THE GREAT STONE FACE AND OTHER TALES OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS By Nathaniel Hawthorne 1882 Contents INTRODUCTION THE GREAT STONE FACE THE AMBITIOUS GUEST THE GREAT CARBUNCLE SKETCHES FROM MEMORY INTRODUCTION THE first three numbers in this collection are tales of the White Hills in New Hampshire. The passages from Sketches from Memory show that Hawthorne had visited the mountains in one of his occasional rambles from home, but there are no entries in his Note Books which give accounts of such a visit. There is, however, among these notes the following interesting paragraph, written in 1840 and clearly foreshadowing The Great Stone Face: 'The semblance of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturae [freak of nature].
 The face is an object of curiosity for years or centuries, and by and by a boy is born whose features gradually assume the aspect of that portrait.
 At some critical juncture the resemblance is found to be perfect. A prophecy may be connected.' It is not impossible that this conceit occurred to Hawthorne before he had himself seen the Old Man of the Mountain, or the Profile, in the Franconia Notch which is generally associated in the minds of readers with The Great Stone Face.

 In The Ambitious Guest he has made use of the incident still told to travellers through the Notch, of the destruction of the Willey family in August, 1826. The house occupied by the family was on the slope of a mountain, and after a long drought there was a terrible tempest which not only raised the river to a great height but loosened the surface of the mountain so that a great landslide took place. The house was in the track of the slide, and the family rushed out of doors. Had they remained within they would have been safe, for a ledge above the house parted the avalanche so that it was diverted into two paths and swept past the house on either side. Mr. and Mrs. Willey, their five children, and two hired men were crushed under the weight of earth, rocks, and trees.

 In the Sketches from Memory Hawthorne gives an intimation of the tale which he might write and did afterward write of The Great Carbuncle. The paper is interesting as showing what were the actual experiences out of which he formed his imaginative stories.

 THE GREAT STONE FACE and Other Tales Of The White Mountains THE GREAT STONE FACE One afternoon, when the sun was going down, a mother and her little boy sat at the door of their cottage, talking about the Great Stone Face. They had but to lift their eyes, and there it was plainly to be seen, though miles away, with the sunshine brightening all its features. And what was the Great Stone Face? Embosomed amongst a family of lofty mountains, there was a valley so spacious that it contained many thousand inhabitants. Some of these good people dwelt in log-huts, with the black forest all around them, on the steep and difficult hillsides. Others had their homes in comfortable farm-houses, and cultivated the rich soil on the gentle slopes or level surfaces of the valley. Others, again, were congregated into populous villages, where some wild, highland rivulet, tumbling down from its birthplace in the upper mountain region, had been caught and tamed by human cunning, and compelled to turn the machinery of cotton-factories.
 The inhabitants of this valley, in short, were numerous, and of many modes of life. But all of them, grown people and children, had a kind of familiarity with the Great Stone Face, although some possessed the gift of distinguishing this grand natural phenomenon more perfectly than many of their neighbors.

 The Great Stone Face, then, was a work of Nature in her mood of majestie playfulness, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had been thrown together in such a position as, when viewed at a proper distance, precisely to resemble the features of the human countenance. It seemed as if an enormous giant, or a Titan, had sculptured his own likeness on the precipice. There was the broad arch of the forehead, a hundred feet in height; the nose, with its long bridge; and the vast lips, which, if they could have spoken, would have rolled their thunder accents from one end of the valley to the other. True it is, that if the spectator approached too near, he lost the outline of the gigantic visage, and could discern only a heap of ponderous and gigantic rocks, piled in chaotic ruin one upon another. Retracing his steps, however, the wondrous features would again be seen; and the farther he withdrew from them, the more like a human face, with all its original divinity intact, did they appear; until, as it grew dim in the distance, with the clouds and glorified vapor of the mountains clustering about it, the Great Stone Face seemed positively to be alive.

 It was a happy lot for children to grow up to manhood or womanhood with the Great Stone Face before their eyes, for all the features were noble, and the expression was at once grand and sweet, as if it were the glow of a vast, warm heart, that embraced all mankind in its affections, and had room for more. It was an education only to look at it. According to the belief of many people, the valley owed much of its fertility to this benign aspect that was continually beaming over it, illuminating the clouds, and infusing its tenderness into the sunshine.

 As we began with saying, a mother and her little boy sat at their cottage-door, gazing at the Great Stone Face, and talking about it. The child's name was Ernest.

 'Mother,' said he, while the Titanic visage miled on him, 'I wish that it could speak, for it looks so very kindly that its voice must needs be pleasant. If I were to See a man with such a face, I should love him dearly.' 'If an old prophecy should come to pass,' answered his mother, 'we may see a man, some time for other, with exactly such a face as that.' 'What prophecy do you mean, dear mother?' eagerly inquired Ernest. 'Pray tell me all about it!' So his mother told him a story that her own mother had told to her, when she herself was younger than little Ernest; a story, not of things that were past, but of what was yet to come; a story, nevertheless, so very old, that even the Indians, who formerly inhabited this valley, had heard it from their forefathers, to whom, as they affirmed, it had been murmured by the mountain streams, and whispered by the wind among the tree-tops.
 The purport was, that, at some future day, a child should be born hereabouts, who was destined to become the greatest and noblest personage of his time, and whose countenance, in manhood, should bear an exact resemblance to the Great Stone Face. Not a few old-fashioned people, and young ones likewise, in the ardor of their hopes, still cherished an enduring faith in this old prophecy. But others, who had seen more of the world, had watched and waited till they were weary, and had beheld no man with such a face, nor any man that proved to be much greater or nobler than his neighbors, concluded it to be nothing but an idle tale. At all events, the great man of the prophecy had not yet appeared.

 'O mother, dear mother!' cried Ernest, clapping his hands above his head, 'I do hope that I shall live to see him!' His mother was


Myths," Lenormant's "Beginnings of History," Hesiod's "Theogony," Sir John de Maundeville's writings, and Sayce's "Records of the Past," that, to say the least, are strangely in harmony with the seemingly incredible text found in the yellow manuscript of the old Norseman, Olaf Jansen, and now for the first time given to the world.

 THE END


bad so fast that when you buy it in the store it usually is the rye equivalent of white wheat flour. The germ has been removed. The bag may not say so. But it probably has. If you are going to make rye breads, even more reason to grind your own. Corn meal from the grocery store has usually been degerminated too. If it hasn't been, the oil in the seed's germ has probably gone rancid.
 Grinding flour at home is easy these days. There is an abundance of at-home milling products and no shortage of hype about them. You'll find staunch advocates of stone mills. These produce the finest-textured flour, but are costly.
The sales pitch is that stones grind at low temperature and do not damage the oils (remember the development of rancidity is a function of temperature) or the vitamins, which are also destroyed at high temperature. This assertion is half true. If you are going to store your flour it is far better to grind it cool. However, if you are, as we do, going to immediately bake your flour, what difference does it make if it gets a little warm before baking. That only accelerates the action of the yeast.
 On the negative side, stone mills grind slowly and are very fussy about which grains they will grind. If the cereal is a bit moist or if the seed being ground is a little bit oily, the mill becomes instantly blocked.
 Steel burr mills grind fast and coarsely and are inexpensive.
Coarse flour makes heavy bread. The metal grinding faces tend to wear out and have to be replaced occasionally--if they can be replaced. Breads on the heavy side are still delicious; for many years I made bread with an inexpensive steel burr mill attachment that came with my juicer.
 Some steel burr mills will also grind oily seed like sesame and sunflower. However, oily seeds can be ground far more easily half-a-cup at a time in a little inexpensive electric spice/coffee mill, the sort with a single fast-spinning propeller.
 I currently think the best compromise are hammermills. The grain dribbles into a chamber full of fast-spinning teeth that literally pound the grain into powder. Since air flows through with the grain the flour is not heated very much. This type of mill is small, very fast, intermediate in price between steel mills and stone mill, lasts a long time, but when grinding, sounds like a Boeing 747 about to take off. It is essential to wear hearing protectors when using it.
 Awareness of bread quality is growing. One excellent new U.S. business, called Great Harvest Bakery is a fast-growing national franchise chain.
They bake and sell only whole grain breads; all their wheat flour is freshly ground daily on the premises in the back. Unfortunately, as of the writing of this book, they do not grind their rye flour but bring it in sacks. I can't recommend their rye breads. The founder of Great Harvest is a knowledgeable buyer who fully understands my next topic, which is that wheat is not wheat.
 There are great differences between hard bread wheats; being organically grown is no cure all for making good or nutritious bread. Great Harvest understands this and uses top quality grain that is also Organic.
 When I first stated making my own bread from my own at-home-ground flour I was puzzled by variations in the dough. Sometimes the bread rose well and was spongy after baking like I wanted it to be. Sometimes it kneaded stickily and ended up flat and crumbly like a cake. Since I had done everything the same way except that I may have bought my wheat berries from different healthfood stores, I began to investigate the subject of wheat quality.
 The element in the cereal that forms the rubbery sponge in risen bread so it doesn't crumble and rises high without collapsing, is gluten. The word glue derives from gluten. The gluten content of various wheats varies. Bread bakers use "hard wheat" because of its high gluten content. Gluten is a protein and gluten comprises most of the protein in bread wheat; the protein content and the gluten content are almost identical.
 Try this. Ask your healthfood store buyer or owner what the protein content is of the hard red wheat seeds they're selling. You'll almost certainly get a puzzled look and your answer will almost certainly be, "we have Organic and conventional." Demand that the store buyer ask this question of their distributor/wholesaler and then report back to you. If the distributor deigns to answer, the answer will be the same--I sell Organic or conventional hard red wheat. Period. When I got these non-answers I looked further and discovered that hard bread wheats run from about 12 percent protein to about 19 percent and this difference has everything to do with the soil fertility (and to an extent the amount of rainfall during the season), and almost nothing to do with Organic or conventional.
 This difference also has everything to do with how your dough behaves and how your bread comes out. And how well your bread nourishes you. Thirteen percent wheat will not make a decent loaf--fourteen percent is generally considered #2 quality and comprises the bulk of cheap bread grain. When you hear in the financial news that a bushel of wheat is selling for a certain price, they mean #2. Bakers compete for higher protein lots and pay far higher prices for more protein.
 We prefer our bread about 25% rye, but rye contains no gluten at all. Mix any rye flour into fourteen percent wheat flour and the dough becomes very heavy, won't rise, and after baking, crumbles. So I kept looking for better grain and finally discovered a knowledgeable lady that sold flour mills and who also was a serious baker herself. She had located a source of quality wheat with an assayed protein content and sold it by the 50 pound sack. When I asked her if her wheat was Organic she said it was either sixteen or seventeen percent protein depending on whether you wanted hard red spring wheat or hard white spring wheat. Organic or conventional?
I persisted. No, she said. High protein!
 So, I said to myself, since protein content is a function of soil fertility and since my body needs protein, I figured I am better off eating the best quality wheat, pesticide/herbicide residues (if there are any) be damned.
Think about it! The difference between seventeen percent and fourteen percent protein is about 25 percent. That percentage difference is the key threshold of nutritional deficiency that makes teeth fall out. We can't afford to accept 25% degradations in our nutritional quality in something that we eat every day and that forms the very basis of our dietary.
 Please understand here that I am not saying that high protein wheats can't be grown organically. They certainly can. The founder of Great Harvest Bakery performs a valuable service locating and securing high-protein lots of organically grown wheats for his outlets. But often as not Organic products are no more nourishing than those grown with chemicals. Until the buyers at Organic whole food wholesalers get better educated about grain, obtaining one's personal milling stock from them will be a dicey proposition.
 Sometimes Organic cereal can be far worse than conventional.
To make a cereal Organic is a negative definition; if it hasn't had chemicals, then its Organic. Grain is one of the few foods that will still produce economic yields of low quality seed on extremely infertile soil or when half-smothered in weeds because herbicides weren't used for reasons of ideological purity. Vegetables will hardly produce anything under those conditions; carelessly grown fruits and vegetables are inevitably small, misshapen, unmarketable. But seed cleaning equipment can remove the contamination of weed seeds in cereal grains (at a cost.)
 The price the farmer receives for Organic cereal grain is much higher, so it is possible to accept rather low yields or expend more money for cleaning out high levels of weed seeds from the field-run harvest, and still make a good profit. A lousy Organic cereal crop like this might even make a higher profit because the farmer has been spared the expense of fertilization, of rotation, of weed control. I remember once I bought a sack of Organic whole oats that were the smallest, most shriveled, bitterest oats I've ever tried to eat. We ended up throwing out that tiny, light (lacking density) seed in favor of using the "conventional" whole oats that were plump, heavy and sweet.
 Wheat is not the only cereal that is damaged by industrial milling. So are oats. Most consumers have never seen whole oats; they look very much like wheat berries.


