Anos´mia, a disease consisting in a diminution or destruction of the power of smelling, sometimes constitutional, but most frequently caused by strong and repeated stimulants, as snuff, applied to the olfactory nerves.
Anoura. See Anura.
Anquetil-Duperron (a˙nk-tēl-du˙-pā-ron˙), Abraham Hyacinthe, a French orientalist, born 1731, died 1805. He studied theology for some time, but soon devoted himself to the study of Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian. His zeal for the Oriental languages induced him to set out for India, where he prevailed on some of the Parsee priests to instruct him in the Zend and Pehlevi and to give him some of the Zoroastrian books. In 1762 he returned to France with a valuable collection of MSS. In 1771 he published his Zend-Avesta, a translation of the Vendidad, and other sacred books, which aroused much interest. Among his other works are L'Inde en rapport avec l'Europe (1790), and a selection from the Vedas. His knowledge of the Oriental languages was by no means exact.
Ansbach. See Anspach.
An´selm, St., a celebrated Christian philosopher and theologian, born at Aosta, in Piedmont, in 1033, died at Canterbury 1109. At the age of twenty-seven (1060) he became a monk at Bec, in Normandy, whither he had been attracted by the celebrity of Lanfranc. Three years later he was elected prior, and in 1078 he was chosen abbot, which he remained for fifteen years. During this period of his life he wrote his first philosophical and religious works: the dialogues on Truth and Free-will, and the treatises Monologion and Proslogion; and at the same time his influence made itself so felt among the monks under his charge that Bec became the chief seat of learning in Europe. In 1093 Anselm was offered by William Rufus the archbishopric of Canterbury, and accepted it, though with great reluctance, and with the condition that all the lands belonging to the see should be restored. William II soon quarrelled with the archbishop, who would show no subservience to him, and would persist in acknowledging Pope Urban II in opposition to the antipope Clement. William ultimately had to give way. He acknowledged Urban as Pope, and conferred the pallium upon Anselm. The king became his bitter enemy, however, and so great were Anselm's difficulties that in 1097 he set out for Rome to consult with the Pope. Urban received him with great distinction, but did not venture really to take the side of the prelate against the king, though William had refused to receive Anselm again as archbishop, and had seized on the revenues of the see of Canterbury, which he retained till his death in 1100. Anselm accordingly remained abroad, where he wrote most of his celebrated treatise on the atonement, entitled Cur Deus Homo (Why God was made Man). When William was succeeded by Henry I Anselm was recalled; but Henry insisted that he should submit to be reinvested in his see by himself, although the Popes claimed the right of investing for themselves alone. Much negotiation followed, and Henry did not surrender his claims till 1107, when Anselm's long struggle on behalf of the rights of the Church came to an end. Anselm was a great scholar, a deep and original thinker, and a man of the utmost saintliness and piety. Anselm's great achievement in philosophy was his ontological argument for the existence of God; and his importance in the ecclesiastical history of England cannot be exaggerated. The chief of his writings are the Monologion, the Proslogion, and the Cur Deus Homo. The first is an attempt to prove inductively the existence of God by pure reason without the aid of Scripture or authority; the second is an attempt to prove the same by the deductive method; the Cur Deus Homo is intended to prove the necessity of the incarnation. Among his numerous other writings are more than 400 letters. His life was written by his domestic chaplain and companion, Eadmer, a monk of Canterbury, and is edited by M. Rule for the 'Rolls Series'. See Scholasticism. Cf. Père Ragey, Histoire de Saint Anselme; J. M. Rigg, Anselm of Canterbury.
Ans´gar, or Anshar, called the Apostle of the North, born in 801 in Picardy, died in 864 or 865. He took the monastic vows while still in his boyhood, and in the midst of many difficulties laboured as a missionary in Denmark and Sweden. He died with the reputation of having made, if not the first, the most successful attempts to propagate Christianity in the North.
An´son, George, Lord, celebrated English navigator, born 1697, died 1762. He entered the navy at an early age and became a commander in 1722, and captain in 1724. He was for a long time on the South Carolina station. In 1740 he was made commander of a fleet sent to the South Sea, directed against the trade and colonies of Spain. The expedition consisted of five men-of-war and three smaller vessels, which carried 1400 men. After much suffering and many stirring adventures he reached the coast of Peru, made several prizes, and captured and burned the city of Paita. His squadron was now reduced to one ship, the Centurion, but with it he took the Spanish treasure galleon from Acapulco, and arrived in England in 1744 with treasure to the amount of £500,000, having circumnavigated the globe. His adventures and discoveries are described in the well-known Anson's Voyage,
compiled from materials furnished by Anson. A few days after his return he was made rear-admiral of the blue, and not long after rear-admiral of the white. His victory over the French admiral Jonquière, near Cape Finisterre in 1747, raised him to the peerage, with the title of Lord Anson, Baron of Soberton. Four years afterwards he was made First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1758 he commanded the fleet before Brest, protected the landing of the British at St. Malo, Cherbourg, &c., and received the repulsed troops into his vessels. Finally, in 1761, he was appointed to convey the queen of George III to England.
Anso´nia, a town of the United States, Conn., on the Nangatuck, with manufactures of brass and copper, and especially clocks. Pop. 17,643.
Anspach (a˙n´spa˙h), or Ansbach, a town in Bavaria, at the junction of the Holzbach with the Lower Rezat, 24 miles south-west of Nürnberg. Anspach gave its name to an ancient principality or margravate, which had a territory of about 1300 sq. miles, with 300,000 inhabitants. in the end of the eighteenth century. The last margrave sold his possessions in 1791 to Prussia. It was occupied by the French in 1806, and transferred by Napoleon to Bavaria. The town has manufactures of trimmings, buttons, straw-wares, &c. Pop. 19,995.