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    Frans van Aarsens

    Aarsens (Frans van) (1572-1641). A Dutch diplomat. At twenty-six years of age he was sent to Paris as the agent of the States-General; later he became ambassador for the United Provinces, and long represented his country at the French Court, where he was highly regarded by Richelieu. He was also at...

    Ivar Andreas Aasen

    Aasen (Ivar Andreas) (1813-96). A Norwegian philologist. He was born, at Söndmöre. He at first studied botany, but subsequently turned his attention to researches respecting the native dialects. Assisted by the Government, he traversed nearly the whole of Norway, investigating popular speech, upon...

    Aasvär

    Islands off Norway, about latitude 66° (Map: Norway, D 3). They have herring fisheries, in which more than 10,000 men are employed in December and January, but for the rest of the year they are almost deserted. The fish is the great Nordland herring, and the catch often reaches 200,000 tons in a...

    The Abbassides

    Caliphs of Bagdad, and the most celebrated Moslem dynasty, although their rule never extended over the whole of Islam, as had that of the Ommiads (q.v.). It was never acknowledged in Spain and only nominally in Africa outside of Egypt. Theirs was, however, the true caliphate, notwithstanding the rival...

    Henry Larcom Abbot

    , (1831—). An American soldier and engineer. He was born at Beverly, Mass., and graduated at the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1854, entering the corps of engineers, in which he served with distinction until his retirement in 1895. He was engaged in the survey for the Pacific Railroad...

    Charles Conrad Abbott

    (1843—). An American archæologist and naturalist, born at Trenton, N. J. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and served as a surgeon in the Federal Army during the Civil War. From 1876 to 1889 he was assistant curator of the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Mass., to which he presented...

    Johann Philipp Abelin

    (?-1633?). A German historian. He wrote under the names Philipp Arlanibäus, Abeleus, and Johann Ludwig Gottfried, or Gothofredus. He produced a number of works still consulted, including the Arma Sueciea (1631-34), and the Inventarium Sueciæ (1632), descriptions of military events of the time. He...

    Abolitionists

    (Lat. abolitio, an annulling, from abolere, to check the growth). The term used in the United States, after 1835 and until the Civil War, for those opponents of slavery who were the most intense in their desire to secure the immediate emancipation of the blacks. Others avowed their “anti-slavery”...

    Academic Legion

    A name applied particularly to an armed body of students who participated in the uprising of 1848 in Vienna; also more generally to similar student companies elsewhere in the revolutionary disturbances of that year.

    Achelous

    Achelous, (Gk. Ἀχελῷος, Achelōos, now called Aspropotamos, i.e., White River, from the cream color of its waters). The largest river in Greece (Map: Greece, C 5). It rises in Mount Pindus, flows southward, separating Ætolia from Acarnania, and falls into the Ionian Sea. It is over 100 miles...

    Johann Achen

    (1552-1615). A German painter. He was born at Cologne, studied there and under Kaspar Rems at Venice, and in 1590 entered the service of the Bavarian court. At the invitation of the Emperor, Rudolph II., he afterward went to Prague. His style is formal but skillful. His works include a “Crucifixion”...

    Andreas Achenbach

    (1815—). A German landscape and marine painter. He was born at Cassel, studied under Schirmer at Düsseldorf, and is one of the most distinguished painters of the Düsseldorf School. He painted chiefly in the Rhine country, Holland, and Norway, and produced realistic works. He received a medal of...

    Oswald Achenbach

    (1827-1905). A German landscape painter. He was born in Düsseldorf, and was the brother and pupil of Andreas Achenbach. He painted in the Bavarian Alps, Switzerland, and Italy. His conception of nature was more ideal than that of his brother. Many of his pictures are in the United States.

    Achene

    (Gk. ἀ, a, priv. + χαίνειν, chainein, to gape). A seed-like fruit such as is characteristic of the great family of Compositæ, to which belong sunflowers, thistles, dandelions, etc. The pits of the strawberry and the small fruits forming a head in the centre of a buttercup are also achenes.

    Angel

    (Gk. (ἄγγελος), angelos, messenger). The English word denotes a superhuman being intermediate between God and man. But the original meaning was simply that of a “messenger,” either human or superhuman. It is doubtful whether the word was used at all in preexilic times as a designation...

    Batavia

    Properly the name of tbe island occupied by the ancient Batavi. At a later date it became the Latin name for Holland. The name Batavian Republic was given to the Netherlands on their new organization by the French in May, 1795, and they continued to bear it till they were converted into the Kingdom...