marseilles on the 28th of November, but when within
sight of their port they were driven back by a northerly wind to Bougie
on the coast of Africa. Transport to Algiers by sea from this place
would have occasioned a weary stay of three months; Arago, therefore,
set out for it by land under conduct of a Mahommedan priest, and reached
it on Christmas day. After six months' stay in Algiers he once again, on
the 21st of June 1809, set sail for Marseilles, where he had to undergo
a monotonous and inhospitable quarantine in the lazaretto, before his
difficulties were over. The first letter he received, while in the
lazaretto, was from A. von Humboldt; and this was the origin of a
connexion which, in Arago's words, "lasted over forty years without a
single cloud ever having troubled it."
Through all these vicissitudes Arago had succeeded in preserving the
records of his survey; and his first act on his return home was to
deposit them in the Bureau des Longitudes at Paris. As a reward for his
adventurous conduct in the cause of science, he was in September 1809
elected a member of the Academy of Sciences, in room of J.B.L. Lalande,
at the remarkably early age of twenty-three, and before the close of the
same year he was chosen by the council of the polytechnic school to
succeed G. Monge in the chair of analytical geometry. About the same
time he was named by the emperor one of the astronomers of the Royal
Observatory, which was accordingly his residence till his death, and it
was in this capacity that he delivered his remarkably successful series
of popular lectures on astronomy, which were continued from 1812 to
1845.
In 1816, along with Gay-Lussac, he started the _Annales de chimie et de
physique_, and in 1818 or 1819 he proceeded along with Biot to execute
geodetic operations on the coasts of France, England and Scotland. They
measured the length of the seconds-pendulum at Leith, and in Unst, one
of the Shetland isles, the results of the observations being published
in 1821, along with those made in Spain. Arago was elected a member of
the Board of Longitude immediately afterwards, and contributed to each
of its _Annuals_, for about twenty-two years, important scientific
notices on astronomy and meteorology and occasionally on civil
engineering, as well as interesting memoirs of members of the Academy.
In 1830, Arago, who always professed liberal opinions of the extreme
republican type, was elected a member of the chamber of deputies for the
Lower Seine, and he employed his splendid gifts of eloquence and
scientific knowledge in all questions connected with public education,
the rewards of inventors, and the encouragement of the mechanical and
practical sciences. Many of the most creditable national enterprises,
dating from this period, are due to his advocacy--such as the reward to
L.J.M. Daguerre for the invention of photography, the grant for the
publication of the works of P. Fermat and Laplace, the acquisition of
the museum of Cluny, the development of railways and electric
telegraphs, the improvement of the navigation of the Seine, and the
boring of the artesian wells at Grenelle.
In the year 1830 also he was appointed director of the Observatory, and
as a member of the chamber of deputies he was able to obtain grants of
money for rebuilding it in part, and for the addition of magnificent
instruments. In the same year, too, he was chosen perpetual secretary of
the Academy of Sciences, in room of J.B.J. Fourier. Arago threw his
whole soul into its service, and by his faculty of making friends he
gained at once for it and for himself a world-wide reputation. As
perpetual secretary it fell to him to pronounce historical _eloges_ on
deceased members; and for this duty his rapidity and facility of
thought, his happy piquancy of style, and his extensive knowledge
peculiarly adapted him.
In 1834 he again visited England, to attend the meeting of the British
Association at Edinburgh. From this time till 1848 he led a life of
comparative quiet--not the quiet of inactivity, however, for his
incessant labours within the Academy and the Observatory produced a
multitude of contributions to all departments of physical science,--but
on the fall of Louis Philippe he left his laboratory to join in forming
the provisional government. He was entrusted with the discharge of two
important functions, that had never before been united in one person,
viz. the ministry of war and of marine; and in the latter capacity he
effected some salutary reforms, such as the improvement of rations in
the navy and the abolition of flogging. He also abolished political
oaths of all kinds, and, against an array of moneyed interests,
succeeded in procuring the abolition of negro slavery in the French
colonies.
In the beginning of May 1852, when the government of Louis Napoleon
required an oath of allegiance from all its functionaries, Arago
peremptorily refused, and sent in his resignation of his post as
astronomer at the Bureau des Longitudes. This, however, the prince
president, to his credit, declined to accept, and made "an exception in
favour of a _savant_ whose works had thrown lustre on France, and whose
existence his government would regret to embitter." But the tenure of
office thus granted did not prove of long duration. Arago was now on his
death-bed, under a complication of diseases, induced, no doubt, by the
hardships and labours of his earlier years. In the summer of 1853 he was
advised by his physicians to try the effect of his native air, and he
accordingly set out for the eastern Pyrenees. But the change was
unavailing, and after a lingering illness, in which he suffered first
from diabetes, then from Bright's disease, complicated by dropsy, he
died in Paris on the 2nd of October 1853.
