the University of Zürich, Switzerland. In 1876 he returned to the United States and was made instructor in chemistry at Dartmouth College. In 1877 he was appointed professor of chemistry at Rutgers College, and during the following ten years was engaged in teaching in that college and in the New Jersey Scientific School. In 1887 he resigned his chair, and during the next six years devoted his attention exclusively to industrial work. In 1803 he resigned his career as a teacher and was made professor of chemistry at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, where he remained until 1898. In 1899 he became the president of the Austen Chemical Research Company. Dr. Austen published a large number of interesting papers in applied chemistry, patented several valuable manufacturing processes, and wrote: Kurze Einleitung zu den Nitro-Verbindungen (Leipzig, 1876), and a translation of Pinner's Repetitorium der organischen Chemie, under the title An Introduction to the Study of Organic Chemistry (New York, 1883).
AUS′TER. The Latin name of the dry south or southwest wind, the modern sirocco, called νότος, notos, by the Greeks. The name is connected with the root of uro, to burn.
AUSTERLITZ, ous′tẽr-lē̇ts (‘the east town on the Littawa;’ from Ger. Ost, East). A small town in Moravia, about 12 miles east-southeast of the town of Brünn (Map: Austria, E 2). It stands on the Littawa, and has a population of 4000. Austerlitz is celebrated as the place where Napoleon I. defeated the combined forces of Austria and Russia, under the command of their emperors (December 2, 1805). The capitulation of the Austrian General Mack at Ulm on October 17, 1805, had been followed by the French occupation of Vienna on November 14; but though Napoleon held the capital of the enemy, his forces were inferior to the allied army of Austrians and Russians under Kutusoff and Prince Lichtenstein, which was assembled around Olmütz, and threatened a junction with another army under the Austrian archdukes and a force from Prussia. Napoleon determined to strike at the Allies before the expected junction could be effected. He moved northward from Vienna, and at Austerlitz came in touch with the Allies, who had advanced to meet him. The latter, who numbered some 84,000 men opposed to the 70,000 French, attacked in five columns, aimed in oblique order against the French right, the intention of the Allies being to concentrate on that wing, outflank the enemy, and cut off their communication with Vienna. Napoleon, who perceived this purpose, conceived the bold design of permitting the enemy to gain a temporary success over his right wing, allowing him in turn to concentrate his forces against their weakened centre, and, having broken that, to take them in the rear. The plan was admirably executed. At 8 o'clock on the morning of December 2, the left wing of the Allies, consisting of three Russian columns, advanced across a country of frozen marshes, assailed Davout, who held the fords of the Goldbach, forced the passage of that stream, and compelled the French to retreat for some distance; with the aid of reinforcements, however, Davout was able to hold his own, as indeed Napoleon had planned. Meanwhile, heavy masses of French under Soult had been hurled against the centre of the Allies, comprising the fourth Russian column, under Kutusoff; and after a sanguinary conflict the latter was overwhelmed. Lannes, too, on the left of the French, succeeded in driving back the allied right under Bagration. The victorious French troops were then swung upon the rear of the left of the Allies, and of the unhappy three columns the third was entirely crushed, while the others were shattered into fragments. The battle became a rout, and as the remnants of the Allies fled across the river the French artillery broke the ice and thousands of fugitives were drowned. The Allies lost 35,000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, while the French loss was only 7800. As a result of the battle, Austria was forced to sign the Treaty of Pressburg on December 26, 1805. In the military career of Napoleon no other event, probably, stands out so brilliantly as Austerlitz, because of his numerical inferiority, the audacity of his plan, the precision with which it was executed, and the completeness of the victory. The glory of Austerlitz—spoken of, sometimes, as the battle of the three emperors, from the presence of the Russian and Austrian emperors in the field—made even the disaster at Trafalgar seem of little consequence.
AUSTERLITZ, The Sun of. A term applied to anything which augurs good. It is an allusion to the sudden appearance of the sun which brightened the overcast dawn just before the battle of Austerlitz, and which Napoleon accepted as an auspicious omen for the French.
AUS′TIN. A city and the county-seat of Mower County, Minn., 100 miles south of Saint Paul; on Red Cedar River, and on the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul railroads (Map: Minnesota, F 7). It is the seat of the Southern Minnesota Normal College, and contains Lafayette Park. Among prominent buildings are the public library (Carnegie), central high school, county court-house, and Saint Augustine's Church (Roman Catholic). The city is surrounded by fertile prairie land, the products of which are principally live stock, butter, wheat, barley, flax, grass seeds, etc. It exports extensively, and has meat-packing establishments, flouring-mills, brick and tile works, foundry, railroad shops, cement-works, creamery, etc. Manufactures are promoted by excellent water-power. Settled in 1854, Austin was incorporated as a village in 1868, and in 1873 was chartered as a city. The government is administered under a charter of 1887 which provides for a mayor, annually elected, and a city council. The city owns its water-works and electric-light plant. Population, in 1890, 3901; in 1900, 5474.
AUSTIN. The county-seat of Lander County, Nev., about 140 miles east by north of Carson City; on the Nevada Central Railroad (Map: Nevada, E 2). It has an elevated location on the slope of the Toyabe Range, and is the centre of a productive mining region. Population, in 1890, 1215; in 1900, not given.
AUSTIN. The capital of Texas, and county-seat of Travis County, 186 miles west by north of Houston, on the north bank of the Colorado River, which, in its lower course, is navigable for steamboats, and on the Houston and Texas Central, the International and Great Northern, and the Austin and Northwestern railroads (Map: Texas, F 4). It is about 40 feet above the river, and is well built, with wide and shaded streets.
