AR'GENTINE. A city in Wyandotte County, Kan., three miles from Kansas City, on the Atchison, Topeka, and .Santa Fe Railroad (Map: Kansas, H 2 ) . It is a suburb of Kansas City, and has large smelting and refining works for gold, silver, copper, and lead, besides grain elevators and railroad repair shops. Pop. 1890, 4732; 1900, 5878.
ARGENTINE (Fr. argentin, silvery, from Lat. aiyjcntii}!!^ silver). A small deep-sea smelt, most abundant on the southern coasts of Eu- rope, where it is seined in schools, with ancho- vies and sardines. These fishes are chiefiy remarkable and valuable for the resplendent sil- very lustre of their sides and the abundance of nacre, the substance used in making artificial pearls, with which their air-bladder is ex- ternally loaded. It consists of a coat of silvery fibres. Representatives of the genus (Argen- tina ) are found on both shores of America. See Plate of WlIITKFlSII, S.MELT, ETC.
AR'GENTORA'TUM. The Latin name for Strassburg, derived from an old Celtic term sig- nifying "the Stone of Argantos."
ARGHOOL, iir-gool'. A wood wind-instru- ment of the Arabs, invented in post-iloham- niedan times. It consists of two tubes, made of common cane, with a reed mouthpiece. One tube is always, the other usually, perforated.
ARGILE PLASTIQUE, iir'zhel' pla'stek' (Fr., plastic clay). A series of beds at the base of the Tertiary system in France, which con- sist of extensive deposits of sand, with occa- sional beds of plastic clays, used for pottery. The Argile Plastique is the equivalent in the Paris basin of the Woolwich and Reading series, or Lower Eocene of the English geologists. See Tertiary System.
AR'GILLA'CEOUS ROCKS (Lat. arfiiUa-ceus, clayey, from argilla, Gk. a/j)(/l^of, argillos, white clay, potter's earth; cf. ap;df, argos, shining, white). Rocks consisting of or containing more or less clay. Pure clay, or kaolinite, a hydrated silicate of aluminum, is always an alteration product of other minerals, par- ticularly of feldsjiars. However, the term 'clay' is applied to practically all plastic or sticky masses of eartli or shale, which may include, besides kaolinite, a variety of minerals, such as quartz, feldspar, limonite, hematite, magnetite, etc. Clay deposits may be either residual or transported — i.e., formed in place, or 'carried to the point of deposition by water, wind, or glaciers. They are derived from the alteration of igneous rocks, limestone, sand- stone, or shale. When consolidated without de- formation, so that they have partings or capa- city to part along planes of deposition, clay deposits form shale. When consolidated and so metamorphosed that new planes of cleavage are developed at angles to the deposition planes, the clay is known as a slate or clay-slate. When still more metamorphosed, the clay may be known as a phyllite. Argillaceous rocks may be readily identified by the peculiar odor which they emit when breathed upon. These rocks grade by admixture of lime into calcare- ous rocks or limestones. See Arenaceous RocK.s ; Rocks ; Geology ; Clay.
AR'GILLITE. See Shale.
AR'GINU'SÆ. Three islets o(T the south coast of the island of Mytilene (Lesbos). Asiatic Turkey. Near their shores the Spartan fleet under Callicratides was defeated by the Athenian fleet under Conon, September, B.C. 400.
AR'GI'VES, or Arqit (Lat. Argivi, Gk. 'Apyehit, Aryciui) . (See Argolis.) The inhabit- ants of Argos. In Homer, the name is applied to all the Greeks.
AR'GO. See Argonauts.
ARGO. A large southern constellation in which is commemorated tlie mythical ship of the expedition of the Argonauts (q.v. ). Cano- pus, a star of the first magnitude, is its chief ornament. Its declination (52° 38' S. ) renders it invisible in the northern and central I'nited States. Eta Argus, a star in this constellation, has undergone greater changes in brightness than any other variable star of its class. It is situated in a remarkable nebula, named by Sir John Herschel the "keyhole" nebula, on account of its shape. Very recent photographic observa- tions at the Cape of Good Hope Observatory leave little room to doubt the existence of some connection between Eta Argus and the nebula.
AR'GOR. A district in Bashan, which, ac- cording to Deut. iii. 4 contained three- score walled cities, "the kingdom of Og." Its exact location is uncertain. The Targums trans- late Argob by Trakona — i.e., Traclionitis, the modern El I^eja — which, indeed, abounds in de- serted towns and villages. Some of these are cave dwellings or subterranean chambers; oth- ers are built above ground, of massive blocks of black basalt, with heavy doors moving on pivots, staircases and roofs of the same material. The latter belong to the period from the First to the Seventh Century a.d., according to De Vogiie, Barton and Drake, Wetzstcin and Waddington : though it is possible that the Greek cities may have been built on the sites of earlier towns, as Driver suggests. In Deut. iii. 14, .Jair, son of Manasseh, is said to have conquered the region of Argob as far as Cieshur a.nd JIaacha. But the Hawoth Jair were tent-villages in Gilead, not walled cities in Bashan. Argob may have been situated on the western slopes of Jebel Hauran, north of Salchil, but this is far from certain. A most careful de- scription of the region is given b' -J. G. Wetz- stcin, Reisebericht iiber Hauran uiid die Track- onei (Berlin, 1860) ; cf. also the excellent plates in De Vogue's iSj/rie Centrale (Paris, 1869). Porter, Fire Years in. Damascus (London. 1870). and lliant Cities of BasJian (London, 1869). are interesting but somewhat uni'eliable.
AR'GOL (of uncertain origin, perhaps from Gk. ap-j6(, argos, white). The crude potas- sium bi-tartrate which is found as a crust in wine vats. It exists originally in the juice of the grape, but is deposited during fermenta- tion, as it is sparingly soluble in an alcoholic liquid. Accordingly as it is deposited from the red or white grape, it is called red argol or wldte argol. In addition to the potassium bi-tartrate it usually contains small qvuintities of calcium tartrate with coloring and extrac- tive matters. Crude argol is purified by dis- solving in water and heating for several days; on cooling, the clear liquor is run off, the de- posited crystals constituting the commercial cream of tartar.
AR'GOLIS (Gk. 'Apyolic). A division of ancient Greece, in its wider sense it is the northeast portion of the Peloponnesus, bounded