Arago's fame as an experimenter and discoverer rests mainly on his
contributions to magnetism and still more to optics. He found that a
magnetic needle, made to oscillate over nonferruginous surfaces, such as
water, glass, copper, &c., falls more rapidly in the extent of its
oscillations according as it is more or less approached to the surface.
This discovery, which gained him the Copley medal of the Royal Society
in 1825, was followed by another, that a rotating plate of copper tends
to communicate its motion to a magnetic needle suspended over it
("magnetism of rotation"). Arago is also fairly entitled to be regarded
as having proved the long-suspected connexion between the aurora
borealis and the variations of the magnetic elements.
In optics we owe to him not only important optical discoveries of his
own, but the credit of stimulating the genius of A.J. Fresnel, with
whose history, as well as with that of E.L. Malus and of Thomas Young,
this part of his life is closely interwoven. Shortly after the beginning
of the 19th century the labours of these three philosophers were shaping
the modern doctrine of the undulatory theory of light. Fresnel's
arguments in favour of that theory found little favour with Laplace,
Poisson and Biot, the champions of the emission theory; but they were
ardently espoused by Humboldt and by Arago, who had been appointed by
the Academy to report on the paper. This was the foundation of an
intimate friendship between Arago and Fresnel, and of a determination to
carry on together further researches in this subject, which led to the
enunciation of the fundamental laws of the polarization of light known
by their names (see POLARIZATION). As a result of this work Arago
constructed a _polariscope_, which he used for some interesting
observations on the polarization of the light of the sky. To him is also
due the discovery of the power of _rotatory polarization_ exhibited by
quartz, and last of all, among his many contributions to the support of
the undulatory hypothesis, comes the _experimentum crucis_ which he
proposed to carry out for comparing directly the velocity of light in
air and in water or glass. On the emission theory the velocity should be
accelerated by an increase of density in the medium; on the wave theory,
it should be retarded. In 1838 he communicated to the Academy the
details of his apparatus, which utilized the revolving mirrors employed
by Sir C. Wheatstone in 1835 for measuring the velocity of the electric
discharge; but owing to the great care required in the carrying out of
the project, and to the interruption to his labours caused by the
revolution of 1848, it was the spring of 1850 before he was ready to put
his idea to the test; and then his eyesight suddenly gave way. Before
his death, however, the retardation of light in denser media was
demonstrated by the experiments of H.L. Fizeau and J.B.L. Foucault,
which, with improvements in detail, were based on the plan proposed by
him.
Arago's _OEuvres_ were published after his death under the direction
of J.A. Barral, in 17 vols., 8vo, 1854-1862; also separately his
_Astronomie populaire_, in 4 vols.; _Notices biographiques_, in 3
vols.; _Notices scientifiques_, in 5 vols.; _Voyages scientifiques_,
in 1 vol.; _Memoires scientifiques_, in 2 vols.; _Melanges_, in 1
vol.; and _Tables analytiques et documents importants_ (with
portrait), in 1 vol. English translations of the following portions of
his works have appeared:--_Treatise on Comets_, by C. Gold, C.B.
(London, 1833); also translated by Smyth and Grant (London, 1861);
_Hist. eloge of James Watt_, by James Muirhead (London, 1839); also
translated, with notes, by Lord Brougham; _Popular Lectures on
Astronomy_, by Walter Kelly and Rev. L. Tomlinson (London, 1854); also
translated by Dr W.H. Smyth and Prof. R. Grant, 2 vols. (London,
1855); _Arago's Autobiography_, translated by the Rev. Baden Powell
(London, 1855, 1858); _Arago's Meteorological Essays_, with
introduction by Humboldt, translated under the superintendence of
Colonel Sabine (London, 1855), and _Arago's Biographies of Scientific
Men_, translated by Smyth, Powell and Grant, 8vo (London, 1857).
ARAGON, or ARRAGON (in Span. _Aragon_), a captaincy-general, and
formerly a kingdom of Spain; bounded on the N. by the Pyrenees, which
separate it from France, on the E. by Catalonia and Valencia, S. by
Valencia, and W. by the two Castiles and Navarre. Pop. (1900) 912,711;
area, 18,294 sq. m. Aragon was divided in 1833 into the provinces of
Huesca, Teruel and Saragossa; an account of its modern condition is
therefore given under these names, which have not, however, superseded
the older designation in popular usage.
Aragon consists of a central plain, edged by mountain ranges. On the
south, east and west, these ranges, though wild and rugged, are of no
great elevation, but on the north the Pyrenees attain their greatest
altitude in the peaks of Aneto (11,168 ft.) and Monte Perdido (10,998
ft.)--also known as Las Tres Sorores, and, in French, as Mont Perdu. The
central pass over the Pyrenees is the Port de Canfranc, on the line
between Saragossa and Pau. Aragon is divided by the river Ebro (q.v.),
which flows through it in a south-easterly direction, into two nearly
equal parts, known as Trans-ibero and Cis-ibero. The Ebro is the
principal river, and receives from the north, in its passage through the
province, the Arba, the Gallego and the united waters of the Cinca,
Esera, Noguera Ribagorzana, Noguera Pallaresa and Segre--the last three
belonging to Catalonia. From the south it receives the Jalon and Jiloca
(or _Xalon_ and _Xiloca_) and the Guadalope. The Imperial Canal of
Aragon, which was begun by the emperor Charles V. in 1529, but remained
unfinished for nearly two hundred years, extends from Tudela to El Burgo
de Ebro, a distance of 80 m.; it has a depth of 9 ft., and an average
breadth of 69, and is navigable for vessels of about 80 tons. The Royal
Canal of Tauste, which lies along the north side of the Ebro, was cut
for purposes of irrigation, and gives fertility to the district. Two
leagues north-north-east of Albarracin is the remarkable fountain called
Cella, 3700 ft. above the sea, which forms the source of the Jiloca; and
between this river and the Sierra Molina is an extensive lake called
Gallocanta, covering about 6000 acres. The climate is characterized by
extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter; among the mountains
the snowfall is heavy, and thunderstorms are frequent, but there is
comparatively little rain.
Within a recent geological period, central Aragon was undoubtedly
submerged by the sea, and the parched chalky soil remains saturated with
salt, while many of the smaller streams run brackish. As the mountains
of Valencia and Catalonia effectually bar out the fertilizing moisture
of the sea-winds, much of the province is a sheer wilderness, stony,
ash-coloured, scarred with dry watercourses, and destitute of any
vegetation except thin grass and heaths. In contrast with the splendid
fertility of Valencia or the south of France, the landscape of this
region, like the rest of central Spain, seems almost a continuation of
the north African desert area. There are, however, extensive oak, pine
and beech forests in the highlands, and many beautiful oases in the
deeply sunk valleys, and along the rivers, especially beside the Ebro,
which is, therefore, often called the "Nile of Aragon." In such oases
the flora is exceedingly rich. Wheat, maize, rice, oil, flax and hemp,
of fine quality, are grown in considerable quantities; as well as
saffron, madder, liquorice, sumach, and a variety of fruits. Merino wool
is one of the chief products.
In purity of race the Aragonese are probably equal to the Castilians, to
whom, rather than to the Catalans or Valencians, they are also allied in
character. The dress of the women is less distinctive than that of the
men, who wear a picturesque black and white costume, with knee-breeches,
a brilliantly coloured sash, black hempen sandals, and a handkerchief
wound round the head.
Three counties--Sobrarbe, situated near the headwaters of the Cinca,
Aragon, to the west, and Ribagorza or Ribagorca, to the east--are
indicated by tradition and the earliest chronicles as the cradle of the
Aragonese monarchy. These districts were never wholly subdued when the
Moors overran the country (711-713). Sobrarbe especially was for a time
the headquarters of the Christian defence in eastern Spain. About 1035,
Sancho III. the Great, ruler of the newly established kingdom of
Navarre, which included the three counties above mentioned, bequeathed
them to Gonzalez and Ramiro, his sons. Ramiro soon rid himself of his
rival, and welded Sobrarbe, Ribagorza and Aragon into a single kingdom,
which thenceforward grew rapidly in size and power and shared with
Castile the chief part in the struggle against the Moors. The history of
this period, which was terminated by the union of Castile and Aragon
under Ferdinand and Isabella in 1479, is given, along with a full
account of the very interesting constitution of Aragon, under SPAIN
(q.v.). At the height of its power under James I. (1213-1276), the
kingdom included Valencia, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the
considerable territory of Montpellier in France; while Peter III.
(1276-1285) added Sicily to his dominions.
