AXIOM 



520 



AYLESWORTH 



England several small rivers called Avon, but 

 the world is interested in only one, the Upper 

 n, on which is Stratford, the birthplace of 

 Shakespeare, the ''Swan of Avon." This stream, 

 ninety-three miles in length, rises in Northamp- 

 tonshire, flows through one of the most beauti- 

 ful valleys in all England and falls into the 

 Severn at Tewkesburg. 



AXIOM, ax' ium, a statement so general in 

 its use that it is accepted without proof. Our 

 text-books almost without exception define it 

 as "a self-evident truth." With simple accepted 

 facts as a basis all other obtainable truth is 

 searched for. It is used to apply to mathe- 

 matics more generally, but by the Greek philos- 

 ophers, it was applied to all general notions. 



Euclid assumed fifteen axioms as the basis 

 for geometry. Among these are the following : 



(1) Equal quantities added to equal quanti- 

 ties produce equal quantities. 



(2) A whole is greater than any of its parts. 



(3) Things equal to the same thing are equal 

 to each other. 



(4) Magnitudes which coincide are equal to 

 each other in every respect. See ALGEBRA; 



: KTRY. 



AXIS, an important term in botany, anat- 

 omy and mathematics. It is a real or imag- 

 inary straight line 

 passing through a 

 body or magni- 

 tude, on which 

 the latter re- 

 volves, or may be 

 supposed to re- 

 volve. 



I n astronomy 

 the word is used 

 to indicate the 

 center around 

 which the earth 

 rotates. The axis of the earth 

 extremities the 

 North Pole and the 

 South Pole. 



hi botany the word 

 is also used, the stem 

 being termed the as- 

 cending axis , the 

 root the descending 

 axis. 



In anatomy the 

 name is given to the 

 second vertebra from 

 the head, that on 

 which the atlas 



In mathematics an axis is the straight line 

 about which the parts of a figure or body are 



symmetrically arranged. 



Sou 



Pole 



has for its two 



x y is axis of prism a. 



AYE-AYE, i'i', a mammal of the lemur 

 family, found in Madagascar, so named from 

 the cry of surprise which the natives give when 

 they see the animal, which they superstitiously 

 reverence. The aye-aye is about as large as a 



axis of arch 



moves (see VERTEBRA). 



THE AYE-AYE 



rabbit, and though a close relative of the 

 monkey, resembles the squirrel in some partic- 

 ulars, especially its long, strong teeth and its 

 bushy tail. It has large eyes and ears, and is 

 brown. Its most peculiar characteristic is a 

 long, narrow third finger, with which it is 

 thought to drag insects from their burrows. 

 Like all of its family it is a creature of the 

 night. Its nest of twigs is built in a high tree 

 in the densest part of the jungle. 



AYLESWORTH, ayls' werth, SIR ALLEN 

 BRISTOL (1854- ), a Canadian lawyer and 

 Liberal statesman, one of the leading authori- 

 ties on electoral and constitutional law in the 

 Dominion. He was born at Newburgh, Ont., 

 attended Newburgh Academy and the Uni- 

 versity of Toronto, from which he was grad- 

 uated in 1874, and was called to the bar in 

 1878. He soon became a prominent lawyer, 

 and on numerous occasions appeared in cases 

 of great importance, notably in 1904, when he 

 successfully represented the old provinces of 

 the Dominion when the effort was made to 

 reduce their representation in Parliament. In 



