Artois
a former province of France, anciently one of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands, now almost completely included in the department of Pas de Calais.
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Single-source entries: A (97)
These 17 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Artois, Arum, Arundel.
Arum
a genus of plants belonging to the order araceæ, or arads. It contains the well known A. maculatum, the cuckoo-print (meaning point), lords and ladies, or wake robin. The solitary spikes of bright scarlet berries may often be seen under hedges in winter, after the leaves and spadix have disappeared. They are poisonous. The rhizomes are used in Switzerland for soap. There is in them an amylaceous substance, which after the acrid matter has been pressed out, may be employed in lieu of bread flour.
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Arundel
THOMAS, third son of Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel, born in 1352, died in 1413. He was Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury. He concerted with Bolingbroke to deliver the nation from the oppression of Richard II., and was a bitter persecutor of the Lollards and followers of Wyclif.
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Arundel Society
a society instituted in London in 1848 for promoting the knowledge of art by the publication of fac-similes and photographs. It was discontinued in 1897, but revived in 1904 under the name of Arundel Club. of Linnæan
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Arundelian Marbles
a series of ancient sculptured marbles discovered by William Petty, who explored the ruins of Greece at the expense of and for Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, who lived in the time of James I. and Charles I. After the Restoration they were presented by the grandson of the collector to the University of Oxford. Among them is the "Parian Chronicle," a chronological account of the principal events in Grecian, and particularly in Athenian, history, during a period of Cecrops 1318 years, from the reign of Cecr (1450 B. c.) to the archonship of Diognetus (264 b. c.).
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Arundo
genus a One species (A. donax) supgrasses. plies material for fishing-rods, and is imported for the purpose from the S. of Europe, where it is ind indigenous. The striped-leaved variety, formerly more common than it now is in gardens, is called gardener's garters.
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Aruspices
or HA- RUSPICES, a class of priests in ancient Rome, of Etrurian origin, whose business was to inspect the entrails of victims killed in sacrifice, and by them to foretell future events.
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Aruwimi
a large river of equatorial Africa, a tributary of the Kongo, which it enters from the N. ARVAL BROTHERS (fratres or company of arvales), a college 12 members elected for life from the highest ranks in ancient Rome, so called from offering annually public sacrifices for the fertility of the fields.
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Aryan
in general language, pertaining to the old race speaking the primeval Aryan tongue, or any of the numerous forms of speech which have sprung from it. The ancestors of most modern Europeans lived together as one people, speaking the primeval Aryan tongue, in central Asia, and apparently near the Pamir steppe. In a special sense, the Aryan race which invaded India at a period of remote antiquity, possibly 1700 B. C., and still remains the dominant Hindu race there.
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Aryan Race
a name applied to what has been termed the Indo-European or Indo-Germanic family. According to a theory now pretty well exploded, the Aryans were originally located somewhere in Central Asia, possibly east of the Caspian, whence they swarmed eastward to Afghanistan and northern India, and westward throughout Europe. Owing to the wide-spread use of many common words, such as father and mother, it was conjectured that the Celts, Teutons, Greeks, Latins, Slavs, Persians, and Hindus were but swarms or branches of the same race--a great Aryan family. It is now believed that the Hindu, the Irishman, and the Norwegian indeed derived similar words from some one source, or by early intercourse; but it is held that differences in the shape of the head and many other physical characteristics justify the assumption that these people belong to different races. Race is a matter, not of language, but of physical structure. In other words, the old so-called Indo-European or Aryan family has been broken up into fragments of uncertain size, relationship, and origin. It is still allowable to speak of Aryan languages, but not of an Aryan race. 2026 Editor's Note: The entry rightly calls the racial theory 'exploded' — but the myth of a superior 'Aryan race' was seized a generation later by the Nazis to justify the Holocaust, one of history's most murderous perversions of a linguistic idea. Scholars now use 'Aryan' only for the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples and their languages, never as a race. (Ed: BR 2026-07-19)
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
Asa
son of Abijah, and third King of Judah, conspicuous for his earnestness in supporting the worship of God and rooting out idolatry, and for the vigor and wisdom of his government. He reigned from 955 to 914 B. C.
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Asaba
a town of southern Nigeria in west Africa, on the Niger river, 150 miles from the coast and 75 miles above the delta. It is a place of considerable commercial importance and the seat of the Supreme Court.
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Asal
Known as the King of the Golden Pillars, in Irish Celtic Myth. He was the owner of seven swine, which might be killed and eaten every night, yet were found alive every morning.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
Asama
an active volcano of Japan, about 50 miles N. W. of Tokio, 8,260 feet high.
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Asaph
a Levite and psalmist appointed by David as leading chorister in the divine services. His office became hereditary in his family, or he founded a school of poets and musicians, which were called after him, "the sons of Asaph."
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Asarabacca
a small, hardy European plant, natural order aristolochiaceæ (asarum europæum). Its leaves are acrid, bitter, and nauseous, and its root is extremely acrid. Both the leaves and root were formerly used as an emetic. The species A. canadense, the Canada snake-root, is found in the Western States.
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Asbury
FRANCIS, the first Methodist bishop consecrated in America, born at Handsworth, Staffordshire, Aug. 20, 1745. When 16 years old he became an itinerant Wesleyan preacher, and in 1771 he was sent as a missionary to America, where he was consecrated in 1784. During a long life of almost incessant labor it is estimated by his biographer that he traveled about 270,000 miles (mostly on horseback), preached about 16,500 sermons, and ordained more than 4,000 preachers. Of great natural ability and indomitable energy, he ranks with Wesley, Whitefield, and Coke in the Methodist movement of his time. He died in Richmond, Va., March 31, 1816. 4
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