The literature relating to Aragon is very extensive. See, in addition
to the works cited in the article SPAIN (section _History_), "Les
Archives d'Aragon et de Navarre," by L. Cadier, in _Bibliotheque de
l'Ecole des Chartes_, 49 (Paris, 1888). Among the more important
original authorities, the following may be selected:--for general
history, _Anales de la corona de Aragon_, by G. Curita, 3rd ed. in 7
folio volumes (Saragossa, 1668-1671; 1st ed. 1562-1580);--for
ecclesiastical history, _Teatro historico de las iglesias de Aragon_
(Pamplona, 1770-1807); for economic history, _Historia de la economia
politica de Aragon_, by I.J. de Asso y del Rio (Saragossa, 1798). For
the constitution and laws of Aragon, see _Origines del Justicia de
Aragon_, &c., by J. Ribera Tarrago (Saragossa, 1897), and
_Instituciones y reyes de Aragon_, by V. Balaguer (Madrid, 1896). The
topography, inhabitants, art, products, &c., of the kingdom are
described in a volume of the series _Espana_ entitled _Aragon_, by
J.M. Quadrado (Barcelona, 1886).
ARAGONITE, one of the mineral forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3), the
other form being the more common mineral calcite. It crystallizes in the
orthorhombic system, and the crystals are either prismatic or acicular
in habit. Simple crystals are, however, rare; twinning on the prism
planes (_M_ in the figures) being a characteristic feature of the
mineral (fig. 1). This twinning is usually often repeated on the same
plane (fig. 2), and gives rise to striations on the terminal faces (k)
of the crystals; often, also, three crystals are twinned together on two
of the prism planes of one of them, producing an apparently hexagonal
prism. The mineral is colourless, white or yellowish, transparent or
translucent, has a vitreous lustre, and, in fact, is not unlike calcite
in general appearance. It may, however, always be readily distinguished
from calcite by the absence of any marked cleavage, and by its greater
hardness (H. = 3-1/2-4) and specific gravity (2.93); further, it is
optically biaxial, whilst calcite is uniaxial. It is brittle and has a
subconchoidal fracture; on a fractured surface the lustre is decidedly
resinous in character.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The mineral was first found, as reddish twinned crystals with the form
of six-sided prisms, at Molina in Aragon, Spain, where it occurs with
gypsum and small crystals of ferruginous quartz in a red clay. It is
from this locality that the mineral takes its name, which was originally
spelt arragonite. Fine groups of crystals of the same habit are found in
the sulphur deposits of Girgenti in Sicily; also at Herrengrund near
Neusohl in Hungary. At many other localities the mineral takes the form
of radiating groups of acicular crystals, such as those from the
haematite mines of west Cumberland: beautiful feathery forms have been
found in a limestone cave in the Transvaal. Fibrous forms are also
common. A peculiar coralloidal variety known as _flosferri_ ("flower of
iron") consists of radially arranged fibres: magnificent snow-white
specimens of this variety have long been known from the iron mines of
Eisenetz in Styria. The calcareous secretions of many groups of
invertebrate animals consist of aragonite (calcite is also common);
pearls may be specially cited as an example.
Aragonite is a member of the isomorphous group of minerals comprising
witherite (BaCO3), strontianite (SrCO3), cerussite (PbCO3) and bromlite
((Ba, Ca)CO3); and crystals of aragonite sometimes contain small amounts
of strontium or lead. A variety known as tarnowitzite, from Tarnowitz in
Silesia, contains about 5% of lead carbonate.
Aragonite is the more unstable of the two modifications of calcium
carbonate. A crystal of aragonite when heated becomes converted into a
granular aggregate of calcite individuals: altered crystals of this kind
(paramorphs) are not infrequently met with in nature, whilst in fossil
shells the original nacreous layer of aragonite has invariably been
altered to calcite. From a solution of calcium carbonate in water
containing carbon dioxide crystals of calcite are deposited at the
ordinary temperature, but from a warm solution aragonite crystallizes
out. The thermal springs of Carlsbad deposit spherical concretions of
aragonite, forming masses known as pisolite or _Sprudelstein_.
(L. J. S.)
ARAGUA, one of the smaller states of Venezuela under the redivision of
1904, lying principally within the parallel ranges of the Venezuelan
Cordillera, and comprising some of the most fertile and healthful
valleys of the republic. It is bounded E. by the Federal District and
Maturin, S. by Guarico and W. by Zamora and Carabobo. Pop. (1905, est.)
152,364. Aragua has a short coast-line on the Caribbean west of the
Federal District, but has no port of consequence. Cattle, swine and
goats are raised, and the state produces coffee, sugar, cacao, beans,
cereals and cheese. The climate of the higher valleys is subtropical,
the mean annual temperature ranging from 74 deg. to 80 deg. F. The
capital, La Victoria (pop. 7800), is situated in the fertile Aragua
valley, 1558 ft. above sea-level and 36 m. south-west of Caracas. Other
important towns are Barbacoas (pop. 13,109) on the left bank of the
Guarico in a highly fertile region, Ciudad de Cura and Maracay (pop.
