Agaric us

[Gr. agaric on, a fungus.] ( Bot.) One of the largest and most important genera of Fungi, including all the species of mushrooms. They have a cap (or pileus) of a fleshy nature, supported upon a distinct stalk, and a number of parallel unequal vertical plates or gills arising out of the cap, and inclosing the particles by which the species are reproduced, - particles which the vulgar call seeds, and the learned sporules. This genus consists of not fewer than a you sand species, inhabiting meadows, and heaths, and rocks, and ma es of decaying vegetable matter, in all temperate regions of the earth. Among them, a large proportion are poisonous, a few are wholesome, but by far the greater are altogether unknown in regard to their action upon the human constitution. The species are often extremely similar; there is no means of distinguishing botanically the tribes that are poisonous from such as are wholesome; but there are some general characters which help us to separate the two groups. They have been tabulated as follows:- Edible mushrooms. 1. Grow solitary, in dry, airy places. 2. Generally white or brownish. 3. Have a compact, brittle flesh. 4. Do not change color, when cut, by the action of the air. 5. Juice watery. 6. Odor agreeable. 7. Taste not bitter, acrid, salt, or astringent. - Poisonous mushrooms. 1. Grow in clusters, in woods and dark damp places. 2. Usually with bright colors. 3. Flesh tough, soft, and watery. 4. Acquire a brown, green, or blue tint, when cut and exposed to the air. 5. Juice often milky. 6. Odor commonly powerful and disagreeable. 7. Have an acrid, astringent, acid, salt, or bitter taste. We should avoid all fungi which insects will not touch, and those which have scales or spots on their surface; and whatever may be the apparent qualities of the fungi, we should use with caution all which have arrived at their full development, or when they exhibit any signs of change. By soaking doubtful fungi, cut into slices, for about one hour in vinegar, and afterward washing them in boiling water, we get rid of any poisonous principles they may po e , and the proce will not spoil them for the table. - The A. campestris, the common mushroom, and several varieties of the same, is the species commonly raised artificially for food. It is readily known in any state by its fragrant odor, the absence of which is extremely suspicious. When in a very young state, it resembles little snow-white balls, which are called buttons; afterward it acquires a stalk, separates its cap, and becomes shortly conical, with liver-colored gills, and a white, thick, fleshy cap, marked with a few particles of gray. At a more advanced age, the cap is concave, the color gray, and the gills black; in this state it is called a flap. For the method of cultivating it, and for its physiological characters, see MUSHROOM. Aga's ias, or AGASSIAS, a sculptor of Ephesus, celebrated for his admirable statue of the Gladiator. Agas'icles, a king of Sparta, who used to say, " A king ought to govern his subjects as a father his family." Aga iz (ag-a- see ), ALEXANDER, an American naturalist, son of Prof. Louis J. R. Aga iz. See SECTION II. Aga iz, LOUIS JEAN RODOLPHE, a very distinguished naturalist, of French origin; B. on the 28th of May, 1807, at Motiers, canton of Freyburg, Switzerland, where his father was a pastor. In 1818 he entered the Gymnasium of Bienne, and in 1822 was removed to the Academy of Lausanne, as a reward for his proficiency in science. He subsequently studied medicine and the experimental sciences at Zürich, Heidelberg, and Munich, at which last university he took the degree of M. D. He went soon after to Paris, where he gained the friendship of Cuvier and Humboldt. On returning to Switzerland, he was appointed profe or of natural history at the college of Neufchâtel. From his earliest youth he evinced a peculiar inclination and aptitude for the cultivation of the natural sciences. In Heidelberg and Munich he occupied himself more especially with comparative anatomy. Being intrusted by Martius with the publication of an account of the 116 species of fishes collected by Von Spix in Brazil, he gave to the world that new cla ification of fishes to which he has subsequently remained steadfast. In 1839 he published his Natural History of the Freshwater Fishes of Europe, a subject which he treated with monographic completene . While preparing this work he had published his Researches on Fo il Fishes, and his Descriptions of Echinoderms. The work, however, which contributed most liberally to his European reputation was his Studies of