36 



ADMIRALTY ISLANDS ADOPTION. 



10 take cognizance of prizes, though the individuals 

 composing die court are the same in both IM -. 



ADMIRALTY ISLANDS ; a cluster of islands to the 

 north of New Kritain, u\ the South Pacific ocean, 

 in about 2" J8' S. lat. and 146 44 K. Ion. There 

 are between 20 and 30. The Dutch discovered them 

 in 1016. The islanders art! black, but not of a deep 

 shade ; tall and almost in a state of nudity. They 

 evinced much kindness towards La Perouse. A. I. 

 is likewise an island in George Ill's Archipelago, 

 mi the north-west coast of New Norfolk, in America, 

 Ivctween N. lat. 57 and 58 30', and between W. 

 Ion. 131 and 135". See Vancouver's Voyage, vol iii. 



ADOLPHUS of Nassau was elected emperor of (icr- 

 many, May 1 , 1292, and crowned at Aix la Cha- 

 pelle, June 25. He was of an illustrious family, and 

 of approved courage ; but without any patrimony, 

 except his sword, and destitute of those great quali- 

 ties which had raised his predecessor, llodolph of 

 Hapsburg, to the throne. A. owed his election, in 

 part, to the arrogant conduct of Albert of Austria ; 

 in part, to his intrigues with the electors of Cologne 

 and Menu, who imposed on him the hardest con- 

 ditions, and forced him to resign to them cities and 

 territories, which were not his own. But, refusing 

 to fulfill, when emperor, what he had promised when 

 count, he soon saw himself hated and deserted by 

 his friends. Urged by want of money, he received 

 100,000 pounds sterling from Edward I. of England, 

 and, in return, engaged to assist him against Philip 

 the Fair of France ; out he was by no means sorry 

 to see the pope forbid his participation in the war. 

 In this way he made himself contemptible in the 

 eyes of the German princes, and became still more 

 odious to them by taking advantage of the hatred of 

 Albert, landgrave of Thuringia, against his sons, and 

 purdiasing this territory from him. This purchase 

 involved him in a five years' war, in which he attempt- 

 ed, unsuccessfully, to subjugate the country which he 

 had bought. Disgusted at such disgraceful conduct, 

 and urged on by Albert of Austria, the college of 

 electors, excepting those of Treves, Cologne, and 

 the Palatinate, cited Adolphus to appear before it. 

 Failing to appear, the throne was declared vacant, 

 June 23, 1298, and Albert of Austria elected. A 

 war already existed between the two rivals, in which 

 Adolphus seemed superior, until, deceived by the 

 manoeuvres of his foe, he found himself surrounded 

 at Gellheim, and fell, after a heroic resistance, by 

 Albert's own hand, July 2, 1298. His body was de- 

 posited by Henry VII. in the imperial vault at Spire, 

 at the same time with that of Albert. His faults 

 sprung mostly from the inadequateness of his abilities 

 to his situation. One mistake followed another, and 

 when, in the latter part of his career, he wished to 

 adopt a better course, it was too late. 



ATOM, a small state or principality on the gold 

 coast of Africa, 



ADONAI, one of the many Hebrew names for God. 

 The word properly signifies my lords, in the plural 

 number, which is called, in the Hebrew grammar, 

 pluralis majestatis. The Jews, who, from religious 

 reverence, do not pronounce the name Jehovah, 

 read Adonai in all the places in which the former 

 name occurs. This practice commenced among the 

 latter Jews after the Babylonish captivity, at least 

 before the time of Josephus. See Geddes's Crit. 

 Remarks vol. i. p. 167, and Leigh's Crit. Sacr. in 

 verb. Ku(us. 



ADOXIC. The Adonic verse consists of a dactyl 

 and a spondee or trochee, e. P, 



7 3 



rarajuvuitus; 

 and, on account of its animated movement, is adapted 

 to gay and lively poetry. Long poems, however, 



would become monotonous if written entirely in a 

 ueasiire so short, and recurring with no variety. It 

 s therefore rarely u-ctl by itself. Even the ancients 

 ilways combined it with other kinds of verse; thus 

 the last \erse of the Sapphic strophe is Adonic. 



ADONIS; sonofCinyms by his daughter Myrrha. 

 The wood-nymphs educated him, and he grew up 

 so remarkably beautiful, that he became the favou- 

 rite of Venus, who accompanied him to the cha-e, 

 [minting out the dangers to which he was exposed. 

 A., disregarding her advice, eai;c r |y pursued the wild 

 beasts of the forest, but happening to fail in an 

 utack upon a wild boar, he was mortally wounded 

 by this ferocious animal. The goddess, hearing of 

 his misfortune, hurried to his assistance, and in her 

 haste her foot was wounded by a rose-bush, the 

 flowers of which, formerly white, from that time took 

 the colour of blood. When she reached the spot, she 

 found him lifeless on the grass, and, to alleviate her 

 grief and preserve his memory, she transformed him 

 into the anemone. At her request, however, Jupiter 

 permitted A. to spend six months with her, and the 

 other six with Proserpine. A full explanation of this 

 fable may lie found in Creuzer's Symbolik und Mytho- 

 logie der P'cel/cer des Alterthums. 



ADOPTIANI ; a religious sect which asserted that 

 Christ, as to his divine nature, was properly the Son 

 of God ; but as to his human nature, only such by 

 adoption, by baptism and regeneration, through which 

 God's mercy adopts other men also as his children ; for 

 they could not comprehend how a human being could 

 be called the Son of God in a literal sense. Eli- 

 pandus, archbishop of Toledo, and Felix, bishop of 

 Urgel, in Spain, avowed this doctrine in 783, and 

 made proselytes both in Spain and France. Charle- 

 magne condemned their heresy at the council of 

 Ratisbon, and dismissed Felix from his office. This 

 sentence was repeated three times ; at Frankfort, 794, 

 at Rome and at Aix la Chapelle in 799, because the 

 bishop relapsed twice into his former error. He was 

 then placed for the remainder of his life, under the 

 care of the bishop of Lyons. After the death of 

 Elipandus, the whole controversy ceased. The dis- 

 pute is worthy of notice, both on account of the mo- 

 deration of Charlemagne, and because the opinion 

 of the Adoptiani has often been made use of, by those 

 who have exerted themselves, to adapt the doctrine 

 of the divinity of Christ to the comprehension of 

 man. 



ADOPTION, the admission of a stranger by birth to 

 the privileges of a child, has come down to us in the 

 Roman law. Its purpose was the acquisition of pa- 

 ternal power, which could either be ceded to the per- 

 son adopting by the natural parent (adoption in the 

 strictest sense), or be obtained by the assent of a per- 

 son no longer under the patria potestas, or of his 

 guardians. This second sort is called arrogation. 

 According to the ancient civil law, the adopted child 

 left the family of its parents or guardians, and became 

 a member of the family of the person adopting it. The 

 emperor Justinian abolished this principle in regard 

 to adoption properly so called. Adoption was intended 

 to supply the want of offspring in those persons who 

 might have been parents. Eunuchs, therefore, and 

 persons already having legitimate issue, were ex- 

 cluded from this privilege. The person adopting 

 must have been at least 18 years older than the per- 

 son to be adopted. Guardians were not permitted 

 to adopt their wards, nor a poor man a rich child. 

 Females, strictly speaking, were not permitted to 

 adopt, but might, with the permission of the sovereign, 

 secure to any child the right of support and inheri- 

 tance. In Germany, the rules respecting adoption are 

 derived from the civil law, but require the sanction 

 either of the sovereign or of the judiciary. (Civil Code 



