Page:EB1911 - Volume 14.djvu/367

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348
IN-ANTIS—INCENSE

up with the Capitol of Rome, where Pope Benedict XIII. crowned him with laurel, and created him a Roman citizen. One of the most remarkable improvisatores of modern times appeared in Sweden, in the person of Karl Mikael Bellman (1740–1795), who used to take up a position in the public gardens and parks of Stockholm, accompanying himself on a guitar, and treating metre and rhythm with a virtuosity and originality which place him among the leading poets of Swedish literature. In England, somewhat later, Theodore Hook (1788–1841) developed a surprising talent for this kind, but his verses were rarely of the serious or sentimental character of which we have hitherto spoken. Hook’s animal spirits were unfortunately mingled with vulgarity, and his clever jeux d’esprit had little but their smartness to recommend them. A similar talent, exercised in a somewhat more literary direction, made Joseph Méry (1798–1865) a delightful companion in the Parisian society of his day. It is rare indeed that the productions of the improvisatore, taken down in shorthand, and read in the cold light of criticism, are found to justify the impression which the author produced on his original audience. Imperfections of every kind become patent when we read these transcripts, and the reader cannot avoid perceiving weaknesses of style and grammar. The eye and voice of the improvisatore so hypnotize his auditors as to make them incapable of forming a sober judgment on matters of mere literature.


IN-ANTIS, the architectural term given to those temples the entrance part of which consisted of two columns placed between the antae or pilasters (see Temple).


INAUDI, JACQUES (1867–  ), Italian calculating prodigy, was born at Onorato, Piedmont, on the 15th of October 1867. When between seven and eight years old, at which time he was employed in herding sheep, he already exhibited an extraordinary aptitude for mental calculation. His powers attracted the notice of various showmen, and he commenced to give exhibitions. He was carefully examined by leading French scientists, including Charcot, from the physiological, psychological and mathematical point of view. The secret of his arithmetical powers appeared to reside in his extraordinary memory, improved by continuous practice. It appeared to depend upon hearing rather than sight, more remarkable results being achieved when figures were read out than when they were written.


INCANTATION, the use of words, spoken, sung or chanted, usually as a set formula, for the purpose of obtaining a result by their supposed magical power. The word is derived from the Latin incantare, to chant a magical formula; cf. the use of carmen, for such a formula of words. The Latin use is very early; thus it appears in a fragment of the XII. Tables quoted in Pliny (N.H. xxviii. 2, 4, 17), “Qui malum carmen incantasset.” From the O. Fr. derivative of incantare, enchanter, comes “enchant,” “enchantment,” &c., properly of the exercise of magical powers, hence to charm, to fascinate, words which also by origin are of magical significance. The early magi of Assyria and Babylonia were adepts at this art, as is evident from the examples of Akkadian spells that have been discovered. Daniel (v. 11) is spoken of as “master of the enchanters” of Babylon. In Egypt and in India many formulas of religious magic were in use, witness especially the Vedic mantras, which are closely akin to the Maori karakias and the North American matamanik. Among the holy men presented by the king of Korea to the mikado of Japan in A.D. 577 was a reciter of mantras, who would find himself at home with the majinahi or incantation practised by the ancient Japanese for dissipating evil influences. One of the most common, widespread and persistent uses of incantation was in healing wounds, instances of which are found in the Odyssey and the Kalevala, and in the traditional folk-lore of almost every European country. Similar songs were sung to win back a faithless lover (cf. the second Idyll of Theocritus).

See further Magic.


INCE, WILLIAM, English 18th century furniture designer and cabinetmaker. He was one of the most successful imitators of Chippendale, although his work was in many respects lighter. He helped, indeed, to build the bridge between the massive and often florid style of Chippendale and the more boudoir-like forms of Hepplewhite. Although many of his designs were poor and extravagant, his best work was very good indeed. His chairs are sometimes mistaken for those of Chippendale, to which, however, they are much inferior. He greatly affected the Chinese and Gothic tastes of the second half of the 18th century. He was for many years in partnership in Broad Street, Golden Square, London, with Thomas Mayhew (q.v.), in collaboration with whom he published a folio volume of ninety-five plates, with letterpress in English and French under the title of The Universal System of Household Furniture (undated, but probably about 1762).


