an abdication may be presumed and acted on by the people, if his conduct politically and overtly is inconsistent with, and subversive of, the system of constitutional government, of which the qualified monarchy of his office forms part. Thus, in the case of James II., it was disputed whether the king had 'abdicated' or 'deserted.' At the conference between the two Houses of Parliament previous to the passing of the statute which settled the crown on William III., it would appear that the word 'abdicated' was advisedly used instead of deserted '-the meaning, it is presumed, being that James had not only deserted his office, but that by his acts and deeds, of which the said desertion formed part, he had, in view of the constitution, ceased to have right to the throne. From this it may be inferred that abdication was considered to have a twofold political signification, involving maladministration as well as desertion. The Scotch Convention, however, more vigorously and distinctly resolved that King James had forfeited the crown, and the throne was become vacant.'

Abdomen. The trunk of the human body is divided by the diaphragm into two cavities-the upper being the thorax or chest, and the lower, the abdomen or belly. Both the cavity and the viscera

Organs of the Chest and Abdomen:

A, B, lungs; C, heart; 00, diaphragm; P, liver; Q, gallbladder; R, spleen; S, stomach; TUV, colon; W, W, small intestines.

it contains are included in the term abdomen. It is subdivided into two parts, the abdomen proper, and the pelvis, or basin. The former contains the liver, pancreas, spleen, and kidneys, as well as the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine or colon; the latter, the lowest part of the cavity, contains the lower bowel or rectum, the urinary bladder, and internal organs of generation. The abdomen is lined by a serous membrane, the peritoneum, which is folded over the viscera, allowing them a certain freedom of movement, but keeping them in their proper relations to each other. For the purpose of making accurate reference to the position of the contained organs, the abdomen

ABDUCTION

proper is artificially divided externally by two horizontal lines into three principal zones-the upper, the middle, and the lower. These are again subdivided by two vertical lines into nine areasthe three lateral divisions upon either side being named from above downwards, the hypochondriac, lumbar, and iliac regions respectively; while the names epigastric, umbilical, and hypogastric, are applied from above downwards to the three mesial

areas.

ABDOMEN, in Entomology, the posterior of the three parts into which the body of an insect is divided. See INSECTS.

Abduction. In the older systems of law, abduction meant the unlawful taking away of a free person, or of a slave belonging to another. Thus, the buying of a free person was punishable by the criminal law of Rome under the name of plagium, which is still used in Scotland for the theft of children. Substantially, however, in modern times, abduction, except in the special cases of voters and witnesses, is confined to the case of women and children. In England, Kidnapping (q.v.) includes the theft of any person, but is more properly applied to the taking away beyond the seaswhereby the person loses the protection of his own laws. For this the technical term in Scotland is abduction. In England, abduction technically means the taking away of a woman either against her own will, or (in the case of a woman under the age of 21) against the will of her parents or guardians. The common forms of the crime are defined in the Criminal Law Consolidation Act, 1861. Where the woman is taken by force or fraud with a view to marriage or seduction, the heavy penalty of fourteen years' penal servitude may be inflicted, with the forfeiture of the husband's property rights, if marriage has taken place. The mere abduction of an unmarried girl under 16 from her parents or guardians, is punishable by two years' imprisonment; and under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1886, such taking of a girl under 18 with a view to seduction meets with the same punishment, provided there was no reason to suppose the girl was above 18. Under the same Act, the detention of any woman or girl against her will for improper purposes, meets with the same punishment; the common case being that clothes are withheld from girls who desire to leave improper houses. The abduction of a married woman is, under an old English statute, separately punishable by two years' imprisonment and fine. The abduction of children under 14 is technically known in England as child-stealing, and is punishable by fourteen years' penal servitude as a maximum. The mother of a child, or the father of a bastard, is in no case chargeable with the offence. Generally, the offence of abduction is more often committed by decoying and fraudulent arts than by force. In Scotland, the plagium is more comprehensive than the English child-stealing, as it applies to all cases of children under puberty, whatever the motive may be.

In the United States, abduction is the taking and carrying away of a child, a ward, a wife, &c. by fraud, persuasion, or open violence. Every one who takes away any female under the age of 18 years from her father, mother, guardian, or other person having the legal charge of her person, without her consent for the purpose of prostitution, is guilty of a felony. The gist of the offence is the enticing and carrying away. In abduction for the purpose of marriage, it is not necessary to use physical force or violence, nor is it any defence that the abductor really believed, or had reason to believe, the girl to be over 16. A child under the age of 14 years is incapable of giving her consent. Abduction throughout the United States is a felony, and punished by fine, in some states,

ABD-UL-AZIZ

not exceeding ten thousand dollars, and by separate or solitary confinement at labour for a period not exceeding twenty-five years.

Abd-ul-Aziz, the thirty-second sultan of the Ottoman Turks, was born February 9, 1830, the younger son of Sultan Mahmud II. (see TURKEY), and succeeded his brother, Abd-ul-Medjid, in 1861. At first he showed himself liberal-minded and open to western ideas; but the promise of economy and reform was illusory, and ere long the sultan began to spend vast sums on his army, the embellishment of his capital, on hunting, and on costly journeys. Spite of this, reforms were long hoped for, especially after his visit to Western Europe in 1867. His government had great difficulties to contend with in the Cretan insurrection, the struggle of Roumania and Servia for full autonomy, and finally the outbreak of Mohammedan fanaticism. In 1871 the sultan strove to get the succession settled upon his son, instead of his nephew Murad in accordance with Turkish custom. He next entered into intrigues with Russia, and plunged ever into deeper financial difficulties, while his stupid misgovernment alienated the provinces, and fed, in 1875, to risings in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. At last a conspiracy forced him to dismiss his minister, and next to abdicate the throne, 30th May 1876. Four days later, the unhappy sultan was found dead, it is almost certain by foul play.

Abd-ul-Latif, a celebrated Arabian writer, was born at Bagdad in 1162. By way of education he committed to memory the Koran, the chief poets, and not a few grammatical treatises. To complete his culture he betook himself to Damascus, where the famous Saladin had gathered round him the most learned men of the time. He then settled in Egypt for some years, and taught medicine and philosophy at Cairo; he afterwards lectured at Damascus. His numerous works were mainly on medicine; but his best-known book is a valuable descriptive work on Egypt, translated into Latin by White (Oxford, 1800), and into French by De Sacy (1810). He died at Bagdad in 1231, on his Mecca.

way to

Abd-ul-Medjid, the Grand Sultan, was born 23d April 1823, and succeeded his father, Mahmud II., in 1839. The Turkish empire was then in a very dangerous position. Its army had been defeated and dispersed by the Egyptians in the battle of Nisib, and there was nothing to hinder the victorious Ibrahim Pasha from advancing on Constantinople, where a large party were favourable to the Egyptian power under Mehemet Ali. Had it not been for the intervention of the Christian powers, the house of Othman was lost. The treaty of 1840, from which France kept aloof, obliged Mehemet Ali to submit; and the treaty of 1841, to which France subsequently adhered, settled securely the future dependent relation of Egypt to Turkey. The sultan, on the advice of Reshid Pasha, proceeded in the path of reform begun by his father, and by the famous hatti-sherif of November 3, 1839, promised equal protection to all his subjects irrespective of their creed. Numerous reforms followed, but many of his decrees had but little effect, as the sultan lacked energy both of body and mind. He acted a chivalrous part in 1850 in refusing, at the risk of losing his throne, to give up Kossuth and the other political refugees to the menaces of Russia and Austria, and he had a specially difficult part to play during the war with Russia (1854-56), and the diplomatic negotiations consequent to it. From this time, the sultan sunk into unworthy indolence, and allowed public affairs to drift into financial ruin, until he entirely lost the affection of his subjects. He died 25th June 1861.

Abd-ur-Rahman, sultan of Fez and Morocco, born 1778, succeeded his uncle in 1823. His first four years of rule were occupied in quelling insurrections. Next, some danger to the state of Morocco was threatened by the refusal of Austria to pay the tribute for safety against pirates; but the sultan wisely adjusted the dispute by relinquishing this sort of blackmail, formerly levied by Morocco on European ships in the Mediterranean. The religious war under Abd-el-Kader against the French in Algeria involved the sultan in its movements. The piratical habits of his subjects brought him to the brink of war with more than one European state. He died in 1859.-The same name, also spelt Abd-al-Rahman and Abderrahman, is the name of the leader of the Saracens defeated at Tours in 732 by Charles Martel (q.v.), and of the first Ommiad calif of Cordova (755-788). See CALIF, SPAIN (p. 601); also AFGHANISTAN.

