TUB 



ORGANIZE 

 KNOWLEDGE 



TRAOC MAf^RFOSTtRCD 



AND PICTURE 



Aa 



v- 



A. Almost all the alphabets of the world, 

 no matter how unlike they may be in other 

 ways, have a as their first letter. But while 

 in most of the languages in use to-day a 

 stands but for one sound, that heard in 

 father, in English it represents eight sounds, 



as in the words father, fat, fate, fare, final, fall, what and ask. It is used, moreover, 



to form digraphs, as in heat and boat. 



It seems probable that the Phoenicians, who invented the alphabet, represented by 



their capital A an ox's head; but when the Greeks adopted the alphabet they turned 



this first letter upside down, making it look much like a capital A to-day, and thus the 



letter lost all of its picture quality. See ALPHABET. 



In music, A is placed, in the treble clef, on the second space, second added line 



below and first added line above. In the base clef it is on the first space and fifth 



line. It is the sixth note in the dia- _ n s. -* 



tonic scale of C. See Music. 



A i , a term which, when used in its popular 

 sense, is a slang phrase, but not objectionable. 

 It is intended to denote a high quality of excel- 

 lence or of a condition perfectly satisfactory. 

 The origin of A 1 is due to Lloyd's agency in 

 London for the insurance of vessels, and when 

 placed opposite the name of a boat indicated 

 absolute seaworthiness. 



The leading American financial reporting 

 agencies adopted the symbols, with variations, 

 to indicate a business man's credit rating and 

 capital. These are discussed at length under 

 the heading COMMERCIAL AGENCY. 



AACHEN, ah' ken, since 1815 the name of 

 i-Chapelle (which see). 



AARD-VARK, ahrd-rahrk, meaning 

 pig in Dutch, is an ant-eater found in South 

 Africa. It has a pig-like snout, a long and : 

 iN tongue covered with sticky saliva. In . 

 pointed ears and short, reddish hair. Th<- 

 limbs are very muscular. On the front feet 



. and on tin- hind feet, five powerful claws 

 with which it burrows or tears to pieces the 



hills of ants on which it feeds. It sleeps by day 

 and feeda by night. The total length of the 

 animal is about five feet. The tail is about 

 thirty inches in length. 



The flesh is eaten by natives, though it tastes 

 of formic acid derived from the bodies of the 



ARK 



ants it eats. It is easily caught by closing it* 

 burrow while it is absent. Wh< n :il:tnnl. it 

 rushes to its home and endeavors to dig itself 

 out of sight. A sharp blow with a stout stick 

 will k.ll it. 



AARD-WOLF, ahrd-wulf, meaning <arth- 

 wolj in Dutch, is a South African flesh-eating 



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