mountain range in N. America extending for 1300 miles from Cape Gaspe on
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, s.w. to Alabama. The system has been divided into
three great sections: the _northern_ (including the Adirondacks, the Green
Mountains, the White Mountains, &c.), from Cape Gaspe to New York; the
_central_ (including a large portion of the Blue Ridge, the Alleghanies
proper, and numerous lesser ranges), from New York to the valley of the New
River; and the _southern_ (including the continuation of the Blue Ridge,
the Black Mountains, the Smoky Mountains, &c.), from the New River
southwards. The chain consists of several ranges generally parallel to each
other, the altitude of the individual mountains increasing on approaching
the south. The highest peaks rise over 6600 feet (not one at all
approaching the snow-level), but the mean height is about 2500 feet. Lake
Champlain is the only lake of great importance in the system, but numerous
rivers of considerable size take their rise here. Magnetite, hematite, and
other iron ores occur in great abundance, and the coal-measures are among
the most extensive in the world. Gold, silver, lead, and copper are also
found in small quantities, while marble, limestone, fire-clay, gypsum, and
salt abound. The forests covering many of the ranges yield large quantities
of valuable timber, such as sugar-maple, white birch, beech, ash, oak,
cherry tree, white poplar, white and yellow pine, &c., while they form the
haunts of large numbers of bears, panthers, wild cats, and wolves.
APPALACHICOLA (-chi-c[=o]'la), a river of the United States, formed by the
Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, which unite near the northern border of
Florida; length, about 100 miles; it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, and is
navigable.
APPAM, the name of a British merchant ship of the Elder-Dempster line
captured by the German raiding cruiser _Moewe_ (Sea-gull) on 16th Jan.,
1916. A German prize crew succeeded in bringing the _Appam_ westward, and
was able to pass the British cordon off Chesapeake Bay and to reach
Norfolk, Virginia. The vessel was carrying, among others, an ex-governor of
Sierra Leone and some military officers from the west coast of Africa, but
the passengers were at once released and allowed to return to England.
APPANAGE. See _Apanage_.
APPA'RENT, among mathematicians and astronomers, applied to things as they
appear to the eye, in distinction to what they really are. Thus they speak
of apparent motion, magnitude, distance, height, &c. The _apparent
magnitude_ of a heavenly body is the angle subtended at the spectator's eye
by the diameter of that body, and this, of course, depends on the distance
as well as the real magnitude of the body; _apparent motion_ is the motion
a body seems to have in consequence of our own motion, as the motion of the
sun from east to west, &c.
APPARI'TION, according to a belief held by some, a disembodied spirit
manifesting itself to mortal sight; according to the common theory an
illusion involuntarily generated, by means of which figures or forms, not
present to the actual sense, are nevertheless depicted with a vividness and
intensity sufficient to create a temporary belief in their reality. Such
illusions are now generally held to result from an over-excited brain, a
strong imagination, or some bodily malady. In perfect health the mind not
only possesses a control over its powers, but the impressions of the
external objects alone occupy its attention, and the play of imagination is
consequently checked, except in sleep, when its operations are relatively
more feeble and faint. But in an unhealthy state of the mind, when its
attention is partly withdrawn from the contemplation of external objects,
the impressions of its own creation, or rather reproduction, will either
overpower or combine themselves with the impressions of external objects,
and thus generate illusions which in the one case appear alone, while in
the other they are seen projected among those external objects to which the
eyeball is directed. This theory explains satisfactorily a large majority
of the stories of apparitions; still there are some which it seems
insufficient to account for.--See _Crystal Gazing_, _Hypnotism_,
_Spiritualism_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: F. Podmore, _Modern Spiritualism_; F. W. H.
Myers, _Human Personality, and its survival of bodily Death_.
