Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/250

 226 AKENSIDE AKMOLINSK was written in Persian by his vizier, Abul Fazl, under the title AJcbar Nameh, partly translated into English ("Ayeen Akbery, or the Institutes of Akber," 3 vols. 4to, Calcutta, !783-'6, and London, 1800). AKENSIDE, Mark, an English physician and poet, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nov. 9, 1721, died in London, June 23, 1770. He was the son of a butcher, and was injured for life when very young by his father's cleaver falling upon him. He was educated for a Presby- terian clergyman, beginning his studies at an academy in Newcastle, and continuing them at the university of Edinburgh. While here he decided to become a physician, and devoted the last two years of his course to medical edu- cation. In 1742 he went to Leyden, where he took his degree of M. D. in May, 1744. Just before this he had published in London his poem "The Pleasures of Imagination." Even at an earlier age he had written verses for magazines. The " Pleasures of Imagination " achieved immediate and marked success. It was especially praised by Pope. Akenside practised first at Northampton, but afterward went to London. He was at this time assisted by a friend, Jeremiah Dyson, a lord of the treasury, who gave him an allowance of 300 a year until his practice should support him. He was made a fellow of the college of surgeons and a physician to the queen, but attained no great success in the ordinary walks of his pro- fession. Besides the "Pleasures of Imagina- tion," his greatest work, he wrote several mi- nor poems, and a large number of professional pamphlets and essays. IKERBLAD, Johan David, a Swedish philolo- gist, especially skilled in oriental languages, born in 1760, died in Rome in 1819. When a young man he was made an attach.6 of the Swedish embassy to Constantinople, where he found an excellent opportunity for the study of Turkish. In 1795 he was made secretary of the embassy, but in 1797 devoted himself to study for a time, and for this visited GOttingen in 1800. In 1802 he was appointed secretary of the em- bassy at the Hague, and in 1803 charge" d'affaires at Paris. While in Paris he found some Cop- tic MSS. in the national library, and discovered the key to the unknown character in which they were written. In 1804 he left the Swe- dish service and went to Rome, where the duchess of Devonshire and others gave him the means of pursuing his studies during the remainder of his life. His works relate chiefly to oriental inscriptions. AKKRMAX, or Akjennan (Gr. Monlcastron ; anc. Tyra*), a town in Bessarabia, on the estu- ary of the Dniester, near its mouth in the Black sea, and 85 m. S. W. of Odessa ; pop. in 1869, 29,373. It is situated at the foot of a rock crowned by a citadel, has a good harbor, and carries on an extensive trade in salt. The interior, in general, has a Turkish aspect. The population, about half Europeans, is great- ly mixed. Akerman is the capital of a dis- trict of the same name, which has 21 German settlements. AKERS, Ht'iijamin Paul, an American sculptor, born in Saccarappa, near Portland, Me., July 10, 1825, died hi Philadelphia, May 21, 1861. At the age of 18 he went to Portland. After working for some time in a printing office, he was induced to study sculpture. In 1849 he opened a studio in Portland, and during the next two years modelled busts of Henry W. Longfellow and others. In 1851-'2 he visited Italy, and upon returning to Portland modelled a statue of "Benjamin in Egypt," which was exhibited at the New York crystal palace in 1853. In January, 1855, he sailed again for Europe, and during a residence of three years in Rome produced the best of his works, " Una and the Lion," a statue of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (of which three repetitions in marble were executed), the " Dead Pearl Diver," ex- hibited in the United States, and an ideal head of Milton. The last two works are elaborate- ly described in Hawthorne's " Marble Faun." After returning to America in impaired health, in 1859 he revisited Rome, returned home in 1860, and lived in Portland and Philadelphia. A K II A 1,17 1 K II. Akhalzikh, Achalzik, or Akhyskha, a strongly fortified town of Transcaucasian Russia, in the government of Kutais, on an af- fluent of the Kur, about 95 m. W. of Tiflis ; pop. in 1869, 11,616, two thirds Armenians. It has a castle, a fine mosque containing a rich orien- tal library, several churches, and a synagogue, and is the seat of a Greek archbishopric. It is situated in an elevated valley, in an Armenian district which was ceded by the Porte to Rus- sia hi the peace of Adrianople (1829). AKIIISSAK, or Ek-Hlssar (anc. Thyatira), a town of Asia Minor, in the eyalet of Aidin, 58 m. N. E. of Smyrna; pop. about 12,000. It is built on somewhat elevated ground, and con- tains about 1,000 Turkish, 300 Greek, and 30 Armenian dwellings. AKlll. V I, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the eyalet of Van, at the base of the Sipan Dagh, on the W. shore of Lake Van; pop. about 5,000. Near it are the magnificent ruins of an ancient residence of the Armenian kings. It is the see of an Armenian bishop. AKHTYRKA, or Aehtyrka, a town of Russia, in the government and 60 m. W. N. W. of Khar- kov; pop. in 1866, 17,544. It is situated on three lakes, has many manufactures, and ten churches, one of which attracts numerous pil- grims by a miraculous image of the Virgin. AKIBA BEN JOSEPH, a Jewish rabbi of the early part of the 2d century, one of the princi- Eal fathers of the Mishna. A native of Syria, e travelled hi Arabia, Gaul, Cyrene, Egypt, and other countries, and became the most emi- nent teacher of his tune and people. Having warmly embraced the cause of the insurrection under Bar Cokheba against the Romans, he was captured and executed about 135. AfiJUOLINSK, a province of Siberia, organized by a ukase of Oct. 21 (Nov. 2), 1868. It is