Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/103

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ARTEL.
87
ARTEMISIA.

ARTEL, jir-tyel'. The Russian name for a gang. It refers especially to associations of independent laborers working collectively on a job and dividing the profits. It is a primitive form of coöperative production, which sometimes resembles the old trade guild and is still in existence among the fishermen of Archangel. Among the peasants in agricultural labor the artel has been largely displaced by the contract system, though they are still organized on the coöperative basis sometimes for the purchase of provisions. See Gangs, Agricultural.


ARTEMIDO'RUS (Gk. ' Xi,rnu{ui,or. Arte- mid(jiiis). A geographer and native of Ephesus, who lived about B.C. 100. On one occasion he was sent to Rome to recover from the Government certain treasures which had been wrongfully appropriated by the Roman officials. In recognition of his success on this embassy, his townsmen erected a golden statue to him. His travels extended through the lands bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and the less distant parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea. The r€u7pa0oi5/ie>a, Geographoumena, in eleven books, was a comprehensive work on the geographical, physical, historical, and political feat- ures of the most important countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and was based on the author's own investigations and a study of the works of Timosthenes, Eratosthenes, Polybius, Agatharchides, and others. It was much used by later authors, but only fragments have come down to us. An epitome of the work was made by Marcianus of Heraclea, which also is not extant. Artemidorus wrote another book called 'IwnKi inrofiirfifiaTa, Ionika hypomnemata.


AR'TEMIS. See Diana.


ARTEMISA, iir'ta-me'sa, or ARTAMISA, ar'tu-nie'sa. A town of Cuba, in the Province of Havana, situated about 35 miles by rail from Havana (Map: Cuba, C 4). It carries on a considerable trade in sugar and tobacco. Population, in 1899, of district, 9317.


ARTEMISIA, ar'te-mizh'i-a or -nilsh'i-a (Lat., Gk. 'A/jrfu/oia, probably from being dedicated to Artemis). A genus of plants of the order Compositæ. in which the flowers of the disk have stamens and styles and are either fertile or abortive, those of the ray pistillate and fertile. The heads of the flowers are numerous and small; the leaves are generally much divided. There are many species, herbaceous plants and shrubs, natives chiefly of the more temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere and the western United States. They have generally an aromatic smell, more or less agreeable, and a warm, sometimes rather acrid and bitterish taste. To this genus belongs Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), the apsinthion of the ancient Greeks, to whom its medicinal properties were well known. It is a native of Great Britain, the Continent of Europe, and the northern parts of Asia, and it grows in waste places by waysides, etc. It is a perennial, two to four feet high; its leaves are bipinnatifid and clothed with a silky flown, and its small, hemispherical drooping heads of flowers are of a dingy yellow color and are produced in axillary panicles. It is aromatic and bitter, containing a bitter principle and an essential oil, both of great strength, on ac-


count of which it is used in medicine in various forms (oil, extract, tincture, etc.), as a stomachic and anthelmintic or vermifuge. It was formerly in much use as a febrifuge. Sea Wormwood (Artemisia maritima, including a variety which has been called Artemisia gallica), a native of salt-marshes in Great Britain and other parts of Europe, possesses similar properties, and is occasionally used for the same purposes; as also Roman Wormwood (Artemisia pontica), a native of the middle and south of Europe, but not of Great Britain; Tartarian Wormwood (Artemisia santonica), a native of Tartary, Persia, and other parts of the East; and Indian Wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris), a native of the Himalaya, abounding at elevations of 2000 to 6000 feet. Indian wormwood grows to the height of twelve feet. It is considered in India a powerful deobstruent and antispasmodic. Tree Wormwood (Artemisia arborescens), a native of the south of Europe and the Levant, is also larger and more shrubby than the common wormwood, which, in characters and qualities it resembles The dried flower-buds of a number of species of Artemisia are sold under the names of Wormseed and have long been in much repute as anthelmintics. Artemisia santonica, which is said to contain as much as 2 per cent, of santonin is one of the best known. The plants from which the bitter aromatic liquor called extrait, eau, or crème d'absinthe is prepared, are small, low-growing species of Artemisia (Artemisia mutellina, Artemisia glacialis, Artemisia rupestris, Artemisia spicata, etc.), found on the Alps, and known to the inhabitants of the Alps by the name of genipi. Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), a common native of Great Britain and of the Continent of Europe, often found about ruins and in waste places, grows to the height of three or four feet, with pinnatifid leaves and with panicles of small yellow flowers. It emits, when rubbed, an agreeable smell, and has a bitter taste. In Germany, the young shoots and leaves are used in cookery for seasoning. It is used also for the same medicinal purposes as wormwood, but is weaker. Its leaves, and those of some of the other species, are used as fomentations for cleansing and healing wounds. Southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum) is a shrubby plant with long, straight stems 3 to 4 feet high, the lower leaves bipinnate, upper leaves pinnate. It is a native of the south of Europe and middle parts of Asia, and has long been a favorite plant in cottage-gardens in Great Britain. It has an aromatic and pleasant odor. The leaves are used to drive away moths from linen, and in some parts of the Continent of Europe as an ingredient in the manufacture of beer. The smell of this plant appears to be peculiarly disagreeable to bees, which retreat from it; and a little branch of southernwood is sometimes efficaciously used when they are swarming, to promote their ascent into the new hive placed over them. Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) is a perennial plant, a native of Siberia, and long cultivated in gardens in Great Britain. It has a branching stem one to one and a half feet high, with narrow leaves. It is fragrant, and has an aromatic smell and taste. The leaves and tender tips are a favorite ingredient in pickles. An infusion of the plant in vinegar is used as a fish-sauce. The leaves of Artemisia maderaspatana or Grangea maderaspatana are regarded in India as a valuable