Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/811

INTOXICATION. 721 INTRODUCTION. Medico-Legal Aspect. The tendency to com- mit crime is mudi greater in inebriates than in others, because of the weakening of the will and the lessened moral sense. It is held that into.vication is no e.cuse for commission of crime, and the criminal who remembers nothing of his acts committed wliile under alcoholic inllucnce must pav the |)enahv due to his offenses. Con- sult Kerr, Inehrk-t;/' (Philadelphia. 1888). See Alcohol, PHYsioLoorcAL axd Poisonous Action OF ; AlXOlIOUSM ; l)lPSOMAM.. INTRA. A manufacturing town in Italy, on Lago Maggiore ((|.v. I. INTRANSIGEANTS, a.N'traN'se'zhaN' (Sp. intransiijcrtlc. uncompromising, from Lat. in-, not + transit/ere, to n:ake a settlement, from trans, across + ru/t re. to act). A term applied in Euro|)f'nn politics <Uiriiig the last lialf-ceiitury to any ultra-radical element. In Spain the name was given to a party of Red Republicans and Socialists who, after the declaration of the Re- public in 1873, attempted to divide up the coun- try into cantons, and to introduce a communistic regime. They held t'arthagena for six months against the Government, but were Jjut down by the dictator Castelar and General Dominguez. The term had been used in France liefore this at the time of the Conunune. Vliilriinsigeant is a newspaper published in Paris by Henri Rochefort (q.v. I. the fanuiiis radical politician. INTRENCHED CAMPS. See Fortifica- tion. INTRENCHMENT (from intrench, from in- + trench, from OF. trcnclter, truncher, Fr. tran- cher, to cut, from Lat. tritnciirc, to lop, from truncus, trunk, from triincns, OLat. troncus, maimed). Any form of constructive defense work by which soldiers strengthen a position, or fortify "it against an enemy. See Fortification; Trench, Military. INTRODUCED SPECIES. Animals and plants brought into a country from a foreign land by the agency of man. In the settlement of Xorth America from the Old World scores of species of plants, mostly noxious weeds, and hundreds of species of animals, largely parasitic or destructive to agriculture, have been intro- duced. Among plants, chicciry. wild garlic, and the water hyacinth of Florida are examples of the great spread of introduced species. Domes- ticated aninuils may escape from captivity and become noxious. The wild pigs of our Southern States and the Galapagos Islands are examples. Goats have become wild in many places, and have wrought great destruction. Thus the island of Saint Helena, which is now a barren rocky desert, was formerly clad with forests. The change has been brought about in four centuries by goats. Cats that have become wild'on islands have in many cases exterminated species of birds there. Rats and mice, in some cases previously imported from .sia, have been introduced into this country from Europe, and have spread everywhere, exterminating native species and conquering one another. The European rabbit was introduced into .Aus- tralia in 18(54 for sporting purposes. By 1879, legislatures were enacting laws for its destruc- tion: and recently an important industry has arisen in vabbit-skins and canned rabbit-meat. The setting free of Belgian hares in this country is attended with dangers. (See Rabbit.) The mungoos of India was introduced into Jamaica in 1872 to rid the island. of rats, whose depreda- tions caused an annual loss of .$500,000. In 1882 the mungoos had caused such a diminution in the rats that the annual loss from rats was reckoned at about one-half the former amount; but the mungoos multiplied, domestic animals and barnyard fowls were destroyed by it in vast numbers ; next native vertebrates fell a prey, also bananas and other fruits. About 1890 the mun- goos became recognized as the worst pest of the island, and as doing vastly more harm than good. Of late years, however, the depredations of the animal have begim to diminish. (See MuN- ooo.s. ) Other examples of imported animals which have wrought untold damage might be cited at great length. The English sparrow, the cabliage butterfly, the Hessian lly, the gypsy moth (in Massachusetts) are familiar examples elsewhere described in detail. The reason why introduced animals thrive to so extraordinary degree is because they are removed from their natural enemies, and those that might keep them down have not learned to do so. Usually, in time, enemies are acquired, as they have been by the English sparrow, and thus the balance in nature is restored. Consult: Palmer. "The Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Birds," in Year Boole of Department of Agricul- ture (^^'ashington. 1898). See Acclimatiza- tion: IsOI..TION. INTRODUCTION (Lat. introductio. a lead- ing in, from introducere, to lead in. from intro, within + ducere, to lead). In instrumental nuisic, a shorter movement preceding the com- position proper. According to the character and length of the composition the introduction may be shorter or longer. In a polonai.se. waltz, etc.. the introduction generally consists of only a few- bars. In works written in son:ita form the in- troduction can assume great dimensions, as in Beethoven's Second and Serenlh Si/mphonies. The thematic material upon which the introduc- tion is built may be entirely original and inde- pendent of any tiiemes in the following principal movement, as in the case of the two Beethoven symphonies. Then again the introduction may be constructed upon themes of the movement proper, as in the case of Schumann's First 8i/m- phonij. As the introduction is invariably in a slow tempo, the themes of the allegro appear almost invariably in augmentation when used in the introduction. But it is by no means obliga- tory to begin every longer composition with an introduction. Of Beethoven's symphonies the third, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth begin with- out any introduction. In dramatic music the term introduction has several meanings. In the older operas, which were divided into numbers, the introduction was the second number. It followed the overture, and generally was a short instrumental passage leading into the opening chorus. But even Gluck sometimes united the overture with the intro- duction. Some operas have no overture, but only an introduction of greater or less extent. Such works as Verdi's Otello or Falstaff have, properly speaking, not even an introduction. Beginning with Lohengrin, Wagner abandoned the form of the overture and substituted an in- troduction which he calls Vorspiel (q.v.). Be- sides the principal introduction at the beginning