Chapter 4

Another objection on the part of some employers and workmen to unrestricted arbitration is its alleged tendency to multiply disputes by providing an easy way of solving them without recourse to strikes or lock-outs, and so diminishing the sense of responsibility in the party advancing the claims. It is also sometimes contended that arbitrators, not being governed in their decisions by a definite code of principles, may tend to “split the difference,” so as to satisfy both sides even when the demands on one side or the other are wholly unwarranted. This, it is said, encourages the formulation of demands purposely put high in order to admit of being cut down by an arbitrator. One of the chief practical difficulties in the way of the successful working of permanent boards of conciliation, consisting of equal numbers of employers and employed, with an umpire in case of deadlock, is the difficulty of inducing business men whose time is fully occupied to devote the necessary time to the work of the boards, especially when either side has it in its power to compel recourse to the umpire, and so render the work of the conciliation board fruitless. In spite of all these difficulties the practice of arranging differences by conciliation and arbitration is undoubtedly spreading, and it is to be remembered that even in cases in which theoretically a basis for arbitration can scarcely be said to exist, recourse to that method may often serve a useful purpose in putting an end to a deadlock of which both parties are tired, though neither cares to own itself beaten.

New Zealand.—The New Zealand Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 is important as the first practical attempt of any importance to enforce compulsory arbitration in trade disputes. The original act was amended by several subsequent measures, and the law has been more than once consolidated. The law provides for the incorporation of associations of employers or workmen under the title of industrial unions, and for the creation in each district of a joint conciliation board, elected by these industrial unions, with an impartial chairman elected by the board, to which a dispute may be referred by any party, a strike or lock-out being thenceforth illegal. If the recommendation of the conciliation board is not accepted by either party, the matter goes to a court of arbitration consisting of two persons representing employers and workmen respectively, and a judge of the supreme court. Up to 1901 disputes were ordinarily required to go first to a board of conciliation except by agreement of the parties, but now either party may carry a dispute direct to the arbitration court. The amendment was adopted because it was found in practice that the great majority of cases went ultimately to the arbitration court, and conciliation board proceedings were often mere waste of time. The award of the court is enforceable by legal process, financial penalties up to £500 being recoverable from defaulting associations or individuals. If the property of an association is insufficient to pay the penalty, its members are individually liable up to £10 each. It is the duty of factory inspectors to see that awards are obeyed. The law provides for the extension of awards to related trades, to employers entering the industry hereafter, and in some cases to a whole industry.

The above is only an outline of the principal provisions of this law, under which questions of wages, hours and the relations of employers and workmen generally in New Zealand (q.v.) industries became practically the subject of state regulation. The act must more properly be judged as a measure for the state regulation of industry, but as a method of putting an end to labour disputes its success has only been partial.

Australia.—The laws which are practically operative in Australia with respect to arbitration and conciliation are all based with modifications on the New Zealand system. The first compulsory arbitration act passed in Australia was the New South Wales Act of 1901. The principal points of difference between this and the New Zealand act are that the conciliation procedure is entirely omitted, the New South Wales measure being purely an arbitration act. The arbitration court has greater power over unorganized trades than in New Zealand, and the scope of its awards is greatly enlarged by its power to declare any condition of labour to be common rule of an industry, and thus binding on all existing and future employers and work-people in that industry. In Western Australia laws were passed in 1900 and 1902 which practically adopted the New Zealand legislation with certain modifications in detail.

In 1904 the commonwealth of Australia passed a compulsory arbitration law based mainly on those in force in New Zealand and New South Wales, and applicable to disputes affecting more than one Australian state. The arbitration court is empowered to require any dispute within its cognizance to be referred to it by the state authority proposing to deal with it. There are other Australian laws which, though unrepealed (e.g.the South Australian Act of 1894), are a dead-letter. Generally speaking, the Australasian laws on arbitration and conciliation are more stringent and far-reaching than any others in the world.

Canada.—In 1900 a conciliation act was passed by the Dominion parliament resembling the United Kingdom act in most of its features, and in 1903 the Canadian Railway Labour Disputes Act made special provision for the reference of railway disputes to a conciliation board and (failing settlement) to a court of arbitration.

This act was consolidated with the Conciliation Act 1900 during 1906 in an act respecting conciliation and labour, and in March 1907 the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act became law by which machinery is set up for the constitution of a board, on the application of either side to a dispute in mines and industries connected with public utilities, whenever a strike involving more than ten employees is threatened. The provisions of the act may be extended to other industries and railway companies, and their employees may take action under either the Conciliation and Labour Act or the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act. Under the Investigation Act it is unlawful for any employer to cause a lock-out, or for an employee to go on strike on account of any dispute prior to or during a reference of such dispute to a board constituted under the act, or prior to or during a reference under the provisions concerning railway disputes under the Conciliation and Labour Act. There is nothing, however, in the act to prevent a strike or lock-out taking place after the dispute has been investigated.

