Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/475

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

ANDREWS — ANGIOSPERMS declaration of neutrality. In 1871 lie was called to Vienna to use his influence in order to prevent the emperor accepting the federalistic scheme of Hohenwart. Andrassy represented that it would destroy the organization of the dual monarchy, and offered his resignation if it was carried out. The result of the crisis was that Hohenwart was dismissed, and Andrassy received the portfolio for foreign affairs for Austria-Hungary after the fall of Beust. The most important achievement of his policy in the new post was the establishment of a close understanding with Germany. The beginnings of this had been laid by the friendly relations which Bismarck had already established with the Hungarians. This led also to a better understanding with Bussia, and Andrassy was much attacked in Hungary for his Russophile policy. He succeeded, however, in averting a war with Russia, which might easily have arisen out of the Balkan complications; by the “Andrassy Note” of 1876 he attempted to settle these by agreement with Russia. The summoning of a European congress to discuss the terms of peace imposed on Turkey by Russia was to a great extent owing to his initiative, and he brought it about that the administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be offered to Austria-Hungary. His policy in this was strongly attacked at home, both by the Hungarians and Germans, and the discontent was increased by the difficulties with which the occupation of the provinces was attended; he had failed to anticipate the opposition with which the Austrian troops were met. It was partly this discontent which led him in the summer of 1879 to offer his resignation, a step which has also been attributed to private reasons; he was, moreover, dissatisfied that he was unable to have some internal reforms carried in Hungary. It is probable that he did not expect his resignation to be accepted ; or if it was, he undoubtedly hoped soon to return to office. His position as the first of living statesmen in the dual monarchy was so assured that he might well believe he was indispensable. His resignation was, however, accepted. Before he left office, he completed the work he had already begun by arranging with Bismarck a formal alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary for mutual defence against Russia. By this he had placed the European position of his country on a secure basis. The best proof of the wisdom of his policy is that it has been continued by all his successors. Andrassy lived till 1890; he was never again offered office ; he could have forced his way back to power had he chosen to use his great popularity for this purpose; but, with a magnanimity which is not too common, when he spoke in the parliament it was to help and support his successors ; his criticisms he reserved for private intercourse. He died 18th February 1890. Andrassy is undoubtedly one of the most interesting figures of recent history. It has often been said of him that he cared more for the appearance than the reality; he thought too much of outwaid effect. He had little patience for the details and routine of departmental work, and was intolerant of slowness and stupidity. He had, however, a quick power of seizing the essential factors in a situation; his mind was eminently sober and practical; he saved his1 country from the dangers into which it would have fallen had full freedom been given to the ideals of Kossuth and his followers, or to the anti-Russian passions which were so strong. He is identified with two great political achievements, the system of dualism and the alliance with Germany; both have justified themselves by the test of experience. More than this, it is largely due to his personal influence that from the beginning it was made apparent that in the partnership between Austria and Hungary the latter was the stronger member; and so long as he was foreign

429

minister he secured for the dual monarchy a position in European affairs which it had not had for many years. (j. w. he.) Andrews, Thomas (1813 1885), Irish chemist and physicist, was born on 19th December 1813 at Belfast, where his father was a linen merchant. After attending the Belfast Academy and also the Academical Institution, he went to Glasgow to study chemistry under Professor Thomas Thomson, and thence migrated to Trinity College, Dublin, where he gained distinction in classics as well as in science. He next spent some time in Paris, in the laboratory of the famous chemist Dumas, and finally, having graduated as M.D. at Edinburgh in 1835, settled down to a successful medical practice in his native place. Ten years later he was appointed vice-president of the newly-established Queen’s College, Belfast, and professor of chemistry, and these two offices he held till 1879, when failing health compelled his retirement. He died 26th November 1885. Andrews first became known as a scientific investigator by his work on the heat developed in chemical actions, the Royal Society awarding him a Royal medal in 1844. Another important research was devoted to proving that ozone is a definite body, an allotropic form of oxygen, containing three atoms in the molecule instead of two, as is the case with the ordinary gas. But the work on which his reputation mainly rests and which best displayed his skill and resourcefulness in experiment was concerned with the liquefaction of gases. He carried out a very complete inquiry into the laws expressing the relations of pressure, temperature, and volume in carbonic acid gas, in particular establishing the conceptions of critical temperature and critical pressure, and showing that the gas passes from the gaseous to the liquid state without any breach of continuity. Angers, chief town of department Maine-et-Loire, France, and an important centre for several railway lines, 188 miles S.W. of Paris. There is a Hotel-Dieu, now a civil and military hospital; but it is the Hopital-Ste-Marie, a large modern building with 1500 beds, that takes the place of the ancient Hotel-Dieu or Hospice St Jean, said to have been founded by Henry II., which is now occupied by the archaeological museum. The public library, contained in a fine edifice dating from the 15th century, has been much enlarged. Palaeontological and antiquarian museums are also housed in ancient buildings of considerable interest. A 12th-century clock tower is part of the ancient abbey of St Aubin. The Palais de Justice is a modern building in the Champ de Mars. Amongst educational institutions may be noted a national school of arts and handicrafts, a free school of design, and a school of pharmacy. Manufactures of umbrellas, boots and shoes, iron goods, cables, and copper ware, have become important. In the vicinity are many nursery gardens. Large stock fairs are held, and there is considerable trade in hemp, flax, and other agricultural produce. Electric tramways connect with the suburbs. Population (1881), 58,571 ; (1891), 62,391 ; (1896), 69,484, (comm.) 71,119. Angiosperms.—The term “Angiosperm” (dyyeiov, receptacle, and o-~ep/za, seed) was coined in the form Angiospermse by Paul Hermann in 1690, as the name of that one of his primary divisions of the Plant Kingdom which included flowering plants possessing seeds enclosed in capsules, in contradistinction to his Gymnospermse or flowering plants with achenial or schizocarpic fruits—the whole fruit or each of its pieces being here regarded as a seed and naked. The term and its antonym were maintained by Linnaeus with the same sense, but with restricted application, in the names of the orders of his