APPEAL', in legal phraseology, the removal of a cause from an inferior
tribunal to a superior, in order that the latter may revise, and if it seem
needful reverse or amend, the decision of the former. The supreme court of
appeal for Great Britain is the House of Lords. Certain defects in
connection with the settlement of appeals by this body were remedied by the
Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, while a new court of appeal was
established as a division of the Supreme Court of Judicature. In Ireland
there is also a Court of Appeal similar to that in England; while in
Scotland the highest court is the Court of Session. From the decisions of
the Indian and all colonial courts, and the courts of the Isle of Man and
the Channel Islands, appeal may be made to the Privy Council. Appeals from
the decisions of justices of a borough or county may be made to the
quarter-sessions of either respectively, in cases of summary jurisdiction,
or upon a point of law to divisional courts of the High Court of Justice,
which was established at the same time as the Court of Appeal; from
quarter-sessions, county and other inferior courts, to the High Court. In
Scotland the Court of Session reviews the decisions of the county courts,
there being an appeal from its decisions to the House of Lords.--In France
the court of final appeal in all cases is the _cour de cassation_.--In the
United States the system of appeals differs in different States.
APPEARANCE IN LAW is the first formal act incumbent on a defendant who
intends to resist the claim in the writ or action served upon him. It
consists usually in lodging in court a written notice stating simply that
the defendant intends to dispute the claim. Failure to enter appearance
within the prescribed time entails decree passing against the defendant in
absence, but procedure exists in all courts for enabling such decrees to be
recalled within a limited period. Appearance should be entered under
protest if it is desired to dispute the jurisdiction of the court or the
regularity of the writ.
APPENDICITIS, a disease which has become well known in recent times through
the more accurate methods of diagnosis and the increased safety of surgical
operation. It is caused by inflammation of the vermiform appendix, a
narrow, hollow, worm-like body from 2 to 4 inches long, opening at one end
into the large intestine and forming a cul-de-sac at the other. In
appendicitis the inflammation begins in the appendix and frequently spreads
to the neighbouring parts, causing inflammation of the caecum, a condition
known as perityphlitis. The most frequent cause of appendicitis is a hard
piece of insufficiently-digested food becoming lodged in the appendix.
Occasionally orange pips, grape stones, &c., are the cause, though not so
often as is popularly supposed.
The symptoms are: abdominal pain (especially low down at the right side),
fever, nausea, vomiting, constipation; these varying according to the
intensity of the attack. Three types are recognized:
1. A mild type, when the symptoms subside in a few days and the patient
soon _appears_ to be in normal health.
2. A severe type, in which, if left alone, the appendix bursts into the
abdominal cavity and death from general peritonitis results.
3. Another type, in which the inflammation in the appendix leads to the
formation of a localized abscess, sometimes of great size.
The treatment for the severe and for the abscess-forming types is
essentially immediate operation; while for the mild type operation may
either be performed at once or after the attack has passed off. Anyone who
has had one attack of appendicitis is liable to have it repeated in a much
severer form, hence the advisability of having the appendix removed after
the first attack, however slight. During an attack, prior to surgical
interference, complete rest in bed is essential. Abdominal pain should be
treated with frequent hot fomentations, and the diet should be reduced to
small quantities of fluid.
APPENZELL ([.a]p'pen-tsel), a Swiss canton, wholly enclosed by the canton
of St. Gall; area, 162 sq. miles. It is divided into two independent
portions or half-cantons, Outer-Rhoden, which is Protestant, and
Inner-Rhoden, which is Catholic. It is an elevated district, traversed by
branches of the Alps; Mount Saentis in the centre being 8250 feet high. It
is watered by the Sitter and by several smaller affluents of the Rhine.
Glaciers occupy the higher valleys. Flax, hemp, grain, fruit, &c., are
produced, but the wealth of Inner-Rhoden lies in its herds and flocks--that
of Outer-Rhoden in its manufactures of embroidered muslins, gauzes,
cambrics, and other cotton stuffs; also of silk goods and paper. The town
of Appenzell (Ger. _Abtenzelle_, abbot's cell) is the capital of
Inner-Rhoden, on the Sitter, with about 4300 inhabitants. Trogen is the
capital of Outer-Rhoden, Herisau the largest town (pop. 11,000). Pop.
Outer-Rhoden, 60,000; Inner-Rhoden, 15,000.
APPERCEPTION. See _Metaphysics_.
