oblongata (at the root of the vagus nerves), and later to a
directly toxic influence on the nerve-ganglia and muscular
fibres of the heart itself. The fall in blood-pressure is not
due to any direct influence on the vessels. The respiration
becomes slower owing to a paralytic action on the respiratory
centre and, in warm-blooded animals, death is due to this
action, the respiration being arrested before the action
of the heart. Aconite further depresses the activity of
all nerve-terminals, the sensory being affected before the
motor. In small doses it therefore tends to relieve pain, if
this be present. The activity of the spinal cord is similarly
depressed. The pupil is at first contracted, and afterwards
dilated. The cerebrum is totally unaffected by aconite,
consciousness and the intelligence remaining normal to the
last. The antipyretic action which considerable doses of aconite
display is not specific, but is the result of its influence on the
circulation and respiration and of its slight diaphoretic action.
Therapeutics.---The indications for its employment are
limited, but definite. It is of undoubted value as a local
anodyne in sciatica and neuralgia, especially in ordinary
facial or trigeminal neuralgia. The best method of application
is by rubbing in a small quantity of the aconitine ointment
until numbness is felt, but the costliness of this preparation
causes the use of the aconite liniment to be commonly resorted
to. This should be painted on the affected part with a
camel's hair brush dipped in chloroform, which facilitates the
absorption of the alkaloid. Aconite is indicated for internal
administration whenever it is desirable to depress the action
of the heart in the course of a fever. Formerly used in every
fever, and even in the septic states that constantly followed
surgical operations in the pre-Listerian epoch, aconite is
now employed only in the earliest stage of the less serious
fevers, such as acute tonsilitis, bronchitis and, notably,
laryngitis. The extreme pain and rapid swelling of the
vocal cords---with threatened obstruction to the respiration
that characterize acute laryngitis may often be relieved
by the sedative action of this drug upon the circulation.
In order to reduce the pulse to its normal rate in these
cases, without at the same time lessening the power of the
heart, the drug must be given in doses of about two minims
of the tincture every half-hour and then every hour until the
pulse falls to the normal rate. Thereafter the drug must be
discontinued. It is probably never right to give aconite in
doses much larger than that named. There is one condition
of the heart itself in which aconite is sometimes useful.
Whilst absolutely contra-indicated in all cases of valvular
disease, it is of value in cases of cardiac hypertrophy with
over-action. But the practitioner must be assured that neither
valvular lesion nor degeneration of the myocardium is present.
Toxicology.---In a few minutes after the introduction of
a poisonous dose of aconite, marked symptoms supervene. The
initial signs of poisoning are referable to the alimentary
canal. There is a sensation of burning, tingling and numbness
in the mouth, and of burning in the abdomen. Death usually
supervenes before a numbing effect on the intestine can be
observed. After about an hour there is severe vomiting. Much
motor weakness and cutaneous sensations similar to those above
described soon follow. The pulse and respiration steadily
fail, death occurring from asphyxia. As in strychnine
poisoning, the patient is conscious and clear-minded to the
last. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia. The
treatment is to empty the stomach by tube or by a non-depressant
emetic. The physiological antidotes are atropine and digitalin or
strophanthin, which should be injected subcutaneously in maximal
doses. Alcohol, strychnine and warmth must also be employed.
ACONTIUS (Gr. Akontios), in Greek legend, a beautiful
youth of the island of Ceos, the hero of a love-story told
by Callimachus in a poem now lost, which forms the subject of
two of Ovid's Heroides (xx., xxi.). During the festival of
Artemis at Deles, Acontius saw Cydippe, a well-born Athenian
maiden of whom he was enamoured, sitting in the temple of the
goddess. He wrote on an apple the words, ``I swear by the sacred
shrine of the goddess that I will marry you,'' and threw it at
her feet. She picked it up, and mechanically read the words
aloud, which amounted to a solemn undertaking to carry them
out. Unaware of this, she treated Acontius with contempt;
but, although she was betrothed more than once, she always fell
ill before the wedding took place. The Delphic oracle at last
declared the cause of her illnesses to be the wrath of the offended
goddess; whereupon her father consented to her marriage with
Acontius (Aristaenetus, Epistolae, i. 10; Antoninus Liberalis,
Metamorphoses, i., tells the story with different names).
ACORN, the fruit of the oak-tree; a word also used, by
analogy with the shape, in nautical language, for a piece of
wood keeping the vane on the mast-head. The etymology of the
word (earlier akerne, and acharn) is well discussed in the
New English Dictionary. It is derived from a word (Goth.
akran) which meant ``fruit,'' originally ``of the unenclosed
land,'' and so of the most important forest produce, thc
oak. Chaucer speaks of ``achornes of okes.'' By degrees,
popular etymology connected the word both with ``corn''
and ``oak-horn,'' and the spelling changed accordingly.
