d to denote
the nominal
m fixed pars
ry nearly to
Sparta. Men-
1t 1000 years
3 of Sparta,
es. Of the
- part of the
B.c—A. IL
atred of the
m alliances
lexander the
to almost all
330 B.c.—A.
en the state
tion through
ty years old
ed to restore
s of Sparta ;
igher classes
e state were
hile a great
e indigence.
| Taws of the
d estates by
ho was rich
many debts,
uld be can-
vided. The
|; but great
y out of the
1ted - people
eavoured to
Ifare of the
1 for refuge
friends into
immediately
trangulation
mother, who
sly executed
_poet, wrote
es, 18 about
sible outlet.
1 mountain-
- Anguiano,
ochbourhood.
el Cane—so
d gas, some
1e floor, and
mall animal
the natural
the cure of
irtue to the
e volcanoes
ctinet since
lies the lake
f an extinct
woodlands.
in the law
sons related
sons related
aw, both of
siignification.
ons related
all those in
s side, one
- a brother’s
inquity was
1is cognate,
relationship.
immaterial,
or paternal,
AGNESI—AGRA.
side of the house. The cause of our having thus
changed the meaning of terms manifestly borrowed
from the Roman law, seems to be that in Rome
the distinction between agnates and cognates was
founded on an institution which has not been
adopted in the Roman sense by any modern nation
—that, namely, of the patria potestas (q.v.). Roman
agnati are defined by Hugo to be all those who
either were actually under the same paterfamilias,
or would have been so had he been alive; and thus
it was that, as no one could belong to two different
families at the same time, the agnation to the
original family was destroyed, and a new agnation
created, not only by marriage, but by adoption (q.v.).
The foundation of cognation, again, was a legal
marriage. All who could trace up their origin to
the same marriage were cognatt; and thus the term
cognatus, generally speaking, comprehended agnatus.
But though an agnatus was thus almost always a
cognatus, a cognatus was an agnatus only when his
relationship by blood was traceable through males.
Justinian abolished entirely the distinction between
agnates and cognates, and admitted, both to legal
succession and to the office of tutor of law, not only
kinsmen by the father, though a female had been
interposed, but even those by the mother (Now.
118, c. 4, 5). As to the legal effects of the dis-
tinction in the modern sense, see SUCCESSION,
GUARDIANSHIP.
AGNESI, MARIA G&ETANA, a woman remarkable
for her varied attainments, was born at Milan,
1718. In her ninth year she could converse in
Latin, and gave a lecture in this language, in which
she argued that a knowledge of the ancient lan-
guages was a proper accomplishment in women. In
her eleventh year she could also speak Greek
fluently, and subsequently acquired with great
facility several of the Oriental languages, and also
French, Spanish, and German. She was jocosely
styled ‘the walking polyglot.” This precocious
development of intellect was encouraged by her
father, who invited parties of learned men to his
house, with whom Maria disputed on philosophical
points. Of her discourses in these parties, her father
published some specimens, entitled Propositiones
Philosophicee (Milan, 1738). After her twentieth
year, she devoted her mind to the study of mathe-
matics, wrote an unpublished treatise on Conic
Sections, and published her Instituziont Analitiche
(2 vols., Milan, 1748). This work so extended her
reputation, that, when her father was disabled by
infirmity, she took his place as Professor of Mathe-
matics in the University of Bologna, by the appoint-
ment of Pope Benedict XIV. It is said that, after
her devotion to the study of mathematics, her cheer-
fulness vanished, she avoided society, and at last
became a nun, and gave the whole of her time to
attendance on the poor and the afflicted. Maria A.
was a remarkable exception to the general rule of
precocious intellect and short life, as she lived to the
age of 81.
A'GNUS DEI (Lat. ¢ Lamb of God’), one of the
titles of Christ (John i 29); also the name given
to a certain prayer used in the Roman Catholic
service of Mass. The litanies generally conclude
with the same prayer: ‘O Lamb of God, that takest
away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.’—
The figure of a lamb bearing a cross, stamped
upon an oval of wax, silver, or gold, is also styled
an 4. D. Such medals have been consecrated by
the popes since the 14th c., and are generally
distributed among the faithful on the first Sunday
after Kaster. In the ancient church, candidates for
baptism received similar medals of wax, and wore
them as amulets. See Amurer. In the Greek
Church, the cloth which covers the cup in the
Agnus Dei.
communion-service bears the image of a lamb, and
is styled the 4. D.
AGOTU'TI (Dasyprocta Agoutr), a small quadruped
nearly allied to the Cavy or Guinea-pig, very abund-
ant in some parts of the West Indies and of South
America. It is often very injurious to the fields of
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Agouti,
sugar-cane. It is gregarious. Its flesh resembles
that of the hare or rabbit. Other species are found
in the same regions, and even in the colder parts of
South America. The Pampas Hare is Dasyprocta
Patachonica.
A'GRA, a British district in the lieutenant-
governorship of the North-western Provinces, bounded
N. and E. by the districts of Muttra, Minpooree,
and Etawah, S. and W. by the territories of Dhort-
pore, Gwalior, and Bhurtpore. Its area is 1860 square
miles. The surface of the country is for the most
part very level, the principal elevation of the Futteh-
pore Sikri hills, a sandstone range on the west
frontier, being about 700 feet. = The principal
rivers are the Jumna—flowing along the north-east
frontier, and its tributary the Chumbul (along the
southern boundary), both of which are too deep in
the channel to be of much avail for irrigation. The
district generally is, in consequence, deficient in
water; and the failure of the rains in some seasons
(as in 1837, 1838) has been followed by severe
famine. The temperature has a wide range, being,
during the hot winds of April, May, and June, so
high that the city of A. is scarcely habitable by
Europeans, while in January, severe frosts occur at
night, though the thermometer at mid-day is high.
The most important commercial product is cotton,
which generally occupies about a tenth of the arable-
land. There are two crops yearly—the spring crop,
consisting of various grains (wheat, barley, oats, &c.),
leguminous plants, flax, tobacco, &c., the autumnal
crop of maize, mung, moth, melons, &e. The cultiva-
tion of rice is very limited, owing to the want of
water. The population in 1848 was 828,220, of whom
86,557 were Mohammedans, Europeans, &c., the rest
Hindus. Of the Hindu population, about two-
77
