Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/792

APSE. Churches without apses are very few. But in course of time variations of form were intro- duced. Byzantine architects gave a polygonal

APSE AND APSID10LE9. form to the exterior, while preserving the in- terior semicircular outline (e.g.. Ravenna). Square apses, found at first only as out-of-the- wav freaks, became common in the tleventU, Twelfth, and Thirteenth centuries, especially as they were adopted by the Cistercian monks and those who felt their "influence. The development of transepts led sometimes to the use of apses at their terminations, as in the Romanesque churches at Cologne. Another arrangement, sel- dom seen outside of Germany, was a double apse, one at each end of the church, which made it nec- essary to enter the cliurcb at the sides; this is found in both Romanesque and Gothic churches. Finallv, the apsidal end of the Romanesque church, first in France and then in Germany, became enriched by the use of radiating c liapels and side-aisles, taking a form which is no longer called apse, but choir, and is described under that head. The exterior wall of the apse was very plain in early Christian architecture, but medieval art decorated it richly with false and engaged arcades in several rows.

APSHERON, ap'sha-rftn. A peninsula of Russia nn the western shores of the Caspian Sea ( Map: Russia. G G ). It is fanious for its immense deposits of na,,htha, probably * >e rich- est in the world. The soil is sterile, and strong winds prevail. See.

AP'SIDES, ap'si-dez (Gk. plur. of d^is, apsis, loop, juncture). The two extreme points in the orbit of a planet-one at the greatest, the other at the least distance from the sun. The term apsides is applie.l in the same manner to the two points in the orbit of a satellite-one nearest to, the other farthest from, its primary; corresponding, in the case of the moon, to the perigee and apogee. A straight ine connecting Scxtrcmc %oints is called the ine of apsides, or the major axis of the orbit In the planetary orbits, this line has no fi>^<'d position In space, but undergoes a motion in the plane of the orbit. This fact in the orbit of the earth oives rise to the difference between the anomalistic (q.v.) and sidereal years. This motion of the line of apsides is especially remarkable in the orbit of the moon, an entire revolution taking place in 3232.57 days, or a little less than nine years.

AP'SLEY HOUSE. The mansion built by Lord Bathurst in 1785, and purchased in 1820 by the Government for the Duke of Wellington in reward for the latter's services to the nation in the Napoleonic wars. In 1830 its windows were broken by the mob on the anniversary of Water- loo, and 'the Duke was forced to have them pro- tected by iron shutters.

APT, iipt (anciently, Lat. Apia). The capi- tal of the arrondisseinent of the same name, in the department of Vaucluse, France, on the Mediterranean Railway (Map: France, M 8). It contains a communal college, library, meteorological station, and a number of manufacturing establishments. Its cathedral is supposed to have been built about the Eighth Century, and it contains numerous specimens of Romanesque architecture. In ancient times Apt w-as the chief citv of the Vulgientes and received much attention from Julius Cssar, who gave it the name of Apta Julia. It came into the possession of France in 1481. Population, 1901, 5948.

AP'TERAL ("having no wings," Gk. 4, a, priv. -t- irrephv. ptcron, wing). A term applied to Greek and Roman temples without lateral colonnades, or pteroinutu, outside the celUi: and also to Christian churches which either had no aisles or whose facades had the form of a single unbroken gable, not divided into three sections. AP'TERYG'OTA. A prime division of In- secta embracing primitive insects without wings, and including the Thysanura and Collembola. See Bristlet.il and Springtail. AP'TERYX (Gk. d, o. priv. + irT^pu^, pteryx, winf) The tvpe genus of a sub-class or group of small wingless ratite birds of New Zealand, akin to the epiornis and other ancient ostrich- like birds. The species of the genus Apteryx were called In the Maoris "kiwi-kiwi." See Kiwi. AP'THiE. See Aphth.e.

APTHORP, (1848&mdash;). An American writer and musical critic, born in Boston, Mass. He graduated at Harvard in 1869 and studied music under J. K. Paine and B. J. Lang. He is well known as the author of Hector Berlioz: Selections from His Letters and Writings, with a biographical sketch, a pioneer work in English on this composer; and books of musical criticism, including Musicians and Music Lovers and The Opera, Past and Present. He has lectured at the Lowell Institute, Boston, and the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, and has taught at the New England Conservatory, Boston, and the College of Music of Boston University. From 1892 to 1901 he wrote the analyses of musical compositions which appeared in the programme of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1881 he became musical critic of the Boston Transcript.

APULE'IUS,. A satirical writer of the Second Centun'- He was born at Madaura, in Africa, where his father was a magistrate, and a man of large fortune. Apuleius first studied at Carthage, which at one time enjoyed a high reputation for its school of literature. Afterward