The Nuttall Encyclopædia/Ad

Adair, Sir Robert, a distinguished English diplomatist, and frequently employed on the most important diplomatic missions (1763-1855).

Adal, a flat barren region between Abyssinia and the Red Sea.

Adalbe`ron, the archbishop of Rheims, chancellor of Lothaire and Louis V.; consecrated Hugh Capet; d. 998.

Adalbert, a German ecclesiastic, who did much to extend Christianity over the North (1000-1072).

Adalbert, St., bishop of Prague, who, driven from Bohemia, essayed to preach the gospel in heathen Prussia, where the priests fell upon him, and "struck him with a death-stroke on the head," April 27, 997, on the anniversary of which day a festival is held in his honour.

Ada`lia (30), a seaport on the coast of Asia Minor, on a bay of the same name.

Adam (i. e. man), the first father, according to the Bible, of the human race.

Adam, Alex., a distinguished Latin scholar, rector for 40 years of the Edinburgh High School, Scott having been one of his pupils (1741-1809).

Adam, Lambert, a distinguished French sculptor (1700-1759).

Adam, Robert, a distinguished architect, born at Kirkcaldy, architect of the Register House and the University, Edinburgh (1728-1792).

Adam Bede, George Eliot's first novel, published anonymously in 1859, took at once with both critic and public.

Adam Kadmon, primeval man as he at first emanated from the Creator, or man in his primeval rudimentary potentiality.

Adam of Bromen, distinguished as a Christian missionary in the 11th century; author of a celebrated Church history of N. Europe from 788 to 1072, entitled Gesta Hammenburgensis Ecclesiæ Pontificum.

Adamas`tor, the giant spirit of storms, which Camoëns, in his "Luciad," represents as rising up before Vasco de Gama to warn him off from the Cape of Storms, henceforth called, in consequence of the resultant success in despite thereof, the Cape of Good Hope.

Adamawa, a region in the Lower Soudan with a healthy climate and a fertile soil, rich in all tropical products.

Adamites, visionaries in Africa in the 2nd century, and in Bohemia in the 14th and 15th, who affected innocence, rejected marriage, and went naked.

Adamnan, St., abbot of Iona, of Irish birth, who wrote a life of St. Columba and a work on the Holy Places, of value as the earliest written (625-704).

Adams, Dr. F., a zealous student and translator of Greek medical works (1797-1861).

Adams, John, the second president of the United States, and a chief promoter of their independence (1739-1826).

Adams, John Quincy, his eldest son, the sixth president (1767-1848).

Adams, John Couch, an English astronomer, the discoverer simultaneously with Leverrier of the planet Neptune (1819-1892).

Adams, Parson, a country curate in Fielding's "Joseph Andrews," with a head full of learning and a heart full of love to his fellows, but in absolute ignorance of the world, which in his simplicity he takes for what it professes to be.

Adams, Samuel, a zealous promoter of American independence, who lived and died poor (1722-1803).

Adam's Bridge, a chain of coral reefs and sandbanks connecting Ceylon with India.

Adam's Peak, a conical peak in the centre of Ceylon 7420 ft. high, with a foot-like depression 5 ft. long and 2½ broad atop, ascribed to Adam by the Mohammedans, and to Buddha by the Buddhists; it was here, the Arabs say, that Adam alighted on his expulsion from Eden and stood doing penance on one foot till God forgave him.

Ada`na (40), a town SE. corner of Asia Minor, 30 m. from the sea.

Adanson, Michel, a French botanist, born in Aix, the first to attempt a natural classification of plants (1727-1806).

Ad`da, an affluent of the Po, near Cremona; it flows through Lake Como; on its banks Bonaparte gained several of his famous victories over Austria.

Addington, Henry, Lord Sidmouth, an English statesman was for a short time Prime Minister, throughout a supporter of Pitt (1757-1844).

Addison, Joseph, a celebrated English essayist, studied at Oxford, became Fellow of Magdalen, was a Whig in politics, held a succession of Government appointments, resigned the last for a large pension; was pre-eminent among English writers for the purity and elegance of his style, had an abiding, refining, and elevating influence on the literature of the country; his name is associated with the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, as well as with a number of beautiful hymns (1672-1749).

A`delaar, the name of honour given to Cort Sivertsen, a famous Norse seaman, who rendered distinguished naval services to Denmark and to Venice against the Turks (1622-1675).

Adelaide (133), the capital of S. Australia, on the river Torrens, which flows through it into St. Vincent Gulf, 7 m. SE. of Port Adelaide; a handsome city, with a cathedral, fine public buildings, a university, and an extensive botanical garden; it is the great emporium for S. Australia; exports wool, wine, wheat, and copper ore.

Adelaide, eldest daughter of Louis XV. of France (1732-1806).

Adelaide, Port, the haven of Adelaide, a port of call, with a commodious harbour.

Adelaide, Queen, consort of William IV. of England (1792-1849).

Adelaide of Orleans, sister of Louis Philippe, his Egeria (1771-1841).

Adelberg, a town of Carniola, 22 m. from Trieste, with a large stalactite cavern, besides numerous caves near it.

Adelung, Johann Christoph, a distinguished German philologist and lexicographer, born in Pomerania (1732-1806).

A`den (42), a fortified town on a peninsula in British territory S. of Arabia, 105 m. E. of Bab-el-Mandeb; a coaling and military station, in a climate hot, but healthy.

