Sir Robert Napier's expedition. (21) In the meantime the power of Theodore in the country was rapidly waning. Shoa had already shaken off his yoke; Gojam was virtually independent; Walkeit and Simen were under a rebel chief; and Lasta, Waag and the country about Lake Ashangi had submitted to Wagshum Gobassie, who had also overrun Tigre and appointed Dejaj Kassai his governor. The latter, however, in 1867 rebelled against his master and assumed the supreme power of that province. This was the state of matters when the English troops made their appearance in the country. With a view if possible to effect the release of the prisoners by conciliatory measures, Mr Flad was sent back, with some artisans and machinery, and a letter from the queen, stating that these would be handed over to his majesty on the release of the prisoners and their return to Massawa. This, however, failed to influence the emperor, and the English government at length saw that they must have recourse to arms. In July 1867, therefore, it was resolved to send an army into Abyssinia to enforce the release of the captives, under Sir Robert Napier (1st Baron Napier of Magdala). The landingplace selected was Mulkutto (Zula), on Annesley Bay, the point of the coast nearest to the site of the ancient Adulis, and we are told that ``the pioneers of the English expedition followed to some extent in the footsteps of the adventurous soldiers of Ptolemy. and met with a few faint traces of this old-world enterprise'' (C. R. Markham). The force amounted to upwards of 16,000 men, besides 12,640 belonging to the transport service, and followers, making in all upwards of 32,000 men. The task to be accomplished was to march over 400 miles of a mountainous and little-known country, inhabited by savage tribes, to the camp or fortress of Theodore, and compel him to deliver up his captives. The commander-in-chief landed on the 7th of January 1868, and soon after the troops began to move forward through the pass of Senafe, and southward through the districts of Agame, Tera, Endarta, Wojerat, Lasta and Wadela. In the meantime Theodore had been reduced to great straits. His army, which at one time numbered over 100,000 men, was rapidly deserting him, and he could hardly obtain food for his followers. He resolved to quit his captial Debra-Tabor, which he burned, and set out with the remains of his army for Magdala. During this march he displayed an amount of engineering skill in the construction of roads, of military talent and fertility of resource, that excited the admiration and astonishment of his enemies. On the afternoon of the 10th of April a force of about 3000 men suddenly poured down upon the English in the plain of Arogie, a few miles from Magdala. They advanced again and again to the charge, but were each time driven back, and finally retired in good order. Early next morning Theodore sent Lieut. Prideaux, one of the captives, and Mr Flad, accompanied by a native chief, to the English camp to sue for peace. Answer was returned, that if he would deliver up all the Europeans in his hands, and submit to the queen of England, he would receive honourable treatment. The captives were liberated and sent away, and accompanying a letter to the English general was a present of 1000 cows and 500 sheep, the acceptance of which would, according to Eastern custom, imply that peace was granted. Through some misunderstanding, word was sent to Theodore that the present would be accepted, and he felt that he was now safe; but in the evening he learned that it had not been received, and despair again seized him. Early next morning he attempted to escape with a few of his followers, but subsequently returned. The same day (13th April) Magdala was stormed and taken, practically without loss, and within they found the dead body of the emperor, who had fallen by his own hand. The inhabitants and troops were subsequently sent away, the fortifications destroyed and the town burned. The queen Terunish having expressed her wish to go back to her own country, accompanied the British army, but died during the march, and her son Alamayahu, the only legitimate son of the emperor, was brought to England, as this was the desire of his father.3 The success of the expedition was in no small degree owing to the aid afforded by the several native chiefs through whose country it passed, and no one did more in this way than Dejaj Kassa or Kassai of Tigre. In acknowledgment of this, several pieces of ordnance, small arms and ammunition, with much of the surplus stores, were handed over to him, and the English troops left the country in May 1868.
Menelek II., king of Shoa (22) It is now time to return to the story of the young prince Menelek, who, as we have seen, had been nominated by his late father as ruler of Shoa, but was in Theodore's power in Tigre. The following table shows his descent since the beginning of the 19th century:—
Asfa Nassen, d. 1807|Wassan Seged = Woizero Zenebe Workd. 1811 ||————————————————-| |Becurraye Sella Selassie = Woizero Betsabesh(1795-1847) ||—————————————————————————-| | |Haeli Melicoth = Ejigayu Siefu Darge(1825-1855) | (1826-1860) b. 1827| |Menelek II. = Taitu Mashashab. 1844 ||————————————————————| | |1 son Zauditu Tanina Work(dead) (Judith) (daughter)
On the retirement of Theodore's forces from Shoa in 1855, Siefu, brother of Haeli Melicoth, proclaimed himself negus of Shoa at Ankober, and beat the local representatives of the northern government. The emperor returned, however, in 1858, and after several repulses succeeded in entering Ankober, where he behaved with great cruelty, murdering or mutilating all the inhabitants. Siefu kept up a gallant defence for two more years, but was then killed by Kebret, one of his own chiefs. Thus chaos again reigned supreme in Shoa. In 1865, Menelek, now a desjazmach 4 of Tigre, took advantage of Theodore's difficulties with the British government and escaped to Workitu, queen of the Wollo Galla country. The emperor, who held as hostage a son of Workitu, threatened to kill the boy unless Menelek were given up; but the gallant queen refused, and lost both her son and her throne. The fugitive meanwhile arrived safely in Shoa, and was there acclaimed as negus. For the next three years Menelek devoted himself to strengthening and disciplining his army, to legislation, to building towns, such as Liche (near Debra-Berhan), Worra Hailu (Wollo Galla country), &c., and to repelling the incursions of the Gallas.
King John attains supreme power.
On the death of Theodore (13th April 1868) many Shoans, including Ras Darge, were released, and Menelek began to feel himself strong enough, after a few preliminary minor campaigns, to undertake offensive operations against the northern princes. But these projects were of little avail, for Kassai of Tigre, as above mentioned, had by this time (1872) risen to supreme power in the north. With the help of the rifles and guns presented to him by the British, he had beaten Ras Bareya of Tigre, Wagshum Gobassie of Amhara and Tekla Giorgis of Condar, and after proclaiming himself negus negusti under the name of Johannes or John, was now preparing to march on Shoa. Here, however, Menelek was saved from probable destruction through the action of Egypt. This power had, by the advice of Werner Munzinger (q.v.), their Swiss governor of Massawa, seized and occupied in 1872 the northern province of Bogos; and, later on, insisted on occupying Hamasen also, for fear Bogos should be attacked. John, after futile protests, collected an army, and with the assistance of Ras Walad Michael, hereditary chief of Bogos, advanced against the Egyptian forces, who were under the command of one Arendrup, a Dane. Meeting near the Mareb, the Egyptians were beaten in detail, and almost annihilated at Gundet (13th November 1875). An avenging expedition was prepared in the spring of the following year, and, numbering 14,000 men under Ratib Pasha, Loring (American), and Prince Hassan, advanced to Gura and fortified a position in the neighbouthood. Although reinforced by Walad Michael, who had now quarrelled with John, the Egyptians were a second time (25th March 1876) heavily beaten by the Abyssinians, and retired, losing an enormous quantity of both men and rifies. Colonel C. G. Gordon, governor-general of the Sudan, was now ordered to go and make peace with John, but the king had moved south with his army, intending to punish Menelek for having raided Gondar whilst he, John, was engaged with the Egyptians.
(23) Menelek's kingdom was meanwhile torn in twain by serious dissensions, which had been instigated by his concubine Bafana. This lady, to whom he was much attached, had been endeavouring to secure the succession of one of her own sons to the throne of Shoa, and had almost succeeded in getting rid of Mashasha, son of Siefu and cousin of Menelek, who was the apparent heir. On the approach of John, the Shoans united for a time against their common enemy. But after a few skirmishes they melted away, and Menelek was obliged to submit and do obeisance to John. The latter behaved with much generosity, but at the same time imposed terms which effectually deprived Shoa of her independence (March 1878). In 1879 Gordon was sent on a fresh mission to John on behalf of Egypt; but he was treated with scant courtesy, and was obllgcd to leave the country without achieving anything permanent.
