races--100 yards, 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1 mile, and 3 miles; 120-yards hurdle
race; the high jump and long jump; putting the weight and throwing the
hammer. These events appear in the programme of the Amateur Championship
meeting, with the substitution of a 4-miles race for the 3 miles, and the
addition of a 220-yards race, a 2-miles walking race, a 2-miles
steeplechase (representing a miniature cross-country event), and the pole
jump. A relay race, in which four representatives from each club run half a
mile, a quarter of a mile, 220 yards, and 220 yards respectively, is also
included as a standard event; whilst at the 1919 meeting a race of 440
yards over hurdles appeared for the first time, and will probably occupy a
permanent place in the programme. Two additional Amateur Championship
events, 7-miles walk and 10-miles flat race, are usually held at a separate
meeting in the spring.
In addition to the preceding British meetings, a great International
contest, the Olympic Games, is held every four years in a country selected
by the Olympic committee. This meeting is truly international, the last
before 1914 having taken place at Stockholm in 1912, when representatives
from the most distant parts of the world competed with representatives from
every country in Europe in a remarkably elaborate programme, which
included, in addition to the preceding, such feats as throwing the javelin
and the discus, and the classic 'Marathon race' over the traditional
distance of 26-1/4 miles. The 1920 Olympic meeting was arranged to take
place at Antwerp.
Although many excellently arranged athletic sports are held successfully
upon a grass course, at any important meeting the races are contested upon
a properly-constructed cinder-path, a quarter or a third of a mile in
length, and in shape an oval flattened on two sides so as to include as
much straight as possible. The width of the running path is variable, but
18 to 24 feet may be regarded as an average. The centre is of grass, and
spaces are prepared for the hurdle race, for the jumps, and the other
events which are described as the _field_, as opposed to _track_, events.
Flat races are classified as 'sprint races', 'middle distance' and 'long
distance' races, although the distinction between these is somewhat
arbitrary. Whether or no a man is actually capable of running the whole
distance in question at full speed, the term 'sprint' is applied to those
distances in which an attempt is made to put forth a continuous maximum
effort. The limit is, by general consent, fixed at 300 yards. At any good
meeting the 100-yards race will be run in 10 seconds; at the very best
meeting this time will be beaten; and many runners have been credited with
9-4/5 seconds, a few, under exceptional conditions, with 9-3/5 seconds. The
record for 220 yards is 21-1/5 seconds. Middle-distance running includes
races from a quarter mile to a mile, and races are held at 440 yards, 600
yards, 880 yards, 1000 yards, 1 mile, and very occasionally at 3/4 mile.
With modern specialization, however, it is rare to find any one runner
capable of supremacy at more than one of these distances. The 1/4 mile is
the common ground for the sprinter and the middle-distance runner, and 48
seconds has been beaten on several occasions, although it may be said that
anything inside 50 seconds is a first-class performance. The record for 600
yards is 1 minute 11 seconds. The 1/2-mile race has demonstrated latterly,
perhaps, the greatest advance of all; and whilst anything under 2 minutes
may still be regarded as a good performance, a championship event will most
always be won in 3 or 4 seconds faster time; whilst at an Olympic meeting
the wonderful record of 1 minute 52-1/2 seconds has been made. The mile,
which was originally regarded as a long-distance event, is now legitimately
considered as within the capacity of a middle-distance runner. At any
first-class meeting 4 minutes 20 seconds will be accomplished, and any
diminution of this time may be regarded as of superlative merit. The
record, which has stood since 1886, is 4 minutes 12-3/4 seconds, although a
recent performance in America, which is a tiny fraction of a second faster,
has yet to be passed. Over 1 mile, long-distance running begins, and, as
considerable staying-power is required, it is not unusual to find one man
prove champion at 4 miles and 10 miles, and even the 1-mile race in the
same year. No runner has yet achieved the capacity of running 12 miles
within the hour, although two or three have been within a few hundred yards
of this distance. About ten years ago the fashion became a craze of
contesting 'Marathon races' in which all sorts of distances, quite
independent of the classic 26-1/4 miles, were employed. At rare intervals
very long-distance running, such as 50 miles, is indulged in. For any
distance over 20 miles a special form of endurance is called for, rather
than orthodox running in good style. As a competition 'walking' is an
unsatisfactory exercise, because of the extreme difficulty in deciding when
the athlete is still fulfilling the orthodox regulation as to what
constitutes fair 'heel and toe', inasmuch as the style of a man who is
ostensibly walking, yet actually progressing at a rate faster than 9 miles
an hour (faster than the average untrained person can run), is exceedingly
difficult to analyse. About fifteen years ago long-distance walking became
exceedingly popular, and hundreds of competitors attempted the classic walk
to Brighton and back.
