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VENUS'S FLY-TRAP (Dionaea muscipula), a remarkable insectivorous plant, a native of North and South Carolina, first described in 1768 by the American botanist Ellis, in a letter to Linnaeus, in which he gave a substantially correct account of the structure and ...

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 ...

ETRURIA, an ancient district of Italy, the extent of which varied considerably, and, especially in the earliest periods, is very difficult to define (see section Language). The name is the Latin equivalent of the Greek TuppTjna or Tupenji'ia, which is used by ...

THEATRE (dearpov, " a place for seeing," from BeaffOai), a building specially devised for dramatic representations. The drama arose from the choric dances in honour of Dionysus, which were held in a circular dancing-place (opx^orpo, Lat. orchestra) in his prec ...

TRAP-BALL, or KNUR AND SPELL (M. Eng. knurre, knot; Dan. spil, spindle), an old English game, which can be traced back to the beginning of the i4th century, and was commonly played in northern England as late as 1825, but has since been practically confined to ...

ANIMUCCIA. GIOVANNI. Italian musical composer, was born at Florence in the last years of the 1 5th century. At the request of St Filippo Neri he composed a number of Laudi, or hymns of praise, to be sung after sermon time, which have given him an accidental pr ...

ANTI-SEMITISM. In the political struggles of the concluding quarter of the igth century an important part was played by a religious, political and social agitation against the Jews, known as " Anti-Semitism." The origins of this remarkable movement already thr ...

ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.), the great Greek philosopher, was born at Stagira, on the Strymonic Gulf, and hence called " the Stagirite." Dionysius of Halicamassus, in his Epistle on Demosthenes and Aristotle (chap. 5), gives the following sketch of his life: — Ar ...

ARTERIES (Gr. apnrtpia, probably from alpeiv, to raise, but popularly connected by the ancients with ar/p, air), in anatomy, the elastic tubes which carry the blood away from the heart to the tissues. As, after death, they are always found empty, the older ana ...

ASTROLOGY, the ancient art or science of divining the fate and future of human beings from indications given by the positions of the stars (sun, moon and planets). The belief in a connexion between the heavenly bodies and the life of man has played an importan ...

ATHLETE (Gr. dflXTp^s; Lat. atUeta), in Greek and Roman antiquities, one who contended for a prize (aflXw) in the games; now a general term for any one excelling in physical strength. Originally denoting one who took part in musical, equestrian, gymnastic, or ...

ENERGY (from the Gr. tvlpytia; kv, in, tpyov, work), in physical science, a term which may be defined as accumulated mechanical work, which, however, may be only partially available for use. A bent spring possesses energy, for it is capable of doing work in re ...

SUN COPYING, or PHOTO COPYING, the name given to that branch of photographic contact printing which is carried out without the aid of a camera-made negative. It is now used very extensively for copying documents, especially the plans of architects and engineer ...

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 ...

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 ...

UTAH,1 one of the Central Western states of the United States of America. It lies between latitudes 37° and 42° N. and between longitudes 32° and 37° W. from Washington (i.e. about 109° i' 34* and 114° i' 34" respectively W. of Greenwich). The state is bounded ...

VENICE (Venezia), a city and seaport of Italy, occupying one of the most remarkable sites in the world. At the head of the Adriatic, between the mountains and the sea, lies that part of the Lombard plain known as the Veneto. The whole of this plain has been fo ...

SYMOND'S YAT, one of the most famous view points on the river Wye, England. At a point 9 m. above Monmouth and 1 2 m. below Ross by water, the Wye makes a sweep of nearly 5 m. round a peninsula whose neck is only some 600 yds. across. The peninsula is occupied ...

TRAVELLER'S TREE, a remarkable tree, native of Madagascar and Reunion, with a straight stem reaching 30 ft. in height and bearing at the top a number of large long-stalked leaves which spread vertically like a fan. The leaf has a large sheath at the base in wh ...

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 ...

ANGOULBMB, CHARLES DE VALOIS, DUKE OF (1573-1650), the natural son of Charles IX. of France and Marie Touchet, was born on the 28th of April 1573,31 the castle of Fayet in Dauphine. His father, dying in the following year, commended him to the care and favour ...