ACORUS CALAMUS, sweet-sedge or sweet-flag, a plant of the
natural order Araceae, which shares with the Cuckoo Pint
(Arum) the representation in Britain of that order of
Monocotyledons. The name is derived from acorus, Gr.
akoros, the classical name for the plant. It was the
Calamus aromaticus of the medieval druggists and perhaps of
the ancients, though the latter has been referred by some to
the Citron grass, Andropogon Nardus. The spice ``Calamus''
or ``Sweet-cane'' of the Scriptures, one of the ingredients
of the holy anointing oil of the Jews, was perhaps one of the
fragrant species of Andropogon. The plant is a herbaceous
perennial with a long, branched root-stock creeping through
the mud, about 3/4 inch thick, with short joints and large
brownish leaf-scars. At the ends of the branches are tufts
of flat, sword-like, sweet-scented leaves 3 or 4 ft. long
and about an inch wide, closely arranged in two rows as in
the true Flag (Iris); the tall, flowering stems (scapes),
which very much resemble the leaves, bear an apparently
lateral, blunt, tapering spike of densely packed, very small
flowers. A long leaf (spathe) borne immediately below the
spike forms an apparent continuation of the scape, though
really a lateral outgrowth from it, the spike of flowers being
terminal. The plant has a wide distribution, growing in wet
situations in the Himalayas, North America, Siberia and various
parts of Europe, including England, and has been naturalized
in Scotland and Ireland. Though regarded as a native in most
counties of England at the present day, where it is now found
thoroughly wild on sides of ditches, ponds and rivers, and very
abundantly in some districts, it is probably not indigenous.
It seems to have been spread in western and central Europe
from about the end of the 16th century by means of botanic
gardens. The botanist Clusius (Charles de l'Escluse or
Lecluse, 1526-1609) first cultivated it at Vienna from a
root received from Asia Minor in 1574, and distributed it
to other botanists in central and western Europe, and it was
probably introduced into England about 1596 by the herbalist
Gerard. It is very readily propagated by means of its branching
root-stock. It has an agreeable odour, and has been used
medicinally. The starchy matter contained in its rhizome is
associated with a fragrant oil, and it is used as hair-powder.
Sir J. E. Smith (Eng. Flora, ii. 158, 2nd ed., 1828) mentions
it as a popular remedy in Norfolk for ague. In India it
is used as an insectifuge, and is administered in infantile
diarrhoea. It is an ingredient in pot-pourri, is employed
for flavouring beer and is chewed to clear the voice; and its
volatile oil is employed by makers of snuff and aromatic vinegar.
The rhizome of Acorus Calamus is sometimes adulterated with
that of Iris Pseudacorus, which, however, is distinguishable
by its lack of odour, a stringent taste and dark colour.
ACOSTA, JOSE DE (1539?--1600), Spanish author, was born at
Medina del Campo about the year 1539. He joined the Jesuits
in 1551, and in 1571 was sent as a missionary to Peru; he
acted as provincial of his order from 1576 to 1581, was
appointed theological adviser to the council of Lima in 1582,
and in 1583 published a catechism in Quichua and Aymara--the
first book printed in Peru. Returning to Spain in 1587, and
placing himself at the head of the opposition to Acquaviva,
Acosta was imprisoned in 1592--1593; on his submission in
1594 he became superior of the Jesuits at Valladolid, and
in 1598 rector of the Jesuit college at Salamanca, where
he died on the 15th of February 1600. His treatise De
natura novi orbis libri duo (Salamanca, 1588-1589) may be
regarded as the preliminary draft of his celebrated Historia
natural y moral de las Indias (Seville, 1590) which was
speedily translated into Italian (1596), French (1597), Dutch
(1598), German (1601), Latin (1602) and English (1604) The
Historia is in three sections: books I. and II. deal with
generalities; books III. and IV. with the physical geography
and natural history of Mexico and Peru; books V., VI. and
VII. with the religious and political institutions of the
aborigines. Apart from his sophistical defence of Spanish
colonial policy, Acosta deserves high praise as an acute and
diligent observer whose numerous new and valuable data are
set forth in a vivid style. Among his other publications
are De procuranda salute Indorum libri sex (Salamanca,
1588), De Christo revelato libri novem (Rome, 1590), De
temporibus novissimis libri quatuor (Rome, 1590), and three
volumes of sermons issued respectively in 1596, 1597 and 1599.
AUTHORITIES.---Jose R. Carricido, El P. Jose de Acosta
y su importancia en La literatura cientifica espanola
(Madrid, 1899); C. Sommervogel, Bibliotheque de La Compagnie
de Jesus, Premiere Partie (Brussels and Paris, 1890),
vol. i., col. 31-42; and Edward Grimston's translation of
the Historia reprinted (1880) for the Hakluyt Society with
introduction and notes by Sir Clements R. Markham. (J. F.-K.)
ACOSTA, URIEL (d. 1647), a Portuguese Jew of noble family,
was born at Oporto towards the close of the 16th century. His
father being a convert to Christianity, Uriel was brought up
in the Roman Catholic faith, and strictly observed the rites
of the church till the course of his inquiries led him, after
much painful doubt, to abandon the religion of his youth for
Judaism. Passing over to Amsterdam, he was received into the
synagogue, having his name changed from Gabriel to Uriel.
His wayward disposition found, however, no satisfaction in
the Jewish fold. He came into conflict with the authorities
of the synagogue and was excommunicated. Unlike Spinoza (who
was about fifteen at the time of Acosta's death), Acosta was
not strong enough to stand alone. Wearied by his melancholy
isolation, he was driven to seek a return to the Jewish
communion. Having recanted his heresies, he was readmitted
after an excommunication of fifteen years, but was soon
excommunicated a second time. After seven years of exclusion,
