ANGERMANN, a river of Sweden, which rises about lat. 65º N. and long. 15º E., among the mountains that separate Sweden from Norway, and flows in a south-easterly direction through Westerbotten and Westnorrland, entering the Gulf of Bothnia near Hernosand, after a course of about 250 miles, during which it passes through several lakes. It is navigable for upwards of 50 miles from the sea, and the scenery on its banks is sometimes very beautiful.
ANGERMÜNDE, a town of Prussia, capital of a circle of the same name in the province of Brandenburg, situated on Lake Münde, 43 miles from Berlin, by the Berlin-Stettin railway. It contains about 6400 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in the manufacture of woollen and linen goods.
ANGERS, an ancient city of France, capital of the department of Maine-et-Loire, and formerly of the old province of Anjou, situated on the Maine, about 4 miles from its junction with the Loire, and 161 miles S.W. of Paris. The streets of the upper and older quarter of the city, which occupies the slope of a rising ground on the left bank of the river, are narrow and often very steep, and the houses have a sombre, although somewhat picturesque appearance, from the quantity of slate that is used in their construction. Many of these buildings, however, have given place to others of a more modern style, particularly near the site of the old ramparts, now occupied by beautiful boulevards, while on the opposite side of the river a new quarter has sprung up, which is regularly and tastefully built. Among the principal buildings in Angers are the castle, situated on a rock commanding the city, once a place of great strength, but now used as a prison, barrack, and powder magazine; the fine cathedral of St Maurice, rebuilt in 1225, and remarkable for its beautiful stained glass windows; the Hôtel Dieu, built by Henry II. of England; and several of the parish churches. Angers is the seat of a bishop, and possesses schools of different grades, various learned societies, a library of about 40,000 volumes, and a gallery containing a good collection of pictures and statues, including some fine works by the sculptor David of Angers. There was once a university in the town, as well as a military college, at which the Earl of Chatham and the Duke of Wellington received part of their education; but the former has been abolished, while the latter has been removed to Saumur. The chief manufactures at Angers are sail-cloths, ropes, linen goods, hosiery, sugar, leather, wax, and oil; there is also a considerable trade in corn, wine, and fruits, and in the neighbourhood there are extensive slate quarries, which give employment to about 3000 workmen. Population, 58,464. Angers is the ancient Juliomagus, or, as it was latterly called, Andecavia, whence the city is said to derive its present name. It was captured by Odoacer in 464 A.D., and by Clovis in 486; it suffered severely from the invasions of the Northmen in 845 and the succeeding years, and of the English in the 12th and 15th centuries; the Huguenots took it in 1585, and the Vendean royalists were repulsed near it in 1793.
ANGERSTEIN, John Julius, an opulent London merchant, and a distinguished patron of the fine arts, was born at St Petersburg in 1735, and settled in London about 1749. His collection of paintings, consisting of about forty of the most exquisite specimens of the art, purchased by the English Government, on his death in 1822, for £60,000, formed the nucleus of the National Gallery.
ANGHIARI, a small town of Italy, in the province of Arezzo, situated 10 miles N.E. of Arezzo, not far from the Sovara, a tributary of the Tiber. The Milanese, under Niccolo Piccinino, were here defeated by the Florentines in 1440. Population of the commune, 6900.
ANGILBERT, St, the most distinguished poet of his age, was the secretary and friend of Charlemagne. After filling the highest offices under that monarch, and receiving the hand of his daughter Bertha in marriage, he retired in 790 to the monastery of Centule, or Saint Riquier, of which in 794 he was made abbot. He left this retreat from time to time when the king required his services, and in 800 assisted at Rome at his coronation. He died in 814. Angilbert was called by Charlemagne the Homer of his time.
ANGINA PECTORIS, a term applied to a violent paroxysm of painful sensations in the chest, arising for the most part in connection with some form of heart disease. An attack of angina pectoris usually comes on with a sudden seizure of pain, felt at first over the region of the heart, but radiating through the chest in various directions, and frequently extending down the left arm. A feeling of constriction and of suffocation accompanies the pain, although there is seldom actual difficulty in breathing. When the attack comes on, as it often does, in the course of some bodily exertion, the sufferer is at once brought to rest, and during the continuance of the paroxysm experiences the most intense agony. The countenance becomes pale, the surface of the body cold, the pulse feeble, and death appears to be imminent, when suddenly the attack subsides, and complete relief is obtained. The duration of a paroxysm rarely exceeds two or three minutes, but it may last for a longer period. The attacks are apt to recur on slight exertion, and even in aggravated cases without any such exciting cause. Occasionally the first seizure proves fatal; but more commonly death takes place as the result of repeated attacks. Angina pectoris is generally held to be a neurosis, or nervous affection of the heart, but its causation is still a matter of uncertainty. It seems occasionally to manifest itself where no organic heart disease is discoverable, either in life or after death, but in the great majority of cases some morbid condition of the heart's structure is undoubtedly present. A diseased state of the coronary arteries, the nutrient blood-vessels of the heart, has been found in a large proportion of the cases, examined post mortem; but, on the other hand, these arteries may be found diseased where no paroxysm of angina had ever occurred; and further, it is well known that various other forms of heart disease may have angina pectoris associated with them as a prominent symptom. Angina pectoris is extremely rare under middle life, and is much more common in males than in females. It must always be regarded as a disorder of a very serious nature. In the treatment of the paroxysm much relief is obtained by opiates, and by the inhalation, under proper precautions, of anæsthetic vapours, such as ether, chloroform, and nitrite of amyl, To prevent the recurrence of the attacks, something may be done by scrupulous attention to the state of the general health, and by the avoidance of mental or physical strain, for it is certain that attacks in those who are the subjects of the disorder are often precipitated by errors in living, and by undue exertion or excitement.