Abecedarians, a small sect among the Anabaptists in Germany in the 16th century, noted for their dislike to learning. They thought it best not even to learn to read, as a knowledge of the Scriptures was all that was necessary, and this was communicated by the Holy Spirit direct to the believer without the medium of the written word. À Becket, THOMAS. See BECKET.

À Beckett, GILBERT ABBOTT, born in London, 9th January 1811, and educated at Westminster School, in 1841 was called to the bar, in 1849 beBoulogne, 30th August 1856. came a metropolitan police magistrate, and died at Punch, the Times, the Morning Herald, and the Besides writing for Illustrated News, he was author of Quizziology of the British Drama, The Comic Blackstone, and Comic Histories of England and Rome, the second illustrated by Cruikshank, the last two by Leech.

Abel (from the Heb. hebel, 'breath'), the second son of Adam, was, according to the account in Genesis, slain by his elder brother Cain, jealous because his offering had been rejected by Jehovah, and Abel's accepted. The New Testament speaks of 'righteous Abel,' and the Epistle to the Hebrews makes the acceptance of Abel's sacrifice due to his faith. The Christian Church has, in all ages, regarded Abel as a type of innocence and faith, and the Bible record has been variously supplemented by the Rabbins and by the Koran.

Some

Abel, SIR FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, a well-known chemist, was born in London in 1827. He chiefly devoted himself to the science of explosives, expounding his discoveries and investigations in Guncotton (1866); The Modern History of Gunpowder; On Explosive Agents; Researches in Explosives; and Electricity applied to Explosive Purposes (1884). He further wrote, in conjunction with Colonel Bloxam, a Handbook of Chemistry. of his researches are mentioned in the articles He has held GUN-COTTON, and GUNPOWDER. important posts as chemist to the War Department and Ordnance Committees, and was made C. B. in 1877, K.C.B. and D.C.L. in 1883, and a baronet in 1893. He was appointed secretary to the Imperial Institute in 1887, and was president of the British Association in 1890.

Abel, KARL FRIEDRICH, a German musician, born at Koethen in 1725. He was a pupil of Sebastian Bach, and in 1758 he came to England, where ere long he was appointed chamber-musician to the January 1787.

of George III. He died in London, 22d

Abel, NIELS HENRIK, one of the ablest and acutest mathematicians of modern times, was born at Findö, Christiansand, 5th August 1802. He became a lecturer at the university of Christiania,

and the school of engineering there. His works deal mainly with the theory of elliptical functions, which his discoveries greatly enriched. He died 6th April 1829. See Life by Bjerknes (Fr. trans. 1885). Ab'elard (Fr. Abelard or Abailard; Lat. Abalardus), PETER, the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th century, was born at Pallet or Palais, near Nantes, in 1079. Resigning his prospects as eldest son of a noble Breton house, he chose the career of a scholar. During the wanderings of his studenthood, he heard Roscellin, the champion of extreme Nominalism (q.v.), and was a pupil of William of Champeaux, one of the foremost of the Realist teachers. His singular gifts as a dialectician soon enabled him to encounter his master in debate, and he speedily met with brilliant success as a scholastic lecturer. In or about 1115 he became William's successor in the school of Notre-Dame; and for a few years he enjoyed a repute and influence such as few teachers have ever had. Amongst the pupils his teaching helped to mould were not a few of the greatest men of the age: Pope Celestine II., Peter Lombard, Berengar, and Arnold of Brescia. But Abelard's fall from prosperity and power was sudden and rapid. Within the precincts of NotreDame lived Héloïse, the niece of the canon Fulbert, then seventeen years of age, and already remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments. She soon kindled in the breast of Abelard, then thirty-eight years old, an overwhelming passion, which was returned by Héloïse with no less fervour. By the uncle's choice, Abelard became Héloïse's tutor and an inmate of the same house, and the lovers were happy together until Abelard's glowing love songs reached the ears of the canon. He sought to separate the lovers; but it was too late. They fled together to Brittany, where Héloïse bore a son, and was privately married to Abelard with the consent of her uncle. Not long after, Héloïse returned to Fulbert's house, and with singular self-devotion denied the marriage, that her love might be no hindrance to Abelard's advancement in the church. When shortly after Héloïse fled to the convent of Argenteuil, Fulbert, enraged at her husband's connivance, caused him to be brutally mutilated, so that he might be made canonically incapable of ecclesiastical preferment. In deep humiliation, Abelard entered the abbey of St Denis as monk; Héloïse took the veil at Argenteuil. Ere long a synod at Soissons (1121) condemned his teaching on the Trinity as heretical, and ordered him to be confined for a time.