Beginning of Italian influence.
The Italians now come on the scene. Assab, a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea, had been bought from the focal sultan in March 1870 by an Italian company, which, after acquiring more land in 1879 and 1880, was bought out by the Italian government in 1882. In this year Count Pietro Antonelli was despatched to Shoa in order to improve the prospects of the colony by treaties with Menelek and the sultan of Aussa. Several missions followed upon this one, with more or less successful results; but both John and Menelek became uneasy when Beilul, a port to the north of Assab Bay, was occupied by the Italians in January 1885, and Massawa taken over by them from Egypt in the following month. This latter act was greatly resented by the Abyssinians, for by a treaty concluded with a British and Egyptian mission under Admiral Hewett and Mason Pasha 5 in the previous year, free transit of goods was to be allowed through this port. Matters came to a head in January 1887, when the Abyssinians, in consequence of a refusal from General Gene to withdraw his troops, surrounded and attacked a detachment of 500 Italian troops at Dogali, killing more than 400 of them. Reinforcements were sent from Italy, whilst in the autumn the British government stepped in and tried to mediate by means of a mission under Mr (afterwards Sir Gerald) Portal. His mission, however proved abortive, and after many difficulties and dangers he returned to Egypt at the end of the year. In April 1888 the Italian forces, numbering over 20,000 men, came into touch with the Abyssinian army; but negotiations took the place of fighting, with the result that both forces retired, the Italians only leaving some 5000 troops in Eritrea, as their colony was now called. Meanwhile John had not been idle with regard to the dervishes, who had in the meantime become masters of the Egyptian Sudan. Although he had set his troops in motion too late to relieve Kassala, Ras Alula, his chief general, had succeeded in inflicting a handsome defeat on Osman Digna at Kufit in September 1885. Fighting between the dervishes and the Abyssinians continued, and in August 1887 the dervishes entered and sacked Gondar. After some delay, King John took the field in force against the enemy, who were still harassing the north-west of his territory. A great battle ensued at Gallabat, in which the dervishes, under Zeki Tumal, were beaten. But a stray bullet struck the king, and the Abyssinians decided to retire. The king died during the night, and his body fell into the hands of the enemy (9th March 1889).
Menelek emperor.
(24) Immediately the news of John's death reached Menelek, he proclaimed himself emperor, and received the submission of Gondar, Gojam and several other provinces. In common with other northern princes, Mangasha, reputed son and heir of King John, with the yellow-eyed Ras Alula,6 refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Menelek; but, on the latter marching against them in the following January with a large army, they submitted. As it happened, Count Antonelli was with Menelek when he claimed the throne, and promptly concluded (2nd of May 1889) with him on behalf of Italy a friendly treaty, to be known hereafter as the famous Uccialli treaty. In consequence of this the Italians occupied Asmara, made friends with Mangasha and received Ras Makonnen7, Menelek's nephew, as his plenipotentiary in Italy. Thus it seemed as though hostilities between the two countries had come to a definite end, and that peace was assured in the land. For the next three years the land was fairly quiet, the chief political events being the convention (6th February 1891) between Italy and Abyssinia, protocols between Italy and Great Britain (24th March and 15th April 1891) and a proclamation by Menelek (10th April 1891), all on the subject of boundaries. As, however, the Italians became more and more friendly with Mangasha and Tigre the apprehensions of Menelek increased, till at last, in February 1893, he wrote denouncing the Uccialli treaty, which differed in the Italian and Amharic versions. According to the former, the negus was bound to make use of Italy as a channel for communicating with other powers, whereas the Amharic version left it optional. Meanwhile the dervishes were threatening Eritrea. A fine action by Colonel Arimondi gained Agordat for Italy (21st December 1893), and a brilliant march by Colonel Baratieri resulted in the acquisition of Kassala (17th July 1894).
On his return Baratieri found that Mangasha was intriguing with the dervishes, and had actually crossed the frontier with a large army. At Koatit and Senafe (13th to 15th January 1895) Mangasha was met and heavily defeated by Baratieri, who occupied Adrigat in March. But as the year wore on the Italian commander pushed his forces unsupported too far to the south. Menelek was advancing with a large army in national support of Mangasha, and the subsequent reverses at Amba Alagi (7th December 1895) and Macalle (23rd January 1896) forced the Italians to fall back.
Battle of Adowa. Reinforcements of many thousands were meanwhile arriving at Massawa, and in February Baratieri took the field at the head of over 13,000 men. Menelek's army, amounting to about 90,000, had during this time advanced, and was occupying a strong position at Abba Garima, near Adua (or Adowa). Here Baratieri attacked him on the 1st of March, but the difficulties of the country were great, and one of the four Italian brigades had pushed too far forward. This brigade was attacked by overwhelming numbers, and on the remaining brigades advancing in support, they were successively cut to pieces by the encircling masses of the enemy. The Italians lost over 4500 white and 2000 native troops killed and wounded, and over 2500 prisoners, of which 1600 were white, whilst the Abyssinians owned to a loss of over 3000. General Baldissera advanced with a large body of reinforcements to avenge this defeat, but the Abyssinians, desperately short of supplies, had already retired, and beyond the peaceful relief of Adrigat no further operations took place. It may here be remarked that the white prisoners taken by Menelek were exceedingly well treated by him, and that he behaved throughout the struggle with Italy with the greatest humanity and dignity. On the 26th of October following a provisional treaty of peace was concluded at Adis Ababa, annulling the treaty of Uccialli and recognizing the absolute independence of Abyssinia. This treaty was ratified, and followed by other treaties and agreements defining the Eritrean-Abyssinian and the Abyssinian-Italian Somaliland frontiers (see ITALY, History, and SOMALILAND, Italian
Menelek as independent monarch.
(25) The war, so disastrous to Italy, attracted the attention of all Europe to Abyssinia and its monarch, and numerous missions, two Russian, three French and one British, were despatched to the country, and hospitably received by Menelek. The British one, under Mr (afterwards Sir) Rennell Rodd, concluded a friendly treaty with Abyssinia (15th of May 1897), but did not, except in the direction of Somaliland, touch on frontier questions, which for several years continued a subject of discussion. During the same year (1897) a small French expedition under Messrs Clochette and de Bonchamps endeavoured to reach the Nile, but, after surmounting many difficulties, stuck in the marshes of the Upper Sobat, and was obliged to return. Another expedition of Abyssinians, under Dejaj Tasamma and accompanied by three Europeans—-Faivre (French), Potter (Swiss) and Artomonov (Russian)—started early in 1898, and reached the Nile at the Sobat mouth in June, a few days only before Major Marchand and his gallant companions arrived on the scene. But no contact was made, and the expedition returned to Abyssinia.
In the same year Menelek proceeded northwards with a large army for the purpose of chastising Mangasha, who was again rebelling against his authority. After some trifling fighting Mangasha submitted, and Ras Makonnen despatched a force to subdue Beni Shangul, the chief of which gold country, Wad Tur el Guri, was showing signs of disaffection. This effected, the Abyssinians almost came into contact with the Egyptian troops sent up the Blue Nile (after the occupation of Khartum) to Famaka and towards Gallabat; but as both sides were anxious to avoid a collision over this latter town, no hostile results ensued. An excellent understanding was, in fact, established between these two contiguous countries, in spite of occasional disturbances by bandits on the frontier. On this frontier question, a treaty was concluded on the 15th of May 1902 between England and Abyssinia for the delimitation of the Sudan-Abyssinian frontier. Menelek, in addition, agreed not to obstruct the waters of Lake Tsana, the Blue Nile or the Sobat, so as not to interfere with the Nile irrigation question, and he also agreed to give a concession, if such should be required, for the construction of a British railway through his dominions, to connect the Sudan with Uganda. A combined British-Abyssinian expedition (Mr A. E. Butter's) was despatched in 1901 to propose and survey a boundary between Abyssinia on the one side and British East Africa and Uganda on the other; and the report of the expedition was made public by the British government in November 1904. It was followed in 1908 by an agreement defining the frontiers concerned.
