Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/362

AUTREFOIS ACQUIT. tainder (q.v.) offered in bar to an indictment or appeal for the same or any other felony. It has become obsolete with the practical abolition of the penalty of attainder. Consult the Commentaries of Blackstone and of Kent, and the authorities referred to under the titles and.

AU'TUMN (Lat. autumnus). Astronomically, the third season of the year, in the Northern Hemisphere covering the period from the sun's crossing the equinoctial, at the autumnal equinox, about September 22, till it is on the tropic of Capricorn, at the winter solstice, December 22. Popularly, the autumn in America is the three months of September, October, and November; and in England August, September, and October. The American autumn is often considered the most agreeable part of the year. South of the equator the seasons are, of course, reversed, and autumn extends from about March 22 to June 22.

AUTUN, 6'teN' (Lat. Augustodunum, from Augustus + Gael, dun, hill-fort; AS. dun, hill; Eng. down). A town of France, in the Depart- ment of Saone-et-Loire (Burgundy ), picturesquely situated at the foot of Mont-Jeu (Map: France, L 5). Autun is the see of a bishop, and has a cathedral of remarkable beauty, built in the Eleventh and Twelfth centuries. The spire be- longs to the Fifteenth Century. It has a col- lege, a diocesan seminary, a museum, a library, and is a busy manufacturing centre. Cloth, carpets, leather, stockings, and paper are made in the place. Autvm arose near the site of the ancient Bibracte, the chief city of the Ædui. Under the Romans, it was famous for its school of rhetoric. The town was pillaged by the Sara- cens in 725, and nearly destroyed by the Nor- mans in 888. There still exist at Autun many ruins of Roman structures; most remarkable are the Roman gates, now called Porte d'Arroux, and Porte Saint-André. At the Council of Autun (1094), King Philip I. was excommunicated for divorcing his Queen, Bertha. Population, in 1896, 11,873. Consult Lewis, "The Antiquities of Autun," in Vol. XL., Archæological Journal (London, 1883).

AUVERGNE, d'varn'y' (Lat. Arvernia, from Gæl. Ar-fearaun, high land, from ard, high). An ancient province of south-central France, now in- cluded in the departments of Puy-de-DOme, Can- tal, and Haute-Loire. The mountains of Au- vergne are the highest elevation in the interior of France, with summits over 6,000 feet above the sea. They represent former volcanic activity on a grand scale, rising in huge conical peaks, which present a scene of wild desolation. The inhabitants are a simple and laborious people, and are accustomed to emigrate each year after the harvest in large numbers to the neighboring regions, or to flock to the great industrial centres of France in search of employment, returning to their homes with their earnings in spring. The region was inhabited in ancient times by the powerful tribe of the Arverni, who ruled over a large part of Aquitania. In the Middle Ages Auvergne was a county. It was permanently united with the French crown in 1532. Consult La Revue d'Auvergne, Vols. I.-XIV. (Clermont- Ferrand. 1884-97).

AUWERS, ou'vers. Arthur (1838—). A German astronomer, born at Göttingen. In 1859 he became assistant at the Astronomical Observa- toiy of Königsberg: between 1862 and 1866 he carried on his astronomical work at the Observa- tory of Gotha, and in the latter year was made astronomer to the Berlin Academy of Sciences. In 1878 he became perpetual secretary of the section of physics and mathematics at the Acad- emy. He has also been one of the editors of the Vierteljahrsschrift of the German As- tronomical Society. Auwers's most important work has been in connection with the Venus transits of 1874 and 1882, and he has edited the results of German observers, whose work he had organized. Among Auwers's numerous other contributions may be mentioned his completion of Sir William Herschel's nebular observation, his heliometrie investigations in stellar astron- omy, his observations of the proper motion of fixed stars, and the part he has taken in deter- mining the positions of stars, based on the in- vestigations of Argelander.

AUX'ANOM'ETER (Ok. av^dve^v, auxanein, to make large, to increase + iiirpov, metron, measure). A device for observing or recording the growth of plants during intervals too short for direct measurement. The simpler forms of the au.xanometer consist of a very light, balanced lever, whose fulcrum is so placed that the length of the long arm is a multiple of the length of the short arm. To the latter a thread from the growing plant is attached. The growth is thus magnified in the ratio of the long arm to the short, usually 10 to 20 times. The long arm traverses a graduated arc, from which its movement may be read, or it may be so placed as to trace its path on a moving smoked surface.

AUXANOMETER

The more elaborate forms consist of a wheel with fine bearings and an accurately balanced rim, about 20 centimeters in diameter, grooved to carry a thread. The same hub has a smaller wheel with a grooved rim, whose diameter is