ACADEMY. 



ACA'NTHUS. 



'Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana,' six vols. fol., 1726-1739. The 

 Royal Academy of Spanish History was commenced as a private 

 association at Madrid in 1730, but was taken under the royal pro- 

 tection, and incorporated by Philip V. in 1738. It consists of twenty- 

 four members. The first volume of its Transactions was published in 

 1798, under the title of 'Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia.' 

 It has also printed some ancient manuscripts, and given new editions 

 of some historical works. There are also an Academy of History and 

 Geography at Valladolid, and a Literary Academy at Seville, both 

 founded in 1753. 



The principal Portuguese academy is the Academy of Science, 

 Agriculture, Arte, Commerce, and general Economy, founded by 

 r Maria in 1779. It has published several volumes of Trans- 

 actions in different sets. There is also a Geographical Academy at 

 Lisbon, established in 1 799. 



Of Austrian Academies, the most ancient is the ' Academia Naturae 

 Curiosorum,' established .it Vienna in 1652. In 1687, during the 

 reign of the Emperor Leopold I., it assumed the name of the Academia 

 Caesareo-Leopoldina. Its Transactions were at first published in sepa- 

 rate treatises, but since 1684 they have appeared in volumes, under 

 the title of ' Ephemerides et Acta Academiae Csesareso Naturae 

 Curiosorurn." A history of this academy was published by Biichner, 

 Halle, in 1756. The Academy of Arts and Sciences of Vienna was 

 founded in 1705. In 1754 was established in the same city an 

 Academy for the cultivation of the Oriental Languages. 



The Royal Academy of Science and Belles Lettres of Berlin has 

 long been one of the most eminent among the learned societies of 

 Europe. It was established in 1700, by Frederick I., who appointed 

 the celebrated Leibnitz its first president. The first volume of its 

 Transactions appeared in 1710, under the title of ' Miscellanea 

 Berolinensia,* and other volumes followed at intervals of three or 

 four years, till the accession of Frederick the Great in 1740, who, in 

 1744, took it under bin special protection, and proceeded to give it 

 a new organisation, with the view of extending its usefulness, and 

 raising it to a higher rank than it had hitherto enjoyed. A history of 

 this academy was published in 1752. In 1754, was established by the 

 Elector of Mainz, the Electoral Academy at Erfurt, for the promotion 

 l the useful sciences. Its Transactions were originally published in 

 I-'itin, under the title of ' Acta Academia} Electoralis Moguntime 

 .Scientiarum Utilium ; ' but they have of late appeared in German. 



Of other German Academies the principal are the Academy of 

 Sciences, otherwise called the Royal Society, of Gb'ttingen, established 

 in 1733; the Electoral Academy of Science and Bavarian History at 

 Munich, first established in 1760, but greatly enlarged since the 

 erection of Bavaria into a kingdom, and which has published its 

 Transactions, since 1763, in German, under the title of ' Abhandlungen 

 der Baierischen Akademie ; ' that of Mannheim, founded in 1755, by 

 the Elector Charles Theodore, and now divided into three classes 

 historical, physical, and meteorological ; the Transactions of the two 

 former of which have been published, under the title of 'Acta 

 Acailemiae Theodoro-Palatintc ' those of the last, under that of 

 ' Kplu-meridea Societatis Meteorological Palatinse ; ' and the Academy 

 of Siuibian History, established at Tubingen, in Wiirtemberg. 



The Royal Academy of Sciences, of Stockholm, was originally a 

 private association, founded by Linnaeus, and a few of his friends, in 

 inil was not incorporated by the Crown till two years afterwards. 

 It* Transaction* appear in quarterly parts, which form an octavo 

 volume a year. The first forty volumes, from 1739 to 1779, are called 

 the ' Old Transactions ; ' those which have appeared since, the ' New.' 

 They are written in Swedish, but have also been translated into 

 German. Stockholm also possesses an Academy of the Belles Lettres, 

 founded in 1 753 ; and an institution denominated the Literary Academy 

 of Sweden, founded in 1786. The object of the latter is the cultivation 

 .mil improvement of the national language. There is an Academy for 

 thu investigation of Northern Antiquities, at Upsal, which has pub- 

 lished some valuable volumes of Memoirs. The Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Copenhagen was founded by the Count of Holstein in 

 1742, and incorporated the following year. Ite Transactions appear in 

 Danish ; but they have been partly translated into Latin. 



The Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, like most of the valuable 

 institution* i>f Russia, originated in the bold and contriving mind of 

 Peter the Great. That monarch however did not live to carry into 

 effect the scheme which he had arranged, and which is said to have 

 been suggested to him by his inspection of the academies of France, 

 when in that country in 1717, and to have been matured by consulta- 

 ith Christian Wolff and Leibnitz. But immediately after his 

 death, in 1725, his successor, Catherine I., proceeded to execute the 

 "ns of her deceased husband ; and the Academy was forthwith 

 established, and held its first sitting in December of that year. Some 

 "i the most distinguished foreign mathematicians and philosophers of 

 the day were wisely selected by the empress to grace the new founda- 

 tion, and induced by liberal salaries to accept places in it under the 

 title of professors. Among them were Wolff, Nicolas and Daniel 

 Ufrnoulli, Bulfinger, 4c. In its earlier days this institution under- 

 went various fluctuations in reputation and efficiency, according as it 

 happened to be patronised or neglected by the reigning sovereign ; but 

 since the accession, in 1741, of the Empress Elizabeth, who placed it 

 upon a broader and more independent basis, it has generally maintained 



ARTS ASD SCT. DIV. VOL. I. 



a high character. Its annual revenue is considerable ; and one important 

 service which it has thus been enabled to render, has been the explora- 

 tion of various portions of the Russian empire, by means of the travellers 

 Pallas, Stolberg, Klaproth, and others, whom it has sent out for that 

 purpose. Its Transactions, down to the year 1747 inclusive, forming 

 14 volumes, are in Latin, and arc entitled ' Commentarii Academia! 

