Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/472

436 physician of St Thomas's Hospital. In this year he had removed to Craven Street. In 1762 he changed once more to Burlington Street. In 1760 was published the Harveian Oration by order of the College of Physicians. In 1761, along with Dyson, he passed from a somewhat noisy Whiggery to the Tories, which added "renegade" to his name. In 1765-6 he was working upon the revised and enlarged copy of the Pleasures of Imagination. His fame was widening professionally and poetically, when a putrid fever carried him off suddenly on June 23d, 1770. He was buried at St James's Church on the 28th. As a man, the nearer one gets to Akenside the less is there lovable about him; there seem to have been ineradicable meannesses in his nature. Lavish in his expenditure while practically dependent on Dyson, and remaining dependent after his professional income ought to have released his patron, we cannot think of him as high-minded. His personal vanity was constantly bringing him sorenesses. The "Doctor" in Peregrine Pickle was painted from the life, not a mere creation of genius. As a poet, the place of Akenside is secure, but it is not very lofty. His imagination is rhetorical rather than subtle, consisting more of pomp of words than greatness of thought. His chief defect is lack of emotion, and especially pathos. The enlarged Pleasures of Imagination, notwithstanding some noble additions, was a blunder. Some of his minor pieces have a classical grace and charm of expression. (See the original editions of his writings; Bucke's Life, Writings, and Genius of Akenside, 1832; Dyce and Willmott's edition of his Poems; Cunningham's Johnson's Lives of the Poets, s.v.; Biog. Brit,; Medical Biog., s.v.)

 AKERBLAD, (1760-1819), a learned Swede, distinguished for his researches in Runic, Coptic, Phœnician, and ancient Egyptian literature. He entered the diplomatic service as secretary to the Swedish embassy at Constantinople, and utilised the leisure which the situation afforded by visiting Jerusalem (1792) and the Troad (1797). After an interval spent at Göttingen, he was appointed ambassador to Paris. His last years were passed at Rome, where he enjoyed a pension from the Duchess of Devonshire. Akerblad was a diligent student of hieroglyphics; and though he failed to decipher the Rosetta stone, he arrived at certain conjectural conclusions with regard to the true method of interpretation, which were afterwards confirmed by. His works include letters on the Coptish cursive writing and on the Rosetta inscription, both addressed to M. de Sacy; and a number of pamphlets on the interpretation of various Runic and Phœnician inscriptions.

 AKERMAN (perhaps the ancient Tyras or Julia Alba), a town of Russia in Europe, in the province of Bessarabia, on a tongue of land projecting into the estuary of the Dniester. Its harbour is too shallow to admit vessels of large size; but the trade of the town is, notwithstanding, very considerable. Large quantities of salt are obtained from the saline lakes in the neighbourhood; and corn, wine, wool, and leather are among the other exports. The town, which is ill-built, contains several mosques and Greek and Armenian churches; it is guarded by ramparts, and is commanded by a citadel placed on an eminence. Akerman derives some historical celebrity from the treaty concluded there in 1826 between Russia and the Porte, securing considerable advantages to the former. It was the non-observance of this treaty by Turkey that led to the war of 1828. Population (1867), 29,609.

 AKERMAN,, an antiquarian, distinguished chiefly in the department of numismatics, was born in Wiltshire on the 12th June 1806. He became early known in connection with his favourite study, having initiated the Numismatic Journal in 1836. In the following year he became the secretary of the newly-established Numismatic Society. In 1848 he was elected secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, an office which he was compelled to resign in 1860 on account of failing health. He died on 18th November 1873. Akerman published a considerable number of works on his special subject, the more important being a Catalogue of Roman Coins (1839); a Numismatic Manual (1840); Roman Coins relating to Britain (1844), for which he received the medal of the French Institute; Ancient Coins—Hispania, Gallia, Britannia (1846); and Numismatic Illustrations of the New Testament (1846). He wrote also a Glossary of Words used in Wiltshire (1842); Wiltshire Tales, illustrative of the Dialect (1853); and Remains of Pagan Saxondom (1855).

 AKHALZIKH, a city of Georgia, in Asiatic Russia, on an affluent of the Kur, 110 miles west of Tiflis, in 41° 40′ N. lat., 43° 1′ E. long. It contains a strong castle, a college and library, and a fine mosque, and has a considerable trade in silk, honey, and wax. Population (1867), 15,977.

 AKHISSAR, the ancient Thyatira, a town of Turkey in Asia, in Anatolia, 58 miles N.E. of Smyrna. The inhabitants are Greeks, Armenians, and Turks. The houses are built of earth or turf dried in the sun, and are very low and ill-constructed; but there are six or seven mosques, which are all of marble. Remarkable inscriptions are to be seen in several parts of the town on portions of the ruins of the ancient city. Cotton of excellent quality is grown in the neighbourhood, and the place is celebrated for its scarlet dyes. Population, about 6000.

 AKHTYRKA, a town of Russia in Europe, in the Ukraine, situated on a river of the same name, 45 miles N.W. of Kharkov. It has eight churches, one of which, containing an image of the Virgin, is held in great veneration. The town is enclosed by ditches; and the environs are fertile, the orchards producing excellent fruit. There are some manufactures of light woollen stuffs, and a great market is held annually in May. Population (1867), 17,411.

 AKIBA,, a famous rabbi who flourished about the close of the first and the beginning of the second centuries. It is almost impossible to separate the true from the false in the numerous traditions respecting his life. He became the chief teacher in the rabbinical school of Jaffa, where, it is said, he had 24,000 scholars. What ever their number, it seems certain that among them was the celebrated Rabbi Meir, and that through him and others Akiba exerted a great influence on the development of the doctrines embodied in the. He sided with Barchochebas in his revolt, recognised him as the Messiah, and acted as his sword-bearer. Being taken prisoner by the Romans under Julius Severus, he was flayed alive with circumstances of great cruelty, and met his fate, according to tradition, with marvellous steadfastness and composure. He is said to have been a hundred and twenty years old at the time of his death. The Jews were long accustomed to pay visits to his tomb, and he is one of the ten Jewish martyrs whose names occur in a penitential prayer still used once a year in the synagogue service. A number of works commonly attributed to Akiba are of later origin; but the one entitled (Doctrine of Rabbi Akiba) is probably genuine.

<section end="AkibaBJ" /> <section begin="Akola" />AKOLÁ, a district and city of British India, in the commissionership of West Berar, within the Haidarábád assigned districts. lies between 20° 23′ and 21° 10′ N. lat., and between 76° 25′ and 77° 19′ E. long.; its greatest length from N. to S. being 72 miles, and its greatest breadth from E. to W. 63 miles. It is bounded on the N. by the Sátpurá range; on the E. by Elichpur district; on the S. by the Sátmál and Ajantá hills; and on the W. by the Buldáná and Khandesh districts. The total area of the district in 1869 was 2697 square miles, <section end="Akola" />