AGAPETUS, the name of two popes:—
AGAPETUS I., pope from 535 to 536. He was an enlightened pontiff and collaborated with Cassiodorus in founding at Rome a library of ecclesiastical authors. King Theodahad sent him on an embassy to Constantinople, where he died, after having deposed Anthimus, the monophysite bishop of that town, and ordained Menas his successor.
AGAPETUS II., pope from 946 to 955, at the time when Alberic, son of Marozia, was governing the independent republic of Rome under the title of ``prince and senator of the Romans.'' Agapetus, a man of some force of character, did his best to put a stop to the degradation into which the papacy had fallen, the so-called ``Pornocracy,'' which lasted from the accession of Sergius III. in 904 to the deposition of John XII. in 963. His appeal to Otto the Great to intervene in Rome remained without immediate effect, since Alberic's position was too strong to be attacked, but it bore fruit after his death. Agapetus died on the 8th of November 955.
AGAPETUS, a deacon of the church of St Sophia at Constantinople. He presented to the emperor Justinian, on his accession in 527, a work entitled Scheda regia sive de officio regis, which contained advice on the duties of a Christian prince. The work was often reprinted and is included in Dom Anselme Banduri's Imperium Orientale (Paris, 1711). There is an English translation by Thomas Paynell (1550) and a French translation, executed in 1612 from a Latin version by Louis XIII., with the assistance of his tutor, David Rivault.
AGARDE, ARTHUR (1540-1615), English antiquary, was born at Foston, Derbyshire, in 1540. He was trained as a lawyer, but entered the exchequer as a clerk. On the authority of Anthony a Wood it has been stated that he was appointed by Sir Nicholas Throckmorton to be deputy-chamberlain in 1570, and that he held this office for forty-five years. His patent of appointment, however, preserved in the Rolls Office, proves that he succeeded one Thomas Reve in the post on the 11th of July 1603. With his friends, Sir Robert Cotton and Camden, he was one of the original members of the Society of Antiquaries. He spent much labour in cataloguing the records and state papers, and made a special study of the Domesday Book, preparing an explanation of its more obscure terms. Thomas Hearne, in his Collection of Curious Discourses written by Eminent Antiquaries (Oxford, 1720), includes six by Agarde on such subjects as the origin of parliament, the antiquity of shires, the authority and privileges of heralds, &c. Agarde died on the 22nd of August 1615 and was buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey, on his tomb being inscribed ``Recordorum regiorum hic prope depositorum diligens scrutator.'' He bequeathed to the exchequer all his papers relating to that court, and to his friend Sir Robert Cotton his other manuscripts, amounting to twenty volumes, most of which are now in the British Museum.
AGAS, RADULPH, or RALPH (c. 1540-1621), English land surveyor, was born at Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, about 1540, and entered upon the practice of his profession in 1566. Letters which he wrote to Lord Burghley, describing the methods of surveying, are extant, and a kind of advertising prospectus of his abilities, in which he describes himself as clever at arithmetic and ``skilled in writing smaule, after the skantelinge & proportion of copiynge the Oulde & New Testamentes seven tymes in one skinne of partchmente without anie woorde abreviate or contracted, which maie also serve for drawinge discriptions of contries into volumes portable in verie little cases.'' He is best known for his maps of Oxford (1578), Cambridge (1592) and London. Copies of the first two are preserved in the Bodleian Library. Of the map of London and Westminster, which was probably prepared about 1591, two copies have been preserved, one by the Corporation of London and the other in the Pepysian collection at Magdalene College, Cambridge. The map is over six feet long, printed from wooden blocks, and gives a valuable picture of the London of Elizabeth's time. Agas died on the 26th of November 1621.
AGASIAS. There were two Greek sculptors of this name. Agasias, son of Dositheus, has signed the remarkable statue called the Borghese Warrior, in the Louvre. Agasias, son of Menophilus, is the author of another striking figure of a warrior in the museum of Athens. Both belonged to the school of Ephesus and flourished about 100 B.C.
See E. A. Gardner, Handbook Greek Sculpture, ii. p. 475.
AGASSIZ, ALEXANDER EMANUEL (1835-1910), American man of science, son of J. L. R. Agassiz, was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, on the 17th of December 1835. He came to the United States with his father in 1846; graduated at Harvard in 1855, subsequently studying engineering and chemistry, and taking the degree of bachelor of science at the Lawrence scientific school of the same institution in 1857; and in 1859 became an assistant in the United States Coast Survey. Thenceforward he became a specialist in marine ichthyology, but devoted much time to the investigation, superintendence and exploitation of mines, being superintendent of the Calumet and Hecla copper mines, Lake Superior, from 1866 to 1869, and afterwards, as a stockholder, acquiring a fortune, out of which he gave to Harvard, for the museum of comparative zoology and other purposes, some $500,000. In 1875 he surveyed Lake Titicaca, Peru, examined the copper mines of Peru and Chile, and made a collection of Peruvian antiquities for that museum, of which he was curator from 1874 to 1885. He assisted Sir Wyville Thomson in the examination and classification of the collections of the ``Challenger'' exploring expedition, and wrote the Review of the Echini (2 vols., 1872-1874) in the reports. Between 1877 and 1880 he took part in the three dredging expeditions of the steamer ``Blake,'' of the United States Coast Survey, and presented a full account of them in two volumes (1888). Of his other writings on marine zoology, most are contained in the bulletins and memoirs of the museum of comparative zoology; but he published in 1865 (with Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, his step-mother) Seaside Studies in Natural History, a work at once exact and stimulating, and in 1871 Marine Animals of Massachusetts Bay.
AGASSIZ, JEAN LOUIS RODOLPHE (1807-1873), Swiss naturalist and geologist, was the son of the Protestant pastor of the parish of Motier, on the north-eastern shore of the Lake of Morat (Murten See), and not far from the eastern extremity of the Lake of Neuchatel. Agassiz was born at this retired place on the 28th of May 1807. Educated first at home, then spending four years at the gymnasium of Bienne, he completed his elementary studies at the academy of Lausanne. Having adopted medicine as his profession, he studied successively at the universities of Zurich, Heidelberg and Munich; and he availed himself of the advantages afforded by these universities for extending his knowledge of natural history, especially of botany. After completing his academical course, he took in 1829 his degree of doctor of philosophy at Erlangen, and in 1830 that of doctor of medicine at Munich.
Up to this time he had paid no special attention to the study of ichthyology, which soon afterwards became the great occupation of his life. Agassiz always declared that he was led into ichthyological pursuits through the following circumstances:—
In 1819-1820, J. B. Spix and C. F. P. von Martius were engaged in their celebrated Brazilian tour, and on their return to Europe, amongst other collections of natural objects they brought home an important set of the freshwater fishes of Brazil, and especially of the Amazon river. Spix, who died in 1826, did not live long enough to work out the history of these fishes; and Agassiz though little more than a youth just liberated from his academic studies, was selected by Prof. Martius for this purpose. He at once threw himself into the work with that earnestness of spirit which characterized him to the end of his busy life, and the task of describing and figuring the Brazilian fishes was completed and published in 1829. This was followed by an elaborate research into the history of the fishes found in the Lake of Neuchatel. Enlarging his plans, he issued in 1830 a prospectus of a History of the Freshwater Fishes of Central Europe. It was only in 1839, however, that the first part of this publication appeared, and it was completed in 1842. In 1832 he was appointed professor of natural history in the university of Neuchatel. Having become a professed ichthyologist, it was impossible that the fossil fishes should fail to attract his attention. The rich stores furnished by the slates of Glarus and the limestones of Monte Bolca were already well known; but very little had been accomplished in the way of scientific study of them. Agassiz, as early as 1829, with his wonted enthusiasm, planned the publication of the work which, more than any other, laid the foundation of his world-wide fame. Five volumes of his Recherches sur les poissons fossiles appeared at intervals from 1833 to 1843 [1844]. They were magnificently illustrated, chiefly through the labours of Joseph Dinkel, an artist of remarkable power in delineating natural objects. In gathering materials for this great work Agassiz visited the principal museums in Europe, and meeting Cuvier in Paris, he received much encouragement and assistance from him.