Glaciers, in which he advanced a theory tending to remodel the prevalent views of geologists as regards the incoherent and post-tertiary formation of the globe, and the dynamical causes by which those deposits have been affected. In 1846, on invitation, Mr. Aga iz embarked for America, and was appointed IMG:content-0086.jpg:[graphic][merged small] the agave lived a hundred years before flowering: hence it was frequently called the Century Plant. It really flowers only once in about ten years, and the planter has to wait patiently for the flowering season to obtain a supply of pulque, as this liquor is formed from the juice contained in the young flower-stalk. From the leaves of this and other species of the agave genus, the useful fibre called aloe - fibre , Maguey pite or pitá hemp, is obtained. - See AMARYLLID A CEE. Agaveæ, n . pl . ( Bot .) A tribe of plants, ord. Amaryl- lidacea. The agave is its most important genus. Agde', a maritime town of France, dep. of the Hérault, on the river Hérault, 11 m. E. of Beziers. It is situated in a fertile district, and is a place of much commercial activity, forming one of the entrepots between Italy and Spain; population 10,314. Ind . Ship-building and distil- leries. Was in 506 the seat of a council summoned by Alaric. Ag'deh, a town of Persia, 70 m. W. from Yezd, which receives goats' hair from it for the manufacture of shawls. Age, n. [Fr. âge .] Any period of time attributed to some- thing as the whole, or part, of its duration; as, the age of man, the several ages of the world, the golden age. "And Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years; so the whole age of Jacob was 147 years." -Gen . xlvii. 28. The fruit whereof another age shall take."-Sir J. Davies. The time in which any particular man, or race of men, lived, or shall live; as, the age of heroes. The space of a hundred years; a secular period; a cen- tury. "Boys must not have th' ambitious care of men, Nor men the weak anxieties of age."-Roscommon. (Physiol.) During the progre of life from infancy to manhood, and from manhood to old age, the body undergoes certain marked changes (see GROWTH), which distinguish the different periods or stages of life. These are usually denominated ages, and are properly seven in number, though some make them fewer. They are-1. Infancy; 2. childhood; 3. boyhood or girlhood; 4. adoles- cence; 5. manhood or womanhood; 6. age; 7. old age. The first age commences at birth, and extends to the end of the second year, by which time the first dentition is generally completed; the second extends to the end of the seventh or eighth year, when the second dentition is commonly over; the third extends to the age of puberty, which, in temperate countries, is from twelve to fourteen in the female, and from fourteen to sixteen in the male; the fourth extends to about the twentieth year in the female, and the twenty-fourth in the male; the fifth period extends in the female to about the forty-fifth or fiftieth year, when the power of procreation usually ceases, and in the male to about the forty-ninth or fiftieth year; the sixth period extends to the sixty-fifth; the seventh period finishes with life. - It ought to be ob- served that the point of time at which mature age lapses into age and old age , differs in every individual. It differs in many cases by a considerable number of years; and it differs according to primitive constitution, to the management of childhood; and the several circum- stances included under the general term, mode of life . IMG:content-0087.png:[graphic][merged small][merged small] these modes is to increase, when young, in diameter, rather than in length, until a certain magnitude is obtained, and then to shoot up a stem, the diameter of which is never materially altered. The addition of new matter to a trunk f this kind takes place by the insin- nation of longitudinal fibres into the inside of the wood near the centre; on which account, such trees are called Endogenous, or Monocotyledons. The other mode is, from the beginning, to increase simultaneously in length and diameter, but principally in length. The addition of new matter to a trunk of this kind takes place by the insinuation of longitudinal fibres into a space beneath the bark, and on the outside of the wood, near the circumference; on which account such trees are called Exogenous , or Dicotyledons . There is scarcely any well-attested evidence of an endogenous plant hav- ing acquired any considerable age, and, in fact, the mode of growth of such trees as palms seems to preclude the po ibility of their existing beyond