AP'PETITE, in its widest sense, means the natural desire for gratification,
either of the body or the mind; but is generally applied to the recurrent
and intermittent desire for food. A healthy appetite is favoured by work,
exercise, plain living, and cheerfulness; absence of this feeling, or
defective appetite (_anorexia_), indicates diseased action of the stomach,
or of the nervous system or circulation, or it may result from vicious
habits. Depraved appetite (_pica_), or a desire for unnatural food, as
chalk, ashes, dirt, soap, &c., depends often in the case of children on
vicious tastes or habits; in grown-up persons it may be symptomatic of
dyspepsia, pregnancy or chlorosis. Insatiable or canine appetite or
voracity (_bulimia_) when it occurs in childhood is generally symptomatic
of worms; in adults common causes are pregnancy, vicious habits, and
indigestion caused by stomach complaints or gluttony, when the gnawing
pains of disease are mistaken for hunger.
AP'PIAN, a Roman historian of the second century after Christ, a native of
Alexandria, was governor and manager of the imperial revenues under
Hadrian, Trajan, and Antoninus Pius, in Rome. He compiled in Greek a Roman
history, from the earliest times to those of Augustus, in twenty-four
books, of which only eleven have come down to us. Appian's style is not
attractive, but he gives us much valuable information.
APPIA'NI, Andrea, a painter, born at Milan in 1754, died in 1817. As a
fresco-painter he excelled every contemporary painter in Italy. He
displayed his skill particularly in the cupola of Santa Maria di S. Celso
at Milan, and in the paintings representing the legend of Cupid and Psyche
prepared for the walls and ceiling of the villa of the Archduke Ferdinand
at Monza (1795). Napoleon appointed him royal court painter, and portraits
of almost the whole of the imperial family were painted by him.
APPIAN WAY, called _Regina Viarum_, the Queen of Roads: the oldest and most
renowned Roman road, was constructed during the censorship of Appius
Claudius Caecus (313-310 B.C.). It was built with large square stones on a
raised platform, and was made direct from the gates of Rome to Capua, in
Campania. It was afterwards extended through Samnium and Apulia to
Brundusium, the modern Brindisi. It was partially restored by Pius VI, and
between 1850 and 1853 it was excavated by order of Pius IX as far as the
eleventh milestone from Rome.
APPIUS CLAUDIUS, surnamed _Caecus_, or the blind, a Roman patrician,
elected censor 312 B.C., which office he held four years. While in this
position he made every effort to weaken the power of the Plebs, and
constructed the road and aqueduct named after him. He was subsequently
twice consul, and once dictator. In his old age he became blind, but in 280
B.C. he made a famous speech in which he induced the senate to reject the
terms of peace fixed by Pyrrhus. He is the earliest Roman writer of prose
and verse whose name we know.
APPIUS CLAUDIUS CRASSUS, one of the Roman _decemvirs_, appointed 451 B.C.
to draw up a new code of laws. He and his colleagues plotted to retain
their power permanently, and at the expiry of their year of office refused
to give up their authority. The people were incensed against them, and the
following circumstances led to their overthrow. Appius Claudius had
conceived an evil passion for Virginia, the daughter of Lucius Virginius,
then absent with the army in the war with the Aequi and Sabines. At the
instigation of Appius, Marcus Claudius, one of his clients, claimed
Virginia as the daughter of one of his own female slaves, and the
_decemvir_, acting as judge, decided that in the meantime she should remain
in the custody of the claimant. Virginius, hastily summoned from the army,
appeared with his daughter next day in the forum, and appealed to the
people; but Appius Claudius again adjudged her to Marcus Claudius. Unable
to rescue his daughter, the unhappy father stabbed her to the heart. The
_decemvirs_ were deposed by the indignant people 449 B.C., and Appius
Claudius died in prison or was strangled.
APPLE (_Pyrus Malus_), the fruit of a well-known tree of the nat. ord.
Rosaceae, or the tree itself. The apple belongs to the temperate regions of
the globe, over which it is almost universally spread and cultivated. The
tree attains a moderate height, with spreading branches; the leaf is ovate;
and the flowers are produced from the wood of the former year; but more
generally from very short shoots or spurs from wood of two years' growth.
The original of all the varieties of the cultivated apple is the wild crab,
which has a small and extremely sour fruit, and is a native of most of the
countries of Europe. Apples have been used as food and cultivated for
upwards of 4000 years, and were probably introduced into Britain by the
Romans. The greater number of the varieties now grown have, however, been
cultivated only within the last century or so. To the facility of
multiplying varieties by grafting is to be ascribed the amazing extension
of the sorts of apples, the number of varieties known being over 2000. Many
of the more marked varieties are known by general names, as pippins,
codlins, rennets, &c. The oldest apple in cultivation is a variety called
'the lady', which originated in Britain early in the seventeenth century.