In the hermit's hut at Nogent-sur-Seine, to which he retired, Abelard was soon again besieged by importunate disciples; the hermitage became a monastic school known as Paraclete, which, when Abelard was invited to become abbot of St Gildas-de-Rhuys in Brittany, was given to Héloïse and a sisterhood under her care. In his abbey Abelard maintained for ten years a struggle with disorderly and unfriendly monks, and at last fled from the hopeless task. Freed from his charge by the pope, he now devoted himself to the revision of all his works. When he ventured again to appear in public as a teacher, his theological adversaries, headed by Bernard of Clairvaux (q.v.), accused him of numerous heresies, of which he was found guilty by a council at Sens and by the pope. On his way to Rome to defend himself he died, reconciled ere death to his opponents, and absolved by the pope, at the priory of St Marcel, near Chalon, 21st April 1142. His remains were given into the keeping of Héloïse, whose own were twenty years afterwards laid beside them. From Paraclete, the ashes of both were taken to Paris in 1800, and in 1817 were buried in one sepulchre at Père la Chaise, where still they lie.-Abelard |

ABERCORN

In

did more than any other to develop and fix that method of joint philosophising and theologising which was characteristic of the great Scholastics (q.v.); it was Abelard who made Aristotle the almost exclusive basis of theological dialectics. In the question of the universals (see NOMINALISM), he took a place between the extreme Nominalists and the thoroughgoing Realists. opposition not merely to the unreasoning devotion of Bernard and the mystics, but as against the systematic dogmatism of Anselm, he taught that only that faith is well assured which is founded on reason. 'Understand that thou mayest believe' was his motto, not Believe that thou mayest understand.' His ethical system he set down in the work Nosce teipsum. Sic et Non is a curious collection of direct contradictions on important points gathered from the Fathers.

See monographs by Rémusat (Paris, 1845), Carriere (Giessen, 1853), Wilkens (Göttingen, 1855), Sauerland (Frankf. 1879), Deutsch (Leip. 1883), and Compayré (trans. 1893). The story of his life forms the subject of a remarkable drama by Rémusat; and the still extant correspondence between Abelard and Héloïse suggested to Pope his Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard. The best collective edition of Abelard's works is by Cousin (2 vols. 1849-59).

Abele. See POPLAR.

Abelmoschus. See HIBISCUS.

Abencerra'ges, a noble Moorish family which came to Spain in the 8th century, and were named from Jusuf ben Serragh. Their struggles with the family of the Zegris, and tragical destruction in the royal palace of the Alhambra, in Granada, in the time of Abu Hassan (1466-84), the last but one of the kings of Granada, furnish the materials Perez de Hita's Historia de las Guerras Civiles de for the legend, probably unhistorical, found in Granada (1694). On this Chateaubriand based his romance, Les Aventures du dernier des Abencerages, which furnished Cherubini with the text

of an opera.

He visited

Aben-Ezra, properly Abraham-Ben-Meir-BenEzra, born 1093 at Toledo, died 1168 in Rome, was one of the most learned Jews of his time, distinguished for his knowledge of philosophy, matheFrance, Egypt, and England, and passed the later matics, astronomy, and medicine. years of his life in Rome; everywhere giving lectures on grammar, theology, and astronomy. He left treatises on astrology and some poems; but his most important works are his Commentaries on

the Old Testament.