. F. conservatoire, LL. conservatorius.]
 Having the quality of preserving from loss, decay, or injury.

 Con*serv"a*to*ry, n. [Cf. F. conservatoire, LL. conservatorium.]
 1. That which preserves from injury. [Obs.] "A conservatory of life." Jer. Taylor.
2. A place for preserving anything from loss, decay, waste, or injury; particulary, a greenhouse for preserving exotic or tender plants.

3. A public place of instruction, designed to preserve and perfect the knowledge of some branch of science or art, esp. music.

 Con'ser*va"trix (?), n. [L.] A woman who preserves from loss, injury, etc.

 Con*serve" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Conserved (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Conserving.] [F. conserver, L. conservare; con- + servare to keep, guard. See Serve.] 1. To keep in a safe or sound state; to save; to preserve; to protect.

 The amity which... they meant to conserve and maintain with the emperor. Strype.
2. To prepare with sugar, etc., for the purpose of preservation, as fruits, etc.; to make a conserve of.

 Con"serve (?), n. [F. conserve, fr. conserver.] 1.
 Anything which is conserved; especially, a sweetmeat prepared with sugar; a confection.

 I shall... study broths, plasters, and conserves, till from a fine lady I become a notable woman. Tatler.
2. (Med.) A medicinal confection made of freshly gathered vegetable substances mixed with finely powdered refined sugar. See Confection.

3. A conservatory. [Obs.] Evelyn.
 Con*serv"er (?), n. One who conserves.

 Con*sid"er (kn*sd"r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Considered (-rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Considering.] [F. considérer, L. considerare, -sideratum, to consider, view attentively, prob. fr. con- + sidus, sideris, star, constellation; orig., therefore, to look at the stars. See Sidereal, and cf. Desire.] 1.
 To fix the mind on, with a view to a careful examination; to think on with care; to ponder; to study; to meditate on.

 I will consider thy testimonies. Ps. cxix. 95.
 Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts, and with capacious mind Considered all things visible. Milton.
2. To look at attentively; to observe; to examine.

 She considereth a field, and buyeth it. Prov. xxxi. 16.
3. To have regard to; to take into view or account; to pay due attention to; to respect.

Consider, sir, the chance of war: the day Was yours by accident. Shak.
 England could grow into a posture of being more united at home, and more considered abroad. Sir W. Temple.
4. To estimate; to think; to regard; to view.

Considered as plays, his works are absurd. Macaulay.
 The proper sense of consider is often blended with an idea of the result of considering; as, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Ps. xli. 1.; i.e., considers with sympathy and pity. "Which [services] if I have not enough considered." Shak.; i.e., requited as the sufficient considering of them would suggest. "Consider him liberally." J. Hooker.
Syn. -- To ponder; weigh; revolve; study; reflect or meditate on; contemplate; examine. See Ponder.

 Con*sid"er, v. i. 1. To think seriously; to make examination; to reflect; to deliberate.

 We will consider of your suit. Shak.
 'T were to consider too curiously, to consider so. Shak.
 She wished she had taken a moment to consider, before rushing down stairs. W. Black 2. To hesitate. [Poetic & R.] Dryden.
 Con*sid"er*a*ble (kn*sd"r**b'l), a. [Cf. F. considérable.]
 1. Worthy of consideration; requiring to be observed, borne in mind, or attended to.

 It is considerable, that some urns have had inscriptions on them expressing that the lamps were burning. Bp. Wilkins.
 Eternity is infinitely the most considerable duration. Tillotson.
2. Of some distinction; noteworthy; influential; respectable; -- said of persons.

 You are, indeed, a very considerable man. Junius.
3. Of importance or value.

 In painting, not every action, nor every person, is considerable enough to enter into the cloth. Dryden.
 A considerable sum of money. Prescott.
 Con*sid"er*a*ble*ness, n. Worthiness of consideration; dignity; value; size; amount.

 Con*sid"er*a*bly, adv. In a manner or to a degree not trifling or unimportant; greatly; much.

 The breeds... differ considerably from each other. Darwin.
 Con*sid"er*ance (?), n. [L. considerantia.] Act of considering; consideration. [Obs.] Shak.
 Con*sid"er*ate (kn*sd"r*t), a. [L. consideratus, p. p.] 1.
 Given to consideration or to sober reflection; regardful of consequences or circumstances; circumspect; careful; esp. careful of the rights, claims, and feelings of others.

 Of dauntless courage and considerate pride. Milton.
 Æneas is patient, considerate, and careful of his people.
Dryden.
 The wisest and most considerate men in the world. Sharp.
2. Having respect to; regardful. [R.]

 They may be... more considerate of praise. Dr. H. More.
Syn. -- Thoughtful; reflective; careful; discreet; prudent; deliberate; serious. See Thoughtful.

 -- Con*sid"er*ate*ly, adv. -- Con*sid"er*ate*ness, n. Con*sid'er*a"tion (kn*sd'r*"shn), n. [L. consideratio: cf.
 F. considération.] 1. The act or process of considering; continuous careful thought; examination; contemplation; deliberation; attention.

 Let us think with consideration. Sir P. Sidney.
Consideration, like an angel, came. Shak.
2. Attentive respect; appreciative regard; -- used especially in diplomatic or stately correspondence.

 The undersigned has the honor to repeat to Mr. Hulseman the assurance of his high consideration. D. Webster.
 The consideration with which he was treated. Whewell.
3. Thoughtful or sympathetic regard or notice.

Consideration for the poor is a doctrine of the church. Newman.
4. Claim to notice or regard; some degree of importance or consequence.

 Lucan is the only author of consideration among the Latin poets who was not explained for... the Dauphin. Addison.
5. The result of delibration, or of attention and examonation; matured opinion; a reflection; as, considerations on the choice of a profession.

6. That which is, or should be, taken into account as a ground of opinion or action; motive; reason.

 He was obliged, antecedent to all other considerations, to search an asylum. Dryden.
 Some considerations which are necessary to the forming of a correct judgment. Macaulay.
7. (Law) The cause which moves a contracting party to enter into an agreement; the material cause of a contract; the price of a stripulation; compensation; equivalent. Bouvier.
Consideration is what is done, or promised to be done,


) having a triangular decompound frond and a longstalked panicle of spore cases rising from the middle of the frond. -- Rattlesnake grass (Bot.), a handsome American grass (Glyceria Canadensis) with an ample panicle of rather large ovate spikelets, each one composed of imbricated parts and slightly resembling the rattle of the rattlesnake. Sometimes called quaking grass. -- Rattlesnake plantain. (Bot.)
 See under Plantain. -- Rattlesnake root (Bot.), a name given to certain American species of the composite genus Prenanthes (P. alba and P. serpentaria), formerly asserted to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. Called also lion's foot, gall of the earth, and white lettuce. -- Rattlesnake's master. (Bot.) (a) A species of Agave (Agave Virginica) growing in the Southern United States. (b) An umbelliferous plant (Eryngium yuccæfolium) with large bristly-fringed linear leaves. (c) A composite plant, the blazing star (Liatris squarrosa). -- Rattlesnake weed (Bot.), a plant of the composite genus Hieracium (H. venosum); -- probably so named from its spotted leaves. See also Snakeroot.

 Rat"tle*trap' (-trp'), n. Any machine or vehicle that does not run smoothly. [Colloq.] A. Trollope.
 Rat"tle*weed' (-wd'), n. (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Astragalus.
 See Milk vetch.

 Rat"tle*wings' (-wngz'), n. (Zoöl.) The golden-eye.

 Rat"tle*wort' (-wûrt'), n. [AS. hrætelwyrt.] (Bot.)
 Same as Rattlebox.

 Rat"tlings (rt"tlngz), n. pl. (Naut.) Ratlines.

 Rat*toon" (rt*tn"), n. [Sp. retoño.] One of the stems or shoots of sugar cane of the second year's growth from the root, or later. See Plant-cane.

 Rat*toon", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rattooned (-tnd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Rattooning.] [Cf. Sp. retoñar.] To sprout or spring up from the root, as sugar cane from the root of the previous year's planting.

 Rau"cid (r"sd), a. [L. raucus hoarse; cf. LL. raucidus.]
 Hoarse; raucous. [R.] Lamb.
 Rau"ci*ty (r"s*t), n. [L. raucitas, from raucus hoarse: cf. F. raucité.] Harshness of sound; rough utterance; hoarseness; as, the raucity of a trumpet, or of the human voice.

