[Acta Sanctorum], the lives of the saints in 62 vols. folio, begun in the 17th century by the Jesuits, and carried on by the Bollandists.
[Actæon], a hunter changed into a stag for surprising Diana when bathing, and afterwards devoured by his own dogs.
[Actinic rays], "non-luminous rays of higher frequency than the luminous rays."
[Actinism], the chemical action of sunlight.
[Actinomycosis], a disease of a fungous nature on the mouth and lower jaw of cows.
[Actium], a town and promontory at the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf (Arta), in Greece, where Augustus gained his naval victory over Antony and Cleopatra, Sept. 2, 31 B.C.
[Acton], an adventurer of English birth, who became prime minister of Naples, but was driven from the helm of affairs on account of his inveterate antipathy to the French (1737-1808).
[Acton, Lord], a descendant of the former, who became a leader of the Liberal Catholics in England, M.P. for Carlow, and made a peer in 1869; a man of wide learning, and the projector of a universal history by experts in different departments of the field; b. 1834.
[Acts of the Apostles], a narrative account in the New Testament of the founding of the Christian Church chiefly through the ministry of Peter and Paul, written by Luke, commencing with the year 33, and concluding with the imprisonment of Paul in Rome in 62.
[Acun`ha, Tristram d'], a Portuguese navigator, companion of Albuquerque; Nuna d', his son, viceroy of the Indies from 1528 to 1539; Rodrique d', archbishop of Lisbon, who in 1640 freed Portugal from the Spanish domination, and established the house of Braganza on the throne.