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ABCHITBAVE 235 ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS ARCHITRAVE, in architecture, the 'jart of the entablature which rests im- mediately on the heads of the columns, being the lowest of its three principal divisions, the others being the frieze and the cornice. ARCHIVES, the place in which rec- ords are kept; also the records and papers which are preserved, as evidence of facts. ARCHIVOLT, in architecture, the or- namental band of moldings on the face of an arch and following its contour. ARCHONS, the chief magistrates of ancient Athens, chosen to superintend civil and religious concerns. They were nine in number; the first was properly the archon, or archon eponymos, by whose name the year was distinguished in the public records; the second was called archon basileus, or king archon, who exercised the functions of high- priest; the third, polemarchos, or general of the forces. The other six were called thesmothetai, or legislators. ARC LIGHT, that species of the elec- tric light in which the illuminating source is the current of electricity pass- ing between two sticks of carbon kept a short distance apart, one of them being in connection with the positive, the other with the negative terminal of a battery or dynamo. ARCOT (Aru-Kadu, "Six Deserts"), a city of British India, in the presidency of Madras, the capital of the district of North Arcot. It is situated on the right bank of the Palar, 65 miles W. S. W. of Madras. Arcot contains some mosques in a tolerable state of repair, and the ruins of the Nawab's palace. In 1751 Clive, with 300 Sepoys and 200 Euro- peans, marched against Arcot, and after having taken it, had in his turn to with- stand a siege of 50 days. Arcot was af- terward captured by the French, but re- taken by Colonel Coote in 1760. It was taken and held for a time by Hyder Ali, but passed into the hands of the British in 1801. Pop. about 15,000. The dis- tricts of North and South Arcot form a portion of the presidency of Madras. ARCTIC. (1) An adjective=bright, and (2) a substantive=a bear, so called either from his bright eyes or from his brilliant tawny fur. Before the Aryans had finally separated, riksha=hTight, ap- plied to the plow-like constellation, had become obsolete, and the substantive bear remained, whence the constellation came to be called arktos among the Greeks, Ursa among the Latins, and Bear among ourselves. 1. Properlv. pertaining to the constel- lation called by the Greeks arktos^hear, by the Romans, Ursa, and by ourselves Ursa Major, the Great Bear, the Plow, Charles' Wain, etc. 2. Pertaining to the North generally, or more especially to the region within the Arctic Circle. ARCTIC CIRCLE, a small circle of the globe, 23° 28' distant from the North Pole, which is its center. It is opposed to the Antarctic circle, which is at the same distance from the South Pole. ARCTIC and ANTARCTIC EXPLO- RATIONS, expeditions projected to ex- plore the regions surrounding the North Pole. The object with which these en- terprises were commenced by the Eng- "THE FRAM," AMUNDSEN'S SHIP, IN THE ANTARCTIC ICE lish was to obtain a passage by way of the polar regions to India. They have continued at intervals to our own times, and are not likely ever to cease. Two of the most notable events in their his- tory which have hitherto occurred have been the discovery of the northwest pas- sage by Captain McClure, of the "In- vestigator," on Oct. 26, 1850, and the tragic deaths of Sir John Franklin and his crew, about the year 1848, the catas- trophe being rendered all the more im-