the rulers of the House of Valois. In England the government, from the accession of the house of Hanover down through the Eighteenth Century, though parliamentary in form, was in fact an aristocracy, since King and Parliament alike were under the control of a few great Whig families. At present, however, though the aristocratic element is still strong in Great Britain and Germany so far as the enjoyment of public office is concerned, the term aristocracy has become almost entirely social in meaning, and is used loosely and in a great variety of combinations to denote a select few—as aristocracy of birth, of wealth, or of brains.
AR'ISTOGI′TON. See Harmodius and Aristogiton.
AR′ISTOL. A light-brown, amorphous powder formed by the union of iodine and thymol. It contains 45.8 per cent. of iodine, and chemically it is dithymol-diiodide. Insoluble in water and glycerin, it is freely soluble in ether and fatty oils, and slightly so in alcohol. Its action is similar to that of iodoform (q.v.), but it possesses the advantage of being odorless. Being an unstable compound, it cannot be mixed with substances which have a tendency to combine with iodine, and so is best used alone. It is used as a substitute for iodoform, as a cicatrizant and mild antiseptic, in dressing wounds.
ARISTOLOCHIA, a-ris'to-lu-kl'a (Lat., from Gk. αριστολοχεια, aristolocheia, an herb promoting childbirth, like birth-wort, from αριστος, aristos, best + λοχεια, locheia, childbirth, childbed). A genus of plants of the natural order Aristolochiaceæ. This order consists of herbaceous plants or shrubs, often climbing shrubs, and contains upward of 180 known species, chiefly natives of warm climates, and particularly abundant in the tropical regions of South America. The species are mostly shrubby, some of them climbing to the summits of the loftiest trees. Several are found in the south of Europe; one only, the common birthwort (Aristolochia elematitis), occurs upon the Continent as far north as about latitude 50°, and is a doubtful native of England. It is a perennial plant, with erect, naked, striated stem, heart-shaped dark-green leaves on long stalks, the flowers stalked, and growing to the number of sometimes seven together, the tube of the perianth about one inch long, and of a greenish color. It grows chiefly in vineyards, hedges, about the borders of fields, among rubbish, and in waste places. It has a long branching root, with an unpleasant taste and smell, which, with the roots of Aristolochia rotunda and Aristolochia longja, two herbaceous species, natives of the south of Europe, was formerly much used in medicine, being regarded as of great service in cases of difficult parturition, whence the English name. These roots possess powerful stimulating properties, and those of the southern species are still used as emmenagogues. The root of Aristolochia indica is used in the same way by the Hindus. Aristolochia serpentaria, Virginian snakeroot, is a native of most parts of the United States, growing in woods. It has a flexuous stem, 8 to 15 inches high, bearing heart-shaped, very acute leaves. The flowers are on stalks, which rise from near the root; the orifice of the perianth is triangular. The root has a penetrating, resinous smell, and a pungent, bitter taste. It has long been a fancied remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. It possesses stimulant, tonic, and diaphoretic properties. It forms an article of export from the United States to Europe, being highly esteemed as a medicine in certain kinds of fever. Its reputation as a cure for serpent bites is shared by other species, natives of the warmer parts of America. Several South American species seem also to possess medicinal properties analogous to those of the Virginian snakeroot. Aristolochia sipho or Aristolochia macrophylla, a climbing shrub of 15 to 20 feet in height, a native of the southern parts of the Alleghany Mountains, is frequently planted in the United States, in Great Britain, and on the Continent of Europe, to form shady bowers. It has very large roimd or somewhat heart-shaped leaves (a foot in breadth), of a beautiful green. The flowers hang singly, or in pairs, on long stalks: the tube of the perianth is crooked in its upper part, inflated at the base, and lined with reddish-brown veins, having a sort of resemblance to the bowl of a tobacco pipe, for which reason the shrub is sometimes called pipe-shrub, pipe-vine, or Dutchman's pipe. Aristolochia tomentosa resembles Aristolochia sipho, except in being smaller, very hairy, and in having yellow flowers. The tropical species are distinguished for their beauty and the peculiar forms of their flowers. Some of them are much-prized ornaments of our hot-houses, Aristolochia grandiflora (Aristolochia gigas of Lindley). the goose-flower or pelican-flower of the West Indies, being one of the most important. Its name is derived from the fancied resemblance to the bird. Fossil forms of Aristolochia have been described from the Tertiary rocks of Greenland, the Rhone Valley, and from Portugal, and still earlier forms, under the names Aristolochites and Aristolochia phyllum, from the Cretaceous of North America.
AR'ISTOM′ENES (Gk. Άριστομένης). A Messenian general who commanded the army of his country in the Second Messenian War. in the Seventh Century B.C. He upheld with success the Messenian cause for about seventeen years, but was finally defeated and went to Rhodes, where his son-in-law was one of the reigning princes. Many heroic deeds are related of Aristomenes.
ARIS′TON (Gk. Άριστομένης), or ARIS′TO of Chios (?-c. 250 B.C.). A disciple of Zeno, and afterward, according to Diogenes Laërtius, of the Platonist Polemo. Though a professed Stoic, he differed from Zeno in that he rejected all branches of philosophy except ethics; maintained that the supreme good consisted in άδιαΦορια, adiaphoria, or entire indifference to everything except virtue and vice; recognized only one virtue, which he called άδιαΦορια, hygeia, or health of soul, and doubted the existence of God. Ariston was called Siren, from his eloquence, and Phalantus, from his baldness.
AR'ISTOPH′ANES, (Gk. Ἀριστοφάνης) (c.450–c.385 B.C.). The only writer of the old Greek comedy of whose plays any survives entire. He was the son of one Philippus, born possibly in the deme of Cydathene. As he also had property in the island Ægina, he was sometimes called an Æginetan. The most probable date of his birth is between B.C. 450 and 445. That his education was of the best is shown by his intimate knowledge of Æschylus, Stesichorus, and Pindar. His genius was of the highest order, so that he maintained himself for over a generation as more than peer among the brilliant writers of comedy of his day. In poli-