The usual hurdle race is over 120 yards, with ten flights of hurdles 10
yards apart, so that a distance of 15 yards separates the start from the
first flight, and the same distance the last flight from the finish. The
hurdles are 3-1/2 feet high, with perfectly-level top rails. In correct
'hurdling' the 'three-stride method' is essential, that is to say, three
strides are taken on the flat between the hurdles, and the athlete rises 6
feet from the obstacle, taking it in his stride, so that retardation of
speed is reduced to a minimum. The skill and accuracy of an accomplished
hurdler is remarkable, and the race is frequently run inside 16 seconds; a
record of 15 seconds, and even a trifle less, has been accomplished.
In this country, running long jump and high jump (and to a less extent the
pole jump) alone are practised to any extent, although as occasional events
the standing high and long jumps are contested, and, still less frequently,
the old-fashioned hop, step, and jump. In the long jump the athlete employs
all the impetus he can acquire by a sprint of about 30 yards. The ideal
aimed at is to run at the fastest speed which is consistent with reaching
the taking-off board with accuracy, and then to leap as high as possible. A
fraction of an inch under 25 feet has been cleared on two occasions,
although it may be said that anything over 24 feet is exceptional, and that
any jumper capable of 23 feet consistently has a good chance to win an
Amateur Championship. The high jump requires skill of a very peculiar
character. Whilst the novice regards this feat as dependent on momentum,
and takes a correspondingly long run to acquire speed, the crack performer
employs his capacity of manipulating his body and limbs so as to cross the
bar in a horizontal position. In this way the prodigious height of 6 feet 7
inches has been cleared. In general it may be said that first-class jumping
begins at 6 feet.
Pole jumping, a particularly pretty event to watch, has never been
practised to any great extent in this country, and, in fact, does not even
appear to be so popular here as twenty years ago. The pole employed is of
light but strong bamboo about 14 feet long, with a sharp ferrule at one
end, which is stuck firmly into the ground. By the help of the pole, which
is firmly grasped near the other end, the jumper elevates himself to the
bar, over which he throws his legs and his body, finally relinquishing his
hold of the pole, to fall on the opposite side. Recent years have witnessed
the development of great skill in this event, particularly by the
Americans, Canadians, and Swedes, and 13 feet has been cleared.
The weight or shot is an iron ball weighing 16 lb., which must be put with
one hand only from the shoulder within a circle of 7 feet diameter.
Although great strength is essential, skill in utilizing the whole of the
body plays a very important part. Over 50 feet has been put on several
occasions.
The 'hammer' is a ball of lead or iron attached by a wire to a handle. The
total length must not exceed four feet; the weight of the whole must be at
least 16 lb. The performer grasps the handle with one or both hands, and,
standing within a 7-foot circle, swings the ball round and round to acquire
impetus, which is then increased by rapid rotatory movements of his body.
Once again skill and co-ordination must be wedded to strength. A crack
performer has thrown over 175 feet.
Throwing the javelin and discus are classical rather than popular events,
and their cultivation is fashionable only when an Olympic contest is
imminent. Among other 'strong-men' contests, which have long been favourite
sports in Scotland, are tossing the _caber_ and putting the stone. The
latter is usually a very heavy implement weighing about 56 lb.; the 'caber'
is the trunk of a fir or other tree, freed from branches, which is held
upright close to the chest by the smaller end, and thrown so as to alight
on the heavier end.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: _Encyclopaedia of Sports and Games_;
_Annual Sporting and Athletic Register_; F. A. M. Webster, _The Evolution
of the Olympic Games, 1829_ B.C.-A.D. _1914_; G. Le Roy, _Athletisme_;
E. W. Hjertberg, _Athletics in Theory and Practice_; P. Withington, _The
Book of Athletics_.
