to promote tlip study, collection, and preserva- tion of n.ituial objects by yoiin^: people. It was formed in ItiTo by Harlan II. I'.allard and has since then };rovn rapidly, ineUidinj; in UM)() a total nieniliership of over 10,000. Tlie society has allied niori- than 20,000 students in stiidyini; natural history, and has established over 1200 local scicntilic societies as association chapters in America, Canada, Kngland, Ireland, Scotland, France, Chile, and Japan. The lieadipiarters of the association is at I'iitslield. Jlass. The badyje is a Swiss cross, and the ofificial organ is The Amcriani Lioij. . handbook, The Three King- duiiis, is also published.
AGNATE (hnt. (ichiites,Gk. axd-n/c, achates, so
named, acconlinf; to Pliny ( Hist. Nat., ."?", 10, 55),
from tlie Sicilian river Achates, where it was
first found). . mineral composed of layers of
quartz, •.'cnerally of ditrerent cidors, but inti-
mately joined to};ether and found chielly of thiee
varieties, in which the colors are, respectively,
banded, or in clouds, or are produced by visible
iminirities. the last named irivini; rise to moss-
ai.'iite. in which the black niarUinsis are due to
manfinnese oxide, .jrates are found universally,
and arc much used, when cut and polished, fen'
ornaments and je«elry. The principal supply
comes from liruEtuay and Brazil, in South
America, whence they are sent to Oberstcin, in
Germany, where their polishing is an important
industry.
AGATE SHELL, or AGATE SNAIL. Any land-snail of the jienns .cluitina (family Heli- pida'), of which many species arc to be found throughout tropical Africa. They are carniv- orous, tall-spired, usually tinted and banded in bright colors, and include the largest land-shells known, some being ten inches long, producing eggs an inch in length, with a calcareous shell. See Plati' of -balone, etc.
AG'ATHA, Saint. According to the legend,
a noble Sicilian virgin of great beauty and
wealth, who rejected the love of the consul Quin-
tianus. and snfl'ered a cruel martyrdom in the
persecution of Sicilian Christians. She holds a
high rank among the saints of the Roman Cath-
olic Church. Her day falls on PVliruary 5. She
is the patroness of the island of Malta, and there
are churches erected in her honor. It is uncertain
whether she ever lived, and if so, whether she
died in the Decian persecution (2.t1). or the
Diocletian, fifty years later. Legend says that
several times the mere carrying in procession of
her veil, taken from her tomb in Catana, has
averted eruptions from Mount Etna from the
walls of that city, and that her intercession saved
ilalta from Turkish conquest in l.)51. Consult:
A. Butler, Lircs of the Haiiitx. under February
5 (London, 1847).
AG'ATHAR'CHUS (Ok. •.ym'i„pxnc,A(iafhar-
ch'j.si (t.SO? i;.c.). A Greek painter: said to
have been the first scene-painter, and therefore
of importance as rendering perspective, in oppo-
sition to the school of Polygnotus. Tie is said
to have left a treatise on this sidiject.
AGA'THIAS (Gk. 'Aj "«/«,) (.-,,'?0?-.iSO?). A
Greek poet anil historian, snrnanied .sianus.
He was educated at Alexandria and Constanti-
nople; studied Roman law and practiced with
success. He wrote love verses and made an an-
thology of earlier poets: but his most valuable
work is a history of the years 552 to 558. in
which he tells of the overthrow of the Ostro-
gothic power in Italy by the Byz;intincs, of the
earthquakes of 5.)4 and 5.")7, the beginning of
the (Jrcek and Persi;in war, the rebuilding of
St. Sophia, etc. This work was edited by I..
Dindorf in llistorici (Iraci ilinoren (Leipzig,
1871). Cimsult : Krund)aeher, Gcfschichtc dcr
hi):(inti)iiK<hiii Littcratur (Munich, 1807).
AG'ATHO, Saint. Pojie from 078 to 085.
He was a native of Palermo, .Sicily, ami is
remembered chiefly for his efforts in bringing
about the Sixth Kcumenical Council, which
assembled at Constantino|)lc in (580, and con-
demned the Monotlu'Iite heresy. His festival is
celebrated on I'"ebruarv 20 by the (ireck Church,
ami on .Tannary 10 by the Roman Church.
AGATH'OCLES (Gk. ' A j ntf.)K> « ) (3fiI-289
B.C.). .V Sicilian despot, ruler of Syracuse. He
was born at Thcrma'. in Sicily: rose from luimbic
circumstances through the patronage of Damas.
a noble citizen of Syracuse, and received a com-
u'and in the expedition against .Vgiigentum.
Afterward he married the widow of Damas. and
became one of the most wealthy men in Syra-
cuse. Lender the rule of Sosistratus he was
obliged to Mee into lower Italy, where he col-
lected a band of partisans. Returning to Syra-
cuse after the death of Sosistratus, he secured
the supreme power in H17 li.c, strengthened his
position by a massacre of several thousand
respectable citizens, and took possession of
the greater part of Sicily. To establish his pow-
er and keep his army employed, he now attempt-
ed to expel the Carthaginians from Sicily: but
in this undertaking he was defeated. His next
plan was to pass over to .frica with a jiart of
his army and there to attack the Carthaginians.
This war he carried on with success for more
than thi-ee years, or until 307 B.C., when disturb-
ances in Sicily compelled him to leave the army
for a time. On his return to Africa he found
his troops in a state of mutiny against his son,
whom he had left in command, but pacified
them by promises of large booty. Soon after-
ward he sufTered a serious defeat, and with
deliberate treachery left his own sou expo.sed
to the vengeance of the disappointed soldiers.
The son was put to death, and the troops
surrendered themselves to the enemy, while
Agathocles escaped safely into Sicily, where, by
fraud and ci'uclty. he soon recovered his former
power, and was afterward engaged in predatory
inroad.s into Italy. It was his intention to
leave the throne to his youngest son. Agathocles;
but his grandson. Archagathus, made an insur-
rection, slew the royal heir, and persuaded
Mienon, one of the favorites of the aged tyrant,
to destroy him by means of a jjoisoned tooth-
pick. This took place in 280 B.C., when Agatho-
cles was seventy-two years old and had reigned
twenty-cii;hl years.
AG′ATHON, (Gk. Ἀγάθων) (447?–401? B.C.). An Athenian tragic poet. He gained his first victory at the Lenæan festival, in 416 B.C., and this victory is celebrated in Plato's Symposium. He was well-to-do and had many friends, among whom were Euripides and Plato. His style was flowery and ornate rather than strong or sublime,
and his works were full of the rhetorical figures which marked the style of Gorgias. Still, after Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, he was the most important tragic poet of Greece. According to Aristotle, he began the practice of making
