In English the term accent commonly denotes superior stress or force of voice upon certain syllables of words, which distinguishes them from the other syllables. Many English words, as aspiration have two accents, a secondary and primary, the latter being the fuller or stronger. Some words, as incomprehensibility/, have two secondary or subordinate accents. When the full accent falls on a vowel, that vowel has its long sound, as in vocal; but when it falls on a consonant, the preceding vowel is short, as in habit. This kind of accent alone regulates English verse as contrasted with Latin or Greek verse, in which the metre depended on quantity or length of syllables. In books on elocution three marks or accents are generally made use of, the first or acute ( / ) showing when the voice is to be raised, the second or grave ('), when it is to be depressed, and the third or circumflex (^) when the vowel is to be uttered with an undulating sound. In some languages there is no such distinct accent as in English (or German), and this seems to be now the case with French. Research Accent
The blind are those who want, or are deficient in, the sense of sight. Blindness may vary in degree from the slightest impairment of vision to total loss of sight; it may also be temporary or permanent. It is caused by defect, disease, or injury to the eye, to the optic nerve, or to that part of the brain connected with it. Old age is sometimes accompanied with blindness, occasioned by the drying up of the humours of the eye, or by the opacity of the cornea, the crystalline lens, etc. The blind are often distinguished for a remarkable mental activity, and a wonderful development of the intellectual powers. Their touch and hearing, particularly, become very acute.
As early as 1260 an asylum for the blind (L'hospice des Quinze-Vingts) was founded in Paris by St Louis for the relief of the Crusaders who lost their sight in Egypt and Syria; but the first institution for the instruction of the blind was the idea of Valentin Hauy, brother of the celebrated mineralogist. In 1784 he opened an institution in which the blind were instructed not only in appropriate mechanical employments, as spinning, knitting, making ropes or fringes, and working in paste-board, but also in music, in reading, writing, ciphering, geography, and the sciences. For instruction in reading he procured raised letters of metal; for writing he used particular writing-cases, in which a frame, with wires to separate the lines, could be fastened upon the paper; for ciphering there were movable figures of metal, and ciphering-boards in which the figures could be fixed; for teaching geographymaps were prepared upon which mountains, rivers, cities, and the boundaries of countries were indicated to the sense of touch in various ways, etc.
Similar institutions were soon afterwards founded in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dresden, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Vienna, and in many towns of the United States. By 1900 there were comparatively few large cities that did not possess a school or institution of some kind for the blind.
At the start of the 20th century the attitude towards the blind was rather patronising, and one source may be quoted as saying 'the occupations in which the blind are found capable of engaging are such as the making of baskets and other kinds of wicker-work, brushmaking, rope and twine making, the making of mats and matting, knitting, netting, fancy work of various kinds, cutting fire-wood, the sewing of sacks and bags; the carving of articles in wood, etc'. However, it was also recognised that more skilled tasks could also be performed by blind persons, and the same source notes that 'Piano-tuning is also successfully carried on by some, and the cleaning of clocks and watches has even been occasionally practised by them'.
Around 1900 an impetus was given, in Britain, to the higher education of the blind by the formation of the British and Foreign Blind Association, the establishment of a college for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen at Worcester, and the Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind, Upper Norwood.
Various systems were devised for the purpose of teaching the blind to read, some of which consisted in the use of the ordinary Roman alphabet, with more or less modification, and some of which employ types quite arbitrary in form. In all systems the characters rise above the surface of the paper so as to be felt by the fingers. The type adopted by Hauy was the script or italic form of the Roman letter. This was introduced into England by Sir C. Lowther, who printed the Gospel of St. Matthew in 1832 with type obtained from Paris. Before this Gall of Edinburgh made use of an embossed alphabet based on the ordinary Roman small letters, in which all curves were replaced by angular lines, and in 1834 he published the Gospel of St John in this character. Subsequently he introduced various improvements, and in particular the letters were produced with serrated surfaces, thus giving greater distinctness. Alston of Glasgow, Howe of Boston, and others also used the Roman form; but the former (who was the first to print the whole Bible, in 1840) adopted the Roman capitals, while the latter adopted the small letters, printing in this type the Bible and many other books. Of alphabets deviating entirely or nearly so from the Roman letter, one consists of a stenographic shorthand invented by Lucas of Bristol; another was a phonetic shorthand devised by Frere of London. In Dr. Moon's alphabet some of the characters are Roman, others are based on or suggested by the Roman characters. The Braille system, widely adopted by the laye 20th century, is one in which the letters are formed by a combination of dots. Dr. Moon's system from its simplicity and the size of its characters is in very general use in books for the blind. There are also systems by which the blind are enabled to write, and the writing may be either in relief so as to be read by the blind, or in characters that may be read by those who see. Research Blind