7500), 56 m. west-south-west of Caracas near the north-east shore of
Lake Valencia. The last two towns are on the railway between Caracas and
Valencia.
ARAGUAYA, ARAGUAY or ARAGUIA, a river of Brazil and principal affluent
of the Tocantins, rising in the Serra do Cayapo, where it is known as
the Rio Grande, and flowing in a north by east direction to a junction
with the Tocantins at Sao Joao do Araguaya, or Sao Joao das Duas Barras.
Its upper course forms the boundary line between Goyaz and Matto Grosso.
The river divides into two branches at about 13 deg. 20' S. lat., and
unites again at 10 deg. 30', forming the large island of Santa Anna or
Bananal. The eastern branch, called the Furo, is the one used by boats,
as the main channel is obstructed by rapids. Its principal affluent is
the Rio das Mortes, which rises in the Serra de Sao Jeronymo, near
Cuyaba, Matto Grosso, and is utilized by boatmen going to Para. Of other
affluents, the Bonito, Garcas, Cristallino and Tapirape on the west, and
the Pitombas, Claro, Vermelho, Tucupa and Chavante on the east, nothing
definite is known as the country is still largely unexplored. The
Araguaya has a course of 1080 m., considerable stretches of which are
navigable for small river steamers, but as the river below Santa Anna
Island is interrupted by reefs and rapids in two places--one having a
fall of 85 ft. in 18 m., and the other a fall of 50 ft. in 12 m.--it
affords no practicable outlet for the products of the state. It was
explored in part by Henri Coudreau in 1897.
See Coudreau's _Voyage au Tocantins-Araguaya_ (Paris, 1897).
ARAKAN, a division of Lower Burma. It consists of a strip of country
running along the eastern seaboard of the Bay of Bengal, from the Naaf
estuary, on the borders of Chittagong, to Cape Negrais. Length from
northern extremity to Cape Negrais, about 400 m.; greatest breadth in
the northern part, 90 m., gradually diminishing towards the south, as it
is hemmed in by the Arakan Yoma mountains, until, in the extreme south,
it tapers away to a narrow strip not more than 15 m. across. The coast
is studded with islands, the most important of which are Cheduba, Ramree
and Shahpura. The division has its headquarters at Akyab and consists of
four districts--namely, Akyab, Northern Arakan Hill Tracts, Sandoway and
Kyaukpyu, formerly called Ramree. Its area is 18,540 sq. m. The
population at the time of the British occupation in 1826 did not exceed
100,000. In 1831 it amounted to 173,000; in 1839 to 248,000, and in 1901
to 762,102.
The principal rivers of Arakan are--(1) the Naaf estuary, in the north,
which forms the boundary between the division and Chittagong; (2) the
Myu river, an arm of the sea, running a course almost parallel with the
coast for about 50 m.; (3) the Koladaing river, rising near the Blue
mountain, in the extreme north-east, and falling into the Bay of Bengal
a few miles south of the Myu river, navigable by vessels of from 300 to
400 tons burden for a distance of 40 m. inland; and (4) the Lemyu river,
a considerable stream falling into the bay a few miles south of the
Koladaing. Farther to the south, owing to the nearness of the range
which bounds Arakan on the east, the rivers are of but little
importance. These are the Talak and the Aeng, navigable by boats; and
the Sandoway, the Taungup and the Gwa streams, the latter of which alone
has any importance, owing to its mouth forming a good port of call or
haven for vessels of from 9 to 10 ft. draught. There are several passes
over the Yoma mountains, the easiest being that called the Aeng route,
leading from the village of that name into Upper Burma. The staple crop
of the province is rice, along with cotton, tobacco, sugar, hemp and
indigo. The forests produce abundance of excellent oak and teak timber.
The natives of Arakan trace their history as far back as 2666 B.C., and
give a lineal succession of 227 native princes down to modern times.
According to them, their empire had at one period far wider limits, and
extended over Ava, part of China, and a portion of Bengal. This
extension of their empire is not, however, corroborated by known facts
in history. At different times the Moguls and Pegus carried their arms
into the heart of the country. The Portuguese, during the era of their
greatness in Asia, gained a temporary establishment in Arakan; but in
1782 the province was finally conquered by the Burmese, from which
period until its cession to the British in 1826, under the treaty of
Yandaboo, its history forms part of that of Burma. The old city of
Arakan, formerly the capital of the province, is situated on an inferior
branch of the Koladaing river. Its remoteness from the ports and
harbours of the country, combined with the extreme unhealthiness of its
situation, have led to its gradual decay subsequently to the formation
of the comparatively recent settlement of Akyab, which place is now the
chief town of the province. The old city (now Myohaung) lies 50 m.
north-east of Akyab. The Maghs, who form nearly the whole population of
the province, follow the Buddhist doctrines, which are universally
professed throughout Burma. The priests are selected from all classes of
men, and one of their chief employments is the education of children.
