ANVILLE APE. 



203 



steel. This is performed by first preparing the steel 

 face to the size of the anvil. The anvil is then 

 heated to a strong welding heat in one fire, while the 

 steel facing is heated in another, but not so hot as 

 the iron. The anvil is now brought out and placed 

 ir. a proper position, and the facing is brought to it. 

 The surfaces which are to be brought together are 

 brushed, and the facing is then laid on and hammered 

 as rapidly as possible, till it is closely united. The 

 whole is finished by repeated heating and hammer- 

 ing. The -next process is that of liardening the anvil. 

 This consists hi heating the face, in particular, to a 

 full red heat, and quenching it in cold water. When 

 a stream of water can be employed it is better. 

 Where this cannot be had, the mass of water should 

 be great, and the anvil moved about as quick as pos- 

 sible. The facing should be laid on as thin as it can 

 be firmly welded ; when it is too thick it is apt to 

 crack in the hardening. After hardening, the face 

 is ground till it is pertectly even, and the edges made 

 sharp or round, as may be required. When the anvil 

 is required for planishing metals, it is polished with 

 emery, and afterwards , with crocus. The smith's 

 anvil is generally placed loose upon a wooden block, 

 the root-end of an oak-tree being preferred. The 

 anvils used in cutlery and for files are fastened into a 

 large block of stone, which is doubtless better than 

 having the anvil loose upon a small block. The 

 more firmly the anvil is connected with the earth and 

 the substance it stands upon, the greater will be the 

 effect of the blow of the hammer. 



ANVILLE, Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d' ; first geo- 

 grapher of the king, pensionnaire of the academy of 

 inscriptions and fine arts, &c., was born at Paris, in 

 1697. A map, which chance put into his hands, 

 awakened his love for geography at the age of i2. 

 He began to sketch regions mentioned in the Roman 

 historians, and directea all his studies to geography. 

 He read the ancients only to ascertain the position of 

 cities, and to fix the limits of the remote kingdoms, 

 of which we find traces in history. Thus he early 

 acquired an extensive knowledge of geography, be- 

 came acquainted with the learned, ana, at the age of 

 22, received the office of geographer to the king. He 

 now began to examine and set in order the mass of 

 his knowledge, and acquired a nice tact, resembling 

 instinct, which was the result of ingenious and care- 

 ful comparison. Almost everywhere, his accuracy 

 was rewarded by the discovery of truth. The highest 

 estimation is due to him as a critic, and most of his 

 opinions and conjectures have been verified by later 

 inquiries on the spot. He has published 211 maps 

 and plans, and 78 treatises. His atlas of ancient 

 Egypt is the most deserving. His Orbis Veteribus 

 if/tux, and his Orbis Romanus, ought to be in the 

 hands of all who read ancient history. So, also, his 

 maps of Gaul, Italy, and Greece. His maps of the 

 Sane countries for the middle ages are of equal value. 

 His maps of modern times are as good as could be 

 formed of the materials in his possession. He was 

 modest and unassuming, although too irritable when 

 censured. The natural delicacy of his constitution 

 flid not hinder him from labouring fifteen hours daily. 

 Two years before his death, his mental powers sank 

 beneath the infirmities of age. He died in 1782. 

 His valuable collection of maps was purchased by the 

 government in 1779. 



AONIAN MOUNT ; Parnassus (q. v.) ; the residence of 

 the Muses. The name, Aonia was sometimes given 

 to a part of Boeotia. Aonides ; one of the many 

 names given to the Muses. Annes (Af) were a 

 chain of mountains, of which Helicon was one. 



AORASIA (Greek, aa^<ria, from a. priv. and '*, to 

 we ), the invisibility of the gods. The ancient opinion 

 nith regard to the appearance of the gods to men 



was, that they never showed themselves face to face, 

 but were known from their backs as they withdrew. 



AORTA ; the great artery, which rises immediately 

 out of the left ventricle of the heart. It is distin- 

 guished into two grand divisions by the epithets 

 ascending and descending. See Artery. 



APANAGE ; an allowance which the younger princes 

 of a reigning house (in which the right of primogeni- 

 ture prevails, as is now generally the case) receive 

 from the revenues of the country, that they may be 

 enabled to live in a manner becoming their rank. 

 It consists mostly hi money, with the use of a princely 

 castle and hunting grounds, attended, frequently, 

 with the right of jurisdiction over these domains. 

 When it is once fixed, it passes to the descendants of 

 the apanaged princes, sprung from a lawful marriage, 

 of a suitable rank, and, in their default, commonly 

 falls into the hands of the reigning sovereign. Some- 

 times it is added to the possessions of the surviving 

 apanaged princes. A tract of land with the right of 

 ruling it, set aside for an apanage, is called peragium, 



APE. This designation, often indiscriminately ap- 

 plied to the members of the monkey tribe, was first 

 properly restricted by Ray, the precursor of Linnaeus, 

 to those quadrumanous animals which, in structure, 

 most closely approximate to the human configuration. 

 In speaking of apes as distinguished from monkeys, 

 we have reference to those genera of the great 

 family quadrumana, which have neither tails nor 

 cheek pouches, attain nearly to human height, and 

 present a facial angle, varying from 65 to SO". The 

 apes at present known are classed differently by dif- 

 ferent naturalists : Cuvier considers them all as 

 species of one genus ; Desmarest, whose arrange- 

 ment in this instance we prefer, places them under 

 the three genera, troglodytes, pithecus, and pongo, the 

 second of which he divides into two sub-genera, 

 orangs proper, having no gluteal callosities, and gib- 

 bons, or long-armed apes, having callosities. The 

 species are troglodytes niger, the chimpanzee or orang- 

 otang, which is a native of Africa, especially of the 

 coasts of Angola and Congo, pithecus satyrus, the red 

 orang, found in the most eastern parts of Southern 

 Asia, particularly in Cochin China, Borneo, and Ma- 

 lacca ; pithecus lar, the great gibbon, a native of the 

 Molucca islands, Coromandel, &c. ; pithecus leiiciscus, 

 the wou-wou (so called on account of its cry), found 

 in the same countries ; pithecus syndactylus or sia- 

 mang, and the pithecus agilis or active gibbon, both 

 from Sumatra. As to the pongo, Cuvier has given 

 excellent reasons for believing it to be nothing but 

 the first-mentioned species in a state of maturity. 

 Like all the four-handed animals, the apes are des- 

 tined to live among the branches of trees, and are 

 especially adapted, from their size and strength, to 

 occupy large forests. All of them have the power of 

 assuming a nearly erect position, though on the. 

 ground this is by no means convenient, as they stand 

 upon the outer edges, being unable to apply the 

 palms of the posterior hands fairly against the soil, 

 and require a staff, or other support, to maintain this 

 attitude, except when they have been taught to stand 

 erect by man. They generally live in troops, anti 

 some of the species are said to construct a sort of hut 

 of leaves, as a defence against the weather. They 

 defend themselves with clubs, and employ these 

 weapons with considerable effect, even against the 

 human race. They are frugivorous in a state of 

 nature, but, from the resemblance of their teeth to 

 those of the human species, it is very evident that 

 their diet may be almost as various as that of man. 

 Some of them, the gibbons, are very remarkable, from 

 the exceeding length of their superior extremities, 

 the arm being so long that the hands hang near the 

 ground when the animal is in the erect position. This 



