CLAUDIUS 



1410 



CLAXTON 



varieties, or sub-species. Most varieties have 

 been developed by cultivation, and they are 

 of great importance to the farmer, the fruit 

 grower and the florist. Consider the many 

 varieties of corn, wheat and potatoes, each 

 especially adapted to the locality in which it 

 is raised, or the numerous varieties of apples 

 and other fruits, and you at once see the im- 

 portance of varieties. 



Genus. The genus is the next group larger 

 than the species. The term comes from a 

 Latin word which with its plural genera has 

 been incorporated without change of form into 

 the English language. It means, literally, kind 

 or class, but it is used in botany and zoology 

 in a very special sense, and has a definite 

 place in the classification of plants or animals. 

 There is the oak tree, for instance; there are 

 many kinds, which differ in the size and shape 

 of leaves, the shape of acorns, the manner of 

 growth and other particulars, and to make it 

 clear just what sort of an oak is meant, some 

 descriptive term must be added, as white oak, 

 red oak, live oak. Now each particular kind 

 of oak, as the white oak, is called a species, 

 while all the different oaks are grouped into 

 a large class known as a genus. In the same 

 way a number of genera may be grouped into 

 one large family. To be technically accurate, 

 the genus name must be in Latin, and must be 

 followed by the species name, also in Latin. 

 Thus any oak belongs under the genus Quercus, 

 but only a white oak can possibly be meant 

 when the phrase Quercus alba is used. 



Family. The family is a group of genera 

 which have a common resemblance, "a family 

 connection." The Rose Family, for instance, 

 includes besides the rose, the apple, the plum, 

 the strawberry, the raspberry and a number of 

 other groups of plants whose flowers and fruit 

 resemble those of the rose. The Cat Family 

 includes not only the house cat, but the lion, 

 the tiger, the leopard, the puma, the wild cat 

 and a number of other animals, all of which 

 are "great cats." 



Order. The order is a group of families 

 having a common resemblance, though it fre- 

 quently happens that family and order mean 

 the same. The order Rosaceae in botany means 

 the same as the Rose Family; but the order 

 Carnivora in zoology includes the Cat Family, 

 the Dog Family and all other families of flesh- 

 eating animals. See BOTANY; ZOOLOGY. W.F.R. 



CLAUDIUS, klaw'dius (10 B.C.-54 A.D.), a 

 Roman emperor, whose reign is memorable 

 because of his admission of the Gallic nobles of 



CLAUDIUS 



the empire to the Roman Senate and to the 

 city offices. He was the son of Claudius Drusus 

 Nero, stepson of 

 Augustus, and 

 had little part in 

 public affairs un- 

 til A. D. 41, when, 

 on the murder of 

 Caligula, he was 

 declared emperor 

 by the soldiers. 

 His liberal spirit 

 was shown not 

 only in his treat- 

 ment of the 

 Gallic nobles, but A coin of his reign, show- 

 in humane laws lng his head " 

 regarding freedmen, slaves, widows and or- 

 phans. In his reign the southern part of 

 Britain was conquered and made a Roman 

 province, and he himself gavehis attention to 

 the improvement of Rome. The Claudian 

 Aqueduct, which he completed, brought water 

 to the city from a distance of forty-five miles. 

 The great blot upon his character was his 

 weakness in yielding to the influence of in- 

 triguing wives and favorites. In A. D. 54 he was 

 poisoned by his fourth wife, Agrippina, the 

 mother of Nero. See AGRIPPINA. 

 CLAX'TON, PHILANDER PRIESTLY (1862- 

 ), an American educator who in 1911 suc- 

 ceeded Elmer E. Brown as United States 

 Commissioner of Education. He was born in 

 Bedford County, Tenn., and was graduated 

 from the University of Tennessee in 1882. 

 After teaching school for a year, he spent sev- 

 eral years in studying educational systems in 

 the United States and Europe. In 1888 he 

 accepted the position of superintendent of 

 schools of Asheville, N. C., but retired after 

 five years to become professor of pedagogy in 

 North Carolina State Normal and Industrial 

 College. In 1902 he took the position of pro- 

 fessor of education and inspector of high 

 schools in the University of Tennessee, from 

 which he resigned to become Commissioner of 

 Education, by appointment of President Taft. 

 Mr. Claxton is a member of the Southern 

 Education Board, of the Rockefeller Sanitary 

 Commission and of the council of the Na- 

 tional Education Association. He is an occa- 

 sional contributor to periodicals and delivers 

 many addresses on educational topics. As 

 Commissioner of Education he is particularly 

 interested in bringing elementary education to 

 a high state of efficiency. 