 Rau"cous (r"ks), a. [L. raucus.] Hoarse; harsh; rough; as, a raucous, thick tone. "His voice slightly raucous." Aytoun.
 -- Rau"cous*ly, adv.
 Raught (rt), obs. imp. & p. p. of Reach. Shak.
 Raught, obs. imp. & p. p. of Reck. Chaucer.
 Raunch (rnch), v. t. See Ranch. Spenser.
 Raun*soun" (rn*sn"), n. Ransom. [Obs.] Chaucer.
 Rav"age (rv"j; 48), n. [F., fr. (assumed) L. rapagium, rapaticum, fr. rapere to carry off by force, to ravish. See Rapacious, Ravish.]
 Desolation by violence; violent ruin or destruction; devastation; havoc; waste; as, the ravage of a lion; the ravages of fire or tempest; the ravages of an army, or of time.

 Would one think 't were possible for love To make such ravage in a noble soul?

Addison.
Syn. -- Despoilment; devastation; desolation; pillage; plunder; spoil; waste; ruin.

 Rav"age, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravaged (-jd); p. pr.
 & vb. n. Ravaging (-*jng).] [F. ravager. See Ravage, n.]
 To lay waste by force; to desolate by violence; to commit havoc or devastation upon; to spoil; to plunder; to consume.

 Already Cæsar Has ravaged more than half the globe.

Addison.
 His lands were daily ravaged, his cattle driven away.

Macaulay.
Syn. -- To despoil; pillage; plunder; sack; spoil; devastate; desolate; destroy; waste; ruin.

 Rav"a*ger (-*jr), n. One who, or that which, ravages or lays waste; spoiler.

 Rave (rv), obs. imp. of Rive.

 Rave, n. [Prov. E. raves, or rathes, a frame laid on a wagon, for carrying hay, etc.] One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.

 Rave (rv), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Raved (rvd); p. pr.
 & vb. n. Raving.] [F. rêver to rave, to be delirious, to dream; perhaps fr. L. rabere to rave, rage, be mad or furious.
 Cf. Rage, Reverie.] 1. To wander in mind or intellect; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild, furious, or raging, as a madman.

 In our madness evermore we rave.

Chaucer.
 Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?

Addison.
 The mingled torrent of redcoats and tartans went raving down the valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie.

Macaulay.
2. To rush wildly or furiously. Spenser.
3. To talk with unreasonable enthusiasm or excessive passion or excitement; -- followed by about, of, or on; as, he raved about her beauty.

 The hallowed scene Which others rave of, though they know it not.

Byron.
 Rave, v. t. To utter in madness or frenzy; to say wildly; as, to rave nonsense. Young.
 Rave"hook (rv"hk), n. (Shipbuilding) A tool, hooked at the end, for enlarging or clearing seams for the reception of oakum.

 Rav"el (rv"'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raveled (-'ld) or Ravelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Raveling or Ravelling.] [OD. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.]
 1. To separate or undo the texture of; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a stocking.

 Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care.

Shak.
2. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.

3. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve.

 What glory's due to him that could divide Such raveled interests? has the knot untied?

Waller.
 The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak discourses!

Jer. Taylor.
 Rav"el,


is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight.

Shak.
(b) To use in a droll manner; to give a droll expression or application to; as, to play upon words.

 Play, v. t. 1. To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump.

 First Peace and Silence all disputes control, Then Order plays the soul.

Herbert.
2. To perform music upon; as, to play the flute or the organ.

3. To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.

4. To bring into sportive or wanton action; to exhibit in action; to execute; as, to play tricks.

 Nature here Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will Her virgin fancies.

Milton.
5. To act or perform (a play); to represent in music action; as, to play a comedy; also, to act in the character of; to represent by acting; to simulate; to behave like; as, to play King Lear; to play the woman.

 Thou canst play the rational if thou wilt.

Sir W. Scott.
6. To engage in, or go together with, as a contest for amusement or for a wager or prize; as, to play a game at baseball.

7. To keep in play, as a hooked fish, in order to land it.

To play off, to display; to show; to put in exercise; as, to play off tricks. -- To play one's cards, to manage one's means or opportunities; to contrive. -- Played out, tired out; exhausted; at the end of one's resources. [Colloq.]

 Play, n. 1. Amusement; sport; frolic; gambols.

2. Any exercise, or series of actions, intended for amusement or diversion; a game.

 John naturally loved rough play.

Arbuthnot.
3. The act or practice of contending for victory, amusement, or a prize, as at dice, cards, or billiards; gaming; as, to lose a fortune in play.

4. Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit. "The next who comes in play."
 Dryden.
5. A dramatic composition; a comedy or tragedy; a composition in which characters are represented by dialogue and action.

 A play ought to be a just image of human nature.

Dryden.
6. The representation or exhibition of a comedy or tragedy; as, he attends ever play.

7. Performance on an instrument of music.

8. Motion; movement, regular or irregular; as, the play of a wheel or piston; hence, also, room for motion; free and easy action. "To give them play, front and rear." Milton.
 The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them.

Moxon.
9. Hence, liberty of acting; room for enlargement or display; scope; as, to give full play to mirth.

Play actor, an actor of dramas. Prynne. -- Play debt, a gambling debt. Arbuthnot. -- Play pleasure, idle amusement. [Obs.] Bacon. -- A play upon words, the use of a word in such a way as to be capable of double meaning; punning. -- Play of colors, prismatic variation of colors. -- To bring into play, To come into play, to bring or come into use or exercise. -- To hold in play, to keep occupied or employed.

 I, with two more to help me, Will hold the foe in play.

Macaulay.
 ||Pla"ya (?), n. [Sp.] A beach; a strand; in the plains and deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, a broad, level spot, on which subsequently becomes dry by evaporation. Bartlett.
 Play"bill' (?), n. A printed programme of a play, with the parts assigned to the actors.

 Play"book' (?), n. A book of dramatic compositions; a book of the play. Swift.
 Play"day' (?), n. A day given to play or diversion; a holiday. Swift.
 Play"er (?), n. 1. One who plays, or amuses himself; one without serious aims; an idler; a trifler. Shak.
2. One who plays any game.

3. A dramatic actor. Shak.
4. One who plays on an instrument of music. "A cunning player on a harp." 1 Sam. xvi. 16.
5. A gamester; a gambler.

 Play"fel'low (?), n. A companion in amusements or sports; a playmate. Shak.
 Play"fere' (?), n. [Play + 1st fere.] A playfellow.
 [Obs.] [Also, playfeer, playphere.] Holinsheld.
 Play"ful (?), a. Sportive; gamboling; frolicsome; indulging a sportive fancy; humorous; merry; as, a playful child; a playful writer. -- Play"ful*ly, adv. -- Play"ful*ness, n. Play"game' (?), n. Play of children. Locke.
 Play"go'er (?), n. One who frequents playhouses, or attends dramatic performances.

 Play"go'ing, a. Frequenting playhouses; as, the playgoing public. -- n. The practice of going to plays.

 Play"ground' (?), n. A piece of ground used for recreation; as, the playground of a school.

 Play"house' (?), n. [AS. pleghs.] 1. A building used for dramatic exhibitions; a theater. Shak.
2. A house for children to play in; a toyhouse.

 Play"ing, a. & vb. n. of Play.

Playing cards. See under Card.

 Play"mak'er (?), n. A playwright. [R.]

 Play"mate' (?), n. A companion in diversions; a playfellow.

 Play"some (?), a. Playful; wanton; sportive. [R.] R. Browning.
 -- Play"some*ness, n. [R.]

 Playte (?), n. (Naut.) See Pleyt.

 Play"thing' (?), n. A thing to play with; a toy; anything that serves to amuse.

 A child knows his nurse, and by degrees the playthings of a little more advanced age.

Locke.
 Play"time' (?), n. Time for play or diversion.

 Play"wright' (?), n. A maker or adapter of plays.

 Play"writ'er (?), n. A writer of plays; a dramatist; a playwright.
 Lecky.
 ||Pla"za (?), n. [Sp. See Place.] A public square in a city or town.

 Plea (?), n. [OE. plee, plai, plait, fr. OF.
 plait, plaid, plet, LL. placitum judgment, decision, assembly, court, fr. L. placitum that which is pleasing, an opinion, sentiment, from placere to please. See Please, and cf.
 Placit, Plead.] 1. (Law) That which is alleged by a party in support of his cause; in a stricter sense, an allegation of fact in a cause, as distinguished from a demurrer; in a still more limited sense, and in modern practice, the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. That which the plaintiff alleges in his declaration is answered and repelled or justified by the defendant's plea.
 In chancery practice, a plea is a special answer showing or relying upon one or more things as a cause why the suit should be either dismissed, delayed, or barred. In criminal practice, the plea is the defendant's formal


1. A witch, sorceress, or enchantress; also, a wizard. [Obs.] "[Silenus] that old hag." Golding.
2. An ugly old woman.Dryden.
3. A fury; a she-monster. Crashaw.
4. (Zoöl.) An eel-like marine marsipobranch (Myxine glutinosa), allied to the lamprey. It has a suctorial mouth, with labial appendages, and a single pair of gill openings. It is the type of the order Hyperotreta. Called also hagfish, borer, slime eel, sucker, and sleepmarken.

5. (Zoöl.) The hagdon or shearwater.

6. An appearance of light and fire on a horse's mane or a man's hair. Blount.
Hag moth (Zoöl.), a moth (Phobetron pithecium), the larva of which has curious side appendages, and feeds on fruit trees.
 -- Hag's tooth (Naut.), an ugly irregularity in the pattern of matting or pointing.

 Hag, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hagged (hgd); p. pr. & vb. n. Hagging.] To harass; to weary with vexation.

 How are superstitious men hagged out of their wits with the fancy of omens.

L'Estrange.
 Hag, n. [Scot. hag to cut; cf. E. hack.] 1. A small wood, or part of a wood or copse, which is marked off or inclosed for felling, or which has been felled.

 This said, he led me over hoults and hags; Through thorns and bushes scant my legs I drew.

Fairfax.
2. A quagmire; mossy ground where peat or turf has been cut. Dugdale.
 Hag"ber'ry (hg"br'r), n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Prunus (P. Padus); the bird cherry. [Scot.]

 Hag"born' (-bôrn'), a. Born of a hag or witch. Shak.
 Hag"but (-bt), n. [OF. haquebute, prob. a corruption of D. haakbus; haak hook + bus gun barrel. See Hook, and 2d Box, and cf. Arquebus.] A harquebus, of which the but was bent down or hooked for convenience in taking aim. [Written also haguebut and hackbuss.]

 Hag"but*ter (hg"bt*tr), n. A soldier armed with a hagbut or arquebus. [Written also hackbutter.] Froude.
 Hag"don (hg"dn), n. (Zoöl.) One of several species of sea birds of the genus Puffinus; esp., P. major, the greater shearwarter, and P. Stricklandi, the black hagdon or sooty shearwater; -- called also hagdown, haglin, and hag.
 See Shearwater.

 Hag"fish'(- fsh'),n.(Zoöl.) See Hag, 4.

