pole on all sides to the Arctic Circle in lat. 66deg 30' N. The Arctic or
North Polar Circle just touches the northern headlands of Iceland, cuts off
the southern and narrowest portion of Greenland, crosses Fox's Strait north
of Hudson's Bay, whence it goes over the American continent to Behring's
Strait. Thence it runs to Obdorsk at the mouth of the Obi, then crossing
Northern Russia, the White Sea, and the Scandinavian Peninsula, returns to
Iceland. Though much skill and heroism have been displayed in the
exploration of this portion of the earth, there is still an area round the
pole estimated at 2,500,000 sq. miles, which is a blank to geographers.
Many have adopted the belief in the existence of an open polar sea about
the north pole. But this belief is not supported by any positive evidence.
Valuable minerals, fossils, &c., have been discovered within the Arctic
regions. In the archipelago north of the American continent excellent coal
frequently occurs. The mineral cryolite is mined in Greenland. Fossil ivory
is obtained in islands at the mouth of the Lena. In Scandinavia, parts of
Siberia, and north-west America, the forest region extends within the
Arctic Circle. The most characteristic of the natives of the Arctic regions
are the Esquimaux. The most notable animals are the white-bear, the
musk-ox, the reindeer, and the whalebone whale. Fur-bearing animals are
numerous. The most intense cold ever registered in those regions was 74deg
below zero F. The aurora borealis is a brilliant phenomenon of Arctic
nights. See _North Polar Expeditions_.
ARC'TIUM. See _Burdock_.
ARC'TOMYS. See _Marmot_.
ARCTU'RUS, or ALPHA BOOETIS, a fixed star of the first magnitude in the
constellation of Booetes (the Ploughman), is one of the brightest stars in
the northern heavens, yellow in colour. Its light is believed to be
intrinsically at least 140 times as brilliant as the sun's, and to take
over 40 years to reach us. It is notable as having a comparatively large
proper motion.
ARDAHAN', a small fortified town about 6400 feet above the sea, between
Kars and Batum in Armenia. It was captured by the Russians in 1877, and
ceded to them by the Berlin Treaty, 1878. It was handed over to Turkey by
the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, but the Turkish troops evacuated it
after the armistice in 1918.
AR'DEA, the genus to which the heron belongs, type of the family
Ard[=e]idae, which includes also cranes, storks, bitterns, &c.
AR'DEBIL, or ARDABIL, a Persian town, province of Azerbaijan, near the
Karasu, a tributary of the Aras, about 40 miles from the Caspian, in an
elevated and healthy situation; it has mineral springs and a considerable
trade. Pop. 16,000.
ARDECHE ([.a]r-d[=a]sh), a department in the south of France (Languedoc),
on the west side of the Rhone, taking its name from the River Ardeche,
which rises within it, and falls into the Rhone after a course of 46 miles;
area, 2144 sq. miles. It is generally of a mountainous character, and
contains the culminating point of the Cevennes. Silk and wine are produced.
Annonay is the principal town, but Privas is the capital. Pop. (1921),
294,308.
ARDEN, FOREST OF, a wood in Warwickshire. Shakespeare is supposed to have
used it as a setting for _As You Like It_.
ARDENNES ([.a]r-den'), an extensive tract of hilly land stretching over a
large portion of the north-east of France and south-west of Belgium.
Anciently the whole tract formed one immense forest (_Arduenna Silva_ of
Caesar); but large portions are now occupied by cultivated fields and
populous towns.
ARDENNES ([.a]r-den'), a frontier department in the north-east of France;
area, 2027 sq. miles, partly consisting of the Forest of Ardennes. There
are extensive slate-quarries, numerous ironworks, and important
manufactures of cloth, ironware, leather, glass, earthenware, &c. It was
the scene of many battles during the European War (1914-8). Chief towns,
Mezieres (the capital), Rocroi, and Sedan. Pop. 277,791.
