practical forms are described in the article PHOTOGRAPHY.
ACTINOMYCOSIS (STREPTOTRICHOSIS), a chronic infective
disease occurring in both cattle and man. In both these groups
it presents the same clinical course, being characterized
by chronic inflammation with the formation of granulomatous
tumours, which tend to undergo suppuration, fibrosis or
calcification. It used to be believed that this disease was
caused by a single vegetable parasite, the Ray-Fungus, but
there is now an overwhelming mass of observations to show that
the clinical features may be produced by a number of different
species of parasites, for which the generic name Streptothrix
has been generally adopted. In 1899 the committee of the
Pathological Society of London recommended that the term
Streptotrichosis should be used as the appropriate clinical
epithet of the large class of Streptothrix infections.
And since that year the name Actinomycosis has been falling
into disuse, and in any case is only used synonymously with
Streitotrichosis. For a further account of these parasites
see the articles on BACTERIOLOGY and on PARASITIC DISEASES.
Pathological Anatomy.---The naked-eye appearance of the
different organs affected by Streptothrix infection varies
according to the duration and acuteness of the disease. In
some tissues the appearance is that of simple inflammation,
whereas in others it may be characteristic. The liver when
affected shows scattered foci of suppuration, which may become
aggregated into spheroidal masses, surrounded by a zone of
inflammation. In the lungs the changes may be any that are
produced by the following conditions. (1) An acute bronchitis.
(2) A phthisical lung, grey nodules being scattered here and
there almost exactly simulating tuberculous nodules. (3) An acute
broncho-pneumonia with some interstitial fibrosis and a tendency
to abscess formation. The most characteristic lesions are in the
skin. These appear as nodules, sarcomatous-looking, soft and
pulpy. Their colour is mottled, yellow and purplish red. The
skin over them is thinned out, and broken down in places to
form one or two crateriform ulcers from which a clear sticky
fluid exudes. The size varies from that of a pea to a small
orange. The pus is characteristic, varying in consistency
though usually viscid, and containing numerous minute specks.
The disease is more common in males than in females, aod
more prevalent in Germany and Russia than in England. The
infection is probably spread by grain (corn or barley), on
which the fungus may often be found. In a great number of
recorded cases the patient has been following agricultural
pursuits. The disease can only be transmitted from one
individual to another with considerable difficulty, and no case
of direct transmission from animal to man has yet been noted.
Clinical History.---The course of actinomycosis is usually a
chronic one, but occasionally the fungus gets into the blood,
when the course is that of an acute infective disease or even
pyaemia. The symptoms are entirely dependent on the organ
attacked, and are in no way specially characteristic. During
life a diagnosis of phthisis is continually made, and only a
microscopic examination after death renders the true nature
of the disease apparent. The nature of the skin lesion is
the most evident, and here the parasite can be detected early
in the illness. The only drug which appears to have any
beneficial influence on the course of the disease is potassium
iodide, and this has occasionally been used with great
benefit. Surgical interference is usually needed, either
excision of the part affected, or, where possible, a thorough
scraping of the lesion and free application of antiseptics.
ACTINOZOA, a term in systematic zoology, first used by
H. M. D. de Blainville about 1834, to designate animals the
organs of which were disposed radially about a centre. De
Blainville included in his group many unicellular forms such as
Noctiluca (see PROTOZOA), sea-anemones, corals, jelly-fish
and hydroid polyps, echinoderms, polyzoa and rotifera. T.
H. Huxley afterwards restricted the term. He showed that in
de Blainville's group there were associated with a number of
heterogeneous forms a group of animals characterized by being
composed of two layers of cells comparable with the first two
layers in the development of vertebrate animals. Such forms
he distinguished as Coelentera, and showed that they had no
special affinity with echinoderms, polyzoa, &c. He divided
the Coelentera into a group Hydrozoa, in which the sexually
produced embryos were usually set free from the surface of the
body, and a group Actinozoa, in which the embryos are detached
from the interior of the body and escape generally by the oral
aperture. Huxley's Actinozoa comprised the sea-anemones,
corals and sea-pens, on the one hand, and the Ctenophora on the
other. Later investigations, whilst confirming the general
validity of Huxley's conclusions, have slightly altered
the limits and definitions of his groups. (See ANTHOZOA,
COELENTERA, CTENOPHORA and HYDROZOA.) (P. C. M.)
