(E. R. L.)
1See the articleArthropodafor the use of the term “prosthomere.”2See fig. 12 in the articleArthropoda.3Though 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.4A 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.)5A 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 1894.6The 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’sText-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 onEmbryologyby Professors Korschelt and Heider; also to the publishers of the treatise onPalaeontologyby Professor Zittel, Herr Oldenbourg and The Macmillan Co., New York, for several cuts of extinct forms.7Pocock suggests that the area marked vii. in the outline figure of the dorsal view ofLimulus(fig. 7) may be the tergum of the suppressed prae-genital somite. Embryological evidence must settle whether this is so or not.
1See the articleArthropodafor the use of the term “prosthomere.”
2See fig. 12 in the articleArthropoda.
3Though 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.
4A 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.)
5A 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.
6The 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’sText-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 onEmbryologyby Professors Korschelt and Heider; also to the publishers of the treatise onPalaeontologyby Professor Zittel, Herr Oldenbourg and The Macmillan Co., New York, for several cuts of extinct forms.
7Pocock suggests that the area marked vii. in the outline figure of the dorsal view ofLimulus(fig. 7) may be the tergum of the suppressed prae-genital somite. Embryological evidence must settle whether this is so or not.
ARAD,orÓ-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 ofHungary, 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 Görgei. The fortress was recaptured shortly after the surrender of Görgei to the Russians at Világos. 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.
Világos, the town where the famous capitulation of Görgei to the Russians took place on the 13th of August 1849, lies 21 m. by rail north-east of Arad.
ARAEOSTYLE(Gr.ἀραιός, weak or widely spaced, andστῦλος, column), an architectural term for the intercolumniation (q.v.) given to those temples where the columns had only timber architraves to carry.
ARAEOSYSTYLE(Gr.ἀραιός, widely spaced, andσύστυλος, 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 FRANÇOIS 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 Étienne 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, Étienne Vincent (1802-1892), is said to have collaborated with H. de Balzac in theHéritière 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 François 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. Méchain (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 theAnnales 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 itsAnnuals, 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 thenavigation 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 historicalélogeson 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 asavantwhose 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 (seePolarization). As a result of this work Arago constructed apolariscope, 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 ofrotatory polarizationexhibited by quartz, and last of all, among his many contributions to the support of the undulatory hypothesis, comes theexperimentum cruciswhich 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’sŒuvreswere published after his death under the direction of J.A. Barral, in 17 vols., 8vo, 1854-1862; also separately hisAstronomie populaire, in 4 vols.;Notices biographiques, in 3 vols.;Notices scientifiques, in 5 vols.;Voyages scientifiques, in 1 vol.;Mémoires scientifiques, in 2 vols.;Mélanges, in 1 vol.; andTables 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. éloge 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), andArago’s Biographies of Scientific Men, translated by Smyth, Powell and Grant, 8vo (London, 1857).
Arago’sŒuvreswere published after his death under the direction of J.A. Barral, in 17 vols., 8vo, 1854-1862; also separately hisAstronomie populaire, in 4 vols.;Notices biographiques, in 3 vols.;Notices scientifiques, in 5 vols.;Voyages scientifiques, in 1 vol.;Mémoires scientifiques, in 2 vols.;Mélanges, in 1 vol.; andTables 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. éloge 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), andArago’s Biographies of Scientific Men, translated by Smyth, Powell and Grant, 8vo (London, 1857).
ARAGON,orArragon(in Span.Aragón), 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 (orXalonandXiloca) 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 thesea, 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 Ribagorça, 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, underSpain(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 articleSpain(sectionHistory), “Les Archives d’Aragon et de Navarre,” by L. Cadier, inBibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, 49 (Paris, 1888). Among the more important original authorities, the following may be selected:—for general history,Anales de la corona de Aragón, by G. Çurita, 3rd ed. in 7 folio volumes (Saragossa, 1668-1671; 1st ed. 1562-1580);—for ecclesiastical history,Teatro histórico de las iglesias de Aragón(Pamplona, 1770-1807); for economic history,História de la economia politica de Aragón, by I.J. de Asso y del Rio (Saragossa, 1798). For the constitution and laws of Aragon, seeOrígines del Justicia de Aragón, &c., by J. Ribera Tarrago (Saragossa, 1897), andInstituciones y reyes de Aragón, by V. Balaguér (Madrid, 1896). The topography, inhabitants, art, products, &c., of the kingdom are described in a volume of the seriesEspañaentitledAragón, by J.M. Quadrado (Barcelona, 1886).
The literature relating to Aragon is very extensive. See, in addition to the works cited in the articleSpain(sectionHistory), “Les Archives d’Aragon et de Navarre,” by L. Cadier, inBibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, 49 (Paris, 1888). Among the more important original authorities, the following may be selected:—for general history,Anales de la corona de Aragón, by G. Çurita, 3rd ed. in 7 folio volumes (Saragossa, 1668-1671; 1st ed. 1562-1580);—for ecclesiastical history,Teatro histórico de las iglesias de Aragón(Pamplona, 1770-1807); for economic history,História de la economia politica de Aragón, by I.J. de Asso y del Rio (Saragossa, 1798). For the constitution and laws of Aragon, seeOrígines del Justicia de Aragón, &c., by J. Ribera Tarrago (Saragossa, 1897), andInstituciones y reyes de Aragón, by V. Balaguér (Madrid, 1896). The topography, inhabitants, art, products, &c., of the kingdom are described in a volume of the seriesEspañaentitledAragón, 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 (Min 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. = 3½ − 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.
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 asflosferri(“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 orSprudelstein.
(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 Guárico 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° to 80° 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 Carácas. 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 ofCarácas near the north-east shore of Lake Valencia. The last two towns are on the railway between Carácas and Valencia.
ARAGUAYA,AraguayorAraguia, a river of Brazil and principal affluent of the Tocantins, rising in the Serra do Cayapó, 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° 20′ S. lat., and unites again at 10° 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 Cuyabá, Matto Grosso, and is utilized by boatmen going to Pará. Of other affluents, the Bonito, Garças, Cristallino and Tapirapé on the west, and the Pitombas, Claro, Vermelho, Tucupá 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’sVoyage au Tocantins-Araguaya(Paris, 1897).
See Coudreau’sVoyage 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 2666B.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 hisside. 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 anArtillery 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 theukazappointing 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).
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° 30′ and 46° 51′ N., and long. 58° 13′ and 61° 56′ E. It was known to the ancient Arab and Persian geographers as the Sea of Khwārizm 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 242½ 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 (Jīhūn, 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 13¾ 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 Brückner (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° Fahr., while that of the surface varied from 44.5° to 80.5° between May and September; the mean surface temperature for July was 75°. 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 longtime 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 ofPectenandMytilusin 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 interestingScaphirhynchus, 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.