Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/101

ACARI'ASIS. See Mange.

AC'ARI'NA. See Mites.

AC'ARNA'NIA (Gk. Ἀκαρνανία, Akarnania). A country of ancient Greece, separated from Epirus on the north by the Ambracian Gulf, now the Gulf of Arta, from Ætolia on the east by the River Acheloüs, and washed south and west by the Ionian Sea. Along with Ætolia, it forms one of the nomes or departments of the modern kingdom of Greece, with an area of 3013 square miles and a population of 170,565 in 1890. The western part of Acarnania — from the mouth of the Acheloüs or Aspropotamo to Cape Actium in the northwest — is occupied by a mass of rocky and thickly-wooded mountains, rising abruptly from the indented coast and cul- minating in the summit of Berganti. A consid- erable part of Acarnania is overgrown with wood — a rare feature in modern Greece. There is no town of importance in the whole district, though naturally the territory is not destitute of resources. Consult Oberhummer, Akarnanien, Ambrakia, Amphilochien, Leukas im Altertum (Munich, 1887).

AC'ABTJS FOLLIC'TILO'EUM, or Demodex, or Steatozoön folliculorum, the commeddo mite. A microscopic parasite residing in the sebaceous sacs and hair follicles of the human skin. It was first described by Dr. Simon of Berlin in 1842, under the title of Acarus folliculorum, which was suggested by the eminent zoölogist, Erichson of Berlin. Ac- cording to Professor Owen, who gave it the name of Demodex, it represents the lowest form of the class Ar- nchnida, and makes a transition from the An- nelids to the higher Ar- ticulata. Their pres- ence has no reference to disease of the skin or of the follicles. They are met with in almost every person. They vary in length from /„-th of an inch, accompanying

figure represents the magnified parasite. Their number is various; in some persons not more than two or three can be found in a follicle, while in others upward of fifteen. The head is always directed inward. They are most com- monly found in the skin of the face, particularly that of the nose; but they have also been met with in the follicles of the back, the breast, and the abdomen. The animal possesses eight thor- acic appendages (c, c) of the most rudimentary kind, each of which is terminated by three short set.T. The integument of the abdomen is very finely annulated. The mouth is suctorial or proboscidiform, consisting of two small spine- shaped ma.xilhe (6), and an extensive labium capable of being elongated or retracted; it is proviiled on each side with a short, thick, maxil- lary palji (i(, o). consisting of two joints with a narrow, triangular labrum above. The sexes are distinct, but the differences between the male and

to T^th and the (a) ACARUa FOLLICULORna. (B) DEMODEX MOBNINie.

female are not well recognized. Ova are fre- cpu'ntly seen, both in the body of the female and in <letached discharged masses. Acari may be examined by collecting between two pieces of thin glass the expressed fatty matter from a nasal follicle and moistening it with a drop of oli'e ul befiirc placing under a micTosco])e lens of 300 diameters. Identical animals have been found in the skin of dogs, hogs, 'and cattle. They damage cowhides in some instances. No treat- ment is re(|uisilc.

ACASTE, ji'ki'ist'. One of the characters in Molière's Misanthrope (q.v.); a self-satisfied young marquis who easily consoles himself when scorned as a suitor by Célimène.

ACASTO, iikiis'td. In Otway's tragedy of The Orphan (q.v.), a nobleman retired from the court who is the guardian of Monimia, the hero- ine, and father of Castalio and Polydore.

ACAS'TUS (Gk. Ἄκαστος, Akastos). A son of Pelias, King of Iolcus; one of the Argonauts and of the Calydonian hunters. He revenged the murder of his father (killed by his daughters at the instigation of Medea ) by driving Jason and Medea out of Iolcus. See Argonauts; Medea.

AC'ATHIS'TUS (Gk. d, a priv. + KadiCuv, kathizein, to sit down). A hymn in honor of the Virgin, sung standing in the Greek Church on Saturday of the fifth week in Lent, when the repulse of the Avars from Constantinople is cele- brated.

AC'CAD. One of the chief cities of the land of Shinar (i.e.. Babylonia), mentioned in Genesis x: 10. Originally applied to a city only, the name was afterward extended to the district of which Accad (or Akkad) was at one time the centre, and among the titles of the kings of Babylonia and Assyria we find, from about 3000 B.C. on, the phrase "King of the land of Shumer (the biblical Shinar) and Akkad" used as a designation for all Babylonia. If the identification of Accad with the city of Agade, mentioned in the inscriptions of Sargon I. and of his son, Naram-sin, were certain, we could place this ancient city of Akkad about fifteen miles west of Bagdad. According to the testimony of Nabonidus, the last ruler of Babylonia, Sargon I., whose seat was at Agade, ruled about 3800 B.C., but the statement of Nabonidus is open to suspicion as overstating the length of time between him and Sargon, and the identification of Akkad with Agade is not certain. The city of Accad was still in existence in the days of Nebuchadnezzar I. (circa 1135 B.C.), who makes mention of it in an inscription. The Accadians belonged to the white race, and were probably Semites, the theory of an Accadian-Sumerian language of Turanian, or Uralo-Altaic, affinities having been abandoned by the best authorities. Whether they were the first inhabitants of the country, in which they are found so early, may be doubted; but their predecessors, if any, were of the white race, possibly Aryans, or, it may be, peoples akin to the tribes of the Caucasus. Indeed, the Accadians themselves may have been in part Aryan. Consult Robert William Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria (2 vols., New York, 1900). See the articles Assyria; Babylonia; Sumerian Language.

ACCA LARENTIA. In the story of primitive Rome, the wife of the king's shepherd,