FORBES WATSON,

CONTRIBUTOR ΤΟ THE NEW YORK "EVENING POST" AND "THE NATION."

A

ABSINTHE. See ALCOHOL.

.• ABSOLUTE ZERO. See PHYSICS. ABYSSINIA. (Anciently ETHIOPIA.) An absolute monarchy in eastern Africa under a Christian sovereign, composed of several socalled kingdoms (Tigré, Gojam, Shoa, Amhara) together with territories and dependencies under subject chiefs. The area is estimated at approximately 432,000 square miles. The population, composed mainly of Semitic Abyssinians, Gallas, and Somalis, negroes, Falashas, and nonnatives, numbers between 9 and 11 millions. The national religion is Coptic Christian (monophysitism); but there are great numbers of Mohammedans and pagans. Addis Abeba, the capital, has a permanent population estimated at over 60,000 and a floating population of about 30,000; Harrar has about 40,000 and Diré Dawa has about 5000.

Grazing is practiced, and a primitive sort of agriculture is carried on. The forests yield rubber and valuable timbers. Gold-mining tracts extend along the banks of the Baro River, and coal has been found. The imports (chiefly from Great Britain, France, India, Italy, and the United States) are gray shirting, cotton goods, arms and ammunition, food-stuffs, beverages, railway material, and petroleum. The exports are hides and skins, coffee, wax, ivory, civet, etc. The total trade by way of Jibuti in 1911 was valued at 8,722,531 francs imports, and 11,765,844 francs exports; by way of Eritrea, 2,320,558 lire imports, and 3,072,100 lire exports; by way of Gambela in the Sudan, £ E 27,962 imports, and £ E 37,754 exports. The principal articles of export via Jibuti were skins, 4865 francs; coffee, 4567; ivory, 1137; wax, 986,000. A British source gives the total trade through Jibuti in 1912, imports and exports, at £588,924; imports through the Sudan £34,280 and exports, £38,720. The total trade between Abyssinia and Great Britain in 1912 is given at £3661 imports and £4926 exports.

A railway extends from Jibuti to Diré Dawa, a distance of 309 kilometers, of which 219 kilometers are in Abyssinian territory. An extension from Dire Dawa to Mehesso, 152 kilometers, was opened in 1913; the extension from Mehesso to Addis Abeba, 328 kilometers, is under construction. Telegraph lines connect the capital with Harrar, with Jibuti, and with Massaua in Eritrea. There is an extensive telephone system.

Transport is by pack animals. The financial business of the government is transacted by the Bank of Abyssinia. The current coin of the country is the Maria Theresa dollar, but the new Menelek dollar (the talari, worth about 50 cents) is the official standard. The government is essentially of a feudal character. Each large province is governed by a ras, a prince or feudal chief. At the head of the state is the Emperor. Lij Yasu, born 1897, succeeded Menelek II in December, 1913. He is the son of Menelek's second daughter Waizaro Shoa Rogga and Ras Mikael, the chief of the Wollo Gallas.

ARMY. There is a regular army formed of contingents from the various departments and aggregating about 150,000 men stationed in various garrisons. In addition there are irregulars and a territorial army. Seven batteries of artillery and machine guns taken at the battle of Adua are located at Addis Abeba. Every man in the regular army is supposed to be mounted, though this condition is not realized, and in addition to the chiefs and their retainers summoned for war, there is a permanent force of mercenaries maintained by the King armed with rifles and known as Wottader.

ACADEMY, FRENCH (ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE). The first to be founded (1635) and the most noted of the five academies constituting the Institute of France, the other four being: the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts, and the Academy of Moral and Political Science. The members of the French Academy, elected for life, and known as the "Forty Immortals," take rank as the leading French men of letters of their time; and collectively they are the last resort in all disputed literary matters. 1500 francs is given as a yearly honorarium to each member, and more than 12,000 francs distributed annually in prizes. During 1914 five members died: Jules Claretie; Jules Lemaître; Albert, Count de Mun; Charles Jean Melchior, Marquis de Vogué; and Henri Roujon; three new members were elected: Alfred Capus, to succeed Henri Poincaré; Pierre de la Gorce, to succeed Thureau-Daugin; and Henri Bergson, to succeed Emile Ollivier. At the end of 1914 there were five vacancies.

ACADEMY OF ARTS AND LETTERS, AMERICAN. A body of distinguished men, to some extent patterned after the French Academy. Its membership, limited to 50, is drawn by ballot from that of the National Institute of Arts

