Aurora Leigh
le, the heroine of a narrative poem of the same name by Mrs. Browning. See Browning ; Elizabeth Barrett
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: A (95)
Each of these 10 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.
Ausable Chasm
a picturesque and popular American summer resort, in New York State; 12 miles from Plattsburg, and 1 mile from Keeseville. It is an isolated formation, wholly independent of, and disconnected from, any other similar panorama. At the beginning of the chasm, the river is hemmed into a channel not more than 10 feet wide by walls of rock from 100 to 200 feet high. Lower down the walls gradually spread apart till in some places there is a distance between them of 50 feet, and then extend with sharp turns and occasional enlargements for nearly 2 miles. The trip through the chasm may be made in a small boat or on foot.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Auscultation
the art of discovering diseases within the body by means of the sense of hearing. Being carried out most efficiently by means of an instrument called a stethoscope, it is often called mediate auscultation. It is used to study the natural sounds produced within the body, especially the action of the lungs and heart, both in health and disease. Its operation can be facilitated by percussion of the surface.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Auspices
among the Romans, omens, especially those drawn from the flight or other movements of birds, or, less properly, from the occurrence of lightning or thunder in particular parts of the sky. These were supposed to be indications of the will of heaven, and to reveal futurity. At first only the augurs took the auspices, but after a time civil officers, discharging important functions, had the right of doing so. Two kinds of auspices, however, arose a greater and a lesse ; the former reserved to dictators, consuls, censors, prætors, or the commander-inchief in war; the latter permitted to less exalted functionaries. The glory of a successful enterprise was universally assigned to the person who took the auspices, and not to the leader of the enterprise itself; hence, the phrase arose, to carry on a war "under the auspices the Emperor or some other high authority. " of
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Austatikco-Pauligaur
A class of Persian evil spirits. They are eight in number, and keep the eight sides of the world. Their names are as follows Indiren, the king of these genii; (2) Augne-Baugauven, the god of fire; (3) Eemen king of death and hell; (4) Nerudee, earth in the figure of a giant; (5) Vaivoo, god of the air and winds; (6) Varoonon, god of clouds and rain; (7) Gooberen, god of riches; (8) Essaunien. or Shivven. 66
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Austen, Jane
Jane (1775-1817), an English novelist. Her father was a rector who gave his daughter the best education at his command. Her novels read now seem to make much of little and to be the product of an amiable, refined, commonplace mind. The chief are Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. Miss Austen was buried at Winchester. Walter Scott was pleased to say of her work: "That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements, feelings, and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I have ever met with. The big bow-wow I can do myself like anyone going; but the exquisite touch, which renders common-place things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me."
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Auster
Called Notus by the Greeks, the south wind, or strictly the southwest wind. It frequently brought with it fogs and rain; but at certain seasons of the year it was a dry, sultry wind, injurious both to man and to vegetation, the Sirocco of the modern Italians.
Only in 1000 Classical Characters
Austin, Alfred
Alfred (1835-), an English poet, critic, and journalist, poet laureate of England. He was born at Headingly, near Leeds. He was educated at the University of London and called to the bar in 1857. For ten years he was editor of the National Review. He was made poet laureate on the death of Tennyson in 1896. Mr. Austin is the author of novels, political works, and many volumes of poems. Among them may be mentioned, The Season, a Satire, The Human Tragedy, Savonarola. In prose and verse are The Garden that I Love, In Lamia's Winter Quarters, and Haunts of Ancient Peace. Austin has severely criticised the poetry of his own period, calling it "feminine, narrow, domesticated, timorous." He demands the movement and passion of former eras, and yet his own poetry lacks decidedly both movement and passion. There is some diversity of opinion in regard to his verse, but it is conceded generally that his shorter poems are more acceptable than his pretentious efforts. The author's satirical interludes have point, and I have seen graceful lyrics from his pen; but his ambitious verse, on whatever principle composed, is not of the class that reaches the popular heart, nor likely, on the other hand, to capture a select group of votaries like those so loyal from the outset to Rossetti and Browning. --Stedman.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Austin, Stephen Fuller
Stephen Fuller (1792-1836), a Texan pioneer. From his father, Moses Austin of Connecticut, he inherited a grant from the Mexican government for the settlement of 300 American families somewhere in Texas. This colony Stephen located at what is now the city of Austin, the present capital of the state. When this and other American colonies had received a considerable number of settlers, they met in convention, and sent Austin to Mexico to request permission for the formation of a Mexican state, to be known as Texas. The evasive answer of the Mexican government, Santa Anna's invasion of the country, the siege of the Alamo, and Texan independence are all a part of the history of the Southwest. Austin did much for the new state and may be regarded justly as one of the American founders of empire. See Texas ; Alamo
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Australian Alps
a range of mountains in the S. E. of Australia, formerly part of the Great Dividing Range, stretching from the neighborhood of Melbourne, about 37° 40′ S., 145° 30′ E., to the S. E. of New South Wales, about 35° S., 149° E., over a length of about 400 miles, with a width of about 100 to AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH 352 150 miles. The highest peaks are in New South Wales, and the highest of all, according to Lendenfeld, is the peak called by him Mt. Townshend (7,353 feet), belonging to a group which he calls the Kosciusko group, the latter name having been previously applied to another peak (called Mueller's Peak by Lendenfeld), a few miles to the N. which was long believed to be the highest. The peaks next in height belong to the Bogong group in Victoria, and the W. of the Mitta Mitta, the highest of which is Mt. Bogong (6,508 feet). They do not reach the snow line, though snow lies in the higher valleys all the summer. Volcanic rocks cover the tableland to the S. of Mt. Bogong.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia