tainder (q.v.) offered in bar to an indictment or appeal for the same or any other felony. It has become obsolete with the practical abolition of the penalty of attainder. Consult the Commentaries of Blackstone and of Kent, and the authorities referred to under the titles Criminal Law and Constitutional Law.
AU'TUMN (Lat. autumnus). Astronomically, the third season of the year, in the Northern Hemisphere covering the period from the sun's crossing the equinoctial, at the autumnal equinox, about September 22, till it is on the tropic of Capricorn, at the winter solstice, December 22. Popularly, the autumn in America is the three months of September, October, and November; and in England August, September, and October. The American autumn is often considered the most agreeable part of the year. South of the equator the seasons are, of course, reversed, and autumn extends from about March 22 to June 22.
AUTUN, 6'teN' (Lat. Augustodunum, from
Augustus + Gael, dun, hill-fort; AS. dun, hill;
Eng. down). A town of France, in the Depart-
ment of Saone-et-Loire (Burgundy ), picturesquely
situated at the foot of Mont-Jeu (Map: France,
L 5). Autun is the see of a bishop, and has a
cathedral of remarkable beauty, built in the
Eleventh and Twelfth centuries. The spire be-
longs to the Fifteenth Century. It has a col-
lege, a diocesan seminary, a museum, a library,
and is a busy manufacturing centre. Cloth,
carpets, leather, stockings, and paper are made
in the place. Autvm arose near the site of the
ancient Bibracte, the chief city of the Ædui.
Under the Romans, it was famous for its school
of rhetoric. The town was pillaged by the Sara-
cens in 725, and nearly destroyed by the Nor-
mans in 888. There still exist at Autun many
ruins of Roman structures; most remarkable are
the Roman gates, now called Porte d'Arroux, and
Porte Saint-André. At the Council of Autun
(1094), King Philip I. was excommunicated for
divorcing his Queen, Bertha. Population, in 1896, 11,873. Consult Lewis, "The Antiquities of Autun," in Vol. XL., Archæological Journal (London, 1883).
AUVERGNE, d'varn'y' (Lat. Arvernia, from
Gæl. Ar-fearaun, high land, from ard, high). An
ancient province of south-central France, now in-
cluded in the departments of Puy-de-DOme, Can-
tal, and Haute-Loire. The mountains of Au-
vergne are the highest elevation in the interior
of France, with summits over 6,000 feet above
the sea. They represent former volcanic activity
on a grand scale, rising in huge conical peaks,
which present a scene of wild desolation. The
inhabitants are a simple and laborious people,
and are accustomed to emigrate each year after
the harvest in large numbers to the neighboring
regions, or to flock to the great industrial centres
of France in search of employment, returning to
their homes with their earnings in spring. The
region was inhabited in ancient times by the
powerful tribe of the Arverni, who ruled over a
large part of Aquitania. In the Middle Ages
Auvergne was a county. It was permanently
united with the French crown in 1532. Consult
La Revue d'Auvergne, Vols. I.-XIV. (Clermont-
Ferrand. 1884-97).
AUWERS, ou'vers. Arthur (1838—). A
German astronomer, born at Göttingen. In 1859
he became assistant at the Astronomical Observa-
toiy of Königsberg: between 1862 and 1866 he
carried on his astronomical work at the Observa-
tory of Gotha, and in the latter year was made
astronomer to the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
In 1878 he became perpetual secretary of the
section of physics and mathematics at the Acad-
emy. He has also been one of the editors of
the Vierteljahrsschrift of the German As-
tronomical Society. Auwers's most important
work has been in connection with the Venus
transits of 1874 and 1882, and he has edited the
results of German observers, whose work he
had organized. Among Auwers's numerous other
contributions may be mentioned his completion
of Sir William Herschel's nebular observation,
his heliometrie investigations in stellar astron-
omy, his observations of the proper motion of
fixed stars, and the part he has taken in deter-
mining the positions of stars, based on the in-
vestigations of Argelander.
AUX'ANOM'ETER (Ok. av^dve^v, auxanein,
to make large, to increase + iiirpov, metron,
measure). A device for observing or recording
the growth of plants during intervals too short
for direct measurement. The simpler forms of
the au.xanometer consist of a very light, balanced
lever, whose fulcrum is so placed that the
length of the long arm is a multiple of the
length of the short arm. To the latter a thread
from the growing plant is attached. The growth
is thus magnified in the ratio of the long arm
to the short, usually 10 to 20 times. The long
arm traverses a graduated arc, from which its
movement may be read, or it may be so placed
as to trace its path on a moving smoked surface.
An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/362}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
AUXANOMETER
The more elaborate forms consist of a wheel with fine bearings and an accurately balanced rim, about 20 centimeters in diameter, grooved to carry a thread. The same hub has a smaller wheel with a grooved rim, whose diameter is