ARDNAMURCHAN (-mur'_h_an) POINT, the most westerly point of the Island of
Great Britain, in Argyllshire, having a lighthouse, 180 feet above
sea-level, visible 18 to 20 miles off.
AR'DOCH, a parish in south Perthshire, celebrated for its Roman remains,
one, a camp, being the most perfect existing in Scotland.
ARDROSS'AN, a seaport of Scotland, in Ayrshire, on the Firth of Clyde. It
has a large harbour and shipbuilding yards, and is a centre of steamship
services with Arran, Ireland, and Douglas, I.O.M. Pop. (1921), 7214.
ARDS'LEY, East and West, an urban district or town of England, W. Riding of
Yorkshire, several miles north-west of Wakefield, with collieries,
iron-mines, ironworks, &c. Pop. (1921), 7058.
ARE (aer), the unit of the French land measure, equal to 100 sq. metres, or
1076.44 English sq. feet. A _hectare_ is 100 ares, equal to 2.47 English
acres. The tenth part of an are is called a _deciare_, and a hundredth part
a _centiare_.
A'REA, the superficial content of any figure or space, the quantity of
surface it contains in terms of any unit. See _Mensuration_.
ARE'CA, a genus of lofty palms with pinnated leaves, and a drupe-like fruit
enclosed in a fibrous rind. _A. Cat[)e]chu_ of the Coromandel and Malabar
coasts is the common areca palm which yields areca or betel-nuts, and also
the astringent juice catechu. _A. olerac[)e]a_ is the cabbage tree or
cabbage palm of the West Indies. With lime and the leaves of the
betel-pepper, the areca-nuts when green form the celebrated masticatory of
the East. They are an important article in Eastern trade.
ARECIBO ([.a]-re-th[=e]'b[=o]), a seaport town on the north coast of the
Island of Porto Rico. Pop. 9612.
AREIOPAGUS. See _Areopagus_.
ARE'NA, the enclosed space in the central part of the Roman amphitheatres,
in which took place the combats of gladiators or wild beasts. It was
usually covered with sand or saw-dust to prevent the gladiators from
slipping, and to absorb the blood. See _Amphitheatre_.
ARENACEOUS ROCKS include all sediments in which quartz sand is the most
important constituent. Owing to its resistance to comminution and to
chemical attack, quartz accumulates in sea-beaches while other mineral
matter becomes removed. Hence sands gather near a shore and ultimately
become consolidated by various natural cements into sandstones, those
cemented by silica being styled quartzites. Sand-dunes in deserts or on
coasts are unconsolidated arenaceous rock-masses.
AR'ENDAL a seaport of Southern Norway, exporting timber, wood pulp, and
iron, and owning numerous ships. It is a well-built place, having been
rebuilt since the great fire of 1868. Wood pulp, paper, and cotton are
manufactured. Pop. 11,000.
ARENENBERG CASTLE (mediaeval, NARRENBERG), a castle and estate in the Swiss
Canton Thurgau, the possession of Queen Hortense, who died there in 1837.
In 1855 it became the property of the Empress Eugenie.
ARENGA, a term sometimes used as the generic name of the areng or gomuti
palm, which is then botanically designated _Arenga saccharifera_. See
_Gomuti_.
ARENIC'OLA. See _Lobworm_.
ARE'OLAR TISSUE, an assemblage of fibres in bundles, pervading almost every
part of the animal structure, and connected with each other so as to form
innumerable small cavities, the whole serving as a means by which the
various organs and parts of organs are connected together. It is called
also _Cellular Tissue_ and _Connective Tissue_. The fibres are of two
kinds--white fibrous tissue and yellow elastic fibrous tissue, and
interspersed among the bundles or occupying the cellular cavities are cells
and corpuscles of several kinds. It is a tissue found in large quantities
under the skin, covering the muscles, the blood-vessels, and nerves, and in
various parts forming a kind of protective covering for delicate and
important organs. It is because of its general distribution, and because of
its binding various structures together, that it is called
_connective_.--In botany the term is sometimes applied to the
_non_-vascular substance, composed entirely of untransformed cells, which
forms the soft substance of plants.
