he once more sought admission, and, on passing through a
humiliating penance, was again received. His vacillating
autobiography, Exemplar Humanae Vitae, was published
with a ``refutation'' by Limborch in 1687, and republished in
1847. In this brief work Acosta declares his opposition both
to Christianity and Judaism, though he speaks with the more
bitterness of the latter religion. The only authority which
he admits is the lex naturae. Acosta was not an original
thinker, but he stands in the direct line of the rational
Deists. His history forms the subject of a tale and of
a tragedy by Gutzkow. Acosta committed suicide in 1647.
The significance of his career has been much exaggerated.
ACOTYLEDONES, the name given by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu
in 1789 to the lowest class in his Natural System of Botany,
embracing flowerless plants, such as ferns, lycopods,
horse-tails, mosses, liverworts, sea-weeds, lichens and
fungi. The name is derived from the absence of a seed-leaf or
cotyledon. Flowering plants bear a seed containing an embryo,
with usually one or two cotyledons, or seed-leaves; while
in flowerless plants there is no seed and therefore no true
cotyledon. The term is synonymous with Cryptogams, by
which it was replaced in later systems of classification.
ACOUSTICS (from the Gr. akouein to hear), a title
frequently given to the science of sound, that is, to the
description and theory of the phenomena which give rise to
the sensation of sound (q.v.). The term ``acoustics''
might, however, with advantage be reserved for the aspect of
the subject more immediately connected with hearing. Thus we
may speak appropriately of the acoustic quality of a room or
hall, describing it as good or bad acoustically, according
as speaking is heard in it easily or with difficulty. When
a room has bad acoustic quality we can almost always assign
the fault to large smooth surfaces on the walls, floor or
ceiling, which reflect or echo the voice of the speaker so that
the direct waves sent out by him at any instant are received
by a hearer with the waves sent out previously and reflected
at these smooth surfaces. The syllables overlap, and the
hearing is confused. The acoustic quality of a room may be
improved by breaking up the smooth surfaces by curtains or
by arrangement of furniture. The echo is then broken up into
small waves, none of which may be sufficiently distinct to
interfere with the direct voice. Sometimes a sounding-board
over the head of a speaker improves the hearing probably by
preventing echo from a smooth wall behind him. A large bare
floor is undoubtedly bad for acoustics, for when a room is
filled by an audience the hearing is much improved Wires are
frequently stretched across a room overhead, probably with
the idea that they will prevent the voice from reaching the
roof and being reflected there, but there is no reason to
suppose that they are efficient. The only cure appears to
consist in breaking up the reflecting surfaces so that the
reflexion shall be much less regular and distinct. Probably
drapery assists by absorbing the sound to some extent, and
thus it lessens the echo besides breaking it up. (J. H. P.)
ACQUI, a city and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, in the
province of Alessandria; from the town of that name it is 21
m. S.S.W. by rail. Pop. (1901) 13,786. Its warm sulphur
springs are still resorted to; under the name of Aquae
Statiellae they were famous in Roman times, and Paulus Diaconus
and Liutprand speak of the ancient bath establishment. In
the neighbourhood of the town are remains of the aqueduct
which supplied it. The place was connected by road with Alba
Pompeia and Augusta Taurinorum. The tribe of the Statielli, to
whom the district belonged, had joined the Romans at an early
period, but was attacked in 173 and in part transferred to the
north of the Po. The town possesses a fine Gothic cathedral.
ACRE, or AQUIRY, a river of Brazil and principal tributary
of the Purus, rising on the Bolivian frontier and flowing
easterly and northerly to a junction with the Purus at 8 deg.
45' S. lat. The name is also applied to a district situated
on the same river and on the former (1867) boundary line
between Bolivia and Brazil. The region, which abounds in
valuable rubber forests, was settled by Bolivians between
1870 and 1878, but was invaded by Brazilian rubber collectors
during the next decade and became tributary to the rubber
markets of Manaos and Para. In 1899 the Bolivian government
established a custom-house at Puerto Alonso, on the Acre
river, for the collection of export duties on rubber, which
precipitated a conflict with the Brazilian settlers and finally
brought about a boundary dispute between the two republics.
In July 1899 the Acreanos declared their independence and
set up a republic of their own, but in the following March
they were reduced to submission by Brazil. Various disorders
followed until Brazil decided to occupy Puerto Alonso with a
military force. The boundary dispute was finally settled at
Petropolis on the 17th of November 1903 through the purchase
by Brazil of the rubber-producing territory south to about
the 11th parallel, estimated at more than 60,000 sq. m.
