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AIGUN, or (also Sakhalyan-ula-khoto), a town of China, province Hei-lung-kiang, in northern Manchuria, situated on the right bank of the Amur, in a fertile and populous region, 20 m. below Blagovyeshchensk, where it occupies nearly 2 m. on the bank of the river. There is a palisaded fort in the middle of the town, inside of which is the house of the fu-tu (governor). Its merchants carry on an active local trade in grain, mustard, oil and tobacco, and some of its firms supply the Russian administration with grain and flour. During the “Boxer” rising of 1900 it was, for a few weeks, the centre of military action directed against the Russians. The population, of some 20,000, includes a few hundred Mussulmans. The town was founded first on the left bank of the Amur, below the mouth of the Zeya, but was abandoned, and the present town was founded in 1684. It was here that Count Muraviev concluded, in May 1857, the Aihun treaty, according to which the left bank of the Amur was conceded to Russia.

AIKEN, a city and the county-seat of Aiken county, South Carolina, U.S.A., 17 m. E.N.E. of Augusta, Georgia. Pop. (1890) 2362; (1900) 3414 (2131 of negro descent); (1910) 3911. It is served by the Southern railway, and by an electric line connecting with Augusta. Aiken is a fashionable winter resort, chiefly frequented by Northerners, and is pleasantly situated about 500 ft. above sea level in the heart of the famous sand-hill and pine-forest region of the state. The dry and unusually equable temperature (mean for winter 50° F., for spring 57° F., and for autumn 64° F.) and the balmy air laden with the fragrance of the pine forests have combined to make Aiken a health and pleasure resort; its climate is said to be especially beneficial for those afflicted with pulmonary diseases. There are fine hotels, club houses and cottages, and the Palmetto Golf Links near the city are probably the finest in the southern states; fox-hunting, polo, tennis and shooting are among the popular sports. There are some excellent drives in the vicinity. The city is the seat of the Aiken Institute (for whites) and the Schofield Normal and Industrial School (for negroes). There are lumber mills, cotton mills and cotton-gins; and cotton, farm products and artificial stone are exported. Considerable quantities of aluminium are obtained from the kaolin deposits in the vicinity. The city’s water supply is obtained from artesian wells. Aiken was settled in the early part of the 19th century, but was not incorporated until 1835, when it was named in honour of William Aiken (1806–1887), governor of the state in 1844–1847, and a representative in Congress in 1851–1857.

AIKIN, ARTHUR (1773–1854), English chemist and mineralogist, was born on the 19th of May 1773, at Warrington in Lancashire. He studied chemistry under Priestley and gave attention to the practical applications of the science. To mineralogy he was likewise attracted, and he was one of the founders of the Geological Society of London, 1807, and honorary secretary, 1812–1817. To the transactions of that society he contributed papers on the Wrekin and the Shropshire coalfield, &c. Later he became secretary of the Society of Arts, and in 1841 treasurer of the Chemical Society. In early life he had been for a short time a Unitarian minister. He was highly esteemed as a man of sound judgment and wide knowledge. He died in London on the 15th of April 1854.

AIKIN, JOHN (1747–1822), English doctor and writer, was born at Kibworth-Harcourt, and received his elementary education at the Nonconformist academy at Warrington, where his father was tutor. He studied medicine in the university of Edinburgh, and in London under Dr William Hunter. He practised as a surgeon at Chester and Warrington. Finally, he went to Leyden, took the degree of M.D. (1780), and in 1784 established himself as a doctor in Yarmouth. In 1792 he removed to London, where he practised as a consulting physician. But he concerned himself more with the advocacy of liberty of conscience than with his professional duties, and he began at an early period to devote himself to literary pursuits. In conjunction with his sister, (q.v.), he published a popular series of volumes entitled Evenings at Home (6 vols., 1792–1795), excellently adapted for elementary family reading, which were translated into almost every European language. In 1798 Dr Aikin retired from professional life and devoted himself with great industry to various literary undertakings, among which his General Biography (10 vols., 1799–1815) holds a conspicuous place. Besides these, he published ''Biog. Memoirs of Medicine (1780); Lives of John Selden and Archbishop Usher'' (1812) and other works. He edited the Monthly Magazine from 1796 to 1807, and conducted a paper called the Athenaeum from 1807 to 1809, when it was discontinued. Aikin died in 1822.

His daughter, (1781–1864), born at Warrington on the 6th of November 1781, had some repute as a historical writer. After producing various books for the young, and a novel, Lorimer (1814), she published in 1818 her Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, which passed through several editions. This was followed by Memoirs of the Court of James I. (1822), Memoirs of the Court of Charles I. (1833) and a Life of Addison (1843). Miss Aikin died at Hampstead, where she had lived for forty years, on the 29th of January 1864.

AIKMAN, WILLIAM (1682–1731), British portrait-painter, was born at Cairney, Forfarshire. He was intended by his father for the bar, but followed his natural bent by becoming a pupil under Sir John Medina, the leading painter of the day in Scotland. In 1707 he went to Italy, resided in Rome for three years, afterwards travelled to Constantinople and Smyrna, and in 1712 returned home. In Edinburgh, where he practised as a portrait-painter for some years, he enjoyed the patronage of the duke of Argyll; and on his removal to London in 1723 he soon obtained many important commissions. Perhaps his most successful work was the portrait of the poet Gay. He also painted portraits of himself, Fletcher of Saltoun, William Carstares and Thomson the poet. The likenesses were generally truthful and the style was modelled very closely upon that of Sir Godfrey Kneller. Aikman held a good position in literary society and counted among his personal friends Swift, Pope, Thomson, Allan Ramsay, Somervile and Mallet.

AILANTHUS (more correctly ailantus, from ailanto, an Amboyna word probably meaning “Tree of the Gods,” or “Tree of Heaven”), a genus of trees belonging to the natural order Simarubaceae. The best known species, A. glandulosa, Chinese sumach or tree of heaven, is a handsome, quick-growing tree with spreading branches and large compound leaves, resembling those of the ash, and bearing numerous pairs of long pointed leaflets. The small greenish flowers are borne on branched panicles; and the male ones are characterized by having a disgusting odour. The fruits are free in clusters, and each is drawn out into a long wing with the seed in the middle. The wood is fine grained and satiny. The tree, which is a native of China and Japan, was introduced into England in 1751 and is a favourite in parks and gardens. A silk spinning moth, the ailanthus moth (Bombyx or Philosamia cynthia), lives on its leaves, and yields a silk more durable and cheaper than mulberry silk, but inferior to it in fineness and gloss. This moth is common near many towns in the eastern United States; it is about 5 in. across, with angulated wings, and in colour olive brown, with white markings. Other species of ailanthus are: A. imberbiflora and A. punctata, important Australian timber-trees; and A. excelsa, common in India.

AILLY, PIERRE D’ (1350–1420), French theologian, was born at Compiègne in 1350 of a bourgeois family, and studied in Paris