Apples for the table are characterized by a firm juicy pulp, a sweetish
acid flavour, regular form, and beautiful colouring; those for cooking by
the property of forming by the aid of heat into a pulpy mass of equal
consistency, as also by their large size and keeping properties; apples for
cider must have a considerable degree of astringency, with richness of
juice. The propagation of apple trees is accomplished by seeds, cuttings,
suckers, layers, budding, or grafting, the last being almost the universal
practice. The tree thrives best in an open situation where it will receive
the maximum amount of sunshine and protection from cold winds. The
protection is particularly necessary in districts where cold winds and
frosts prevail during the flowering season. The wood of the apple tree or
the common crab is hard, close-grained, and often richly coloured, and is
suitable for turning and cabinet work. The fermented juice (_verjuice_) of
the crab is employed in cookery and medicine. Apples are largely imported
into Great Britain from the Continent and the United States and Canada. The
designation apple, with various modifying words, is applied to a number of
fruits having nothing in common with the apple proper, as alligator-apple,
love-apple, &c.--Cf. A. E. Wilkinson, _The Apple_.
AP'PLEBY, county town of Westmorland, England, on the Eden, 28 miles S.S.E.
of Carlisle. Disfranchised in 1832, it gave its name to a parliamentary
division of the county until 1918. It has an old castle, the keep of which,
called Caesar's Tower, is still fairly well preserved. Pop. (1921), 1786.
APPLE OF DISCORD, according to the story in Greek mythology, the golden
apple thrown into an assembly of the gods by the goddess of discord (Eris)
bearing the inscription 'for the fairest'. Aphrod[=i]t[=e] (Venus), Hera
(Juno), and Ath[=e]n[=e] (Minerva) became competitors for it, and its
adjudication to the first by Paris so inflamed the jealousy and hatred of
Hera to all of the Trojan race (to which Paris belonged) that she did not
cease her machinations till Troy was destroyed.
APPLE OF SODOM, a fruit described by old writers as externally of fair
appearance, but turning to ashes when plucked; probably the fruit of
_Sol[=a]num sodom[=e]um_.
AP'PLETON, a city of Wisconsin, United States, 100 miles N.W. of Milwaukee
by rail. It has many flour, paper, saw, and woollen mills, and other
manufactories, and is the seat of a collegiate institute and of the
Lawrence University. Pop. (1920), 19,561.
APPLIQUE, in needlework or metal-work, a design or feature having the
appearance of being independently made and attached to the surface of the
object it adorns. When the ornament is sunk into the body of the object it
is called _inlay_.
APPOGGIATURA ([.a]p-poj-[.a]-toe'r[.a]), in music, a small additional note
of embellishment preceding the note to which it is attached, and taking
away from the principal note a portion of its time.
APPOINT'MENT, a term in English law signifying the exercise of some power,
reserved in a conveyance or settlement, of burdening, selling, or otherwise
disposing of the lands or property conveyed. Such a reserved power is
termed a _power of appointment_.
APPOMATT'OX COURT-HOUSE, a village in Virginia, United States, 20 miles E.
of Lynchburg. Here, on 9th April, 1865, General Lee surrendered to General
Grant, and thus virtually concluded the American Civil War.
APPONYI, Albert, Count, Hungarian statesman, born in 1846. Leader of the
Conservative National party, he joined the Liberal party in 1899, and in
1901 was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies. He was Minister of
Education in 1906 and 1917, and again in 1918. In 1920 he was at the head
of the delegation which came to Paris to settle the peace-terms with
Hungary.
APPOSI'TION, in grammar, the relation in which one or more nouns or
substantive phrases or clauses stand to a noun or pronoun, which they
explain or characterize without being predicated of it, and with which they
agree in case; as Cicero, the _orator_, lived in the first century before
Christ; the opinion, _that a severe winter is generally followed by a good
summer_, is a vulgar error.
APPRAI'SER, a person employed to value property, and duly licensed to do so
by licence taken out every year. The valuation must be duly set down in
writing, and there is a certain fixed scale of charges for the appraiser's
services.
APPREHEN'SION, the seizing of a person as a criminal whether taken in the
act or on suspicion, and with or without a warrant, a warrant being
necessary when the person apprehending is not present at the commission of
the offence. See _Arrest_.