INCE-IN-MAKERFIELD, an urban district in the Ince parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, adjoining the borough of Wigan. Pop. (1901) 21,262. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal intersects the township. There are large collieries, ironworks, forges, railway wagon works, and cotton mills. There is preserved here the Old Hall, a beautiful example of half-timbered architecture.


INCENDIARISM (Lat. incendere, to set on fire, burn), in law, the wilful or malicious burning of the house or property of another, and punishable as arson (q.v.). It may be noted that in North Carolina it is provided in case of fires that there is to be a preliminary investigation by local authorities: all towns and cities have to make an annual inspection of buildings and a quarterly inspection within fire limits and report to the state insurance commissioner; all expenses so incurred are met by a tax of 1/5% on the gross receipts of the insurance companies (L. 1903, ch. 719).


INCENSE,[1] the perfume (fumigation) arising from certain resins and gum-resins, barks, woods, dried flowers, fruits and seeds, when burnt, and also the substances so burnt. In its literal meaning the word “incense” is one with the word “perfume,” the aroma given off with the smoke (per fumum[2]) of any odoriferous substance when burnt. But, in use, while the meaning of the word “perfume” has been extended so as to include everything sweet in smell, from smoking incense to the invisible fresh fragrance of fruits and exquisite scent of flowers, that of the word “incense,” in all the languages of modern Europe in which it occurs, has, by an opposite process of limitation, been gradually restricted almost exclusively to frankincense (see Frankincense). Frankincense has always been obtainable in Europe in greater quantity than any other of the aromatics imported from the East; it has therefore gradually come to be the only incense used in the religious rites and domestic fumigations of many countries of the West, and at last to be properly regarded as the only “true” or “genuine” (i.e. “franc”) incense (see Littré’s Fr. Dict. and Skeat’s Etym. Dict. of Engl. Lang.).[3]

The following is probably an exhaustive list of the substances available for incense or perfume mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures:—Algum or almug wood (almug in 1 Kings x. 11, 12; algum

  1. Incensum (or incensum thuris) from incendere; Ital. and Port. incenso; Span. incienso; Fr. encens. The substantive occurs in an inscription of the Arvalian brotherhood (Marini, Gli Atti e Monumenti de’ fratelli Arvali, p. 639), but is frequent only in ecclesiastical Latin. Compare the classical suffimentum and suffitus from suffio. For “incense” Ulfila (Luke i. 10, 11) has retained the Greek θυμίαμα (thymiama); all the Teutonic names (Ger. Weihrauch; Old Saxon Wîrôc; Icel. Reykelsi; Dan. Rögelse) seem to belong to the Christian period (Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, i. 50).
  2. The etymological affinities of θύω, θύος, thus, fuffio, funus, and the Sans. dhuma are well known. See Max Müller, Chips, i. 99.
  3. Classical Latin has but one word (thus or tus) for all sorts of incense. Libanus, for frankincense, occurs only in the Vulgate. Even the “ground frankincense” or “ground pine” (Ajuga chamaepitys) was known to the Romans as Tus terrae (Pliny), although they called some plant, from its smelling like frankincense, Libanotis, and a kind of Thasian wine, also from its fragrance, Libanios. The Latino-barbaric word Olibanum (quasi Oleum Libani), the common name for frankincense in modern commerce, is used in a bull of Pope Benedict IX. (1033). It may here be remarked that the name “European frankincense” is applied to Pinus Taeda, and to the resinous exudation (“Burgundy pitch”) of the Norwegian spruce firs (Abies excelsa). The “incense tree” of America is the Icica guianensis, and the “incense wood” of the same continent I. heptaphylla.