It was formed in 1844, and has greatly assisted 
in advancing the agriculture of the country, especi- 
ally by introducing improved breeds of  cattle.— 
Most of the countries of continental Europe have 
followed the example of Great Britain in the form- 
ation of A. Associations of various kinds, 
In the free states of America, where the land is 
mostly owned by those who farm it, A. S. have 
sprung up in great numbers. Every state has its 
central Society, which in its turn fosters a number 
of local associations. Indeed, in all the chief 
grain-producing districts, each county boasts of 
1ts own society. These being all partly supported 
by state money, useful information is collected, 
published, and sold at a cheap rate in Reports. 
Canada follows in the wake of her enterprising 
neighbours, and supports by grants of money a 
provincial show in each province, while the county 
societies are numerous, and supply materials for the 
Reports of the Boards of Agriculture at Toronto and 
Montreal. In Canada and the United States, the 
A. S. are of a highly popular character. Prizes are 
given, not only for animals, implements, and dairy 
produce, but also for fruits. Being more of a general 
nature, combining agriculture, horticulture, and 
domestic economy, such exhibitions are frequented 
by all classes. They are usually denominated ¢fairs,’ 
though partaking little of the character and appear- 
ance of what is understood by a ‘fair’ in Britain. 
The diffusion of education among the farmers of the 
free states has made them eager readers of A. 
writings, and the numerous societies soon diffuse a 
knowledge of improved stock, implements, and seeds, 
over their wide territories. 
AGRIGENTUM (Gr. Akragas), the modern 
Girgenti, a town on the south coast of Sicily, in 
lat. 37° 17" N., and long. 13° 28' E., founded by 
a colony from Gela (582 B.c.), and, in the earlier 
ages, one of the most important places in the 
island. In its palmy days, it is said to have 
contained 200,000 inhabitants. After being at first 
free, and then subject to tyrants, it was demolished 
by the Carthaginians (405 B.c.); but very soon rose 
again. In the course of the Punic wars, it was 
compelled to submit to the Romans. From 825 to 
1086 A.D., it was in the possession of the Saracens, 
from whom it was conquered by Count Roger 
Guiscard. The modern city contains about 15,000 
inhabitants, and exhibits numerous and splendid 
rains, which, glittering in the brilliant light of a 
southern sky, afford inexhaustible materials for 
pictorial representation. Among the best preserved 
of these remains of antiquityis the Temple of Concord, 
of which only the roof and part of the front are 
wanting. The most extensive of the temples was 
that of Jupiter, 340 feet long, 120 feet high, and 
160 feet wide, which, at the time of its destruction, 
appears not to have been finished. Only the base- 
ment and some fragments remain. Considerable 
ruins of the temples of Juno Lucina, of Hercules, 
and Asculapius, are still found. The trade of the 
modern city is inconsiderable. Some corn, fruit, oil, 
&e., is exported, but the harbour is little frequented. 
A'GRIMONY (dgrimonia), a genus of plants of 
the natural order Rosacee (q. v.), sub-order Potentillec. 
The calyx is five-cleft, without bracts ; the hardened 
tube at length invests two carpels, and is covered 
with hooked bristles.—The CommoN AGRMMONY (A. 
Eupatoria) is a native of Britain and other parts of 
Euarope, growing in borders of fields, on waysides, 
&c. It has an upright habit, attains a height of 
two feet or more, and has interruptedly pinnate 
leaves, with the leaflets serrate and downy beneath. 
The flowers are small and yellow, in close racemes. 
AGRIGENTUM—AGRIPPA. 
smell, and is bitter and styptic. A decoction of it 
is used as a gargle ; the dried leaves form a kind 
of herb tea; and the root has some celebrity as 
« 
< 
  
Common Agrimony. 
vermifuge.—Very similar to this is 4. suaveolens, a 
native of Virginia, Carolina, &c. It has a very 
agreeable fragrance. 
AGRIPPA, Corneuivs HENRY, a remarkable 
character of the 16th c., distinguished as writer, 
philosopher, and physician, who united great ability 
and extensive acquirements with quackery, was 
born of a noble family at Cologne, 1486. He led an 
adventurous and unsettled life, quite in the Spirit 
of his times. As early as 1509, he was appointed 
teacher of theology at Dole, in Franche Comté, and 
attracted great attention by his lectures; but 
having by his bitter satires on the monks drawn. 
upon himself the hatred of that body, he was accused 
of heresy, and obliged to leave Doéle. He next 
taught theology for some time in Cologne, occ 1pying; 
himself at the same time with alchemy, and then 
went to Italy, where he took military service under 
Maximilian I, and was knighted. "He was after- 
wards made Doctor of Laws and of Medicine, and 
gave lectures at Pavia, until, burdened with debt, 
he fled to Casale. After a time, he was appointed 
Syndic of Metz; but in 1520, he was again in 
Cologne, having excited the hostility of the inquisi- 
tion and of the monks by his defence of a witch. 
His old enemies, the monks, persecuted him still in 
Cologne, so that he went to F reiburg in Switzerland, 
where he began to practise as a physician. In 1524, 
he went again to Metz, and there he gained such 
a reputation that the mother of Francis I. chose him 
as her physician. As he declined to prophesy the 
issue of the campaign that Francis I. undertook in 
1525 in Ttaly, he lost his post, and went to Holland. 
Here he wrote his celebrated book, De Incertitudine 
et Vanilate Scientiarum (Colog. 1527), a biting satire 
on the sciences as they then existed. An accusation 
against him having been brought before Charles V., 
on account of this book, he again became a fugitive, 
and repaired to Lyon. He there found the hatred 
he had early excited in France not yet extinguished, 
and was imprisoned ; but being liberated, through 
the exertions of his friends, he retired to Grenoble, 
where he died (1535). A. was a clear-headed man, 
and had the merit of successfully combating many 
of the prejudices of his age. His book, De Occulta 
Plalosophia, which contains the most systematic 
account of the Cabbala (q.v.), stands in direct 
contradiction with the work above mentioned. The 
most complete collection of hig writings appeared at 
Lyon, in two vols. without date (about 1550). 
  
The whole plant has a pleasant, slightly aromatic 
88 
AGRIPPA, Herop, I., son of Aristobulus and 
  
  
  
  
    
     
     
   
  
   
  
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
    
   
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
   
   
  
   
   
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
    
   
  
   
     
  
  
  
   
   
   
   
    
   
  
  
   
    
   
  
    
   
   
    
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
    
    
Beren 
educa 
extran 
especi 
and ¢ 
freedr 
it uns 
then t 
to th 
misfor 
Caligt 
gave 
Trach 
of He 
—nan 
.:X. hOj 
added 
was 1t 
than ¢ 
ment 
he w 
persec 
broth 
Jerus: 
into ] 
diseas 
games 
of his 
accow 
subste 
AG 
at Ro 
age. 
some 
the ki 
him ~ 
uncle 
he lef 
the w 
subsec 
A, w 
proba 
He s 
Beryt 
in the 
treatn 
secure 
his po 
agains 
and w 
men, 
salem 
Rome 
in the 
It was 
AG 
a Ron 
exalte 
espous 
daugh 
and in 
of the 
Roma 
for th 
his fle 
gener 
Ewed 
severs 
other 
AG 
Agrip 
heroic 
was 1 
cus), 
She «