Instruction is consequently widely diffused, and few persons, it is
said, can be found in the province who are unable to read. The
qualifications for entering into the priestly order are good conduct and
a fair measure of learning--such conduct at least as is good according
to Buddhist tenets, and such learning as is esteemed among their
votaries.
The Arakanese are of Burmese origin, but separated from the parent stock
by the Arakan Yoma mountains, and they have a dialect and customs of
their own. Though conquered by the Burmese, they have remained distinct
from their conquerors.
The Northern Arakan Hill Tracts district is under a superintendent, who
is usually a police officer, with headquarters at Paletwa. The area of
the Hill Tracts is 5233 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 20,682. (J. G. Sc.)
ARAKCHEEV, ALEKSYEI ANDREEVICH, COUNT (1769-1834), Russian soldier and
statesman, was descended from an ancient family of Great Novgorod. From
his mother, Elizabeth Vitlitsaya, he inherited most of his
characteristics, an insatiable love of work, an almost pedantic love of
order and the most rigorous sense of duty. In 1788 he entered the corps
of noble cadets in the artillery and engineering department, where his
ability, especially in mathematics, soon attracted attention. In July
1791 he was made an adjutant on the staff of Count N.I. Saltuikov, who
(September 1792) recommended him to the cesarevich Paul Petrovich as the
artillery officer most capable of reorganizing the army corps maintained
by the prince at Gatchina. Arakcheev speedily won the entire confidence
of Paul by his scrupulous zeal and undeniable technical ability. His
inexorable discipline (magnified into cruelty by later legends) soon
made the Gatchina corps a model for the rest of the Russian army. On the
accession of Paul to the throne Arakcheev was promptly summoned to St
Petersburg, appointed military commandant in the capital, and
major-general in the grenadier battalion of the Preobrazhenskoe Guard.
On the 12th of December 1796, he received the ribbon of St Anne and a
rich estate at Gruzina in the government of Novgorod, the only
substantial gift ever accepted by him during the whole of his career. At
the coronation (5th of April 1797) Paul created him a baron, and he was
subsequently made quartermaster-general and colonel of the whole
Preobrazhenskoe Guard. It was to Arakcheev that Paul entrusted the
reorganization of the army, which during the latter days of Catherine
had fallen into a state of disorder and demoralization. Arakcheev
remorselessly applied the iron Gatchina discipline to the whole of the
imperial forces, beginning with the Guards. He soon became generally
detested by the army, but pursued his course unflinchingly and
introduced many indispensable hygienic reforms. "Clean barracks are
healthy barracks," was his motto. Nevertheless, the opposition of the
officers proved too strong for him, and on the 18th of March 1798 he was
dismissed from all his appointments. Arakcheev's first disgrace only
lasted six months. On the 11th of August he was received back into
favour, speedily reinstated in all his former offices, and on the 5th of
May 1799 was created a count, the emperor himself selecting the motto:
"Devoted, not servile." Five months later he was again in disgrace, the
emperor dismissing him on the strength of a denunciation subsequently
proved to be false. It was a fatal step on Paul's part, for everything
goes to prove that he would never have been assassinated had Arakcheev
continued by his side. During the earlier years of Alexander, Arakcheev
was completely overlooked. Only on the 27th of April 1803, was the count
recalled to St Petersburg, and employed as inspector-general of the
artillery. His wise and thorough reorganization of the whole department
contributed essentially to the victories of the Russians during the
Napoleonic wars. All critics agree, indeed, that the Arakcheev
administration was the golden era of the Russian artillery. The activity
of the inexhaustible inspector knew no bounds, and he neglected nothing
which could possibly improve this arm. His principal reforms were the
subdivision of the artillery divisions into separate independent units,
the formation of artillery brigades, the establishment of a committee of
instruction (1808), and the publishing of an _Artillery Journal_. At
Austerlitz he had the satisfaction of witnessing the actual results of
his artillery reforms. The commissariat scandals which came to light
after the peace of Tilsit convinced the emperor that nothing short of
the stern and incorruptible energy of Arakcheev could reach the sources
of the evil, and in January 1808 he was appointed inspector-general and
war minister. When, on the outbreak of the Swedish war of 1809, the
emperor ordered the army to take advantage of an unusually severe frost
and cross the ice of the Gulf of Finland, it was only the presence of
Arakcheev that compelled an unwilling general and a semi-mutinous army
to begin a campaign which ended in the conquest of Finland. On the
institution of the "Imperial Council" (1st of January 1810), Arakcheev
was made a member of the council of ministers and a senator, while still
retaining the war office. Subsequently Alexander was alienated from him
owing to the intrigues of the count's enemies, who hated him for his
severity and regarded him as a dangerous reactionary. The alienation was
not, however, for long. It is true, Arakcheev took no active part in the
war of 1812, but all the correspondence and despatches relating to it
passed through his hands, and he was the emperor's inseparable companion
during the whole course of it. At Paris (31st of March 1814) Alexander,
with his own hand, wrote the _ukaz_ appointing him a field-marshal, but
he refused the dignity, accepting, instead, a miniature portrait of his
master. From this time Alexander's confidence in Arakcheev steadily
increased, and the emperor imparted to him, first of all, his many
projects of reform, especially his project of military colonies, the
carrying out of the details of which was committed to Arakcheev (1824).