Agassiz found that his palaeontological labours rendered necessary a new basis of ichthyological classification. The fossils rarely exhibited any traces of the soft tissues of fishes. They consisted chiefly of the teeth, scales and fins, even the bones being perfectly preserved in comparatively few instances. He therefore adopted his well-known classification, which divided fishes into four groups—viz. Ganoids, Placoids, Cycloids and Ctenoids, based on the nature of the scales and other dermal appendages. While Agassiz did much to place the subject on a scientific basis, his classification has not been found to meet the requirements of modern research. As remarked by Dr A. Smith Woodward, he sought to interpret the past structures by too rigorous a comparison with those of living forms. (See Catalogue of Fossil Fishes in the British Natural History Museum.)
As the important descriptive work of Agassiz proceeded, it became obvious that it would over-tax his resources, unless assistance could be afforded. The British Association came to his aid, and the earl of Ellesmere—then Lord Francis Egerton—gave him yet more efficient help. The original drawings made for the work, chiefly by Dinkel, amounted to 1290 in number. These were purchased by the Earl, and presented by him to the Geological Society of London. In 1836 the Wollaston medal was awarded by the council of that society to Agassiz for his work on fossil ichthyology; and in 1838 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society. Meanwhile the invertebrate animals engaged his attention. In 1837 he issued the ``Prodrome'' of a monograph on the recent and fossil Echinodermata, the first part of which appeared in 1838; in 1839-1840 he published two quarto volumes on the fossil Echinoderms of Switzerland; and in 1840-1845 he issued his Etudes critiques sur les mollusques fossiles.
Subsequently to his first visit to England in 1834, the labours of Hugh Miller and other geologists brought to light the remarkable fishes of the Old Red Sandstone of the north-east of Scotland. The strange forms of the Pterichthys, the Coccosteus and other genera were then made known to geologists for the first time. They naturally were of intense interest to Agassiz, and formed the subject of a special monograph by him published in 1844-1845: Monographie des poissons fossiles du Vieux Gres Rouge, ou Systeme Devonien (Old Red Sandstone) des Iles Britanniques et de Russie.
The year 1836 witnessed the inauguration of a new investigation, which proved to be of the utmost importance to geological science. Previously to this date de Saussure, Venetz, Charpentier and others had made the glaciers of the Alps the subjects of special study, and Charpentier had even arrived at the conclusion that the erratic blocks of alpine rocks scattered over the slopes and summits of the Jura mountains had been conveyed thither by glaciers. The question having attracted the attention of Agassiz, he not only made successive journeys to the alpine regions in company with Charpentier, but he had a hut constructed upon one of the Aar glaciers, which for a time he made his home, in order to investigate thoroughly the structure and movements of the ice. These labours resulted in the publication of his grand work in two volumes entitled Etudes sur les glaciers, 1840. Therein he discussed the movements of the glaciers, their moraines, their influence in grooving and rounding the rocks over which they travelled, and in producing the striations and roches moutonnees with which we are now so familiar. He not only accepted Charpentier's idea that some of the alpine glaciers had extended across the wide plains and valleys drained by the Aar and the Rhone, and thus landed parts of their remains upon the uplands of the Jura, but he went still farther. He concluded that, at a period geologically recent, Switzerland had been another Greenland; that instead of a few glaciers stretching across the areas referred to, one vast sheet of ice, originating in the higher Alps, had extended over the entire valley of north-western Switzerland until it reached the southern slopes of the Jura, which, though they checked and deflected its further extension, did not prevent the ice from reaching in many places the summit of the range. The publication of this work gave a fresh impetus to the study of glacial phenomena in all parts of the world.
Thus familiarized with the phenomena attendant on the movements of recent glaciers, Agassiz was prepared for a discovery which he made in 1840, in conjunction with William Buckland. These two savants visited the mountains of Scotland together, and found in different localities clear evidence of ancient glacial action. The discovery was announced to the Geological Society of London in successive communications from the two distinguished observers. The mountainous districts of England and Wales and Ireland were also considered to constitute centres for the dispersion of glacial debris; and Agassiz remarked ``that great sheets of ice, resembling those now existing in Greenland, once covered all the countries in which unstratified gravel (boulder drift) is found; that this gravel was in general produced by the trituration of the sheets of ice upon the subjacent surface, &c.''
In 1842-1846 he issued his Nomenclator Zoologicus, a classified list, with references, of all names employed in zoology for genera and groups—a work of great labour and research. With the aid of a grant of money from the king of Prussia, Agassiz, in the autumn of 1846, crossed the Atlantic, with the twofold design of investigating the natural history and geology of the United States and delivering a course of lectures on zoology, by invitation from J. A. Lowell, at the Lowell Institute at Boston; the tempting advantages, pecuniary and scientific, presented to him in the New World induced him to settle in the United States, where he remained to the end of his life. He was appointed professor of zoology and geology in Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S., in 1847. In 1852 he accepted a medical professorship of comparative anatomy at Charlestown, but this he resigned in two years.
The transfer to a new field and the association with fresh objects of interest gave his energies an increased stimulus. Volume after volume now proceeded from his pen: some of his writings were popular, but most of them dealt with the higher departments of scientific research. His work on Lake Superior, and his four volumes of Contributions to the Natural History of the United States, 1857-1862, were of this latter character. We must not overlook the valuable service he rendered to science by the formation, for his own use, of a catalogue of scientific memoirs—an extraordinary work for a man whose hands were already so full. This catalogue, edited and materially enlarged by the late Hugh E. Strickland, was published by the Ray Society under the title of Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae, in 4 vols., 1848-1854. Nor must we forget that he was building up another magnificent monument of his industry in the Museum of Natural History, which rose under his fostering care, at Cambridge. But at length the great strain on his physical powers began to tell. His early labours among the fishes of Brazil had often caused him to cast a longing glance towards that country, and he now resolved to combine the pursuit of health with the gratification of his long cherished desires. In April 1865 he started for Brazil, with his wife and class of qualified assistants. An interesting account of this expedition, entitled A Journey in Brazil (1868), was published by Mrs Agassiz and himself after they returned home in August 1866.
In 1871 he made a second excursion, visiting the southern shores of the North American continent, both on its Atlantic and its Pacific sea-boards. He had for many years yearned after the establishment of a permanent school where zoological science could be pursued amidst the haunts of the living subjects of study. The last, and possibly the most influential, of the labours of his life was the establishment of such an institution, which he was enabled to effect through the liberality of Mr John Anderson, a citizen of New York. That gentleman, in 1873, not only handed over to Agassiz the island of Penikese, in Buzzard's Bay, on the east coast, but also presented him with $50,000 wherewith permanently to endow it as a practical school of natural science, especially devoted to the study of marine zoology. Unfortunately he did not long survive the establishment of this institution. The disease with which he had struggled for some years proved fatal on the 14th of December 1873. He was buried at Mount Auburn. His monument is a boulder selected from the moraine of the glacier of the Aar near the site of the old Hotel des Neuchatelois, not far from the spot where his hut once stood; and the pine-trees which shelter his grave were sent from his old home in Switzerland. His extensive knowledge of natural history makes it somewhat remarkable to find that from first to last he steadily rejected the doctrine of evolution, and affirmed his belief in independent creations. When studying the superficial deposits of the Brazilian plains in 1865, his vivid imagination covered even that wide tropical area, as it had covered Switzerland before, with one vast glacier, extending from the Andes to the sea. This view, however, has not been generally accepted. His daring conceptions were only equalled by the unwearied industry and genuine enthusiasm with which he worked them out; and if in details his labours were somewhat defective, it was only because he had ventured to attempt what was too much for any one man to accomplish.
It may be interesting to mention that the charming verseswritten by Longfellow on ``The fiftieth birthday ofAgassiz'' were read by the author at a dinner given toAgassiz by the Saturday Club in Cambridge, Mass., in 1857.
