already preceded them. Those who remained afterward entered into an arrangement with the English by which they were confirmed in possession of a small part of their ancient inheritance. They are now represented by the Amalecites on Saint John River, New Brunswick and Quebec (820), the Passamaquoddies on the bay of that name in Maine (300), the Penobscots at Oldtown, Maine (400), and the Abnakis at Saint Francis and Bécancour, Quebec (430). Their language is preserved in the monumental dictionary of Rasle.

AB'NER (Heb. father of light). The son of Ner, and cousin of Saul, and commander of his army (I. Samuel xiv: 50). After Saul's death the tribe of Judah recognized David, while Abner prevailed upon the other tribes to recognize Saul's son, Ishbosheth (II. Samuel ii:8-11). David sent his army, under Joab, into the field, and at the pool of Gibeon the followers of Abner, who was in control, suffered defeat (ibid., verses 12-17). In his flight, Abner, being hotly pursued by Asahel, turned and reluctantly slew him (ibid., verses 19-23). Afterward Abner had a quarrel with Ishbosheth and went over to David (II. Samuel iii : 7-11, 17-21); but the death of Asahel produced a blood feud between Joab (Asahel's brother) and Abner, which ultimately led to Abner's death. In consequence of a quarrel between Abner and his master, Ishbosheth, who accused him of having designs upon the throne, Abner espoused David's cause. While being hospitably entertained by David at Hebron, Abner was treacherously killed by Joab with the connivance of his brother Abishai (II. Samuel iii : 2227). The murder called forth general indignation, and the King himself acted as chief mourner. He ordered a public mourning, and a portion of an elegy is preserved (II. Samuel iii : 33-34), said to have been composed by David in memory of Abner.

AB'NEY, Sir WILLIAM DE WIVELESLIE (1844-). An English astronomer and physicist. He was born at Derby, and was educated at the royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was made a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1861 and a captain in 1871.

gus erected in 1865 for the unfortunate Queen, Catharine Monsdotter, who died in 1512. In one of its suburbs is the spring of St. Henry, in which, according to tradition, the first Finns embracing Christianity were baptized. It is in regular steamship communication with St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and other ports on the Baltic, visited annually by some 700 vessels, whose aggregate tonnage reaches about 200,000 tons. Shipbuilding is an important industry here, many of the Russian warships having been constructed in this city. The great Crayton works supply the Russian fleet with torpedo boats. It has a number of cotton mills. tobacco factories, sugar refineries, and machine shops. Of its educational institutions, the School of Navigation and the School for Deafmutes deserve special attention. In addition to these it has a number of gymnasiums, a technical institute, a commercial school, and a normal training school. The United States is represented by a consular agent. Population, 1888, 27,000; 1897, 35,000, 54% being Finns and nearly 42% Swedes. The town grew up around a castle (which is still in existence, and is used as a prison at present) founded in 1156 by Eric IX., and became an important place in the following century. It was repeatedly attacked and destroyed by the Russians in their many wars with the Swedes, and finally fell into their hands in 1808; since then it has remained a Russian possession. It was the capital of Finland until 1819. In the year 1827 a great part of the town, including the university buildings, was destroyed by fire, and the university was removed to Helsingfors, now the capital. The Peace of Åbo (1743), between Sweden and Russia, gave Russia control of the southern part of Finland as far as the Kymen River and put an end to the war commenced by Sweden, under French instigation, in 1741.

