ACQUI, a town of Northern Italy, in the province of Alessandria, 18 miles S.S.W. of the city of that name, on the left bank of the Bormida. It is a place of great antiquity; and its hot sulphur baths, which are still much frequented, were known to the Romans, who gave the place the name of Aquæ Statiella. There are still to be found numerous ancient inscriptions, and the remains of a Roman aqueduct. The town is the seat of a bishop, and has a fine cathedral, several convents, and a royal college. Good wine is produced in the vineyards of the district, and great attention is given to the rearing of silk-worms. There are also considerable silk manufactures. Population, 8600.
ACRE, a measure of surface, being the principal denomination of land-measure used in Great Britain. The word (akin to the Saxon acer, the German acker, and the Latin ager, a field) did not originally signify a determinate quantity of land, but any open ground. The English standard or imperial acre contains 4840 square yards, or 10 square chains, and is also divided into roods, of which it contains 4, the rood again being divided in 40 perches. The imperial acre has, by the Act 5 Geo. IV. c. 74, superseded the acres, of very different extent, that were in use in different parts of the country. The old Scottish acre was equal to 1·26118345 imperial acres. The Irish acre contains 7840 square yards. The acre is equivalent to ·40467, i.e., about 25ths, of the French hectare (now the basis of superficial measurement in Germany, Italy, and Spain, as well as in France), ·7 of the Austrian joch, ·37 of the Russian desätine, and 1·62 ancient Roman jugera. The hectare corresponds to 2 acres 1 rood 35·38 perches.
ACRE, Akka, or St Jean D'Acre, a town and seaport of Syria, and in ancient times a celebrated city. No town has experienced greater changes from political revolutions and the calamities of war. According to some this was the Accho of the Scriptures; and its great antiquity is proved by fragments of houses that have been found, consisting of that highly sun-burnt brick, with a mixture of cement and sand, which was only used in erections of the remotest ages. It was known among the ancients by the name of Ace, but it is only from the period when it was taken posses sion of by Ptolemy Soter, king of Egypt, and received from him the name of Ptolemais, that history gives any certain account of it. When the empire of the Romans began to extend over Asia, Ptolemais came into their possession. It is mentioned by Strabo as a city of great importance; and fine granite and marble pillars, monuments of its ancient grandeur, are still to be seen. During the Middle Ages Ptolemais passed into the hands of the Saracens. They were expelled from it in 1110 by the Crusaders, who made it their principal port, and retained it until 1187, when it was recovered by Saladin. In 1191 it was retaken by Richard I. of England and Philip of France, who purchased this conquest by the sacrifice of 100,000 troops. They gave the town to the knights of St John of Jerusalem, from whom it received the name of St Jean D'Acre. In their possession it remained for a century, though subject to continual assaults from the Saracens. It was at this time a large and extensive city, populous and wealthy, and contained numerous churches, convents, and hospitals, of which no traces now remain. Acre was finally lost to the Crusaders in 1291, when it was taken by the Saracens after a bloody siege, during which it suffered severely. From this time its prosperity rapidly declined. In 1517 it fell into the hands of the Turkish sultan, Selim I.; and in the beginning of the 18th century, with the exception of the residences of the French factors, a mosque, and a few poor cottages, it presented a vast scene of ruin. Towards the end of that century Acre was much strengthened and improved by the Turks, particularly by Djezzar Pachn, and again rose to some importance. It is memor able in modern history for the gallantry with which it was defended in 1799 by the Turks, assisted by Sir Sydney Smith, against Bonaparte, who, after spending sixty-one days before it, was obliged to retreat. It continued to enjoy an increasing degree of prosperity till 1832. Though fettered by imposts and monopolies, it carried on a considerable foreign trade, and had resident consuls from most of the great states of Europe. On the revolt of Mehemet Ali, the pacha of Egypt, Acre was besieged by his son, Ibrahim Pacha, in the winter of 1831-32. The siege lasted five months and twenty-one days, and, before the city was taken, its public and private buildings were mostly destroyed. Its fortifications were subsequently repaired and improved by the Egyptians, in whose hands it remained until 3d Nov. 1840, when the town was reduced to ruins by a three hours bombardment from the British fleet, acting as the allies of the sultan. The Turks were again put in possession of it in 1841.
Acre is situated on a low promontory, at the northern extremity of the Bay of Acre. The bay affords no shelter in bad weather; and the port is scarcely capable of contain ing a dozen boats. Vessels coming to this coast, therefore, generally frequent the anchorage of Caiffa, on the south side of the bay. Acre is 80 miles N.N.W. of Jerusalem, and 27 S. of Tyre. Population, 10,000.
ACROBAT (from [ Greek text ], to walk on tiptoe), a rope-dancer. Evidence exists that there were very skilful performers on the tight-rope (funanibuli) among the ancient Romans. Modern acrobats generally use a long pole, loaded at the ends, and by shifting this are enabled to maintain, or readily to recover, their equilibrium. By an extension of the meaning of the term, acrobatic feats now include trapeze leaping and similar performances.
ACROCERAUNIA, in Ancient Geography, a promon tory in the N.W. of Epirus, which terminates the Montes Ceraunii, a range that runs S.E. from the promontory along the coast for a number of miles, and is supposed to have derived its name from being often struck withjight- ning. The cape (now called Glossa by the Greeks, and Lin- guetta by the Italians) is in lat. 40 25 1ST.
ACROGENÆ is the name applied to a division of acoty ledonous or cryptogamous plants, in which leaves are pre sent along with vascular tissue. In the higher divisions of Acrogens,as ferns and lycopods, the tissue consists of scalari- form vessels, while in the lower divisions spiral cells are observed, which take the place of vessels. The term Aero- gen means summit-grower, that is, a plant in which the stem increases specially by the summit. This is not, however, strictly accurate.
ACROLITH ([ Greek text ]), statues of a transition period in the history of plastic art, in which the trunk of the figure was of wood, and the head, hands, .and feet of marble. The wood was concealed either by gilding or, more commonly, by drapery, and the marble parts alone were exposed. Acroliths are frequently mentioned by Pausanias, the best known specimen being the Minerva Areia of the Platseans.
in Sicily, who was contemporary with Empedocles, and must therefore have lived in the 5th century before Christ. The successful measure of lighting large fires, and purify ing the air with perfumes, to put a stop to the pestilence that raged in Athens (430 B.C.), is said to have originated with him; but this has been questioned on chronological grounds. Pliny is mistaken in saying that Acron was the founder of the sect of the Empirici, which did not exist until the 3d century before Christ. The error probably arose from a desire on the part of the sect to establish for itself a greater antiquity than that of the Dogmatici.
Suidas gives the titles of several works written by Acron,