AVE MARIA 



51d 



AVON 



and destroy trees, buildings, men and animals 

 everything in their path. When in winter the 

 mountain sides become overloaded with fine, 

 dry snow, these great snow caps may be started 

 to lower levels by strong winds. They are 

 known as wind avalanches. Ice or summer 

 avalanches are great masses of ice detached by 

 thawing from the high glaciers, and they occur 

 in the warmest season. Sliding avalanches are 

 masses which become too heavy for their 

 support and, breaking away, crash to lower 

 levels. Avalanches, also called landslides, 

 which occur in summer are sometimes com- 

 posed of melting snow and large areas of 

 loosened earth. All avalanches take place so 

 quickly that people seldom have time to get 

 out of their way. Especially fatal are those 

 that pour over high cliffs into valleys below. 

 Two immense avalanches which occurred in the 

 Italian Alps in 1885 contained 45,000 and 

 250,000 tons of snow, respectively. 



The word is widely used in a figurative sense 

 to indicate a mighty force which one cannot 

 withstand. Thus, it is proper to say, "An 

 avalanche of words silenced his opponents." 

 One should guard against using the term when 

 it exaggerates the facts. 



AVE MARIA, ah' va mahree'ah (Latin 

 Hail Mary), in the Roman Catholic Church, 

 a form of prayer expressing honor to the Virgin 

 and asking her intercession. The words are 

 chosen from the beginning of the angel Ga- 

 briel's salutation to Mary, Hail, full of grace, 

 the Lord is with thee (Luke I, 28). The 

 prayer has been set to music by a number of 

 famous composers, among them being Liszt, 

 Schubert and Gounod, the composition of the 

 last named being the one most frequently sung. 



AVERNUS, avur'nus, a lake occupying an 

 net crater in Campania, Italy, about eight 

 > west of Naples. According to mythologi- 

 cal lore, it formed the entrance to the lower 

 regions, through which Aeneas and Ulysses 

 descended and through which Pluto <-,,; 

 Proserpina, his stolen bride. In former times 

 it was gloomy and forbidding, surrounded by 

 dense forests and covered with a column of 

 sulphurous vapor which was said to destroy 

 all birds attempting to fly over its waters. In 

 consequence of this boli< f th<> Greeks call- -I 

 tii- lake Aornis, a word meaning without l> 



The modem name is Lago d'Averno, and the 

 iiborhood is bare and desolate. The lake 

 is about two miles in circumference and has a 

 depth of 180 feet. (See the articles on mytho- 

 logical personages named above.) 



AVESTA, aves'ta. See ZEND-AVESTA. 



AVOCET, or AVOSET, av'oset, a long- 

 legged bird which wades in the marshes of 

 Europe and America, migrating to the north 

 in spring and to the south in autumn. Its 

 distinguishing characteristic is its long, slender 



THE AVOCET 



bill, which is elastic and bent upward at the 

 tip, serving as a scoop with which to dig 

 worms and small shell-animals from the mud. 

 The plumage is brownish-black above and 

 white below, the head, neck and chest being 

 a light brown. The bird is about seventeen 

 inches in length. It is considered a good game 

 bird in some parts of its range. 



AVOIRDUPOIS, averdupoi*', from old 

 French words meaning goods oj weight, is a 

 system of weights used for all ordinary coarse 

 articles of commerce, such as coal, grain, food- 

 stuffs, and the like. A pound avoirdupois con- 

 tains 7,000 grains, divided into 16 ounces, as 

 compared with ~>.760 grains, or 12 ounces, troy 

 or apothecary weight. The latter are used in 

 weighing precious metals, gems and medicines. 

 ID the three kinds of weights the grain, the 

 basis of computation, is unvarying. 



AVON, ay ' von, a name made famous 

 through its connection with the greatest name 

 in (he world's literary history. There are in 