ANGRA, or ANGRA DO HEROISMO (" Bay of Heroism," a name given it in 1829, to commemorate its successful defence against the Miguelist party), the former capital of the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, and chief town of an administrative district, comprisin ...

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 ...

ANIMAL WORSHIP, an ill-defined term, covering facts ranging from the worship of the real divine animal, commonly conceived as a " god-body," at one end of the scale, to respect for the bones of a slain animal or even the use of a respectful name for the living ...

ANT-LION, the name given to neuroptcrous insects of the family \fyrmcltonidac, with relatively short and apically clubbed antennae and four large densely reticulated wings in which the apical veins enclose regular oblong spaces. The perfect insects are for the ...

ANTALCIDAS, Spartan soldier and diplomatist. In 393 (or 392 B.C.) he was sent to Tiribazus, satrap of Sardis, to undermine the friendly relations then existing between Athens and Persia by offering to recognize Persian claims to the whole of Asia Minor. The At ...

ANTANANARIVO, i.e. "town of a thousand" (Fr. spelling Tananarive), the capital of Madagascar, situated centrally as regards the length of the island, but only about 90 m. distant from the eastern coast, in 18° 55' S., 47° 30' E. It is 135 m. W.S.W. of Tamatave ...

ANTHOZOA (i.e. "flower-animals"), the zoological name for a class of marine polyps forming " coral " (?.».). Although corals have been familiar objects since the days of antiquity, and the variety known as the precious red coral has been for a long time an art ...

ANTHRAX (the Greek for " coal," or " carbuncle," so called by the ancients because they regarded it as burning like coal; cf. the French equivalent charbon; also known as fievre charbonneuse, Milzbrand, splenic fever, and malignant pustule), an acute, specific ...

ANTONINUS, SAINT [ANTONIO PIEROZZI, also called DE FORCIGLIONI] (1389-1459), archbishop of Florence, was born at that city on the ist of March 1389. He entered the Dominican order in his i6th year, and was soon entrusted, in spite of his youth, with the govern ...

ANTONINUS LIBERALIS, Greek grammarian, probably flourished about A.D. 150. He wrote a collection of forty-one tales of mythical metamorphoses (Merajuop</>a>crea>i' Swcrya^ij), chiefly valuable as a source of mythological knowledge. Westermann, Mythographi Crae ...

ANTONIUS, the name of a large number of prominent citizens of ancient Rome, of the gens Antonia. Antonius the triumvir claimed that his family was descended from Anton, son of Heracles. Of the Antonii the following are important. 1. MARCUS ANTONIUS (143-87 B.C ...

ANTRUSTION, the name of the members of the bodyguard or military household of the Merovingian kings. The word, of which the formation has been variously explained, is derived from the O.H.Germ. trost, comfort, aid, fidelity, trust, through the latinized form t ...

APOLOGETICS, in theology, the systematic statement of the grounds which Christians allege for belief in (at least) a supernatural revelation and a divine redemption (cf. e.g. Heb. i. 1-3). The majority of apologists in the past have further believed in an infa ...

APOPHYGE (Gr. aro^tryi}, a flying off), in architecture, the lowest part of the shaft of an Ionic or Corinthian column, or the highest member of its base if the column be considered as a w hole. The apophyge is the inverted cavetto or concave sweep, on the upp ...

APOPHYLUTB, a mineral often classed with the zeolites, since it behaves like these when heated before the blowpipe and has the same mode of occurrence; it differs, however, from the zeolites proper in containing no aluminium. It is a hydrous potassium and calc ...

APOSTOLIC FATHERS, a term used to distinguish those early Christian writers who were believed to have been the personal associates of the original Apostles. While the title " Fathers " was given from at least the beginning of the 4th century to church writers ...

... lora and fauna. Until comparatively recently, aquaria were little more than domestic toys, or thow-pUce» of a popular character, but they have now not only utumed a profound scientific importance for the convenient study of anatomical and physiological problem ...

ARABESQUE, a word meaning simply " Arabian," but technically used for a certain form of decorative design in flowing lines intertwined; hence comes the more metaphorical use of this word, whether in nature or in morals, indicating a fantastic or complicated in ...