APPREN'TICE, one bound by indenture to serve some particular individual or
company of individuals for a specified time, in order to be instructed in
some art, science, or trade. In England a person under the age of
twenty-one cannot bind himself apprentice, and accordingly the usual way is
for a relation or friend to become a contracting party to the indenture,
and engage for the faithful performance of the agreement. An infant cannot
be bound apprentice by his friends without his own expressed consent. In
Scotland a boy under fourteen or a girl under twelve years of age cannot
become a party to an indenture without the concurrence of a parent or
guardian; above that age they may enter into an indenture of themselves,
and thereby become personally bound. An indenture is determinable by the
consent of the parties to it, and also by the death, bankruptcy, or
retirement from business of the master. _Parish apprentices_ are bound out
by the guardians of the poor to suitable persons, and in this case the
consent of the apprentice is not necessary. The system of apprenticing by
indenture is now much less common than formerly.--Cf. R. A. Bray, _Boy
Labour and Apprenticeship_.
APPROACH'ES, in field-engineering, an old-fashioned name for what are now
called 'communication trenches'.
APPROPRIA'TION. See _Impropriation_.
APPRO'VER (ap-proe'v[.e]r), in English law, any accomplice in a crime who
is allowed by the judges of jail-delivery to become king's evidence, that
is, to be examined in evidence against his accomplices, it being understood
that the approver will himself be pardoned upon making a full and open
confession.
APPROXIMA'TION, a term used in mathematics to signify a continual approach
to a quantity required, when no process is known for arriving at it
exactly. Although, by such an approximation, the exact value of a quantity
cannot be discovered, yet, in practice, it may be found sufficiently
correct; thus the diagonal of a square, whose sides are represented by
unity, is [sqrt]2, the exact value of which quantity cannot be obtained;
but its approximate value may be substituted in the nicest calculations.
APPULEIUS. See _Apuleius_.
AP'RICOT (_Prunus Armeni[)a]ca_), a fruit of the plum genus which was
introduced into Europe from Asia more than three centuries before Christ,
and into England from Italy in 1524. It is a native of Armenia and other
parts of Asia and also of Africa. The apricot is a low tree, of rather
crooked growth, with somewhat heart-shaped leaves and sessile flowers. The
fruit is sweet, more or less juicy, of a yellowish colour, about the size
of a peach, and resembling it in delicacy of flavour. Some of the best
varieties are 'Frogmore Early', 'Moorpark', 'Royal', &c. The wood is
coarsely grained and soft. Apricot trees are chiefly raised against walls,
and are propagated by budding and grafting.
APRIES ([=a]'pri-[=e]z), Pharaoh-Hophra of Scripture, the eighth king of
the twenty-sixth Egyptian dynasty. He succeeded his father Psammetichus in
590 or 589 B.C. The Jews under Zedekiah revolted against their Babylonian
oppressors and allied themselves with Apries, who was, however, unable to
raise the siege of Jerusalem, which was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. A still
more unfortunate expedition against Cyrene brought about revolt in his
army, in endeavouring to suppress which Apries was defeated and slain about
570 B.C.
A'PRIL (Lat. _Apr[=i]lis_, from _aperire_, to open, because the buds open
at this time), the fourth month of the year. The strange custom of making
fools on 1st April by sending people upon errands which end in
disappointment, and raise a laugh at the expense of the person sent,
prevails throughout Europe. It has been connected with the miracle plays of
the Middle Ages, in which the Saviour was represented as having been sent,
at this period of the year, from Annas to Caiaphas and from Pilate to
Herod. This explanation, however, is perhaps itself a piece of April
fooling. In France the party fooled is called _un poisson d'avril_, 'an
April fish'; in Scotland, a 'gowk', or cuckoo.
A PRIO'RI ('from what goes before'), a phrase applied to a mode of
reasoning by which we proceed from general principles or notions to
particular cases, as opposed to _a posteriori_ ('from what comes after')
reasoning, by which we proceed from knowledge previously acquired.
Mathematical proofs are of the _a priori_ kind; the conclusions of
experimental science are _a posteriori_. It is also a term applied to
knowledge independent of all experience.
[Illustration: Apse--Church of Sta Maria in Trastevere, Rome]