ÅBO-BJÖRNEBORG, a'bo-byer'ne-borg. A Area, 9336 government in southwest Finland. square miles. Its topography is like that of the rest of Finland. Among the mountain ranges of granite crossing it there are about hundred and fifty lakes and marshes. The southern section is more hilly than the northern, and along the seashore has many safe havens for sea-going vessels. Except the

numerous

River Kumo, Åbo-Björneborg has no navigable

num

ÅBO, a'bo. The most ancient city and former capital of Finland, now the chief town of the Russian Government of Åbo-Björneborg, situated on the River Aurayoki, near its embouchure in the Gulf of Bothnia, 128 miles west by north from Helsingfors (Map: Russia, B 2). Its streets are broad and lined with rather low stone buildings. Owing to its antiquity, Åbo has a number of buildings of historical interest, among them the cathedral, containing a magnificent sarcopha

rivers. It has a temperate and healthful climate, and the principal industries are agriculture and the raising of cattle, and fishing. There is a flourishing mining industry, the chief products being granite, black marble, iron, and clay. Abo-Björneborg is, moreover, the foremost manufacturing province of Finland, the chief branches of industry being wood and metal working, distilling, brewing, manufacture of leather, paper, and tobacco. Population, 1897, 419,300, of whom about one-seventh lived in towns and villages; in 1888 there were 380,500 people. About 83% of the population are Finns, less than 17% Swedes.

ABOLITIONISTS (Lat. abolitio, an annulling, from abolere, to check the growth). The

term used in the United States, after 1835 and until the Civil War, for those opponents of slavery who were the most intense in their desire to secure the immediate emancipation of the blacks. Others avowed their "anti-slavery" opinions, but these advocated, by all the means they could command, immediate "abolition." Their posi

tion was weakened, and their reputation for sobriety was damaged, by their steadfast refusal to recognize the binding force of any human laws which recognized human slavery, and even of the constitution; and their extreme demands and radical methods repelled the sympathy of many conservative men who desired that the abolition of slavery should be secured, although by expedient and legal means. Although discredited in many quarters, the abolitionists were in the end successful, from one point of view, in making slavery a national issue and in hastening the time of final decision as to its continuance. Among the most conspicuous leaders of the abolitionists were William Lloyd Garrison, a vigorous and fearless writer, Wendell Phillips, the famous orator, Gerrit Smith, a generous philanthropist, Arthur Tappan, William Goodell, and Lucretia Mott. The biographies of most of these leaders have been written, and they afford ample illustrations of the spirit by which they were governed. See ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY; GARRISON, WILLIAM LLOYD; GIDDINGS, JOSHUA R.; and PARKER, THEODORE.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. See SLAVERY.

ABO'MA (Portug.). A boa. The term is widespread in tropical America, but lately has been more especially applied to the Central American thick-headed or singed boa (Epicrates cenchria), which is of gigantic size, and is dark yellowish-gray, having a row of dark brown rings along the back, and the sides marked with dark blotches, each inclosing a lighter crescent. See BOA and Plate of BOAS.

ABOMEY, ä'bô-ma'. The capital of Dahomey, West Africa, situated about 60 miles inland, in 7° N. lat. and 2° 4′ E. long. (Map: Africa, E 4). It is surrounded by a wall built of mud and a deep trench. The houses are also built of mud and are unpretentious in appearance. There are several royal palaces, once the scenes of religious rites and barbaric orgies. Before the French occupation, Abomey was an important slave market, but at present the traffic is confined to ivory, palm oil, and gold. The town was captured by the French in 1892. ulation is estimated at about 20,000.

The pop

ABORIGINES, ǎb'ô-rij'i-nez (Lat. ab, from +origo, origin). Properly, the earliest inhabitants of a country. The corresponding term used by the Greeks was autochthones (q.v.). The Roman and Greek historians, however, apply the name to a special people, who, according to tradition, had their original seats in the mountains about Reate, now Rieti; but, being driven out by the Sabines, descended into Latium, and, in conjunction with a tribe of Pelasgi, subdued or expelled the Siculi and occupied the country. The aborigines then disappeared as a distinct people, they and their allies, the Pelasgi, having taken the name of Latini. The non-Pelasgic element of the Roman population is supposed to represent these aborigines, who would thus belong to the Oscans or Ausonians.

