ACCOMPANIMENT. 



ACCOUNT STATED. 



In the island of Ceylon the nte of mortality ha* been recorded 

 amongst five different noes of which the British troop* are composed 

 The following UbU give* the reeult : 



Annual drmth In 1000 men. 



S.tlvt troop* of BcBfml Mid Madru IS 



Troop* nenlted on ihs oout ol Orion . . . . S 



JUl.Ti 84 



X^ro troop* 



Enjllth troop. 9 



Although from then fact* it would appear there ia an insuperable 

 barrier to the prolonged occupation of tropical countries by white 

 race*, yet much may be done by attention to the laws of health and 

 fljsmsf One cause of the great amount of mortality amongst Euro- 

 peans in the tropics ia that they continue the habits they had acquired 

 in cold countries when they arrive in the hotter parts of the world. 

 An attention to diet, clothing, and residence, would do much to remove 

 many of the causes of diimnnn It would appear also that many of the 

 races that now inhabit cold climates made their way from warmer 

 countries, and that changes gradually produced in the constitution, as 

 by the slow advance of peoples north or south, may overcome that 

 tendency to succumb which is so evident in the rapid removals to 

 which the above data refer. The question of the permanent occu- 

 pation of tropical countries has become one of vital importance to the 

 two great European governments of England and France. Uow this 

 can be done at the least expense of human life can only be ascertained 

 by the study of the laws which regulate acclimation. 



ACCOLADE. This French word, derived from the Latin ad, to, 

 and eoUtm, the neck, signifies, in familiar speech, im embrace ; and 

 this idea, or that of union by means of the neck, as when two oxen are 

 yoked together, U that which prevails in various other derivatives 

 from the same root, both in the French and Italian languages. Some, 

 accordingly, have supposed that, when used as descriptive of a certain 

 part of the ancient ceremony of conferring knighthood, the particular 

 act which it denoted waa the embrace, accompanied with a kiss, which 

 was bestowed upon the new-made knight, in token of the brotherhood 

 established between them by his admission into the order of chivalry. 

 It has, however, been the more generally-received opinion, that the 

 accolade was what we call iu English (though perhaps improperly) the 

 dubbing, the slight blow given to the cheek or shoulder of the knight, 

 " as an emblem," to use the language of Gibbon, " of the last affront 

 which it was lawful for him to endure." There is no doubt as to the 

 great antiquity of this last-mentioned custom. Gregory of Tours, 

 writing in the 6th century, describes the blow on the shoulder as part 

 i-f the ceremony with which the kings of France, of the first race, were 

 wont to confer the honour of knighthood. It has been derived, by 

 nome antiquaries, from the blow which the Roman slave received from 

 his master when manumitted, or made a freeman. The blow of 

 liberation, indeed, whatever may have been its original import, may 

 be traced in various directions among the usages of the middle ages. 

 The blow by which knighthood was conferred seems to have been 

 originally given with the hand, for which the flat part of the sword 

 was afterwards substituted. 



ACCOMPANIMENT, in Music, is the subordinate part, or parts, 

 accompanying a voice, or several voices, or a principal instrument, IK. 

 The piano-forte or guitar part of a song i the accompaniment, the air 

 itself being the principal, the other only the useful ally, the support. 

 Ill a concerto the whole band accompany the instrument for which the 

 chief and prominent part is composed. 



Aocompiniment is also the harmony of a figured base, or another 

 word (or what is, by a foolish, unmeaning term but too generally 

 adopted to be at once discarded called thorough-base. 



The Accompaniment of the Scale is the harmony assigned, partly by 

 what may be called nature and partly by custom, to that aeries of notes 

 denominated the diatonic scale ascending and descending, such scale 

 being taken as a base. For an explanation of these matters, see 

 THOBOCOB-BASE. See also DiATomc ; SCALE. 



Dr. Burney (in Bees' ' Cyclopedia') seems inclined to favour the 

 ..pinion of Rousseau, that an accompaniment of the smallest possible 

 number of notes is to be preferred. Rousseau had not acquired a 

 taste fur rich harmony, for with the music of the German school he was 

 very little, if at all, acquainted ; but that Burney should have sanctioned 

 opinions formed upon the imperfect knowledge of the subject existing 

 in the middle of the last century, U somewhat a matter of surprise. A 

 judicious medium, in this as in other things, is the best. The old 

 Italian accompaniment can now hardly be endured ; while, certainly. 

 many ultra-Oermanists of the present day overpower melody by the 

 multitude of note* which they are so prone to employ. 



ACCOMPLICE. [APPROTIR.] 



ACCOMPTS. [Boounrnro.] 



ACCORDION. A musical instrument which came into England, 

 from Germany, about the year 1828. 



The Accordion is in the form of a nmall oblong box, varying from eight 

 to twenty inches In length. The interior exhibit* a row of very small 

 elastic metallic lamina!, or springs, fixed at one end in a plate of metal, 

 so that they may vibrate freely. The upper and lower parta of the 

 box are united by a folding apparatus or bellows, which aupplies the 

 ah- required to put the springs into vibration, and to these the ah- in 



admitted by means of valves acted on by keys, in the manner of an 

 organ. There is also a very simple contrivance by which a base note 

 or drone may be added, at the discretion of the performer. These 

 instruments vary in siie and in capabilities : the compass of the most 

 complete is from o the fourth space in the base staff, to E the seventh 

 additional space above the treble, including all the semitones. Hence 

 the accordion is not limited to melody, but can produce the most 

 agreeable harmonic effects. 