ATHLONE', a town of Ireland, divided by the Shannon into two parts, one in
Westmeath, the other in Roscommon; about 76 miles west of Dublin. Its
position has made it one of the chief military depots, and a centre of
trade by river, canal, and railway. It manufactures woollen goods, linens,
&c. Up to 1885 it sent one member to Parliament. Pop. 7500.
ATH'OLL, or ATHOLE, a mountainous and romantic district in the north of
Perthshire, Scotland, giving the title to a duke of the Murray family who
owns a large area there.
ATHOR, HATHOR, or HET-HER, an Egyptian goddess, identified with
Aphrod[=i]t[=e] or Venus. Her symbol was the cow bearing on its head the
solar disc and hawk-feather plumes. Her chief temple was at Denderah. From
her the third month of the Egyptian year derived its name.
A'THOS (now HAGION OROS or MONTE SANTO, that is, Holy Mountain), a mountain
6700 feet high, terminating the most eastern of the three peninsulas of
Macedonia that jut in parallel directions into the Archipelago. The name,
however, is frequently applied to the whole peninsula, which is about 30
miles long by 5 broad. It is covered with forests, and plantations of
olive, vine, and other fruit-trees. Both the surface and coast-line are
irregular. The Persian fleet under Mardonius was wrecked here in 493 B.C.,
and to avoid a similar calamity Xerxes caused a canal, of which traces may
yet be seen, to be cut through the isthmus that joins the peninsula to the
mainland. On the peninsula there are situated about twenty monasteries and
a multitude of hermitages, which contain from 6000 to 8000 monks and
hermits of the order of St. Basil. The libraries of the monasteries are
rich in literary treasures and manuscripts. Every nation belonging to the
Greek Church has here one or more monasteries of its own, which are
annually visited by pilgrims. After having passed in the fifteenth century
from the sovereignty of the Greek Emperors of Byzantium to that of the
Sultans, it fell again into the hands of the Greeks, who occupied it in
Nov., 1912. Each of the twenty monasteries is a little republic in itself,
and until 1912 they used to pay an annual tribute of nearly L4000 to the
Turks, and were governed by a synod of twenty monastic deputies and four
presidents meeting weekly. They are now ruled either by abbots chosen for
life, or by a board of overseers elected for a certain number of years. The
revenue of the community is derived from pilgrims, and from a considerable
trade in amulets, rosaries, crucifixes, images, and wooden furniture.
ATHY', a town in Ireland, county of Kildare, 37 miles south-west of Dublin,
on the Barrow, which is here joined by the Grand Canal. Its chief trade is
in corn. Pop. 3535.
ATIT'LAN, a lake and mountain of Central America in Guatemala. The lake is
about 24 miles long and 10 broad; the mountain is an active volcano 12,160
feet high.
ATLAN'TA, a city in the United States, capital of Georgia, on an elevated
ridge, 7 miles south-east of the Chattahoochee River. It is an important
railway centre; carries on a large trade in grain, paper, cotton, flour,
and especially tobacco, and possesses flour-mills, paper-mills, ironworks,
&c. Here are Atlanta University for negro men and women, a theological
college, a medical college, &c. Atlanta suffered severely during the Civil
War, and a battle was fought there on 22nd July, 1864. A fire which broke
out on 21st May, 1917, caused damage estimated at more than L1,000,000.
Pop. (1920), 200,600.
ATLAN'TES, or TELAM[=O]NES, in architecture, male figures used in place of
columns or pilasters for the support of an entablature or cornice. Female
figures so employed are termed _caryatides_.
ATLANTIC CITY, a fashionable watering-place of the United States, on the
coast of New Jersey. It is an important air port, and has an aerodrome
covering about 160 acres. Pop. 50,682.