 Scientist; Imperialis Petropolitanje.' Twenty volumes more, down to 

 1777, likewise in Latin, are entitled ' Novi Commentarii.' Since 1777 

 they take the name of ' Aeta,' and are partly in Latin and partly in 

 French. Of the whole number of mathematical papers which appeared 

 in these Transactions down to the year 1783, in which he died, the 

 celebrated Euler is computed to have written fully one half ; and he 

 left behind him about a hundred additional memoirs, which have 

 appeared in the volumes printed since that period. These papers of 

 Euler's contributed, more than any other publications of the time, to 

 the simplification and improvement of the modem analysis. The 

 Imperial Academy possesses a library of some extent, which contains a 

 considerable number of oriental manuscripts, as well as valuable col- 

 lections of medals and of specimens of natural history. In 1783, an 

 institution, on the model of the Academic Francaise, having for its 

 object the improvement of the Russian language, was founded at St. 

 Petersburg, and was soon after united with the Imperial Academy. 



Among the other European academies, may be mentioned the 

 Medical Academy of Geneva, founded in 1715; the Academic des 

 Sciences et des Belles Lettres of Brussels, which has published its 

 Transactions, under the title of 'Me'moires,' since the year 1777; and 

 the institution of the same name at Flushing, whose Transactions 

 have also appeared. In the British dominions there are no associations 

 for the cultivation of science or learning, which have this name, except 

 the Royal Irish Academy, founded in 1782, and which has published 

 its Transactions since 1787. In the United States of North America, as in 

 England, such institutions are, for the most part, called Societies, but a 

 few are styled Academies, such as those at Boston and Philadelphia, 

 and have published their Transactions. 



Academy is also the name usually given, both in this country and on 

 the Continent, to an institution established for the cultivation and 

 promotion of the fine arts, that is, of painting, sculpture, architecture, 

 and music. Such institutions commonly partake both of the character 

 of academies, in the sense .already explained, and of schools or colleges, 

 consisting, on the one hand, of an association of amateurs and distin- 

 guished proficients, professing to have in view the diffusion of a taste 

 for the arts among the public generally, by publications, exhibitions, 

 or any other means which may be made available for that end ; and, 

 on the other, of an establishment of teachers or professors, for the 

 instruction of youth in the practice of some one or more of the branches 

 in question. The latter object is effected by lectures, by prescribed 

 tasks, and by the distribution of prizes and honours. Societies of 

 painters, for the promotion and protection of their art, are of very 

 ancient date. The Royal Academy of London originated in an asso- 

 ciation of painters, who obtained a charter, in 1765, under the title of 

 the Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain. This society, 

 however, was soon after broken up by disputes among its members ; 

 and in 1768, the Royal Academy of Arts was incorporated in its stead. 

 It consists of forty artists bearing the title of academicians, of twenty 

 associates, of two academician engravers, of five associate engravers, 

 and of three or four individuals of distinction, under the name of 

 honorary members, but who also hold certain nominal offices. From 

 the academicians are selected the professors of painting, of sculpture, 

 of architecture, and of perspective; and there is also a professor 

 of anatomy, who is commonly a member of the medical profession. 

 Nine of the academicians are likewise appointed annually to officiate 

 in setting the models, and otherwise superintending the progress 

 of the students. The sovereign is the patron of this institution ; 

 but its funds are, we believe, entirely derived from the money 

 paid by the public for admission to the exhibition, which takes place 

 every year, in the months of May, June, and July. A branch of the 

 English Royal Academy was established some years ago at Rome. The 

 Edinburgh Royal Academy of Painting was founded in 1754. A 

 similar institution has also been established in Dublin, under the title 

 of the Royal Hibernian Academy. An Academy of Ancient Music was 

 established in London so early as the year 1710 ; but a disagreement 

 among its members occasioned its dissolution after it had existed above 

 twenty years. Some time after this the Royal Academy of Music was 

 instituted, with Handel at its head, and for ten years, during which 

 the operas of that great composer were performed under its superin- 

 tendence in the Haymarket Theatre, enjoyed splendid success. But 

 discord here also came at length, to divide and disperse the professors 

 of harmony ; and in the year 1729, the institution was broken up. A 

 new Royal Academy of Music, which holds its meetings in Hanover- 

 square, was established in 1822. The French Opera, it may be added, 

 is styled the Academic de Musique. 



ACA'NTHUS (in Architecture). The name by which the leaf used 

 in the enrichment of the Corinthian capital is known. It is thus called 

 because of its general resemblance to the leaves of a species of the 

 acanthus plant ; or rather because of a pretty traditional story which 

 the Roman author Vitruvius tells of the fancied origin of the 

 Corinthian capital, in which the leaves are said to be imitated from 

 those of the acanthus. The same leaf, however, is commonly used in 



