general, are sometimes called adjutants-general.
ADLER, FELIX (1851- ), American educationalist, was born
at Alzey, Germany, on the 13th of August 1851. His father,
a Jewish rabbi, emigrated to the United States in 1857,
and the son graduated at Columbia College in 1870. After
completing his studies at Berlin and Heidelberg, he became, in
1874, professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature at Cornell
University. In 1876 he established in New York City the
Society for Ethical Culture, to the development and extension
of which he devoted a great deal of time and energy, and
before which he delivered a regular Sunday lecture. In 1902
he became professor of political and social ethics at Columbia
University. He also acted as one of the editors of the
International Journal of Ethics. Under his direction the
Society for Ethical Culture became an important factor in
educational reform in New York City, exercising through its
technical training school and kindergarten (established in
January 1878) a wide influence. Dr Adler also took a prominent
part in philanthropic and social reform movements, such as the
establishment of a system of district nursing, the erection
of model tenement houses, and tenement house reform. He
published Creed and Deed (1877), The Moral Instruction
of Children (1892), Life and Destiny (1903), Marriage
and Divorce (1905), and The Religion of Duty (1905).
ADMETUS, in Greek legend, son of Pheres, king of Pherae in
Thessaly. By the aid of Apollo, who served him as a slave--
either as a punishment for having slain the Cyclopes, or out of
affection for his mortal master--he won the hand of Alcestis,
the most beautiful of the daughters of Pelias, king of Iolcus.
When Admetus was attacked by an illness that threatened to lead
to his premature death, Apollo persuaded the Moerae (Fates) to
prolong his life, provided any one could be found to die in his
place. His parents refused, but Alcestis consented. She is
said to have been rescued from the hands of Death by Heracles,
who arrived upon the scene at an opportune moment; a later story
represents her as cured of a dangerous illness by his skill.
Homer, Iliad, ii. 715; Apollodorus, i. 9; Euripides,
Alcestis; Plutarch, Amatorius, 17; Dissel, Der Mythus
von Admetos und Alkestis, progr. Brandenburg, 1882.
ADMINISTRATION (Lat. administrare, to serve), the performance
or management of affairs, a term specifically used in law for
the administration or disposal of the estate of a deceased person
(see WILL OR TESTAMENT.) It is also used generally for
``government,'' and specifically for ``the government'' or the executive
ministry, and in such connexions as the administration (administering
or tendering) of the sacraments, justice, oaths, medicines, &c.
Letters of administration.--Upon the death of a person
intestate or leaving a will to which no executors are appointed,
or when the executors appointed by the will cannot or will
not act, the Probate Division of the High Court is obliged
to appoint an administrator who performs the duties of an
executor. This is done by the court granting letters of
administration to the person entitled. Grants of administration
may be either general or limited. A general grant is made
where the deceased has died intestate. The order in which
general grants of letters will be made by the court is as
follows: (1) The husband, or widow, as the case may be;
(2) the next of kin; (3) the crown; (4) a creditor; (5) a
stranger. Since the Land Transfer Act 1897, the administrator
is the real as well as the personal representative of the
deceased, and consequently when the estate to be administered
consists wholly or mainly of reality the court will grant
administration to the heir to the exclusion of the next of
kin. In the absence of any heir or next of kin the crown
is entitled to the personality as bona vacantia, and to
the reality by escheat. If a creditor claims and obtains
a grant he is compelled by the court to enter into a bond
with two sureties that he will not prefer his own debt to
those of other creditors. The more important cases of grants
of special letters of administration are the following:--
Administration cum testamento annexo, where the deceased
has left a will but has appointed no executor to it, or the
executor appointed has died or refuses to act. In this case the
court will make the grant to the person (usually the residuary
legatee) with the largest beneficial interest in the estate.
Administration de bonis non administratis: this occurs
in two cases--(a) where the executor dies intestate
after probate without having completely administered the
estate; (b) where an administrator dies. In the first
case the principle of administration cum testamento is
followed, in the second that of general grants in the
selection of the person to whom letters are granted.
Administration durante minore aetate, when the executor
or the person entitled to the general grant is under age.
Administration durante absentia, when the executor or
administrator is out of the jurisdiction for more than a year.
Administration pendente lite, where there is a dispute as to
the person entitled to probate or a general grant of letters the
court appoints an administrator till the question has been decided.
ADMINISTRATOR, in English law, the person to whom the
Probate Division of the High Court of Justice (formerly the
ordinary or judge of the ecclesiastical court) acting in the
sovereign's name, commits the administration (q.v.) of the
goods of a person deceased, in default of an executor. The
origin of administrators is derived from the civil law. Their
establishment in England is owing to a statute made in the 31st
year of Edward I. (1303). Till then no office of this kind
was known besides that of executor; in default of whom, the
ordinary had the disposal of goods of persons intestate, &c.
(See also EXECUTORS, and, for intestate estates, INTESTACY.)