AREOM'ETER (from Gr. _araios_, thin, _metron_, a measure), an instrument
for measuring the specific gravity of liquids; a _hydrometer_ (q.v.).
AREOP'AGUS, the oldest of the Athenian courts of justice, an assembly
having a position more august than an ordinary court, and in its best days
exercising a general supervision over public morals. It obtained its name
from its place of meeting, on the Hill of Ares (Mars), near the Acropolis
or citadel of Athens. Another explanation connects the word with _Arae_
(Curses), commonly known as _Semnae_ (Awful Goddesses), who were the
guardians of the hill. It existed from very remote times, and the crimes
tried before it were wilful murder, poisoning, robbery, and arson, while it
had under its control also dissoluteness of morals, and innovations in the
State and in religion. Its meetings were held in the open air, and its
members were selected from those who had held the office of archon. The
tribunal eventually lost many of its powers, but it continued to exist in
name at least as late as the time of Cicero or later, having had an
existence of seven or eight hundred years.
AREQUIPA ([.a]-r[=a]-k[=e]'p[.a]), a city of Peru, capital of a province of
same name, situated in a fertile valley, 7850 feet above sea-level, at a
distance of about 55 miles from the coast and on the railway which runs
from its port Mollendo inland to Puno on Lake Titicaca. Behind the city
rises the volcano of Arequipa, or Peak of Misti (20,328 feet). The climate
is healthy but the locality is liable to earthquakes, one of which almost
completely destroyed the town in 1868, after which it was rapidly rebuilt.
A considerable trade is carried on through Mollendo, there being a large
transit trade with the interior, and the town carries on various
industries, manufacturing cotton and woollen goods, &c. It was founded in
1540. Pop. 35,000 to 40,000.--The province has an area of 21,947 sq. miles,
and a pop. of 229,007.
ARES ([=a]'r[=e]z). See _Mars_.
ARETHU'SA, in Greek mythology, a daughter of Nereus and Doris, a nymph
changed by Art[)e]mis into a fountain in order to free her from the pursuit
of the river-god Alpheus. This fountain was said to exist in the small
Island of Ortygia, near Syracuse, and was fabled to have a subterranean
connection with the River Alpheus in Greece.
ARETINO (ae-r[=a]-t[=e]'noe), Guido. See _Guido_.
ARETINO, Pietro, Italian poet, born at Arezzo 1492, died at Venice 1556,
the natural son of a nobleman called Luigi Bacci. He early displayed a
talent for satirical poetry, and when still a young man was banished from
Arezzo on account of a sonnet against indulgences. He went to Perugia, and
thence to Rome (1517), where he secured the papal patronage, but
subsequently lost it through writing licentious sonnets. Through the
influence of the Medici family he found an opportunity to insinuate himself
into the favour of Francis I. In 1527 Aretino went to Venice, where he
acquired powerful friends, among them the Bishop of Vicenza. By his
devotional writings he regained the favour of the Roman Court. He called
himself 'the divine', and 'the scourge of princes', but he was also their
abject flatterer, and that solely to obtain money. The obscenity of some of
his writings was such that his name has become proverbial for
licentiousness. Among them are five comedies and a tragedy.
AREZZO ([.a]-ret's[=o]; ancient ARRETIUM), a city of Central Italy, capital
of a province of the same name in Tuscany, near the confluence of the
Chiana with the Arno. It has a noble cathedral, containing some fine
pictures and monuments; remains of an ancient amphitheatre, &c. It was one
of the twelve chief Etruscan towns, and in later times fought long against
the Florentines, to whom it had finally to succumb. It is the birthplace of
Maecenas, Petrarch, Pietro Aretino, Redi, and Vasari. Pop. 50,093.--The
province of Arezzo contains 1274 sq. miles, and 292,763 inhabitants (1915).