Co-operation with Britain against the Somali mullah.
(26) In 1899 the rebellion of the so-called ``mad'' mullah (Hajji Mahommed Abdullah) began on the borders of British Somaliland. An Abyssinian expedition was, at Great Britain's request, sent against the mullah, but without much effect. In the spring and summer of 1901 a fresh expedition from Harrar was undertaken against the mullah, who was laying waste the Ogaden country. Two British officers accompanied this force, which was to co-operate with British troops advancing from Somaliland; but little was achieved by the Abyssinians, and after undergoing considerable privations and losses, and harassing the country generally, including that of some friendly tribes, it returned to Harrar. During the 1902-3 campaign of General (Sir) W. H. Manning, Menelek provided a force of 5000 to co-operate with the British and to occupy the Webi Shebeli and south-western parts of the Hand. This time the Abyssinians were more successful, and beat the rebels in a pitched fight; but the difficulties of the country again precluded effective co-operation. During General Egerton's campaign (1903-4) yet another force of 5000 Abyssinians was despatched towards Somaliland. Accompanied by a few British officers, it worked its way southward, but did not contribute much towards the final solution. In any case, however, it is significant that the Abyssinians have repeatedly been willing to co-operate with the British away from their own country.
Growth of European influence. Regarding the question of railways, the first concession for a railway from the coast at Jibuti (French Somaliland) to the interior was granted hy Menelek to a French company in 1894. The company having met with numberless difficulties and financial troubles, the French government, on the extinction of the company's funds, came to the rescue and provided money for the construction. (In the alternative British capitalists interested in the company would have obtained control of the line.) The French government's help enabled the railway to be completed to Dire Dawa, 28 m. from Harrar, by the last day of 1902. Difficulties arose over the continuation of the railway to Adis Ababa and beyond, and the proposed internationalization of the line. These difficulties, which hindered the work of construction for years, were composed (so far as the European Powers interested were concerned) in 1906. By the terms of an Anglo-French-Italian agreement, signed in London on the 13th of December of that year, it was decided that the French company should fund the railway as far as Adis Ababa, while railway construction west of that place should be under British auspices, with the stipulation that any railway connecting Italy's possessions on the Red Sea with its Somaliland protectorate should be built under Italian auspices. A British, an Italian and an Abyssinian representative were to be appointed to the board of the French company, and a French director to the board of any British or Italian company formed. Absolute equality of treatment on the railway and at Jibuti was guaranteed to the commerce of all the Powers.
Meanwhile the country slowly developed in parts and opened out cautiously to European influences. Most of the Powers appointed representatives at Menelek's capital—the British minister-plenipotentiary and consul-general, Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. L. Harrington, having been appointed shortly after the British mission in 1897. In December 1903 an American mission visited Adis Ababa, and a commercial treaty between the United States and Abyssinia was signed. A German mission visited the country early in 1905 and also concluded a treaty of commerce with the negus. Later in the year a German minister was appointed to the court of the emperor.
After 1897 British influence in Abyssinia, owing largely no doubt to the conquest of the Sudan, the destruction of the dervish power and the result of the Fashoda incident, was sensibly on the increase. Of the remaining powers France occupied the most important position in the country. Ras Makonnen, the most capable and civilized of Menelek's probable successors, died in March 1906, and Mangasha died later in the same year; the question of the succession therefore opened up the possibility that, in spite of recent civilizing influences, Abyssinia might still relapse in the future into its old state of conflict. The Anglo-French-Italian agreement of December 1906 contained provisions in view of this contingency. The preamble of the document declared that it was the common interest of the three Powers ``to maintain intact the integrity of Ethiopia,'' and Article I. provided for their co-operation in maintaining ``the political and territorial status quo in Ethiopia.'' Should, however, the status quo be disturbed, the powers were to concert to safeguard their special interests. The terms of the agreement were settled in July 1906, and its text forthwith communicated to the negus. After considerable hesitation Menelek sent, early in December, a note to the powers, in which, after thanking them for their intentions, he stipulated that the agreement should not in any way limit his own sovereign rights. In June 1908, by the nomination of his grandson, Lij Yasu (b. 1896), as his heir, the emperor endeavoured to end the rivalry between various princes claiming the succession to the throne. (See MENELEK.) A convention with Italy, concluded in the same year, settled the frontier questions outstanding with that country. (G.*)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—For general information see A. B. Wylde's Modern Abyssinia (London, 1901), a volume giving the result of many years' acquaintance with the country and people; Voyage en Abyssinie . . . 1839-43, par une commission scientifique, by Th. Lefebvre and others (6 vols. and atlas, 3 vols., Paris, 1845—54); Elisee Reclus, Nouvelle geographie universelle, vol. x. chap. v. (Paris, 1885). For latest geographical and kindred information consult the Geographical Journal (London), especially ``A Journey through Abyssinia,'' vol. xv. (1900), and ``Exploration in the Abai Basin,'' vol. xxvii. (1906), both by H. Weld Blundell, and ``From the Somali Coast through S. Ethiopia to the Sudan,'' vol. xx. (1902), by C. Neumann; Antoine d'Abbadie, Geographie de l'Ethiopie (Paris, 1890). The British parliamentary paper Africa, No. 13 (1904), is a report on the survey of the S.E. frontier by Capt. P. Maud, R.E., and contains a valuable map. For geology, &c., see W. T. Blanford, Observations on the Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia (London, 1870); C. Futterer, ``Beitrage zur Kenntniss des Jura in Ost-Afrika,'' Zeit. Deutsch. Geol. Gesell. xlix. p. 568 (1897); C. A. Raisin, ``Rocks from Southern Abyssinia,'' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. lix. pp. 292-306 (1903).
Among works by travellers describing the country are—-James Bruce's Travels to discover the Source of the Nile 1768-1773 (Edinburgh, 1813, 3rd ed., 8 vols.); The Highlands of Aethiopia (3 vols., London, 1844), by Sir W. Cornwallis Harris, dealing with the Danakil country, Harrar and Shoa; Mansfield Parkyns, Life in Abyssinia; being notes collected during three years' residence and travels (2nd ed., London, 1868); Antoine d'Abbadie, Douze ans dans La Haute Ethiopie (Paris, 1868); P. H. G. Powell-Cotton, A Sporting Trip through Abyssinia (London, 1902); A. Donaldson Smith, Through Unknown African Countries (London, 1897); M. S. Wellby, Twixt Sirdar and Menelik (London, 1901). For history see — A. M. H. J. Stokvis' Manuel d'histoire, vol. i. pp. 439-46, and vol. ii. pp. lxxiv-v (Leiden, 1888-89), which contains lists of the sovereigns of Abyssinia, Shoa and Harrar, from the earliest times, with brief notes. Texts of treaties between Abyssinia and the European Powers up to 1896 will be found in vol. i. of Sir E. Hertslet's The Map of Africa by Treaty (London, 1896). L. J. Morie's Histoire de l'Ethiopie: Tome ii, ``L'Abyssinie'' (Paris, 1904), is a comprehensive survey (the views on modern affairs being coloured by a strong anti-British bias). For more detailed historical study consult C. Beccari's Notizia e Saggi di opere e documenti inediti riguardanti la Storia di Etiopia durante i Secoli XVI., XVII. e XVIII. (Rome. 1903), a valuable guide to the period indicated; E. Glaser, Die Abessinier in Arabien und Afrika (Munich, 1895); The Portuguese Expedition to Abysinnia in 1541-1543 as narrated by Castanhoso (with the account of Bermudez), translated and edited by R. S. Whiteway (London, Hakluyt Society, 1902), which contains a bibliography; Futu el-Habacha, a contemporary Arab chronicle of the wars of Mahommed Gran, translated into French by Antoine d'Abbadie and P. Paulitschke (Paris,1898); A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Jerome Lobo, from the French [by Samuel Johnson] (London, 1735); Record of the Expedition to Abyssinia, 3 vols., an official history of the war of 1868, by Major T. J. Holland and Capt. H. Hosier (London, 1870); Hormuzd Rassam, Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore [1865-1868] (2 vols., London, 1869); Henry Blanc, A Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia (London, 1868 ), by one of Theodore's prisoners; Sir Gerald H. Portal, My Mission to Abyssinia (London, 1892), an account of the author's embassy to King John in 1887; Count A. E. W. Gleichen, With the Mission to Menelik, 1897 (London, 1898), containing the story of the Rennell Rodd mission; R. P. Skinner, Abyssinia of To-Day (London, 1906), a record of the first American mission to the country; G. F. H. Berkeley, The Campaign of Adowa and the Rise of Menelik (London, 1902). Books dealing with missionary enterprise are—-Journal of a Three Years' Residence in Abyssinia, by Bishop Samuel Gobat (London, 1834); J. L. Krapf, Travels, Researches and Missionary Labours during an 18 years' residence in Eastern Africa (London, 1860); Cardinal G. Massaja, I miei Trentacinque anni di Missione nell' Alta Etiopia (10 vols., Milan, 1886-1893). Political questions are referred to by T. Lennox Gilmour, Abyssinia: the Ethiopian Railway and the Powers (London, 1906); H. le Roux, Menelik et nous (Paris, 1901); Charles Michel, La question d'Ethiopie (Paris, 1905). (F. R. C.)
