TECHNICAL INDEX AND GLOSSARY 



Anthrax. A disease affecting cattle, sheep, and men, known 

 as malignant pustule, splenic fever, wool-sorter's disease, etc. 

 It is very fatal, and caused by the bacillus anthracis. Protection 

 by preventive inoculation was discovered by Pasteur. See Vol. 

 IV, p. 232. 



Anthropology. The branch of knowledge that deals with the 

 characteristics of mankind as forming an organic whole. It 

 considers the question of man's first appearance on earth, and 

 the influences that have resulted in existing civilization. Scien- 

 tific anthropology is a development of the late nineteenth cen- 

 tury, the discoveries that proved man's antiquity preparing the 

 way. See "Fossil Man," Vol. Ill, p. 98; also "The New Science 

 of Anthropology," Vol. V, p. 228. 



Antipyritics. The name given to those remedies used for re- 

 ducing temperature in diseased conditions. 



Antiseptic. A term meaning that which arrests decay. In 

 modern medicine a substance which destroys disease-producing 

 micro-organisms, or germs. The discovery of the use of anti- 

 septics in surgery was made by Lord Lister, this discovery and 

 its application bringing about a revolution in surgical methods. 

 See "Lister and Antiseptic Surgery," Vol. IV, p. 229. 



Antitoxins. Substances developed in the human body, or the 

 body of an animal, antagonistic to the poisons (toxins) of dis- 

 ease. See "Serum Therapy," Vol. IV, p. 240; "Aims and Ob- 

 jects of the Pasteur Institute," Vol. V, p. 182. 



Archaeology. The science that deals with the history of human 

 progress in ancient times, as judged by relics of man's work, 

 apart from written records. See "The New Science of Oriental 

 Archaeology," Vol. IV, p. 287. 



Argon. An element discovered in the earth's atmosphere by 

 Sir William Ramsay and Lord Rayleigh. Named from the 

 Greek word meaning "inactive," because of its lack of chemical 

 affinity. See "Sir William Ramsay and the New Gases," Vol. V, 

 p. 82; in particular pp. 85-86. 



Armature. The name given originally to a piece of soft iron 

 placed across the poles of permanent or electro-magnets to 

 receive and concentrate the attractive force. In the modern 

 dynamo, the armature consists of coils of wire which convey 

 an electric current. The mutual relations of armature and 

 electro-magnet (either of which may revolve, but one or the 

 other being stationary) give rise to the accentuated electrical 



[13] 