Louis Agassiz was twice married, and by his first wife he had an only son, Alexander Agassiz (q.v.), born in 1835; in 1850, after her death, he married his second wife, Elizabeth Cabot Cary of Boston, Mass., afterwards well known as a writer and as an active promoter of educational work in connexion with Radcliffe College (see an article on Radcliffe College, by Helen Leah Reed in the New England Magazine for January 1895).
AUTHORITIES—L. Agassiz, His Life and Correspondence, 2 vols., by E. C (Mrs) Agassiz (London, 1885); Louis Agassiz, His Life and Work, by C. F. Holder (New York and London, 1893). (H. B. Wo.)
AGATE, a term applied not to a distinct mineral species, but to an aggregate of various forms of silica, chiefly Chalcedony (q.v..) According to Theophrastus the agate (achates) was named from the river Achates, now the Drillo, in Sicily, where the stone was originally found. Most agates occur as nodules in eruptive rocks, or ancient lavas, where they represent cavities originally produced by the disengagement of vapour in the molten mass, and since filled, wholly or partially, by siliceous matter deposited in regular layers upon the walls. Such agates, when cut transversely, exhibit a succession of parallel lines, often of extreme tenuity, giving a banded appearance to the section, whence such stones are known as banded agate, riband agate and striped agate. Certain agates also occur, to a limited extent, in veins, of which a notable example is the beautiful brecciated agate of Schlottwitz, near Wesenstein in Saxony—a stone mostly composed of angular fragments of agate cemented with amethystine quartz.
In the formation of an ordinary agate, it is probable that waters containing silica in solution—derived, perhaps, from the decomposition of some of the silicates in the lava itself—percolated through the rock, and deposited a siliceous coating on the interior of the vapour-vesicles. Variations in the character of the solution, or in the conditions of deposit, may have caused corresponding variation in the successive layers, so that bands . of chalcedony often alternate with layers of crystalline quartz, and occasionally of opaline silica. By movement of the lava, when originally viscous, the vesicles were in many cases drawn out and compressed, whence the mineral matter with which they became filled assumed an elongated form, having the longer axis in the direction in which the magma flowed. From the fact that these kernels are more or less almond-shaped they are called amygdales, whilst the rock which encloses them is known as an amygdaloid. Several vapour-vesicles may unite while the rock is viscous, and thus form a large cavity which may become the home of an agate of exceptional size; thus a Brazilian geode, lined with amethyst, of the weight of 35 tons, was exhibited at the Dusseldorf Exhibition of 1902.
The first deposit on the wall of a cavity, forming the ``skin'' of the agate, is generally a dark greenish mineral substance, like celadonite, delessite or ``green earth,'' which are hydrous silicates rich in iron, derived probably from the decomposition of the augite in the mother-rock., This green silicate may give rise by alteration to a brown oxide of iron (limonite), producing a rusty appearance on the outside of the agate-nodule. The outer surface of an agate, freed from its matrix, is often pitted and rough, apparently in consequence of the removal of the original coating. The first layer spread over the wall of the cavity has been called the ``priming,'' and upon this basis zeolitic minerals may be deposited, as was pointed out by Dr M. F. Heddle. Chalcedony is generally one of the earlier deposits and crystallized quartz one of later formation. Tubular channels, usually choked with siliceous deposits, are often visible in sections of agate, and were formerly regarded, especially by L. von Buch and J. Noggerath, as inlets of infiltration, by which the siliceous solutions gained access to the interior of the amygdaloidal cavity. It seems likely, however, that the solution transuded through the walls generally, penetrating the chalcedonic layers, as Heddle maintained, by osmotic action. Much of the chalcedony in an agate is known, from the method of artificially staining the stone, to be readily permeable. It was argued by E. Reusch that the cavities were alternately filled and emptied by means of intermittent hot springs carrying silica; while G. Lange, of Idar, suggested that the tension of the confined steam might pierce an outlet through some weak point in the coating of gelatinous silica, deposited on the walls, so that the tubes would be channels of egress rather than of ingress—a view supported by Heddle, who described them as ``tubes of escape.''
It sometimes happens that horizontal deposits, or strata usually opaline in character, are formed on the floor of a cavity after the walls have been lined with successive layers of chalcedony. Many agates are hollow, since deposition has not proceeded far enough to fill the cavity, and in such cases the last deposit commonly consists of quartz, often amethystine, having the apices of the crystals directed towards the free space, so as to form a crystal-lined cavity or geode.
When the deposits in an agate have been formed on a crop of crystals, or on a rugose base, the cross-section presents a zigzag pattern, rather like the plan of a fortress with salient and retiring angles, whence the stone is termed fortification agate. If the section shows concentric circles, due either to stalactitic growth or to deposition in the form of bosses and beads on the floor, the stone is known as ring agate or eye agate. A Mexican agate, showing only a single eye, has received the name of ``cyclops.'' Included matter of a green colour, like fragments of ``green earth,'' embedded in the chalcedony and disposed in filaments and other forms suggestive of vegetable growth, gives rise to moss agate. These inorganic enclosures in the agate have been sometimes described, even after microscopic examination, as true vegetable structures. Dendritic markings of black or brown colour, due to infiltration of oxides of manganese and iron, produce the variety of agate known as Mocha stone. Agates of exceptional beauty often pass in trade under the name of Oriental agate. Certain stones, when examined in thin sections by transmitted light, show a diffraction spectrum, due to the extreme delicacy of the successive bands, whence they are termed rainbow agates.
On the disintegration of the matrix in which the agates are embedded, they are set free, and, being by their siliceous nature extremely resistant to the action of air and water, remain as nodules in the soil and gravel, or become rolled as pebbles in the streams. Such is the origin of the ``Scotch pebbles,'' used as ornamental stones. They are agates derived from the andesitic lavas of Old Red Sandstone age, chiefly in the Ochils and the Sidlaws. In like manner, the South American agates, so largely cut and polished at the present time, are found mostly as boulders in the beds of rivers.
An enormous trade in agate-working is carried on in a small district in Germany, around Oberstein on the Nahe, a tributary of the Rhine at Bingen. Here the industry was located many centuries ago, in consequence of the abundant occurrence of agates in the amygdaloidal melaphyre of the district, notably in the Galgenberg, or Steinkaulenberg, overlooking the village of Idar, on the Idar Bach, about two miles from Oberstein. The abundant water-power in the neighbourhood had also a share in the determination of the industrial site. At the present time, however, steam power and even electricity are employed in the mills of the Oberstein district. Although the agateindustry is still carried on there, especially at Idar, the stones operated on are not of indigenous origin, but are imported mostly from Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) and from Uruguay, where they were discovered in 1827. Agate-working is also carried on to a limited extent at Waldkirch in the Black Forest.
Most commercial agate is artificially stained, so that stones naturally unattractive by their dull grey tints come to be valuable for ornamental purposes. The art of staining the stone is believed to be very ancient. Possibly referred to by Pliny (bk. xxxvii. cap. 75), it was certainly practised at an early date by the Italian cameo-workers, and from Italy a knowledge of the art—long kept secret and practised traditionally—passed in the early part of the 19th century to the agate-workers in Germany, by whom it has since been greatly developed. The colouring matter is absorbed by the porosity of the stone, but different stones and even different layers in the same stone exhibit great variation in absorptive power. The Brazilian agates lend themselves readily to coloration, while the German agates are much less receptive.
To produce a dark brown or black colour, the stone is kept perhaps for two or three weeks in a saccharine solution, or in olive oil, at a moderate temperature. After removal from this medium, the agate is well washed and then digested for a short time in sulphuric acid, which entering the pores chars or carbonizes the absorbed sugar or oil. Certain layers of chalcedony are practically impermeable, and these consequently remain uncoloured, so that an alternation of dark and white bands is obtained, thus giving rise to an onyx. If stained too dark, the colour may be ``drawn,'' or lightened, by the action of nitric acid.