France.—The French Conciliation and Arbitration Law of December 1892 provides that either party to a labour dispute may apply to thejuge de paixof the canton, who informs the other party of the application. If they concur within three days, a joint committee of conciliation is formed of not more than five representatives of each party, which meets in the presence of thejuge de paix, who, however, has no vote. If no agreement results the parties are invited to appoint arbitrators. If such arbitrators are appointed and cannot agree on an umpire, the president of the civil tribunal appoints an umpire. In the case of an actual strike, in the absence of an application from either party it is the duty of thejuge de paixto invite the parties to proceed to conciliation or arbitration. The results of the action of thejuge de paixand of the conciliation committee are placarded by the mayors of the communes affected. The law leaves theparties entirely free to accept or reject the services of thejuge de paix.

During the ten years 1897-1906 the act was put in force in 1809 cases—viz. 916 on application of workmen; 49 of employers; 40 of both sides; and 804 without application. Altogether 616 disputes were settled—549 by conciliation and 67 by arbitration.

Germany.—In several continental European countries, courts or boards are established by law to settle cases arising out of existing labour contracts;e.g.the French “Conseils de Prud’hommes,” the Italian “Probi-Viri,” and the German “Gewerbegerichten,”—and some of the questions which come before these bodies are such as might be dealt with in England by voluntary boards or joint committees. The majority, however, are disputes between individuals as to wages due, &c., which would be determined in the United Kingdom by a court of summary jurisdiction. It is noteworthy, however, that the German industrial courts (Gewerbegerichten) are empowered under certain conditions to offer their services to mediate between the parties to an ordinary labour dispute. The main law is that of 1890 which was amended in 1901. In the case of a strike or lock-out the court must intervene on application of both parties, and may do so of its own initiative or on the invitation of one side. The conciliation board for this purpose consists under the amending law of 1901 of the president of the court and four or more representatives named by the parties in equal numbers but not concerned in the dispute. Failing appointment by the parties the president appoints them. Failing a settlement at a conference between the parties in the presence of the president and assessors of the court, the court arrives at a decision on the merits of the dispute which is communicated to the parties, who are allowed a certain time within which to notify their acceptance or rejection. The court has no power to compel the observance of its decision, but in certain cases it may fine a witness for non-attendance. In the first five years after the passage of the amending law of 1901 (viz. 1902-1906) there were 1139 applications for the intervention of the industrial courts: 492 agreements were brought about and 107 decisions were pronounced by the courts, of which 64 were accepted by both parties.

Switzerland.—The canton of Geneva enacted a law in 1900 providing for the settlement by negotiation, conciliation or arbitration of the general terms of employment in a trade, subject, however, to special arrangements between employers and workmen in particular cases. The negotiations take place between delegates chosen by the associations of employers and employed, or failing them, by meetings summoned by the council of state on sufficient applications. Failing settlement, the council of state, on application from either party, is to appoint one or more conciliators from its members, and if this fail the central committee of thePrud’hommes, together with the delegates of employers and workmen, is to form a board of arbitration, whose decision is binding. Any collective suspension of work is illegal during the period covered by the award or agreement. Up to the end of 1904 only seven cases occurred of application of the law to industrial differences. In Basel (town) a law providing for voluntary conciliation by means of boards of employers and workmen with an independent chairman appointedad hocby the council of state of the canton, has been in force since 1897, but it remained practically unused until 1902. In the period from January 1902 to May 1905, 18 disputes were dealt with and 10 settled under this law. A similar law was adopted in St Gall in 1902. In the three years 1902-1904, 10 disputes were dealt with and 3 settled.

Sweden.—By a law which came into force on the 1st of January 1907, Sweden was divided into seven districts and in each district a conciliator was appointed by the crown. The conciliator must reside within his district and his principal duty is to promote the settlement of disputes between employers and work-people or between members of either class among themselves. He is also on request to advise and otherwise assist employers and work-people in framing agreements affecting the conditions of labour if and so far as agreements are designed to promote good relations between the two classes and to obviate stoppages of work.

United States.—In the United States several states have legislated on the subject of conciliation and arbitration, among the first of such acts being the “Wallace” Act of 1883, in Pennsylvania, which, however, was almost inoperative. Altogether, 24 states have made constitutional or statutory provision for mediation in trade disputes, of which 17 contemplate the formation of permanent state boards. The only state laws which require notice are those of Massachusetts and New York providing for the formation of state boards of arbitration. The Massachusetts board, founded in 1886, consists of one employer, one employed and one independent person chosen by both. The New York board (1886) consists of two representatives of different political parties, and one member of abona fidetrade organization within the state. In both states it is the duty of the board, with or without application from the parties, to proceed to the spot where a labour dispute has occurred, and to endeavour to promote a settlement. The parties may decline its services, but the board is empowered to issue a report, and on application from either side to hold an inquiry and publish its decision, which (in Massachusetts) is binding for six months, unless sixty days’ notice to the contrary is given by one side to the other. Several states, including Massachusetts and New York, provide not only for state boards, but also for local boards.