1 Since Theodore's time Protestant missionary work, except by natives, has been stopped.
2 Menelek means ``a second self.''
3 He was subsequently sent to school at Rugby, but died in his nineteenth year, on the 14th of Nnvember 1879. He was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor.
4 A title variously translated. A dejazmach (dejaj) is a high official, ranking immediately belaw a ras,
5 The main object of this mission was to seek John's assistance in evacuating the Egyptian garrisons in the Sudan, which were threatened by the dervishes.
6/0 Ras Alula died February 1897, aged about 52. He had raised himself by his military talents from being a groom and private soldier to the position of generalissimo of the army.
7 Ras of Harrar, which province had been conquered and occupied by Menelek in January 1887.
ABYSSINIAN CHURCH. As the chronicle of Axum relates, Christianity was adopted in Abyssinia in the 4th century. About A.D. 330 Frumentius was made first bishop of Ethiopia by Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria. Cedrenus and Nicephorus err in dating Abyssinian Christianity from Justinian, c. 542. From Frumentius to the present day, with one break, the Metropolitan (Abuna) has always been appointed from Egypt, and, oddly enough, he is always a foreigner. Little is known of church history down to the period of Jesuit rule, which broke the connexion with Egypt from about 1500 to 1633. But the Abyssinians rejected the council of Chalcedon, and still remain monophysites. Union with the Coptic Church (q.v.) continued after the Arab conquest in Egypt. Abu Sallh records (12th century) that the patriarch used always to send letters twice a year to the kings of Abyssinia and Nubia, till Al Hakim stopped the practice. Cyril, 67th patriarch, sent Severus as bishop, with orders to put down polygamy and to enforce observance of canonical consecration for all churches. These examples show the close relations of the two churches in the Middle Ages. But early in the 16th century the church was brought under the influence of a Portuguese mission. In 1439, in the reign of Zara Yakub, a religious discussion between an Abyssinian, Abba Giorgis, and a Frank had led to the despatch of an embassy from Abyssinia to the Vatican; but the initiative in the Roman Catholic missions to Abyssinia was taken, not by Rome, but by Portugal, as an incident in the struggle with the Mussulmans for the command of the trade route to India by the Red Sea. In 1507 Matthew, or Matheus, an Armenian, had been sent as Abyssinian envoy to Portugal to ask aid against the Mussulmans, and in 1520 an embassy under Dom Rodrigo de Lima landed in Abyssinia. An interesting account of this mission, which remained for several years, was written by Francisco Alvarez, the chaplain. Later, Ignatius Loyola wished to essay the task of conversion, but was forbidden. Instead, the pope sent out Joao Nunez Barreto as patriarch of the East Indies, with Andre de Oviedo as bishop; and from Goa envoys went to Abyssinia, followed by Oviedo himself, to secure the king's adherence to Rome. After repeated failures some measure of success was achieved, but not till 1604 did the king make formal submission to the pope. Then the people rebelled and the king was slain. Fresh Jesuit victories were followed sooner or later by fresh revolt, and Roman rule hardly triumphed when once for all it was overthrown. In 1633 the Jesuits were expelled and allegiance to Alexandria resumed.
There are many early rock-cut churches in Abyssinia, closely resembling the Coptic. After these, two main types of architecture are found—one basilican, the other native. The cathedral at Axum is basilican, though the early basilicas are nearly all in ruin -e.g. that at Adulis and that of Martula Mariam in Gojam, rebuilt in the 16th century on the ancient foundations. These examples show the influence of those architects who, in the 6th century, built the splendid basilicas at Sanaa and elsewhere in Arabia. Of native churches there are two forms—-one square or oblong, found in Tigre; the other circular, found in Amhara and Shoa. In both, the sanctuary is square and stands clear in the centre. An outer court, circular or rectangular, surrounds the body of the church. The square type may be due to basilican influence, the circular is a mere adaptation of the native hut: in both, the arrangements are obviously based on Jewish tradition. Church and outer court are usually thatched, with wattled or mud-built walls adorned with rude frescoes. The altar is a board on four wooden pillars having upon it a small slab (tabut) of alabaster, marble, or shittim wood, which forms its essential part. At Martula Mariam, the wooden altar overlaid with gold had two slabs of solid gold, one 500, the other 800 ounces in weight. The ark kept at Axum is described as 2 feet high, covered with gold and gems. The liturgy was celebrated on it in the king's palace at Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and Feast of the Cross.
Generally the Abyssinians agree with the Copts in ritual and practice. The LXX. version was translated into Geez, the literary language, which is used for all services, though hardly understood. Saints and angels are highly revered, if not adored, but graven images are forbidden. Fasts are long and rigid. Confession and absolution, strictly enforced, give great power to the priesthood. The clergy must marry, but once only. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a religious duty and covers many sins.
AUTHORITIES.—Tellez, Historia de Ethiopia (Coimbra, 1660); Alvarez, translated and edited for the Hakluyt Soc. by Lord Stanley of Aderley, under the title Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia (London, 1881); Ludolphus, History of Ethiopia (London, 1684, and other works); T. Wright, Christianity of Arabia (London, 1855); C. T. Beke, ``Christianity among the Gallas,'' Brit. Mag. (London, 1847); J. C. Hotten, Abyssinia Described (London, 1868); ``Abyssinian Church Architecture,'' Royal Inst. Brit. Arch. Transactions, 1869; Ibid. Journal, March 1897; Archaeologia, vol. xxxii.; J. A. de Graca Barreto, Documenta historiam ecclesiae Habessinarum illustrantia (Olivipone, 1879); E. F. Kromrei, Glaubenlehre und Gebrauche der alteren Abessinischen Kirche (Leipzig, 1895); F. M. E. Pereira, Vida do Abba Samuel (Lisbon, 1894); Idem, Vida do Abba Daniel (Lisbon, 1897); Idem, Historia dos Martyres de Nagran (Lisbon, 1899); Idem, Chronica de Susenyos (Lisbon, text 1892, tr. and notes 1900); Idem, Martyrio de Abba Isaac (Coimbra, 1909); Idem, Vida de S. Paulo de Thebas (Coimbra, 1904); Archdeacon Dowling, The Abyssinian Church, (London, 1909); and periodicals as under COPTIC CHURCH. (A. J. B.)