 Hag*ga"da (hg*gä"d), n.; pl. Haggadoth (- dth).
 [Rabbinic haggdh, fr. Heb. higgdh to relate.] A story, anecdote, or legend in the Talmud, to explain or illustrate the text of the Old Testament. [Written also hagada.]

 Hag"gard (hg"grd), a. [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and - ard.] 1. Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. [Obs.] Shak.
2. [For hagged, fr. hag a witch, influenced by haggard wild.] Having the expression of one wasted by want or suffering; hollow-eyed; having the features distorted or wasted by pain; wild and wasted, or anxious in appearance; as, haggard features, eyes.

 Staring his eyes, and haggard was his look.

Dryden.
 Hag"gard, n. [See Haggard, a.] 1. (Falconry) A young or untrained hawk or falcon.

2. A fierce, intractable creature.

 I have loved this proud disdainful haggard.

Shak.
3. [See Haggard, a., 2.] A hag. [Obs.] Garth.
 Hag"gard, n. [See 1st Haw, Hedge, and Yard an inclosed space.] A stackyard. [Prov. Eng.] Swift.
 Hag"gard*ly, adv. In a haggard manner. Dryden.
 Hag"ged (-gd), a. Like a hag; lean; ugly. [R.]

 Hag"gis (-gs), n. [Scot. hag to hack, chop, E. hack.
 Formed, perhaps, in imitation of the F. hachis (E. hash), fr. hacher.] A Scotch pudding made of the heart, liver, lights, etc., of a sheep or lamb, minced with suet, onions, oatmeal, etc., highly seasoned, and boiled in the stomach of the same animal; minced head and pluck. [Written also haggiss, haggess, and haggies.]

 Hag"gish (-gsh), a. Like a hag; ugly; wrinkled.

 But on us both did haggish age steal on.

Shak.
 Hag"gish*ly, adv. In the manner of a hag.

 Hag"gle (hg"g'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Haggled (-g'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Haggling (-glng).] [Freq. of Scot. hag, E. hack. See Hack to cut.] To cut roughly or hack; to cut into small pieces; to notch or cut in an unskillful manner; to make rough or mangle by cutting; as, a boy haggles a stick of wood.

 Suffolk first died, and York, all haggled o'er, Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped.

Shak.
 Hag"gle, v. i. To be difficult in bargaining; to stick at small matters; to chaffer; to higgle.

 Royalty and science never haggled about the value of blood.

Walpole.
 Hag"gle, n. The act or process of haggling. Carlyle.
 Hag"gler (hg"glr), n. 1. One who haggles or is difficult in bargaining.

2. One who forestalls a market; a middleman between producer and dealer in London vegetable markets.

 Ha"gi*ar'chy (h"j*är'k), n. [Gr. "a'gios sacred, holy + - archy.] A sacred government; government by holy orders of men. Southey.
 Ha'gi*oc"ra*cy (-k"r*s), n. [Gr. "a'gios holy, and kratei^n to govern.] Government by a priesthood; hierarchy.

 ||Ha'gi*og"ra*pha (-g"r*f), n. pl. [L., fr. Gr. "agio'grafa (sc.
 bibli'a), fr. "agio'grafos written by inspiration; "a'gios sacred, holy + gra'fein to write.] 1. The last of the three Jewish divisions of the Old Testament, or that portion not contained in the Law and the Prophets. It comprises Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

2. (R. C. Ch.) The lives of the saints. Brande & C.


.
 Com*mis"sion (?), n. [F., fr. L. commissio. See Commit.] 1.
 The act of committing, doing, or performing; the act of perpetrating.

 Every commission of sin introduces into the soul a certain degree of hardness. South.
2. The act of intrusting; a charge; instructions as to how a trust shall be executed.

3. The duty or employment intrusted to any person or persons; a trust; a charge.

4. A formal written warrant or authority, granting certain powers or privileges and authorizing or commanding the performance of certain duties.

 Let him see our commission. Shak.
5. A certificate conferring military or naval rank and authority; as, a colonel's commission.

6. A company of persons joined in the performance of some duty or the execution of some trust; as, the interstate commerce commission.

 A commission was at once appointed to examine into the matter.
Prescott.
7. (Com.) (a) The acting under authority of, or on account of, another. (b) The thing to be done as agent for another; as, I have three commissions for the city. (c) The brokerage or allowance made to a factor or agent for transacting business for another; as, a commission of ten per cent on sales. See Del credere.

Commission of array. (Eng. Hist.) See under Array. -- Commission of bankruptcy, a commission appointing and empowering certain persons to examine into the facts relative to an alleged bankruptcy, and to secure the bankrupt's lands and effects for the creditors. -- Commission of lunacy, a commission authorizing an inquiry whether a person is a lunatic or not. -- Commission merchant, one who buys or sells goods on commission, as the agent of others, receiving a rate per cent as his compensation. -- Commission, or Commissioned, officer (Mil.), one who has a commission, in distinction from a noncommissioned or warrant officer. -- Commission of the peace, a commission under the great seal, constituting one or more persons justices of the peace. [Eng.] -- To put a vessel into commission (Naut.), to equip and man a government vessel, and send it out on service after it has been laid up; esp., the formal act of taking command of a vessel for service, hoisting the flag, reading the orders, etc. -- To put a vessel out of commission (Naut.), to detach the officers and crew and retire it from active service, temporarily or permanently. -- To put the great seal, or the Treasury, into commission, to place it in the hands of a commissioner or commissioners during the abeyance of the ordinary administration, as between the going out of one lord keeper and the accession of another. [Eng.] -- The United States Christian Commission, an organization among the people of the North, during the Civil War, which afforded material comforts to the Union soldiers, and performed services of a religious character in the field and in hospitals. -- The United States Sanitary Commission, an organization formed by the people of the North to coöperate with and supplement the medical department of the Union armies during the Civil War.

Syn. -- Charge; warrant; authority; mandate; office; trust; employment.

 Com*mis"sion (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Commissioned (?); p. pr & vb. n. Commissioning.] 1. To give a commission to; to furnish with a commission; to empower or authorize; as, to commission persons to perform certain acts; to commission an officer.

2. To send out with a charge or commission.

 A chosen band He first commissions to the Latian land.
Dryden.
Syn. -- To appoint; depute; authorize; empower; delegate; constitute; ordain.

 { Com*mis"sion*al (?), Com*mis"sion*a*ry (?) } a. Of, pertaining to, or conferring, a commission; conferred by a commission or warrant. [R.]

 Delegate or commissionary authority. Bp. Hall.
 Com*mis"sion*ate (?), v. t. To commission [Obs.]

 Com*mis"sion*er (?), n. 1. A person who has a commission or warrant to perform some office, or execute some business, for the government, corporation, or person employing him; as, a commissioner to take affidavits or to adjust claims.

 To another address which requested that a commission might be sent to examine into the state of things in Ireland, William returned a gracious answer, and desired the Commons to name the commissioners.
Macaulay.
2. An officer having charge of some department or bureau of the public service.

 Herbert was first commissioner of the Admiralty. Macaulay.
 The commissioner of patents, the commissioner of the land office, the commissioner of Indian affairs, are subordinates of the secretary of the interior. Bartlett.
Commissioner of deeds, an officer having authority to take affidavits, depositions, acknowledgment of deeds, etc., for use in the State by which he is appointed. [U. S.] -- County commissioners, certain administrative officers in some of the States, invested by local laws with various powers in reference to the roads, courthouses, financial matters, etc., of the county. [U. S.]

 ||Com*mis'sion*naire" (?; F.?), n. [F., fr. L. commissio.]
 1. An agent or factor; a commission merchant.

2. One of a class of attendants, in some European cities, who perform miscellaneous services for travelers.

 Com*mis"sion*ship (?), n. The office of commissioner. Sir W. Scott.
 Com*mis"sive (?), a. Relating to commission; of the nature of, or involving, commission. [R.]

 Com*mis"su*ral (? or?), a. Of or pertaining to a commissure.

 Com*mis"sure (? or?; 134-6), n. [L. commissura a joining together: cf. F. commissure. See Commit.] 1. A joint, seam, or closure; the place where two bodies, or parts of a body, meet and unite; an interstice, cleft, or juncture.

2. (Anat. & Zoöl.) (a) The point of union between two parts, as the angles of the lips or eyelids, the mandibles of a bird, etc. (b) A collection of fibers connecting parts of the brain or spinal marrow; a chiasma.

3. (Bot.) The line of junction or cohering face of two carpels, as in the parsnip, caraway, etc.

 Com*mit" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Committed; p. pr.
 & vb. n. Committing.] [L. committere, commissum, to connect, commit; com- + mittere to send. See Mission.] 1.
 To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to intrust; to consign; -- used with to, unto.

Commit thy way unto the Lord. Ps. xxxvii. 5.
 Bid him farewell, commit him to the grave. Shak.
2. To put in charge of a jailor; to imprison.

 These two were committed. Clarendon.
3. To do; to perpetrate, as a crime, sin, or fault.

 Thou shalt not commit adultery. Ex. xx. 14.
4. To join for a contest; to match; -- followed by with.
 [R.] Dr. H. More.
5. To pledge or bind; to compromise, expose, or endanger by some decisive act or preliminary step; -- often used reflexively; as, to commit one's self to a certain course.

