AISNE AIX-LA-CHAPELLE 223 ties. In his " Essays on the Invasion of Bri- tain by Julius Caesar" (London, 1865), Prof. Airy questions the accuracy of D'Anville's, Rennet's, and Halley's theories about the points of Caesar's sailing and landing; he re- gards the points of departure to have been so far from Calais as the mouth of the Somme, and the place of landing so far from Deal as Pe- vensey bay. AISNE, a department in the north of France which takes its name from the river Aisne, an affluent of the Oise. It consists of portions of lie de France, Brie, and Picardy, and is bound- ed by the departments of Le Nord, Ardennes, Marne, Seine-et-Marne, Oise, and Somme, and Belgium. Area, 2,838 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 552,439. It is traversed by the Oise, Aisne, Ourcq, and Marne. The surface is mostly flat, and the soil fertile. It is divided into the ar- rondissements of St. Quentin, Laon, Chateau- Thierry, Soissons, and Vervins. Capital, Laon. The quantity of farm produce and live stock exceeds that of most parts of France. A prof- itable trade is earned on in pressing oil from the beech mast of the extensive forests. Sev- eral of the towns are noted for their manufac- tures. The mirrors of St. Gobain are known throughout France. AISSE, JDle., a Circassian lady, born in 1694, died in Paris in 1733. "When she was four years old the count de Ferriol, French ambas- sador at Constantinople, purchased her from a slave dealer, who stated that she was the daughter of a Circassian prince. The count had her educated at Paris, under the superin- tendence of his sister-in-law, but he afterward ' seduced her. Though she repulsed the bril- liant offers of the dissolute regent, the duke of Orleans, she indulged a guilty passion for the chevalier d'Aydie, a knight of Malta. Her letters contained interesting anecdotes relating to the court and to contemporary personages, and were thought worthy by Voltaire of being published, accompanied by annotations of his own (1787). In 1806 they were collected, together with those of Mmes. de Villars, La Fayette, and De Tencin (Paris, 3 vols. 12mo). AITRIN, a new county of E. Minnesota ; area, about 950 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 178. Part of Lake Mille Lacs occupies its "W. corner. The route of the Northern Pacific railroad ex- tends through the N. part of the county. AITON, William, a Scotch gardener and bota- nist, born near Hamilton in 1731, died at Kew palace, Feb. 1, 1793. He emigrated to Eng- land in 1754, and in 1759 obtained the manage- ment of the royal botanical garden at Kew, and in 1783 also that of the pleasure garden. Under his care Kew gardens became the prin- cipal scene of botanical culture in the kingdom. In 1789 he published his Hortm Kewensis (3 vols. 8vo), in which 5,600 species are de- scribed. The system of arrangement adopted is the Linnsean, and the author indicates the origin, mode of culture, and the epoch of intro- duction into England, of each species. He was assisted in this task by two learned Swedes, Dr. Solander and Mr. Jonas Dryander. He was succeeded by his son, WILLIAM TOWN- SEND AITON, who retired in 1841, and died in 1849, aged 84. AITZEMA, Lienwe van, a Dutch historian, born at Dokkum, Nov. 19, 1600, died at the Hague, Feb. 23, 1669. His great work is Zaaken van Stoat en Oorlog in Ende omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (14 vols. 4to, 1657-'71 ; 7 vols., 1669-'72). It is chiefly val- uable on account of the numerous original doc- uments, referring to the period 1621-'68, which it contains. Aitzema was actively engaged in political affairs, and in his latter years was agent of the Hanseatic towns at the Hague. AIX, a town of southern France, department of Bouches-du-Kh6ne, 15 m. N. of Marseilles; pop. in 1866, 28,152. It is the see of an arch- bishop, and possesses a museum and one of the best provincial libraries of France, containing 100,000 volumes. It was the Aquae Sextiae of the Romans, so called on account of its ther- mal springs by Sextius Calvinus, who founded it after a victory achieved there over the Gauls, 123 B. C. Between Aix and Aries is the bat- tle field on which Marius gained his great vic- tory over the Teutons, 102 B. C. The counts of Provence made Aix their capital. The town is handsome, and adorned with a beautiful promenade. The cathedral, the clock tower in the market place, containing a curious clock, and the hotel de ville, are fine specimens of middle-age architecture. The mineral baths are but little frequented ; they are impregnated with sulphur, and are said to soften and im- prove the skin. AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (Ger. Aachen), a town of Rhenish Prussia, capital of the administrative .district of the same name, 43 m. by railway W. S. W. of Cologne ; pop. in 1871, 74,238. It is pleasantly situated on rising ground, is a cen- tre for Rhenish industry, and is the focus of an important net of railways connecting Belgium, Holland, and Germany. The annual export of cloth to the United States amounts to about $1,500,000. The Aachen-Munich fire insur- ance company and the savings bank are the greatest enterprises of the kind in Germany. The value of mineral products furnished by one of the joint-stock companies amounted in 1869 to 2,491,000 thalers. Railroad iron is manu- factured to a very large amount, and there are also flourishing manufactures of woollens, silks, hosiery, shawls, buttons, clocks, pins, railway and other carriages, tobacco, and cigars. A polytechnic school for the Rhenish provinces and for Westphalia was opened t)ct. 10, 1870. The town is handsomely built, and contains a fine Gothic town house, and a beautiful cathe- dral, in which is the tomb of Charlemagne, who made this his favorite residence. A col- lection of famous relics, presented to Charle- magne by the patriarch of Jerusalem and the caliph Haroun-al-Rashid, is kept in a tower at the west end of the cathedral, and exposed to