ABORTION (Lat. abortio, from ab, away + oriri, to rise). The expulsion of the offspring from the womb of its mother before it is capable of living independently. Abortion occurring in a woman before the sixth month of pregnancy is generally called a miscarriage. If the foetus leaves the womb after it is viable, and before

the proper end of pregnancy, the occurrence is termed a premature delivery. Hegar considers that there is, in women, one abortion to every ten normal pregnancies; Devilliers states the ratio as one in three or four. Whitehead states that 80% of all abortions take place between the second and fourth months of pregnancy. It is therefore important that a mother should have special care during the early months of gestation. Microscopical examination is required to determine the fact of an abortion occurring within four weeks of conception. After the first month the foetus commences to assume a recognizable shape.

CAUSES OF ABORTION. Abortion may be due to disease of the father, to morbid changes in the ovum, to morbid changes in the placenta, or to maternal causes. (1) Of the diseases of the father that may cause abortion, syphilis is the most important. Habitual abortion leads to the suspicion of syphilitic taint, although other causes may bring about this condition. Old age, tuberculosis, or kidney disease of the father may so affect the vitality of the germ at conception that, although pregnancy may occur, there is not enough strength to complete the development. (2) Causes due to disease or death of the ovum itself, apart from other causes, are rare. They are usually associated with some defect in the formation of the young embryo. (3) Placental causes are frequent. If the placenta does not have a sufficient area from which to draw a blood supply for the foetus, the latter may die; or if the placenta is fastened low in the uterus, hemorrhage and abortion are very liable to occur. (4) The causes which are due to disease or injury of the mother are the most frequent. Diseases of the decidua of the uterus and of the other generative organs, such as tumor of the ovary, distention of the Fallopian tubes, inflammatory adhesions about the uterus, and badly formed pelvic organs, are among the local causes. Certain constitutional diseases may also cause abortion, as syphilis. Alcoholic excesses almost as pernicious. Poisoning with metals, as lead or mercury, with phosphorus and other poisons, as coal gas and many volatile oils, and some of the acute diseases, pneumonia, yellow fever, smallpox, and peritonitis, have brought about abortion. Shock and injury are very important causes. Excessive muscular fatigue, bicycle riding, horseback riding, lawn tennis, use of the sewing-machine, and swimming are esperesponsible for numerous cases. Insufficient food, cially to be avoided. Lack of hygiene is also contaminated air, change in climate, and tightly laced corsets, all interfere with the proper nourishment of the fœtus and thus induce abortion. After abortion has once taken place, others are very likely to occur, even in comparatively healthy women. A normal healthy mental atti

tude is a saving grace from this accident.

are

SYMPTOMS. The cardinal symptoms are pain and hemorrhage from the uterus, these varying greatly, according to the completeness of the process. Early symptoms may be a sensation of weight, with distress or slight pain in the back, increased by standing or walking, followed by oozing or a menstrual flow, or a sudden large. hemorrhage. This may occur intermittently, sometimes lasting several days, with small discharges of blood, with pain, and then a cessation of all the symptoms for a few hours or more. In later abortions, the liquor amnii, in which the

fœtus is suspended, may either ooze away or come away in a gush.

The pain is rarely continuous; at times it resembles the intermittent pains of a colicky diarrhoea. It is caused by the contraction of the uterine muscle trying to eject a foreign body. With each muscular contraction there is oozing, or more copious bleeding, or the expulsion of the product of conception. If the pains are comparatively weak and occur at long intervals, it may be possible to prevent the abortion. If they are strong and come closely one after the other, the chances of stopping the process are less.

TREATMENT. Healthy physical and mental exercise is one of the best preventives of this accident. In families where the mother or grandmother aborted frequently, special care of diet, exercise, and clothing should be taken. Constipation should be avoided by the use of water and the green vegetables. Should the symptoms mentioned occur, the woman should lie down, absolutely quiet, on her back and call her regular medical attendant.

