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APPALACHICOLA APPAKITION 593 balsam fir ; and in the swamps, the hackmatack or larch. The varieties of the oak appear fur- ther S. upon the range, these and the chestnut taking the place of the maple, hirch, and beech, and, to some extent, of the evergreens also. The large cherry tree, so valuable for its tim- ber, is met with in Pennsylvania, scattered upon the mountains ; in W. and S. W. Virginia it forms forests of itself. The white oak, the white poplar, the white and yellow pines, and the chestnut are the valuable forest trees of the mountains of Virginia. In some localities still further south, the dark growth of the conifer covers the summits, as found, for in- stance, by Prof. Guyot in the group in North Carolina named the Black mountains from the dark foliage of its balsam firs, spruce, and hemlock. Among the flowering shrubs, none are more beautiful than the varieties of kalmia, azalea, and rhododendron, which are found in the greatest profusion upon the slopes of the Alleghanies and along their watercourses, giv- ing to the rough places of the mountains the rich colors of cultivated gardens. APPALACHICOLA. I. A river of W. Florida, formed by the union of the Ohattahoochee and Flint rivers at the S. W. angle of Georgia, flows S. about 75 m. into St. George's sound, through an estuary called Appalachicola bay. It is navigable for steamboats through its whole course, and with its branches is supposed to drain not far from 20,000 sq. m. The tide runs up 60 m. II. A town and port of entry, capi- tal of Franklin county, Fla., situated on a bluff at the mouth of the preceding river, 65 m. S. W. of Tallahassee; pop. in 1870, 1,129; in 1860, 1,904. Large quantities of cotton are shipped here by steamboats. In 1870 the number of vessels registered, enrolled, and licensed was 21, with an aggregate tonnage of 2,033 tons ; of these 7 were steamers with a tonnage of 1,587 tons. APPANOOSE, a S. county of Iowa, adjoining Missouri ; area, 510 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 16,- 456. The North Missouri railroad traverses it. . The river Ohariton, which flows through it, and numerous smaller streams, furnish ample water power, while the rolling prairies which cover a large part of the surface are fertile, and the watercourses are bordered by tracts of timber. Large beds of coal have been found at several points. In 1870 the county produced 134,411 bushels of wheat, 986,280 of corn, 322,- 256 of oats, 59,079 of potatoes, 83,784 Ibs. of wool, 484,147 of butter, 22,659 tons of hay, and 37,150 gallons of sorghum molasses. Capital, Centreville. APPARATUS, in physiology, a group or collec- tion of different organs, which are associated in the performance of some function in which each one bears a particular part. Thus, the heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries together constitute the circulatory apparatus. The bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles of the limbs form the apparatus of locomotion. The mouth, teeth, tongue, stomach, and intestine, with the accessory glandular organs, are the 39 VOL. i. 39 digestive apparatus. An apparatus may in- clude not only different organs, but also entire systems. Thus the circulatory apparatus com- prises not only the heart, which is an organ by itself, but also the arterial system, the venous system, and the capillary system. All of these, however, are essential to the circulation of the blood, and each performs its own special part in the function. APPARITION, a spectral illusion, by which imaginary objects are presented to the senses with such vividness that they are believed to be real. This form of illusion, the result of some abnormal state of the brain, concerning which medical science has given thus far only incomplete information, has been the cause of much superstition. The apparitions seen in ac- tual delirium, or by those obviously insane, do not of course fall within the scope of this arti- cle; and the well authenticated instances in which apparitions have been seen by men of ordinarily clear intellect, and apparently in their customary good health, are so mingled with impostures and exaggerations that it is difficult to make them the ground of scientific investigation. But there are some cases where men of the highest intellectual power have had this cerebral affection, yet have retained enough acuteness of observation to investigate their own disease, and describe the apparitions coolly and accurately, though knowing them to be illusory. The most noteworthy of these cases is that of Mcolai, an eminent publisher in Ber- lin, who in 1791 was for some months con- stantly subject to spectral illusions, which pre- sented to him the figures of friends, unknown persons, and singular animals, which accompa- nied him everywhere, went through all the movements belonging to their real prototypes, and even spoke to him. Conscious of their character, he observed them so accurately as to be able to write a scientific paper upon them for the philosophical society of Berlin. He was ultimately cured by blood-letting. Many similar instances are recorded in the volumes referred to at the close of this article. Some well authenticated accounts of apparitions ap- pearing to persons a short tune before death do not in the present state of medical inquiry ad- mit of so satisfactory an explanation. That both the apparitions actually seen and those in which the superstitious believe should most fre- quently represent the forms of dead friends, is conceded to be natural ; for the brains of those who see or fancy they see them are generally excited by grief or filled with morbid fears of death. Yet these causes, and the natural ten- dencies of superstitious minds and low states of knowledge, gave rise to the popular belief in ghosts. See Dr. John Ferriar's "Essay toward a Theory of Apparitions " (London, 1813) ; Dr. Samuel Hibbert's "Sketches of the Philosophy of Apparitions " (Edinburgh, 1824) ; Sir Walter Scott's " Letters on Demonology and "Witchcraft" (Edinburgh, 1830); Mrs. Crowe's " Night Side of Nature " (London,