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EQUATION OF THE CENTRE, in astronomy, the angular distance, measured around the centre of motion, by which a planet moving in an ellipse deviates from the mean position which it would occupy if it moved uniformly. Its amount is the correction which must be app ...

EQUATION OF TIME, the difference between apparent time, determined by the meridian passage of the real sun, and mean time, determined by the passage of the mean sun. It goes through a double period in the course of a year. Its amount varies a fraction of a min ...

the first three books were sent to Eudemus at intervals, as revised, and the later books were dedicated (after Kudcmus' death) t« King Attalus I. (241-197 B.C.). Only (our Books have survivril in (•n-ck, three more are extant in Arabic; the eighth has never be ...

AUGSBURG. WAR OP THE LEAGUE OF. the name applied to the European war of 1688-1697. The league of Augsburg was concluded on the gth of July 1686 by the emperor, the elector of Brandenburg and other princes, against the French. Spain, Sweden, England and other n ...

The practice of reserving the sacred elements for the purpose of subsequent reception prevailed in the church from very early times. The Eucharist being the seal of Christian fellowship, it was a natural custom to send portions of the consecrated elements by t ...

ASPERN-ESSLING. BATTLE OF (1809), a battle fought on the list and 22nd of May 1809 between the French and their allies under Napoleon and the Austrians commanded by the archduke Charles (see NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS). At the time of the battle Napoleon was in poss ...

ATHOLL, EARLS AND DUKES OF. The Stewart line of the Scottish earls of Atholl, which ended with the $th Stewart earl in 1595, the earldom reverting to the crown, had originated with Sir John Stewart of Balveny (d. 1512), who was created earl of Atholl about 145 ...

ARGUMENT, a word meaning " proof," " evidence," corresponding in English to the Latin word argumentum, from which it is derived; the originating Latin verb arguere, to make clear, from which comes the English " argue," is from a root meaning bright, appearing ...

ARSENIC (symbol As, atomic weight 75-0), a chemical element, known to the ancients in the form of its sulphides. Aristotle gave them the name aa.v5apa.Kii, and Theophrastus mentions them under the name apotviKov. The oxide known as white arsenic is mentioned b ...

ASTRONOMY (from Gr. ao-rpov, a star, and vtfitiv, to classify or arrange). The subject matter of astronomical science, considered in its widest range, comprehends all the matter of the universe which lies outside the limit of the earth's atmosphere. The seemin ...

TELEGRAPH (Gr. Tr/Xe, far, and ypafaiv, to write), the name given to an apparatus for the transmission of intelligence to a distance. Etymologically the word implies that the messages are written, but its earliest use was of appliances that depended on visual ...

TRISECTRIX, a curve which is a variety of the limacon (q.v.) of Pascal, and named from its property of trisecting an angle. The polar equation is r=i + 2 cos 6 and the form of the curve is shown in the figure. To trisect an angle by means of this curve, ov des ...

UNITED STATES, THE, the short title usually given to the great federal republic which had its origin in the revolt of the British colonies in North America, when, in the Declaration of Independence, they described themselves as " The Thirteen United States of ...

ANGUS, EARLS OP. Angus was one of the seven original earldoms of the Pictish kingdom of Scotland, said to have been occupied by seven brothers of whom Angus was the eldest. The Critic line ended with Matilda (fl. 1240), countess of Angus in her own right, who ...

ANHALT-DESSAU, LEOPOLD I., PRINCE OF (1676-1747), called the "Old Dessauer" (Alter Dessauer), general field marshal in the Prussian army, was the only surviving son of John George II. , prince of Anhalt-Dessau, and was born on the 3rd of July 1676 at Dessau. F ...

ANTHONY OF PADUA, SAINT (1195-1231), the most celebrated of the followers of Saint Francis of Assisi, was born at Lisbon on the i sth of August 1195. Inhisfifteenthyearheentered the Augustinian order, and subsequently joined the Franciscans in i 220. He wished ...

ANTRIM THE IBERIAN, a notable figure in the ecclesiastical history of Rumania. A Georgian by birth, he came to Rumania early in the second half of the iyth century, as a simple monk. He became bishop of Ramnicu in 1705, and in 1708 archbishop of Walachia. Taki ...

APOLLONIUS OF RHODES (RHODIUS), a Greek epic poet and grammarian, of Alexandria, who flourished under the Ptolemies Philopator and Epiphanes (222-181 B.C.). He was the pupil of Calh'machus, with whom he subsequently quarrelled. In his youth he composed the wor ...

APOLLONIUS OF TRALLES (in Caria), a Greek sculptor, who flourished in the 2nd century B.C. With his brother Tauriscus, he executed the marble group known as the Farnese Bull, representing Zethus and Amphion tying the revengeful Dirce to the tail of a wild bull ...

APOLLONIUS OF TYANA, a Greek philosopher of the NeoPythagorean school, born a few years before the Christian era. He studied at Tarsus and in the temple of Asclepius at Aegae, where he devoted himself to the doctrines of Pythagoras and adopted the ascetic habi ...