It can

There are occasional cases (as where the outlet of the pelvis is very contracted) in which it is necessary for physicians to induce abortion. It cannot be too generally known that all attempts at procuring criminal abortion, either by the administration of powerful drugs or the application of instruments, are accompanied with extreme danger to the pregnant woman. not be too earnestly impressed upon the mind of those who are tempted to procure a criminal abortion by means of drugs that the danger of causing death is very serious. Many so-called emmenagogues (q.v.), which induce the menstrual flow in a woman who is not pregnant, but is merely suffering from amenorrhea, or suppression of the menses, are abortifacients only when given in such doses as to endanger life, or to set up violent internal inflammations. Among these are the various preparations of ergot of rye (q.v.), savin (the most powerful of all emmenagogues), borax, rue, tansy, cantharides, etc. the South, among the ignorant negroes, concoctions of pennyroyal and cotton-root bark are used for the same purpose. The milder emmenagogues, such as iron, aloes, etc., have no abortive tendency, except in the case of those women who are predisposed to abort. Violent purgatives, in cases where they have caused abortion, have not done so because they directly exercise an ecbolic effect on the uterus, but only as a secondary consequence of the excessive intestinal irritation which they cause.

In

ABORTION, or MISCARRIAGE, IN LAW. The courts in this country are not agreed as to the nature of the crime at common law. In a number of States there are decisions or dicta to the effect that "to produce an abortion on a woman, before she is quick with child, and with her consent," is not to commit the commonlaw crime of abortion. On the other hand, it has been judicially declared in Pennsylvania that "it is not the murder of a living child which constitutes the offense of abortion, but the destruction of gestation by wicked means and against nature," and, consequently, that one who intentionally causes the miscarriage of a woman, even with her consent and before the fœtus has quickened, is indictable at common law. This appears to be the correct view, and it has been approved by several courts. Modern stat

utes, as a rule, have given effect to this view. At present the crime is generally defined, with much particularity, by statute, and may be committed by one of three classes of persons. First, by the pregnant woman who takes any drugs or submits to any treatment with intent to produce her miscarriage, unless that is necessary to save her life or the life of the child. Second, by a person prescribing, supplying or administering any substance to a woman, or treating her, with intent to cause her miscarriage, unless that is necessary to save her life or the life of the child. Under some statutes, such a person may be guilty of the offense, whether the woman is pregnant or not; the gist of his crime consisting in the intention with which his act was done. Third, by a person manufacturing, giving or selling an instrument or substance with intent that it may be unlawfully used in procuring the miscarriage of a woman. Acts done in procuring an abortion may subject the actor to punishment for another crime also, as assault (q.v.), or homicide (q.v.). Consult: Wharton, Criminal Law (Philadelphia, 1896); Harris, Principles of the Criminal Law (London, 1899).

ABORTION IN ANIMALS. In general, two forms of abortion are recognized by veterinarians, the non-contagious and the contagious. There are a number of conditions which may produce non contagious abortion. A general cachexia or anæmia may be among the predisposing causes of abortion; and among other conditions and causes which may lead to abortion mention should be made of acute diseases of the vital organs, contagious fevers, chronic diseases of the abdominal organs, diseases of the ovaries, kidneys, or bladder, diarrhoea, fatty degeneration of the heart; ingestion of large quantities of cold water, various forms of indigestion, especially those which are accompanied by the forma tion of gas in the stomach; imprudent feeding with succulent forage in large quantities, such as roots, potatoes, apples, pumpkins, ergotized grasses, sweaty or rusty grains and grasses; standing in stalls with too great a backward slope, nervous excitement, and muscular strain. Contagious abortion is most frequent in cows. It occurs also in sheep, goats, horses, swine, and, perhaps, in the dog and cat. It appears in an enzoötic or epizootic form. The disease is perpetuated in the herd or transmitted from one herd to another by means of contagion. If an aborting cow is placed in a herd which has hitherto been healthy, an outbreak of abortion may occur. Bulls that have served aborting cows may transmit the disease to other cows. In general, the micro-organisms to which the disease is due are found in the male and female genital organs, and on the afterbirth from aborting animals.