Agate is stained red, so as to form carnelian and sardonyx, by means of ferric oxide. This may be derived from any iron compound naturally present in the stone, especially from limonite by dehydration on baking. Some stones are ``burnt'' by mere exposure to the heat of the sun, whereby the brown colour passes to red. Usually, however, an iron-salt, like ferrous sulphate, is artificially introduced in solution and then decomposed by heat, so as to form in the pores a rich red pigment.
A blue colour, supposed to render the agate rather like lapis lazuli, is produced by using first an iron salt and then a solution of ferrocyanide or ferricyanide of potassium; a green colour, like that of chrysoprase, is obtained by means of salts of nickel or of chromium; and a yellow tint is developed by the action of hydrochloric acid.
Among the uses to which agate is applied may be mentioned the formation of knife-edges of delicate balances, small mortars and pestles for chemical work, burnishers and writing styles, umbrella-handles, paper-knives, seals, brooches and other trivial ornaments. Most of these are cut and polished in the Oberstein district, at a very cheap rate, from South American stones.
Numerous localities in the United States and Canada yield agates, as described by Dr G. F. Kunz. They are abundant in the trap rocks of the Lake Superior region, some of the finest coming from Michipicoten Island, Ontario. A locality on the shore of the lake is called Agate Bay. Wood agate, or agatized wood, is not infrequently found in Colorado, California and elsewhere in the West, the most notable locality being the famous ``silicified forest'' known as Chalcedony Park, in Apache county, Arizona. Here there are vast numbers of water-rolled logs of silicified wood, in rocks of Triassic age, but only a small quantity of the wood is fine enough for ornamental purposes. The cellular tissue of the vegetable matter is filled, or even replaced, by various siliceous minerals like chalcedony, jasper, crystalline quartz and semi-opal, the silica having probably been introduced by thermal waters. Some of the agate shows the microscopic structure of araucarian wood. The agatized wood is sometimes known by the Indian name of shinarump.
In India agates occur abundantly in the amygdaloidal varieties of the Deccan and Rajmahal traps, and as pebbles in the detritus derived from these rocks. Some of the finest are found in the agate-gravels near Ratanpur, in Rajpipla. The trade in agates has been carried on from early times at Cambay, where the stones are cut and polished. Agates are also worked at Jubbulpore.
In many parts of New South Wales, agates, resulting from the disintegration of trap rocks, are common in the river-beds and old drifts. They occur also in Queensland, as at Agate Creek, running into the Gilbert river. South Africa likewise yields numerous agates, especially in the gravels of the Orange and Vaal rivers.
It should be noted that in England agates are found not only in old lavas, like the andesites of the Cheviots, but also to a limited extent in the Dolomitic Conglomerate, an old beachdeposit of Triassic age in the Mendips and the neighbourhood of Bristol. They are also found as weathered pebbles in the drift of Lichfield in Staffordshire.
For Scottish agates see M. F. Heddle, ``On the Structure of Agates,'' Trans. Geolog. Soc. Glasgow, vol. xi. part ii., 1900, p. 153; and Mineralogy of Scotland (1901), vol. i. p. 58; J. G. Goodchild, Proc. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh, vol. xiv., 1899, p. 191. For the agate-industry see G. Lange, Die Halbedelsteine (Kreuznach, 1868). For American agates, G. F. Kunz, Gems and Precious Stones of North America (1890), p. 128. For agates in general see Max Bauer's Precious Stones, translated by L. J. Spencer (London, 1904). (F. W. R.n)
AGATHA, SAINT, the patron saint of Catania, Sicily, where her festival is celebrated on the 5th of February. The legend is that she was a native of Sicily (probably of Catania, though Palermo also claims her), of noble birth and great beauty. She repelled the advances of the Roman prefect sent by the emperor Decius to govern Sicily, and was by his orders brutally tortured and finally sent to the stake. As soon as the fire was lighted, an earthquake occurred, and the people insisted on her release. She died in prison on the 5th of February 251. The rescue of Catania from fire during an eruption of Mount Etna was later attributed to St Agatha's veil.
AGATHANGELUS, AGATHANGE or AKATHANKELOS, Armenian historian, lived during the 4th century, and wrote a History of the Reign of Dertad, or Tiridates, and of the Preaching of St Gregory the Illuminator. The text of this history has been considerably altered, but it has always been in high favour with the Armenians. It has been translated into several languages, and Greek and Latin translations are found in the Acta Sanctorum Bollandistarum, tome viii. As known to us the history consists of three parts, a history of St Gregory and his companions, the doctrine of Gregory, and the conversion of Armenia to Christianity.
See V. Langlois, Collection des historiens anciens et modernes de l'Armenie (Paris, 1868).
AGATHARCHIDES, or AGATHARCHUS, of Cnidus, Greek historian and geographer, lived in the time of Ptolemy Philometor (181-146 B.C.) and his successors. Amongst other works, he wrote treatises on Asia, Europe and The Red Sea. Interesting extracts from the last, of some length, are preserved in Photius (cod. 213), who praises the style of the author, which was modelled on that of Thucydides.
See H. Leopoldi, De Agatharchide Cnidio Dissertatio (1892); C. W. Muller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, iii., and Geographi Graeci Minores, i.; E. H. Bunbury, Hist. of Ancient Geography, ii. (1879).
AGATHARCHUS, an Athenian painter of the 5th century B.C. He is said by Vitruvius to have been the first to paint a scene for the acting of tragedies. Hence some writers, such as Karl Woermann, have supposed that he introduced perspective and illusion into painting. This is a mistaken view, for ancient writers know nothing of canvas scenes; the background painted by Agatharchus was the wooden front of the stage building, and it was painted, not with reference to any particular play, but as a permanent decorative background, representing no doubt a palace or temple. Agatharchus is said to have been seized by Alcibiades and compelled by him to paint the interior of his house, which shows that at the time (about 435 B.C.) decorative painting of rooms was the fashion.
AGATHIAS (c. A.D. 536-582), of Myrina in Aeolis, Greek poet and historian. He studied law at Alexandria, completed his training at Constantinople and practised as an advocate (scholasticus) in the courts. Literature, however, was his favourite pursuit. He wrote a number of short love-poems in epic metre, called Daphniaca. He next put together a kind of anthology, containing epigrams by earlier and contemporary poets and himself, under the title of a Cycle of new Epigrams. About a hundred epigrams by Agathias have been preserved in the Greek Anthology and show considerable taste and elegance. After the death of Justinian (565), some of Agathias's friends persuaded him to write the history of his own times. This work, in five books, begins where Procopius ends, and is the chief authority for the period 552-558. It deals chiefly with the struggles of the Byzantine army, under the command of the eunuch Narses, against the Goths, Vandals, Franks and Persians. The author prides himself on his honesty and impartiality, but he is lacking in judgment and knowledge of facts; the work, however, is valuable from the importance of the events of which it treats. Gibbon contrasts Agathias as ``a poet and rhetorician'' with Procopius ``a statesman and soldier.''
AUTHORITIES.—Editio princeps, by B. Vulcanius (1594); in the Bonn Corpus Scriptorum Byz. Hist., by B. G. Niebuhr (1828); in Migne, Patrologia Graeca, lxxxviii.; L. Dindorf, Historici Graeci Minores (1871); W. S. Teuffel, ``Agathias von Myrine,'' in Philolegus (i. 1846); C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (2nd ed. 1897).
AGATHO, pope from 678 to 681, was born in Sicily. He is noteworthy as the pope who ordered St Wilfrid to be restored to his bishopric at York in 679, and as the first to cease payment of the tribute hitherto paid on election to the emperor at Constantinople. It was during his pontificate that the 6th oecumenical council was held at Constantinople, to which he sent his legates and those from a Roman council held in 679. Agatho died on the 10th of January 681.
