ACHARNIANS, ii-kiir'ni-anz, The (Gk. Ἀχαρνεῖς, Acharneis). A comedy of Aristophanes (q.v.) produced in Athens at the festival of the Lenæa, 423 B.C., under the name of Callistratus. The title comes from the character of the chorus men of Acharnæ, an Attic deme near Mount Parnes, and the play is in opposition to the democratic policy of war with Sparta. Dicæopolis, the hero, is an honest farmer who is tired of the fighting and his attendant losses, and finally makes a private treaty with the Lacedæmonians. This leads to a farcical but brilliant display of the contrasts between the discomforts of war and the joys of peace.
ACHATES, a-ka'tez (modern Dirillo). (1.) A river in southern Sicily that gave its name to the agate (achates) which was found there, according to Pliny (37, 139). (2.) A faithful companion of Æneas in his wanderings (Vergil, Æneid. i., 188), whence the name fidus Achates applied to any faithful friend.
ACHEEN, a-chen'. See Achin.
ACHELOUS, ak'g-lo'us (Gk. Ἀχελῷος, Ache-
loos, now called Aspropotamos, i.e.. White River,
from the cream color of its waters). The largest
river in Greece (Map: Greece, C 5). It rises in
Mount Pindus. flows southward, separating
Ætolia from Acarnania, and falls into the Ionian
Sea. It is over 100 miles long, and unnavigable.
ACHEN, äG'en, or ACKEN, äk'en, Johann or Hans von (1552-1615). A German painter. He was born at Cologne, studied there and under Kaspar Rems at Venice, and in 1590 entered the
service of the Bavarian court. At the invitation
of the Emperor, Rudolph II., he afterward went
to Prague. His style is formal but skillful. His
works include a “Crucifixion” (in the Protestant church, Cologne), an “Entombment” (in the cathedral of Bonn), “St. Mary and Carthusian Monk,” “Portrait of Burgomaster Broelman,” “Christ Raising the Widow's Son,” and “Truth Victorious Under Protection of Justice.”
ACHENBACH, äG' en-bäG, Andreas (1815—).
A German landscape and marine painter. He was born at Cassel, studied under Schirmer at Düsseldorf, and is one of the most distinguished painters of the Düsseldorf School. He painted chiefly in the Rhine country, Holland, and Norway, and produced realistic works. He received a medal of the first class in Paris in 1855. Many of his paintings are in private galleries in the United States.
ACHENBACH, Oswald (1827-1905). A German landscape painter. He was born in Düsseldorf, and was the brother and pupil of Andreas Achenbach. He painted in the Bavarian Alps, Switzerland, and Italy. His conception of nature was more ideal than that of his brother. Many of his pictures are in the United States.
ACHENE, ȧ-kēn', also Achenium and
Akene (Gk. ἀ, a, priv. + χαίνειν, chainein, to gape). A seed-like fruit such as is characteristic of the great family of Compositæ, to which belong sunflowers, thistles, dandelions, etc. The pits of the strawberry and the small fruits forming a head in the centre of a buttercup are also achenes. The seed-like appearance arises from the fact that the wall of the seed-vessel hardens and invests the solitary seed so closely as to seem like an outer coat. See Fruit.
ACHENSEE, äG'en-zā. A lake in north
Tyrol, Austria, 20 miles northeast of Innsbruck.
It is 5½ miles long and a half mile broad. Its
picturesque shores dotted with hotels and villas
are much frequented as summer resorts. Steamers
ply on its waters.
ACHENWALL, äG'en-väl, Gottfried (1719-72). A German economist and statistician. He
was professor of philosophy in Göttingen from
about 1750 until his death. Though not the
originator of the science of statistics, he was the
first to formulate and define its purpose.
'ACHERON, ak'e-ron (Gk. Ἀχέρων, Acherōn). The name given to several rivers by the ancients. The best known is the Acheron in Thesprotis, which flows through the lake Acherusia, and pours itself into the Ionian Sea. According to Pausanias, Homer borrowed from the river in Thesprotis the name of his infernal Acheron. In the later poets and mythographers Acheron is the name of a river or lake in the lower world across which the souls of the dead were obliged to pass. (See Styx.) The lake Acherusia in Thesprotis was regarded as an entrance to the lower world, and the name was also applied to other places where the same belief prevailed, e.g., a walled enclosure near a temple at Hermione in Argolis, and a promontory near Heracleia in Pontus.
À CHEVAL (a'she-val') POSITION (Fr. à cheval, on horseback). A military term to denote the position of an army where a river or highway separates considerable portions of the troops and is perpendicular to the front. As an instance of this position may be cited the case of Wellington's army at the battle of Waterloo, where it was à cheval on the road from Charleroi to Brussels. When the perpendicular to the front is formed by a river, possession of a bridge is necessary in order to secure the effective coöperation of the troops on both sides.
ACHILL, ak'il, or EAGLE ISLE. An island
off the west coast of Ireland, in the county of
Mayo. It is 15¼ miles long by 12½ miles broad,
and has several mountains composed of mica
slate, which rise to an elevation of about 2000
feet. There are several villages, and a popula-
tion of about 5000.
ACHILLEA, ak'il-le'a (Lat. achillēos, milfoil, yarrow, said to have been discovered by Achilles). A genus of plants of about eighty species, of the natural order Compositæ, having small flowers (heads of flowers) disposed in corymbs, and the receptacle covered with chaffy scales (small bracteæ). The florets of the ray are fertile, and have a short, roundish tongue or lip; the florets of the disk are hermaphroditic, the tube of the corolla flatly compressed and two-winged; the involucre is imbricated. The common Yarrow or Milfoil (Achillea millefolium) abounds in all parts of Europe and in many parts of North America — into which, however, it has perhaps been carried from Europe — growing in meadows, pastures, etc. It is about a foot in height; its leaves bipinnate, the pinnæ deeply divided, the segments narrow and crowded. It has white or rose-colored flowers. The leaves have a bitterish, aromatic, somewhat austere taste, and little smell; the flowers have a strong, aromatic smell, with an aromatic bitter taste, and contain an essential oil, a resin, bitter extractive, gum, several salts, and traces of sulphur. Both leaves and flowers are used in medicine as a powerful stimulant and tonic. The
