Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/900

ABDITI. ARDITI, iir-de'te. LuiGl ( 1 822-1 OO.-J). An Italian toniposer and musical conductor. He was born at Crescentino, Piedmont, July 16, 1822. After graduating from the Milan Con- servator}' in 1842, he began his career as a violin virtuoso" traveling with Bottesini, the famous double-bass player. With the Havana Opera Company, of which he became conductor, he vis- ited New York in 1847 and during subsequent seasons, conducting in 1854 the first ])erformance at the Academy of JIusic, where lie brought out his opera. La ^pia (based on Cooper's novel, The iipy), with Brignoli and La Grange. In 1857 he was conductor at Her Majesty's Theatre in Lon- don. In 1869 he conducted The Flying Dutch- man, the first performance of a Wagner opera in England. In 1878, and many subsequent sea- sons, he again conducted opera in New York. His waltz songs, II Bacio (to which Piccolomini gave great vogue) and Fior di ilarffhaiita (sung by Patti and other great prima donnas), are famous. He was Patti's favorite conductor. His other operas are / Briganti (1841) and II Cor- saro (1850). He published My Reminiscences (New York, 1896), containing a good deal of valuable information, besides interesting chit- chat. ARD'MORE'. A city in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, al)out 400 miles south by west of Kansas City, Mo.; on the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe and other railroads. It is the seat of Hargrove College, and controls important com- mercial interests in cotton, coal, and asphalt. Ardmore was settled in 1886 and incorporated in 1898 under a charter providing for a government administered by a mayor, elected every two years, and a municipal council. Population in 1900, 5681. ARDOCH, iir'doG. A small village in Perth- shire. Scotland, eight miles south-southwest of Crieff, with the best-preserved Roman camp in Britain (Map: Scotland, E 3). The camp is 21/2 miles north of Greenloaning station on the Cale- donian Railway, in the grounds of Ardoch House. The intrenched works form a rectangle 500 by 430 feet, the four sides facing the cardinal points. The north and east sides are protected by five ditches and six ramparts, these works being 270 feet broad on the north side and 180 feet on the east. A deep morass exists on the soutlieast, and the perpendicular banks of Knaig Water, rising 50 feet liigh, protect the camp on the west.' The pi'a"torium, or general's quarter, now called Cliapel Hill, rises above the level of the camp, but is not exactly in the ccjitre, and is nearly a square of 60 feet each side. Three of the four gates usual in Roman camps are still seen. A subterranean passage is said to have formerly extended from the prjptorium under the bed of the Knaig. Not far north. of this station, on the way to Crieff, maj' be traced three tem- porary Roman camps of different sizes. Portions of the ramparts of these camps still exist. ARDROS'SAN (Gael, ard, high + rossan, point ) . A small seaport town and summer re- sort in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the Firth of Clyde, about 30 miles southwest of Glasgow ( Map: Scotland, T> 4). Its harbor, sheltered by an island off the coast, is one of the safest and most accessible on the west coast of Scotland, and has been greatly improved by the earls of Eglinton. There is a large export of coal and pig iron from this place, and ship-building is carried on to a considerable extent. On a hill above the town stand the ruins of Ardrossan Castle, said co have been surprised by Wallace when held by the forces of Edward I. Population of the police burgh in 1901, 5933. ARE, iir (Lat. area, piece of level ground). The unit of the French land measure; a square, the side of which is 10 metres (or 32.809 feet) long, and which, therefore, contains 100 square metres = 1076 English square feet. The next de- nomination in the ascending scale is the decare, containing 10 ares; but the denomination com- monly used in describing a quantity of land is the hectare of 100 ares = 2.47 English statute or imperial acres. See Metric System. A'REA (Lat., piece of level ground, vacant place ). The superflces of any bounded surface or space. The calculation of areas, or mensuration of surfaces, is one of the ultimate objects of geometry. Area is commonly measured by a square unit, as the square inch, square yard, square metre, square degree. (See Men.suration; and Ql'.DR.TrRE. ) In antiquity this word meant any space free of buildings, such as a square, inclosure, court, arena of a circus, space around a temple or any other public building. In this connection, the area was consecrated ground. So, in connection with early Christian churches there were areas protected by law, in which the faithful were buried. The modern use of the word is restricted to the open space of a narrow fi'ont yard or back court, or in connection with a basement. ARE'CA (Sp. Portug., from Canarese ad-iki). A genus of palms containing about twenty species, liaving pinnate leaves and tliree or more spathes. The fruit is a fibrous one - seeded drupe, a nut with an outer fibrous husk. Areca catechu, the Pinang palm, or betel-nut palm, is a native of the East Indies, whose nut yields a sort of catechu. (See Catechu.) This areca-nut. or betel-nut, is very much used in all parts of the East, the chewing of it with quick-lime and the leaf of the betel-pepper being one of the most prevalent habits of the people. (See Betel.) The fruit is about the size of a hen's egg, smooth, orange or scarlet, the fibrous liusk about half an inch thick. When chewed it reduces the saliva and stains the lips and teeth. It is said to stimulate the digestive organs and to prevent dysetitery. Areca-nuts form a considerable article of trade in the East. The timber of the palm which produces them, and its leaf-stalks and spathes, are also used for domestic purposes. The tree is often 40 to 100 feet high, and in general less than a foot in diameter. The leaves are few, but very large, their leaflets one to two feet long. In Malabar, an inebriating lozenge is prepared from the sap. Areca oleracca, or Oreodoxa oleracea. the "cabbage palm' of the West Indies, is a very tall tree, 100 to 200 feet, whose huge terminal leaf-bud is sweet and nutritious, and is sometimes used for the table as cabbage; but when it is cut oft' the tree is destroyed. The stem of this tree, notwithstanding its great height, is remarkably slender. The nuts are produced in great numbers; they are about the size of a filbert, and have a sweet kernel. Areca sapida, now called Rhopalostylis sapida, the New Zealand palm, is remarkable as extending southward lieyond the geograpliical limits of any other