ATLANTIC OCEAN, the vast expanse of sea lying between the west coasts of
Europe and Africa and the east coasts of North and South America, and
extending from the Arctic to the Antarctic Ocean; greatest breadth, between
the west coast of Northern Africa and the east coast of Florida, 4150
miles; least breadth, between Norway and Greenland, 930 miles. The total
area of the North Atlantic (including the inland seas) is 13,262,000 sq.
miles; the area of the South Atlantic is 12,627,000 sq. miles. The
principal inlets and bays are Baffin's and Hudson's Bays, the Gulf of
Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and the Gulf
of Guinea. The principal islands north of the equator are Iceland, the
Faroe and British Islands, the Azores, Canaries, and Cape Verde Islands,
Newfoundland, Cape Breton, and the West India Islands; and south of the
equator, Ascension, St. Helena, and Tristan da Cunha.
The great currents of the Atlantic are the Equatorial Current (divisible
into the Main, Northern, and Southern Equatorial Currents), the Gulf
Stream, the North African and Guinea Current, the Southern Connecting
Current, the Southern Atlantic Current, the Cape Horn Current, Rennel's
Current, and the Arctic Current. The current system is primarily set in
motion by the trade-winds which drive the water of the intertropical region
from Africa towards the American coasts. The Main Equatorial Current,
passing across the Atlantic, is turned by the S. American coast, along
which it runs at a rate of 30 to 50 miles a day, till, having received part
of the North Equatorial Current, it enters the Gulf of Mexico. Issuing
thence between Florida and Cuba under the name of the Gulf Stream, it flows
with a gradually-expanding channel nearly parallel to the coast of the
United States. It then turns north-eastward into the mid-Atlantic, the
larger proportion of it passing southward to the east of the Azores to
swell the North African and Guinea Current created by the northerly winds
off the Portuguese coast. The Guinea Current, which takes a southerly
course, is divided into two on arriving at the region of the north-east
trades, part of it flowing east to the Bight of Biafra and joining the
South African feeder of the Main Equatorial, but the larger portion being
carried westward into the North Equatorial drift. Rennel's Current, which
is possibly a continuation of the Gulf Stream, enters the Bay of Biscay
from the west, curves round its coast, and then turns north-west towards
Cape Clear. The Arctic Current runs along the east coast of Greenland
(being here called the Greenland Current), doubles Cape Farewell, and flows
up towards Davis' Strait; it then turns to the south along the coasts of
Labrador and the United States, from which it separates the Gulf Stream by
a cold band of water. Immense masses of ice are borne south by this current
from the Polar seas. In the interior of the North Atlantic there is a large
area comparatively free from currents, called the Sargasso Sea, from the
large quantity of sea-weed (of the genus Sargassum) which drifts into it. A
similar area exists in the South Atlantic. In the South Atlantic the
portion of the Equatorial Current which strikes the American coast below
Cape St. Roque flows southward at the rate of from 12 to 20 miles a day
along the Brazil coast under the name of the Brazil Current. It then turns
eastward and forms the South Connecting Current, which, on reaching the
South African coast, turns northward into the Main and Southern Equatorial
Currents. Besides the surface currents, an under current of cold water
flows from the poles to the equator, and an upper current of warm water
from the equator towards the poles.
The greatest depth as yet discovered is north of Porto Rico, in the West
Indies, namely 27,360 feet. Cross-sections of the North Atlantic between
Europe and America show that its bed consists of two great valleys lying in
a north-and-south direction, and separated by a ridge, on which there is an
average depth of 1800 fathoms. The mean depth of the North Atlantic is 2047
fathoms, that of the South Atlantic 2067 fathoms. A ridge, called the
_Wyville-Thomson Ridge_, with a depth of little more than 200 fathoms above
it, runs from near the Butt of Lewis to Iceland, cutting off the colder
water of the Arctic Ocean from the warmer water of the Atlantic. The South
Atlantic, of which the greatest depth yet found is over 3000 fathoms,
resembles the North Atlantic in having an elevated plateau or ridge in the
centre with a deep trough on either side. The saltness and specific gravity
of the Atlantic gradually diminish from the tropics to the poles, and also
from within a short distance of the tropics to the equator. In the
neighbourhood of the British Isles the salt has been stated at one
thirty-eighth of the weight of the water. The North Atlantic is the
greatest highway of ocean traffic in the world. It is also a great area of
submarine communication, by means of the telegraphic cables that are laid
across its bed. See _Oceanography_.
ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. See _Telegraph_.
