the Maxwelton family. It was set to music by Lady Jane Scott.
ANNIHILA'TIONISM (from Lat. ad, to + nihil, nothing). The theory of the utter extinction of man's being, both bodily and spiritual, either at aeath or at some later period. Little was heard of the doctrine until in the eighteenth century, when Taylor, of Norwich, England, Mc-Knigh't, and a few others wrote upon it. Among later supporters perhaps Arehliishop Whately
may be counted; for in his Vicic of the Script are
lievelutions Conceniinp a Future State, he says
that in the passages in which "death," "destruc-
tion," "eternal death," are spoken of, the words
may be taken as signifying literal death, real de-
struction, the utter end of things; that "un-
quenchable fire" may mean a fire that quite con-
sumes what it feeds upon, and the "worm that
dieth not" may be that which entirely devours
its prey. In the United States, the question was
revived by Six Sermons on the Question: Arc the
Wicked Immortul? by George Storrs (Philadel-
phia, 1848). James H. McCulloh in his .1h((-
lytical Investigations Concerning the Scriptures
(Baltimore, 1852) maintained that after the
final decisions at the judgment the wicked will
be utterly destroyed by the visitation of God
in wrath. C. F. Hudson, in Debt and Grace,
as Related to the Doctrine of a Fntnrc State
(Boston, 1857), denies that the natural im-
mortality of the soul is even implied in
the Bible; on the contrary, life and immor-
tality are brought to the redeemed alone, all
others being not only naturally mortal, soul and
body, at death, but after that mortal suspension
of positive existence, all are raised at the final
resurrection and cast into the lake of fire at the
second death. He denies that endless con-
scious suffering is ever affirmed to be the nature
of future penalty, but alTirjjis that the penalty
consists in privation, and that in the perpetuity
of this privation consists the eternity of future
punishment. The Scripture terms, from which
eternal misery is usually understood, such terms
as "condemnation," "destruction," "perdition,"
"damnation," etc., he thinks express the painful
and penal consignment of the entire nature to
disorganization and to the complete non-exist-
ence from which it originally came. R. W.
Landis replied to Hudson, in his treatise On the
Immortality of the Soul and the Final Condition
of the Wicked (New York, 1859), and many
other writers discussed the subject, especially in
religious reviews and magazines.
The discussion then broadened out, and was participated in by members of all communions. U'he general motive was to gain some relief from the thought of the eternal suffering of vast nnil- titudes of human souls. It has accordingly been argued that sin is corrupting in its nature, that it leads necessarily to degeneration and decay, and that a sinning soul, embarked upon a course of rebellion against God, must finally wear its life-forces out and cease to be. But this positiim has no support in the Bible and little in reason. There is no evidence from the ex- perience of sinners in this world, that sin, however much it may otherwise affect the nature, sub- stantially diminishes the power of life. The ten- dency among thiid'Cers, who have sought relief in this direction lias therefore been rather to the doctrine of "conditional immortality," so-called, that the soul of man is not by nature immortal, but becomes so by the special gift of Christ upon the exercise of a genuine faith in him. Apart from this faith man would eventually, and probably at death, cease to be. Against the ob- jection that thus nmltitudes of souls would seem to have been created to no purpose, the analogies of evolution are brought by some, by which nml- titudes of forms are evervhere ]iroduced that a few select ones may survive. The soul itself thus enters into the "struggle for existence," and the "fittest" souls survive; that is, those who have risen by Christian faith to the higher plane of life. The best advocate of the view is Rev. Edward White, Life of Christ (London, 1875). A modification of this view is to be found in S. D. MeConnell's Eoolution of Immortulitij (New York. 1901).
AN'NISTON. A city and the county seat of
Calhoun Co., Ala.. 03 miles east by north of
Birmingham: on the Southern, the Louisville
and Nashville, and other railroads (IMap: Alabama. D 2). It has a fine location among the mountains of the Blue Ridge, and contains a park, fair grounds, the handsome church of St. Michael and All Angels, the Anniston College for Young Ladies, the Noble Institute (co-edu-
cational), and the Barber Jlemorial Seminary for colored girls. The city is in a remarkably productive coal and iron, timber, and cotton region, and is the seat of an important cotton trade. There are extensive furnaces, foundries and machine shops, rolling mills, iron pipe and
freight car works, locomotive and boiler works;
several cotton manufacturing estalilishments
producing a variety of goods: and manufactures
of lumber pi'oducts, lime, brick and tile, carriages, etc. Anniston was founded in 1873 by the Woodstock Iron Co., headed by Samuel Noble, but was not thrown open to the general i)ublic until ten vears later. Pop. in 1890, 9908; in 1900. 9im.
ANNOBON, iin-no-bun'. An island in the Gulf of Guinea, about 1%° south of the equator, belonging to Spain (Map: Africa, E 5). It has an area of a little over six square miles, and is highly mountainous. Inhabitants number 3000, mostly black, and some of them converted to
Christianity. It was discovered by the Portuguese in 1471, and ceded to Spain in 1778.
ANNONAY, an'no'na' ( anciently Lat. Annoncnm) . A pictiire.sque town of France, in the department of Ardgche, situated at the junction of two little rivers, 37 miles south of Lyons (Map: France, L fi). It has a
rugged beauty of its own, the houses and jutting rocks interspersed along steep and narrow streets. The principal buildings are the Gothic church, built in 1614, the college, the museum, and library containing more than 20,000 volumes. It carries on an actie trade and industry, the chief articles of manufacture being paper, of which nearly half a million reams are produced annually, glove leather from kid skins, silk and cotton twist, and woolen cloth. A great quantity of silk is produced in the neighboring villages". The paper mills of Annonay were established by the father of the celebrated aeronauts Montgolfier, who were born here, and of
whom there is a statue in the Grande Place. Pop., 1901, 17,490.
AN'NUALS. A class of handsomely illustrated collections of prose and verse, imitating the gift-books of the Germans, and intended for Christmas, New Year's, and birthday presents.