ACACIA, a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the family Leguminosae and the sub-family Mimoseae. The small flowers are arranged in rounded or elongated clusters. The leaves are compound pinnate in general (see fig.). In some instances, however, more especially in the Australian species, the leaflets are suppressed and the leaf-stalks become vertically flattened, and serve the purpose of leaves. The vertical position protects the structure from the intense sunlight, as with their edges towards the sky and earth they do not intercept light so fully as ordinary horizontally placed leaves. There are about 450 species of acacia widely scattered over the warmer regions of the globe. They abound in Australia and Africa. Various species yield gum. True gum-arabic is the product of Acacia Senegal, abundant in both east and west tropical Africa. Acacia arabica is the gum-arabic tree of India, but yields a gum inferior to the true gum-arabic. An astringent medicine, called catechu (q.v.) or cutch, is procured from several species, but more especially from Acacia catechu, by boiling down the wood and evaporating the solution so as to get an extract. The bark of Acacia arabica, under the name of babul or babool, is used in Scinde for tanning. The bark of various Australian species, known as wattles, is also very rich in tannin and forms an important article of export. Such are Acacia pycnantha, golden wattle, A. decurrens, tan wattle, and A. dealbata, silver wattle. The pods of Acacia nilotica, under the name of neb-neb, and of other African species
Acacia Senegal, flowering branch, natural size (after A. Meyer and Schumann). From Strasburger's Lehrbuch der Botanik.
is rich in tannin and used by tanners. The seeds of Acacia niopo are roasted and used as snuff in South America. Some species afford valuable timber; such are Acacia melanoxylon, black wood of Australia, which attains a great size; its wood is used for furniture, and takes a high polish; and Acacia homalophylla (also Australian), myall wood, which yields a fragrant timber, used for ornamental purposes. Acacia formosa supplies the valuable Cuba timber called sabicu. Acacia seyal is supposed to be the shittah tree of the Bible, which supplied shittim-wood. Acacia heterophylla, from Mauritius and Bourbon, and Acacia koa from the Sandwich Islands are also good timber trees. The plants often bear spines, especially those growing in arid districts in Australia or tropical and South Africa. These sometimes represent branches which have become short, hard and pungent, or sometimes leaf-stipules. Acacia armata is the kangaroo-thorn of Australia, A. giraffae, the African camelthorn. In the Central American Acacia sphaerocephala (bullthorn acacia) and A. spadicigera, the large thorn-like stipules are hollow and afford shelter for ants, which feed on a secretion of honey on the leaf-stalk and curious food-bodies at the tips of the leaflets; in return they protect the plant against leaf-cutting insects. In common language the term Acacia is often applied to species of the genus Robinia (q.v.) which belongs also to the Leguminous family, but is placed in a different section. Robinia Pseud-acacia, or false acacia, is cultivated in the milder parts of Britain, and forms a large tree, with beautiful pea-like blossoms. The tree is sometimes called the locust tree.
ACADEMIES. The word ``academy'' is derived from ``the olive grove of Academe, Plato's retirement,'' the birthplace of the Academic school of philosophy (see under ACADEMY, GREEK). The schools of Athens after the model of the Academy continued to flourish almost without a break for nine centuries till they were abolished by a decree of Justinian. It was not without significance in tracing the history of the word that Cicero gave the name to his villa near Puteoli. It was there that he entertained his cultured friends and held the symposia which he afterwards elaborated in Academic Questions and other philosophic and moral dialogues.
``Academy,'' in its modern acceptation, may be defined as a society or corporate body having for its object the cultivation and promotion of literature, of science and of art, either severally or in combination, undertaken for the pure love of these pursuits, with no interested motive. Modern academies, moreover, have, almost without exception, some form of public recognition; they are either founded or endowed, or subsidized, or at least patronized, by the sovereign of the state. The term ``academy'' is very loosely used in modern times; and, in essentials, other bodies with the title of ``society'' or ``college,'' or even ``school,'' often embody the same idea; we are only concerned here, however, with those which, bearing the title of academy, are of historical importance in their various spheres.
Early History.—-The first academy, as thus defined, though it might with equal justice claim to be the first of universities, was the museum of Alexandria founded at the beginning of the 3rd century B.C. by the first of the Ptolemies. There all the sciences then known were pursued, and the most learned men of Greece and of the East gathered beneath its spacious porticos. Here, too, was the nucleus of the famous library of Alexandria.
Passing over the state institute for the promotion of science founded at Constantinople by Caesar Bardas in the 9th century, and the various academies established by the Moors at Granada, at Corduba and as far east as Samarkand, we come to the academy over which Alcuin presided, a branch of the School of the Palace established by Charlemagne in 782. This academy was the prototype of the learned coteries of Paris which Moliere afterwards satirized. It took all knowledge for its province; it included the learned priest and the prince who could not write his own name, and it sought to solve all problems by witty definitions.
The David of Alcuin's academy (such was the name that the emperor assumed) found no successors or imitators, and the tradition of an Oxford academy of Alfred the Great has been proved to rest on a forgery. The academy of arts founded at Florence in 1270 by Brunetto Latini was short-lived and has left no memories, and modern literary academies may be said to trace their lineage in direct descent from the troubadours of the early 14th century. The first Floral Games were held at Toulouse in May 1324, at the summons of a gild of troubadours, who invited ``honourable lords, friends and companions who possess the science whence spring joy, pleasure, good sense, merit and politeness'' to assemble in their garden of the ``gay science'' and recite their works. The prize, a golden violet, was awarded to Vidal de Castelnaudary for a poem to the glory of the Virgin. In spite of the English invasion and other adversities the Floral Games survived till, about the year 1500, their permanence was secured by the munificent bequest of Clemence Isaure, a rich lady of Toulouse. In 1694 the Academie des Jeux Floraux was constituted an academy by letters patent of Louis XIV.; its statutes were reformed and the number Of members raised to 36. Suppressed during the Revolution it was revived in 1806, and still continues to award amaranths of gold and sliver lilies, for which there is keen competition.
Provence led the way, but Italy of the Renaissance is the soil in which academies most grew and flourished. The Accademia Pontaniana, to give it its subsequent title, was founded at Florence in 1433 by Antonio Beccadelli of Palermo and fostered by Laurentius Valla. Far more famous was the Accademia Platonica, founded c. 1442 by Cosimo de' Medici, which numbered among its members Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Machiavelli and Angelo Poliziano. It was, as the name implies, chiefly occupied with Plato, but it added to its objects the study of Dante and the purification of the Italian language, and though it lived for barely half a century, yet its influence as a model for similar learned societies was great and lasting.
Modern Academies.—Academies have played an important part in the revival of learning and in the birth of scientific inquiry. They mark an age of aristocracies when letters were the distinction of the few and when science had not been differentiated into distinct branches, each with its own specialists. Their interest is mainly historical, and it cannot be maintained that at the present day they have much direct influence on the advancement of learning either by way of research or of publication. For example, the standard dictionaries of France, Germany and England are the work, not of academies, but of individual scholars, of Littre, Grimm and Murray. Matthew Arnold's plea for an English academy of letters to save his countrymen from the note of vulgarity and provinciality has met with no response. Academies have been supplanted, socially by the modern club, and intellectually by societies devoted to special branches of science. Those that survive from the past serve, like the Heralds' College, to set an official stamp on literary and scientific merit. The principal academies of Europe, past and present, may be dealt with in various classes, according to the subjects to which they are devoted.
I. SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIES Austria.—-The Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften at Vienna, originally projected by Leibnitz, was founded by the emperor Ferdinand I. in 1846, and has two classes—-mathematics and natural science, and history and philology.
Belgium and the Netherlands.-A literary society was founded at Brussels in 1769 by Count Cobenzl, the prime minister of Maria Theresa, which after various changes of name and constitution became in 1816 the Academie imperiale et royale des sciences et belles-lettres, under the patronage of William I. of the Netherlands. It has devoted itself principally to natural history and antiquities. The Royal Institute of the Low Countries was founded in 1808 by King Louis Bonaparte. It was replaced in 1851 by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, to which in 1856 a literary section was added.
Denmark.—-The Kongelige danske videnskabernes selskab (Royal Academy of Sciences) at Copenhagen owes its origin to Christian VI., who in 1742 invited six Danish numismatists to arrange his cabinet of medals. Historians and antiquaries were called in to assist at the sittings, and the commission developed into a sort of learned club. The king took it under his protection, enlarged its scope by the addition of natural history, physics and mathematics, and in 1743 constituted it a royal academy with an endowment fund.
