Abdallah
BEN-ABD-EL-MOTTA- LIB, father of Mohammed, born at Mecca, A. D. 545; died 570. The paternity of the Prophet is Abdallah's sole claim to distinction.
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Single-source entries: A (3)
Each of these 13 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.
Abdelazys
An Arabian astrologer of the tenth century, generally known in Europe by his Latin name of Alchabitius. His treatise on astrology was so much prized that it was translated into Latin and printed in 1473. Other editions have since appeared, the best being that of Venice (1503) entitled Alchabitius cum commento. Translated by John of Seville. (Hispalensis.)
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Abdera
A city of Thrace, at the mouth of the Nestus. Though Abdera was the birthplace of some famous men, among them Anaxarchus, Democritus , and Protagoras , yet the citizens of this place in general had such a reputation for stupidity that Cicero styles Rome, on account of the stupidity of the Senators, another Abdera (Ep. ad Att. 4, 16); and Juvenal calls Abdera itself "the native land of blockheads." Under the Romans Abdera became a free city, and continued so as late as the time of Pliny.
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Abdication
the relinquishment of an office, and particularly the throne, without a formal resignation. It differs from resignation, which is applied to the giving back by a person into the hands of a superior an office to which that superior appointed him; while in abdication one, theoretically without an earthly superior in the country, relinquishes what came to him at first by act of law. ABDOMEN (1) That portion of the trunk which in man commences beneath, and in mammalia behind, the diaphragm, and terminates at the extremity of the pelvis. The abdominal cavity is the largest in the human body. It is lined with a serous membrane, called the peritoneum. It contains the liver, with the gall-bladder, under its right lobe, the stomach, the pancreas, the spleen, the two kidneys, the bladder and the intestines. The more highly organized of the inferior animals have a similar struc ture. (2) In entomology, the whole posterior division of the body of an insect, united to the thorax by a small knot or attachment, well seen in the wasp. It includes the back as well as the parts below. Externally it is made up of a series of rings.
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Abdominals
an order of malacopterygious fishes, having the ventral fins under the abdomen behind the pectorals, as the trout. They comprehend the greater part of fresh water fishes, and constitute the fourth order of the fourth class of animals in the Linnæan system.
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Abduction
the act of abducing or abducting; a taking or drawing away, and specifically an unlawful taking. In law, the forcible and fraudulent taking away of women or girls.
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Abductor
a muscle, the office of which is to pull back or draw the member to which it is affixed from some other. The antagonist is called adductor. In law, a person guilty of abduction.
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Abdul-Medjid
a Sultan of Turkey, born April 23, 1822; succeeded to the throne July 1, 1839, at the early age of 17, eight days after the battle of Nezib, in which the troops of the Sultan Mahmoud II. were defeated by Ibrahim- Pasha. The interference of the allied powers alone prevented the empire from dismemberment at this juncture. The great event of his reign was the Crimean War, in which France and England allied themselves with Turkey against the encroachments of Russia, and which was terminated by the fall of Sebastopol after a long siege, in 1856. He was succeeded by his brother, Abdul-Aziz Khan. He died June 25, 1861.
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Abdurrahman Khan
Ameer of Afghanistan, was born in 1845, the eldest son of Ufzul zul Khan, and nephew of the Ameer Shere Ali. During the civil war, in 1864, in Afghanistan, the great vicand Khelat-i-Ghilzai tories of Shaikhabad were mainly due to his ability. In 1868, however, he was unable to offer a successful resistance to his cousin, Yakoub Khan, who defeated him at Tinah Khan. Abdurrahman then fled from the country. The Russian General Kaufmann permitted him to reside at Samarcand. Here he remained until 1879, when he slowly made his way through Balkh to the Kabul frontier, and in July of 1880 he was formally chosen by the leading men of Kabul and acknowledged by the British Indian Government as Ameer of Afghanistan. In March, 1900, he made an official declaration of his sympathy with England. Died Oct. 1, 1901, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Habibullah Khan. À BECKET, THOMAS. See BECKET.
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Abecedarians
a-be-ce-da'ri-ans, a German Anabaptist sect of the sixteenth century. The leaders claimed to have received direct revelations from God. They rejected all other knowledge, even the a-b-c's. They regarded learning not only as unnecessary, but as a hindrance to religious growth. They prophesied that all recognized governments would be overthrown. An Abecedarian is defined as one who is teaching the alphabet, or who is learning his a-b-c-d's. The Abecedarians appear to have been so called because they were not abecedarians.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Abel
the second son of Adam and brother of Cain. The latter was a tiller of the ground; Abel, a shepherd. Both brought their offerings before the Lord; first-fruits of the ground; Abel, Cain, the the firstlings of the flock. God accepted of the offering of Abel; the offering Cain he rejected. The latter, instigated by envy, murdered his brother in the field.
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Aben-Ragel
An Arabian astrologer, born at Cordova, at the beginning of the fifth century. He was the author of a book of horoscopes according to the inspection of the stars, a Latin translation of which was published at Venice, 1485, under the title of De Judiciis seu fatis stellarum. It was said that his predictions were fulfilled in a remarkable manner.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Abencerrages
the name given by Spanish chroniclers to a noble family in the Moorish kingdom of Granada, several of whom distinguished themselves immediately before the fall of the Mahommedan empire in Spain. Their struggles with the family of the Zegris, and tragical destruction in the royal palace of the Alhambra, in Granada (1466-1484), seem to be destitute of historical foundation. On these events, Chateaubriand has written a charming work of fiction, "Les aventures du dernier Abencerrage."
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