investigations, which tend to show that nothing lower than the larger bronchial tubes is affected. Complicated apparatus has been devised for the application, although a wide-mouthed jug filled with boiling water, into which the drug is thrown, is almost equally efficacious.
Artificial atmospheres may be made for invalids by respirators which cover the mouth and nose, the air being drawn through tow or sponge, on which is sprinkled the disinfectant to be used. This is most valuable in the intensely offensive breath of some cases of bronchiectasis.
The air may be modified as to temperature. Cold air at 32–33° F. has been used in chronic catarrhal conditions of the lungs, with the result that cough diminishes, the pulse becomes fuller and slower and the general condition improves. The more recent observations of Pasquale di Tullio go far to show that this may be immensely valuable in the treatment of haemoptysis. The inspiration of superheated dry air has been the subject of much investigation, but with very doubtful results.
Hot air applied to the skin is more noteworthy in its therapeutic effects. If a current of hot air is directed upon healthy skin, the latter becomes pale and contracts in consequence of vaso-constriction. But if it is directed on a patch of diseased skin, as in lupus, an inflammatory reaction is set up and the diseased part begins to undergo necrosis. This fact has been used with good results in lupus, otorrhoea, rhinitis and other nasal and laryngeal troubles.
Lastly the air may be either compressed or rarefied. The physiological effects of compressed air were first studied in diving-bells, and more recently in caissons. Caisson workers at first enjoy increased strength, vigour and appetite; later, however, the opposite effect is produced and intense debility supervenes. In addition, caisson workers suffer from a series of troubles which are known as accidents of decompression. (See Caisson Disease.) But, therapeutically, compressed air has been utilized by means of pneumatic chambers large enough to hold one or more adults at the time, in which the pressure of the atmosphere can be exactly regulated. This form of treatment has been found of much value in the treatment of emphysema, early pulmonary tuberculosis (not in the presence of persistent high temperature, haemorrhage, softening or suppuration), delayed absorption of pleural effusions, heart disease, anaemia and chlorosis. But compressed air is contra-indicated in advanced tubercle, fever, and in diseases of kidneys, liver or intestines.
Rarefied air was used as long ago as 1835, by V. T. Junod, who utilized it for local application by inventing the Junod Boot. By means of this the blood could be drawn into any part to which it was applied, the vessels of which became gorged with blood at the expense of internal organs. More recently this method of treatment has undergone far-reaching developments and is known as the passive hyperaemic treatment.
There are also various forms of apparatus by means of which air at greater or lesser pressures may be drawn into the lungs, and for the performance of lung gymnastics of various kinds. Mr Ketchum of the United States has invented one which is much used. A committee of the Brompton Hospital, London, investigating its capabilities, decided that its use brought about (1) an increase of chest circumference, and (2) in cases of consolidation of the lung a diminution in the area of dulness.
AERTSZEN (or Aartsen), PIETER (1507–1573), called “Long Peter” on account of his height, Dutch historical painter, was born and died at Amsterdam. When a youth he distinguished himself by painting homely scenes, in which he reproduced articles of furniture, cooking utensils, &c., with marvellous fidelity, but he afterwards cultivated historical painting. Several of his best works—altar-pieces in various churches—were destroyed in the religious wars of the Netherlands. An excellent specimen of his style on a small scale, a picture of the crucifixion, may be seen in the Antwerp Museum. Aertszen was a member of the Academy of St Luke, in whose books he is entered as Langhe Peter, schilder. Three of his sons attained to some note as painters.
AESCHINES (389–314 B.C.), Greek statesman and orator, was born at Athens. The statements as to his parentage and early life are conflicting; but it seems probable that his parents, though poor, were respectable. After assisting his father in his school, he tried his hand at acting with indifferent success, served with distinction in the army, and held several clerkships, amongst them the office of clerk to the Boulē. The fall of Olynthus (348) brought Aeschines into the political arena, and he was sent on an embassy to rouse the Peloponnesus against Philip. In 347 he was a member of the peace embassy to Philip of Macedon, who seems to have won him over entirely to his side. His dilatoriness during the second embassy (346) sent to ratify the terms of peace led to his accusation by Demosthenes and Timarchus on a charge of high treason, but he was acquitted as the result of a powerful speech, in which he showed that his accuser Timarchus had, by his immoral conduct, forfeited the right to speak before the people. In 343 the attack was renewed by Demosthenes in his speech On the False Embassy; Aeschines replied in a speech with the same title and was again acquitted. In 339, as one of the Athenian deputies (pylagorae) in the Amphictyonic Council, he made a speech which brought about the Sacred War. By way of revenge, Aeschines endeavoured to fix the blame for these disasters upon Demosthenes. In 336, when Ctesiphon proposed that his friend Demosthenes should be rewarded with a golden crown for his distinguished services to the state, he was accused by Aeschines of having violated the law in bringing forward the motion. The matter remained in abeyance till 330, when the two rivals delivered their speeches Against Ctesiphon and On the Crown. The result was a complete victory for Demosthenes. Aeschines went into voluntary exile at Rhodes, where he opened a school of rhetoric. He afterwards removed to Samos, where he died in the seventy-fifth year of his age. His three speeches, called by the ancients “the Three Graces,” rank next to those of Demosthenes. Photius knew of nine letters by him which he called the Nine Muses; the twelve published under his name (Hercher, Epistolographi Graeci) are not genuine.
Ancient Authorities.—Demosthenes, De Corona and De Falsa Legatione; Aeschines, De Falsa Legatione and In Ctesiphontem; Lives by Plutarch, Philostratus and Libanius; the Exegesis of Apollonius. Editions.—Benseler (1855–1860) (trans. and notes), Weidner (1872), Blass (1896); Against Ctesiphon, Weidner (1872), (1878), G. A. and W. H. Simcox (1866), Drake (1872), Richardson (1889), Gwatkin and Shuckburgh (1890). English Translations.—Leland (1771), Biddle (1881), and others. See also Stechow, Aeschinis Oratoris vita (1841); Marchand, Charakteristik des Redners Äschines (1876); Castets, Eschine, l’Orateur (1875); for the political problems see histories of Greece, esp. A. Holm, vol. iii. (Eng. trans., 1896); A. Schäfer, Demosth. und seine Zeit (Leipzig, 1856–1858); also Demosthenes.
AESCHINES (5th century B.C.), an Athenian philosopher. According to some accounts he was the son of a sausage-maker, but others say that his father was Lysanias (Diog. Laert. ii. 60; Suidas, s.v.) He was an intimate friend of Socrates, who is reported to have said that the sausage-maker’s son alone knew how to honour him. Diogenes Laertius preserves a tradition that it was he, not Crito, who offered to help Socrates to escape from prison. He was always a poor man, and Socrates advised him “to borrow from himself, by diminishing his expenditure.” He started a perfumery shop in Athens on borrowed capital, became bankrupt and retired to the Syracusan court, where he was well received by Aristippus. According to Diog. Laert. (ii. 61), Plato, then at Syracuse, pointedly ignored Aeschines, but this does not agree with Plutarch, De adulatore et amico (c. 26). On the expulsion of the younger Dionysius, he returned to Athens, and, finding it impossible to profess philosophy publicly owing to the contempt of Plato and Aristotle, was compelled to teach privately. He wrote also forensic speeches; Phrynichus, in Photius, ranks him amongst the best orators, and mentions his orations as the standard of the pure Attic style. Hermogenes also spoke highly of him (Περὶ ἰδεῶν). He wrote several philosophical dialogues: (1) Concerning virtue, whether it can be