France.—-The old Academie des sciences had the same origin as the more celebrated Academie francaise. A number of men of science had for some thirty years met together, first at the house of P. Marsenne, then at that of Montmort, a member of the Council of State, afterwards at that of Melchisedec Thevenot, the learned traveller. It included Descartes, Gassendi, Blaise and Etienne Pascal. Hobbes, the author of Leviathan, was presented to it during his visit to Paris in 1640. Colbert conceived the idea of giving an official status to this learned club. A number of chemists, physicians, anatomists and eminent mathematicians, among whom were Christian Huyghens and Bernard Frenicle de Bessy (1605-1675), the author of a famous treatise on magic squares, were chosen to form the nucleus of the new society. Pensions were granted by Louis XIV. to each of the members, and a fund for instruments and experiment was placed at their disposal. They began their session on the 22nd of December 1666 in the Royal Library, meeting twice a week—the mathematicians on Wednesdays, the physicists on Saturdays. Duhamel was appointed permanent secretary, a post he owed more to his polished Latinity than to his scientific attainments, all the proceedings of the society being recorded in Latin, and C. A. Couplet was made treasurer. At first the academy was rather a laboratory and observatory than an academy proper. Experiments were undertaken in common and results discussed. Several foreign savants, in particular the Danish astronomer Roemer, joined the society, attracted hy the liberality of the Grand Monarque; and the German physician and geometer Tschirnhausen and Sir Isaac Newton were made foreign associates. The death of Colbert, who was succeeded by Louvois, exercised a disastrous effect on the fortunes of the academy. The labours of the academicians were diverted from the pursuit of pure science to such works as the construction of fountains and cascades at Versailles, and the mathematicians were employed to calculate the odds of the games of lansquenet and basset. In 1699 the academy was reconstituted by Louis Phelypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain, under whose department as secretary of state the academies came. By its new constitution it consisted of twenty-five members, ten honorary, men of high rank interested in science, and fifteen pensionaries, who were the working members. Of these three were geometricians, three astronomers, three mechanicians, three anatomists, and three chemists. Each of these three had two associates, and, besides, each pensionary had the privilege of naming a pupil. There were eight foreign and four free associates. The officers were, a president and a vice-president, named by the king from among the honorary members, and a secretary and treasurer chosen from the pensionaries, who held office for life. Fontenelle, a man of wit, and rather a popularizer of science than an original investigator, succeeded Duhamel as secretary. The constitution was purely aristocratical, differing in that respect from that of the French Academy, in which the principle of equality among the members was never violated. Science was not yet strong enough to dispense with the patronage of the great. The two leading spirits of the academy at this period were Clairault and Reaumur. To trace the subsequent fortunes of this academy would be to write the history of the rise and progress of science in France. It has reckoned among its members Laplace, Buffon, Lagrange, D'Alembert, Lavoisier, and Jussieu, the father of modern botany. On the 21st of December 1792 it met for the last time, and it was suppressed with its sister academies by the act of the Convention on the 8th of April 1793. Some of its members were guillotined, some were imprisoned, more were reduced to poverty. The aristocracy of talent was almost as much detested and persecuted by the Revolution as that of rank.
In 1795 the Convention decided on founding an Institut National which was to replace all the academies, and its first class corresponded closely to the old academy of sciences. In 1816 the Academie des sciences was reconstituted as a branch of the Institute. The new academy has reckoned among its members, besides many other brilliant men, Carnot the engineer, the physicists Fresnel, Ampere, Arago, Blot, the chemists Gay-Lussac and Thenard, the zoologists G. Cuvier and the two Geoffroy Saint-Hilaires. In France there were also considerable academies in most of the large towns. Montpellier, for example, had a royal academy of sciences, founded in 1706 by Louis XIV., on nearly the same footing as that of Paris, of which, indeed, it was in some measure the counterpart. It was reconstituted in 1847, and organized under three sections—medicine, science and letters. Toulouse also has an academy, founded in 1640, under the name of Soeiete de lanternistes; and there were analogous institutions at Nimes, Arles, Lyons, Dijon, Bordeaux and elsewhere.
Germany.—-The Collegium Curiosum was a scientific society, founded by J. C. Sturm, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the university of Altorf, in Franconia, in 1672, on the plan of the Accademia del Cimento. It originally consisted of twenty members, and continued to flourish long after the death of its founder. The early labours of the society were devoted to the repetition (under varied conditions) of the most notable experiments of the day, or to the discussion of the results. Two volumes (1676-1685) of proceedings were published by Sturm. The former, Collegium Experimentale sive Curiosum, begins with an account of the diving-bell, ``a new invention''; next follow chapters on the camera obscura, the Torricellian experiment, the air-pump, microscope, telescope, &c.
The Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, if judged by the work it has produced, holds the first place in Germany. Its origin was the Societas Regia Scientiarum, constituted in 1700 by Frederick I. on the comprehensive plan of Leibnitz, who was its first president. Hampered and restricted under Frederick William I., it was reorganized under Frederick II. on the French model furnished by Maupertuis, and received its present constitution in 1812. It is divided into two classes and four sections —physical and mathematical, philosophical and historical. Each section has a permanent secretary with a salary of 1200 marks, and each of the 50 regular members is paid 600 marks a year. Among the contributors to its transactions (first volume published in 1710), to name only the dead, we find Immanuel Bekker, Bockling, Bernoulli, F. Bopp, P. Buttmann, Encke (of comet fame), L. Euler, the brothers Grimm, the two Humboldts, Lachmann, Lagrange, Leibnitz, T. Mommsen, J. Muller, G. Niebuhr, C. Ritter (the geographer), Savigny and Zumpt. Frederick II. presented in 1768 A Dissertation on Ennui. To the Berlin Academy we owe the Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, and the Monumenta Germaniae Historica.
The Akademie der Wissenschaflen zu Mannheim was founded by the elector Palatine in 1755. Since 1780 it has devoted itself specially to meteorology, and has published valuable observations under the title of Ephemerides Societatis Meteorologicae Theodoro-Palatinae.
The Bavarian Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Munchen was founded in 1759. It is distinguished from other academies by the part it has played in national education. Maximilian Joseph, the enlightened elector (afterwards king) of Bavaria, induced the government to hand over to it the organization and superintendence of public instruction, and this work was carried out by Privy-councillor Jacobi, the president of the academy. In recent years the academy has specially occupied itself with natural history.
The Konigliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, at Erfurt, which dates from 1754 and devotes itself to applied science, and the Hessian academy of sciences at Giessen, which publishes medical transactions, also deserve mention.
Great Britain and Ireland.—- In 1616 a scheme for founding a royal academy was started by Edmund Bolton, an eminent scholar and antiquary, who in his petition to King James I., which was supported by George Villiers, marquis of Buckingham, proposed that the title of the academy should be ``King James, his Academe or College of honour.'' A list of the proposed original members is still extant, and includes the names of George Chapman, Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, John Selden, Sir Kenelm Digby and Sir Henry Wotton. The constitution is of interest as reflecting the mind of the learned king. The academy was to consist of three classes,—-tutelaries, who were to be Knights of the Garter, auxiliaries, all noblemen or ministers of state, and the essentials, ``called from out of the most famous lay gentlemen of England, and either living in the light of things, or without any title of profession or art of life for lucre.'' Among other duties to be assigned to this academy was the licensing of all books other than theological. The death of King James put an end to the undertaking. In 1635 a second attempt to found an academy was made under the patronage of Charles I., with the title of ``Minerva's Museum,'' for the instruction of young noblemen in the liberal arts and sciences, but the project was soon dropped. (For the ``British Academy'' see III. below.) About 1645 the more ardent followers of Bacon used to meet, some in London, some at Oxford, for the discussion of subjects connected with experimental science. This was the original of the Royal Society (q.v.), which received its charter in 1662.