 You might have satisfied every duty of political friendship, without commiting the honor of your sovereign. Junius.
 Any sudden assent to the proposal... might possibly be considered as committing the faith of the United States. Marshall.
6. To confound. [


remaining sister refused, saying, "As we came together, we will also go together," and, after about six hours of this Mezentian existence, they died. They bequeathed to the church-wardens of the parish and their successors land to the extent of 20 acres, at the present time bringing a rental of about $155.00 annually, with the instructions that the money was to be spent in the distribution of cakes (bearing the impression of their images, to be given away on each Easter Sunday to all strangers in Biddenden) and also 270 quartern loaves, with cheese in proportion, to all the poor in said parish. Ballantyne has accompanied his description of these sisters by illustrations, one of which shows the cake. Heaton gives a very good description of these maids; and a writer in "Notes and Queries" of March 27, 1875, gives the following information relative to the bequest:— "On Easter Monday, at Biddenden, near Staplehurst, Kent, there is a distribution, according to ancient custom, of 'Biddenden Maids' cakes,' with bread and cheese, the cost of which is defrayed from the proceeds of some 20 acres of land, now yielding L35 per annum. and known as the 'Bread and Cheese Lands.' About the year 1100 there lived Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who were joined together after the manner of the Siamese twins, and who lived for thirty-four years, one dying, and then being followed by her sister within six hours. They left by their will the lands above alluded to and their memory is perpetuated by imprinting on the cakes their effigies 'in their habit as they lived.'
The cakes, which are simple flour and water, are four inches long by two inches wide, and are much sought after as curiosities. These, which are given away, are distributed at the discretion of the church-wardens, and are nearly 300 in number. The bread and cheese amounts to 540 quartern loaves and 470 pounds of cheese. The distribution is made on land belonging to the charity, known as the Old Poorhouse. Formerly it used to take place in the Church, immediately after the service in the afternoon, but in consequence of the unseemly disturbance which used to ensue the practice was discontinued. The Church used to be filled with a congregation whose conduct was occasionally so reprehensible that sometimes the church-wardens had to use their wands for other purposes than symbols of office. The impressions of the maids 'on the cakes are of a primitive character, and are made by boxwood dies cut in 1814. They bear the date 1100, when Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst are supposed to have been born, and also their age at death, thirty-four years."
Ballantyne has summed up about all there is to be said on this national monstrosity, and his discussion of the case from its historic as well as teratologic standpoint is so excellent that his conclusions will be quoted— "It may be urged that the date fixed for the birth of the Biddenden Maids is so remote as to throw grave doubt upon the reality of the occurrence. The year 1100 was, it will be remembered, that in which William Rufus was found dead in the New Forest, 'with the arrow either of a hunter or an assassin in his breast.' According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, several 'prodigies' preceded the death of this profligate and extravagant monarch. Thus it is recorded that 'at Pentecost blood was observed gushing from the earth at a certain town of Berkshire, even as many asserted who declared that they had seen it. And after this, on the morning after Lammas Day, King William was shot.' Now, it is just possible that the birth of the Biddenden Maids may have occurred later, but have been antedated by the popular tradition to the year above mentioned. For such a birth would, in the opinion of the times, be regarded undoubtedly as a most evident prodigy or omen of evil. Still, even admitting that the date 1100 must be allowed to stand, its remoteness from the present time is not a convincing argument against a belief in the real occurrence of the phenomenon; for of the dicephalic Scottish brothers, who lived in 1490, we have credible historic evidence. Further, Lycosthenes, in his "Chronicon Prodigiorum atque Ostentorum", published in 1557, states, upon what authority I know not, that in the year 1112 joined twins resembling the Biddenden phenomenon in all points save in sex were born in England.
The passage is as follows: 'In Anglia natus est puer geminus a clune ad superiores partes ita divisus, ut duo haberet capita, duo corpora integra ad renes cum suis brachiis, qui baptizatus triduo supervixit.'
It is just possible that in some way or other this case has been confounded with the story of Biddenden; at any rate, the occurrence of such a statement in Lycosthenes' work is of more than passing interest.
Had there been no bequest of land in connection with the case of the Kentish Maids, the whole affair would probably soon have been forgotten.
"There is, however, one real difficulty in accepting the story handed down to us as authentic,—the nature of the teratologic phenomenon itself. All the records agree in stating that the Maids were joined together at the shoulders and hips, and the impression on the cakes and the pictures on the 'broadsides' show this peculiar mode of union, and represent the bodies as quite separate in the space between the above-named points. The Maids are shown with four feet and two arms, the right and left respectively, whilst the other arms (left and right) are fused together at the shoulder according to one illustration, and a little above the elbow according to another. Now, although it is not safe to say that such an anomaly is impossible, I do not know of any case of this peculiar mode of union; but it may be that, as Prof. A. R. Simpson has suggested, the Maids had four separate arms, and were in the habit of going about with their contiguous arms round each other's necks, and that this gave rise to the notion that these limbs were united. If this be so, then the teratologic difficulty is removed, for the case becomes perfectly comparable with the well-known but rare type of double terata known as the pygopagous twins, which is placed by Taruffi with that of the ischiopagous twins in the group dicephalus lecanopagus. Similar instances, which are well known to students of teratology, are the Hungarian sisters (Helen and Judith), the North Carolina twins (Millie and Christine), and the Bohemian twins (Rosalie and Josepha Blazek). The interspace between the thoraces may, however, have simply been the addition of the first artist who portrayed the Maids (from imagination?); then it may be surmised that they were ectopagous twins.
"Pygopagous twins are fetuses united together in the region of the nates and having each its own pelvis. In the recorded cases the union has been usually between the sacra and coccyges, and has been either osseous or (more rarely) ligamentous. Sometimes the point of junction was the middle line posteriorly, at other times it was rather a posterolateral union; and it is probable that in the Biddenden Maids it was of the latter kind; and it is likely, from the proposal made to separate the sisters after the death of one, that it was ligamentous in nature.
"If it be granted that the Biddenden Maids were pygopagous twins, a study of the histories of other recorded cases of this monstrosity serves to demonstrate many common characters. Thus, of the 8 cases which Taruffi has collected, in 7 the twins were female; and if to these we add the sisters Rosalie and Josepha Blazek and the Maids, we have 10 cases, of which 9 were girls. Again, several of the pygopagous twins, of whom there are scientific records, survived birth and lived for a number of years, and


[Redactor's Notes: "Ragnarok" is a sequel to "Atlantis" but goes far beyond presaging the pseudo-science of Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision". The original scans and HTML were provided by Mr. J.B. Hare. In this edition the illustrations and figures have been replaced by the glyph "###". Because of the numerous notes, they have been retained on the original page. Searching on "[" will reveal the set of notes for the current page. The page numbers of the original have been retained as {p.117} for example. The HTML is plain vanilla with no illustrations. For a fully illustrated version the reader is referred to the website _URL_ where other explanatory material prepared by Mr. Hare is available.]
RAGNAROK: THE AGE OF FIRE AND GRAVEL.
BY IGNATIUS DONNELLY, AUTHOR OF "ATLANTIS: THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD."
"I am not inclined to conclude that man had no existence at all before the epoch of the great revolutions of the earth. He might have inhabited certain districts of no great extent, whence, after these terrible events, he repeopled the world. Perhaps, also, the spots where he abode were swallowed up, and the bones lie buried under the beds of the present seas."--CUVIER.
[1883] ### THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DRIFT.
CONTENTS.
PART I. THE DRIFT.
I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DRIFT 1 II.
THE ORIGIN OF THE DRIFT NOT KNOWN 8 III.
THE ACTION OF WAVES 10 IV.
WAS IT CAUSED BY ICEBERGS?
13 V. WAS IT CAUSED By GLACIERS?
17 VI.
WAS IT CAUSED BY A CONTINENTAL ICE-SHEET?
23 VII.
THE DRIFT A GIGANTIC CATASTROPHE 43 VIII.
GREAT HEAT A PREREQUISITE 58 PART II. THE COMET.
I. A COMET CAUSED THE DRIFT 63 II.
WHAT IS A COMET?
65 III.
COULD A COMET STRIKE THE EARTH?
82 IV.
THE CONSEQUENCES TO THE EARTH 91 PART III. THE LEGENDS.
I. THE NATURE OF MYTHS 113 II.
DID MAN EXIST BEFORE THE DRIFT?
121 III.
LEGENDS OF THE COMING OF THE COMET 132 IV.
RAGNAROK 141 V. THE CONFLAGRATION OF PHAËTON 154 VI.
OTHER LEGENDS OF THE CONFLAGRATION 166 VII.
LEGENDS OF THE CAVE-LIFE 195 VIII.
LEGENDS OF THE AGE OF DARKNESS 208 IX.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE SUN 233 X. THE FALL OF THE CLAY AND GRAVEL 251 XI.
THE ARABIAN MYTHS 268 XII.
THE BOOK OF JOB 276 XIII.
GENESIS READ BY THE LIGHT OF THE COMET 316 PART IV. CONCLUSIONS.
I. WAS PRE-GLACIAL MAN CIVILIZED?
341 II.
THE SCENE OF MAN'S SURVIVAL 366 III.
THE BRIDGE 376 IV.
OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED 389 V. BIELA'S COMET 408 VI.
THE UNIVERSAL BELIEF OF MANKIND 424 VII.
THE EARTH STRUCK BY COMETS MANY TIMES 431 VIII.
THE AFTER-WORD 437 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE DRIFT Frontispiece.
TILL OVERLAID WITH BOWLDER-CLAY 5 SCRATCHED STONE, FROM THE TILL 6 RIVER ISSUING FROM A SWISS GLACIER 19 TERMINAL MORAINE 20 GLACIER-FURROWS AND SCRATCHES AT STONY POINT, LAKE ERIE 26 DRIFT-DEPOSITS IN THE TROPICS 38 STRATIFIED BEDS IN TILL, LEITHEN WATER, PEEBLESSHIRE, SCOTLAND 54 SECTION AT JOINVILLE 54 ORBITS OF THE PERIODIC COMETS 83 ORBIT OF EARTH AND COMET 88 THE EARTH'S ORBIT 89 THE COMET SWEEPING PAST THE EARTH 92 THE SIDE OF THE EARTH STRUCK BY THE COMET 93 THE SIDE NOT STRUCK BY THE COMET 93 THE GREAT COMET OF 1811 95 CRAG AND TAIL 98 SOLAR SPECTRUM 105 SECTION AT ST. ACHEUL 122 THE ENGIS SKULL 124 THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL 125 PLUMMET FROM SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA 180 COMET OF 1862 137 COURSE OF DONATI'S COMET 157 THE PRIMEVAL STORM 220 THE AFRITE IN THE PILLAR 270 DAHISH OVERTAKEN BY DIMIRIAT 272 EARTHEN VASE, FOUND IN THE CAVE OF FURFOOZ, BELGIUM 347 PRE-GLACIAL MAN'S PICTURE OF THE MAMMOTH 349 PRE-GLACIAL MAN'S PICTURE OF REINDEER 350 PRE-GLACIAL MAN'S PICTURE OF THE HORSE 351 SPECIMEN OF PRE-GLACIAL CARVING 352 STONE IMAGE FOUND IN OHIO 353 COPPER COIN, FOUND ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN FEET UNDER GROUND, IN ILLINOIS {front} 356 COPPER COIN, FOUND ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN FEET UNDER GROUND, IN ILLINOIS {back} 356 BIELA'S COMET, SPLIT IN TWO 409 SECTION ON THE SCHUYLKILL 432 RAGNAROK: THE AGE OF FIRE AND GRAVEL.
PART I. The Drift CHAPTER I. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DRIFT.
READER,--Let us reason together:-- What do we dwell on? The earth. What part of the earth? The latest formations, of course. We live upon the top of a mighty series of stratified rocks, laid down in the water of ancient seas and lakes, during incalculable ages, said, by geologists, to be from ten to twenty miles in thickness.
Think of that! Rock piled over rock, from the primeval granite upward, to a height four times greater than our highest mountains, and every rock stratified like the leaves of a book; and every leaf containing the records of an intensely interesting history, illustrated with engravings, in the shape of fossils, of all forms of life, from the primordial cell up to the bones of man and his implements.
But it is not with the pages of this sublime volume {p. 2} we have to deal in this book. It is with a vastly different but equally wonderful formation.
Upon the top of the last of this series of stratified rocks we find THE DRIFT.
What is it?
Go out with me where yonder men are digging a well. Let us observe the material they are casting out.
First they penetrate through a few inches or a foot or two of surface soil; then they enter a vast deposit of sand, gravel, and clay. It may be fifty, one hundred, five hundred, eight hundred feet, before they reach the stratified rocks on which this drift rests. It covers whole continents. It is our earth. It makes the basis of our soils; our railroads cut their way through it; our carriages drive over it; our cities are built upon it; our crops are derived from it; the water we drink percolates through it; on it we live, love, marry, raise children, think, dream, and die; and in the bosom of it we will be buried.
Where did it come from?
That is what I propose to discuss with you in this work,--


rorhyncha, piperita, pilularis, ∧ tetradonta), which have a fibrous bark used by the aborigines for making cordage and cloth.

