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APOPHYGE 208 APOSTOLIC APOPHYGE (ap-of'e-ge or ap'6-fig), in architecture, the small curve at the top of a column by which its shaft joins its capital. It is sometimes called the spring of the column. Originally it was the ring which bound the extremities of wooden pillars to keep them from split- ting, imitated in stone-work. The same name is given to the corresponding con- cavity connecting the bottom of a pillar with the fillet at its base. APOPHYLLITE (ap-of'il-It) , a tetrag- onal mineral, called also ichthyophthal- mite, classed by Dana as the type of an apophylite group of unisilicates. Color, white or grayish; occasionally with greenish, yellowish, rose-red or flesh-red tint. It is generally transparent; is brit- tle, and has feeble double refraction. It is "hydrated calceopotassic silicate." It occurs chiefly in amygdaloid, though oc- casionally in granite and gneiss. It is found at Ratho, near Edinburgh, and in Fife, Dumbarton and Inverness-shires. It occurs in Europe, in India, in Siberia, in America, in Australia and elsewhere. APOPLEXY, a serious malady, coming on so suddenly and so violently that an- ciently anyone affected by it was said to be attonitus (thunderstruck), or sider- atus (planet-struck). The disease now described is properly called cerebral apoplexy, the cerebrum or brain being the part chiefly affected. APOSTLE, one who is sent off or away from; one sent on some important mis- sion; a messenger; a missionary. The name given, in the Christian Church, to the 12 men whom Jesus selected from His disciples as the best instructed in His doctrines, and the fittest instru- ments for the propagation of his reli- gion. Their names were as follows: Si- mon Peter (Greek of Caiphas, the rock), and Andrew, his brother; James the greater, and John, his brother, who were sons of Zebedee; Philip of Bethsaida, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew; James, the son of Alpheus; commonly called James the less; Lebbeus, his brother, who was surnamed Thaddeus, and was called Judas, or Jude, Simon the Canaan- ite, and Judas Iscariot. Of this num- ber, Simon Peter, John, James the greater, and Andrew were fisher- men; and Matthew, a publican or tax- gatherer. When the apostles were re- duced to 11 by the suicide of Judas, who had betrayed Christ, they chose Matthias by lot, on the proposition of St. Peter. Soon after, their number became 13, by the miraculous vocation of Saul, who, under the name of Paul, became one of the most zealous propagators of the Christian faith. The Bible gives the name of apostle to Barnabas also, who accompanied Paul on his missions (Acts, xiv: 13), and Paul bestows it also on Andronicus and Junia, his relations and companions in prison. In a still wider sense, preachers who first taught Chris- tianity in heathen countries, are some- times termed apostles; e. g., St. Denis, the apostle of the Gauls; St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany; the monk Au- gustine, the apostle of England; the Jesuit Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies; Adalbert of Prague, the apostle of Prussia proper. Paul was the only apostle who had received a scientific edu- cation; the others were mechanics. Peter, Andrew, and John are called in the Scriptures (Acts iv: 13), homines sine Uteris idiotx. Peter employed his dis- ciple St. Mark in writing the Gospel which bears his name. APOSTLES' ISLANDS, or THE TWELVE APOSTLES, a group of 27 islands in Lake Superior. They belong to Wisconsin. The principal islands of the group are He au Chene, Stockton, Bear, Madeline, and Outer. They have an area of 200 squate miles. Brown sandstone is exported, and the islands are covered with a rich growth of tim- ber. La Pointe, on Madeline island, for- merly the county-seat of Ashland county, Wis., was settled by the French in 1680. APOSTOLIC, or APOSTOLICAL, per- taining or relating to the apostles. Apostolic Church. — The Church in the time of the apostles, constituted accord- ing to their design. The name is also given to the four churches of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and is claimed by the Roman Catholic Church, and occasionally by the Episco- palians. Apostolic Constitutions and Cano-ns. — A collection of regulations attributed to the apostles, but generally supposed to be spurious. They appeared in the 4th cen- tury; are divided into eight books, and consist of rules and precepts relating to the duty of Christians, and particularly to the ceremonies and discipline of the Church. Apostolic Delegate. — A permanent rep- resentative of the Pope in a foreign country. It is sometimes confounded with the word ablegate, the latter mean- ing a temporary representative of the Pope for some special function. Apostolic Fathers. — The Christian writers who, during any part of their lives, were contemporary with the apostles. There are five — Clement, Bar- nabas, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp.