Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/549

Rh Diocletian began. During a visit which he made to the imprisoned confessors of the faith at Nola, he was arrested and taken before Timotheus, the governor of the province. This officer is said to have condemned him and his companions to be cast to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre at Pozzuoli; but as the animals refused to harm them, they were all beheaded. It is further related that Januarius was buried at Pozzuoli, but two small phials filled with his blood on the place of execution were afterward presented to Severus, bishop of Naples. To this latter city the remains of the martyr were transferred about the year 400; but in 817 they were carried off to Benevento by Sicon, prince of that city, and from Benevento they were conveyed in 1159 to Monte Vergine. On Jan. 13, 1497, they were once more brought back to Naples with great pomp. Many miracles are attributed by the early annalists to the exhibition of his relics on various occasions, as the staying of the plague and of eruptions of Vesuvius. It has long been customary in Naples to expose these relics to the public veneration on the saint's festival, Sept. 19, and also on the first Sunday in May and Dec. 16, as well as in seasons of national calamity. The relics are exposed amid great solemnity on the high altar of the cathedral, or in the church of Santa Chiara. Then takes place the celebrated liquefaction of the saint's blood. The two phials, containing what appears as a hard substance, and a glass case enclosing the head, are brought separately from the chapel in which they are preserved, the body itself reposing in the shrine beneath the high altar of the cathedral. As soon as the head is brought near the phials the blood is seen to become liquid, to bubble, rise in the bottles, and fall again; the alleged miracle lasting sometimes eight days. On such occasions popular enthusiasm is raised to its height. The nature of this phenomenon has been investigated by scientific men of various creeds and nations, and several hypotheses have been suggested to account for it. Roman Catholics regard it as a miracle, but it has never received the sanction of the church, such as is granted to miracles in the solemn processes of beatification and canonization.  JANUARY (Lat. Januarius), the first month of the year, consisting of 31 days. It is said to have been added with February by Numa to the Roman year, which previously had but ten months. It was named from the double-faced god Janus, to whom its first day, which looks back upon the past year and forward upon that to come, was sacred. It had originally but 29 days, but two additional days were given to it by Julius Cæsar when he reformed the calendar. It was symbolized in Rome by a consul in consular robes, because those magistrates were installed in office on its first day. It corresponded in the Athenian calendar with the latter half of Poseideon and the first half of Gamelion. Among the Scandinavians it was called primitively month of Thor, and later Ice month. The French revolutionary calendar merged it in parts of Nivose and of Pluviose. It was not uniformly the beginning of the year among Latin Christian nations until the 18th century.  JANUS and JANA, two divinities of ancient Rome. Their names are believed to be corruptions or abbreviations of Dianus and Diana, designating the sun and moon. Janus presided over the beginning of everything, and was therefore invoked on every occasion before all other deities. He opened the year and the seasons; he was the janitor of heaven, and on earth the guardian god of gates and doors; in time of war he went out to battle with the armies of Rome and aided them, while in time of peace he abode in his temple and watched over the city. At the dawn of every day the people addressed their supplications to him, and on the first day of every year sacrifices of cakes, barley, incense, and wine were offered in his honor on 12 altars. The worship of Janus is said to have been introduced into Rome by Romulus. Numa called the first month of the Roman year after him, and dedicated a covered passage near the Forum to him. This passage, frequently termed a temple, contained a statue of the god, and had two entrances, which were always kept open in time of war and closed in time of peace. They were closed only once during the republic, at the end of the first Punic war, and twice by Augustus. Janus was sometimes represented with two, and sometimes with four faces, and was accordingly styled Bifrons and Quadrifrons. In works of art he frequently has a staff or sceptre in his right hand and a key in his left.  JAPAN (called by the natives Dai Nippon or Dai Nihon), an empire consisting of a group of islands lying off the E. coast of Asia, between lat. 23° and 50° N., and lon. 122° and 153° E. The name Japan is a corruption or Marco Polo's term Zipangu, which represents the Chinese Shi-pen-kue, meaning "root of day" or "sunrise kingdom." The Japanese empire comprises the three most southerly islands of the Kuriles chain; Karafto or Saghalien S. of the 50th parallel, Yezo (Yesso), the main island, incorrectly called Niphon by Europeans; Shikoku (Sikok), Kiushiu (Kiusiu), and the Riu Kiu or Liu Kin (Loo Choo) islands. Karafto is claimed by both Japan and Russia, and is jointly occupied by them. The entire number of islands composing Dai Nippon is officially stated to be nearly 4,000, though many of these are so small as to be hardly worthy of the name. The Japanese have no special name for the main island, and the foreign name Niphon is unwarrantable and confusing. It is about 800 m. long, and its area is about 80,000 sq. m. Yezo contains about 30,000, Shikoku about 7,000, and Kiushiu about 15,000 sq. m. Japan has been from ancient times divided into circuits similar to our terms eastern, middle, southern, and western states, and territories, a system of division still kept