primitive law concerns itself are crimes of violence — man-killing, wounding, and robbery. Their punishment, however, is not, as with us, a matter for the State, but is left to the injured person or to his kinsman. This legalized right of private vengeance, called the blood feud (see Blood Feud), was, in course of time, mitigated by the doctrine of sanctuary (q.v.), which held the vengeance of blood in abeyance until passions had time to cool and the justification of the deed could be made to appear (see Asylum); and by the institution of the wergild (q.v.), whereby the wrongdoer was permitted to commute the natural penalty of his crime for a money payment. This weregild went to the avenger of blood, and the barbarous codes of the early Middle Ages contain elaborate provisions for determining the amounts to be paid and the persons entitled, as avengers of blood, to share in the payment.
The Mosaic law (Num. xxxv.) recognized this institution of primitive society, but placed it under regulations, prohibiting the commutation of the penalty of death for money, and appointing 'cities of refuge' for the manslayer who was not really a murderer. (See City of Refuge.) The Koran sanctions the avenging of blood by the nearest kinsman, but also sanctions the pecuniary commutation for murder. The primitive custom subsists in full force among the Arabs at this day. The hereditary feuds of families, clans, and tribes in barbarous and semi-barbarous countries are survivals of this institution.
AVE'NIO. A Roman town in Gallia Narbonensis, now Avignon.
AVENS. See Geum.
AVENTINE. One of the seven hills of Rome, east of the Tiber. It was included in the city by Servius Tullius, and settled by the plebs in B.C. 455. Of many temples and edifices no traces remain.
AV'ENTI'NUS, Johannes (1477-1534). A German historian, born at Abensberg, Bavaria. His real name was Turmair. He studied at Ingolstadt and at Paris, and taught Greek and mathematics at Cracow, and poetry and forensics at Vienna. In 1512, the Duke of Bavaria called him to Munich, and intrusted him with the education of his sons. Here he wrote his valiuible history of Bavaria (Annales Boiorum), which occupied him sixteen years. This work was not published until twenty years after his death, and then only with large portions adverse to the Roman Church excised. These, however, were all restored in Cisner's edition. Among his other works are Chronicon sive Annales Schirenses (1600) and Vita Henrici IV. (1518). Consult Döllinger, Aventinus und seine Zeit (1877).
AVENTURINE, a-ven'tu-rin
(from It. avventurino, from avventura, adventure, chance; refers to its accidental discovery). A transparent to opaque variety of quartz, either red, yellow, or brown, with iridescent spangles of mica, hematite, or other minerals scattered through it. The specimens found at Cape de Gata in Spain have been cut and used as gems; also those found at Glen Fernat in Scotland. A few localities have been reported in the United States. The name Aventurine is also given to certain varieties of feldspar, as orthoclase and oligoclase, which have the property of reflecting light in various colors from points inside the mineral. The best specimens are from Swedestrand, Norway, and excellent varieties have been found near Crown Point, N. Y., and in Statesville, N. C. These are cut and sold as gems, under the name of sunstones. A similar effect was produced by the Venetian glass-makers, who are said to have discovered the method of artificially producing this effect by accidentally dropping brass filings into melted glass.
AVENZOAR, a'ven-zo'iir
(Abu Merwan Abalmalec ibn Zohr) (1072-1162). A Spanish-Arabian physician. He made earnest efforts to introduce the experimental method into the study and practice of medicine. Some of his works have been published, and one is mentioiied by his pupil, the famous Arabian philosopher Averroës. His chief work was named the Teisir or Theisir (1490).
AVERAGE (OF., Low Lat. averagium, possibly from OF. aver, property, cattle, literally: to have, Lat. habere). A medium; any medial amount obtained by comparison of a number of specific cases; e.g. three persons have the respective ages 20 years, 30 years, 50 years; their average is ⅓ (20 + 30 + 50) years, or 33⅓ years. The average of two quantities is called their arithmetic mean. (See Mean.) The process of averaging is of importance in the comparison of statistics, as the average yield of staple products per acre or per year for a period of years: the average monthly shipment of gold to foreign countries; the yearly average of emigration; or the average monthly rainfall. In the case of physical measurements, the items are not generally of equal accuracy. Hence the items are given different weights, the process of averaging becoming more complicated, and the method of least squares (see Least Squares, Method of) is commonly employed.
AVERAGE, in Maritime Law. The generic sense of this term in maritime law appears to be: the loss of property while embarked upon a maritime adventure. Particular average denotes a loss which is borne by the party whose property is injured or destroyed and toward which others are not bound to contribute. Examples of this are: Carrying away of masts by storm; accidental stranding or collision of the vessel; capture of the ship or cargo by an enemy. Petty average, or customary average, is applied to certain expenditures, such as pilotage, anchorage, and towage charges in port, which were formerly apportioned among the owners of ship and cargo, but which are now generally provided for in bills of lading.
General average was defined by the International Congress at Brussels in 1888 as follows: "An extraordinary expenditure, or a sacrifice voluntarily made by the captain or pursuant to his orders, for the common good and safety of the ship and cargo." For the adjustment of general-average losses, a body of regulations was adopted by the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, at Antwerp, in 1877, and amended by the Association at Liverpool in 1890. It is known as the York-Antwerp Rules, and is often agreed upon by parties to shipping articles as the measure of their duties and liabilities. In the