 Strip (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stripped (?); p. pr.
 & vb. n. Stripping.] [OE. stripen, strepen, AS. str&?;pan in bestr&?;pan to plunder; akin to D. stroopen, MHG. stroufen, G. streifen.] 1. To deprive; to bereave; to make destitute; to plunder; especially, to deprive of a covering; to skin; to peel; as, to strip a man of his possession, his rights, his privileges, his reputation; to strip one of his clothes; to strip a beast of his skin; to strip a tree of its bark.

 And strippen her out of her rude array.

Chaucer.
 They stripped Joseph out of his coat.

Gen. xxxvii. 23.
 Opinions which... no clergyman could have avowed without imminent risk of being stripped of his gown.

Macaulay.
2. To divest of clothing; to uncover.

 Before the folk herself strippeth she.

Chaucer.
Strip your sword stark naked.

Shak.
3. (Naut.) To dismantle; as, to strip a ship of rigging, spars, etc.

4. (Agric.) To pare off the surface of, as land, in strips.

5. To deprive of all milk; to milk dry; to draw the last milk from; hence, to milk with a peculiar movement of the hand on the teats at the last of a milking; as, to strip a cow.

6. To pass; to get clear of; to outstrip. [Obs.]

 When first they stripped the Malean promontory.

Chapman.
 Before he reached it he was out of breath, And then the other stripped him.

Beau. & Fl.
7. To pull or tear off, as a covering; to remove; to wrest away; as, to strip the skin from a beast; to strip the bark from a tree; to strip the clothes from a man's back; to strip away all disguisses.

 To strip bad habits from a corrupted heart, is stripping off the skin.

Gilpin.
8. (Mach.) (a) To tear off (the thread) from a bolt or nut; as, the thread is stripped. (b) To tear off the thread from (a bolt or nut); as, the bolt is stripped.

9. To remove the metal coating from (a plated article), as by acids or electrolytic action.

10. (Carding) To remove fiber, flock, or lint from; -- said of the teeth of a card when it becomes partly clogged.

11. To pick the cured leaves from the stalks of (tobacco) and tie them into "hands"; to remove the midrib from (tobacco leaves).

 Strip (?), v. i. 1. To take off, or become divested of, clothes or covering; to undress.

2. (Mach.) To fail in the thread; to lose the thread, as a bolt, screw, or nut. See Strip, v. t., 8.

 Strip, n. 1. A narrow piece, or one comparatively long; as, a strip of cloth; a strip of land.

2. (Mining) A trough for washing ore.

3. (Gunnery) The issuing of a projectile from a rifled gun without acquiring the spiral motion. Farrow.
 Stripe (?), n. [OD. strijpe a stripe, streak; akin to LG. stripe, D. streep, Dan. stribe, G. strief, striefen, MHG. striefen to glide, march.] 1. A line, or long, narrow division of anything of a different color or structure from the ground; hence, any linear variation of color or structure; as, a stripe, or streak, of red on a green ground; a raised stripe.

2. (Weaving) A pattern produced by arranging the warp threads in sets of alternating colors, or in sets presenting some other contrast of appearance.

3. A strip, or long, narrow piece attached to something of a different color; as, a red or blue stripe sewed upon a garment.

4. A stroke or blow made with a whip, rod, scourge, or the like, such as usually leaves a mark.

 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed.

Deut. xxv. 3.
5. A long, narrow discoloration of the skin made by the blow of a lash, rod, or the like.

 Cruelty marked him with inglorious stripes.

Thomson.
6. Color indicating a party or faction; hence, distinguishing characteristic; sign; likeness; sort; as, persons of the same political stripe.
 [Colloq. U.S.]

7. pl. (Mil.) The chevron on the coat of a noncommissioned officer.

Stars and Stripes. See under Star, n. Stripe, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Striped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Striping.] 1. To make stripes upon; to form with lines of different colors or textures; to variegate with stripes.

2. To strike; to lash. [R.]

 Striped (?), a. Having stripes of different colors; streaked.

Striped bass. (Zoöl.) See under Bass. -- Striped maple (Bot.), a slender American tree (Acer Pennsylvanicum) with finely striped bark. Called also striped dogwood, and moosewood.
 -- Striped mullet. (Zoöl.) See under Mullet, 2. -- Striped snake (Zoöl.), the garter snake. -- Striped squirrel (Zoöl.), the chipmunk.

 Strip"-leaf' (?), n. Tobacco which has been stripped of its stalks before packing.

 Strip"ling (?), n. [Dim. of strip; as if a small strip from the main stock or steam.] A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad.

 Inquire thou whose son the stripling is.

1 Sam. xvii. 56.
 Strip"per (?), n. One who, or that which, strips; specifically, a machine for stripping cards.

 Strip"pet (?), n. [Dim. of strip.] A small stream. [Obs.] "A little brook or strippet." Holinshed.
 Strip"ping (?), n. 1. The act of one who strips.

 The mutual bows and courtesies... are remants of the original prostrations and strippings of the captive.

H. Spencer.
 Never were cows that required such stripping.

Mrs. Gaskell.
2. pl. The last milk drawn from a cow at a milking.

 ||Stri*so"res (?), n. pl. [NL.; cf. L. stridere to creak, whiz, buzz.] (Zoöl.) A division of passerine birds including the humming birds, swifts, and goatsuckers. It is now generally considered an artificial group.

 Strive (?), v. i. [imp. Strove (?); p. p. Striven (?)
 (Rarely, Strove); p. pr. & vb. n. Striving.] [OF. estriver; of Teutonic origin, and akin to G. streben, D. streven, Dan.
 stræbe, Sw. sträfva. Cf. Strife.] 1. To make efforts; to use exertions; to endeavor with earnestness; to labor hard.

 Was for this his ambition strove To equal Cæsar first, and after, Jove?

Cowley.
2. To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest; -- followed by against or with before the person or thing opposed; as, strive against temptation; strive for the truth. Chaucer.
 My Spirit shall not always strive with man.

Gen


food by North American Indians. It is common in shallow water in the Northern States. Called also water oat, Canadian wild rice, etc. -- Mountain rice, any species of an American genus (Oryzopsis) of grasses, somewhat resembling rice. -- Rice bunting. (Zoöl.)
 Same as Ricebird. -- Rice hen (Zoöl.), the Florida gallinule. -- Rice mouse (Zoöl.), a large dark-colored field mouse (Calomys palistris) of the Southern United States. - - Rice paper, a kind of thin, delicate paper, brought from China, -- used for painting upon, and for the manufacture of fancy articles. It is made by cutting the pith of a large herb (Fatsia papyrifera, related to the ginseng) into one roll or sheet, which is flattened out under pressure. Called also pith paper. -- Rice troupial (Zoöl.), the bobolink. -- Rice water, a drink for invalids made by boiling a small quantity of rice in water. -- Rice-water discharge (Med.), a liquid, resembling rice water in appearance, which is vomited, and discharged from the bowels, in cholera. -- Rice weevil (Zoöl.), a small beetle (Calandra, or Sitophilus, oryzæ) which destroys rice, wheat, and Indian corn by eating out the interior; -- called also black weevil.

 Rice"bird' (?), n. (Zoöl.) (a) The Java sparrow.
 (b) The bobolink.

 Rice"-shell' (?), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small white polished marine shells of the genus Olivella.

 Rich, (rch), a. [Compar. Richer (&?;); superl.
 Richest.] [OE. riche, AS. rce rich, powerful; akin to OS. rki, D. rijk, G. reich, OHG. rhhi, Icel. rkr, Sw.
 rik, Dan. rig, Goth. reiks; from a word meaning, ruler, king, probably borrowed from Celtic, and akin to L. rex, regis, king, regere to guide, rule. √283. See Right, and cf. Derrick, Enrich, Rajah, Riches, Royal.] 1. Having an abundance of material possessions; possessed of a large amount of property; well supplied with land, goods, or money; wealthy; opulent; affluent; -- opposed to poor.
 "Rich merchants." Chaucer.
 The rich [person] hath many friends.

Prov. xiv. 20.
 As a thief, bent to unhoard the cash Of some rich burgher.

Milton.
2. Hence, in general, well supplied; abounding; abundant; copious; bountiful; as, a rich treasury; a rich entertainment; a rich crop.

 If life be short, it shall be glorious; Each minute shall be rich in some great action.

Rowe.
 The gorgeous East with richest hand Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold.

Milton.
3. Yielding large returns; productive or fertile; fruitful; as, rich soil or land; a rich mine.

4. Composed of valuable or costly materials or ingredients; procured at great outlay; highly valued; precious; sumptuous; costly; as, a rich dress; rich silk or fur; rich presents.

 Like to rich and various gems.

Milton.
5. Abounding in agreeable or nutritive qualities; -- especially applied to articles of food or drink which are high-seasoned or abound in oleaginous ingredients, or are sweet, luscious, and high-flavored; as, a rich dish; rich cream or soup; rich pastry; rich wine or fruit.

 Sauces and rich spices are fetched from India.

Baker.
6. Not faint or delicate; vivid; as, a rich color.

7. Full of sweet and harmonius sounds; as, a rich voice; rich music.

8. Abounding in beauty; gorgeous; as, a rich landscape; rich scenery.

9. Abounding in humor; exciting amusement; entertaining; as, the scene was a rich one; a rich incident or character.
 [Colloq.] Thackeray.
Rich is sometimes used in the formation of selfexplaining compounds; as, rich-fleeced, rich-jeweled, rich-laden, rich-stained.

Syn. -- Wealthy; affluent; opulent; ample; copious; abundant; plentiful; fruitful; costly; sumptuous; precious; generous; luscious.

 Rich, v. t. To enrich. [Obs.] Gower.
 Rich"es (?), n. pl. [OE. richesse, F. richesse, from riche rich, of German origin. See Rich,a.] 1. That which makes one rich; an abundance of land, goods, money, or other property; wealth; opulence; affluence.

