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AGE last-mentioned metal. (Lyell's "The Antiquity of Man"; Lubbock's "Prehistoric Times.")

In Law, the time of competence to do certain acts. In the United States, both males and females are of full age at 21. The age at which minors may be punished or may marry varies in the several States.

Age of Animals.—The duration of life in animals is generally between seven and eight times the period which elapses from birth till they become adult; but this rule, besides being vague and indefinite, is quite useless in practice, because it affords no scale of graduation which would enable us to ascertain the precise age of individuals.

Age of Plants.—Plants, like animals, are subject to the laws of mortality, and, in many cases, have the period of their existence determined by nature with as much exactness as that of an insect. It is principally to annual and biennial plants that a precise period of duration is fixed. The remainder of the more perfect part of the vegetable kingdom, whether herbaceous, or shrubby, or arborescent, consist of plants which may be classed under two principal modes of growth. One of these modes is to increase, when young, in diameter, rather than in length until a certain magnitude is obtained, and then to shoot up a stem, the diameter of which is never materially altered. The addition of new matter to a trunk of this kind takes place by the insinuation of longitudinal fibers into the inside of the wood near the center; on which account such trees are called endogenous, or monocotyledons. The other mode is, from the beginning, to increase simultaneously in length and diameter, but principally in length. The addition of new matter to a trunk of this kind takes place by the insinuation of longitudinal fibers into a space beneath the bark, and on the outside of the wood, near the circumference; on which account such trees are called exogenous, or dicotyledons. The way by which the age of exogenous trees may be computed is by cutting out a portion of their circumference, and counting the number of concentric rings that are visible; the woody cylinder of one year being divided from the succeeding one by a denser substance, which marks distinctly the line of separation of the two years. In consequence of the extreme inequality in thickness of the annual layers of wood on opposite sides of a stem, a person judging of the whole age of a tree by the examination of the layers of the stunted side only would commit errors to the amount of 60 per cent., and more.

AGEN (ä-zhon´ a town of France capital of the department of Lot-et-Garonne, on the right bank of the Garonne, on the railway from Bordeaux to Toulouse. Its situation though rather unhealthy, makes it the entrepôt of the commerce between Bordeaux and Toulouse. The town is very ancient, seat of a bishop, and possesses a cathedral dating back to the 6th century. Pop. about 25,000.

AGENT, in law, one person who acts for another, called the principal. If a person acts as agent without authority, the subsequent ratification of the act will make it binding on the principal just as if he had originally directed it. When an agent acts within the scope of his employment, he may bind his principal, and the principal is liable for any fraudulent acts or wrong-doings of the agent so acting. If the agent, having power to bind his principal, does so expressly, he is not liable; but if he exceeds his authority, he becomes personally responsible. Upon the law of agency is based, to a large degree, the law of partnership.

AGESANDER (aj-es-an´der), a famous sculptor of Rhodes, who, in the time of Vespasian, made a representation of the Laocoon's history, which now passes for the finest relic of all ancient sculpture. The Laocoon was discovered at Rome in 1506, and afterward deposited in the Farnese palace, where it still remains.

AGESILAUS (aj-es-ē-lā´us), King of Sparta, was elevated to the throne chiefly by the exertions of Lysander. He was born about 444 B. C, and was one of the most brilliant soldiers of antiquity. Being called upon by the lonians to assist them against Artaxerxes, he commenced a splendid campaign in Asia; but was compelled by the Corinthian War, in which several of the Grecian states were allied against Sparta, to leave his conquest over the Persians incomplete, and return to Greece, At Coronea (394 B. C.), he gained a victory over the allied forces. He died about 360 B. C.

AGINCOURT, now AZINCOURT, a small village in the center of the French department of Pas-de-Calais, celebrated for a bloody battle between the English and French, Oct. 25, 1415. Henry V., of England, had landed at Harfleur, had taken that fortress and was marching to Calais, in order to go into winter quarters. But a French army, vastly superior in number, intercepted the English march to Calais, near the village of Agincourt. The invading army, weakened in numbers, and suffering from want of provisions, was still 14,000 strong; the French, under the Constable d'Albret, numbered 50,000,