244 



ARCHIVES AHCON A. 



greatly distinguished. The dukes of Fermra, Borso, 

 and Ercole of Este, were active |>am>iis <>f architec- 

 ture. Duke Francesco embellished Milan with the 

 ducal palace, the castle Porta di Oiove, the hospital 

 and otlier edifices. Ludovico Sforza erected the 

 buildings of the university at Pa via and the hospital 

 of Milan. The popes adorned Rome, and Lorm/.o 

 de' Medici, Florence, with splendid buildings. The 

 artists returned to the monuments of antiquity, and 

 studied their beautiful forms and just proportions. The 

 most illustrious architects of this time were Filippo 

 Brunelleschi, who built, at Florence, the dome of the 

 cathedral, the church S. Spirito, and the palace Pitti, 

 besides many edifices at Milan, Pisa, Pesaro, and 

 Mantua; Battista Albert!, who wrote, at the same 

 time, on architecture ; Michelozzi Bramante, who 

 commenced the building of St Peter's ; Michael An- 

 gelo Buonaotti, who erected its magnificent dome ; 

 and Giocondo, who built much in France, and after- 

 wards directed, with Raphael, the building of the 

 church of St Peter's. These were followed by others, 

 who proceeded in their spirit Palladio, Scamozzi, 

 Serlio, Barozzio, known by the name of t'ignola. 

 They are the founders of the existing taste in archi- 

 tecture. That, however, they studied their art in 

 those works of antiquity which had already deviated 

 from the early purity and elevated grandeur, is evi- 

 dent in their buildings, from the many curved and 

 twisted ornaments, the circular, irregular, and cut 

 pediments, the coupled columns, high pedestals, and 

 other things, which were unknown to architecture at 

 the time of Pericles. Thus a new period in architec- 

 ture had begun in Italy. Italian masters, and young 

 artists sent to Italy, introduced the Roman taste into 

 foreign countries, which gradually supplanted the 

 Gothic. Since that time, architecture has experienc- 

 ed different destinies in different countries. It has 

 risen and declined at different periods ; yet laudable 

 attempts have been made, in recent times, to advance 

 it to its true perfection, though we cannot affirm that 

 they have succeeded every where. In America, the 

 pure Grecian architecture is gradually prevailing, 

 either because this style is founded on plainer princi- 

 ples than the others, or because the Grecian really 

 deserves to be called a republican style, since it is 

 better adapted than the Gothic to small buildings, and 

 does not require large and splendid edifices (a great 

 number of which can never exist in a democracy), in 

 order to display all its beauty. (For an account of 

 modern architecture in different countries, see the 

 respective articles.) 



ARCHIVES ; a collection of written documents, con- 

 taining the rights, privileges, claims, treaties, consti- 

 tutions, &c., of a family, corporation, community, city, 

 or kingdom ; also, the place where such documents 

 are kept There are, accordingly, private and pub- 

 lic or state archives. Archives were known among 

 the most ancient people. The Israelites, Greeks, 

 and Romans had them in their temples, and the 

 Christians, at first, preserved important manuscripts 

 with the sacred vessels and relics, till proper places 

 were assigned to them. Those governments which 

 transact every thing by writing have, of course, much 

 larger archives than others ; thus the archives in 

 every branch of government in Prussia and Austria 

 ore immense. According to VVageinselius, the ar- 

 chives of the German empire contain very few docu- 

 ments before the time of the emperor Rodolph of 

 Hapsburg (who was elected in 1273), or even of the 

 subsequent century. At the end of the 15th century, 

 and at the beginning of the 16th, under Maximilian 

 I, the archives of the empire received a new form, 

 and have been preserved with ffreat care. Some 

 historians, (e. g., Schmidt, in his History of the Ger- 

 man!)), have made the most diPgent and praiseworthy 



use of them. The modem archives of Prussia are 

 excellently arranged; probably none are so com- 

 plete in respect to statistical matters. In Britain, 

 great care lias Ix-en taken of archives, insomuch 

 that continental nati< HIS often ha\e recourse to 'this 

 country for documents. In France, the archives 

 were .dispersed all over the country till the revolu- 

 tion, when, by law of Sept. 7, 1790, they were put 

 in a common place of deposit, after a very large 

 quantity of documents had been destroyed. This im- 

 mense collection of public acts is now in the un- 

 dent hotel Soubise, au Marais, in Paris. The laws of 

 Oct. 1O, 1792, and Feb. 20, 1793, put the whole man- 

 agement of the archives on a systematic fooling. 

 In 1814, June 6, the archives of the navy ami (lie 

 war departments were organized, in order to preserve 

 the historical documents, military memoirs, plans, 

 maps, &c. 



ARCHONS; the highest magistrate-, in Ai'ien.. (See 

 dttica.) The Jews, also, had archons in their capti- 

 vity. 



ARCHYTAS of Tarentum ; a famous Pythagorean, 

 renowned as a truly wise man, a great mathematician, 

 statesman, and general. He devoted himself, ia 

 Metapontum, to the study of the Pythagorean philo- 

 sophy. Being the contemporary of Plato (Olympiad 

 96 ; 400 B. C.), he must have lived a century later 

 than Pythagoras, and was still alive when Plato tra- 

 velled to Sicily. Hence he cannot be regarded as the 

 instructure of Philolaus, who was older ; and still less 

 as the immediate scholar of Pythagoras. The inven- 

 tion of the analytic method in mathematics is ascribed 

 to him, as well as the solution of many geometrical 

 and mechanical problems. He also constructed an 

 automaton (a flying pigeon). Perhaps he was als( 

 the inventor of the categories in philosophy. It 

 however, still undecided whether Aristotle's work 

 the ten categories is drawn from his work or forge 

 Horace mentions him, in one of his poems, as Iiavir 

 been drowned on the coast of Apulia. 



ARCKENHOLZ, John, the historian, was born, 169 

 in Swedish Finland, and died 1777, at Stockholm 

 He wrote Memoires concemant Christine, Heine de 

 Suede, Amsterdam, 1751 CO, 4 vols. 4to. 



ARCON, Jean Claude Eleonore d', inventor of tli 

 floating batteries, for the attack of Gibraltar, bor 

 1732, at Pontarlier, was designed for the church, but 

 his father, a lawyer, yielded to the decided inclination 

 of his son for military science. He was received into 

 the military school at Mezieres, 1754, and, the follow- 

 ing year, into the corps of engineers. In the seven 

 years' war, he highly distinguished himself, particular- 

 ly at the defence of Cassel, in 1761. 1774, he w;:s 

 employed in drawing a map of the Jura and the Vos- 

 ges, and, to expedite the labour, he invented a new- 

 mode of shading, much superior to the common one. 

 He was gifted with an inventive imagination and an 

 unwearied activity. He wrote much, and in all his 

 writings, which are read with pleasure, in spite of 

 their incorrect style, we find a richness of ideas, and 

 traces of a splendid genius. In 1780, he invented the 

 floating batteries. The jealousy and disunion of the 

 French and Spanish generals tended to prevent the 

 result from answering his expectation. Elliot, who 

 directed the defence of Gibraltar, did full justice to 

 the inventor. At the invasion of Holland, under 

 Dumouriez, he took several places, including Breda. 

 He then went into retirement, where he wrote his last 

 and best work, the result of all the rest, Considera- 

 tions Militaires et Politiyues sur let Fortifications, 

 (Military and Political Considerations on Fortifica- 

 tions). The first consul placed him in the senate in 

 1799, and he died July 1, 180D. 



ARCONA ; the most northern point of Germany (it 

 Prussia Proper is not included therein) ; the north- 