Aber is a Celtic word which enters into the composition of several names of places, chiefly in It indicates the mouth or Wales and Scotland. embouchure of a stream, either into the sea, or into another river-as Aberbrothock, at the mouth of the Brothock, in Forfarshire; Abergavenny, at the junction of the Usk and Gavenny, in Wales.

Aberavon, or PORT TALBOT, a parliamentary and municipal borough and seaport, in Glamorgan, on the Avon, near its mouth in Swansea Bay, 32 miles W. of Cardiff. The valley of the Avon is shut in by lofty hills, while every available space Hence is occupied by copper and iron works. comes the metal of which our copper coinage is made. The town has a good harbour and docks. For parliamentary purposes, Aberavon is one of the Swansea boroughs. Pop. of municipal borough (1881) 4875; (1891) 6281.

Abercorn, a Linlithgowshire hamlet, near the Firth of Forth, and 34 miles W. of South Queensferry. Here stood the monastery of Aebbercurnig, or Eoricorn, which, founded about 675, was from 681 to 685 the seat of a bishopric, the earliest in Scotland. For the ducal title of Abercorn, see HAMILTON.

polishing works in the kingdom. There are also several large paper-works within a short distance of the town. Wooden shipbuilding was formerly a prosperous industry, the Aberdeen clipper-bow ships being celebrated as fast sailers; but since 1860 they have been gradually superseded by iron or steel steamships; and, owing to Aberdeen's remoteness from coal and iron, its shipbuilding now is greatly contracted. Connected with Aberdeen, which has always been a celebrated seat of learning, have been the names of Barbour, Boece, Jameson, Gregory, Reid, Beattie, Campbell, Byron, Skinner, Hill Burton, W. Dyce, J. Phillip, and Sir A. Anderson, to whose provostship (1859-66) belongs the introduction of the water-supply. Pop. of the parliamentary burgh, which since 1885 has returned two members, (1801) 26,992; (1841) 63,288; (1881) 105,003; (1891) 121,623.

See works on Aberdeen by Joseph Robertson (1839), J. Cooper (1893); Ella Roger (1893); W. Robbie (1894), and on the University, by Rev. S. Rait (1895).

Aberdeenshire, the fifth in size of the Scottish counties, has a maximum length of 85 and breadth of 47 miles, with 62 miles of sea-coast, and an area of 1971 square miles. It falls into five districts (proceeding from south-west to northeast-Mar, Strathbogie, Garioch, Formartine, and Buchan. Aberdeenshire is generally hilly, and in the south-west (Braemar) entirely mountainous, the Grampians running along the south side, and branching off to the north-east and north. The loftiest summits here are Ben Muich-Dhui (next to Ben Nevis, the highest hill in the British Isles), 4296 feet; Cairntoul, 4241; Cairngorm, 4084; Benabourd, 3924; Lochnagar, 3786: whilst northward rise Bennachie, 1698; the Buck of Cabrach, 2368; and Mormond Hill, 769. The predominant rocks are granite and gneiss. The granite is very durable, and is much used for building and polishing. The chief rivers are the Dee (87 miles long), Don (82 miles), and Ythan (35 miles), which run eastward into the North Sea; and the Deveron (61 miles), which runs north-east into the North Sea.

The Ythan yields the pearl-mussel, but rarely pearls of any value. Clay soils predominate near the coast, loamy soils near the centre, and poor, gravelly, sandy, and peaty soils elsewhere. The most fertile parts lie between the Don and Ythan, and in the north-east angle of the county. Nowhere in the kingdom have the natural disadvantages of soil and climate been more successfully overcome. The chief towns and villages are Aberdeen, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Kintore, Inverurie, Turriff, Ballater, and Castleton. The county returns two members to parliament; the city of Aberdeen, two; and the burghs of Peterhead, Kintore, and Inverurie, with Elgin, Cullen, and Banff, one. About 37 per cent. of the area of Aberdeenshire is cultivated, the chief crops being oats, barley, and turnips; whilst nearly 8 per cent. is under wood. A speciality of its agriculture is the exceptionally large proportion of small holdings. Aberdeenshire produces oneseventh of the cattle reared in Scotland, and is unsurpassed in breeding and feeding stock. Its principal breed is the Polled Angus. The fisheries on the coast are very productive, and Peterhead is the East Coast centre of this industry. The munificent Dick and Milne bequests for parochial schoolmasters early gave Aberdeenshire a high place in the statistics of education. Balmoral (q. v.) is the principal mansion; and amongst the antiquities are the ruins of Kildrummie Castle and the Abbey of Deer. Pop. (1801) 121,065; (1841) 192,387; (1881) 267,990; (1891) 281,331. See A. Smith's New History of Aberdeenshire (2 vols. 1875), and the publications of the Spalding Club (1841-71; 1887 et seq.).

