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 54 ACADIA society, and capable of containing 4,500 persons, was opened in the autumn of 1854; it was burned in 1867, and replaced by one of con- siderably smaller dimensions. Philadelphia followed with a similar construction for similar purposes ; it was inaugurated as the American academy of music in the winter of 1856-'7. Other opera houses with the same designation have since been erected in Brooklyn, Chicago (burned in 1871), and other cities. XVI. At Rio Janeiro and in other South American capitals are also academies of learning and of fine arts. ACADIA, or Aeadie, the name of the peninsula now called Nova Scotia, from its first settle- ment by the French in 1604 till its final cession to the English in 1713. In the original com- mission of the king of France, New Brunswick and a part of Maine were included in Cadie, but practically the colony was restricted to the peninsula. The English claimed the territory by right of discovery. In 1621 it was granted by royal charter under the name of Nova Scotia, and its possession was obstinately dis- puted. (See NOVA SCOTIA.) The quarrels be- tween the two nations were embittered by the desire for exclusive possession of the fisheries. After the final cession the Acadians generally remained in Nova Scotia, though they had the privilege of leaving within two years, and, refusing to take the oath of allegiance, took the oath of fidelity to the British king. They were exempted from bearing arms against their countrymen, whence they were known in the colonies as the neutral French. They were allowed to enjoy their religion, and to have magistrates of their own selection. The French, having lost Acadia, settled the island of Cape Breton and built Louisburg. There they carried on intrigues with the Indians, who kept up an irregular warfare with the English, the blame whereof was thrown upon the neutral French, who in 1755, a few years after the English turned their attention to the colonization of Nova Scotia, suffered for the offences of their countrymen, of which they were doubtless innocent, since they were a simple agricultural people. Because they still refused to take the oath of allegiance, or to bear arms against the French or their Indian allies, to whom they were suspected of lending aid, and because by their peculiar position they embarrassed the local government, it was determined at a consultation of the governor and his council to remove this whole people, 18,000 souls, and disperse them among the other British provinces. For this harsh meas- ure itself there may have been some excuse; for the manner in which it was carried out there was none. The inhabitants were com- pelled to give up all their property, their houses and crops were burned before their eyes, and themselves shipped in such haste that few families or friends remained together. In a few towns the Acadians discovered and escaped the plot, but most of them were scat- tered over the continent. ACAPULCO ACALEPII.E (Gr. a/cc^?, nettle), a class of animals living in sea water, some species of which possess the nettle-like property of irri- tating and inflaming the skin. The animals are invertebrate, gelatinous, of circular form, often shaped like an umbrella, and all included in the division of radiata. (See JELLY FISH.) ACANTHUS. Under this name have been described by the classical writers three differ- ent plants: 1. A prickly tree, with smooth evergreen leaves and saffron-colored berries, believed to be the common holly. 2. A prick- ly Egyptian tree, with a pod like a bean, sup- posed to be the acacia Ardbica, or gum arabic tree. 3. An herb with broad prickly leaves, which dies in the winter, but shoots out afresh in the spring. The idea of the beautiful Co- rinthian capitals of the Greek columns is said to have been derived from a basket filled with the roots of this plant, set down carelessly by a girl, and covered with a tile; when the leaves, forcing their way through the crevices, and rising toward the light, until met by the under side of the cover, presented the effect of the foliage and volutes simulated by the Grecian chisel. In modern botany acanthus Acanthus mollis. is a genus of herbaceous plants found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India, the commonest species of which is the acanthus mollis, a native of moist, shady places in the south of Europe. It has pretty foliage and large white flowers tinged with pale yellow. This was long supposed to be the classic plant of antiquity; but it has been shown that it does not exist either in the Peloponnesus or in the isles of Greece, and the honor of having furnished the idea of the Corinthian capital is now attributed to the acanthus spinosus, which has deeply cleft prickly leaves, and flowers tinged with pink instead of yellow. In Eng- land they are both half-hardy perennials, need- ing protection from frost, and propagated by subdivision of the roots. In America. they would probably endure the winter south of Maryland; northward they would be green- house plants. The word acanthus also signifies thorn, as in acanthopterygious, thorny-finned, applied to an order of fishes. ACAPULCO, a seaport town of Mexico, on the Pacific, in the state of Guerrero, 180 m. S. bj W. of Mexico; lat. 16 50' N., Ion. 99 48 W. ; pop. about 4,000. It has one of the best