The failure of the scheme was due not to any fault of the count, but to
the inefficiency and insubordination of the district officers. In
Alexander's last years Arakcheev was not merely his chief counsellor,
but his dearest friend, to whom he submitted all his projects for
consideration and revision. The most interesting of these projects was
the plan for the emancipation of the peasantry (1818). On the accession
of Nicholas I., Arakcheev, thoroughly broken in health, gradually
restricted his immense sphere of activity, and on the 26th of April
1826, resigned all his offices and retired to Carlsbad. The 50,000
roubles presented to him by the emperor as a parting gift he at once
handed to the Pavlovsk Institute for the education of the daughters of
poor gentlemen. His last days he spent on his estate at Gruzina,
carefully collecting all his memorials of Alexander, whose memory he
most piously cherished. He also set aside 25,000 roubles for the author
of the best biography of his imperial friend. Arakcheev died on the 21st
of April 1834, with his eyes fixed to the last on the late emperor's
portrait. "I have now done everything," he said, "so I can go and make
my report to the emperor Alexander." In 1806 he had married Natalia
Khomutova, but they lived apart, and he had no children by her.
See Vasily Ratch, _Memorials of Count Arakcheev_ (Rus.) (St
Petersburg, 1864); Mikhail Ivanovich Semevsky, _Count Arakcheev and
the Military Colonies_ (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1871); Theodor
Schiemann, _Gesch. Russland's unter Kaiser Nikolaus I._, vol. i.,
_Alexander I._, &c. (Berlin, 1904). (R. N. B.)
ARAL, a lake or inland sea in the west of Asia, situated between lat. 43
deg. 30' and 46 deg. 51' N., and long. 58 deg. 13' and 61 deg. 56' E. It
was known to the ancient Arab and Persian geographers as the Sea of
Khwarizm or Kharezm, from the neighbouring district of the Chorasmians,
and derives its present name from the Kirghiz designation of
Aral-denghiz, or Sea of Islands. In virtue of its area (26,233 sq. m.)
it is the fourth largest inland sea of the world. It has nearly the same
length as width, namely about 170 m., if its northern gulf
(Kichkineh-denghiz) is left out of account. Its depth is insignificant,
the maximum being 220 ft. in a depression in the north-west, and the
mean depth only 50 ft., so that notwithstanding its area it contains
only eleven times as much water as the Lake of Geneva. Its altitude is
242-1/2 ft. above the Caspian, i.e. about 155 ft. above the ocean. The
lake is surrounded on the north by steppes; on the west by the rocky
plateau of Ust-Urt, which separates it from the Caspian; on the south by
the alluvial district of Khiva; and on the east by the Kyzyl-kum, or Red
Sand Desert. On the north the shores are comparatively low, and the
coast-line is broken by a number of irregular bays, of which the most
important are those of Sary-chaganak and Paskevich. On the west an
almost unbroken wall of rock extends from Chernychev Bay southwards,
rising towards the middle to 500 ft. The southern coast is occupied by
the delta of the Oxus (Jihun, Amu-darya), one of the arms of which, the
Laudan, forms a swamp, 80 m. long and 20 broad, before it discharges
into the sea. The only other tributary of any size that the sea receives
is the Jaxartes (Sihun, Syr-darya) which enters towards the northern
extremity of the east coast, and is suspected to be shifting its
embouchure more and more to the north. This river, as well as the Amu,
conveys vast quantities of sediment into the lake; the delta of the
Syr-darya increased by 13-3/4 sq. m. between 1847 and 1900. The eastern
coast is fringed with multitudes of small islands, and other islands,
some of considerable size, are situated in the open towards the north
and west. Kug-Aral, the largest, lies opposite the mouth of the
Syr-darya, cutting off the Kichkineh-denghiz or Little Sea. The next
largest island is the Nikolai, nearly in the middle. Navigation is
dangerous owing to the frequency and violence of the storms, and the
almost total absence of shelter. The north-east wind is the most
prevalent, and sometimes blows for months together. The only other
craft, except the steamships of the Russians, that venture on the
waters, are the flat-bottomed boats of the Kirghiz.