In cows, abortion seldom occurs before the fourth month of pregnancy, but may occur at any time after that period. The symptoms of the disease are not prominent or characteristic. Cows which are affected with the disease may remain apparently healthy until abortion takes place. The fetus is expelled with ease, and is usually dead at birth. If abortion occurs at the end of six months the young may be alive, but lives only a few hours. Mares abort between the fourth and the seventh month of gestation. The premonitory symptoms of abortion in mares are enlargement of the mammary glands and a white mucous or sometimes purulent discharge

from the vagina three or four days before the expulsion of the fœtus. The treatment for this disease, which has given satisfactory results, is the application of thorough antisepsis. In case of an outbreak of abortion, the fetus and foetal membranes from aborting animals should be burned or deeply buried, the posterior parts of the animals should be washed in some antiseptic solution, repeated antiseptic vaginal douches should be given, and the stable should be thoroughly disinfected. In order to prevent the possible spread of the infection, the posterior parts of other cows or mares in the same stable should be carefully washed with a solution of creolin, potassium permanganate, or corrosive sublimate. Contagious or epizootic abortion has been known in all parts of Europe since the eighteenth century. The disease also prevails in Australia and in all parts of the United States. Many extensive outbreaks are recorded in different localities. Consult: Turner's "Infectious Abortion in Mares," American Veterinarian Review (1894); Report United States Department of Agriculture, 1893, Division of Animal Industry, Bulletin 3, D. E. Salmon; Special Report on Miscellaneous Investigations Concerning Infectious and Parasitic Diseases of Domesticated Animals (Washington, 1893).

ABORTION IN PLANTS. That kind of arrest in development by which an organ appears in its early stages, but fails to develop to its normal form or size. For example, in many flowers certain stamens are aborted, their primordia having appeared, but having failed to develop into functioning stamens. The abortion may be of any degree between the first appearance of the organ and its complete maturity. A very closely related term is "suppression," in which not even the beginning of an expected organ appears. The phenomenon is chiefly observable in connection with the flower (q.v.).

ABOU BEN ADHEM (äbōō ben äd'hem) AND THE ANGEL. A short narrative poem by Leigh Hunt, the significance of which appears in the line,

"Write me as one that loves his fellowmen." ABOUKIR, ä'bōō-ker'. See ABUKIR.

ABOULIA, à-bʊʊ'lí-å.

ABOUT'.

See under INSANITY.

See TACKING. ABOUT, à'boo', EDMOND (1828-85). A brilliant, witty, but uneven French journalist, novelist, and writer of social and political essays. He was born at Dieuze, completed his studies in Paris, won honors, and was sent in 1851 to the French School at Athens, where he studied little, but observed much in a desultory way. The Пterary result of his two years' stay in Greece is La Grèce contemporaine (1854), and Le roi des montagnes (1856), both full of humor and irony. They were popular, often translated, and had influence on what passed for political thought. In 1855 he published Tolla, a story of Italy, borrowed in part, and without due acknowledg ment, from an Italian novel, Vittoria Savorelli (1841). In 1856 he essayed the stage without success, but won popularity by short stories collected under the titles Les mariages de Paris (1856) and Les mariages de province (1868). His most popular stories are L'homme à l'oreille cassée (1861) and Le nez du notaire (1861), both often translated. He had a gift of facile narration, but he did not take his talent seri

ously, and ceased writing fiction with the fall of the Second Empire, of which he was a spoiled child. To politics during these years he had contributed La question romaine (1859), Rome contemporaine (1861), La Prusse en 1860, La nouvelle carte de l'Europe (1860), and Le progrès (1864). After the fall of the Empire he became editor of Le XIX. Siècle, and published a bitter book on Alsace (1872). He was made an academician in 1885. The general characteristics of his work are a kindly humor, a keen irony, a cleanly taste, and a rather shallow skepticism.

