The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
Chapter 2 : ABEL, SIR F. A., a chemist who has made a special study of explosives; _b_. 1827.ABEL, H

ABEL, SIR F. A., a chemist who has made a special study of explosives; _b_. 1827.

ABEL, HENRY, an able Norwegian mathematician, who died young (1802-1828).

AB'ELARD, PETER, a theologian and scholastic philosopher of French birth, renowned for his dialectic ability, his learning, his pa.s.sion for Helose, and his misfortunes; made conceivability the test of credibility, and was a great teacher in his day (1079-1142).

ABELLI, a Dominican monk, the confessor of Catharine de Medici (1603-1691).

ABENCERRA'GES, a powerful Moorish tribe in Grenada, whose fate in the 15th century has been the subject of interesting romance.

ABEN-EZ'RA, a learned Spanish Jew and commentator on the Hebrew scriptures (1090-1168).

ABERA'VON (6), a town and seaport in Glamorgans.h.i.+re, with copper and iron works.

ABERCROMBIE, SIR RALPH, a distinguished British general of Scottish birth, who fell in Egypt after defeating the French at Aboukir Bay (1731-1801).

ABERDEEN (124), the fourth city in Scotland, on the E. coast, between the mouths of the Dee and Don; built of grey granite, with many fine public edifices, a flouris.h.i.+ng university, a large trade, and thriving manufactures. Old Aberdeen, on the Don, now incorporated in the munic.i.p.ality, is the seat of a cathedral church, and of King's College, founded in 1404, united with the university in the new town.

ABERDEEN, EARL OF, a shrewd English statesman, Prime Minister of England during the Crimean war (1784-1860).--Grandson of the preceding, Gov.-Gen. of Canada; _b_. 1847.

ABERDEENs.h.i.+RE (281), a large county in NE. of Scotland; mountainous in SW., lowland N. and E.; famed for its granite quarries, its fisheries, and its breed of cattle.

ABERNETHY, a small burgh in S. Perths.h.i.+re, with a Pictish round tower, and once the capital of the Pictish kingdom.

ABERRATION OF LIGHT, an apparent motion in a star due to the earth's motion and the progressive motion of light.

ABERYST'WITH (16), a town and seaport in Cardigans.h.i.+re, Wales, with a university.

AB'GAR XIV., a king of Edessa, one of a dynasty of the name, a contemporary of Jesus Christ, and said to have corresponded with Him.

ABHORRERS, the Royalist and High Church party in England under Charles II., so called from their abhorrence of the principles of their opponents.

ABIGAIL, the widow of Nabal, espoused by David.

Ab.i.+.c.h, W. H., a German mineralogist and traveller (1806-1886).

ABINGDON (6), a borough in Berks, 6 m. S. of Oxford.

ABIOGENESIS, the doctrine of spontaneous generation.

ABIPONES, a once powerful warlike race in La Plata, now nearly all absorbed.

ABLE MAN, man with "a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute" (Gibbon).

ABNER, a Hebrew general under Saul; a.s.sa.s.sinated by Joab.

ABO, the old capital of Finland and seat of the government, on the Gulf of Bothnia.

AB'OMEY, the capital of Dahomey, in W. Africa.

ABOU'KIR, village near Alexandria, in Egypt, on the bay near which Nelson destroyed the French fleet in 1799; where Napoleon beat the Turks, 1799; and where Abercrombie fell, 1801.

ABOUT, EDMOND, spirited French litterateur and journalist (1828-1885).

ABRAHAM, the Hebrew patriarch, ancestor of the Jews, the very type of an Eastern pastoral chief at once by his dignified character and simple faith.

ABRAHAM, THE PLAINS OF, a plain near Quebec.

ABRAHAM-MEN, a cla.s.s of lunatics allowed out of restraint, at one time, to roam about and beg; a set of impostors who wandered about the country affecting lunacy.

ABRAN'TES, a town in Portugal, on the Tagus; taken by Marshal Junot, 1807, and giving the t.i.tle of Duke to him.

ABRAXAS STONES, stones with cabalistic figures on them used as talismans.

ABRUZ'ZI, a highland district in the Apennines, with a pop. of 100,000.