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 492 ANFOSSI above the locality of the tumor. The merit of this method of cure is due to the celebrated John Hunter, who, observing that the old practice of passing the ligature upon the artery immediately above the tumor often failed, was led to think that the arterial walls, being dis- eased near the tumor, could not sustain the process of inflammation necessary to cause the tissues to adhere ; and consequently he under- took to tie the femoral artery in a case of pop- liteal aneurism, and was perfectly successful. Since then his method has been universally adopted. Recently many attempts have been made, some of them with considerable success, to produce a similar result, either by continu- ous pressure over the artery kept up for a day or two, or by a ligature applied temporarily to the artery and withdrawn as soon as coagula- tion has taken place in the aneurism and the neighboring portion of the artery. By what- ever means this is accomplished, the flow of blood is stopped in the large vessels below the ligature ; but the secondary vessels communi- cate with each other so abundantly in all parts of the limb, by what is called anastomosis, that the blood soon finds its way through these smaller channels, and enlarges them by slow degrees to suit the wants of nutrition. ANFOSSI, Pasqaale, an Italian composer, born in Naples in 1729, died in Rome in 1797. He was a pupil of Sacchini and Piccini, the latter of whom in 1771 procured him an en- gagement in Rome. His first successes were in 1773, with the opera L 1 Incognita persegui- tata, and several others immediately succeed- ing. His serious opera UOlimpiade having failed, he went to Venice, and in 1780 to Paris, where his Incognita, perseguitata, with a French libretto, was not well received. In 1783 he was manager of the Italian opera in London, and in 1787 returned to Rome, where he enjoyed henceforth uninterrupted popu- larity. Of his works, which are now little known, the best are L'avaro, II curioso indis- ereto, and I viaggiatori felici. ANGARA, a river of Siberia, which enters Lake Baikal at its N. extremity, under the name of Upper Angara, leaves it near the S. W. end as the Lower Angara or Upper Tunguska, flows past Irkutsk, pursues a N. and W. course for about 750 rh., until it is joined by the river Tchadobet, continues in a westerly direction about 250 m. further, and empties into the Yenisei, E. of Yeniseisk. ANGEL (Gr. ayyt^of, a messenger), a name given in Jewish and Christian theology to certain spiritual beings endowed with super- human powers of intelligence and of will. They are frequently mentioned in the Old as well as the New Testament as immediate in- struments of Divine Providence. In Scrip- ture, however, the original word not unfre- quently has its primary signification of mes- senger, even where rendered angel in the Vulgate and the English version. They are regarded as pure spirits in whose existence ANGEL there is nothing material. They often appear in the Scriptures with bodies and in the human form ; but it was in the early church and still is a matter of theological dispute whether these bodies and this form were only assumed by them for a time for the special purpose of conversing with men. Besides these good an- gels, the church recognizes a class of " fallen angels," who left their first estate and are now "angels of the devil." The second council of Constantinople, contrary to the opinion of Ori- gen, declared that there are different classes of angels ; and since Dionysius the Areopagite the opinion that there are nine classes of an- gels has become prevalent in the Catholic and eastern churches. It was a common opinion among the fathers of the early Christian church that every individual is under the care of q particular angel who is assigned to him as a guardian ; but Protestant theology finds noth- ing in the Bible to support this notion. While the older Protestant churches, in general, agree in the doctrine of the angels with the Catholic and eastern churches, they reject as unbiblical the opinion of the latter that it is good and useful to ask the good angels for their protection, aid, and intercession, and to venerate their images. According to the crit- ical school of Protestant theology, the belief in angels was foreign to the early religion of the Jews, and derived from the Persians about the time of the Babylonish captivity. Sev- eral prominent Protestant theologians of mod- ern times, like Schleiermacher and Hase, deny the existence of angels altogether, regarding them as creatures of Biblical poetry ; others, like Martensen and Rothe, endeavor to establish the doctrine on a new speculative basis ; while Swe- denborg and his followers regard the angels of the Bible and all spiritual creatures as disembod- ied human beings, who have at some time ex- isted in the flesh in this or some other world. (See NEW JERUSALEM CITUBCH.) Pictures of the angels were expressly allowed by the second council of Nice. They are usually represented in the human form, in the male sex, as beauti- ful youths ; the rapidity with which they are supposed to carry out the commands of God is symbolized by wings, flowing garments, and naked feet ; harps and other musical instru- ments which are placed in their hands are in- tended to indicate that they incessantly sing the praise of God. ANGEL (in French ange ffor, angelot, angelot- tus, angelus), a coin so named from the figure of