Riches do not consist in having more gold and silver, but in having more in proportion, than our neighbors.

Locke.
2. That which appears rich, sumptuous, precious, or the like.

 The riche of heaven's pavement, trodden gold.

Milton.
Richesse, the older form of this word, was in the singular number.
 The form riches, however, is plural in appearance, and has now come to be used as a plural.

 Against the richesses of this world shall they have misease of poverty.

Chaucer.
 In one hour so great riches is come to nought.

Rev. xviii. 17.
 And for that riches where is my deserving?

Shak.
Syn. -- Wealth; opulence; affluence; wealthiness; richness; plenty; abundance.

 Rich"esse (?), n. [F. See Riches.] Wealth; riches. See the Note under Riches. [Obs.]

 Some man desireth for to have richesse.

Chaucer.
 The richesse of all heavenly grace.

Spenser.
 Rich"ly (?), adv. In a rich manner.

 Rich"ness, n. The quality or state of being rich (in any sense of the adjective).

 Rich"weed' (?), n. (Bot.) An herb (Pilea pumila) of the Nettle family, having a smooth, juicy, pellucid stem; -- called also clearweed.

 Ric'in*e'la*id"ic (?), a. [Ricinoleic + elaidic.]
 Pertaining to, or designating, an isomeric modification of ricinoleic acid obtained as a white crystalline solid.

 Ric'in*e*la"i*din (?), n. (Chem.) The glycerin salt of ricinelaidic acid, obtained as a white crystalline waxy substance by treating castor oil with nitrous acid.

 Ri*cin"ic (?), a. [L. ricinus castor-oil plant.] (Chem.)
 Pertaining to, or derived from, castor oil; formerly, designating an acid now called ricinoleic acid.
 Ric"i*nine (?), n. [L. ricinus castor-oil plant.] (Chem.)
 A bitter white crystalline alkaloid extracted from the seeds of the castor-oil plant.

 Ric'in*o"le*ate (?), n. (Chem.) A salt of ricinoleic acid; -- formerly called palmate.

 Ric'in*o"le*ic (?), a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or designating, a fatty acid analogous to oleic acid, obtained from castor oil as an oily substance, C&?;H&?;O&?; with a harsh taste.
 Formerly written ricinolic.

 Ric'in*o"le*in (?), n. [L. ricinus castor-oil plant + oleum oil.]


The Mayflower Compact November 11, 1620 [This was November 21, old style calendar] In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereigne Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne Parts of Virginia; doe, by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equall Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the Generall Good of the Colonie; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience.
In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Raigne of our Sovereigne Lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fiftie-fourth, Anno. Domini, 1620.
Mr. John Carver Mr. Stephen Hopkins Mr. William Bradford Digery Priest Mr. Edward Winslow Thomas Williams Mr. William Brewster Gilbert Winslow Isaac Allerton Edmund Margesson Miles Standish Peter Brown John Alden Richard Bitteridge John Turner George Soule Francis Eaton Edward Tilly James Chilton John Tilly John Craxton Francis Cooke John Billington Thomas Rogers Joses Fletcher Thomas Tinker John Goodman John Ridgate Mr. Samuel Fuller Edward Fuller Mr. Christopher Martin Richard Clark Mr. William Mullins Richard Gardiner Mr. William White Mr. John Allerton Mr. Richard Warren Thomas English John Howland Edward Doten Edward Liester


pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court; a counselor.

 In the English and American Law, advocate is the same as "counsel," "counselor," or "barrister." In the civil and ecclesiastical courts, the term signifies the same as "counsel" at the common law.

2. One who defends, vindicates, or espouses any cause by argument; a pleader; as, an advocate of free trade, an advocate of truth.

3. Christ, considered as an intercessor.

 We have an Advocate with the Father. 1 John ii. 1.
Faculty of advocates (Scot.), the Scottish bar in Edinburgh.
 -- Lord advocate (Scot.), the public prosecutor of crimes, and principal crown lawyer. -- Judge advocate. See under Judge.

 Ad"vo*cate (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Advocated (&?;); p. pr. & vb. n. Advocating (&?;).] [See Advocate, n., Advoke, Avow.] To plead in favor of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support, vindicate, or recommend publicly.

 To advocate the cause of thy client. Bp. Sanderson (1624).
 This is the only thing distinct and sensible, that has been advocated.
Burke.
 Eminent orators were engaged to advocate his cause. Mitford.
 Ad"vo*cate, v. i. To act as advocate. [Obs.] Fuller.
 Ad"vo*cate*ship, n. Office or duty of an advocate.

 Ad'vo*ca"tion (&?;), n. [L. advocatio: cf. OF. avocation.
 See Advowson.] 1. The act of advocating or pleading; plea; advocacy. [Archaic] The holy Jesus... sits in heaven in a perpetual advocation for us. Jer. Taylor.
2. Advowson. [Obs.]

 The donations or advocations of church livings. Sanderson.
3. (Scots Law) The process of removing a cause from an inferior court to the supreme court. Bell.
 Ad"vo*ca*to*ry (&?;), a. Of or pertaining to an advocate. [R.]

 Ad*voke" (&?;), v. t. [L. advocare. See Advocate.] To summon; to call. [Obs.]

 Queen Katharine had privately prevailed with the pope to advoke the cause to Rome. Fuller.
 Ad'vo*lu"tion (&?;), n. [L. advolvere, advolutum, to roll to.] A rolling toward something. [R.]

 Ad*vou"trer (&?;), n. [OF. avoutre, avoltre, fr.
 L. adulter. Cf. Adulterer.] An adulterer. [Obs.]

 Ad*vou"tress (&?;), n. An adulteress. [Obs.] Bacon.
 { Ad*vou"try, Ad*vow"try } (&?;), n. [OE. avoutrie, avouterie, advoutrie, OF. avoutrie, avulterie, fr. L. adulterium.
 Cf. Adultery.] Adultery. [Obs.] Bacon.
 Ad*vow*ee" (&?;), n. [OE. avowe, F. avoué, fr. L. advocatus. See Advocate, Avowee, Avoyer.] One who has an advowson. Cowell.
 Ad*vow"son (?; 277), n. [OE. avoweisoun, OF. avoëson, fr. L. advocatio. Cf. Advocation.] (Eng. Law) The right of presenting to a vacant benefice or living in the church. [Originally, the relation of a patron (advocatus) or protector of a benefice, and thus privileged to nominate or present to it.]

 The benefices of the Church of England are in every case subjects of presentation. They are nearly 12,000 in number; the advowson of more than half of them belongs to private persons, and of the remainder to the crown, bishops, deans and chapters, universities, and colleges. Amer.
 Cyc.
 Ad*voy"er (&?;), n. See Avoyer. [Obs.]

 Ad*ward" (&?;), n. Award. [Obs.] Spenser.
 ||Ad'y*na"mi*a (&?;), n. [NL. adynamia, fr. Gr. &?; want of strength; &?; priv + &?; power, strength.] (Med.)
 Considerable debility of the vital powers, as in typhoid fever. Dunglison.
 Ad'y*nam"ic (&?;), a. [Cf. F. adynamique. See Adynamy.]
 1. (Med.) Pertaining to, or characterized by, debility of the vital powers; weak.

2. (Physics) Characterized by the absence of power or force.

Adynamic fevers, malignant or putrid fevers attended with great muscular debility.

 A*dyn"a*my (&?;), n. Adynamia. [R.] Morin.
 ||Ad"y*tum (&?;), n. Adyta (#). [L., fr. Gr. &?;, n., fr. &?;, a., not to be entered; 'a priv. + &?; to enter.] The innermost sanctuary or shrine in ancient temples, whence oracles were given. Hence: A private chamber; a sanctum.

 { Adz, Adze } (&?;), n. [OE. adese, adis, adse, AS. adesa, adese, ax, hatchet.] A carpenter's or cooper's tool, formed with a thin arching blade set at right angles to the handle.
 It is used for chipping or slicing away the surface of wood.

 Adz, v. t. To cut with an adz. [R.] Carlyle.
 Æ or Ae. A diphthong in the Latin language; used also by the Saxon writers. It answers to the Gr. ai. The Anglo-Saxon short æ was generally replaced by a, the long by e or ee. In derivatives from Latin words with ae, it is mostly superseded by e. For most words found with this initial combination, the reader will therefore search under the letter E.

 ||Æ*cid"i*um (&?;), n.; pl. Æcidia (&?;).
 [NL., dim. of Gr. &?; injury.] (Bot.) A form of fruit in the cycle of development of the Rusts or Brands, an order of fungi, formerly considered independent plants.

 Æ"dile (&?;), n. [L. aedilis, fr. aedes temple, public building. Cf. Edify.] A magistrate in ancient Rome, who had the superintendence of public buildings, highways, shows, etc.; hence, a municipal officer.

 Æ"dile*ship, n. The office of an ædile. T. Arnold.
 Æ*ge"an (&?;), a. [L. Aegeus; Gr. &?;.] Of or pertaining to the sea, or arm of the Mediterranean sea, east of Greece.
 See Archipelago.

 ||Æ'gi*cra"ni*a (&?;), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, &?;, goat + &?;, n. pl., heads.] (Arch.) Sculptured ornaments, used in classical architecture, representing rams' heads or skulls.

 Æg"i*lops (&?;), n. [L. aegilopis, Gr. &?;, fr. &?;, gen. &?;, goat + &?; eye.] 1. (Med.) An ulcer or fistula in the inner corner of the eye.

2. (Bot.) (a) The great wild-oat grass or other cornfield weed. Crabb. (b) A genus of plants,


pure carbonate of soda.

 Now, if slices of root under a cover-glass are irrigated with glycerine and water, every one of the innumerable grains in the cells disappear after some hours. What am I to think of this.?...

 Forgive me for bothering you to such an extent; but I must mention that if the roots are dipped in boiling water there is no deposition of matter, and carbonate of ammonia afterwards produces no effect. I should state that I now find that the granular matter is formed in the cells immediately beneath the thin epidermis, and a few other cells near the vascular tissue. If the granules consisted of living protoplasm (but I can see no traces of movement in them), then I should infer that the glycerine killed them and aggregation ceased with the diffusion of invisibly minute particles, for I have seen an analogous phenomenon in Drosera.

 If you can aid me, pray do so, and anyhow forgive me. Yours very sincerely, CH. DARWIN.

 MR. TORBITT'S EXPERIMENTS ON THE POTATO-DISEASE.

 [Mr. James Torbitt, of Belfast, has been engaged for the last twelve years in the difficult undertaking, in which he has been to a large extent successful, of raising fungus-proof varieties of the potato. My father felt great interest in Mr. Torbitt's work, and corresponded with him from 1876 onwards. The following letter, giving a clear account of Mr.
 Torbitt's method and of my father's opinion of the probability of its success, was written with the idea that Government aid for the work might possibly be obtainable:] CHARLES DARWIN TO T.H. FARRER. Down, March 2, 1878.