AGATHOCLES (361-289 B.C.), tyrant of Syracuse, was born at Thermae Himeraeae (mod. Termini Imerese) in Sicily. The son of a potter who had removed to Syracuse, he learned his father's trade, but afterwards entered the army. In 333 he married the widow of his patron Damas, a distinguished and wealthy citizen. He was twice banished for attempting to overthrow the oligarchical party in Syracuse (q.v.); in 317 he returned with an army of mercenaries under a solemn oath to observe the democratic constitution which was then set up. Having banished or murdered some 10,000 citizens, and thus made himself master of Syracuse, he created a strong army and fleet and subdued the greater part of Sicily. War with Carthage followed. In 310 Agathocles, defeated and besieged in Syracuse, took the desperate resolve of breaking through the blockade and attacking the enemy in Africa. After several victories he was at last completely defeated (306) and fled secretly to Sicily. After concluding peace with Carthage, Agathocles styled himself king of Sicily, and established his rule over the Greek cities of the island more firmly than ever. Even in his old age he displayed the same restless energy, and is said to have been meditating a fresh attack on Carthage at the time of his death. His last years were harassed by ill-health and the turbulence of his grandson Archagathus, at whose instigation he is said to have been poisoned; according to others, he died a natural death. He was a born leader of mercenaries, and, although he did not shrink from cruelty to gain his ends, he afterwards showed himself a mild and popular ``tyrant.''
See Justin xxii., xxiii.; Diodorus Siculus xix., xxi., xxii. (follows generally Timaeus who had a special grudge against Agathocles); Polybius ix. 23; Schubert, Geschichte des Agathokles (1887); Grote, History of Greece, ch. 97; also SICILY, History. AGATHODAEMON; in Greek mythology, the ``good spirit'' of cornfields and vineyards. It was the custom of the Greeks to drink a cup of pure wine in his honour at the end of each meal (Aristophanes, Equites, 106). He was also regarded as the protecting spirit of the state and of individuals. He was often accompanied by 'Agathe Tuche (good fortune), and in this aspect may be compared with the Roman Bonus Eventus (Pliny, Nat Hist. xxxvi. 23), and Genius. He is represented in works of art in the form of a serpent, or of a young man with a cornucopia and a bowl in one hand, and a poppy and ears of corn in the other.
See Gerhard, Uber Agathodamon und Bona Dea (Berlin, 1849).
AGATHODAEMON, of Alexandria, map designer, probably lived in the 2nd century A.D. Some MSS. of the Geography of Ptolemy contain twenty-seven maps, which are stated to have been drawn by Agathodaemon of Alexandria, who ``delineated the whole world according to the eight books of Ptolemy's geography.'' As Ptolemy speaks of IIinakes to accompany his treatise, these maps were probably the work of a contemporary acting under his instructions. About 1470 Nicolaus Doris, a Benedictine monk, brought out a revised edition of them, the names being inserted in Latin instead of Greek.
See Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography, ii.
AGATHON (c. 448-400 B.C.), Athenian tragic poet, friend of Euripides and Plato, best known from his mention by Aristophanes (Thesmophoriazusae) and in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for a tragedy (416). He probably died at the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia. He introduced certain innovations, and Aristotle (Poetica, 9) tells us that the plot of his 0Antho1 was original, not, as usually, borrowed from mythological subjects.
See Aristophanes, Thesmoph. 59, 106, Eccles. 100; Plato, Symp. 198 c; Plutarch, Symp. 3; Aelian, Var. Hist. xiv. 13; Ritsch, Opuscula, i.; fragments in Nauck, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta.
AGATHYRSI, a people of Thracian origin, who in the earliest historical times occupied the plain of the Maris (Maros), in the region now known as Transylvania. Thyrsi is supposed to be a Scythian form of Trausoi (Trausi), a Thracian tribe mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium. They are described by Herodotus (iv. 104) as of luxurious habits, wearing gold ornaments (the district is still auriferous) and having wives in common. They tattooed their bodies (picti, Aeneid iv. 136), degrees of rank being indicated by the manner in which this was done, and coloured their hair dark blue. Like the Gallic Druids, they recited their laws in a kind of sing-song to prevent their being forgotten, a practice still in existence in the days of Aristotle (Problemata, xix. 28). Valerius Flaccus (Argonautica, vi. 135) calls them Thyrsagetae, probably in reference to their celebration of orgiastic rites in honour of some divinity akin to the Thracian Dionysus. In later times the Agathyrsi were driven farther north, and their name was unknown to the Romans in their original home.
[26]. 88; Pomponius Mela ii. 1. 10: W. Tomaschek, ``Die alten Thraker,'' in Sitzungsber. der philosophisch-historischen Klasse der kaiserl. Akad. der Wiss. cxxviii. (Vienna, 1893).
AGAVE, a large botanical genus of the natural order Amaryllidaceae, chiefly Mexican, but occurring also in the southern and western United States and in central and tropical South America. The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves generally ending in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; the stout stem is usually short, the leaves apparently springing from the root. They grow slowly and flower but once after a number of years, when a tall stem or ``mast'' grows from the centre of the leaf rosette and bears a large number of shortly tubular flowers. After development of fruit the plant dies down, but suckers are frequently produced from the base of the stem which become new plants. The most familiar species is Agave americana (see fig.), a native of tropical America, the so-called century plant or American aloe (the maguey of Mexico). The number of years before flowering occurs depends on the vigour of the individual, the richness of the soil and the climate; during these years the plant is storing in its fleshy leaves the nourishment required for the effort of flowering. During the development of the inflorescence there is a rush of sap to the base of the young flowerstalk. In the case of A. americana and other species this is used by the Mexicans to make their national beverage, pulque; the flower shoot is cut out and the sap collected and subsequently fermented. By distillation a spirit called mescal is prepared. The leaves of several species yield fibre, as for instance, A. rigida var. sisalana, sisal hemp (q.v.), A. decipiens, false sisal hemp; A. americana is the source of pita fibre, and is used as a fibre plant in Mexico, the West Indies and southern Europe. The flowering stem of the last named, dried and cut in slices, forms
Agave americana, Century plant or American aloe. About 1/40 nat. size. 1, Flower; 2, same flower split open above the ovary; 3, ovary cut across; 1, 2, and 3, about 1/2 nat. size.
From the Botanical Magazine, by permission of Lovell Reeve and Co.
natural razor strops, and the expressed juice of the leaves will lather in water like soap. In the Madras Presidency the plant is extensively used for hedges along railroads. Agave americana, century plant, was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century and is now widely cultivated for its handsome appearance; in the variegated forms the leaf has a white or yellow marginal or central stripe from base to apex. As the leaves unfold from the centre of the rosette the impression of the marginal spines is very conspicuous on the still erect younger leaves. The plants are usually grown in tubs and put out in the summer months, but in the winter require to be protected from frost. They mature very slowly and die after flowering, but are easily propagated by the offsets from the base of the stem.
AGDE, a town of southern France, in the department of Herault, on the left bank of the river of that name, 2 1/2 m. from the Mediterranean Sea and 32 m. S.W. of Montpellier on the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) 7146. The town lies at the foot of an extinct volcano, the Montagne St Loup, and is built of black volcanic basalt, which gives it a gloomy appearance. Overlooking the river is the church of St Andre, which dates partly from the 12th century, and, till the Revolution, was a cathedral. It is a plain and massive structure with crenelated walls, and has the aspect of a fortress rather than of a church. The exterior is diversified by arched recesses forming machicolations, and the same architectural feature is reproduced in the square tower which rises like a donjon above the building. The Canal du Midi, or Languedoc canal, uniting the Garonne with the Mediterranean, passes under the walls of the town, and the mouth of the Herault forms a harbour which is protected by a fort. The maritime commerce of the town has declined, owing partly to the neighbourhood of Cette, partly to the shallowness of the Herault. The fishing industry is, however, still active. The chief public institutions are the tribunal of commerce and the communal college.
Agde is a place of great antiquity and is said to have been founded under the name of agathe polis (Good City) by the Phocaeans. The bishopric was established about the year 400 and was suppressed in 1790.