a definite period of no great extent. The diameter to which their trunk finally attains is very nearly gained before they begin to lengthen, and afterward all the new woody matter, which every succe ive leaf nece arily produces during its development, is insinuated into the centre. The consequence of this is, that the woody matter previously existing in the centre is displaced and forced outward toward the circumference; as this action is constantly in progre , the circumference, which in the beginning was soft, becomes gradually harder and harder by the pre ure from within outward, till at last it is not sus- ceptible of any further compre ion. After this has occurred, the central parts will gradually solidify by the ince ant introduction by the leaves of new wood which thrusts outward the older wood, till at last the whole stem must become equally hard, and no longer capable of giving way for the reception of new matter. As soon as this occurs, the tree will perish; because its vitality is dependent upon the full action of all the functions of the leaves, and the ce ation of one is the ce ation of all.-But in exogenous trees, as in the oak, it is quite the reverse; to their existence no limited duration can be a igned; IMG:content-0088.png:[blocks in formation] cutting out a portion of their circumference, and count- ing the number of concentric rings that are visible; the woody cylinder of one year being divided from the suc- ceeding one by a denser substance, which marks dis- tinctly the line of separation of the two years. In con- sequence of the extreme inequality in thickne of the annual layers of wood on opposite sides of a stem, a person judging of the whole age of a tree by the exam i- nation of the layers of the stunted side only, would commit errors to the antount of sixty per cent., and more. It is by no means impo ible that the great age of 5000 years and more, a igned by Adanson to the baobab tree of Africa, and by the younger de Candolle to the deciduous cypre of Mexico, may be connected with errors of this nature. A'ged, a. Old, stricken in years; applied to animals and plants. Having lived a certain time; as, a man aged twenty years. Age'da, the name of a plain, 90 m. from Buda, where the Jewish rabbis held a meeting, in 1650, to debate whether the Me iah had come the question was de- cided in the negative. A'gedly, adv . In the manner of an aged person. A'gedne , n. The state of being aged. Agelai'næ, n. pl. [Gr. agele, a herd.] (Zool.) The Troop-birds, a sub-family of birds, fam. Sturnidæ , ord. Pa eres; the typical species of this sub-family is the Agelaius phænice us , or blackbird. Agelas'tus, a surname of Cra us, the grandfather of the rich Cra us. He only laughed once in his life, and this, it is said, was upon seeing an a eat thistles. Agele , a . Having no age, or without ascertained age. Ag'elnoth, an archbishop of Canterbury and a favor- ite of King Canute. On the death of that monarch, he refused to crown his son Harold, pretending that the deceased King had commanded him to crown none but the i ue of Queen Emma. D. 1038. A'gen, a town of France, cap. of the dep. of Lot-et- Garonne, on the right bank of the Garonne, on the rail- way from Bordeaux to Toulouse. It is the seat of a Court of Appeal. Its situation, though rather unhealthy, makes it the entrepôt of the commerce between Bor- deaux and Toulouse. Environs beautiful. Agen was a prætori an city under the Roman emperors; pop . 21,316. Agena'bat, a town of Transylvania, 10 m. N.E. of Hermanstadt. Lat. 46° 32′ N.; Lon. 24° 10' E. A'gency, n. [Fr. agence, from Lat. agent i a.] The quality of acting; the state of being in action; action. "The superintendence and agency of Providence in the world." Woodward. -The office of an agent or factor for another; busine performed by an agent. "I am content to live cheap in a worse country, rather than be at the charge of exchange and agencies."