ABOVILLE, à'bô've'y' or ȧ'bo'vel', FRANÇOIS MARIE (1730-1817). A French general of artillery. He was born at Brest. During the war of the American Revolution he commanded Rochambeau's artillery at Yorktown. In 1792 he commanded the armies of the North and of Ardennes, and in 1809 was appointed Governor of Brest.

ABOX'. See Box HAULING.

ABRA. (1) A character in Prior's poem Solomon on the Vanity of the World. She appears in the second part of the poem as an obedient concubine of the King, and finally captivates him. (2) A character in the medieval romance of Amadis of Greece. She is a sister of the Sultan of Babylon, and secures his throne after he is killed by her lover, Lisnarte.

ABRABANEL, à-brä'Bå-něl', ABARBANEL, ȧ-Bär bå-něl', or ABRAVANEL, å-brä'vå-něl', ISAAC BEN JEHUDA (1437-1508). A Jewish scholar and statesman. He was born in Lisbon, and claimed descent from King David. He was treasurer of Alfonso V., but after that king's death was banished from Portugal and his property confiscated. In Spain he made a fortune as a merchant, and was in high favor with Ferdinand and Isabella in 1487, but the decree of 1492 banished all Jews from Spain, and Abrabanel fled to Naples, where he found royal favor, but was again obliged to fly when Naples surrendered to the French in 1495. He settled last at Venice. He was one of the ablest men of his time, and was learned in biblical exegesis and philosophy. His most celebrated work is his Herald of Salvation (1526), an elaborate presentation of the Jewish doctrine of the Messiah.

ABRACADABRA ABRACADABR ABRACADAB ABRACADA ABRACAD ABRACA ABRAC ABRA ABR

AB'RACADAB'RA. A word probably derived from the same root as Abraxas, and used by the Gnostics of the sect of Basilides in the Orient (second century and later) as a magical formula by which the assistance of good spirits was invoked against all evils or maladies. Inscribed upon gems it formed a class of the so-called Abraxas stones, and was concealed about the person. With the spread of magical practices it came into use outside the Gnostic sect. The Gnostic physician Sammonicus describes how it can be made efficacious against fevers, especially agues. It should be written several times, each time on a separate line and each time dropping a letter, the letters arranged so as to form an inverted triangle and to read across the base and up the right side. This

AB

A

amulet was to be folded and worn on the bosom for nine days, then flung backward before sunrise into a stream flowing eastward. See ABRAXAS; AMULET.

AB'RADA'TAS. A king of Susa, who at first fought against Cyrus the Great, but who afterward, in consequence of the latter's kindness to Panthea, his wife, who had been captured by the Persians, yielded to Cyrus and became his ally. Abradatas perished in the war against Croesus the Lydian. The story of his romantic

affection for Panthea and her suicide after his

death appears in the fifth book of Xenophon's Cyropædia.

:

A'BRAHAM. The Father of the Hebrews, whose story is given in Genesis xi-xxv. It consists of a series of incidents in the patriarch's life, put together in a consecutive narrative and emanating from different literary sources. In Genesis xi 10 the genealogy of the Shemites (or sons of Shem) is taken up, leading up to Terah, the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The home of Terah and his sons is Ur of the Chaldees-a place commonly identified with the site of the mound Mugheir, in southern Babylonia-but after the death of Haran the Terahites journey northward to Haran and take up their settlements at that place. Terah dies in Haran, and Abram, accompanied by his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot (the son of Haran), quits Babylonia by divine command and proceeds by a circuitous northern route via Damascus to Canaan. He halts at various places, notably Shechem and Bethel, where he erects altars to Yahweh (chap. xii.). Leading a pastoral life, we next find him in Egypt, whither he has been driven in consequence of a famine in Palestine. Sarai's beauty attracts the attention of the Pharaoh, and but for Yahweh's intervention Abram would have been obliged to give up his wife, whom he had represented to be his sister. Pharaoh obliges Abram to leave Egypt, and he accordingly returns to Bethel with Lot. At this juncture the separation between Abram and Lot takes place in consequence of quarrels between the followers of the two chiefs. Lot chooses for himself the rich pasture land of the Jordan Valley, while Abram remains in Canaan proper, though removing to Hebron. He becomes involved in a war with the kings of the Jordan Valley in order to rescue Lot, who had been taken captive. He not only succeeds in this enterprise, but aids in restoring the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah to power and magnanimously refuses any compensation for his services (chap. xiv). At the time that Abram left Haran he was seventy-five years old. At Damascus he is joined by Eliezer, who becomes his trusted servant, and on whom the succession to Abram's property would fall in the event of Abram remaining childless. This contingency is eliminated by the birth of Ishmael, a son by Hagar, a concubine of Abram, and an Egyptian maid-servant of Sarai. Subsequently, however, when Abram is ninety-nine years old and Sarai ninety, a son, who is called Isaac, is born to them (chap. xvii), and who becomes the heir of Abram in preference to Ishmael. At the time that this son is promised to Abram and Sarai, through the appearance of Yahweh himself to Abram, the names of the patriarch and his wife are changed by the Lord to Abraham and Saran, respectively, the former being interpreted as embodying the promise that