In Massachusetts, during 1906, the state board dealt with 158 disputes. Of these the board was appealed to as arbitrator in 95 cases. Awards were rendered in 80 cases, 12 cases were withdrawn and 3 cases were still pending at the end of the year. In New York the number of cases dealt with is much smaller.

Federal legislation can only touch the question of arbitration and conciliation so far as regards disputes affecting commerce between different states. Thus an act of June 1898 provides that in a dispute involving serious interruption of business on railways engaged in inter-state commerce, the chairman of the Inter-State Commerce Commission and the commissioner of labour shall, on application of either party, endeavour to effect a settlement, or to induce the parties to submit the dispute to arbitration. While an arbitration under the act is pending a strike or lock-out is unlawful.

Authorities.—For the recent development of arbitration and conciliation in the United Kingdom, see theAnnual Reports of the Labour Department of the Board of Trade on Strikes and Lock-outsfrom 1888 onwards. Since 1890 these reports have contained special appendices on the work of arbitration boards. See also theLabour Gazette(the monthly journal of the Labour Department) from 1893 onward, and theReport on Rules of Voluntary Conciliation and Arbitration Boards and Joint Committees. TheReports of the Royal Commission on Labour(1891-1894) contain much valuable information on the subject. For the working of the Conciliation Act see theReportsof the Board of Trade on their proceedings under the Conciliation Act 1896. For the earlier history in the United Kingdom: Crompton,Industrial Conciliation(1876); Price,Industrial Peace(1887). For foreign and colonial developments: the thirdAbstract of Foreign Labour Statistics(1906), issued by the Board of Trade;Report on Government Industrial Arbitration, by L.W. Hatch (Bulletin of Bureau of Labour of United States Department of Commerce and Labour, September 1905); the report of the FrenchOffice du Travail,De la conciliation et de l’arbitrage dans les conflits collectifs entre patrons et ouvriers en France et à l’étranger(1893); the Annual Reports of the same Department onStrikes, Lockouts and Arbitration; theReports of the Massachusetts and New York State Arbitration Boards, and of theNew Zealand Department of Labour; and theLabour Gazette. See also the following general works: N.P. Gilman,Methods of Industrial Peace(Boston, 1904); A.C. Pigou,Principles and Methods of Industrial Peace(1905).

(X.)

ARBOGAST(d. 394), a barbarian officer in the Roman army, at the end of the 4th century. His nationality is uncertain, but Zosimus, Eunapius and Sulpicius Alexander (a Gallo-Roman historian quoted by Gregory of Tours) all refer to him as a Frank. Having served with distinction against the Goths in Thrace, he was sent by Theodosius in 388 against Maximus, who had usurped the empire of the west and had murdered Gratian. His complete success, which resulted in the destruction of Maximus and his sons and the pacification of Gaul, led Theodosius to appoint him chief minister for his young brother-in-lawValentinian II. His rule was most energetic; but while he favoured the barbarians in the imperial service, and appointed them to high office, Valentinian, openly jealous of his minister, sought to surround himself with Romans. As an offset to this, Arbogast allied himself with the pagan element in Rome, while Valentinian was strictly orthodox. In 392 Valentinian was secretly put to death at Vienne (in Gaul), and Arbogast, naming as his successor Eugenius, a rhetorician, descended into Italy to meet the expedition which Theodosius was heading against him. He proclaimed himself the champion of the old Roman gods, and as a response to the appeal of Ambrose, is said to have threatened to stable his horses in the cathedral of Milan, and to force the monks to fight in his army. His defeat in the hard-fought battle of the Frigidus saved Italy from these dangers. Theodosius, after a two days’ fight, gained the victory by the treachery of one of Arbogast’s generals, sent to cut off his retreat. Eugenius was captured and executed, but Arbogast escaped to the mountains, where however he slew himself three days afterwards (8th of September 394). Although we have only most distorted narratives upon which to rely—pagan eulogy and Christian denunciation—Arbogast appears to have been one of the greatest soldiers of the later empire, and a statesman of no mean rank. His energy, and his apparent disdain for the effete civilization which he protected, but which did not affect his character, make his personality one of the most interesting of the 4th century.

See T. Hodgkin,Italy and her Invaders(1880), vol. i. chap. ii.

ARBOIS,a town of eastern France, in the department of Jura, on the Cuisance, 29 m. N.N.E. of Lons-le-Saunier by rail. Pop. (1906) 3454. The town is the seat of the tribunal of first instance of the arrondissement of Poligny, and has a communal college. The church of St Just, founded in the 10th century, has good wood-carving. An Ursuline convent, built in 1764, serves as hôtel de ville and law court, and a church of the 14th century is used as a market. There is an old château of the dukes of Burgundy. Arbois is well known for its red and white wines, and has saw-mills, tanneries and market gardens, and manufactures paper, oil and casks.