ACTION, in law, a term used by jurists in three different
senses: (1) a right to institute proceedings in a court of
justice to obtain redress for a wrong (actio nihil aliud
est quam jus prosequendi in judieio quod alicui debetur,
Bracton, de Legibus Angliae, bk. iii. ch. i., f. 98 b);
(2) the proceeding itself (actionn n'est auter chose que
loyall demande de son droit, Co. Litt. 285 (a)); (3) the
particular form of the proceeding. The term is derived from
the Roman law (actio), in which it is used in all three
senses. In the history of Roman law, actions passed through three
stages. The first period (terminated about 170 B.C. by the
Lex Aebutia) is known as the system of legis actiones, and
was based on the precepts of the XII. tables and used before
the praetor urbanus. These actiones were five in number
--sacramenti, per judicis postulationem, per condictionem,
per manus injectionem, per pignoris captionem. The first
was the primitive and characteristic action of the Roman
law, and the others were little more than modes of applying
it to cases not contemplated in the original form, or of
carrying the result of it into execution when the action had
been decided. The legis actiones were superseded by the
formulae, originated by the praetor peregrinus for the
determination of controversies between foreigners, but found
more flexible than the earlier system and made available for
citizens by the Lex Aebutia. Under both these systems
the praetor referred the matter in dispute to an arbiter
(judex), but in the later he settled the formula (i.e.
the issues to be referred and the appropriate form of relief)
before making the order of reference. In the third stage,
the formulary stage fell into disuse, and after A.D. 342 the
magistrate himself or his deputy decided the controversy after
the defending party had been duly summoned by a libellus.
The classifications of actiones in Roman law were very
numerous. The division which is still most universally
recognized is that of actions in rem and actions in
personam (Sohm, Roman Law, tr. by Ledlie, 2nd ed.
277). An action in rem asserts a right to a particular
thing against all the world. An action in personam asserts
a right only against a particular person. Perhaps the best
modern example of the distinction is that made in maritime
cases between an action against a ship after a collision
at sea, and an action against the owners of the ship.
In English law the term ``action'' at a very early date
became associated with civil proceedings in the Court of
Common Pleas, which were distinguished from pleas of the
crown, such as indictments or informations and for suits in
the Court of Chancery or in the Admiralty or ecclesiastical
courts. The English action was a proceeding commenced by writ
original at the common law. The remedy was of right and not of
grace. The history of actions is the history of civil procedure
in the courts of common law. As a result of the reform of
civil procedure by the Judicature Acts the term ``action'' in
English law now means at the High Court of Justice ``a civil
proceeding commenced by writ of summons or in such other manner
as may be prescribed by rules of court'' (e.g. by originating
summons). The proceeding thus commenced ends by judgment and
execution. This definition includes proceedings under the
Chancery, Admiralty and Probate jurisdiction of the High
Court, but excludes proceedings commenced by petition, such
as divorce suits and bankruptcy and winding-up matters, as
well as criminal proceedings in the High Court or applications
for the issue of the writs of mandamus, prohibition,
habeas corpus or certiorari. The Judicature Acts and
Rules have had the effect of abolishing all the forms of
``action'' used at the common law and of creating one common
form of legal proceeding for all ordinary controversies
between subjects in whatever division of the High Court.
The stages in an English action are the writ, by which the
persons against whom relief is claimed are summoned before
the court; the pleadings and interlocutory steps, by which
the issues between the parties are adjusted; the trial, at
which the issues of fact and law involved are brought before
the tribunal; the judgment, by which the relief sought
is granted or refused; and execution, by which the law
gives to the successful party the fruits of the judgment.
The procedure varies according as the action is in the High
Court, a county court or one of the other local courts of record
which still survive; but there is no substantial difference in
the incidents of trial, judgment and execution in any of these
courts. The initial difference between actions in the High
Court and the county court is that the latter are commenced
by plaint lodged in the court, on which a summons is prepared
by the court and served by its bailiff, whereas in the High
Court the party prepares the writ and lodges it in court for
sealing, and when it is sealed, himself effects the service.
An action is said to ``lie'' when the law provides a remedy for
some particular act or omission by a subject which infringes
the legal rights of another subject. An act of such a
character is said to give a ``cause of action.'' In the action
the person who alleges himself aggrieved claims a judgment
of the court in his favour giving an adequate and appropriate
remedy for the injury or damage which he has sustained by
the infraction of his rights. As to the time within which an
action must be brought, see LIMITATION, STATUTES OF. When
the rights of a subject are infringed by the illegal action
of the state, an action lies in England against the officers
who have done the wrong, unless the claim be one arising out
of breach of a contract with the state, or out of an ``Act
of State.'' For a breach by the state of a contract made
between the state and a subject the remedy of the subject
is, as a general rule, not by action against the agents of
the state who acted for the state with reference to the making
or breach of the contract, but against the Crown itself by
the proceeding called Petition of Right (see PETITION).
While as a generic term ``action'' in its proper legal sense
includes suits by the Crown and ``criminal actions'' (see Co.
Litt. 284b; Bracton, de Legibus Angliae, bk. iii. ch. v.
f. 1046; Bradlaugh v. Clarke, 1883, 8 App. Cas. 354, 361,
374), in popular language it is taken to mean a proceeding
by a subject and is now rarely applied in England even by