ACRE, Akka, or ST JEAN D'ACRE, the chief town of a
governmental district of Palestine which includes Haifa,
Nazareth and Tiberias. It stands on a low promontory at the
northern extremity of the Bay of Acre, 80 m. N. N.W. from
Jerusalem, and 25 m. S. of Tyre. The population is about
11,000; 8000 being Moslems, the remainder Christians, Jews,
&c. It was long regarded as the ``Key of Palestine,'' on
account of its commanding position on the shore of the broad
plain that joins the inland plain of Esdraelon, and so affords
the easiest entrance to the interior of the country. But
trade is now passing over to Haifa, at the south side of the
bay, as its harbour offers a safer roadstead, and is a regular
calling.place for steamers. Business, rapidly declining, is
still carried on in wheat, maize, oil, sesame, &c., in the town
market. There are few buildings of interest, owing to the
frequent destructions the town has undergone. The wall,
which is now ruinous and has but one gate, dates from the
crusaders: the mosque was built by Jezzar Pasha (d. 1804)
from materials taken from Caesarea Palaestina: his tomb is
within. Acre is the seat of the head of the Babist religion.
History.--Few towns have had a more chequered or calamitous
history. Of great antiquity, it is probably to be identified
with the Aak of the tribute-lists of Tethmosis (Thothmes)
III (c. 1500 B.C.), and it is certainly the Akka
of the Tell el-Amarna correspondence. To the Hebrews it
was known as Acco (Revised Version spelling), but it is
mentioned only once in the Old Testament, namely Judges i.
31, as one of the places from which the Israelites did not
drive out the Canaanite inhabitants. Theoretically it was
in the territory of the tribe of Asher, and Josephus assigns
it by name to the district of one of Solomon's provincial
governors. Throughout the period of Hebrew domination, however,
its political connexions were always with Syria rather than
with Palestine proper: thus, about 725 B.C. it joined Sidon
and Tyre in a revolt against Shalmaneser IV. It had a stormy
experience during the three centuries preceding the Christian
era. The Greek historians name it Ake (Josephus calls
it also Akre); but the name was changed to Ptolemais,
probably by Ptolemy Soter, after the partition of the kingdom of
Alexander. Strabo refers to the city as once a rendezvous for
the Persians in their expeditions against Egypt. About 165
B.C. Simon Maccabaeus defeated the Syrians in many battles
in Galilee, and drove them into Ptolemais. About 153 B.C.
Alexander Balas, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, contesting the
Syrian crown with Demetrius, seized the city, which opened its
gates to him. Demetrius offered many bribes to the Maccabees
to obtain Jewish support against his rival, including the
revenues of Ptolemais for the benefit of the Temple, but in
vain. Jonathan threw in his lot with Alexander, and in
150 B.C. he was received by him with great honour in
Ptolemais. Some years later, however, Tryphon, an officer
of the Syrians, who had grown suspicious of the Maccabees,
enticed Jonathan into Ptolemais and there treacherously took him
prisoner. The city was also assaulted and captured by Alexander
Jannaeus, by Cleopatra and by Tigranes. Here Herod built a
gymnasium, and here the Jews met Petronius, sent to set up
statues of the emperor in the Temple, and persuaded him to turn
back. St Paul spent a day in Ptolemais. The Arabs captured
the city in A.D. 638, and lost it to the crusaders in
1110. The latter made the town their chief port in
Palestine. It was re-taken by Saladin in 1187, besieged
by Guy de Lusignan in 1189 (see below), and again captured
by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1191. In 1229 it was placed
under the control of the knights of St John (whence one of
its alternative names), but finally lost by the Franks in
1291. The Turks under Sultan Selim I. captured the city
in 1517, after which it fell into almost total decay.
Maundrell in 1697 found it a complete ruin, save for a khan
occupied by some French merchants, a mosque and a few poor
cottages. Towards the end of the 18th century it seems to
have revived under the comparatively beneficent rule of Dhahar
el-Amir, the local sheikh: his successor, Jezzar Pasha,
governor of Damascus, improved and fortified it, but by heavy
imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his
improvements. About 1780 Jezzar peremptorily banished the
French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French
government, and refused to receive a consul. In 1799 Napoleon,
in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion
against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after
a siege of two months (March--May) was repulsed by the
Turks, aided by Sir W. Sidney Smith and a force of British
sailors. Jezzar was succeeded on his death by his son Suleiman,
under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till
1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and
destroyed its buildings. On the 4th of November 1840 it
was bombarded by the allied British, Austrian and French
squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule.
Battle of Acre.---The battle of 1189, fought on the ground
to the east of Acre, affords a good example of battles of the
Crusades. The crusading army under Guy of Lusignan, king
of Jerusalem, which was besieging Acre, gave battle on the
4th of October 1189 to the relieving army which Saladin had
collected. The Christian army consisted of the feudatories
of the kingdom of Jerusalem, numerous small contingents of
European crusaders and the military orders, and contingents
from Egypt, Turkestan, Syria and Mesopotamia fought under
Saladin. The Saracens lay in a semicircle east of the town
facing inwards towards Acre. The Christians opposed them
with crossbowmen in first line and the heavy cavalry in
second. At Arsuf the Christians fought coherently; here
the battle began with a disjointed combat between the
Templars and Saladin's right wing. The crusaders were so far
successful that the enemy had to send up reinforcements from
other parts of the field. Thus the steady advance of the
Christian centre against Saladin's own corps, in which the
crossbows prepared the way for the charge of the men-at-arms,
met with no great resistance. But the victors scattered to
