ACTIUM, a town and promontory of Epirus, famous for the naval victory which Augustus obtained over Antony and Cleopatra, the 2d of September, B. C. 31, in honor of which the conqueror built there the town of Nicopolis, and restored the Actian games instituted in honor of Apollo.
ACTON, JOHN EMERICH EDWARD DALBERG, 1st BARON, an English historian, born in 1834 in Naples. He was educated at the University of Munich and he devoted himself to the study of French, German, and Italian literature and history. After extensive travels in America, France, and other European countries, he returned to England and served in Parliament for six years. Acton was a Roman Catholic and was one of the most prominent laymen of that church. He succeeded Cardinal Newman as editor of the "Rambler," and in this capacity wrote hundreds of book reviews and other articles. He also edited other publications. His chief work, however, was the study and writing of history. In 1895 he became regius professor of modern history at Cambridge University and served in that chair until his death. During this period he planned and carried out the "Cambridge Modern History," securing the assistance of prominent historians in Europe and America. His published writings include "The History of Freedom and Other Essays" (1907); "Historical Essays and Studies" (1907). After his death "Lectures in Modern History" was published. He died in 1902.
ACTORS' CHURCH ALLIANCE OF AMERICA, an organization formed in 1899 by Walter E. Bentley, an actor who had formerly been a clergyman. Its object was to foster a better understanding between the stage and the church, to urge that no theatrical performances be given on Sunday, and to promote the welfare of actors. It is affiliated with a British organization of similar aims and has had a steady growth. Its membership is over 5,000, and it has at its call 1,500 chaplains in more than 400 cities of America.
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, the fifth book of the New Testament. It contains narrative of the achievements of the leading apostles and especially of St. Paul. Its author was St. Luke, who was Paul's companion from the time of his visit to Troas to the advanced period of his life when he penned the second epistle to Timothy. Internal evidence would seem to show that it was written in all probability about A. D. 61. The undesigned coincidences between the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul are numerous and important.
ACTUARY, in civil law, a registrar or clerk of a court; also an officer of a mercantile or insurance company, skilled in financial calculations, specially on such subjects as the expectancy of life. He is generally manager of the company, under the nominal or real superintendence of a board of directors.
ADA, a city of Oklahoma, the county-seat of Pontotoc co. It is on the St. Louis and San Francisco, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, and the Oklahoma Central railroads. Its most important industries are the manufacture of cement and asphalt and the growing of cotton. It is the center of an important agricultural and mineral-producing region and is the seat of the State normal school. Pop. (1910) 4,349; (1920) 8,012.
ADAGIO (ad-äzh´ē-ō), a slow or very slow movement or measure of time in music. The distinctive feature of the adagio being its power of expression, it affords the most direct means to the composer of manifesting his individuality of feeling. The finest specimens of the adagio are found in the works of the old masters, above all in Beethoven.
ADALBERT, ST., the apostle of the Prussians, was a native of Prague, and was chosen its bishop in 982. His austerity irritated the lawless and but recently converted Bohemians, and he was obliged to flee from his diocese. He afterward preached without much success to the heathen Poles and Prussians, and was murdered by the latter, April 23, 997. His body was buried in the cathedral at Gnesen, and afterward carried to Prague.
ADAM and EVE, the names of the first pair of human beings in the account of the creation given in the book of Genesis. Adam is strictly a generic name, applicable to both man and woman, as used in the book of Genesis, but it came to be a proper name, used with the article, as in chapters ii, iii, and iv. The origin of the name is uncertain, but is usually connected with the Hebrew root Adam, "to be red." It is often derived from Adamah, “the ground," but this is taking the simpler from the more developed form. The Asssyrian equivalent is Adamu, "man," used only in a general sense, not as a proper name. This is connected by Sir Henry Rawlinson and Professor Sayce with Adamatu, "red skins," the Assyrian word by which the dark-skinned Accadians of primitive Babylonia are designated in the bilingual