APOLLONIUS OF TYRE, a medieval tale supposed to be derived from a lost Greek original. The earliest mention of the story is in the Carmina (Bk. vi. 8, 11. 5-6) of Venantius Fortunatus, in the second half of the 6th century, and the romance may well date from t ...

ARGYLL. EARLS AND DUKES OF. The rise of this family of Scottish peers, originally the Campbells of Lochow, and first ennobled as Barons Campbell, is referred to in the article ARGYLLSHIRE. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, sth earl of Argyll (1530-' 573). was the elder son ...

ARUNDELL OF WARDOUR, THOMAS ARUNDELL, IST BARON (c. 1562-1639), son of Sir Mathew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, a member of the ancient family of Arundells of Lanhernc in Cornwall, and of Margaret, daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, was born about 15 ...

ASYLUM. RIGHT OF (Fr. droit d'asile; Ger. Asylrechf), in international law, the right which a state possesses, by virtue of the principle that every independent state is sole master within its boundaries, of allowing fugitives from another country to enter or ...

AUCKLAND. GEORGE EDEN, KABL OF (1784-1849), English statesman, was the second son of the ist Baron Auckland. He completed his education at Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. His elder brother was drowned in the Thames in the following year ; and in 1 ...

ERATOSTHENES OF ALEXANDRIA (c. ^(>-c. 194 B.C.), Greek scientific writer, was born at Cyrene. He studied grammar under Callimachus at Alexandria, and philosophy under the Stoic Ariston and the Academic Arcesilaus at Athens. He returned to Alexandria at the sum ...

EUOOXUS, of Cyzicus, Greek navigator, flourished about 130 B.C. He was employed by Ptolemy Euergetes, who sent out a fleet under him to explore the Arabian Sea. After two successful voyages, Eudoxus left the Egyptian service, and proceeded to Cadiz with the ob ...

EUGENE OF SAVOY [FRANCOIS EUGENE], PRINCE (16631736), fifth son of Prince Eugene Maurice of Savoy-Carignano, count of Soissons, and of Olympia Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin, was born at Paris on the i8th of October 1663 . Originally destined for the churc ...

EUSEBIUS OF LAODICEA, though not included among the saints, was noted for his saintly life. He was an Alexandrian by birth, and gained so great a reputation for his self-denial and charity that when in 262 the city was besieged by the troops of the emperor Gal ...

In February 1879 a slight outbreak of discharged officers and soldiers occurred at Cairo, which led to the despatch of British and French ships to Alexandria. On the 26th of June of that year Ismail Pasha was removed from Egypt, and Tewfik assumed the khedivia ...

SYNOD OF.) The grand duke also contemplated granting a form of constitution, but his Teutonic rigidity was not popular and many of his reforms were ahead of the times and not appreciated by the people. At the death of his brother, Joseph II., in 1790, Leopold ...

THE RESTORATION (1603-1689) The defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588 had been the final victory gained on behalf of the independence of the English church and state. The fifteen years which followed had been years of successful war; but they had been J££f* '' ...

The ancient Egyptian system of writing, so far as we know, originated, developed and finally expired strictly within the limits of the Nile Valley. The germ of its existence may have come from without, but, as we know it, it is essentially Egyptian and intende ...

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA (c. 350-428), early Christian theologian, the most eminent representative of the so-called school of Antioch, was born at Antioch about the middle of the 4th century and was a friend of John Chrysostom; in rhetoric the celebrated Libaniu ...

THEOGNIS OF MEGARA (6th century B.C.), Greek poet. More than half the elegiac poetry of Greece before the Alexandrian period is included in the 1400 lines ascribed to Theognis. This collection contains several poems acknowledged to have been composed by Tyrtae ...

THOMAS OF CELANO, Franciscan friar and disciple and biographer of St Francis of Assisi. Born at Celano in the Abruzzi, he joined St Francis probably about 1214, and he appears to have been one of the first band of friars who went into Germany. He was commissio ...

THOMAS OF MARGA, a Nestorian bishop and author of an important monastic history in Syriac, who flourished in the 9th century A.D. He was bom early in the century, probably of Persian parents, in the region of Salakh to the north-east of Mosul. As a young man h ...

ALBERT FREDERICK POLLARD, M.A., F.R.HisT.Soc. f Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford. Professor of English History in the University I of London. Assistant Editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, 1893-1901."] Author of England under the Protector Somer ...

ANGOLA, the general name of the Portuguese possessions on the west coast of Africa south of the equator. With the exception of the enclave of Kabinda (q.v.) the province lies wholly south of the river Congo. Bounded on the W. by the Atlantic Ocean, it extends ...

ANGOULEME. a city of south-western France, capital of the department of Charente, 83 m. N.N.E. of Bordeaux on the railway between Bordeaux and Poitiers. Pop. (1006) 30,040. The town proper occupies an elevated promontory, washed on the north by the Charente an ...