ARBOIS DE JUBAINVILLE, MARIE HENRI D’(1827-1910), French historian and philologist, was born at Nancy on the 5th of December 1827. In 1851 he left the École des Chartes with the degree of palaeographic archivist. He was placed in control of the departmental archives of Aube, and remained in that position until 1880, when he retired on a pension. He published several volumes of inventorial abstracts, aRépertoire archéologique du départementin 1861; a valuableHistoire des ducs et comtes de Champagne depuis le VIesiècle jusqu’à la fin du XIe, which was published between 1859 and 1869 (8 vols.), and in 1880 an instructive monograph uponLes Intendants de Champagne. But already he had become attracted towards the study of the most ancient inhabitants of Gaul; in 1870 he brought out anÉtude sur la déclinaison des noms propres dans la langue franque à l’époque mérovingienne; and in 1877 a learned work uponLes Premiers Habitants de l’Europe(2nd edition in 2 vols. 1889 and 1894). Next he concentrated his efforts upon the field of Celtic languages, literature and law, in which he soon became an authority. Appointed in 1882 to the newly founded professorial chair of Celtic at the Collège de France, he began theCours de littérature celtiquewhich in 1908 extended to twelve volumes. For this he himself edited the following works:Introduction a l’étude de la littérature celtique(1883);L’Épopée celtique en Irlande(1892);Études sur le droit celtique(1895); andLes Principaux Auteurs de l’antiquité à consulter sur l’histoire des Celtes(1902). He was among the first in France to enter upon the study of the most ancient monuments of Irish literature with a solid philological preparation and without empty prejudices. We owe to him alsoLes Celtes depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à l’an 100 avant noire ère(1904), and a study of comparative law inLa Famille celtique(1905). Numerous detailed studies upon the Gaulish names of persons and places took synthetic form in theRecherches sur l’origine de la propriété foncière(1890), which illumined one of the most interesting aspects of the Roman occupation of Gaul.The Recueil de mémoires concernant la littérature et l’histoire celtiques, made by the most notable among his disciples on the occasion of his seventy-eighth birthday (1906), was a well-deserved tribute to his persevering and fruitful industry. He died in February 1910.

(C. B.*)

ARBOR DAY,the name applied in the United States of America to a day appointed for the public planting of trees (seeArbour). Originating, or at least being first successfully put into operation, in Nebraska in 1872 through the instrumentality of J. Sterling Morton, then president of the state Board of Agriculture, it received the official sanction of the state by the proclamation of Governor R.W. Furnas in 1874 and by the enactment in 1885 of a law establishing it as a legal holiday in Nebraska. The movement spread rapidly throughout the United States until with hardly an exception every state and territory celebrates such a day either as a legal or a school holiday. The time of celebration varies in different states—sometimes even in different localities in the same state—but April or early May is the rule in the northern states, and February, January and December are the months in various southern states. A like practice has been introduced in New Zealand.

See N.H. Egleston,Arbor Day: Its History and Observance(Washington, 1896), Robert W. Furnas,Arbor Day(Lincoln, Neb., 1888), and R.H. Schauffler (ed.),Arbor Day(New York, 1909).

