through bleaching-powder solution or other oxidizing material.
When acetylene is burnt from a 000 union jet burner, at all
ordinary pressures a smoky flame is obtained, but on the
pressure being increased to 4 inches a magnificent flame
results, free from smoke, and developing an illuminating
value of 240 candles per 5 cubic feet of gas consumed.
Slightly higher values have been obtained, but 240 may
be taken as the average value under these conditions.
Burners.
When acetylene was first introduced as a commercial illuminant
in England, very small union jet nipples were utilized for
its consumption, but after burning for a short time these
nipples began to carbonize, the flame being distorted, and
then smoking occurred with the formation of a heavy deposit of
soot. While these troubles were being experienced in England,
attempts had been made in America to use acetylene diluted
with a certain proportion of air which permitted it to be
burnt in ordinary flat flame nipples; but the danger of such
admixture being recognized, nipples of the same class as
those used in England were employed, and the same troubles
ensued. In France, single jets made of glass were first
employed, and then P. Resener, H. Luchaire, G. Ragot and
others made burners in which two jets of acetylene, coming
from two tubes placed some little distance apart, impinged
and splayed each other out into a butterfly flame. Soon
afterwards, J. S. Billwiller introduced the idea of sucking
air into the flame at or just below the burner tip, and at
this juncture the Naphey or Dolan burner was introduced in
America, the principle employed being to use two small and
widely separated jets instead of the two openings of the
union jet burner, and to make each a minute bunsen, the
acetylene dragging in from the base of the nipple enough air
to surround and protect it while burning from contact with the
steatite. This class of burner forms a basis on which all
the later constructions of burner have been founded, but had
the drawback that if the flame was turned low, insufficient
air to prevent carbonization of the burner tips was drawn
in, owing to the reduced flow of gas. This fault has
now been reduced by a cage of steatite round the burner
tip, which draws in sufficient air to prevent deposition.
Oxy-acetylene blowpipe. When acetylene was first introduced
on a commercial scale attempts were made to utilize its
great heat of combustion by using it in conjunction with
oxygen in the oxyhydrogen blowpipe. It was found, however,
that when using acetylene under low pressures, the burner
tip became so heated as to cause the decomposition of some
of the gas before combustion, the jet being choked up by
the carbon which deposited in a very dense form; and as the
use of acetylene under pressures greater than one hundred
inches of water was prohibited, no advance was made in this
direction. The introduction of acetylene dissolved under
pressure in acetone contained in cylinders filled with
porous material drew attention again to this use of the
gas, and by using a special construction of blowpipe an
oxy-acetylene flame is produced, which is far hotter than the
oxy-hydrogen flame, and at the same time is so reducing in
its character that it can be used for the direct autogenous
welding of steel and many minor metallurgical processes.
REFERENCES.---F. H. Leeds and W. A. Butterfield, Calcium
Carbide and Acetylene (1903); F. Dommer, L'Acetylene et
ses applications (1896); V. B. Lewes, Acetylene (1900);
F. Liebetanz, Calcium-carbid und Acetylen (1899); G.
Pelissier, L'Eclairage a l'acetylene (1897); C. de
Perrodil, Le carbure de calcium et l'acetylene (1897).
For a complete list of the various papers and memoirs on
Acetylene, see A. Ludwig's Fuhrer durch die gesammte
Calcium carbid-und-Acetylen-Literatur, Berlin. (V. B. L.)
ACHAEA, a district on the northern coast of the Peloponnese,
stretching from the mountain ranges of Erymanthus and
Cyllene on the S. to a narrow strip of fertile land on the
N., bordering the Corinthian Gulf, into which the mountain
Panachaicus projects. Achaea is bounded on the W. by the
territory of Elis, on the E. by that of Sicyon, which,
however, was sometimes included in it. The origin of the
name has given rise to much speculation; the current theory
is that the Achaeans (q.v.) were driven back into this
region by the Dorian invaders of the Peloponnese. Another
Achaea, in the south of Thessaly, called sometimes Achaea
Phthiotis, has been supposed to be the cradle of the
race. In Roman times the name of the province of Achaea was
given to the whole of Greece, except Thessaly, Epirus, and
Acarnania. Herodotus (i. 145) mentions the twelve cities Of
Achaea; three met as a religious confederacy in the temple
of Poseidon Heliconius at Helice; for their later history
see ACHAEAN LEAGUE. During the middle ages, after the
Latin conquest of the Eastern Empire, Achaea was a Latin
principality, the first prince being William de Champlitte (d.
1209). It survived, with various dismemberments, until 1430,
when the last prince, Centurione Zaccaria, ceded the remnant
of it to his son-in-law, Theodorus II., despot of Mistra.
In 1460 it was conquered, with the rest of the Morea, by the
Turks. In modern times the coast of Achaea is mainly given
up to the currant industry; the currants are shipped from
Patras, the second town of Greece, and from Aegion (Vostitza).