A society was formed in Dublin, similar to the Royal Society in London, as early as 1683; but the distracted state of the country proved unpropitious to the cultivation of philosophy and literature. The Royal Irish Academy grew from a society established in Dublin about 1782 by a number of gentlemen, most of whom belonged to the university. They held weekly meetings and read, in turn, essays on various subjects. They professed to unite the advancement of science with the history of mankind and polite literature. The first volume of transactions appeared in 1788.
Hungary.—The Magyar Tudomanyos Akademia (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) was founded in 1825 by Count Stephen Szechenyi for the encouragement of the study of the Hungarian Ianguage and the various sciences. It has about 300 members and a fine building in Budapest containing a picture gallery and housing various national collections.
Italy.—The Academia Secretorum Natarae was founded at Naples in 1560 by Giambattista della Porta. It arose like the French Academy from a little club of friends who met at della Porta's house and called themselves the Otiosi. The condition of membership was to have made some discovery in natural science. Della Porta was suspected of practising the black arts and summoned to Rome to justify himself before the papal court. He was acquitted by Paul V., but commanded to close his academy.
The Accademia dei Lincei, to which della Porta was admitted when at Rome, and of which he became the chief ornament, had been founded in 1603 by Federigo Cesi, the marchese di Monticelli. Galileo and Colonna were among its earliest members. Its device was a lynx with upturned eyes, tearing a Cerberus with its claws. As a monument the Lincei have left the magnificent edition of Fernandez de Oviedo's Natural History of Mexico (Rome, 1651, fol.), printed at the expense of the founder and elaborately annotated by the members. This academy was resuscitated in 1870 under the title of Reale Accademia dei Lincei, with a literary as well as a scientific side, endowed in 1878 by King Humbert; and in 1883 it received official recognition from the Italian government, being lodged in the Corsini palace, whose owner made over to it his library and collections.
The Accademia del Cimento was founded at Florence in 1657 by Leopold de' Medici, brother of the grand duke Ferdinand II., at the instigation of Vincenzo Viviani, the geometrician. It was an academy of experiment, a deliberate protest against the deductive science of the quadrivium. Its founder left it when he was made a cardinal, and it lasted only ten years, but the grand folio published in Italian (afterwards translated into Latin) in 1667 is a landmark in the history of science. It contains experiments on the pressure of the air (Torricelli and Borelli were among its members), on the incompressibility of water and on universal gravity.
Science in Italy is now represented by the Reale Accademia delle Scienze (Royal Academy of Sciences), founded in 1757 as a private society, and incorporated under its present name by royal warrant in 1783. It consists of 40 full members, who must be residents of Turin, 20 non-resident, and 20 foreign members. It publishes a yearly volume of proceedings and awards prizes to learned works. There are, besides, royal academies of science at Naples, Lucca and Palermo.
Portugal.—The Academia Real das Sciencias (Royal Academy of Sciences) at Lisbon dates from 1779. It was reorganized in 1851 and since then has been chiefly occupied in the publication of Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.
Russia.—The Academie Imperiale des sciences de Saint-Petersbourg, Imperatorskaya Akademiya nauk, was projected by Peter the Great. The advice of Wolff and Leibnitz was sought, and several learned foreigners were invited to become members. Peter himself drew the plan, and signed it on the 10th of February 1724; but his sudden death delayed its fulfilment. On the 21st of December 1725, however, Catherine I. established it according to his plan, and on the 27th the society met for the first time. On the 1st of August 1726, Catherine honoured the meeting with her presence, when Professor G. B. Bilfinger, a German scientist, delivered an oration upon the determination of magnetic variations and longitude. Shortly afterwards the empress settled a fund of L. 4982 per annum for the support of the academy; and 15 eminent members were admitted and pensioned, under the title of professors in the various branches of science and literature. The most distinguished of these were Nicholas and Daniel Bernouilli, the two Delisles, Bilfinger, and Wolff.
During the short reign of Peter II. the salaries of members were discontinued, and the academy neglected by the Court; but it was again patronized by the empress Anne, who added a seminary under the superintendence of the professors. Both institutions flourished for some time under the direction of Baron Johann Albrecht Korin (1697—1766). At the accession of Elizabeth the original plan was enlarged and improved; learned foreigners were drawn to St Petersburg; and, what was considered a good omen for the literature of Russia, two natives, Lomonosov and Rumovsky, men of genius who had prosecuted their studies in foreign universities, were enrolled among its members. The annual income was increased to L. 10,659, and sundry other advantages were conferred upon the institution. Catherine II. utilized the academy for the advancement of national culture. She altered the court of directors greatly to the advantage of the whole body, corrected many of its abuses, added to its means, and infused a new vigour and spirit into its researches. By her recommendation the most intelligent professors visited all the provinces of her vast dominions, with most minute and ample instructions to investigate the natural resources, conditions and requirements, and report on the real state of the empire. The result was that no country at that time could boast, within so few years, such a number of excellent official publications on its internal state, its natural productions, its topography, geography and history, and on the manners, customs and languages of the different tribes that inhabited it, as came from the press of this academy. In its researches in Asiatic languages, oriental customs and religions, it proved itself the worthy rival of the Royal Asiatic Society in England. The first transactions, Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae ad annum 1726, with a dedication to Peter II., were published in 1728. This was continued until 1747, when the transactions were called Novi Commentarii Academiae, &c.; and in 1777, Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae, with some alteration in the arrangements and plan of the work. The papers, hitherto in Latin only, were now written indifferently in Latin or in French, and a preface added, Partie Historique, which contains an account of the society's meetings. Of the Commentaries, fourteen volumes were published: of the New Commentaries (1750—1776) twenty. Of the Acta Academiae two volumes are printed every year. In 1872 there was published at St Petersburg in 2 vols., Tableau general des matieres contenues dans les publieations de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St Petersbourg. The academy is composed, as at first, of fifteen professors, besides the president and director. Each of the professors has a house and an annual stipend of from L. 200 to L. 600. Besides the professors, there are four pensioned adjuncts, who are present at the meetings of the society, and succeed to the first vacancies. The buildings and apparatus of this academy are on a vast scale. There is a fine library, of 36,000 books and manuscripts; and an extensive museum, considerably augmented by the collections made by Pallas, Gmelin, Guldenstadt and other professors, during their expeditions through the Russian empire. The motto of the society is Paulatim.
Spain.—-The Real Academia Espanola at Madrid (see below) had a predecessor in the Academia Naturae curiosorum (dating from 1657) modelled on that of Naples. It was reconstituted in 1847 after the model of the French academy.
Sweden.—The Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademien owes its institution to six persons of distinguished learning, among whom was Linnaeus. They met on the 2nd of June 1739, and formed a private society, the Collegium Curiosorum; and at the end of the year their first publication made its appeamnce. As the meetings continued and the members increased the society attracted the notice of the king; and on the 31st of March 1741 it was incorporated as the Royal Swedish Academy. Though under royal patronage and largely endowed, it is, like the Royal Society in England, entirely self-governed. Each of the members resident at Stockholm becomes in turn president, and continues in office for three months. The dissertations read at each meeting are published in the Swedish language, quarterly, and make an annual volume. The first forty volumes, octavo, completed in 1779, are called the Old Transactions.
United States of America.—The oldest scientific association in the United States is the American Philosophical Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge. It owed its origin to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1743 published ``A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in America,'' which was so favourably received that in the same year the society was organized, with Thomas Hopkinson (1709-1751) as president and Franklin as secretary. In 1769 it united with another scientific society founded by Franklin, called the American Society Held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful Knowledge, and adopted its present name, adding the descriptive phrase from the title of the American Society, and elected Franklin president, an office which he held until his death (1790). The American Philosophical Society is national in scope and is exclusively scientific; its Transactions date from 1771, and its Proceedings from 1838. It has a hall in Philadelphia, with meeting-rooms and a valuable library and collection of interesting portraits and relics. David Rittenhouse was its second and Thomas Jefferson was its third president. In 1786 John Hyacinth de Magellan, of London, presented a fund, the income of which was to supply a gold medal for the author of the most important discovery ``relating to navigation, astronomy or natural philosophy (mere natural history excepted).'' An annual general meeting is held.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Boston), the second oldest scientific organization in the United States, was chartered in Massachusetts in 1780 by some of the most prominent men of that time. James Bowdoin was its first president, John Adams its second. The Academy published Memoirs beginning in 1785, and Proceedings from 1846. The Rumford Premium awarded through it for the most ``important discovery or useful improvement on Heat, or on Light'' is the income of $5000 given to the Academy by Count Rumford.