the patriarch will become "the father of a multitude of nations." The promise of a son to be born to Sarah is confirmed by a visit of Yahweh accompanied by two angels, all three in human form, who partake of Abraham's hospitality and make a similar announcement. The two

angels proceed to Sodom and Gomorrah, while the intended destruction of the cities of the plain because of the wickedness and corruption prevailing there. Abraham pleads with Yahweh to save the cities for the sake of the righteous, and Yahweh agrees to do so provided only ten right

Yahweh remains behind and reveals to Abraham

eous men are found in the district. As a matter of fact, the cities are destroyed and only Lot and his family are permitted to escape (chap. xvii).

Before Isaac is actually born, Abraham is represented as proceeding to the extreme south of Palestine, known as the Negeb, and at Gerar encounters the King (Abimelech), who takes into his harem Sarah, whom Abraham again passes off as his sister, Jehovah warns Abimelech, and Sarah is released (chap. xx). The birth of Isaac is recounted in the 21st chapter. Eight days after his birth he is circumcised-an act which is regarded as symbolizing the covenant established between Jehovah and those descended from Abraham (Genesis xvii : 23-27). Some years later the faith of Abraham is put to a severe trial by the divine command to sacrifice his beloved son (chap. xxii). Abraham proceeds to carry out the decree, but is withheld from doing so by Jehovah himself, who, satisfied with the test, accepts a ram which providentially makes its appearance. The last three chapters of the narrative are taken up with the account of Sarah's death, her burial in the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, purchased by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite, the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, and the death of Abraham, which, however, does not take place until his marriage to Keturah, by whom two sons are born to him. The death of Abraham takes place when he has reached the age of one hundred and seventy-five years, and he is interred by the side of Sarah at Machpelah.

Many modern Bible critics regard this cycle of Abrahamic stories as embodying a mixture of early and late traditions, a recast with a view of presenting Abraham as a type of the pious, observant Jew. Besides the biblical stories, other tales were current, or became current among the Jews of post-exile days, many of which were taken up into that portion of rabbinical literature known as the Midrash. In this way the biblical narrative was supplemented by incidents in the early career of Abraham, on which Genesis has nothing to say. These stories bring Abraham into association with Nimrod. The historical kernel in the Genesis chapters is quite insignificant. The genealogical lists are fictitious, the names representing in most cases not individuals but clans, of whom some faint traditions have survived. There is, however, no reason to doubt the existence of an ancient hero whose name was preserved in two forms, Abram and Abraham, the former representing perhaps a contraction or dialectical variation of the latter, and to whom as a popular personage various stories that had come down from various periods were attached. Of the "historical" Abram or Abraham hardly anything more can be asserted than that his home appears to have been Hebron. The wanderings of the Terahites, among whom Abram is reckoned, reflect the faint recollection