ABERNETHY

Aberdeen, GEORGE HAMILTON GORDON, EARL OF, was born at Edinburgh, 28th January 1784. He was educated at Harrow and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he took his M.A. in 1804. Before this, on succeeding to the earldom in 1801, he made a tour through Greece; hence Byron's well-known line: "The travelled thane, Athenian Aberdeen.' In 1806 he was elected one of the Scotch representative peers, and entered the House of Lords as a Tory. In 1813 he was appointed ambassador to the Austrian court, and conducted the negotiations which led to the alliance of that power with Britain. At this time he formed the close friendship with Prince Metternich which so decidedly influenced his subsequent policy as a statesman. On the conclusion of the war, he was raised to the British peerage as Viscount Gordon. In 1828 he took office in the new Wellington ministry. The general principle which guided his policy, as Foreign Secretary, was that of non-interference in the internal affairs of foreign states, which, joined to his well-known sympathy with such statesmen as Metternich, exposed him-not always justlyto the suspicion of hostility to the cause of popular liberty. His gradual abandonment of high Tory principles was evinced by his support of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and of the Catholic Emancipation Act. For eleven years after the fall of the Wellington ministry he remained out of office, with the exception of his brief administration of the Colonial Office in the Tory government of 1834-5. In 1841 he again became Foreign Secretary, his chief services as such being the conclusion of the Chinese war, the Ashburton Treaty, and the Oregon Treaty. M. Guizot was at that time foreign minister in France, and the two statesmen acted in cordial alliance. Lord Aberdeen's Act, in 1843, for removing doubts regarding the admission of ministers to benefices in Scotland, could not heal the Disruption, and was virtually repealed by the Act for the Abolition of Patronage, 1874. Like Peel, he was honestly converted to free-trade principles, and with Peel he resigned in 1846, immediately after the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1852, on the resignation of Lord Derby, the state of parties necessitated a coalition, and Lord Aberdeen was selected as the fittest man to head the new ministry, which for some time was extremely popular. The feeble and vacillating policy displayed in the conduct of the Crimean war gradually undermined its stability, and the gross mismanagement of the commissariat in the winter of 1854 filled up the measure of the popular discontent. Mr Roebuck's motion, calling for inquiry, was carried by a strong majority; and on 1st February 1855, Lord Aberdeen resigned office. He published an Essay on Greek Architecture (1822). He died in London, December 13, 1860. See Life by Hon. Sir A. Gordon (1893).

Aberdevine, a name of the Siskin (q.v.).

Aberfeldy, a pleasant village of Perthshire, near the S. bank of the Tay, and 32 miles NW. of Perth by rail. The neighbouring Falls of Moness are celebrated in Burns's Birks of Aberfeldy. The embodiment of the Black Watch here in 1740, was in 1887 commemorated by a monument. Pop. 1260.

market-town of Monmouthshire, at the influx of Abergavenny (the Roman Gobannium), a the Gavenny to the Usk, 13 miles W. of Monmouth. It has remains of an old castle and of a neighbourhood. Pop. (1881) 7285; (1891) 7640. priory. There are collieries and iron-works in the

Abergeldie Castle, the Aberdeenshire seat of the Prince of Wales, on the Dee's right bank, 6 miles W. of Ballater, and 2 ENE. of Balmoral. Abernethy, a small police-burgh of Perthshire, near the Earn's influx to the Tay, 8 miles SE. of