AR'GAL, ARGOL, or TARTAR, a hard crust formed on the sides of vessels in
which wine has been kept, red or white according to the colour of the wine.
It is an impure bitartrate of potassium.
[Illustration: Argali (_Ovis ammon_)]
AR'GALI, a species of wild sheep (_Capr[)o]vis Arg[)a]li_ or _Ovis ammon_)
found on the mountains of Siberia, Central Asia, and Kamtchatka. It is 4
feet high at the shoulders, and proportionately stout in its build, with
horns nearly 4 feet in length measured along the curve, and at their base
about 19 inches in circumference. It lives in small herds. This true argali
must not be confounded with the North-African wild sheep, called the
bearded argali and known as the arni, the Algerian moufflon, and the
Barbary sheep.
AR'GALL, Sir Samuel (1572-1639), one of the early English adventurers to
Virginia. He planned and executed the abduction of Pocahontas, the daughter
of the Indian chief Powhattan, in order to secure the ransom of English
prisoners. He was deputy-governor of Virginia (1617-9), and was accused of
many acts of rapacity and tyranny. In 1620 he served in an expedition
against Algiers, and was knighted by James I.
AR'GAND LAMP, a lamp named after its inventor, Aime _Argand_, a Swiss
chemist and physician (born 1755, died 1803), the distinctive feature of
which is a burner forming a ring or hollow cylinder covered by a chimney,
so that the flame receives a current of air both on the inside and on the
outside.
ARGAUM ([.a]r-g[.a]'[u:]m), a village of India, in Berar, celebrated for
the victory of General Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) over the Mahrattas
under Scindia and the Rajah of Berar, 29th Nov., 1803.
AR'GELANDER, Friedrich Wilhelm August, German astronomer, born in 1799. He
added to the knowledge of the progressive motion of the solar system in
space, and published a catalogue of 560 stars having 'proper motion'. His
works include: _Atlas des noerdlichen gestirnten Himmels_ (1857), _Neue
Uranometrie_ (1843), &c. He died in 1875.
ARGEMONE ([.a]r-jem'o-n[=e]), a small genus of ornamental American plants
of the poppy order. From the seeds of _A. mexic[=a]na_ is obtained an oil
very useful to painters. The handsomest species is _A. grandifl[=o]ra_,
which has large flowers of a pure white colour.
ARGENSOLA ([.a]r-_h_en-s[=o]'l[.a]), Lupercio and Bartolome Leonardo de,
brothers, born at Barbastro, in Aragon, the former in 1565, died in 1613;
the latter born in 1566, died in 1631. Lupercio produced tragedies and
lyric poems; Bartolome a number of poems and a historical work, _The
Conquest of the Moluccas_. Their writings are singularly alike in
character, and are reckoned among the Spanish classics. The tragedies are
of the heavy Senecan type, but the satirical writings of both brothers are
full of pungent wit of a pleasing kind.
ARGENSON ([.a]r-zh[.a][n.]-s[=o][n.]), Marc Pierre de Voyer, Comte d',
celebrated French statesman, born in 1696, died 1764. After holding a
number of subordinate offices he became minister for foreign affairs, and
succeeded in bringing about the Congress of Breda, which was the prelude to
that of Aix-la-Chapelle. He was present at the battle of Fontenoy, and was
exiled to his estate for some years through the machinations of Madame
Pompadour. His _Considerations sur le Gouvernement de la France_ was a very
advanced study on the possibility of combining with a monarchic form of
government democratic principles and local self-government. _Les Essais, ou
Loisirs d'un Ministre d'Etat_, published in 1785, is a collection of
characters and anecdotes in the style of Montaigne.
AR'GENT, in coats of arms, the heraldic term expressing silver: represented
in engraving by a plain white surface.
ARGENTAN ([.a]r-zh[.a][n.]-tae[n.]), a French town, department of Orne
(Normandy), with an old castle and some manufactures. Pop. 6300.
