Art (Power of doing something not)
the power of doing something not taught by nature or instinct; as, to walk is natural, to dance is an art;power or skill in the use of knowledge; the practical application of the rules or principles of science. A system of rules to facilitate the performance of certain actions; contrivance; dexterity; address; adroitness. In esthetics, art as distinguished from science consists of the truths disclosed by that species of knowledge disposed in the most convenient order for practice, instead of the best order for thought. Art proposes to itself a given end, and, after defining it, hands it over to science. 1 Science, after investigating the causes and conditions of this end, returns it to art, with a theorem of the combination of circumstances under which the desired end may be effected. After receiving them, art requires whether any or all of those scientific combinations are within the compass of human power and human means, and pronounces the end inquired after obtainable or not. The grounds of every rule of art are to be found in the theorems of science. An art can then only consist of rules, together with as much of the speculative propositions (which lose all their speculative look as soon as they come into the artist's hands) as comprises the justification of those rules. Though art must
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Artemisium
promontory in a Euboea, an island of the Ægean, near which several naval battles between the Greeks and Persians were fought. ARTEMUS WARD. See BROWNE, CHARLES FARRAR.
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Artemus Ward. See BROWNE
CHARLES FARRAR.
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Artephius
A well-known exponent of the hermetic philosophy, who died in the twelfth century, and is said to have lived more than a thousand years by means of alchemical secrets. François Pic mentions the opinion of certain savants who affirm that Artephius is identical with Appolonius of Tyana, who was born in the first century under that name, and who died in the twelfth century under that of Artephius. Many extravagant and curious works are attributed to him: De Vita Propaganda (The Art of Prolonging Life) which he claims, in the preface, to have written at the age of a thousand and twenty-five years; The Key to Supreme Wisdom; and a work on the character of the planets, on the significance of the songs of birds, on things past and future, and on the Pilhosophers' Stone. Cardan spoke Ash Tree of these books, and believed that they were composed by some practical joker who wished to play on the credulity of the partisans of alchemy.
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Arteriosclerosis
a diseased condition of the arteries, arising in the internal coat as an inflammatory process, and resulting finally in the hardening of the muscular elastic coat. This produces an increase in the quantity of the connective tissue of the walls which results in a contraction of the blood vessels supplying the arteries. As a result these become weakened and ruptured. The disease is ineasily easily duced by a sedentary life and by overeating and drinking. In recent years it has become steadily more prevalent. ARTERY (from aer air, and tereo= to watch over; teros=a watch, a guard. So called because the ancients, finding that, in the dead bodies which they examined, the arteries were empty of blood, formed the idea that they were designed for the circulation of air through the system. The arteries are long, cylindrical tubes, with three coats, an external tunic commonly called the cellular coat, a middle or fibrous tunic or coat, and an epithelial tunic. The coating of the arteries is very elastic. The largest arteries which leave the heart are the aorta and the pulmonary artery; both spring from the base of the heart in front. They branch and anastomose to a large extent. The contractility of the arteries forces the blood to the extremities from the heart, the valves of which prevent its return.
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Artery
. See Circulation
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Arteveld
or ARTEVELDE (ar'tevelt, ar'te-vel-de), the name of two men distinguished in the history of the Low Countries. (1) JACOB VAN, a brewer of Ghent, born about 1300; was selected by his fellow townsmen to lead them in their struggles against Count Louis of Flanders. In 1338 he was appointed captain of the forces of Ghent, and for several years exercised a sort of sovereign power. A proposal to make the Black Prince, son of Edward III., of England, governor of Flanders led to an insurrection, in which Arteveld lost his life (1345). (2) PHILIP, son of the former, at the head of the forces of Ghent, gained a great victory over the Count of Flanders, Louis II., and for a time assumed the state of a sovereign prince. His reign proved short-lived. The Count of Flanders returned with a large French force. Arteveld was rash enough to meet them in the open field at Roosebeke, between Courtrai and Ghent, in 1382, and fell with 25,000 Flemings.
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Artful Dodger, The
The, a name applied to John Dawkins in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist . He is represented as a young pickpocket employed by Fagin, the Jew. He was so expert that the sobriquet was used almost to the exclusion of his rightful name. 2026 Editor's Note: The Artful Dodger slipped straight out of Dickens into the language: an 'artful dodger' is now anyone slyly evasive. Fagin's boy pickpocket has been played on stage and screen for over a century, most famously in the musical Oliver! — a charming rogue who nearly steals the novel as deftly as he picks pockets. (Ed: BR 2026-07-05)
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Arthritis
any inflammatory distemper that affects the joints, particularly chronic rheumatism or gout.
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Arthropoda
a subdivision of the annulosa, or articulata, containing the classes belonging to that sub-kingdom which are of the highest organization. The body is very distinctly divided into rings or segments, sometimes, as in the myriapoda (centipedes and millepedes), mere repetitions of each other, but more frequently with some of them differentiated for special ends. In general, the head, thorax, and abdomen are distinct. Under the subdivision arthropoda are ranked in an ascending series the classes miriapoda, crustacea, arachnida, and insecta.
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Arthur
CHESTER ALAN, 21st President of the United States, born in Fairfield, Vt., Oct. 15, 1830; was the son of Scottish parents, his father being pastor of Baptist churches in Vermont and New York. He chose law as a profession, and practiced in New York. As a politician, he became a leader in the Republican party. During the Civil War he was energetic as quartermaster-general of New York in get- CHESTER A. ARTHUR ting troops raised and equipped. He was afterward collector of customs for the port of New York. In 1880 he was elected Vice-President, succeeding as President on the death of James A. Garfield, in 1881, and in this office he gave general satisfaction. He died in New York City, Nov. 18, 1886.
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