 My dear Farrer, Mr. Torbitt's plan of overcoming the potato-disease seems to me by far the best which has ever been suggested. It consists, as you know from his printed letter, of rearing a vast number of seedlings from cross-fertilised parents, exposing them to infection, ruthlessly destroying all that suffer, saving those which resist best, and repeating the process in successive seminal generations. My belief in the probability of good results from this process rests on the fact of all characters whatever occasionally varying. It is known, for instance, that certain species and varieties of the vine resist phylloxera better than others. Andrew Knight found in one variety or species of the apple which was not in the least attacked by coccus, and another variety has been observed in South Australia. Certain varieties of the peach resist mildew, and several other such cases could be given. Therefore there is no great improbability in a new variety of potato arising which would resist the fungus completely, or at least much better than any existing variety. With respect to the cross-fertilisation of two distinct seedling plants, it has been ascertained that the offspring thus raised inherit much more vigorous constitutions and generally are more prolific than seedlings from self-fertilised parents. It is also probable that cross-fertilisation would be especially valuable in the case of the potato, as there is reason to believe that the flowers are seldom crossed by our native insects; and some varieties are absolutely sterile unless fertilised with pollen from a distinct variety. There is some evidence that the good effects from a cross are transmitted for several generations; it would not, therefore be necessary to cross-fertilise the seedlings in each generation, though this would be desirable, as it is almost certain that a greater number of seeds would thus be obtained. It should be remembered that a cross between plants raised from the tubers of the same plant, though growing on distinct roots, does no more good than a cross between flowers on the same individual. Considering the whole subject, it appears to me that it would be a national misfortune if the cros-fertilised seeds in Mr. Torbitt's possession produced by parents which have already shown some power of resisting the disease, are not utilised by the Government, or some public body, and the process of selection continued during several more generations.

 Should the Agricultural Society undertake the work, Mr. Torbitt's knowledge gained by experience would be especially valuable; and an outline of the plan is given in his printed letter. It would be necessary that all the tubers produced by each plant should be collected separately, and carefully examined in each succeeding generation.

 It would be advisable that some kind of potato eminently liable to the disease should be planted in considerable numbers near the seedlings so as to infect them.

 Altogether the trial would be one requiring much care and extreme patience, as I know from experience with analogous work, and it may be feared that it would be difficult to find any one who would pursue the experiment with sufficient energy. It seems, therefore, to me highly desirable that Mr. Torbitt should be aided with some small grant so as to continue the work himself.

 Judging from his reports, his efforts have already been crowned in so short a time with more success than could have been anticipated; and I think you will agree with me, that any one who raises a fungus-proof potato will be a public benefactor of no common kind.

 My dear Farrer, yours sincerely, CHARLES DARWIN.

 [After further consultation with Sir Thomas Farrer and with Mr. Caird, my father became convinced that it was hopeless to attempt to obtain Government aid. He wrote to Mr. Torbitt to this effect, adding, "it would be less trouble to get up a subscription from a few rich leading agriculturists than from Government. This plan I think you cannot object to, as you have asked nothing, and will have nothing whatever to do with the subscription. In fact, the affair is, in my opinion, a compliment to you." The idea here broached was carried out, and Mr. Torbitt was enabled to continue his work by the aid of a sum to which Sir T. Farrer, Mr.
 Caird, my father, and a few friends, subscribed.

 My father's sympathy and encouragement were highly valued by Mr. Torbitt, who tells me that without them he should long ago have given up his attempt. A few extracts will illustrate my father's fellow feeling with Mr. Torbitt's energy and perseverance:— "I admire your indomitable spirit. If any one ever deserved success, you do so, and I keep to my original opinion that you have a very good chance of raising a fungus-proof variety of the potato.

 "A pioneer in a new undertaking is sure to meet with many disappointments, so I hope that you will keep up your courage, though we have done so very little for you."

 Mr. Torbitt tells me that he still (1887) succeeds in raising varieties possessing well-marked powers of resisting disease; but this immunity is not permanent, and, after some years, the varieties become liable to the attacks of the fungus.]

 THE KEW INDEX OF PLANT-NAMES, OR 'NOMENCLATOR DARWINIANUS.'

 [Some account of my father's connection with the Index of Plant-names now (1887) in course of preparation at Kew will be found in Mr. B. Daydon Jackson's paper in the 'Journal of Botany,' 1887, page 151. Mr. Jackson quotes the following statement by Sir J.D. Hooker:— "Shortly before his death, Mr. Charles Darwin informed Sir Joseph Hooker that it was his intention to devote a considerable sum of money annually for some years in aid or furtherance of some work or works of practical utility to biological science, and to make provisions in his will in the event of these not being completed during his lifetime.

 "Amongst other objects connected with botanical science, Mr. Darwin regarded with especial interest the importance of a complete index to the names and authors of the genera and species of plants known to botanists, together with their native countries. Steudel's


JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY A MEMOIR, Complete By Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

 NOTE.

 The Memoir here given to the public is based on a biographical sketch prepared by the writer at the request of the Massachusetts Historical Society for its Proceedings. The questions involving controversies into which the Society could not feel called to enter are treated at considerable length in the following pages. Many details are also given which would have carried the paper written for the Society beyond the customary limits of such tributes to the memory of its deceased members.
 It is still but an outline which may serve a present need and perhaps be of some assistance to a future biographer.

CONTENTS Volume I. I. _PHONE_. To AEt. 13. II. _PHONE_. AEt. 13-17. III. _PHONE_. AEt. 18-19. IV. _PHONE_. 2Et. 20-25. V. _PHONE_. AEt. 27-28. VI. 1844. AEt. 30. VII. _PHONE_. AEt. 31-33. VIII. _PHONE_. AEt. 33-35. IX. 1850. AEt. 36. X. _PHONE_. AEt. 37-42. XI. _PHONE_. AEt. 42-43. XII. _PHONE_. AEt. 42-43. XIII. _PHONE_. AEt. 44-46. XIV. 1859. AEt. 45. XV. 1860. At. 46. Volume II. XVI. _PHONE_. AEt. 46-52. XVII. _PHONE_. AEt. 47-49. XVIII. _PHONE_. AEt. 52-43. XIX. _PHONE_. AEt. 53-54. XX. _PHONE_. AEt. 54-55. XXI. _PHONE_. AEt. 55-56. Volume III. XXII. 1874. AEt. 60. XXIII. _PHONE_. AEt. 60-63.
 XXIV. CONCLUSION. APPENDIX.

 Volume I. I. _PHONE_. To AEt. 13.

 BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS.

 John Motley, the great-grandfather of the subject of this Memoir, came in the earlier part of the last century from Belfast in Ireland to Falmouth, now Portland, in the District, now the State of Maine. He was twice married, and had ten children, four of the first marriage and six of the last. Thomas, the youngest son by his first wife, married Emma, a daughter of John Wait, the first Sheriff of Cumberland County under the government of the United States. Two of their seven sons, Thomas and Edward, removed from Portland to Boston in 1802 and established themselves as partners in commercial business, continuing united and prosperous for nearly half a century before the firm was dissolved.

 The earlier records of New England have preserved the memory of an incident which deserves mention as showing how the historian's life was saved by a quickwitted handmaid, more than a hundred years before he was born. On the 29th of August, 1708, the French and Indians from Canada made an attack upon the town of Haverhill, in Massachusetts. Thirty or forty persons were slaughtered, and many others were carried captive into Canada.

 The minister of the town, Rev. Benjamin Rolfe, was killed by a bullet through the door of his house. Two of his daughters, Mary, aged thirteen, and Elizabeth, aged nine, were sleeping in a room with the maid-servant, Hagar. When Hagar heard the whoop of the savages she seized the children, ran with them into the cellar, and, after concealing them under two large washtubs, hid herself. The Indians ransacked the cellar, but missed the prey. Elizabeth, the younger of the two girls, grew up and married the Rev. Samuel Checkley, first minister of the "New South" Church, Boston.
 Her son, Rev. Samuel Checkley, Junior, was minister of the Second Church, and his successor, Rev. John Lothrop, or Lathrop, as it was more commonly spelled, married his daughter. Dr. Lothrop was great-grandson of Rev. John Lothrop, of Scituate, who had been imprisoned in England for nonconformity. The Checkleys were from Preston Capes, in Northamptonshire.
 The name is probably identical with that of the Chicheles or Chichleys, a well-known Northamptonshire family.

 Thomas Motley married Anna, daughter of the Rev. John Lothrop, granddaughter of the Rev. Samuel Checkley, Junior, the two ministers mentioned above, both honored in their day and generation. Eight children were born of this marriage, of whom four are still living.

 JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, the second of these children, was born in Dorchester, now a part of Boston, Massachusetts, on the 15th of April, 1814. A member of his family gives a most pleasing and interesting picture, from his own recollections and from what his mother told him, of the childhood which was to develop into such rich maturity. The boy was rather delicate in organization, and not much given to outdoor amusements, except skating and swimming, of which last exercise he was very fond in his young days, and in which he excelled. He was a great reader, never idle, but always had a book in his hand,—a volume of poetry or one of the novels of Scott or Cooper. His fondness for plays and declamation is illustrated by the story told by a younger brother, who remembers being wrapped up in a shawl and kept quiet by sweetmeats, while he figured as the dead Caesar, and his brother, the future historian, delivered the speech of Antony over his prostrate body. He was of a most sensitive nature, easily excited, but not tenacious of any irritated feelings, with a quick sense of honor, and the most entirely truthful child, his mother used to say, that she had ever seen. Such are some of the recollections of those who knew him in his earliest years and in the most intimate relations.

 His father's family was at this time living in the house No. 7 Walnut Street, looking down Chestnut Street over the water to the western hills.
 Near by, at the corner of Beacon Street, was the residence of the family of the first mayor of Boston, and at a little distance from the opposite corner was the house of one of the fathers of New England manufacturing enterprise, a man of superior intellect, who built up a great name and fortune in our city. The children from these three homes naturally became playmates. Mr. Motley's house was a very hospitable one, and Lothrop and two of his young companions were allowed to carry out their schemes of amusement in the garden and the garret. If one with a prescient glance could have looked into that garret on some Saturday afternoon while our century was not far advanced in its second score of years, he might have found three boys in cloaks and doublets and plumed hats, heroes and bandits, enacting more or less impromptu melodramas. In one of the boys he would have seen the embryo dramatist of a nation's life history, John Lothrop Motley; in the second, a famous talker and wit who has spilled more good things on the wasteful air in conversation than would carry a "diner-out" through half a dozen London seasons, and waked up somewhat after the usual flowering-time of authorship to find himself a very agreeable