SYNOD OF AGDE (Concilium Agathense.)—With the permission of the West Goth Alaric II. thirty-five bishops of southern Gaul assembled in person or sent deputies to Agde on the 11th of September 506. Caesarius, bishop of Arles, presided. The forty seven genuine canons of the synod deal with discipline, church life, the alienation of ecclesiastical property and the treatment of Jews. While favouring sacerdotal celibacy the council laid rather rigid restrictions on monasticism. It commanded that the laity communicate at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide. The canons of Agde are based in part on earlier Gallic, African and Spanish legislation; and some of them were re-enacted by later councils, and found their way into collections such as the Hispana, Pseudo-Isidore and Gratian.
See Mansi viii. 319 ff.; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, 2nd edition, ii. 649 ff. (English translation, iv. 76 ff.); Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, i. 242.
AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas), a term used (1) of the divisions into which it is suggested that human history may be divided, whether regarded from the geological, cultural or moral aspects, e.g. the palaeolithic age, the bronze age, the dark ages; (2) of an historic epoch or generation; (3) of any period or stage in the physical life of a person, animal or thing; (4) of that time of life at which the law attributes full responsibility for his or her acts to the individual.
(1) From the earliest times there would appear to have been the belief that the history of the earth and of mankind falls naturally into periods or ages. Classical mythology popularized the idea. Hesiod, for example, in his poem Works and Days, describes minutely five successive ages, during each of which the earth was peopled by an entirely distinct race. The first or golden race lived in perfect happiness on the fruits of the untilled earth, suffered from no bodily infirmity, passed away in a gentle sleep, and became after death guardian daemons of this world. The second or silver race was degenerate, and refusing to worship the immortal gods, was buried by Jove in the earth. The third or brazen race, still more degraded, was warlike and cruel, and perished at last by internal violence. The fourth or heroic race was a marked advance upon the preceding, its members being the heroes or demi-gods who fought at Troy and Thebes, and who were rewarded after death by being permitted to reap thrice a year the free produce of the earth. The fifth or iron race, to which the poet supposes himself to belong, is the most degenerate of all, sunk so low in every vice that any new change must be for the better. Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, follows Hesiod exactly as to nomenclature and very closely as to substance. He makes the degeneracy continuous, however, by omitting the heroic race or age, which, as Grote points out, was probably introduced by Hesiod, not as part of his didactic plan, but from a desire to conciliate popular feeling by including in his poem the chief myths that were already current among the Greeks. Varro recognized three ages: (1) from the beginning of mankind to the Deluge, a quite indefinite period; (2) from the Deluge to the First Olympiad, called the Mythical Period; (3) from the First Olympiad to his own time, called the Historic Period. Lucretius divided man's history into three cultural periods: (1) the Age of Stone; (2) the Age of Bronze; (3) the Age of Iron. He thus anticipated the conclusions of some of the greatest of modern archaeologists.
(2) A definite period in history, distinguished by some special characteristic, such as great literary activity, is generally styled, with some appropriate epithet, an age. It is usual, for example, to speak of the Age of Pericles, the Augustan, the Elizabethan or the Victorian Ages; of the Age of the Crusades, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Age of Steam. Such isolated periods, with no continuity or necessary connexion of any kind, are obviously quite distinct from the ages or organically related periods into which philosophers have divided the whole course of human history. Auguste Comte, for instance, distinguishes three ages according to the state of knowledge in each, and he supposes that we are now entering upon the third of these. In the first age of his scheme knowledge is supernatural or fictitious; in the second it is metaphysical or abstract; in the third it is positive or scientific. Schemes somewhat similar have been proposed by other philosophers, chiefly of France and Germany, and seem to be regarded by them as essential to any complete science of history.
(3) The subject of the duration of human and animal life does not fall within the scope of this article, and the reader is referred to LONGEVITY. But the word ``age'' has been used by physiologists to express certain natural divisions in human development and decay. These are usually regarded as numbering five, viz. infancy, lasting to the seventh year; childhood to the fourteenth; youth to the twenty-first; adult life till fifty; and old age.
(4) The division of human life into periods for legal purposes is naturally more sharp and definite than in physiology. It would be unscientific in the physiologist to name any precise year for the transition from one of his stages to another, inasmuch as that differs very considerably among different nations, and even to some extent among different individuals of the same nation. But the law must necessarily be fixed and uniform, and even where it professes to proceed according to nature, must be more precise than nature. The Roman law divided human life for its purposes into four chief periods, which had their subdivisions—(1) infantia, lasting till the close of the seventh year; (2) the period between infantia and pubertas, males becoming puberes at fourteen and females at twelve; (3) adolescentia, the period between puberty and majority; and (4) the period after the twenty-fifth year, when males became majores. The first period was one of total legal incapacity; in the second period a person could lawfully do certain specified acts, but only with the sanction of his tutor or guardian; in the third the restrictions were fewer, males being permitted to manage their own property, contract marriage and make a will; but majority was not reached until the age of twenty-five. By English law there are two great periods into which life is divided—infancy, which lasts in both sexes until the twenty-first year, and manhood or womanhood. The period of infancy, again, is divided into several stages, marked by the growing development both of rights and obligations. Thus at twelve years of age a male may take the oath of allegiance; at fourteen both sexes are held to have arrived at years of discretion, and may therefore choose guardians, give evidence and consent or disagree to a marriage. A female has the last privilege from the twelfth year, but the marriage cannot be celebrated until the majority of the parties without the consent of parents or guardians. At fourteen, too, both sexes are fully responsible to the criminal law. Between seven and fourteen there is responsibility only if the accused be proved doli capax, capable of discerning between right and wrong, the principle in that case being that malitia supplet aetatem. At twenty-one both males and females obtain their full legal rights, and become liable to all legal obligations. A seat in the British parliament may be taken at twenty-one. Certain professions, however, demand as a qualification in entrants a more advanced age than that of legal man. hood. In the Church of England a candidate for deacon's orders must be twenty-three (in the Roman Catholic Church, twenty-two) and for priest's orders twenty-four years of age; and no clergyman is eligible for a bishopric under thirty. In Scotland infancy is not a legal term. The time previous to majority, which, as in England, is reached by both sexes at twenty-one, is divided into two stages: pupilage lasts until the attainment of puberty, which the law fixes at fourteen in males and twelve in females; minority lasts from these ages respectively until twenty-one. Minority obviously corresponds in some degree to the English years of discretion, but a Scottish minor has more personal rights than an English infant in the last stage of his infancy, e.g he may dispose by will of movable property, make contracts, carry on trade, and, as a necessary consequence, is liable to be declared a bankrupt. In France the year of majority is twenty-one, and the nubile age eighteen for males and fifteen for females, with a restriction as to the consent of guardians. Age qualification for the chamber of deputies is twenty-five and for the senate forty years. In Germany, majority is reached at twenty-one, the nubile age is twenty for males and sixteen for females, subject to the consent of parents. Without the consent of parents, the age is twenty-five for males and twenty-four for females. The age qualification for the Reichstag is twenty-five. In Austria the age of majority is twenty-four, and the nubile age fourteen for either sex, subject to the consent of the parents. In Denmark, qualified majority is reached at eighteen and full majority at twenty-five. The nubile age is twenty for males and sixteen for females. In Spain, majority is reached at twenty-three; the nubile age is eighteen for males and sixteen for females. In Greece the age of majority is twenty-one, and the nubile age sixteen for males and fourteen for females. In Holland the age of majority is twenty-one, and the nubile age eighteen for males and sixteen for females. In Italy, majority is reached at twenty-one; the nubile age is eighteen for males and fifteen for females. In Switzerland the age of majority is twenty, and the nubile age is eighteen for males and sixteen for females. In the United States the age qualification for a president is thirty-five, for a senator thirty and for a representative twenty-five.
AGELADAS, or (as the name is spelt in an inscription) HAGELAIDAS, a great Argive sculptor, who flourished in the latter part of the 6th and the early part of the 5th century B.C. He was specially noted for his statues of Olympic victors (of 520, 516, 508 B.C.); also for a statue at Messene of Zeus, copied on the coins of that city. Ageladas was said to have been the teacher of Myron, Phidias and Polyclitus; this tradition is a testimony to his wide fame, though historically doubtful. We have no work of Ageladas surviving; but we have an inscription which contains the name of his son Argeiadas.
AGEN, a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Lot-et-Garonne, 84 m. S.E. of Bordeaux by the Southern railway between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Pop. (1906) 18,640. It is skirted on the west by the Garonne itself, and on the north by its lateral canal. The river is crossed by a stone bridge, by a suspension bridge for foot-passengers, and by a fine canal bridge, carrying the lateral canal. Pleasant promenades stretch for some distance along the right bank. The town is a medley of old narrow streets contrasting with the wide modern boulevards which cross it at intervals. The chief building in Agen is the cathedral of St Caprais, the most interesting portion of which is the apse of the 12th century with its three apse-chapels; the transept dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, the nave from the 14th to the 16th centuries; the tower flanking the south facade is modern. The interior is decorated with modern paintings and frescoes. There are several other churches, among them the church of the Jacobins, a brick building of the 13th century, and the church of St Hilaire of the 16th century, which has a modern tower. In the prefecture, a building of the 18th century, once the bishop's palace, is a collection of historical portraits. The hotel de ville occupies the former Hotel du Presidial, an obsolete tribunal, and contains the municipal library. Two houses of the 16th century, the Hotel d'Estrades and the Hotel de Vaurs, are used as the museum, which has a rich collection of fossils, prehistoric and Roman remains, and other antiquities and curiosities. The poet Jacques Jasmin was a native of the town, which has erected a statue to him. Through its excellent water communication it affords an outlet for the agricultural produce of the district, and forms an entrepot of trade between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Agen is the seat of a bishop. It is the seat of a court of appeal and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce and a chamber of commerce. There are also ecclesiastical seminaries, lycees for boys and girls, training-colleges, a school of commerce and industry, and a branch of the Bank of France. Agen is the market for a rich agricultural region. The chief articles of commerce are fattened poultry, prunes (pruneaux d'Agen) and other fruit, cork, wine, vegetables and cattle. Manufactures include flour, dried plums, pate de foie gras and other delicacies, hardware, manures, brooms, drugs, woven goods tiles.
Agen (Aginnum) was the capital Of the Celtic tribe of the Nitiobroges, and the discovery of extensive ruins attests its importance under the Romans. In later times it was the capital of the Agenais. Its bishopric was founded in the 4th century. Agen changed hands more than once in the course of the Albigensian wars, and at their close a tribunal of inquisition was established in the town and inflicted cruel persecution on the heretics. During the religious wars of the 16th century Agen took the part of the Catholics and openly joined the League in 1589.
See Labenazie, Histoire de la ville d'Agen et pays d'Agenois, ed. by A.-G. de Dampierre (1888); A. Ducom, La Commune d'Agen: essai sur son histoire et son organisation depuis son origine jusqu'au traite de Bretigny (1892).
AGENAIS, or AGENOIS, a former province of France. In ancient Gaul it was the country of the Nitiobroges with Aginnum for its capital, and in the 4th century it was the Civitas Agennensium which was a part of Aquitania Secunda and which formed the diocese of Agen. Having in general shared the fortunes of Aquitaine during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods, Agenais next became an hereditary countship in the part of the country now called Gascony (Vasconia.) In 1038 this countship was purchased by the dukes of Aquitaine and counts of Poitiers. The marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine with Henry Plantagenet in 1152 brought it under the sway of England; but when Richard Coeur-de-Lion married his sister Joan to Raymund VI., count of Toulouse, in 1196, Agenais formed part of the princess's dowry; and with the other estates of the last independent count of Toulouse it lapsed to the crown of France in 1271. This, however, was not for long; the king of France had to recognize the prior rights of the king of England to the possession of the countship, and restored it to him in 1279. During the wars between the English and the French in the 14th and 15th centuries, Agenais was frequently taken and retaken, the final retreat of the English in 1453 at last leaving the king of France in peaceable possession. Thenceforth Agenais was no more than an administrative term. At the end of the ancien regime it formed part of the ``Gouvernement'' of Guienne, and at the Revolution it was incorporated in the department of Lot-et-Garonne, of which it constitutes nearly the whole. The title of count of Agenais, which the kings of England had allowed to fall into desuetude, was revived by the kings of France, and in 1789 was held by the family of the dukes of Richelieu.
There is no good history of Agenais; that published by Jules Andrieu in 1893 (Histoire de l'Agenais, 2 vols.) being quite inadequate. The Bibliographie generale de l'Agenais, by the same author (1886-1891, 3 vols.), may be found useful. (C. B.n)
AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act), a name applied generally to, any person who acts for another. It has probably been adopted from France, as its function in modern civil law was otherwise expressed in Roman jurisprudence. Ducange (s.v. Agentes) tells us that in the later Roman empire the officers who collected the grain in the provinces for the troops and the household, and afterwards extended their functions so as to include those of government postmasters or spies, came to be called agentes in rebus, their earlier name having been frumentarii. In law an agent is a person authorized, expressedly or impliedly, to act for another, who is thence called the principal, and who is, in consequence of, and to the extent of, the authority delegated by him, bound by the acts of his agent. (See PRINCIPAL AND AGENT; FACTOR, &c.)
In Scotland the procurators or solicitors who act in the preparation of cases in the various law-courts are called agents. (See SOLICITOR.)
In France the agents de change were formerly the class generally licensed for conducting all negotiations, as they were termed, whether in commerce or the money market. The term has, however, become practically limited to those who conduct transactions in public stock. The laws and regulations as to courtiers, or those whose functions were more distinctly confined to transactions in merchandise, have been mixed up with those applicable to agents de change. Down to the year 1572 both functions were free; but at that period, partly for financial reasons, a system of licensing was adopted at the suggestion of the chancellor, l'Hopital. Among the other revolutionary measures of the year 1791, the professions of agent and courtier were again opened to the public. Many of the financial convulsions of the ensuing years, which were due to more serious causes, were attributed to this indiscriminate removal of restrictions, and they were reimposed in 1801. From that period regulations have been made from time to time as to the qualifications of agents, the security to be found by them and the like. They are now regarded as public officers, appointed, with certain privileges and duties, by the government to act as intermediaries in negotiating transfers of public funds and commercial stocks and for dealing in metallic currency. (See STOCK EXCHANGE: France.)
In diplomacy the term ``agent'' was originally applied to all ``diplomatic agents,'' including ambassadors. With the evolution of the diplomatic hierarchy, however, the term gradually sank until it was technically applied only to the lowest class of ``diplomatic agents,'' without a representative character and of a status and character so dubious that, by the regulation of the congress of Vienna, they were wholly excluded from the immunities of the diplomatic service. (See DIPLOMACY.)
AGENT-GENERAL, the term given to a representative in England of one of the self-governing British colonies. Agents-general may be said to hold a position mid-way between agents of provinces and ambassadors of foreign countries. They are appointed, and their expenses and salaries provided, by the governments of the colonies they represent, viz. Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Transvaal, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, New Zealand and Canada (whose representatives are termed high commissioners). Their duties are to look after the political and economic interests of their colonies in London, to assist in all financial and commercial matters in which their colonies may be concerned, such as shipping arrangements and rates of freight, cable communications and rates, tenders for public works, &c., and to make known the products of their colonies. Those colonies which are not under responsible government are represented in London by crown agents.
AGESANDER, a Rhodian sculptor, whose title to fame is that he is mentioned by Pliny (Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 37) as author (with Polydorus and Athenodorus) of the group of the Laocoon. Inscriptions recently found at Lindus in Rhodes date Agesander and Athenodorus to the period 42-21 B.C. The date of the Laocoon seems thus finally settled, after long controversy. It represents the culmination of a sentimental or pathetic tendency in art, which is prominent in the somewhat earlier sculpture of Pergamum. (See GREEK ART.)
