AURUNGZEBE AUSCULTATION 125 tor. The town is well laid out,.but the buildings are in a dilapidated condition, and the climate is unhealthy. The population was estimated in 1825 at 60,000, hut is now much smaller. Water is supplied by means of con- duits and pipes, and a considerable trade is Mosque of Aurungzebe. carried on. The town was formerly the capi- tal of a province of the same name, contain- ing about 60,000 sq. m., which was incorpo- rated with the Mogul empire in 1633. In more recent periods it belonged partly to the Mahrat- tas and partly to the Nizam, but is now mostly under British rule. AURUNGZEBE, or Annmgzeb, the last great emperor of the Mogul dynasty in India, born Oct. 22, 1618, died at Ahmednuggur, Feb. 21, 1707. He was appointed by his father, Shah Jehan, to be viceroy of the Deccan. Here, while affecting an entire indifference for world- ly things, he acquired military experience and amassed great wealth. In 1657 the emperor was taken suddenly ill, and Dara, the heir ap- parent and eldest brother of Arungzebe, as- sumed the administration. Aurungzebe united with a younger brother in defeating Dara, and soon succeeded by his energy and treachery in putting to death all his brothers and their sons. His father, having meantime recovered, was confined for the rest of his life as a prisoner in his own palace, and Aurungzebo grasped the imperial power. His reign was the most bril- liant period of the domination of the race of Akbarin India, and his empire included nearly all the peninsula of Hindostan, with Cabool on the west and Assam on the east. The first 10 years of his administration were marked by a profound peace, and his wisdom was especially signalized in the measures which he took in anticipating and assuaging a famine, and in sup- pressing an insurrection of Hindoo devotees lieaded by a female aaint. A greater misfor- tune to him was the rise of the Mahratta em- pire, the foundation of which had been almost imperceptibly laid by an adventurer named Sevajee. Against this leader Aurungzebe sent in vain his most experienced generals, and he therefore marched into the Deccan himself to superintend the war. He resided in the Dec- can 22 years, subduing the Carnatic and ruling an empire which hi wealth and population was probably unsurpassed by that ever held by any other monarch. The proper name of Aurung- zebe was Mohammed, and that by which he is commonly known, meaning the "orna- ment of the throne," was given him by his grandfather. He himself preferred the title of Alum-Geer, "conquerer of the world," and he was accustomed to have carried before him a globe of gold as his symbol. Yet to show that he as yet held but three fourths of the earth, he used to tear off a corner from every sheet of paper which he used in his cor- respondence. India owes to him several of her finest bridges, hospitals, and mosques. In his personal habits he was remarkable for an ascetic simplicity ; and in his zeal for the Mo- hammedan faith he became a persecutor of the Hindoos. AUSCHWITZ (Pol. Oswiecim), a town of western Galicia, in Austria, 32 m. W. of Cra- cow, and about 3 m. from the frontier of Prus- sian Silesia; pop. 3,600. It is the principal town of the former, originally Polish, then Silesian, and then again Polish, duchies of Au- schwitz und Zator, with an area of about 1,000 sq. m., which in 1564 were united into one duchy by King Sigismund Augustus, and in 1773 incorporated with Austria. Although belonging to Galicia, the territory of the duchy was in 1818 declared by Austria to belong to the Germanic confederation. Only about one tenth of the population of the duchy speak German. In the war of 1866 there was an engagement at Auschwitz on June 27 between Prussian and Austrian troops. AUSCULTATION (Lat. augcultare, to listen), a branch of medical art by which the states and motions of internal organs are discerned through the sounds which they produce. Pulsa- tions, respirations, and the vibratory move- ments in the body produce sounds which may be distinctly heard by placing the ear upon the walls of the chest, or other parts of the external frame. The heart beats strongly many times per minute, and each pulsation gives a shock to the surrounding parts, and also produces a double sound within the heart itself. At every breath the air is first drawn into the lungs, and again passes out by expiration. The passage of the air into the lungs produces one kind of sound peculiar to the act of inspiration, and its exit another peculiar to expiration. In a state of healthy action, the sounds of the heart and those of the lungs and air passages are of a peculiar nature, and a little practice enables the ear to become familiar with each special sound. In a diseased state, the action of both heart and lungs is modified to some extent, and