ARBORETUM,the name given to that part of a garden or park which is reserved for the growth and display of trees. The term, in this restricted sense, was seemingly first so employed in 1838 by J.C. Loudon, in his book upon arboreta and fruit trees. Professor Bayley Balfour, F.R.S., the Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, has described an arboretum as a living collection of species and varieties of trees and shrubs arranged after some definite method—it may be properties, or uses, or some other principle—but usually after that of natural likeness. The plants are intended to be specimens showing the habit of the tree or shrub, and the collection is essentially an educational one. According to another point of view, an arboretum should be constructed with regard to picturesque beauty rather than systematically, although it is admitted that for scientific purposes a systematic arrangement is asine qua non. In this more general respect, an arboretum or woodland affords shelter, improves local climate, renovates bad soils, conceals objects unpleasing to the eye, heightens the effect of what is agreeable and graceful, and adds value, artistic and other, to the landscape. What Loudon called the “gardenesque” school of landscape naturally makes particular use of trees. By common consent the arboretum in the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew is one of the finest in the world. Its beginnings may be traced back to 1762, when, at the suggestion of Lord Bute, the duke of Argyll’s trees and shrubs were removed from Whitton Place, near Hounslow, to adorn the princess of Wales’s garden at Kew. The duke’s collection was famous for its cedars, pines and firs. Most of the trees of that date have perished, but the survivors embrace some of the finest of their kind in the gardens. The botanical gardens at Kew were thrown open to the public in 1841 under the directorate of Sir William Hooker. Including the arboretum, their total area did not then exceed 11 acres. Four years later the pleasure grounds and gardens at Kew occupied by the king of Hanover were given to the nation and placed under the care of Sir William for the express purpose of being converted into an arboretum. Hooker rose to the occasion and, zealously reinforced by his son and successor, Sir Joseph, established a collection which rapidly grew in richness and importance. It is perhaps the largest collection of hardy trees and shrubs known, comprising some 4500 species and botanical varieties. A large proportion of the total acreage (288) of the Gardens is monopolized by the arboretum. Of the more specialized public arboreta in the United Kingdom the next to Kew are those in the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and the Glasnevin Garden in Dublin. The collection of trees in the Botanic Garden at Cambridge is also one of respectable proportions. There is a small but very select collection of trees at Oxford, the oldest botanicalgarden in Great Britain, which was founded in 1632. In the United States the Arnold Arboretum at Boston ranks with Kew for size and completeness. It takes its name from its donor, the friend of Emerson. It was originally a well-timbered park, which, by later additions, now covers 222 acres. Practically, it forms part of the park system so characteristic of the city, being situated only 4 m. from the centre of population. There is a fine arboretum in the botanical gardens at Ottawa, in Canada (65 acres). On the continent of Europe the classic example is still theJardin des Plantesin Paris, where, however, system lends more of formality than of beauty to the general effect. The collection of trees and shrubs at Schönbrunn, near Vienna, is an extensive one. At Dahlem near Berlin the newKgl. Neuer Botanischer Gartenhas been laid out with a view to the accommodation of a very large collection of hardy trees and shrubs. There are now many large collections of hardy trees and shrubs in private parks and gardens throughout the British Islands, the interest taken in them by their proprietors having largely increased in recent years. Rich men collect trees, as they do paintings or books. They spare neither pains nor money in acquiring specimens, even from distant lands, to which they often send out expert collectors at their own expense. This, too, the Royal Horticultural Society was once wont to do, with valuable results, as in the case of David Douglas’s remarkable expedition to North America in 1823-1824. It will be remembered that when the laird of Dumbiedikes lay dying (Scott’sHeart of Midlothian, chap, viii.) he gave his son one bit of advice which Bacon himself could not have bettered. “Jock,” said the old reprobate, “when ye hae naething else to do; ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye’re sleeping.” Sir Walter assures us that a Scots earl took this maxim so seriously to heart that he planted a large tract of country with trees, a practice which in these days is promoted by the English and Royal Scottish Arboricultural Societies.

ARBORICULTURE(Lat.arbor, a tree), the science and art of tree-cultivation. The culture of those plants which supply the food of man or nourish the domestic animals must have exclusively occupied his attention for many ages; whilst the timber employed in houses, ships and machines, or for fuel, was found in the native woods. Hence, though the culture of fruit-trees, and occasionally of ornamental trees and shrubs, was practised by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, the cultivation of timber-trees on a large scale only took place in modern times. In the days of Charlemagne, the greater part of France and Germany was covered with immense forests; and one of the benefits conferred on France by that prince was the rooting up of portions of these forests throughout the country, and substituting orchards or vineyards. Artificial plantations appear to have been formed in Germany sooner than in any other country, apparently as early as the 15th century. In Britain planting was begun, though sparingly, a century later. After the extensive transfers of property on the seizure of the church lands by Henry VIII., much timber was sold by the new owners, and the quantity thus thrown into the market so lowered its price, as Hollingshed informs us, that the builders of cottages, who had formerly employed willow and other cheap and common woods, now built them of the best oak. The demand for timber constantly increased, and the need of an extended surface of arable land arising at the same time, the natural forests became greatly circumscribed, till at last timber began to be imported, and the proprietors of land to think, first of protecting their native woods, afterwards of enclosing waste ground and allowing it to become covered with self-sown seedlings, and ultimately of sowing acorns and mast in such enclosures, or of filling them with young plants collected in the woods—a practice which exists in Sussex and other parts of England even now. Planting, however, was not general in England till the beginning of the 17th century, when the introduction of trees was facilitated by the interchange of plants by means of botanic gardens, which, in that century, were first established in different countries. Evelyn’sSylva, the first edition of which appeared in 1664, rendered an extremely important service to arboriculture; and there is no doubt that the ornamental plantations in which England surpasses all other countries are in some measure the result of his enthusiasm. In consequence of a scarcity of timber for naval purposes, and the increased expense during the Napoleonic war of obtaining foreign supplies, planting received a great stimulus in Britain in the early part of the 19th century. After the peace of 1815 the rage for planting with a view to profit subsided; but there was a growing taste for the introduction of trees and shrubs from foreign countries, and for their cultivation for ornament and use. The profusion of trees and shrubs planted around suburban villas and country mansions, as well as in town squares and public parks, shows how much arboriculture is an object of pleasure to the people. While isolated trees and old hedgerows are disappearing before steam cultivation, the advantages of shelter from well-arranged plantations are more fully appreciated; and more attention is paid to the principles of forest conservancy both at home and abroad. In all thickly peopled countries the forests have long ceased to supply the necessities of the inhabitants by natural reproduction; and it has become needful to form plantations either by government or by private enterprise, for the growth of timber, and in some cases for climatic amelioration. This subject is, however, dealt with more fully underForests and Forestry(q.v.); and the separate articles on the various sorts of tree may be consulted for details as to each.

