Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/97

ACADEMY. 200 resident and .'ioo iii>ri-resi(lent members. The -American Academy »( Arts and Sciences was chartered by tlie Legislature of Massachu- setts in 1780, to a considerable extent tbrou;;li the inllueuce of John Adams. Its attention was devoted to the study of the antiquities and the natural history of America. It has published a series of memoirs, beginning in 1785, and Proceedings since 1846. The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1799, and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science in 1812. This latter academy has a very valuable library and museum, especially rich in conchol- ogy and ornithology, and has published Journals since 1817 and Proceedings since 1841, besides the American Journal of Conchology. The New York Academy of Science was founded in 1818 as the Lyceum of Natural History, and received its present title in 1875. It is organized into four sections, as follows: Astronomy and phys- ics, geology and mineralogy, biology, and anthro- pology, psychology, and philology. These sec- tions hold monthly meetings, and the Academy holds general meetings and gives an annual exhibit of scientific progress that is of great value. Similar scientific academies have been organized in most of the large cities in the United States, but their influence is chiefly local. Such societies usually cover the entire field of the exact and the natural sciences, while special societies for particular sciences are now com- monly formed. In recent years Washington is becoming the centre of scientific interest in this country, and in 1898 its various scientific soci- eties combined into the Washington Academy of Science. National associations of the same character have been formed. In 1863 Congress chartered the National Academy of Sciences, which was designed to investigate scientific questions and to report thereon to the Govern- ment. As a matter of fact, however, the Acad- emy has not been frequently employed by the Government. Two annual meetings are held and reports and memoirs are issued. The mem- bership of the Academy originally was limited to 50 members, but in 1870 this limitation was removed, and now five members may he elected annually. At present there are 86 members. The American Association for the Advancement of Science was organized in 1848 and is the most active and the largest of such associations. It now has about 1000 members and 776 fellows, the latter being those who are engaged in advancing science, while any one interested in science may be a member. In fine arts both Philadelphia and New York possess institutions under the name of academies, founded in 1805 and 1828 respectively, each having schools of design and annual exhibitions. Many other such associations, under different names, are to be found in this country for the prosecution of research and publication along literary as well as scientific lines. Of these last the American Academy of Political and Social Science of Philadelphia is perhaps the most important. It was founded in 1889, has a large membership, and its publications, under the title of Annals, are of considerable value. See. In the sense of a school or an institution of learning, the term academy has come to be applied to an educational institution between the elementary school and the college, particularly in the eastern part of the United States, though used occasionally elsewhere. In his Tractate on Education, John Milton calls his ideal educational institution an academy. In England the term applied to those institutions of secondary rank established by the dissenting religious bodies during the latter part of the seventeenth and in the eighteenth century to provide for the general education of their youth, especially those intended for the ministry, since such edu- cation could not be obtained from the existing public schools. In the United States the term was first applied to the institution founded in Philadelphia in 1740 under the leadership of Benjamin Franklin. This Academy and College of Philadelphia was chartered in 1753, and became the University of Pennsylvania in 1779. The typical academies were those founded during the Revolutionary War period at Exeter. N, H., and Andover, Mass., largely through the generosity of John Phillips, after whom they are named. Such academies became very numerous and took the place of the old Latin grammar schools, which had lost their popularity and serviceableness on account of the economic and political changes of the eighteenth century. Such academies are controlled by trustees usually of some one religious denomination, and are not dependent upon state support. Their place has been largely taken up by the modern high school: the existing ones have for the most part become college preparatory schools.

The term is also used much more widely in a lower sense, to indicate places where special accomplishments are taught, such as riding, dancing, or fencing academies. A more restricted use is that in connection with schools that prepare for particular professions, as the United States Military Academy at West Point. In France and the United States it is occasionally applied to buildings devoted to particular arts, especially music; hence an opera house, often called an academy of music; and occasionally by analogy to the theatre as well.

ACAD'EMY OF DESIGN', National. See National Academy of Design.

ACA'DIA (Fr. Acadie, L'Acadie, or La Cadie, from the Micmac Indian word akade, meaning abundance). See Nova Scotia.

ACA'DIAN SE'RIES. See Cambrian System.

ACAJUTLA, ii'k:i-hoot'li. A seaport in the Department of Sansonatc, Republic of Salva- dor, Central -America, situated on the Pacific Ocean, 10 miles south of Sansonate (Map: Cen- tral .America, C 4). It is the second port of Sal- vailor in importance, and the seat of a consular agent of the United States,

'''AC'ALE'PHÆ; (plural of Gk. anaXi/pri . al-- alrjihi', a nettle, a kind of jellyfish), .A group of free-swimming, discoidal or bell-shaped medu- .sie. the lobed jellyfishes, with downwardly direct- ed nioiith, gastro-vaseular iiouches, and numer- ous radial canals, and having, as a rule, the margin of the umbrella lobed; called Discophora bv Iluxlev. See .Tei.i.vfish.

ACAMAPICTLI, i - ka • m;'i - pcsl/tle. or ACAMPICHTLI, or ACAMAPIXTLE ("the hand full of reeds"). An Aztec chieftain or king. The dates of his reign are variously given as 1352-89, 1363-96, and 1375-1403. He was a vassal of the King of the Tepanecs, and ruled but a small territory, yet he maintained peace, began the construction of the canals of Lake Tezcoco,