An´vil, an instrument on which pieces of metal are laid for the purpose of being hammered. The common smith's anvil is generally made of seven pieces, namely, the core or body; the four corners for the purpose of enlarging its base; the projecting end, which contains a square hole for the reception of a set or chisel to cut off pieces of iron; and the beak or conical end, used for turning pieces of iron into a circular form, &c. These pieces are each separately welded to the core and hammered so as to form a regular surface with the whole. When the anvil has received its due form, it is faced with steel, and is then tempered in cold water. The smith's anvil is generally placed loose upon a wooden block. The anvil for heavy operations, such as the forging of ordnance and shafting, consists of a huge iron block deeply embedded, and resting on piles of masonry.
Anville, Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d' (jän˙ ba˙p-tēst bōr-gē-nyön˙ dän˙-vēl), a celebrated French geographer, born 1697, died 1782; published a great number of maps and writings illustrative of ancient and modern geography.
Anynaks, a negro tribe inhabiting the banks of the Upper Sobat (a tributary of the White Nile), between the Egyptian Sudan and Abyssinia. They rebelled against British authority in 1912.
Anzacs, a composite word used as the name of the British colonial troops in the Gallipoli undertaking. The men being from Australia and New Zealand, their organization was officially known as the Australian-New Zealand Army Corps. The full title, however, was much too cumbersome, and a clerk in one of the head-quarters offices at Zeitoun, where the troops were in training, hit upon the word Anzacs, formed from the initial letters of the long title. The Anzacs landed near Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli, on the morning of 25th April, 1915, and had their first encounter with the Germans on the Western Front on 6th May, 1916. In 1916 the word Anzac was officially adopted by the War Office.
Anzin (a˙n˙-zan˙), a town of France, department of Nord, about 1 mile north-west of Valenciennes, in the centre of an extensive coal-field, with blast-furnaces, forges, rolling-mills, foundries, &c. Pop. 14,325.
Aonia, in ancient geography a name for part of Bœotia in Greece, containing Mount Helicon and the fountain Aganippe, both haunts of the muses.
A´orist, the name given to one of the tenses of the verb in some languages (as the Greek), which expresses indefinite past time.
Aor´ta, in anatomy, the great artery or trunk of the arterial system, proceeding from the left ventricle of the heart, and giving origin to all the arteries except the pulmonary. It first rises towards the top of the breast-bone, when it is called the ascending aorta; then makes a great curve, called the transverse or great arch of the aorta, whence it branches off to the head and upper extremities; thence proceeding towards the lower extremities, under the name of the descending aorta, it branches off to the trunk; and finally divides into the two iliacs, which supply the pelvis and lower extremities.
Aosta (a˙-os´ta˙; ancient Augusta Prætoria), a town of north Italy, 50 miles N.N.W. of Turin, on the Dora-Baltea, with an ancient triumphal arch, remains of an amphitheatre, &c. Pop. 7000.
Aoudad (a-ö´dad), the Ammotrăgus tragelăphus, a quadruped allied to the sheep, most closely to the mouflon, from which, however, it may be easily distinguished by the heavy mane, commencing at the throat and falling as far as the knees. It is a native of North Africa, inhabiting the loftiest and most inaccessible rocks.