ARBOR VITAE(Tree of Life), a name given by Clusius to species ofThuja. The nameThuja, which was adopted by Linnaeus from theThuyaof Tournefort, seems to be derived from the Greek wordθύος, signifying sacrifice, probably because the resin procured from the plant was used as incense. The plants belong to the natural order Coniferae, tribe Cupressineae (Cypresses).Thuja occidentalisis the Western or American arbor vitae, theCupressus Arbor Vitaeof old authors. It is a native of North America, and ranges from Canada to the mountains of Virginia and Carolina. It is a moderate-sized tree, and was introduced into Britain before 1597, when it was mentioned in Gerard’sHerbal. In its native country it attains a height of about 50 ft. The leaves are small and imbricate, and are borne on flattened branches, which are apt to be mistaken for the leaves. When bruised the leaves give out an aromatic odour. The flowers appear early in spring, and the fruit is ripened about the end of September. In Britain the plant is a hardy evergreen, and can only be looked upon as a large shrub or low tree. It is often cut so as to form hedges in gardens. The wood is very durable and useful for outdoor work, such as fencing, posts, etc. Another species of arbor vitae isThuja orientalis, known also asBiota orientalis. The latter generic name is derived from the Greek adjectiveβιωτός, formed fromβίος, life, probably in connexion with the name “tree of life.” This is the Eastern or Chinese arbor vitae. It is a native of China. It was cultivated in the Chelsea Physick Garden in 1752, and was believed to have been sent to Europe by French missionaries. It has roundish cones, with numerous scales and wingless seeds. The leaves, which have a pungent aromatic odour, are said to yield a yellow dye. There are numerous varieties of this plant in cultivation, one of the most remarkable of which is the varietypendula, with long, flexible, hanging, cord-like branches; it was discovered in Japan about 1776 by Carl Peter Thunberg, a pupil of Linnaeus, who made valuable collections at the Cape of Good Hope, in the Dutch East Indies and in Japan. The varietypygmaeaforms a small bush a few inches high.

Thuja gigantea, the red or canoe cedar, a native of north-western America from southern Alaska to north California, is the finest species, the trunk rising from a massive base to the height of 150 to 200 ft. It was not introduced to Britain till 1853. It is one of the handsomest of conifers, forming an elongated cone of foliage, which in some gardens has already reached 70 or 80 ft. in height. It thrives in most kinds of soils. The timber is easily worked and used for construction, especially where exposed to the weather.

ARBOS, FERNANDEZ(1863- ), Spanish violinist and composer, was born in Madrid, and trained at the conservatoire there, and later at Brussels and at Berlin under Joachim. He became a professor at Hamburg and then at Madrid, becomingfamous meanwhile as one of the finest violinists of the day; and after visiting England in 1890 and establishing his reputation there, he became professor at the Royal College of Music in London. As a composer he is best known by his violin pieces, and by a comic opera,El Centro de la Tierra(1895).

ARBOUR,orArbor(originally “herber” or “erber,” O. Fr.herbier, from Lat.herbarium, a collection of herbs,herba, grass; the word came to be spelt “arber” through its pronunciation, as in the case of Derby, and by the 16th century was written “arbour,” helped by a confusion of derivation from Lat.arbor, a tree, and by change of meaning), a grass-plot or lawn, a herb-garden, or orchard, and a shady bower of interlaced trees, or climbing plants trained on lattice-work. The application of the word has shifted from the grass-covered ground, the proper meaning, to the covering of trees overhead. “Arbor” (from the Latin for “tree”) is a term applied to the spindle of a wheel, particularly in clock-making.