In regard to the period of the formation of the Aral there were formerly
two theories. According to Sir H.C. Rawlinson (_Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc._,
March 1867) the disturbances which produced the present lake took place
in the course of the middle ages; while Sir Roderick Murchison contended
(_Journ. of Roy. Geog. Soc._, 1867, p. cxliv. &c.) that the Caspian and
Aral existed as separate seas before and during all the historic period,
and that the main course of the rivers Jaxartes and Oxus was determined
in a prehistoric era. The former based his opinion largely on historical
evidence, and the latter trusted principally to geological data. There
is no doubt that in recent historical times Lake Aral had a much greater
extension than it has at the present time, and that its area is now
diminishing. This is, of course, due to the excess of evaporation over
the amount of water supplied by its two feeders, the Amu-darya and the
Syr-darya, both of which are seriously drawn upon for irrigation in all
the oases they flow through. Old shore lines and other indications point
to the level of the lake having once been 50 ft. above the existing
level. Nevertheless the general desiccation is subject to temporary
fluctuations, which appear to correspond to the periods recently
suggested by Eduard Bruckner (b. 1862); for, whereas the lake diminished
and shrank during 1850-1880, since the latter year it has been rising
again. Islands which were formerly connected with the shore are now some
distance away from it and entirely surrounded by water. Moreover, on a
graduated level, put down in 1874, there was a permanent rise of nearly
4 ft. by 1901. The temperature at the bottom was found (1900-1902) by
Emil Berg to be 33.8 deg. Fahr., while that of the surface varied from
44.5 deg. to 80.5 deg. between May and September; the mean surface
temperature for July was 75 deg. The salinity of the water is much less
than that of the ocean, containing only 1.05% of salt, and the lake
freezes every year for a great distance from its shores. The opinion
that Lake Aral periodically disappeared, which was for a long time
countenanced by Western geographers, loses more and more probability now
that it is evident that at a relatively recent period the Caspian Sea
extended much farther eastward than it does now, and that Lake Aral
communicated with it through the Sary-kamysh depression. The present
writer is even inclined to think that, besides this southern
communication with the Caspian, Lake Aral may have been, even in
historical times, connected with the Mortvyi Kultuk (Tsarevich) Gulf of
the Caspian, discharging part of its water into that sea through a
depression of the Ust-Urt plateau, which is marked by a chain of lakes
(Chumyshty, Asmantai). In this case it might have been easily confounded
with a gulf of the Caspian (as by Jenkinson). That the level of Lake
Aral was much higher in post-Pliocene times is proved by the discovery
of shells of its characteristic species of _Pecten_ and _Mytilus_ in the
Kara-kum Desert, 33 m. south of the lake and at an altitude of 70 ft.
above its present level, and perhaps even up to 200 ft. (by Syevertsov).
The fish of Lake Aral belong to fresh-water species, and in some of its
rapid tributaries the interesting _Scaphirhynchus_, which represents a
survival from the Tertiary epoch, is found. The fishing is very
productive, the fish being exported to Turkestan, Merv and Russia. The
shores of the lake are uninhabited; the nearest settlements are Kazala,
55 m. east, on the Syr, and Chimbai and Kungrad in the delta of the Amu.
AUTHORITIES.--Maksheev's "Description of Lake Aral," and Kaulbars'
"Delta of the Amu," in _Zapiski of Russ. Geogr. Soc._, 1st series, v.,
and new series, ix.; _Grimm's Studies of the Aral-Caspian Expedition_;
Nikolsky's "Fishing in Lake Aral," in _Izvestia, Russ. Geogr. Soc._,
1887; Prof. Mushketov, _Turkestan_, vol. i. (1886), which contains
bibliographical references; Rosler, _Die Aralseefrage_ (1873); Wood,
_The Shores of the Aral Lake_ (1876); and Berg in _Izvestia, Turkestan
Branch of Russian Geog. Soc._ (vol. iii., Tashkent, 1902).
(P. A. K.)