The facial angle is an angle of importance in the method of skull measurement introduced by Camper, the Dutch anatomist, who sought to establish a connection between the magnitude of this angle and the intelligence of different animals and people, maintaining that it is always greater as the intellectual powers are greater. Suppose a straight line drawn at the base of the skull, from the great occipital cavity across the external orifice of the ear to the bottom of the nose, and another straight line from the bottom of the nose, or from the roots of the upper incisors, to the most prominent part of the forehead, then both lines will form an angle which will be more or less acute. In apes this angle is only from 45 to 60 degrees; in the skull of a negro, about 70 degrees; in a European, from 75 degrees to 85 degrees - reinforcing the ignorant racist hypothesis formerly prevalent among Europeans that Europeans are more advanced than negros. In another mode of drawing the lines the angle included between them varies in man from 90 degrees to 120 degrees, and is more capable of comparison among vertebrate animals than the angle of Camper. This angle though of some importance in the comparison of races, has no relationship to the intellectual ability of the individual. Research Facial Angle
In America, the Federal Party was the first political party which had control of the Federal Government. When the Constitution of 1787 was before the people for ratification, those who favoured its adoption took the name of Federalists, giving to its opponents that of Anti-Federalists. In the First Congress, definite party divisions were not found. Before the second had ended, there was a definite division between Federalists and those who called themselves Republicans or Democrats. Hamilton was the leader of the former, Jefferson of the latter. Hamilton's financial measures had been acceptable to those who desired strong government, the commercial classes, those who wished to see the Union drawn still more closely together, still further in the direction of centralization and national consolidation. Their opponents stigmatised them as monarchists. Beside Hamilton and Vice-President John Adams, the party's chief leaders were Fisher Ames, Cabot, Sedgwick, Strong, Pickering and Quincy, of Massachusetts; Ellsworth, Tracy, Griswold and Hillhouse, of Connecticut; Rufus King, Jay and Gouverneur Morris, of New York; Dayton, of New Jersey; Bayard, of Delaware; Marshall, Henry Lee, of Virginia, and C. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina. George Washington was more inclined to this party than to the other.
The Federal Party's strength was always greatest in New England. When war broke out between England and France in 1793, the Federalists, conservative and averse to the French Revolution, favoured Great Britain. In 1796 they elected John Adams President, but failed to elect Thomas Pinckney Vice-President. In 1797 they tried to bring the country into war with France, but Adams, never so extreme as the bulk of the party, prevented this; the result was a schism in the party. In 1798 the party passed the Alien and Sedition laws, which forever destroyed their popularity. In the election of 1800 Adams and Pinckney were decisively defeated by Jefferson and Burr; the causes were, the acts mentioned, internal dissensions, and the indifference of intellectual and acute leaders to popular feelings. During the administrations of Jefferson and Madison the party dwindled. As an opposition party, it took strict-constructionist ground. Some of its leaders engaged in projects for a disruption of the Union. Finally, its unpatriotic course in the War of 1812 and the odium excited by the Hartford Convention destroyed it utterly. Holding the Government during the critical years 1789-1801, it had given it strength, but it distrusted the people top much for permanent success in America. Research Federal Party
New towns were a British initiative passed in 1946 with the object of decentralising the population and industry from London and the other major British cities. Initially fifteen new towns were designated, twelve for England and Wales and three for Scotland, each town was to be self-contained and locally governed with a mixed population to provide a balanced social life. By the 1960s half a million people lived in the fifteen new towns, but pressure on the major cities remained acute. Research New Town
The Sugar Bounty was a grant of public money, or subsidy, paid to the manufacturers and exporters of beet sugar to enable them to compete with cane sugar in the world's markets. The system was adopted in France and other countries in the 19th century. In Great Britain the duties on imported sugar were abolished in 1874, and from 1882 onwards strong protests against the Continental sugar bounty system were made by the West Indian sugar producers and the British sugar industry.
An international conference met in London in 1887, and a convention condemning sugar bounties was signed in 1888 on behalf of all the countries represented except France, Denmark and Sweden. The convention, however, was not ratified and by 1896 the crisis in the cane-sugar industry had become so acute that a royal commission was sent out to report on the position in the West Indies. In 1902 an agreement was reached by the Powers, to abolish sugar bounties for five years as from September 1903. Great Britain withdrew from the convention in 1913. Research Sugar Bounty
The Accipitres (Accipitridae) are the birds of prey order of the Aves (birds) class of animals. They are characterised by a strong, crooked beak with an acute, downward curving point with sharp edges. The base of the beak is enveloped in a naked skin (the cere) in which the nostrils are placed. The feet are muscular. The toes are armed with powerful talons, long, curved and pointed, of which those of the hind and innermost toes are the strongest. The wings are adapted for vigorous, lofty and long-sustained flight. Research Accipitres
Balantidium is a Phylum Protozoa, a member of the order of Heterotricha.
Balantidium coli occurs in the cecum of swine, where it does no harm. However, on being transmitted to primates it can cause acute and even hemorrhagic diarrhoea and ulceration of the gut wall. Research Balantidium
Certhidea is the Creepers family of birds of the order Scansores. They are cauterised by feet with pointing toes, one forwards and three backwards, the hind toe very long. The bill is mostly slender and acute. The wings are broad and much rounded, the flight weak. Research Certhidea
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Accent