ARBROATH,orAberbrothock, a royal, municipal and police burgh, and seaport of Forfarshire, Scotland. It is situated at the mouth of Brothock water, 17 m. N.E. of Dundee by the North British railway, which has a branch to Forfar, via Guthrie, on the Caledonian railway. Pop. (1891) 22,821; (1901) 22,398. The town is under the jurisdiction of a provost, bailies and council, and, with Brechin, Forfar, Inverbervie and Montrose, returns one member to parliament. The leading industries include the manufacture of sailcloth, canvas and coarse linens, tanning, boot and shoe making, and bleaching, besides engineering works, iron foundries, chemical works, shipbuilding and fisheries. The harbour, originally constructed and maintained by the abbots, by an agreement between the burgesses and John Gedy, the abbot in 1394, was replaced by one more commodious in 1725, which in turn was enlarged and improved in 1844. The older portion was converted into a wet dock in 1877, and the entrance and bar of the new harbour were deepened. A signal tower, 50 ft. high, communicates with the Bell Rock (q.v.) lighthouse on the Inchcape Rock, 12 m. south-east of Arbroath, celebrated in Southey’s ballad. The principal public buildings are the town-hall, a somewhat ornate market house, the gildhall, the public hall, the infirmary, the antiquarian museum (including some valuable fossil remains) and the public and mechanics’ libraries. The parish church dates from 1570, but has been much altered, and the spire was added in 1831. The ruins of a magnificent abbey, once one of the richest foundations in Scotland, stand in High Street. It was founded by William the Lion in 1178 for Tironesian Benedictines from Kelso, and consecrated in 1197, being dedicated to St Thomas Becket, whom the king had met at the English court. It was William’s only personal foundation, and he was buried within its precincts in 1214. Its style was mainly Early English, the western gable Norman. The cruciform church measured 276 ft. long by 160 ft. wide, and was a structure of singular beauty and splendour. The remains include the vestry, the southern transept (the famous rose window of which is still entire), part of the chancel, the southern wall of the nave, part of the entrance towers and the western doorway. It was here that the parliament met which on the 6th of April 1320 addressed to the pope the notable letter, asserting the independence of their country and reciting in eloquent terms the services which their “lord and sovereign” Robert Bruce had rendered to Scotland. The last of the abbots was Cardinal Beaton, who succeeded his uncle James when the latter became archbishop of St Andrews. At the Reformation the abbey was dismantled and afterwards allowed to go to ruin. Part of the secular buildings still stand, and the abbot’s house, or Abbey House as it is now called, is inhabited. Arbroath was created a royal burgh in 1186, and its charter of 1599 is preserved. King John exempted it from “toll and custom” in every part of England excepting London. Arbroath is “Fairport” of Scott’sAntiquary, and Auchmithie, 3 m. north-east (“Musselcrag” of the same romance), is a quaint old-fashioned place, where the men earn a precarious living by fishing. On each side of the village the coast scenery is remarkably picturesque, the rugged cliffs—reaching in the promontory of Red Head, the scene of a thrilling incident in theAntiquary, a height of 267 ft.—containing many curiously shaped caves and archways which attract large numbers of visitors. At the 14th-century church of St Vigeans, 1 m. north of Arbroath, stands one of the most interesting of the sculptured stones of Scotland, with what is thought to be the only legible inscription in the Pictish tongue. The parish—originally called Aberbrothock and now incorporated with Arbroath for administrative purposes—takes its name from a saint or hermit whose chapel was situated at Grange of Conon, 3½ m. north-west. Two miles west by south are the quarries of Carmyllie, the terminus of a branch line from Arbroath, which was the first light railway in Scotland and was opened in 1900.

ARBUTHNOT, ALEXANDER(1538-1583), Scottish ecclesiastic and poet, educated at St Andrews and Bourges, was in 1569 elected principal of King’s College, Aberdeen, which office he retained until his death. He played an active part in the stirring church politics of the period, and was twice moderator of the kirk, and a member of the commission of inquiry into the condition of the university of St Andrews (1583). The “correctness” of his attitude on all public questions won for him the commendation of Catholic writers; he is not included in Nicol Burne’s list of “periurit apostatis”; but his policy and influence were misliked by James VI., who, when the Assembly had elected Arbuthnot to the charge of the church of St Andrews, ordered him to return to his duties at King’s College. He had been for some time minister of Arbuthnott in Kincardineshire. His extant works are (a) three poems, “The Praises of Wemen” (224 lines), “On Luve” (10 lines), and “The Miseries of a Pure Scholar” (189 lines), and (b) a Latin account of the Arbuthnot family,Originis et Incrementi Arbuthnoticae Familiae Descriptio Historica(still in MS.), of which an English continuation, by the father of Dr John Arbuthnot, is preserved in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. The praise of the fair sex in the first poem is exceptional in the literature of his age; and its geniality may help us to understand the author’s popularity with his contemporaries. Arbuthnot must not be confused with his contemporary and namesake, the Edinburgh printer, who produced the first edition of Buchanan’sHistory of Scotlandin 1582. Some have discovered in the publication of this work a false clue to James’s resentment against the principal of King’s College.

The particulars of Arbuthnot’s life are found in Calderwood, Spottiswood, and other Church historians, and in Scott’sFasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae. The poems are printed in Pinkerton’sAncient Scottish Poems(1786), i. pp. 138-155.

