1TOLI A AFFINITY . 



towards the top of the mountain ; it comprehends a 

 surface of about forty or forty-five square leagues, 

 and forms a zone of the brightest green all round the 

 mountain, exhibiting a pleasing contrast to its white 

 and hoary head. It is called la regione selvosa, be- 

 cause it abounds in oaks, beeches, and firs. The 

 soil is similar to that of the lower region. The air 

 here is cool and refreshing, and every breeze is loaded 

 with a thousand perfumes, the whole ground being 

 covered with the richest aromatic plants. Matoy 

 parts of this region are the most delightful spots upon 

 earth, and have inspired ancient and modern poets 

 with images of beauty and loveliness. The animal 

 kingdom of these two regions is not equal in point 

 of richness to the vegetable. The upper or bar- 

 ren region is marked out by a circle of snow and 

 ice. Its surface is, for the most part, flat, and the 

 approach to it is indicated by the decline of vegeta- 

 tion, by uncovered rocks of Lava and heaps of sand, 

 by near views of an expanse of snow and ice, and of 

 torrents of smoke issuing from the crater of the moun- 

 tain, also by the difficulty and danger of advancing 

 amidst streams of melted snow, sheets of ice, and 

 gusts of chilling winds. The curious traveller, how- 

 ever, thinks himself amply rewarded, upon gaining 

 the summit, for the peril which he has encountered. 

 The number of stars seems increased, and their light 

 appears brighter than usual ; the lustre of the milky 

 way is like a pure flame that shoots across the hea- 

 vens ; and with the naked eye we may observe clus- 

 ters of stars totally invisible in the lower regions. 

 The scoriae, of which the mountain is composed, have 

 the same kind of base, containing schorl and feldtspar. 

 The first eruption of which we have any authentic 

 account, is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus. The 

 last eruption took place in 1819. It appears very 

 probable that mount 2Etna is exhausting its volcanic 

 powers, as the eruptions of modern times are by no 

 means so frequent as in former ages, nor are they so 

 tremendous in their extent and effects. Before the 

 Christian aera, there were nine eruptions, of which 

 those in 477 and 121 B. C. are the most important : 

 after Christ, the most important are those in 1160, 

 1169, 1329, 1536, 1537, 1669, 1693, 1763, 1787, 

 1792, 1802, 1809, 1811, and 1819. Mount ^Etna 

 supplies Sicily and a large part of Italy, and even 

 Malta, with the luxury of snow and ice. The trade 

 in these articles belongs to the bishop of Catania, 

 who, as it is stated, makes from 3000 to 4000 dollars 

 per annum by it. The vegetation of the woody re- 

 gion is exceedingly luxuriant. There is one chesnut 

 tree, under which a hundred horses may be shel- 

 tered from the sun ; it therefore is called dei cento 

 cavalli. See Denon's Voyage pittoresque en Sicile, 

 vol. 4., and Alexander von Humboldt's Personal 

 Narrative. Since 1824, Catania has had the Gio- 

 enian Academy (so called in honour of the chevalier 

 Giuseppe Gioeni, author of a Litologia Vesuviana), 

 the object of which is to investigate the topography 

 and natural history of ^Etna. 



./ETOLIA ; a country in Greece, on the northern 

 coast of the Corinthian gulf; so called from ^Etolus, 

 the brother .of Epeus, king of Elis, who, escaping 

 from Elis, made himself master of this region. An- 

 cient yEtolia was separated from Acarnania by the 

 river Achelous, and extended thence to Calydon, or 

 to the river Evenus. On the south lay the gulf of 

 Corinth, and Thessaly on the north. Its extent from 

 north to south was about forty-eight miles, and from 

 east to west above twenty. It was subsequently en- 

 larged by successful wars. The additions were com- 

 prehended under the name of SEtolia Epictetos. The 

 borders of ^Etolia on the north were now mount 

 (Eta and the Athamanes in Epirus. Thermopylae, 

 Heraclea, and a great part of Thessaly also belonged 



to it. On the east, Doris and the coast as far as 

 Naupactus and Eupalion were added to it. The 

 country was rough and unfruitful, but strong by rea- 

 son of its mountains. According to Herodotus and 

 Aristotle, lions infested ^E. in the most ancient times. 

 The original ancestors of the 2Etolians were Hel- 

 lenes. Divided into small tribes, they had no principal 

 city ; they were occupied in hunting and robbery, 

 and made themselves feared both on land and sea. 

 In their state of independence, they preserved for a 

 long time their ancient rudeness of manners. They 

 very early formed the great ^Etolian confederacy, 

 which assembled once a year at Therma, but first 

 became remarkable in the time of the Achaean league. 

 To oppose this confederacy they united with the 

 Romans ; and afterwards deserted them, on perceiv- 

 ing that their freedom was in danger from their allies. 

 They then went over to the side of the Macedonians, 

 with whom they were obliged at last to submit to the 

 Roman yoke. The government of JR. was repub- 

 lican, controlled by the Pancetolium, a general coun- 

 cil, held as occasion required. Livy says that their 

 cavalry was at one period esteemed superior to that 

 of any other of the Grecian states. 



AFFA ; a weight on the Gold Coast of Guinea, 

 equal to one ounce. 



AFFINITY ; in chemistry. When two bodies are 

 brought into contact with each other, they will often, 

 without the sensible operation of any extraneous in- 

 fluences, combine by a spontaneous and reciprocal 

 action, and form new bodies with different proper- 

 ties ; a single body, modified by the action of the 

 natural agents, caloric, electricity, &c., sometimes 

 produces the same results ; finally, a body not appar- 

 ently acted upon by other bodies, nor by the natural 

 agents, sometimes acquires new properties, and as- 

 sumes new forms. These changes in the chemical 

 character of bodies are produced by a force, to which 

 we give the name of affinity. Some of the laws or 

 modes of action of this force are, that it is. exerted 

 only at insensible distances, which distinguishes it 

 from gravitation (see Attraction), and between hete- 

 rogeneous particles, in which it differs from cohesion 

 (q. v.) The properties of the resulting compound 

 differ essentially from its component parts, as a salt 

 is formed by an acid and an alkali. The forms of 

 the elements are often changed, and the change is 

 attended with remarkable phenomena, as the explo- 

 sion of gunpowder by its conversion into gasses, the 

 solidification of water in slaking lime, &c. One of 

 the most important laws of affinity is, that one body 

 has not the same force of affinity towards all others, 

 but attracts them very unequally, and some of them 

 not at all. The knowledge of the affinities of differ- 

 ent bodies is of great use to the chemist in effecting 

 decompositions. Bergmann, who first, in 1775, de- 

 veloped the theory or affinities, distinguishes three 

 cases in the reciprocal action of two bodies when 

 they are both free, which he calls simple affinity ; 

 when one of them is already in combination, elective, 

 and when both are combined in different compounds, 

 Complex. Bertholletjias much improved the theory 

 of affinities. See ^Jerthollet's Statique Chimique, 

 and Berzelius' Theory of Chemical Proportions. 



AFFINITY, in law, is that degree of connexion, 

 which subsists between one of two married persons 

 and the blood relations of the other. It is no real 



ilivtl. A person cannot, by legal succession, re- 

 ceive an inheritance from a relation by affinity; 

 neither does it extend to the nearest relations of hus- 

 jand and wife, so as to create a mutual relation l)e- 

 ;ween them. The degrees of affinity are computed 

 in the same way as those of consanguinity, or blood. 

 By the Jewish law, marriage was prohibited within 

 certain degrees. Nearly the same limitations are 

 o H 



