tion under the action of gravity or of a spring. If the armature is a permanent steel magnet or another electro-magnet, it may move either toward or away from the main electro-magnet, depending on its polarity, and in that case is known as a polarized armature. In dynamo-electric machinery, the term armature is used to designate that portion of the machine in which the differences of electric potential producing the current are generated, and is generally employed to describe the part which is revolved between the poles of the field magnets. The name is used in this connection, since the iron cores on which the coils comprising the armature are wound afford a magnetic connection between the poles of the field magnets, just as is done by the keeper or armature of the horseshoe magnet. See Magnetism; and Dynamo-Electric Machinery.
ARME BLANCHE, iirm' blax'sh'. A term
of French origin, meaning 'white arm.' It has special application to the dueling foil or rapier (see Fencing), but is often applied to all weapons other than firearms, such as foil, rapier, sword, lance, and dagger.
ARMED NEUTRAL'ITY, The. An association of European powers which, under the leadership of Russia, first gave international validity to the doctrine, proclaimed by Prussia in 1752 and by France in 1778, that "free ships make free goods." Because England insisted on her right to search neutral ships for her enemies' goods in the early years of her war with America, France, and Spain (1775-83), and in consequence crippled the commerce of non-combatant powers, Catharine of Russia, on March 8, 1780, issued her famous proclamation laying down the principles: (1) That neutral ships may freely sail from port to port and along the coasts of belligerents; (2) that a blockade, to be recognized, must be effectual and real; and (3) that, except in the case of contraband, free ships make free goods. These principles were immediately indorsed and adopted by the United States, France, and Spain; and an association, ultimately composed of Russia, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Prussia, the Empire, Portugal, Turkey, and Naples, was organized for the purpose of enforcing them upon the belligerent powers. The immediate effect was greatly to embarrass England by placing her in diplomatic hostility to the rest of Europe, by increasing the probability of an extended war, and by lessening the advantage which her naval preponderance gave her. The enunciation of the doctrine of "free ships, free goods," at that time marked an epoch in the history of international maritime law.
ARMED SHIP. A ship carrying an armament in contradistinction to one without armament. The term is generally used to designate merchant vessels taken into the service of the government and supplied with a battery; but it was formerly used with reference to private vessels fitted out, by permission of a government, to operate against an enemy's commerce: that is, a privateer. The term has acquired additional importance in recent years, as certain unarmed vessels of the enemy, such as cartels and hospital ships, are exempt from capture: and the tendency of the usages of maritime war, in respect to private unarmed ships, is toward increased exemption from capture.
ARMED SOL'DIER OF DEMOCRACY, The. Napoleon Bonaparte, so called because he was supposed to give expression to the ideals that succeeded the French Revolution.
ARMENGAUD, ar'miiN'go', Jacques Eugène, called Armengaud the Elder (1810-91). A French inventor and draughtsman. He was born at Ostend and was educated at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers at Châlons. He was professor of mechanical drawing at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers at Paris, where in collaboration with his brother, he published a monthly review entitled Le Génie Industriel. His works on engineering include: Traité théorique et pratique des moteurs hydrauliques et à vapeur (1858); Nouveau coiirs raisonné de dessin industriel appliqué a la mécanique et d l'architecture (1860). He was decorated with the Leion of Honor in 1863, and his work has been recognized by many scientific associations.
ARMENIA (Assyrian Urartu, Old Persian Armaniya, Persian Armina) . A high tableland in Western Asia, situated to the southwest of the Caucasus range, stretching southward toward the lowlands of Mesopotamia, and extending from the highlands of Asia Minor on the west to the vicinity of the Caspian Sea. Armenia, in the widest sense of the name, is included between the parallels of 37° 30' and 41° 45' north latitude, and the meridians of 37° and 49° east longitude. It embraces the northeast corner of Asiatic Turkey, the southern part of Transcaucasia (Asiatic Russia), and the northwest comer of Persia. The principal portion, having an area in round numbers of about 70,000 square miles, belongs to Turkey (Map: Turkey in Asia, J 2), and is included in the vilayets of Erzerum, Van, Bitlis, Mamuret-ül-Aziz, and Diarbekr. The Russian portion (acquired in part from Persia in 1828, and in part from Turkey in 1878) is included in the governments of Erivan, Yelisavetpol, and Tiflis, and the territory of Kars. Persian Armenia forms part of the Province of Azerbaijan. A great part of the region called Kurdistan is included in Southern Armenia. In antiquity Armenia was divided into Greater and Lesser Armenia, the latter (a small fraction of the whole) being separated from the former by the western headstream of the Euphrates. Between the Armenian table-land and the Caucasus Range is the broad depression of the Kur Valley. The surface is covered with a series of mountain ranges, mostly of volcanic origin, inclosing elevated plateaus, some of which are as much as 6000 or 7000 feet above the sea, and the surface of which consists in great part of pasture land. From these plateaus rise great conical mountain peaks. Mount Ararat, situated where the frontiers of Russia. Turkey, and Persia meet, has an altitude of nearly 17,000 feet. Armenia is watered chiefly by the Euphrates, Kur, and Aras. It contains three extensive salt lakes — Van, in Turkish Armenia (elevation over 5000 feet), Urumiah, in Persian Armenia (elevation over 4000 feet), and Goktcha, in Russian Armenia.
The climate of Armenia is generally healthful, but the temperature is very unsteady. Long and severe winters are followed by very short springs, beginning in April. The summers are hot, and grains and fruit ripen very early. The rainfall is generally scant, and artificial irrigation has
