Auteuil (ō-tė-yė), formerly a suburban village of Paris, but now enclosed within the fortifications.
Autobiog´raphy, a department of literature of which, as a definite branch or form at least, we have no very ancient examples, though many autobiographical details are contained, for instance, in Cicero's and Pliny's letters, while St. Augustine has left a fragmentary autobiography in his Confessions. Various writers of note, without claiming or perhaps intending to write a formal autobiography, have left similar materials in the form of their own memoirs or reminiscences, or, for a portion of their lives, in diaries. The chief English diarists are Pepys and Evelyn, while Crabb Robinson is an admirable modern example. Brief autobiographies were written by Gibbon, Hume, and Sir Walter Scott (of his early life only), and among other writers who have given us autobiographies or kindred works are Fanny Burney, Cobbett, Haydon, Miss Mitford, Harriet Martineau, Leigh Hunt, Hugh Miller (in My Schools and Schoolmasters), John Stuart Mill, Anthony Trollope, Sir Henry Taylor, Miss F. P. Cobbe, Carlyle, Ruskin, Herbert Spencer, Alexander Bain, and Alfred Russel Wallace. Lord Roberts's Forty-one Years in India and General Grant's Personal Memoirs are most interesting autobiographical works by men of action. One of the most famous of autobiographies is that of the Italian Benvenuto Cellini. See Biography.
Autochrome. See Photography.
Autochthones (a¨-tok'tho-nēz), the Greek name for the aboriginal inhabitants of a country. See Aborigines.
Au´toclave (derived from the Gr. autos, self, and Lat. clavis, key) is a strong steam-tight vessel in which hydrolysis of liquids can be carried out, under pressure, at temperatures considerably higher than their normal boiling-points. The vessels may be of copper, iron, or other suitable material, are sometimes enamelled within, or may have renewable refractory linings when used for corrosive liquids. Some types have mechanical agitators. Used in the manufacture of candles, coal-tar colours, &c. May be heated by high-pressure steam or in baths of oil or molten lead. See Papin.
Au´tocrat (Gr. autos, self, kratos, rule), an absolute or uncontrolled ruler; the head of a State who is not controlled by any constitutional limitations, such as the Tsars of Russia till 1917.
Auto-de-fe (Sp.); Auto-da-fe (Pg.), literally, 'act of faith'. See Inquisition.
Au´tograph, a person's own handwriting; an original manuscript or signature, as opposed to a copy. The practice of collecting autographs or signatures originated in Germany and the Low Countries, chiefly among members of the universities, and dates at least from the sixteenth century. Among the earliest collections known are those of John Cotton and Hans Sloane in the British Museum, and of Philippe de Bethune, brother of Sully, and Loménie de Brienne at the Bibliothèque Nationale. The most celebrated collection formed in England in recent years is that of Alfred Morrison.
Automatic Writing. See Psychical Research; Spiritualism.
Autom´atism, the confinement of activity in men or animals within a purely mechanical limit, resulting from injury to or partial removal of the brain.