ACCUM, äk'kum, Friedrich (1709-1838). A German chemist. He was born in Westphalia, went to London in 1703. and became professor of chemistry there in 1802. He was known chiefly on account of his work, A Practical Treatise on Gaslight (1815), which had the effect of intro- ducing the illuminant in England. The book was translated into several languages. In 1822 he became professor in a technical institute in Berlin, where he died.
ACCU MULA'TIONS ( Lat. ad, to + cumu-
lare, to pile, heap). In law, the accumulated
interest and income of property held in trust
upon a trust created for the purpose of effecting
such accumulation for the benefit of the cestui
gue trust (q.v.). The law relating to accumula-
tion is closely related to the rule against per-
petuities (q.v.) as now defined by modern stat-
ute. It was the common law rule that any
disposition of real estate which postponed a
vesting of any interest in the estate for longer
than a life or lives in being and twenty-one years
and a few months additional was absolutely
void. This rule was deemed to be violated by
the creation of a trust for accumulation for any
greater period. This continued to be a rule of
decision until the passage by the English Par-
liament of the so-called Thellusson Actu (See
Thellusson v. Woodford, 4 Ver. p. 227, Gray Pub.
Assoc., Boston.) This act placed several limi-
tations on the common law rule as to accumula-
tion. The rule relating to accumulation is now
regulated wholly by statute in most jurisdic-
tions, and generally the power to create trusts
for accumulation is limited to the creation of a
trust for the life of the grantor only or for
twenty-one years or during the minority of the
beneficiary. See the authorities referred to
under Trust and Perpetuity.
ACCU'MULA'TORS. Apparatus for equalizing pressure or for the accumulation of energy
for intermittent use. The storage battery and
the Leyden jar are electrical accumulators. (See
Storage Battery: Condenser.) Hydraulic ac-
cumulators are extensively used in connection
with hydraulic machinery for operating cranes,
punching and riveting machines, presses, etc.
Tlie simplest way of storing up water for pres-
sure purposes is to erect a tank at a sufficient
height to give the required pressure by the
weight or head of the water column alone. This
arrangement is generally adopted for hydraulic
elevators in warehouses and lofty buildings. (See
Elevators.) Where very high pressures are
required, however, it becomes impracticable to
adopt a tank or water tower, since the elevation
required to give the necessary pressure would be
impracticable to obtain, 700 pounds pressure,
for instance, requiring a tank 1610 feet high.
In such cases accumulators are employed, and
they generally assume the form of a vertical
cylinder resting on a firm base and having a
plunger working through a stuffing-box at the
top. This plunger has at its upper end a yoke
which carries by means of suspension rods a
heavy weight of cast iron or other heavy mate-
rial. A power pump forces water into the cyl-
inder at a pressure sufficient to lift the weighted
plunger to the top of the cylinder, where the
plunger strikes a slop which prevents its rising
further and prevents the further escape of water
from the pump. In this position the cylinder
is filled with a column of water, which supports
the weighted plunger on its top. As water is
drawn off from the cylinder to supply the crane,
press, riveter, or other machinery, the weighted
plunger descends, always keeping a pressure on
the top of the water column equal to the com-
bined weight of the plunger and its load. As
soon as the plunger descends the pump resumes
work and raises it again. By this combination
of operations the water pressure is always kept
constant for supplying the hydraulic machinery.
Sometimes steam or air pressure acting on the
top of the plunger is substituted for the more
common suspended weights. Hydraulic accumu-
lators are built to give pressures ranging from
five pounds to ten tons per square inch.
AC'CUSA'TION. A legal term which signifies either the act of charging one with a crime, or the charge itself. When the charge is made outside of a judicial proceeding it may subject the accuser to an action for defamation (q.v.), while if made in the course of a judicial proceeding it is generally not actionable. A threat or a conspiracy to accuse another of a crime is indictable. See Blackmail and Extortion.
ACCU'SATIVE CASE. See Declension.
ACELDAMA, A-sel'dA-m4, or AKELDAMA, a-kel'daina (R. V.). According to Acts
i. 19, "the field of blood;" but inasmuch as the
original Greek text furnishes the form Aceldamach, it has been suggested by August Kloster-
mann (Probleme im Aposteltexte, pp. 1-81 that
the second element, damach, is the Aramaic word
"to sleep," so that the real meaning of the term
is "field of sleep." Such a name would have been
appropriate for a field which, according to Mat-
thew xxvii: 8, was bought by the priests of
Jerusalem as a field in which to bury strangers.
Aceldama was acquired in this way with thirty
pieces of silver which Judas Iscariot received as
a reward for betraying Jesus, but which in the
hour of his repentance he returned to the priests.
The designation of Aceldama as a '"potter's field"
in both of the passages of the New Testament
referred to connects the place with the "potter's
house" mentioned by Jeremiah xviii: 2: xix: 2.
It would appear, therefore, that Aceldama is
older than the story told of it in the New Testa-
ment, and its designation as a "field of blood"
is but a play upon the word, introduced to add
color to the narrative of Judas Iscariot. A tra-
dition of considerable antiquity locates Acel-
dama on a level overhanging the "valley of the
son" (Hinnom) and halfway up the hill. As
early as the sixth century this traditional site
was used as a burying-place for Christian pil-
grims, and continued in use until the seven-
teenth century. A history and description of the
site is furnished by Schick in the quarterly
statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund of
1802, pp. 283-289.
ACEPH'ALI (Gk. (
Greek characters), , a, priv. + (Greek characters),
kriihiilr. head: i.e. headless). A name given
(1) To metropolitans and bishops who have no
ecclesiastical head over them. (2) To certain
ecclesiastical parties: (a) those bishops at the
ecumenical council of Ephesus in 431 who refused to join either the party of Cyril or of John of Antioch; (b) those who rejected the doctrinal decision of the ecumenical council held at Chalcedon in 451 upon the nature of Christ (see Christology); (c) the Eutychian adherents of Peter Mongus, who refused to subscribe to the Henoticon in 482, designed to end the