ARBUTHNOT, JOHN(1667-1735), British physician and author, was born at Arbuthnott, Kincardineshire, and baptized on the 29th of April 1667. His father, Alexander Arbuthnot, was an episcopalian minister who was deprived of his living in 1689 by his patron, Viscount Arbuthnott, for refusing to conform to the Presbyterian system. After his death, in 1691, John went to London, where he lived in the house of a learned linen-draper, William Pate, and supported himself by teaching mathematics. In 1692 he publishedOf the Laws of Chance ..., based on the Latin version,De Ratociniis in ludo aleae, of a Dutch treatise by Christiaan Huygens. In 1692 he entered University College, Oxford, as a fellow-commoner, acting as private tutor to Edward Jefferys; and in 1696 he graduated M.D. at St Andrews university. InAn Examination of Dr Woodward’s Account of the Deluge(1697) he confuted an extraordinary theory advanced by Dr William Woodward. AnEssay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learningfollowed in 1701, and in 1704 he became a fellow of the Royal Society. He had the good fortune to be called in at Epsom to prescribe for Prince George of Denmark, and in 1705 he was made physician extraordinary to Queen Anne. Four years later he became royal physician in ordinary, and in 1710 he was elected fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Arbuthnot’s ready wit and varied learning made him very valuable to the Tory party. He was a close friend of Jonathan Swift and of Alexander Pope, and Lord Chesterfield says that even the generous acknowledgment they made of his assistance fell short of their real indebtedness. He had no jealousy of his fame as an author, and his abundant imagination was alwaysat the service of his friends. In 1712 appeared “Law is a Bottomless Pit, Exemplify’d in the case of the Lord Strutt, John Bull, Nicholas Frog and Lewis Baboon, who spent all they had in a law-suit. Printed from a Manuscript found in the Cabinet of the famous Sir Humphrey Polesworth.” This was the first of a series of five pamphlets advocating the conclusion of peace. Arbuthnot describes the confusion after the death of the Lord Strutt (Charles II. of Spain), and the quarrels between the greedy tradespeople (the allies). These put their cause into the hands of the attorney, Humphrey Hocus (the duke of Marlborough), who does all he can to prolong the struggle. The five tracts are printed in two parts as the “History of John Bull” in theMiscellanies in Prose and Verse(1727, preface signed by Pope and Swift). Arbuthnot fixed the popular conception of John Bull, though it is not certain that he originated the character, and the lively satire is still amusing reading. It was often asserted at the time that Swift wrote these pamphlets, but both he and Pope refer to Arbuthnot as the sole author. In the autumn of the same year he published a second satire, “Proposals for printing a very Curious Discourse in Two Volumes in Quarto, entitled,Ψευδολογία Πολιτική; or, A Treatise of the Art of Political Lying,” best known by its sub-title. This ironical piece of work was not so popular as “John Bull.” “’Tis very pretty,” says Swift, “but not so obvious to be understood.” Arbuthnot advises that a lie should not be contradicted by the truth, but by another judicious lie. “So there was not long ago a gentleman, who affirmed that the treaty with France for bringing popery and slavery into England was signed the 15th of September, to which another answered very judiciously, not by opposing truth to his lie, that there was no such treaty; but that, to his certain knowledge, there were many things in that treaty not yet adjusted.”

Arbuthnot was one of the leading spirits in the Scriblerus Club, the members of which were to collaborate in a universal satire on the abuses of learning.The Memoirs of the extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus, of which only the first book was finished, first printed in Pope’sWorks(1741), was chiefly the work of Arbuthnot, who is at his best in the whimsical account of the birth and education of Martin. Swift, writing on the 3rd of July 1714 to Arbuthnot, says:—“To talk of Martin in any hands but yours, is a folly. You every day give better hints than all of us together could do in a twelvemonth: and to say the truth, Pope who first thought of the hint has no genius at all to it, to my mind; Gay is too young: Parnell has some ideas of it, but is idle; I could put together, and lard, and strike out well enough, but all that relates to the sciences must be from you.”

The death of Queen Anne put an end to Arbuthnot’s position at court, but he still had an extensive practice, and in 1727 he delivered the Harveian oration before the Royal College of Physicians. Lord Chesterfield and William Pulteney were his patients and friends; also Mrs Howard (Lady Suffolk) and William Congreve. His friendship with Swift was constant and intimate; he was friend and adviser to Gay; and Pope wrote (2nd of August 1734) that in a friendship of twenty years he had found no one reason of complaint from him. Arbuthnot’s youngest son, who had just completed his education, died in December 1731. He never quite recovered his former spirits and health after this shock. On the 17th of July 1734 he wrote to Pope: “A recovery in my case, and at my age, is impossible; the kindest wish of my friends is Euthanasia.” In January 1735 was published the “Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot,” which forms the prologue to Pope’s satires. He died on the 27th of February 1735 at his house in Cork Street, London.

Among Arbuthnot’s other works are:—An Argument for Divine Providence, taken from the constant regularity observed in the Births of both sexes(Phil. Trans. of the Royal Soc., 1710); “Virgilius Restauratus,” printed in the second edition of Pope’sDunciad(1729);An Essay concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies(1733);An Essay concerning the Nature of Ailments ...(1731); and a valuableTable of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures(1727), which is an enlargement of an earlier treatise (1705). He had a share in the unsuccessful farce ofThree Hours after Marriage, printed with Gay’s name on the title-page (1717). Some pieces printed inA Supplement to Dr Swift’s and Mr Pope’s Works ...(1739) are there asserted to be Arbuthnot’s.The Miscellaneous Works of the late Dr Arbuthnotwere published at Glasgow in an unauthorized edition in 1751. This includes many spurious pieces.

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