Arenga, a term sometimes used as the generic name of the areng or gomuti palm, which is then botanically designated Arenga saccharifera. See Gomuti.
Arenic´ola. See Lobworm.
Are´olar Tissue, an assemblage of fibres in bundles, pervading almost every part of the animal structure, and connected with each other so as to form innumerable small cavities, the whole serving as a means by which the various organs and parts of organs are connected together. It is called also Cellular Tissue and Connective Tissue. The fibres are of two kinds—white fibrous tissue and yellow elastic fibrous tissue, and interspersed among the bundles or occupying the cellular cavities are cells and corpuscles of several kinds. It is a tissue found in large quantities under the skin, covering the muscles, the blood-vessels, and nerves, and in various parts forming a kind of protective covering for delicate and important organs. It is because of its general distribution, and because of its binding various structures together, that it is called connective.—In botany the term is sometimes applied to the non-vascular substance, composed entirely of untransformed cells, which forms the soft substance of plants.
Areom´eter (from Gr. araios, thin, metron, a measure), an instrument for measuring the specific gravity of liquids; a hydrometer (q.v.).
Areop´agus, the oldest of the Athenian courts of justice, an assembly having a position more august than an ordinary court, and in its best days exercising a general supervision over public morals. It obtained its name from its place of meeting, on the Hill of Ares (Mars), near the Acropolis or citadel of Athens. Another explanation connects the word with Aræ (Curses), commonly known as Semnæ (Awful Goddesses), who were the guardians of the hill. It existed from very remote times, and the crimes tried before it were wilful murder, poisoning, robbery, and arson, while it had under its control also dissoluteness of morals, and innovations in the State and in religion. Its meetings were held in the open air, and its members were selected from those who had held the office of archon. The tribunal eventually lost many of its powers, but it continued to exist in name at least as late as the time of Cicero or later, having had an existence of seven or eight hundred years.
Arequipa (a˙-rā-kē´pa˙), a city of Peru, capital of a province of same name, situated in a fertile valley, 7850 feet above sea-level, at a distance of about 55 miles from the coast and on the railway which runs from its port Mollendo inland to Puno on Lake Titicaca. Behind the city rises the volcano of Arequipa, or Peak of Misti (20,328 feet). The climate is healthy but the locality is liable to earthquakes, one of which almost completely destroyed the town in 1868, after which it was rapidly rebuilt. A considerable trade is carried on through Mollendo, there being a large transit trade with the interior, and the town carries on various industries, manufacturing cotton and woollen goods, &c. It was founded in 1540. Pop. 35,000 to 40,000.—The province has an area of 21,947 sq. miles, and a pop. of 229,007.
Ares (ā´rēz). See Mars.
Arethu´sa, in Greek mythology, a daughter of Nereus and Doris, a nymph changed by Artĕmis into a fountain in order to free her from the pursuit of the river-god Alpheus. This fountain was said to exist in the small Island of Ortygia, near Syracuse, and was fabled to have a subterranean connection with the River Alpheus in Greece.
Aretino (ä-rā-tē´nö), Guido. See Guido.