Ad`herbal, son of Micipsa, king of Numidia, killed by Jugurtha, 249 B.C.

Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs.

Adiaph`orists, Lutherans who in 16th century maintained that certain practices of the Romish Church, obnoxious to others of them, were matters of indifference, such as having pictures, lighting candles, wearing surplices, and singing certain hymns in worship.

Ad`ige, a river of Italy, which rises in the Rhetian Alps and falls into the Adriatic after a course of 250 m.; subject to sudden swellings and overflowings.

Adipocere, a fatty, spermaceti-like substance, produced by the decomposition of animal matter in moist places.

Adipose tissue, a tissue of small vesicles filled with oily matter, in which there is no sensation, and a layer of which lies under the skin and gives smoothness and warmth to the body.

Adirondack Mountains, a high-lying, picturesque, granite range in the State of New York; source of the Hudson.

Adjutant, a gigantic Indian stork with an enormous beak, about 5 ft. in height, which feeds on carrion and offal, and is useful in this way, as storks are.

Adler, Hermann, son and successor of the following, born in Hanover; a vigorous defender of his co-religionists and their faith, as well as their sacred Scriptures; was elected Chief Rabbi in 1891; b. 1839.

Adler, Nathan Marcus, chief Rabbi in Britain, born in Hanover (1803-1890).

Adlercreutz, a Swedish general, the chief promoter of the revolution of 1808, who told Gustavus IV. to his face that he ought to retire (1759-1815).

Adme`tus, king of Pheræ in Thessaly, one of the Argonauts, under whom Apollo served for a time as neat-herd. See Alcestis.

Admirable Doctor, a name given to Roger Bacon.

Admiral, the chief commander of a fleet, of which there are in Britain three grades—admirals, vice-admirals, and rear-admirals, the first displaying his flag on the main mast, the second on the fore, and the third on the mizzen.

Admiralty, Board of, board of commissioners appointed for the management of naval affairs.

Admiralty Island, an island off the coast of Alaska.

Admiralty Islands, a group NE. of New Guinea, in the Pacific, which belong to Germany.

Adolf, Friedrich, king of Sweden, under whose reign the nobles divided themselves into the two factions of the Caps, or the peace-party, and the Hats, or the war-party (1710-1771).

Adolph, St., a Spanish martyr: festival, Sept. 27.

Adolph of Nassau, Kaiser from 1291 to 1298, "a stalwart but necessitous Herr" Carlyle calls him; seems to have been under the pay of Edward Longshanks.

Adolphus, John, an able London barrister in criminal cases, and a voluminous historical writer (1766-1845).

Adona`i, the name used by the Jews for God instead of Jehovah, too sacred to be pronounced.

Adona`is, Shelley's name for Keats.

Ado`nis, a beautiful youth beloved by Aphrodité (Venus), but mortally wounded by a boar and changed by her into a flower the colour of his blood, by sprinkling nectar on his body.

Adoptionists, heretics who in the 8th century maintained that Christ was the son of God, not by birth, but by adoption, and as being one with Him in character and will.

Ador`no, an illustrious plebeian family in Genoa, of the Ghibelline party, several of whom were Doges of the republic.

Adour, a river of France, rising in the Pyrenees and falling into the Bay of Biscay.

Adowa`, a highland town in Abyssinia, and chief entrepôt of trade.

Adras`tus, a king of Argos, the one survivor of the first expedition of the Seven against Thebes, who died of grief when his son fell in the second.

Adrets, Baron des, a Huguenot leader, notorious for his cruelty; died a Catholic (1513-1587).

A`dria, an ancient town between the Po and the Adige; a flourishing seaport at one time, but now 14 m. from the sea.

A`drian, name of six Popes: A. I., from 772 to 795, did much to embellish Rome; A. II., from 867 to 872, zealous to subject the sovereigns of Europe to the Popehood; A. III., from 884 to 885; A. V., from 1054 to 1059, the only Englishman who attained to the Papal dignity; A. V., in 1276; A. VI., from 1222 to 1223. See Breakspeare.

Adrian, St., the chief military saint of N. Europe for many ages, second only to St. George; regarded as the patron of old soldiers, and protector against the plague.

Adriano`ple (60), a city in European Turkey, the third in importance, on the high-road between Belgrade and Constantinople.

Adria`tic, The, a sea 450 m. long separating Italy from Illyria, Dalmatia, and Albania.

Adullam, David's hiding-place (1 Sam. xxii. 1), a royal Canaanitish city 10 m. NW. of Hebron.

Adullamites, an English political party who in 1866 deserted the Liberal side in protest against a Liberal Franchise Bill then introduced. John Bright gave them this name. See 1 Sam. xxii.

Adumbla, a cow, in old Norse mythology, that grazes on hoar-frost, "licking the rime from the rocks—a Hindu cow transported north," surmises Carlyle.

Advocate, Lord, chief counsel for the Crown in Scotland, public prosecutor of crimes, and a member of the administration in power.

Advocates, Faculty of, body of lawyers qualified to plead at the Scottish bar.

Advocates' Library, a library belonging to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, founded in 1632; it alone of Scotch libraries still holds the privilege of receiving a copy of every book entered at Stationers' Hall.

Advocatus diaboli, the devil's advocate, a functionary in the Roman Catholic Church appointed to show reason against a proposed canonization.