ACHAEAN LEAGUE, a confederation of the ancient towns of
Achaea. Standing isolated on their narrow strips of plain,
these towns were always exposed to the raids of pirates
issuing from the recesses of the north coast of the Corinthian
Gulf. It was no doubt as a protection against such dangers
that the earliest league of twelve Achaean cities arose,
though we are nowhere explicitly informed of its functions
other than the common worship of Zeus Amarius at Aegium and
an occasional arbitration between Greek belligerents. Its
importance grew in the 4th century, when we find it fighting
in the Theban wars (368-362 B.C.), against Philip (338) and
Antipater (330). About 288 Antigonus Gonatas dissolved the
league, which had furnished a useful base for pretenders
against Cassander's regency; but by 280 four towns combined
again, and before long the ten surviving cities of Achaea
had renewed their federation. Antigonus' preoccupation
during the Celtic invasions, Sparta's prostration after
the Chremonidean campaigns, the wealth amassed by Achaean
adventurers abroad and the subsidies of Egypt, the standing
foe of Macedonia, all enhanced the league's importance.
Most of all did it profit by the statesmanship of Aratus
(q.v.), who initiated its expansive policy, until in
228 it comprised Arcadia, Argolis, Corinth and Aegina.
Aratus probably also organized the new federal constitution,
the character of which, owing to the scanty and somewhat
perplexing nature of our evidence, we can only approximately
determine. The league embraced an indefinite number of
city-states which maintained their internal independence
practically undiminished, and through their several
magistrates, assemblies and law-courts exercised all
traditional powers of self-government. Only in matters of
foreign politics and war was their competence restricted.
The central government, like that of the constituent
cities, was of a democratic cast. The chief legislative
powers resided in a popular assembly in which every member
of the league over thirty years of age could speak and
vote. This body met for three days in spring and autumn at
Aegium to discuss the league's policy and elect the federal
magistrates. Whatever the number of its attendant burgesses,
each city counted but one on a division. Extraordinary
assemblies could be convoked at any time or place on special
emergencies. A council of 120 unpaid delegates, selected from
the local councils, served partly as a committee for preparing
the assembly's programme, partly as an administrative board
which received embassies, arbitrated between contending cities
and exercised penal jurisdiction over offenders against the
constitution. But perhaps some of these duties concerned
the dicastae and gerousia, whose functions are nowhere
described. The chief magistracy was the strategia (tenable
every second year), which combined with an unrestricted command
in the field a large measure of civil authority. Besides
being authorized to veto motions, the strategus (general) had
practically the sole power of introducing measures before the
assembly. The ten elective demiurgi, who presided over this
body, formed a kind of cabinet, and pethaps acted as departmental
chiefs. We also hear of an under-strategus, a secretary, a
cavalry commander and an admiral. All these higher officers
were unpaid. Philopoemen (q.v.) transferred the seat of
assembly from town to town by rotation, and placed dependent
communities on an equal footing with their former suzerains.
The league prescribed uniform laws, standards and coinage; it summoned
contingents, imposed taxes and fined or coerced refractory members.
The first federal wars were directed against Macedonia; in
266-263 the league fought in the Chremonidean league, in
243-241 against Antigonus Gonatas and Aetolia, between 239
and 229 with Aetolia against Demetrius. A greater danger
arose (227-223) from the attacks of Cleomenes III. (q.v.).
Owing to Aratus's irresolute generalship, the indolence of
the rich burghers and the inadequate provision for levying
troops and paying mercenaries, the league lost several battles
and much of its territory; but rather than compromise with
the Spartan Gracchus the assembly negotiated with Antigonus
Doson, who recovered the lost districts but retained Corinth
for himself (223-221). Similarly the Achaeans could not
check the incursions of Aetolian adventurers in 220-218,
and when Philip V. came to the rescue he made them tributary
and annexed much of the Peloponnese. Under Philopoemen the
league with a reorganized army routed the Aetolians (210)
and Spartans (207, 201). After their benevolent neutrality
during the Macedonian war the Roman general, T. Quinctius
Flamininus, restored all their lost possessions and sanctioned
the incorporation of Sparta and Messene (191), thus bringing
the entire Peloponnese under Achaean control. The league
even sent troops to Pergamum against Antiochus (190).
The annexation of Aetolia and Zacynthus was forbidden by
Rome. Moreover, Sparta and Messene always remained unwilling
members. After Philopoemen's death the aristocrats initiated a
strongly philo-Roman policy, declared war against King Perseus
and denounced all sympathizers with Macedonia. This agitation
induced the Romans to deport 1000 prominent Achaeans, and,
failing proof of treason against Rome, to detain them seventeen
years. These hostages, when restored in 150, swelled the
ranks of the proletariate opposition, whose leaders, to
cover their maladministration at home, precipitated a war
by attacking Sparta in defiance of Rome. The federal troops
were routed in central Greece by Q. Caecilius Metellus
Masedonicus, and again near Corinth by L. Mummius Achaicus
(146). The Romans now dissolved the league (in effect, if not
in name), and took measures to isolate the communities (see
POLYBIUS). Augustus instituted an Achaean synod comprising
the dependent cities of Peloponnese and central Greece; this
body sat at Argos and acted as guardian of Hellenic sentiment.
The chief defect of the league lay in its lack of proper
provision for securing efficient armies and regular