and Letters; its president, since 1909, has been William Dean Howells. The Academy, since. its founding in 1904, and the Institute hold annual joint meetings, the last of which, in October, 1914, took place in New York. On that occasion an address was delivered by Eugène Brieux, French dramatist, who brought the greetings of the French Academy and of President Poincaré. It was announced that provision had been made for a permanent home for the Academy and Institute, in New York. Various prizes were awarded, the chief one (the Academy's gold medal) to John Singer Sargent, the painter. No new members were elected to the Academy in 1914, although there were two vacancies. The membership then included: William Dean Howells, Henry James, Henry Adams, Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury, Theodore Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Daniel Chester French, John Burroughs, James Ford Rhodes, Horatio William Parker, William Milligan Sloane, Robert Underwood Johnson, George Washington Cable, Andrew Dickson White, Henry Van Dyke, William Crary Brownell, Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, Woodrow Wilson, Arthur Twining Hadley, Henry Cabot Lodge, Francis Hopkinson Smith, Edwin Howland Blashfield, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Hastings, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Brander Matthews, Thomas Nelson Page, Elihu Vedder, George Edward Woodberry, Kenyon Cox, George Whitefield Chadwick, Abbott Handerson Thayer, John Muir, Charles Francis Adams, Henry Mills Alden, George de Forest Brush, William Rutherford Mead, John W. Alexander, Bliss Perry, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, James Whitcomb Riley, Nicholas Murray Butler, Paul Wayland Bartlett, Owen Wister, Herbert Adams, Augustus Thomas, Timothy Cole.

He was

ACCIDENTS. See RAILWAY ACCIDENTS; SAFETY AT SEA; WORKMAN'S COMPENSATION. ADAMS, JOHN LANSON. An American physician and surgeon, died Sept. 26, 1914. born at Westport, Conn., in 1860, and was educated at Yale University, graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, in 1886, and studied at medical colleges abroad for two years. From 1892 he practiced his profession in New York City. He was successively president of the New York School of Clinical Medicine; attending surgeon, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary; consulting ophthalmologist and otologist, to Society of the Lying-in Hospital and Manhattan State Hospital. He was also a member of several otological and ophthalmological associations.

ADEN. A British dependency, in southwestern Arabia; a part of the Bombay Presidency. The peninsula has an area of 75 square miles, besides a strip of mainland about three miles wide, and the island of Perim (5 square miles). Total pop. (1911), 46,165. The protectorate covers some 9000 square miles, with an estimated population of 100,000. The strongly fortified town of Aden is an important coaling and trading station. The trade is almost entirely a transhipment one, the leading imports being cotton goods, grain, hides and skins, and tobacco. The exports include the articles mentioned as imports, besides coffee, gums, civet, ivory, and wax. In 1907-08 the sea-borne imports were valued at Rs. 44,699,050; sea-borne exports, Rs. 40,471,126 (one rupee32.44 cents); imports and exports by land, Rs. 2,475,007 and Rs. 1,652,492,

respectively. The total trade in 1911-12 was £8,252,814, of which £6,251,717 was foreign trade, £1,607,096 private Indian trade, and £394,001 land trade. The imports of merchandise in the private foreign trade amounted to £2,343,745; exports, £2,689,509. Imports in private Indian trade amounted to £952,915; exports, £248,818. Imports, land trade, £227,709; exports, £153,133. The settlement is subject to the government of Bombay, the resident being also commander of the troops in garrison. Maj. H. F. Jacob was political agent in 1914.

ADMINISTRATION. See UNITED STATES. ADULTERATION. See FOOD AND NUTRITION, passim.

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE. The 65th annual meeting of the association was held in Philadelphia Dec. 28, 1914, to Jan. 2, 1915. There were 1086 members in attendance. At the same time several societies affiliated with the association held their meetings. These included the American Physical Society, the Geological Society of America, Paleontological Society of America, American Alpine Club, American Society of Zoologists, American Society of Naturalists, American Association of Entomologists, Entomological Society of America, Botanical Society of America, American Phytological Society, Society for Horticultural Science, Sullivant Moss Society, American Microscopical Society, American Anthropological Association, American Folk-Lore Society, American Psychological Association, Society of American Bacteriologists, American Nature Study Society, and other scientific societies. The meeting was called to order by the retiring president, Dr. Edmund B. Wilson, who introduced the president of the meeting, Dr. Charles W. Eliot. After the address of welcome, to which Dr. Eliot replied, Dr. Wilson delivered the annual address on "Some Aspects of Progress of Modern Zoology." The council elected 256 members and 620 fellows. Two public lectures in honor of the citizens of Philadelphia were delivered: one by Dr. Dayton C. Miller on "The Science of Musical Sounds"; the other by Dr. William H. Nichols on "The War and the Chemical Industry." The following officers were elected: President, W. W. Campbell; Vice-presidents (section A) A. O. Leuschner, (B) Frederick Slate, (C) W. McPherson, (D) Bion J. Arnold, (E) C. S. Prosser, (F) V. L. Kellogg, (G) W. A. Setchell, (H) G. M. Stratton, (I) George F. Kunz, (K) F. P. Gay, (L) E. P. Cubberly, (M) Eugene Davenport; General Secretary, Henry Skinner; Secretary of Council, W. E. Henderson. Dr. L. O. Howard was again reëlected Permanent Secretary for five years. There will be a summer meeting at San Francisco, Aug. 2-7, 1915. The 1915-16 winter meeting will be held at Columbus, Ohio. A convocation week meeting is recommended for New York City in 1916-17, and a meeting in 1917-18 is to be held either in Pittsburgh or Toronto.

ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE. The annual meeting of the association, which was founded 83 years ago, was held in Australia in August, 1914, the meetings taking place in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, though the principal sessions were held in Melbourne and Sydney. About 350 members came from Britain to attend the meeting. Before the various sessions