ARGENTEUIL ([.a]r-zh[.a][n.]-teu-y[.e]), a town in France, department
Seine-et-Oise, 7 miles below Paris; it has an active trade in wine, fruit,
and vegetables. Pop. 24,282.
ARGENTIE'RA, or KIM[=O]LI (ancient, CIM[=O]LUS), an island in the Grecian
Archipelago, one of the Cyclades, about 18 miles in circumference, rocky
and sterile. It produces a detergent chalk called _Cimolian earth_ (q.v.),
used in washing and bleaching. Pop. 1337.
AR'GENTINE, a silvery-white slaty variety of calc-spar, containing a little
silica with laminae usually undulated. It is found in primitive rocks and
frequently in metallic veins.--Argentine is also the name of a small
British fish (_Scop[)e]lus bore[=a]lis_) less than 2 inches long and of a
silvery colour.
AR'GENTINE REPUBLIC, formerly called the United Provinces of LA PLATA, a
vast country of South America, the extreme length of which is 2300 miles,
and the average breadth a little over 500 miles, the total area 1,153,119
sq. miles. It consists of fourteen provinces, ten territories, and one
federal district. It is bounded on the N. by Bolivia; on the E. by
Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic; on the S. by the Antarctic
Ocean; and on the W. by the Andes. It comprises four great natural
divisions: (1) the Andine region, containing the provinces of Mendoza, San
Juan, Rioja, Catamarca, Tucuman, Salta, and Jujuy; (2) the Pampas,
containing the provinces of Santiago, Santa Fe, Cordova, San Luis, and
Buenos Ayres, with the territories Formosa, Pampa, and Chaco; (3) the
Argentine 'mesopotamia', between the Rivers Parana and Uruguay, containing
the provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, and the territory Misiones; (4)
Patagonia, including the eastern half of Tierra del Fuego. With the
exception of the N.W., where lateral branches of the Andes run into the
plain for 150 or 200 miles, and the province of Entre Rios, which is hilly,
the characteristic feature of the country is the great monotonous and level
plains called 'pampas'. In the north these plains are partly
forest-covered, but all the central and southern parts present vast
treeless tracts, which afford pasture to immense herds of horses, oxen, and
sheep, and are varied in some places by brackish swamps, in others by salt
steppes. The great water-course of the country is the Parana, having a
length of fully 2000 miles from its source in the mountains of Goyaz,
Brazil, to its junction with the Uruguay, where begins the estuary of La
Plata. The Parana is formed by the union of the Upper Parana and Paraguay
Rivers, near the N.E. corner of the State. Important tributaries are the
Pilcomayo, the Vermejo, and the Salado. The Parana, Paraguay, and Uruguay
are valuable for internal navigation. Many of the streams which tend
eastward terminate in marshes and salt lakes, some of which are rather
extensive. Not connected with the La Plata system are the Colorado and the
Rio Negro, the latter formerly the southern boundary of the State,
separating it from Patagonia. The source of the Negro is Lake Nahuel Huapi,
in Patagonia (area, 1200 sq. miles), in the midst of magnificent scenery.
The level portions of the country are mostly of tertiary formation, and the
river and coast regions consist mainly of alluvial soil of great fertility.
In the pampas clay have been found the fossil remains of extinct mammalia,
some of them of colossal size.
European grains and fruits, including the vine, have been successfully
introduced, and large areas are now under wheat, maize, flax, and other
crops, another source of wealth consisting in the countless herds of cattle
and horses and flocks of sheep, which are pastured on the pampas, and which
multiply there very rapidly. Gold, silver, nickel, copper, tin, lead, and
iron, besides marble, jasper, precious stones, and bitumen, are found in
the mountainous districts of the N.W., while petroleum wells have been
discovered on the Rio Vermejo; but the development of this mineral wealth
has hitherto been greatly retarded by the want of proper means of
transport. As a whole there are not extensive forests in the State except
in the region of the Gran Chaco (which extends also into Bolivia), where
there is known to be 60,000 sq. miles of timber. Thousands of square miles
are covered with thistles, which grow to a great height in their season.
