[Jarnac], a town on the Charente, celebrated as the scene of a victory which the Catholics, commanded by the Duc d'Anjou, afterwards Henry III. obtained in 1569 over the Huguenots commanded by Condé.
[Jaroslav] (79), on the Volga, 160 m. NE. of Moscow, is capital of the government of Jaroslav; is an important river-port, a seat of theological and legal culture, and has cotton manufactures.
[Jarpnoonk], a mesmeric or hypnotic state produced by Hindu conjurers.
[Jarrow] (34), in Durham, on the Tyne, 7 m. below Newcastle; is a coal-shipping port, and has extensive shipbuilding and iron manufactures; in ancient times its monastery was made famous by the Venerable Bede.
[Jarvie, Bailie Nicol], a Glasgow magistrate; an original character in Scott's "Rob Roy."
[Jasher, Book Of], a Hebrew book twice quoted in the Old Testament, no longer extant; believed to have been a collection of national ballads.
[Jasmin, Jacques], a Gascon barber and poet, who by his romances, burlesques, and odes, published between 1835 and 1849, raised the patois of the S. of France to the status of a literary language, and created a wholesome influence on French life and letters (1778-1864).
[Jason], a mythological Greek hero, son of Æson, king of Iolcos; brought up by the centaur Chiron, was supplanted on the throne by his half-brother Pelias; undertook the leadership of the Argonautic expedition, assisted by Medea in this enterprise; he took her to wife, but cast her off for Creusa, whom Medea to avenge herself killed, with her father and her two sons by Jason, she herself escaping to Athens in a chariot drawn by winged dragons; Jason took refuge from her fury in the sanctuary of Poseidon near Corinth, where the timber of the ship Argo deposited there breaking up fell upon him and crushed him to death.
[Jasper], an opaque quartz found in all colours, and spotted, striped, and clouded; is valued in ornamental lapidary work because of the polish it takes.
[Jassy] (90), ancient capital of Moldavia, situated 89 m. NE. of Bucharest; is the seat of an archbishop and a university, and has a large community of Jews; trades largely with Russia in corn, spirits, and wine.