ATLAN'TIDES (-d[=e]z), a name given to the Pleiades, which were fabled to
be the seven daughters of Atlas or of his brother Hesperus.
ATLAN'TIS, an island which, according to Plato, existed in the Atlantic
over against the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar), was the home
of a great nation, and was finally swallowed up by the sea. The legend has
been accepted by some as fundamentally true; but others have regarded it as
the outgrowth of some early discovery of the New World.
ATLAN'TOSAURUS, a gigantic fossil reptile, ord. Dinosauria, obtained in the
upper Jurassic strata of the Rocky Mountains, attaining a length of 110
feet or more.
ATLAS, an extensive mountain system in North Africa, starting near Cape Nun
on the Atlantic Ocean, traversing Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis, and
terminating on the coast of the Mediterranean; divided generally into two
parallel ranges, running W. to E., the Greater Atlas lying towards the
Sahara and the Lesser Atlas towards the Mediterranean. The principal chain
is about 1500 miles long, and the principal peaks rise above or approach
the line of perpetual congelation, Miltsin in Morocco being 11,400 feet
high, and Tizi Likumpt being 13,150. The highest elevation is perhaps Tizi
Tamyurt, estimated at fully 15,000 feet. Silver, antimony, lead, copper,
iron, &c., are among the minerals. The vegetation is chiefly European in
character, except on the low grounds and next the desert.
ATLAS, in Greek mythology, the name of a Titan whom Zeus condemned to bear
the vault of heaven.--The same name is given to a collection of maps and
charts, and was first used by Gerard Mercator in the sixteenth century, the
figure of Atlas bearing the globe being given on the title-pages of such
works.
ATLAS, in anatomy, is the name of the first vertebra of the neck, which
supports the head. It is connected with the occipital bone in such a way as
to permit of the nodding movement of the head, and rests on the second
vertebra or _axis_, their union allowing the head to turn from side to
side.
AT'LAS, a kind of silk or silk-satin fabric of Eastern manufacture.
ATMIDOM'ETER, an instrument for measuring the evaporation from water, ice,
or snow. It somewhat resembles Nicholson's hydrometer, being constructed so
as to float in water and having an upright graduated stem, on the top of
which is a metal pan. Water, ice, or snow is put into the pan, so as to
sink the zero of the stem to a level with the cover of the vessel, and as
evaporation goes on the stem rises, showing the amount of evaporation in
grains.
ATMOM'ETER, an instrument for measuring the amount of evaporation from a
moist surface in a given time. It is often a thin hollow ball of porous
earthenware in which is inserted a graduated glass tube. The cavity of the
ball and tube being filled with water and the top of the tube closed, the
instrument is exposed to the free action of the air; the relative rapidity
with which the water transuding through the porous substance is evaporated
is marked by the scale on the tube as the water sinks.
AT'MOSPHERE, primarily the gaseous envelope which surrounds the earth; but
the term is applied to that of any orb. Twilight effects show that the
atmosphere is sufficiently dense up to a height of 40 miles to scatter or
reflect to an appreciable degree the sun's rays, while the phenomena of
meteors, which are rendered luminous through friction, show that it
extends, though in extremely attenuated form, to 100 or even 200 or more
miles. It exerts on every part of the earth's surface a pressure of about
15 (14.73) lb. per sq. inch. The existence of this atmospheric pressure was
first proved by Torricelli, who thus accounted for the rush of a liquid to
fill a vacuum, and who, working out the idea, produced the first barometer.
The average height of the mercurial column counterbalancing the atmospheric
weight at the sea-level is a little less than 30 inches; but the pressure
varies from hour to hour, and, roughly speaking, diminishes in geometrical
progression with arithmetical increase in altitude. Of periodic variations
there are two maxima of daily pressure, occurring when the temperature is
about the mean of the day, and two minima, when it is at its highest and
lowest respectively; but the problems of diurnal and seasonal oscillations
have yet to be fully solved. The pressure upon the human body of average
size is no less than 14 tons, but as it is exerted equally in all
directions no inconvenience is caused by it. It is sometimes convenient to
take the atmospheric pressure as a standard for measuring other fluid
pressures; thus the steam pressure of 30 lb. per sq. inch on a boiler is
spoken of as a pressure of two atmospheres.