Cacti also forms great thickets. Peach and apple trees are abundant in some
districts. The native fauna includes the puma, the jaguar, the tapir, the
llama, the alpaca, the vicuna, armadillos, the rhea or nandu, a species of
ostrich, &c. The climate is agreeable and healthy, 97deg being about the
highest temperature experienced. The rainfall is very scanty in some
districts, and is nowhere very large.
As a whole this vast country is very thinly inhabited, some parts of it as
yet being very little known. The native Indians were never very numerous,
and have given little trouble to the European settlers. Tribes of them yet
in the savage state still inhabit the less-known districts, and live by
hunting and fishing. Some of the Gran Chaco tribes are said to be very
fierce, and European travellers have been killed by them. The European
element is strong in the republic, more than half the population being
Europeans or of pure European descent. Large numbers of immigrants arrive
from Southern Europe, the Italians having the preponderance among those of
foreign birth. The typical inhabitants of the pampas are the _Gauchos_, a
race of half-breed cattle-rearers and horse-breakers; they are almost
continually on horseback, galloping over the plains, collecting their herds
and droves, taming wild horses, or catching and slaughtering cattle. In
such occupations they require a marvellous dexterity in the use of the
lasso and bolas.
The River La Plata was discovered in 1512 by the Spanish navigator Juan
Diaz de Solis, and the La Plata territory had been brought into the
possession of Spain by the end of the sixteenth century. In 1810 the
territory cast off the Spanish rule, and in 1816 the independence of the
United States of the Rio de la Plata was formerly declared, but it was long
before a settled government was established. The present constitution dates
from 1853, being modified in 1866 and 1898. The executive power is vested
in a president--elected by the representatives of the fourteen provinces
for a term of six years. A national congress of two chambers--a Senate and
a House of Deputies--wields the legislative authority, and the republic is
making rapid advances in social and political life. The national revenue
for 1918 amounted to about L32,860,306, while the expenditure amounted to
L34,407,074; the public debt was, at the end of 1916, about L120,000,000.
There are about 22,000 miles of railway opened. The external commerce is
important, the chief exports being beef and mutton, wheat, maize, and
linseed, wool, skins and hides, tallow. The imports are chiefly
manufactured goods. The trade is largely with Britain and France, and is
increasing rapidly, the exports having advanced from L9,000,000 in 1876 and
L73,200,000 in 1908 to L201,360,000 in 1920. The imports in 1920 were
L170,820,000. The chief denomination of money is the dollar or _peso_,
value (in gold) 4s. Buenos Ayres (or Aires) is the capital. Other towns are
Rosario, Cordova, La Plata, Tucuman, Mendoza, and Santa-Fe. The population
of the republic, which is rapidly increasing by immigration, was, in 1905,
5,678,197, and 8,284,266 in 1918; of the capital, 1,637,155
(1918).--BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. E. Akers, _History of South America, 1854 to
1904_; W. H. Hudson, _The Naturalist in La Plata_; Keane and Markham,
_Central and South America_ (in Stanford's _Compendium of Geography and
Travel_); Martinez and Lewandowski, _Argentine in the Twentieth Century_;
Sir John Foster Fraser, _The Amazing Argentine_; H. Stephens, _Illustrated
Descriptive Argentina_; _The Argentine Year Book_.
AR'GENTITE, sulphide of silver, a blackish or lead-grey mineral, a valuable
ore of silver found in the crystalline rocks of many countries.
ARGENTOMETER. See _Hydrometer_.
ARGILLACEOUS ROCKS are rocks in which clay prevails (including shales and
slates).
ARGIVES ([.a]r'j[=i]vz), or ARGIVI, the inhabitants of Argos; used by Homer
and other ancient authors as a generic appellation for all the Greeks.
AR'GO. See _Argonauts_.
ARGOL. See _Argal_.
ARGOLIS. See _Argos_.