Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/31

ABBREVIATIONS "The Spirit of Democracy (1910); "Letters to Unknown Friends" (1913); etc.  ABBREVIATIONS. See in last volume.  ABDALLAH, BEN-ABD-EL-MOTTALIB, father of Mohammed, born at Mecca, A. D. 545; died 570. The paternity of the Prophet is Abdallah's sole claim to distinction.  ABDAL-MALEK, or ABDULMELECH, the son of Mirvan, and the fifth caliph of the race of the Ommiades. In his reign the Indies were conquered in the East, and his armies penetrated Spain in the West; he likewise extended his empire toward the South by making himself master of Medina and Mecca. He began his reign in the 65th year of the Hegira, A. D. 684; reigned 25 years and four of his sons successively enjoyed the caliphate.  ABD-EL-KADER (-Gä´der), was the third son of a marabout of the Arab tribe of Hashem. Born in Oran in 1807, the early days of Abd-el-Kader are lost in obscurity, but by 1828 he had not only acquired the reputation of a scholar, but that of a saint, from his having twice made a pilgrimage to Mecca. Accompanied by his father, he preached a holy war against the French occupation of Algiers, and called upon the faithful to rise and expel the infidels. In 1832, he found himself at the head of 10,000 warriors with whom he attacked Oran, but was several times repulsed with great slaughter. For a period of 15 years he contrived to defend his country, and fight against the encroachments of France; but in 1847 he was compelled to surrender. In 1852 Louis Napoleon restored him to freedom on condition that he would not return to Algiers, or conspire against the French. He died in Damascus, May 26, 1883.  ABD-ER-RAHMAN I., a Caliph of Cordova, born in Damascus in 731. He founded a Moorish dynasty in Spain, made Cordova his capital and became an independent sovereign. Notwithstanding many rebellions and an expedition sent against him by Charlemagne he maintained his power. The mosque at Cordova (now used as a cathedral), ornamented with rows of cupolas, supported by 850 pillars of jasper, was built by him. He died in 787.  ABD-ER-RAHMAN III., a Caliph of Cordova, born in 891. From his earliest youth his ambition was to aggrandize the Saracen power in Spain, a purpose he carried out with a success so brilliant Hs to win for him the title of "the Great." He ascended the throne in 912 and set himself the task of reviving learning, fostering trade and beautifying his capital. His long reign of 49 years is pronounced the glorious epoch of Moorish sway in Spain. He died in 961.  ABDICATION, the relinquishment of an office, and particularly the throne, without a formal resignation. It differs from resignation, which is applied to the giving back by a person into the hands of a superior an office to which that superior appointed him; while in abdication one, theoretically without an earthly superior in the country, relinquishes what came to him at first by act of law. <section end="Abdication" /> <section begin="Abdomen" />ABDOMEN (1) That portion of the trunk which in man commences beneath, and in mammalia behind, the diaphragm, and terminates at the extremity of the pelvis. The abdominal cavity is the largest in the human body. It is lined with a serous membrane, called the peritoneum. It contains the liver, with the gall-bladder, under its right lobe, the stomach, the pancreas, the spleen, the two kidneys, the bladder and the intestines. The more highly organized of the inferior animals have a similar structure. (2) In entomology, the whole posterior division of the body of an insect, united to the thorax by a small knot or attachment, well seen in the wasp. It includes the back as well as the parts below. Externally it is made up of a series of rings. <section end="Abdomen" /> <section begin="Abdominals" />ABDOMINALS, an order of malacopterygious fishes, having the ventral fins under the abdomen behind the pectorals, as the trout. They comprehend the greater part of fresh water fishes, and constitute the fourth order of the fourth class of animals in the Linnæan system. <section end="Abdominals" /> <section begin="Abduction" />ABDUCTION, the act of abducing or abducting; a taking or drawing away, and specifically an unlawful taking. In law, the forcible and fraudulent taking away of women or girls. <section end="Abduction" /> <section begin="Abductor" />ABDUCTOR, a muscle, the office of which is to pull back or draw the member to which it is affixed from some other. The antagonist is called adductor. In law, a person guilty of abduction. <section end="Abductor" /> <section begin="Abd-ul-Aziz" />ABD-UL-AZIZ, the 32d Sultan of the Ottoman Turks, was born Feb. 9, 1830, and succeeded his brother, Abd-ul-Medjid, in 1861. His government had great difficulties to contend with in the Cretan insurrection, the struggle of Rumania and Servia for full autonomy, and finally the outbreak of Mohammedan fanaticism. In 1871, the Sultan strove to get the <section end="Abd-ul-Aziz" />