arrowroot, is the produce of Tacca pinnatifida, the pia plant of the South Sea Islands. Portland arrowroot was formerly prepared on the Isle of Portland from the tubers of the common cuckoo-pint, Arum maculatum. Various other species of arum yield valuable food-starches in hot countries. Under the name of British arrowroot the farina of potatoes is sometimes sold, and the French excel in the preparation of imitations of the more costly starches from this source. The chief use, however, of potato-farina as an edible starch is for adulterating other and more costly preparations. This falsification can readily be detected by microscopic examination, and the accompanying drawings exhibit the appearance under the microscope of the principal starches we have described. Although these starches agree in chemical composition, their value as articles of diet varies considerably, owing to different degrees of digestibility and pleasantness of taste. Arrowroot contains about 82% of starch, and about 1% of proteid and mineral matter. Farina, or British arrowroot, at about one-twelfth the price, is just as useful and pleasant a food.
ARROWSMITH, the name of an English family of geographers. The first of them, Aaron Arrowsmith (1750–1823), migrated to London from Winston in Durham when about twenty years of age, and was employed by John Cary, the engraver. In 1790 he made himself famous by his large chart of the world on Mercator’s projection. Four years later he published another large map of the world on the globular projection, with a companion volume of explanation. The maps of North America (1796) and Scotland (1807) are the most celebrated of his many later productions. He left two sons, Aaron and Samuel, the elder of whom was the compiler of the Eton Comparative Atlas, of a Biblical atlas, and of various manuals of geography. They carried on the business in company with John Arrowsmith (1790–1873), nephew of the elder Aaron. In 1834 John published his London Atlas, the best set of maps then in existence. He followed up the atlas with a long series of elaborate and carefully executed maps, those of Australia, America, Africa and India being especially valuable. In 1863 he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, of which body he was one of the founders.
ARROYO (O. Sp. arrogio, Lat. arrogium, a rivulet or stream), the channel of a stream cut in loose earth, found often at the head of a gully, where the water flows only at certain seasons of the year.
ARSACES, a Persian name, which occurs on a Persian seal, where it is written in cuneiform characters. The most famous Arsaces was the chief of the Parni, one of the nomadic Scythian or Dahan tribes in the desert east of the Caspian Sea. A later tradition, preserved by Arrian, derives Arsaces I. and Tiridates from the Achaemenian king Artaxerxes II., but this has evidently no historical value. Arsaces, seeking refuge before the Bactrian king Diodotes, invaded Parthia, then a province of the Seleucid empire, about 250 B.C. (Strabo xi. p. 515, cf. Arrian p. 1, Müller, in Photius, Cod. 58, and Syncellus p. 284). After two years (according to Arrian) he was killed, and his brother Tiridates, who succeeded him and maintained himself for a short time in Parthia, during the dissolution of the Seleucid empire by the attacks of Ptolemy III. (247 ff.), was defeated and expelled by Seleucus II. (about 238). But when this king was forced, by the rebellion of his brother, Antiochus Hierax, to return to the west, Tiridates came back and defeated the Macedonians (Strabo xi. pp. 513, 515; Justin xli. 4; Appian, Syr. 65; Isidorus of Charax 11). He was the real founder of the Parthian empire, which was of very limited extent until the final decay of the Seleucid empire, occasioned by the Roman intrigues after the death of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes (165 B.C.), enabled Mithradates I. and his successors to conquer Media and Babylonia. Tiridates adopted the name of his brother Arsaces, and after him all the other Parthian kings (who by the historians are generally called by their proper names), amounting to the number of about thirty, officially wear only the name Arsaces. With very few exceptions only the name ΑΡΣΑΚΗΣ (with various epithets) occurs on the coins of the Parthian kings, and the obverse generally shows the seated figure of the founder of the dynasty, holding in his hand a strung bow. The Arsacidian empire was overthrown in A.D. 226 by Ardashir (Artaxerxes), the founder of the Sassanid empire, whose conquests began about A.D. 212. The name Arsaces of Persia is also borne by some kings of Armenia, who were of Parthian origin. (See Persia and Parthia.) (Ed. M.)
ARS-AN-DER-MOSEL, a town of Germany, in the imperial province Alsace-Lorraine, 5 m. S. of Metz on the railway to Novéant. It has a handsome Roman Catholic church and extensive foundries. In the vicinity are the remains of a Roman aqueduct, which formerly spanned the valley. Pop. 5000.
ARSCHOT, PHILIPPE DE CROY, Duke of (1526–1595), governor-general of Flanders, was born at Valenciennes, and inherited the estates of the ancient and wealthy family of Croy. Becoming a soldier, he was made a knight of the order of the Golden Fleece by Philip II., king of Spain, and was afterwards employed in diplomatic work. He took part in the troubles in the Netherlands, and in 1563 refused to join William the Silent and others in their efforts to remove Cardinal Granvella from his post. This attitude, together with Arschot’s devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, which he expressed by showing his delight at the massacre of St Bartholomew, led Philip of Spain to regard him with still greater favour, which, however, was withdrawn in consequence of Arschot’s ambiguous conduct when welcoming the new governor, Don John of Austria, to the Netherlands in 1576. In spite, however, of his being generally distrusted by the inhabitants of the Netherlands, he was appointed governor of the citadel of Antwerp when the Spanish troops withdrew in 1577. After a period of vacillation he deserted Don John towards the end of that year. Jealous of the prince of Orange, he was then the head of the party which induced the archduke Matthias (afterwards emperor) to undertake the sovereignty of the Netherlands, and soon afterwards was appointed governor of Flanders by the state council. A strong party, including the burghers of Ghent, distrusted the new governor; and Arschot, who was taken prisoner during a riot at Ghent, was only released on promising to resign his office. He then sought to regain the favour of Philip of Spain, and having been pardoned by the king in 1580 again shared in the government of the Netherlands; but he refused to serve under the count of Fuentes when he became governor-general in 1594, and retired to Venice, where he died on the 11th of December 1595.
See J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic.
ARSENAL, an establishment for the construction, repair, receipt, storage and issue of warlike stores; details as to matériel will be found under Ammunition, Ordnance, &c. The word “arsenal” appears in various forms in Romanic languages (from which it has been adopted into Teutonic), i.e. Italian arzanale, Spanish arsenal, &c.; Italian also has arzana and darsena, and Spanish a longer form atarazanal. The word is of Arabic origin, being a corruption of daraṣ-ṣinā‘ah, house of trade or manufacture, dar, house, al, the, and ṣina‘ah, trade, manufacture, ṣana’a, to make. Such guesses as arx navalis, naval citadel, arx senatus (i.e. of Venice, &c.), are now entirely rejected.
A first-class arsenal, which can renew the matériel and equipment of a large army, embraces a gun factory, carriage factory, laboratory and small-arms ammunition factory, small-arms factory, harness, saddlery and tent factories, and a powder factory; in addition it must possess great store-houses. In a second-class arsenal the factories would be replaced by workshops. The situation of an arsenal should be governed by strategical considerations. If of the first class, it should be situated at the base of operations and supply, secure from attack, not too near a frontier, and placed so as to draw in readily the resources of the country. The importance of a large arsenal is such that its defences would be on the scale of those of a large fortress. The usual subdivision of branches in a great arsenal is into A, Storekeeping; B, Construction; C, Administration. Under A we should have the following departments and stores:—Departments of issue and receipt, pattern room, armoury department, ordnance or park, harness, saddlery and accoutrements, camp equipment, tools and instruments,
