Aviation. See Aeronautics.
Avicen´na, or Ebn-Sina, an Arabian philosopher and physician, born at Kharmaithen, in the province of Bokhara, A.D. 980. After practising as a physician he quitted Bokhara at the age of twenty-two, and for a number of years led a wandering life, settling at last at Hamadan, subsequently as vizier of the Emir. On the death of his patron he lived in retirement at Hamadan, but having secretly offered his services to the Sultan of Ispahan he was imprisoned by the new Emir. Escaping, he fled to Ispahan, was received with great honour by the Sultan, and passed there in quietness the last fourteen years of his life, writing upon medicine, logic, metaphysics, astronomy, and geometry. His philosophy was Aristotelianism mingled with neo-Platonism, and his influence is most marked in Dante and the Mystics. He died at Hamadan, in Northern Persia, 1037, leaving many writings, mostly commentaries on Aristotle. Of his 100 treatises the best known is the Canon Medicinæ, which was still in use as a textbook at Louvain and Montpellier in the middle of the seventeenth century. His Philosophia Orientalis, mentioned by Roger Bacon, is lost.
Avie´nus, Rufus Festus, a Latin descriptive poet, who flourished about the end of the fourth century A.D., and wrote Descriptio Orbis Terræ, a general description of the earth; Ora Maritima, an account of the Mediterranean coasts, &c.
Avifau´na, a collective term for the birds of any region.
Avigliano (a˙-vēl-yä´nō), a town of S. Italy, province Potenza. Pop. 17,413.
Avignon (a˙-vē-nyōn; ancient, Avenio), an old town of S.E. France, capital of department Vaucluse, on the left bank of the Rhone; enclosed by lofty battlemented and turreted walls, well built, but with rather narrow streets. It is an archbishop's see since 1475, and has a large and ancient cathedral on a rock overlooking the town, the immense palace in which the Popes resided (used as a barracks and prison for a long time), and other old buildings. The industries of the city are numerous and varied, the principal being connected with silk. The silk manufacture and the breeding of silk-worms are the principal employments in the district. Here Petrarch lived several years, and made the acquaintance of Laura, whose tomb is in the Franciscan church. From 1309 to 1377 seven Popes in succession, from Clement V to Gregory XI, resided in this city. After its purchase by Pope Clement VI, in 1348, Avignon and its district continued, with a few interruptions, under the rule of a vice-legate of the Pope's till 1791, when it was formally united to the French Republic. Pop. 49,304.
Avignon Berries. See French Berries.
Avila (ä'vē-la˙), a town of Spain, capital of province of Avila, a modern division of Old Castile. It is the see of the Bishop suffragan of Santiago, with fine cathedral. Once one of the richest towns of Spain. Principal employment in the town, spinning; in the province, breeding sheep and cattle. Pop., town, 12,060; province, 214,008.
Avila, Gil Gonzalez d', a Spanish antiquary and biographer, 1577-1658; made historiographer of Castile in 1612, and of the Indies in 1641. Most valuable works: Teatro de las Grandezas de Madrid, 1623, and Teatro Ecclesiastico, 1645-53.
Avila y Zuñiga (ä´vē-la˙ ē thö-nyē´ga˙), Don Luis d', Spanish general, diplomatist, and historian; a favourite of Charles V; born about