-Swift. A'gency, in Iowa , a town and township of Wapello co., not far from Des Moines River; pop . of township 1,223. -A village of Winneshiek co., on Turkey River. Agen'da, n . [Pl. of the Lat. agendum , to be done.] AGESILAUS, king of Lacedæmon, son of Arch i dam us, of the family of the Proclidæ, was elevated to the throne after the death of his brother Agis, by Lysander, who afterward attempted to depose him. Called by the Ion- ians to their a istance against Artaxerxes, he com- menced, after Lysander's death, his glorious career; de feated the Persians, but was compelled to stop in his victorious course, and turn his arms against Thebes, Corinth, ., which had united against Sparta, and, in a subsequent war with Thebes, to contend against Pelopi- das and Epa min on das, the greatest generals of those times. His prudence, however, saved the city, without the hazard of a battle. On his return from his last cam- paign in Egypt, loaded with honors and presents, he was overtaken by a storm on the coast of Libya, and perished, being then in his 84th year, after reigning 40 years, 361- 321 B. c. He was a noble prince, and almost adored by his soldiers, though he sometimes violated the virtue of justice, in caces in which he could be useful to his country or friends. Agesip'olis I., king of Lacedæmon, and son of Pausa- nias, who obtained a great victory over the Mantineans. He reigned 24 years, and was succeeded by his brother,. Cleombrotus, 380 в. с. Age'-worn, a. Worn or wasted by age. Ag'ga, or AC'GONA, a town and district on the coast of Guinea, in which is a very high hill called the Devil's Mount. The English have a fort here. Lat. 6o N.; Lon. IMG:content-0089.jpg:[graphic] is bound to perform, in opposition to Credenda, or things which he is bound to believe. It also de- notes the service or offices of the church, and some- times, in Catholic countries, the church books com- piled by public authority, prescribing the order to be observed by the ministers and people in the ceremonies and devotion of the church. A'genois, in France, that part of the Province of Guienne, which now forms the department of Lot-et- Garonne. A'gen or, king of Phoenicia, was son of Neptune and Libya, and brother to Belus. He married Telepha a, called by some Agriope, by whom he had Cadmus, Phœ- nix, Cilix, and Europa. As Carthage was built by his descendants, it is called Agen or is urbs. Ageno'ria, or AGENORA, n. ( Myth .) The godde of industry and courage. Her temple was upon Mount Aventine. Also, a name given to the godde of Silence, represented with one of her fingers pre ing her lips. A'gent, n. [Fr. from Lat. agens, doing. One who conducts the affairs, or is intrusted with the commis- sions of another. (Law.) An agent may be constituted either by expre appointment or by implication of law, arising from the circumstances in which the parties are placed. In the following cases his appointment must be in writing: To grant a lease of land for over three years; to create or a ign any uncertain interest in land, or (except in copyholds) to surrender the same. Ag gersoe, a small Danish island in the Great Belt, near the E. coast of the island of Zealand; Lat. 55° 12′ N; Lon. 11° 12′ E. Ag'gersund, a small island in the Cattegat, Norway. Ag'gerzeen, n. (Zool.) A large Aby in i an antelope. Aggi'ra, a town of Sicily, prov. of Catania, on the Giarretta river; pop . 11,204. Agglomerate, v. a. and n. [Fr. agglomérer .] To col- lect into a ma of such a kind as shall convey the idea of a multitude of parts, or intricacy. Without organ i- zati on or structural arrangement. Agglomerate, and AGGLOMERATED, a . ( Bot . ) Collected into a heap cr head. Agglomeration, n. [Fr.] The act of agglomerating, or the state of being agglomerated. "An exce ive ag- glomeration of turrets." Agglutinant, a. [Fr.] Causing union or adhesion of parts, as glue. -n. A viscouser adhesive substance causing union of parts. Agglutinate, v . a . [Fr. agglutiner .] To cause parts. to adhere or stick together. Agglutina'tion, n. [Fr.] The act of agglutinating; the state of being agglutinated; the adhesive union or sticking together of parts. Agglutinative, a. [Fr. agglutinatif . ] That which has the power of procuring agglutination, as, an agglu tinative roller. and in every case where a deed is to be executed by one man as agent or attorney for another, the agent or attorney must himself be authorized by deed for that purpose. An agency is determined by the death of the principal, or it may be revoked in his lifetime, except -v.n. To become greater; applied in the same sense. in cases where an authority is given in pursuance of a Agʻgrandizement, n. [Fr. agrandi ement .] The contract with another party. An agent may be gen- principal, although the agent may violate his private instructions. The power of a special agent is limited by the authority he has actually received. An agent, without special authority, cannot appoint another per- son to act in his stead. ( Diplom .) A general term applied to several ranks, as envoys extraordinary, and ministers plenipotentiary, amba adors, ministers resident, secretaries of legation, . In ordinary language, the principal representative of one power at the court of another is termed the agent of that power at that particular court.