Antakieh, or Antakia. See Antioch.
Antal´kali, a substance which neutralizes an alkali, and is used medicinally to counteract an alkaline tendency in the system. All true acids have this power.
Antananarivo (an-tan-an-a-rē´vō), the capital of Madagascar, situated in the central province of Imérina, on rocky eminences rising from a plain. Until 1869 all buildings within the city were of wood or rush, but since the introduction of brick and stone, the whole city has been rebuilt. It contains two former royal palaces, immense timber structures; a Protestant and a Roman Catholic cathedral, mission churches, schools, &c. Antananarivo is the residence of the French governor of Madagascar, and there is a strong French garrison. It has manufactures of metal work, cutlery, silk, &c. Pop. (exclusive of the troops) 63,115.
An´tar, an Arabian warrior and poet of the sixth century, author of one of the seven Moallakas (poems) hung up in the Kaaba at Mecca; hero of a romance analogous in Arabic literature to the Arthurian legend of the English. The romance of Antar is composed in rhythmic prose interspersed with fragments of verse, many of which are attributed to Antar himself, and has been generally ascribed to Asmai (born A.D. 740, died about A.D. 830), preceptor to Harun-al-Rashid. It has been published in 32 vols. at Cairo (1889).
Antarctic (ant-ärk´tik), a term signifying the opposite of Arctic, and therefore relating to the southern pole or to the regions near it. The Antarctic Circle, which of course corresponds to the Arctic Circle, is a circle parallel to the equator and distant from the south pole 23° 28´, marking the area within which the sun does not set when on the tropic of Capricorn. The Antarctic Circle has been arbitrarily fixed on as the limits of the Antarctic Ocean, it being the average limit of the pack-ice; but the name is often extended to embrace a much wider area. The lands within or near the Antarctic Circle are but imperfectly known, and a very large area around the south pole is altogether unknown. The work of exploration has been hitherto baffled at various points by what seems an unsurmountable ice-barrier, which in some places is connected with masses of land and may as a whole belong to a great Antarctic continent. Among land-masses that have long been known to exist in the Antarctic Ocean, though our knowledge of them is very imperfect, are those to which have been attached the names Graham Land, Victoria Land, Wilkes Land, Enderby Land, South Shetland Islands, &c. The Antarctic regions are even colder and more inhospitable than the Arctic, and partly on account of their remoteness from the maritime nations there have been far fewer efforts at their exploration, the south pole being far less a goal of discovery than the north. See South Polar Expeditions.
Ant-eater, a name given to mammals of various genera that prey chiefly on ants, but usually confined to the genus Myrmecophăga, ord. Edentata. In this genus the head is remarkably elongated, the jaws destitute of teeth, and the mouth furnished with a long, extensile
tongue covered with glutinous saliva, by the aid of which the animals secure their insect prey. The eyes are particularly small, the ears short and round, and the legs, especially the fore-legs, very strong, and furnished with long, compressed, acute nails, admirably adapted for breaking into the ant-hills. The most remarkable species is the Myrmecophăga jubāta, or ant-bear, a native of the warmer parts of South America. It is from 4 to 5 feet in length from the tip of the muzzle to the root of the black bushy tail, which is about 2 feet long. The body is covered with long hair, particularly along the neck and back. It is a harmless and solitary animal, and spends most of its time in sleep. Some are adapted for climbing trees in quest of the insects on which they feed, having prehensile tails. All are natives of South America. The name ant-eater is also given to the pangolins and to the aardvark. The echidna of Australia is sometimes called porcupine ant-eater.
Antece´dent, in grammar, the noun to which a relative or other pronoun refers; as, Solomon was the prince who built the temple, where the word prince is the antecedent of who.—In logic, that member of a hypothetical or conditional proposition which contains the condition, and which is introduced by if or some equivalent word or words; as, if the sun is fixed, the earth must move. Here the first and conditional proposition is the antecedent, the second the consequent.
Antedilu´vian, before the flood or deluge of Noah's time; relating to what happened before the deluge. In geology the term has been applied to organisms, traces of which are found in a fossil state in formations preceding the Diluvial (Glacial epoch), particularly to extinct animals such as the palæotherium, the mastodon, &c.