AGESILAUS II., king of Sparta, of the Eurypontid family, was the son of Archidamus II. and Eupolia, and younger step-brother of Agis II., whom he succeeded about 401 B.C. Agis had, indeed, a son Leotychides, but he was set aside as illegitimate, current rumour representing him as the son of Alcibiades. Agesilaus' success was largely due to Lysander, who hoped to find in him a willing tool for the furtherance of his political designs; in this hope, however, Lysander war disappointed, and the increasing power of Agesilaus soon led to his downfall. In 396 Agesilaus was sent to Asia with a force of 2000 Neodamodes (enfranchized Helots) and 6000 allies to secure the Greek cities against a Persian attack. On the eve of sailing from Aulis he attempted to offer a sacrifice, as Agamemnon had done before the Trojan expedition, but the Thebans intervened to prevent it, an insult for which he never forgave them. On his arrival at Ephesus a three months' truce was concluded with Tissaphernes, the satrap of Lydia and Caria, but negotiations conducted during that time proved fruitless, and on its termination Agesilaus raided Phrygia, where he easily won immense booty since Tissaphernes had concentrated his troops in Carla. After spending the winter in organizing a cavalry force, he made a successful incursion into Lydia in the spring of 395. Tithraustes was thereupon sent to replace Tissaphernes, who paid with his life for his continued failure. An armistice was concluded between Tithraustes and Agesilaus, who left the southern satrapy and again invaded Phrygia, which he ravaged until the following spring. He then came to an agreement with the satrap Pharnabazus and once more turned southward. It was said that he was planning a campaign in the interior, or even an attack on Artaxerxes himself, when he was recalled to Greece owing to the war between Sparta and the combined forces of Athens, Thebes, Corinth, Argos and several minor states. A rapid march through Thrace and Macedonia brought him to Thessaly, where he repulsed the Thessalian cavalry who tried to impede him. Reinforced by Phocian and Orchomenian troops and a Spartan army, he met the confederate forces at Coronea in Boeotia, and in a hotly contested battle was technically victorious, but the success was a barren one and he had to retire by way of Delphi to the Peloponnese. Shortly before this battle the Spartan navy, of which he had received the supreme command, was totally defeated off Cnidus by a powerful Persian fleet under Conon and Pharnabazus.
Subsequently Agesilaus took a prominent part in the Corinthian war, making several successful expeditions into Corinthian territory and capturing Lechaeum and Piraeum. The loss, however, of a mora, which was destroyed by Iphicrates, neutralized these successes, and Agesilaus returned to Sparta. In 389 he conducted a campaign in Acarnania, but two years later the Peace of Antalcidas, which was warmly supported by Agesilaus, put an end to hostilities. When war broke out afresh with Thebes the king twice invaded Boeotia (378, 377), and it was on his advice that Cleombrotus was ordered to march against Thebes in 371. Cleombrotus was defeated at Leuctra and the Spartan supremacy overthrown. In 370 Agesilaus tried to restore Spartan prestige by an invasion of Mantinean territory, and his prudence and heroism saved Sparta when her enemies, led by Epaminondas, penetrated Laconia that same year, and again in 362 when they all but succeeded in seizing the city by a rapid and unexpected march. The battle of Mantinea (362), in which Agesilaus took no part, was followed by a general peace: Sparta, however, stood aloof, hoping even yet to recover her supremacy. In order to gain money for prosecuting the war Agesilaus had supported the revolted satraps, and in 361 he went to Egypt at the head of a mercenary force to aid Tachos against Persia. He soon transferred his services to Tachos's cousin and rival Nectanabis, who, in return for his help, gave him a sum of over 200 talents. On his way home Agesilaus died at the age of 84, after a reign of some 41 years.
A man of small stature and unimpressive appearance, he was somewhat lame from birth, a fact which was used as an argument against his succession, an oracle having warned Sparta against a ``lame reign.'' He was a successful leader in guerilla warfare, alert and quick, yet cautious—a man, moreover, whose personal bravery was unquestioned. As a statesman he won himself both enthusiastic adherents and bitter enemies, but of his patriotism there can be no doubt. He lived in the most frugal style alike at home and in the field, and though his campaigns were undertaken largely to secure booty, he was content to enrich the state and his friends and to return as poor as he had set forth. . The worst trait in his character is his implacable hatred of Thebes, which led directly to the battle of Leuctra and Sparta's fall from her position of supremacy.
See lives of Agesilaus by Xenophon (the panegyric of a friend), Cornelius Nepos and Plutarch; Xenophon's Hellenica and Diodorus xiv., xv. Among modern authorities, besides the general histories of Greece, J. C. F. Manso, Sparta, iii. 39 ff.; G. F. Hertzberg, Das Leben des Konigs Agesilaos II. von Sparta (1856); Buttmann, Agesilaus Sohn des Archidamus (1872); C. Haupt, Agesilaus in Asien (1874); E. von Stern, Geschichte der spartanischen und thebanischen Hegemonie (1884). (M. N. T.)
AGGLOMERATE (from the Lat. agglomerare, to form into a ball, glomus, glomeris), a term used in botany, meaning crowded in a close cluster or head, and, in geology, applied to the accumulations of coarse volcanic ejectamenta such as frequently occur near extinct or active volcanoes. Agglomerates in the geological sense, with which this article is concerned, consist typically of blocks of various igneous rocks, mixed often with more or less material of rudimentary origin and embedded in a finer-grained matrix, similar in nature to the coarser fragments. As distinguished from ordinary ash beds or tuffs, they are essentially coarser, less frequently well-bedded; they are less persistent and tend to occur locally, but may attain a very great thickness. Showers of fine ash may be distributed over a wide area of country and will form thin layers of great extent. Coarser accumulations gather only near the actual foci of eruption (craters, fissures, &c.). When the activity of a volcanic vent comes to an end, the orifice is often choked by masses of debris, which will in time become compacted into firm agglomerates. Hence rocks of this type very commonly mark the sites of necks, the remains of once-active volcanic craters. In this connexion they are of especial interest to geologists, as it is always important to be able to locate the exact points at which volcanic products, such as lavas and ash-beds, were emitted.
The blocks in agglomerates vary greatly in size. Some are thirty or forty feet in diameter, and weigh many tons; these are usually pieces of the strata through which the volcano has forced an outlet. They are never far from the crater; most of them, in fact, lie within its boundaries, and cases are known in which enormous masses of this kind (half an acre in area) have been found in such situations. They are masses which have been dislodged, by fissures and landslides, from the crater's walls and have tumbled into the cavity. Pieces of sandstone, limestone and shale occur in the agglomerates mixed with volcanic materials, and very often have been baked and partly recrystallized by contact with the hot igneous rocks and the gases discharged by the volcano. At Vesuvius such blocks of altered limestone are rich in new minerals and are well known to collectors.
Agglomerates also are usually full of volcanic bombs. These are spongy globular masses of lava which have been shot from the crater at a time when liquid molten lava was exposed in it, and was frequently shattered by the sudden outbursts of steam. These bombs were more or less viscous at the moment of ejection and by rotation in the air acquired their spheroidal form. They are commonly one or two feet in diameter, but specimens as large as nine or twelve feet have been observed. There is less variety in their composition at any volcanic centre than in the case of the foreign blocks above described. They correspond in nature to the lava which at the time fills the crater of the volcano, and as this varies only very slowly the bombs belong mostly to only a few kinds of rock and are similar in composition to the lava flows.
Crystalline masses of a different kind occur in some numbers in certain agglomerates. They consist of volcanic minerals very much the same as those formed in the lavas, but exhibiting certain peculiarities which indicate that they have formed slowly under pressure at considerable depths. Hence they bear a resemblance to plutonic igneous rocks, but are more correctly to be regarded as agglomerations of crystals formed within the liquid lava as it slowly rose towards the surface, and at a subsequent period cast out by violent steam explosions. The sanidinites of the Eifel belong to this group. At Vesuvius, Ascension, St Vincent and many other volcanoes, they form a not inconsiderable part of the coarser ash-beds. Their commonest minerals are olivine, anorthite, hornblende, augite, biotite and leucite.