The principle on which the accordion, and all other instrument* of 

 the kind, is founded, is fully explained by Dr. Gottfried Weber, in his 

 ' Leges Oscillationis,' *<.. published in 1827, who refers, as his source 

 of information, to an article by Strokmann, in the 'Allgemeine 

 Musicalische Zeitung' of 1818. This principle, however, had been 

 fully set forth many years before by Professor Robison, in the 

 'Encyclopedia Britonnica,' under the term 'Musical Trumpet;' and 

 it is now known that the Chinese were familiar with it before its 

 introduction into Europe. 



The firms of Reiniach and Steinkeller, at Vienna, sent largo collec- 

 tions of beautiful accordions to the Great Exhibition of 1851 ; as did 

 also Wagner of Reuse, and Zimmerman of Carlsfeld. The 40-keyed 

 accordions of the last-named firm were priced as low as six Prussian 

 thalers (17 1. 6d.). Small and roughly-made German accordions are 

 now sold in England at extremely low prices. In the commoner 

 instruments, each key is made to elicit two different tones, according 

 as the wind is made to pass into or out of it ; but, in some of the 

 better kinds, there arc as many keys as notes. 



The gentle tones of this beautiful instrument are found to be so 

 attractive to the inhabitants of rude nations, that Roman Catholic 

 missionaries have lately, in some instances, adopted the plan of taking 

 accordions out with them. In musical capability, however, the accordion 

 is far inferior to an instrument of later introduction. [CoSCEnirxA.] 



The Flutina is a form of the accordion in which, by a mode of 

 partitioning the interior cavity into cells, a peculiar flute-like quality \- 

 given to the tones. 



The Oryan-accordion, a recent invention, has a row of black :o..l 

 white keys like those of the organ or pianoforte, giving all th< 

 and semi-tones for three octaves. These keys are played with tin- 

 fingers of the right-hand, the left-hand being needed to work the 

 bellows. The instrument, too large to be held in the hand, is rested 

 either on a table or on the lap of the performer. It is intended chiefly 

 as an accompaniment to the voice. 



Mr. Faulkner has invented an accordion-stand. It in an apparatus to 

 assist in playing the instrument ; it will incline to any position suitable 

 to the convenience of the performer ; and, by the action of a upring- 

 top, it can be fixed in the position chosen. 



ACCOUNT, or ACCOMPT, from the low Latin, eomputut, ia a form 

 of action, and of which frequent mention is made in the old law book*. 

 Strictly, it lay unly against a bailiff or receiver, requiring him to render 

 an account of the moneys received by him as such ; but the form of 

 action being found to be one of the most convcni. i me, it 



was extended to cases where the person called upon to account was 

 neither a bailiff nor an authorised receiver, if he had in any way received 

 and retained money which it was hia duty to have handed over to the 

 claimant. At present, this is effected in many cases by the action for 

 " money received to the use " of the plaintiff. The action of account 

 ia now rarely used, a auit in chancery being generally resorted to. 



(Blackstone's t'omm., Mr. KBIT'S ed., vol. iii. pp. 171, 17'-M 



ACCOUNT STATED. This is the title of the common count in 

 the declaration in nn fiction, where the plaintiff seeks to i . M tin 

 amount due upon a balanced account between the parties. The form 

 states the defendant to be indebted to the plaintiff in a certain sum of 

 money found to be due from the defendant to the plaintiff upon 

 "accounts then stated" between them, from which statement of 

 accounts the law implies a promise by the debtor to pay the KUIII In- 

 then admits himself to owe. This form is generally introduced in 

 actions upon simple contracts for the recovery of pecuniary demands. 



It is not essential that there should be cross or reciprocal demand* 

 between the parties, or that the account should relate to more than a 



single debt or transaction; nor need the original <li maiiil 1 H. 



recoverable at law. Thus, a member of a partnership, though he 

 cannot in general sue his partner at law for hia share of the ] 

 may do so after a balance has been struck in his favour. Hut it in 

 necessary that there should have existed some claim against the 

 defendant, or aome previous transactions in resoect of which the 

 account is stated, for an action cannot be brought in thia forui upon a 

 mere agreement to pay a sum of money, the maxim being ej-niiii't JMC/O 

 on vritur actio. It is, tli.'i. t-i. . usual in support of this count to 

 give evidence of an original demand or a prior transaction, and of a 

 balance struck and agreed upon, but it is sufficient in the first instance, 

 to prove an admission by the defendant to the plaintiff or his agent, 

 that a certain sum was then due, without showing the origin or nature 

 of the claim, or proving the specific items constituting the account. 

 Thus an I. 0. U., a bill, or a promissory note, is primA facie evidence 

 of an account stated betwixt the immediate parties. The . 

 must have been stated before the action is brought ; and the admission , 

 in order to charge a defendant, must be positive, unqualified, and 

 unconditional, and must not be merely the admiaaion of a del 

 either expressly or by reference, the admission of a specific sum 