ADMINISTRATOR, in Scots law, is a person legally
empowered to act for another whom the law presumes incapable
of acting for himself, as a father for a pupil child.
ADMIRAL, the title of the general officer who commands a
fleet, or subdivision of a fleet. The origin of the word is
undoubtedly Arabic. In the 12th century the Mediterranean
states which had close relations with the Moslem powers
on the shores or in the islands of that sea, found the
title amir or emir in combination with other words used
to describe men in authority; the amir-al-mumenin--prince
of the faithful--or al-bahr--commander of the sea. They
took the substantive ``amir'' and the article ``al'' to
form one word, ``amiral'' or ``ammiral'' or ``almirante.''
The Spaniards made miramamolin, out of amiral-mumenin, in
the same way. ``Amiral,'' as the name of an eastern ruler,
became familiar to the northern nations during the crusades.
Layamon, writing in the early years of the 13th century,
speaks of the ``ammiral of Babilon,'' and the word was for
long employed in this sense. As a naval title it was first
taken by the French from the Genoese during the crusade of
1249. By the end of the 13th century it had come to be used
in England as the name of the officer who commanded the Cinque
Port ships. The English form ``admiral'' arose from popular
confusion with the Latin admirabilis. Such errors were
naturally produced by the fantastic etymology of the middle
ages. In Spain, Alphonso the Wise of Castile, in his code of
laws, the Siete Partidas (Seven Divisions), accounts for
the Spanish form ``almirante'' by its supposed derivation
from the Latin admirari, since the admiral is ``to be
admired'' for the difficulties and dangers he overcomes, and
because he is the chief of those who see the wonders of the
Lord in the deep--mirabilia ejus (sc. Domini) in profundo.
Both in Spanish and in Elizabethan English the word has
been applied to the flagship of an officer commanding a
fleet or part of one. The Spanish almiranta is the ship
of the second in command, and the capitana of the first.
In this sense it is not uncommonly found in the narratives
of Elizabethan voyages or campaigns, and it is so used by
Milton in Paradise Lost--``the mast of some tall ammiral.''
As the title of an office it was borne by the great military,
judicial and administrative officer known in France as grand
amiral; in England as lord high admiral; in Spain as almirante
mayor. His functions, which were wide, have been generally
absorbed by the crown, or the state, and have been divided among
judicial and administrative officials (see NAVY, History;
ADMIRALTY ADMINISTRATION; and ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION.)
The title of admiral is still borne as an hereditary honour
by the descendants of Columbus, the dukes of Veraqua, in
Spain. It is a purely honorific distinction representing the
admiralship of the islands and Ocean Sea, conferred on the
discoverer by the Catholic sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella.
In the staff of a modern navy the admirals correspond to
the general officers in the army. Where, as in Russia, the
grand admiralship is annexed to the crown, the highest rank
is that of lieutenant admiral general. In Great Britain
there is the rank of admiral of the fleet, corresponding to
field-marshal. It is, however, little more than an honorary
distinction. The three active ranks are those of admiral,
vice-admiral and rear-admiral, corresponding to general,
lieutenant-general and major-general in the army. They are
found in all navies under very slightly varied forms. The
only difference which is not one of mere spelling is in the
equivalent for rear-admiral, which is contre amiral in
French, and in other navies of the continent of Europe
involves some slight variation of the word ``contre'' (first
used at the time of the French Revolution). The vice- and
rear-admiral of Great Britain are again honorary titles,
without the active functions, conferred in compliment on
senior naval officers. ``Admiral'' is also the name given to
the chief of fishery fleets. On the banks of Newfoundland
it was given to officials who had powers conferred by the
state. In the case of an ordinary fishing-fleet in European
waters, it is of private origin, and is of merely customary use.
AUTHORITIES.--Sir N. Harris Nicolas, History of the Royal
Navy; La Ronciere, Histoire de la marine francarse;
Youge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen; C.
Fernandez Duro, Historia de la Armada de Castilea. (D. H.)
ADMIRALTY ADMINISTRATION. 1. The Administrative System.--
British Empire.
That the navy (q.v.) is the only real defence of the
British islands has been recognized by English people ever
since the days of King Offa, who died in 796, leaving to his
successors the admirable lesson that ``he who would be secure
on land must be supreme at sea.'' The truth of the lesson
thus learnt is sanctioned by all the experience of English
history, and parliament has repeatedly enforced the fact. The
navy is the only force that can safeguard the British islands
from hostile descents; it is the only force that can protect
their vast sea-borne commerce and food supplies; by giving
safety to the home country it sets British troops free for
operations abroad, and makes their passage secure; and thus,
as also by giving command of the sea, the fleet is the means
by which the empire is guarded and has become a true imperial
bond. It is natural for British admiralty administration
to be taken here as the type of an efficient system.
The Board of Admiralty.
British naval administration is conducted by the Board of