The National Academy of Sciences (1863) was incorporated by Congress with the object that it ``shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment and report upon any subject of science or art.'' Its membership was first limited to 50; after the amendment of the act of incorporation in 1870 the limit was placed at 100; and in 1907 it was prescribed that the resident membership should not exceed 150 in number, that not more than 10 members be elected in any one year, and that the number of foreign associates be restricted to 50. The Academy is divided into six committees: mathematics and astronomy; physics and engineering; chemistry; geology and palaeontology; biology; and anthropology. It gives several gold medals for meritorious researches and discoveries. It publishes scientific monographs (at the expense of the Federal Government). Its presidents have been Alexander D. Bache, Joseph Henry, Wm. B. Rogers, Othuiel C. Marsh, Wolcott Gibbs, Alexander Agassiz and Ira Remsen.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia was organized in 1812. It has a large library, very rich in natural history, and its museum, with nearly half a million specimens, is particularly strong in conchology and ornithology. The society has published Journals since 1817, and Proceedings since 1841; it also has published the American Journal of Conchology. The American Entomological Society (in 1859-1867 the EntomoIogical Society of Philadelphia, and since 1876 part of this academy) has published Proceedings since 1861, and the Entomological news (a monthly).
There are also other scientific organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science (chartered in 1874, as a continuation of the American Association of Geologists, founded in 1840 and becoming in 1842 the American Association of Geologists and Naturalists), which publishes its proceedings annually; the American Geographical Society (1852), with headquarters in New Ynrk: the National Geographic Society (1888), with headquarters in Washington, D.C.; the Geological Society of America (1888), the American Ornithologists' Union (1883), the American Society of naturalists (1883), the Botanical Society of America (1893), the American Academy of Medicine (1876); and local academies of science, or of special sciences, in many of the larger cities. The Smithsonian Institution at Washington is treated in a separate article.
II. ACADEMIES OF BELLES LETTRES Belgium.— Belgium has always been famous for its literary societies. The little town of Diest boasts that it possessed a society of poets in 1302, and the Catherinists of Alost date from 1107. It is at least certain that numerous Chambers of Rhetoric (so academies were then called) existed in the first years of the rule of the house of Burgundy.
France.—-The French Academy (l'Academie Francaise) was established by order of the king in the year 1635, but in its original form existed four or five years earlier. About the year 1629 certain literary friends in Paris agreed to meet informally each week at the house of Valentin Courart, the king's secretary. The conversation turned mostly on literary topics; and when one of the number had finished some literary work, he read it to the rest, and they gave their opinions upon it. The fame of these meetings, though the members were bound to secrecy, reached the ears of Cardinal Richelieu, who promised his protection and offered to incorporate the society by letters patent. Nearly all the members would have preferred the charms of privacy, but, considering the risk they would run in incurring the cardinal's displeasure, and that by the letter of the law all meetings of any sort were prohibited, they expressed their gratitude for the high honour the cardinal thought fit to confer on them, proceeded at once to organize their body, settle their laws and constitution, appoint officers and choose a name. Letters patent were granted by the king on the 29th of January 1635. The officers consisted of a director and a chancellor, chosen by lot, and a permanent secretary, chosen by vote. They elected also a publisher, not a member of the body. The director presided at the meetings, being considered as primus inter pares. The chancellor kept the seals and sealed all the official documents of the academy. The cardinal was ex officio protector. The meetings were held weekly as before.
The object for which the academy was founded, as set forth in its statutes, was the purification of the French language. ``The principal function of the academy shall be to labour with all care and diligence to give certain rules to our language, and to render it pure, eloquent and capable of treating the arts and sciences'' (Art. 24). They proposed ``to cleanse the language from the impurities it has contracted in the mouths of the common people, from the jargon of the lawyers, from the misusages of ignorant courtiers, and the abuses of the pulpit'' (Letter of Academy to Cardinal Richelieu) .
The number of members was fixed at forty. The original members formed a nucleus of eight, and it was not till 1639 that the full number was completed. Their first undertaking consisted of essays written by the members in rotation. To judge by the titles and specimens which have come down to us, these possessed no special originality or merit, but resembled the epideixeis of the Greek rhetoricians. Next, at the instance of Cardinal Richelieu, they undertook a criticism of Corneille's Cid, the most popular work of the day. It was a rule of the academy that no work could be criticized except at the author's request, and fear of incurring the cardinal's displeasure wrung from Corneille an unwilling consent. The critique of the academy was re-written several times before it met with the cardinal's approbation. After six months of elaboration, it was published under the title, Sentiments de l'academie francaise sur le Cid. This judgment did not satisfy Corneille, as a saying attributed to him on the occasion shows. ``Horatius,'' he said, referring to his last play, ``was condemned by the Duumviri, but he was absolved by the people.'' But the crowning labour of the academy, begun in 1639, was a dictionary of the French language. By the twenty-sixth article of their statutes, they were pledged to compose a dictionary, a grammar, a treatise on rhetoric and one on poetry. Jean Chapelain, one of the original members and leading spirits of the academy, pointed out that the dictionary would naturally be the first of these works to be undertaken, and drew up a plan of the work, which was to a great extent carried out. A catalogue was to be made of all the most approved authors, prose and verse: these were to be distributed among the members, and all approved words and phrases were to be marked for incorporation in the dictionary. For this they resolved themselves into two committees, which sat on other than the regular days. C. F. de Vaugelas was appointed editor in chief. To remunerate him for his labours, he received from the cardinal a pension of 2000 francs. The first edition of this dictionary appeared in 1694, the sixth and last in 1835, since when complements have been added.
This old Academie francaise perished with the other prerevolutionary academies in 1793, and it has little but the name in common with the present academy, a section of the Institute. That Jean Baptiste Suard, the first perpetual secretary of the new, had been a member of the old academy, is the one connecting link.
The chronicles of the Institute down to the end of 1895 have been given in full by the count de Franqueville in Le premier siecle de l'Institut de France, and from it we extract a few leading facts and dates. Before the Revolution there were in existence the following institutions—(1) the Academie de poesie et de musique, founded by Charles IX. in 1570 at the instigation of Baif, which counted among its members Ronsard and most of the Pleiade; (2) the Academie des inscriptions et medailles, founded in 1701; (3) the Academie des inscriptions et belles lettres; (4) the old Academie des sciences; (5) the Academie de peinture et de sculpture, a school as well as an academy; (6) the Academie d'architecture.
The object of the Convention in 1795 was to rebuild all the institutions that the Revolution had shattered and to combine them in an organic whole; in the words of the preamble:—`` Il y a pour toute la Republique un Institut national charge de recueiller les deconvertes, de perfectionner les arts et les sciences.'' As Renan has remarked, the Institute embodied two ideas, one disputable, the other of undisputed truth—that science and art are a state concern, and that there is a solidarity between all branches of knowledge and human activities. The Institute was at first composed of 184 members resident in Paris and an equal number living in other parts of France, with 24 foreign members, divided into three classes, (1) physical and mathematical science, (2) moral and political science, (3) literature and the fine arts. It held its first sitting on the 4th of April 1796. Napoleon as first consul suppressed the second class, as subversive of government, and reconstituted the other classes as follows: (1) as before, (2) French language and literature, (3) ancient history and literature, (4) fine arts. The class of moral and political science was restored on the proposal of M. Guizot in 1832, and the present Institute consists of the five classes named above. Each class or academy has its own special jurisdiction and work, with special funds; but there is a general fund and a common library, which, with other common affairs, are managed by a committee of the Institute—-two chosen from each academy, with the secretaries. Each member of the Institute receives an annual allowance of 1200 francs, and the secretaries of the different academies have a salary of 6000 francs.