Adams, Samuel, an American statesman, second cousin of President John Adams, was born in Boston, 27th Sept., 1722, and was educated at Harvard College. He early devoted himself to politics, and in connection with the dispute between America and the mother country he showed himself one of the most unwearied, efficient, and disinterested assertors of American freedom and independence. He was one of the signers of the declaration of 1776, which he laboured most indefatigably to bring forward. He sat in congress eight years; from 1789-94 was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts; from 1794-7 governor, when he retired from public life. He died 2nd Oct., 1803.
Adam's Apple, the popular name of the prominence seen in the front of the throat in man, and which is formed by the portion of the larynx known as the thyroid cartilage. It is much smaller and less visible in females than in males, and is so named from the supposition that it was caused by a piece of the forbidden fruit having stuck in Adam's throat. In botany it is the name given to the plantain tree and the Citrus pomum. It is the Heb. Ethrog, which, according to Hebrew legend, was the fruit Adam and Eve ate in the garden of Eden.
Adam's Bridge, a chain of reefs, sandbanks, and islands stretching between India and Ceylon; so called because the Mohammedans believe that when Adam was driven from paradise he had to pass by this way to Ceylon (where is also Adam's Peak). The Brahmans call it the bridge of Rama, the hero of the Indian Epic, the Ramayana.
Adam's Needle, a popular name of the Yucca plant.
Adam's Peak, one of the highest mountains in Ceylon, 45 miles east-south-east of Colombo, conical, isolated, and 7420 feet high. On the top, a rocky area of 64 feet by 45, is a hollow in the rock 5 feet long bearing a rude resemblance to a human foot, which the Brahmans believe to be the footprint of Siva; the Buddhists, who call it Sri-pada (sacred footmark), that of Buddha; the Mahommedans that of Adam. The last-named believe that Adam stood here on one foot for a thousand years, lamenting his exclusion from Eden. Devotees of all creeds meet here and present their offerings (chiefly rhododendron flowers) to the sacred footprint. The ascent is very steep, and towards the summit is assisted by steps cut and iron chains riveted in the rock.
Adamson, Patrick, a Scottish divine and Latin poet, born 15th March, 1536, died 19th Feb., 1592. He was educated at St. Andrews, lived some years in France, was minister of Paisley, and afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews, in which position he made himself very obnoxious to the Presbyterian party. Deprived of the revenues of the see, he died in indigence. He turned portions of the Bible into Latin verse.
Ad′ana, town and capital of Adana vilayet, Asia Minor, on the Seihun-Irmak; served by the Bagdad Railway. The district is claimed by Armenia. Cotton, rice, wine, and fruit are exported. Pop. (town), 70,000; (vilayet), 1,000,000.
Adanson (a˙-da˙n-sōn˙), Michel, French naturalist and traveller (of Scottish extraction), born 1727; died 1806. He lived five years in Senegal, and wrote a natural history of this region as well as works on botany. The baobab genus is named Adansonia after him. Adanson's statue was erected in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, in 1856.
Adanso′nia. See preceding article and Baobab.
Adaptation (from the Lat. ad, to, and aptāre, to fit), the process of modification or alteration