who by this discovery founded the
modern school called of the Higher Criticism (1681-1766).

ASTU`RIAS (579), an ancient province in the N. of Spain, gives title
to the heir to the crown, rich in minerals, and with good fisheries; now
named Oviedo, from the principal town.

ASTY`AGES, last king of the Medes; dethroned by Cyrus, 549 B.C.

ASTY`ANAX, the son of Hector and Andromache; was cast down by the
Greeks from the ramparts after the fall of Troy, lest he should live and
restore the city.

ASUN`CION, or ASSUMPTION (18), the capital of Paraguay, on the
left bank of the Paraguay, so called from having been founded by the
Spaniards on the Feast of the Assumption in 1535.

ASURAS, THE, in the Hindu mythology the demons of the darkness of
night, in overcoming whom the gods asserted their sovereignty in the
universe.

ASYMPTOTE, a line always approaching some curve but never meeting
it.

ATACA`MA, an all but rainless desert in the N. of Chile, abounding
in silver and copper mines, as well as gold in considerable quantities.

ATAHUALPA, the last of the Incas of Peru, who fell into Pizarro's
hands through perfidy, and was strangled by his orders in 1533, that is,
little short of a year after the Spaniards landed in Peru.

ATALAN`TA, a beautiful Grecian princess celebrated for her agility,
the prize of any suitor who could outstrip her on the racecourse, failure
being death; at last one suitor, Hippomenes his name, accepted the risk
and started along with her, but as he neared the goal, kept dropping
first one golden apple, then another, provided him by Venus, stooping to
lift which lost her the race, whereupon Hippomenes claimed the prize.

AT`AVISM, name given to the reappearance in progeny of the features,
and even diseases, of ancestors dead generations before.

ATBA`RA, or Black River, from the Highlands of Abyssinia, the lowest
tributary of the Nile, which it joins near Berber.

ATE`, in the Greek mythology the goddess of strife and mischief,
also of vengeance; was banished by her father Zeus, for the annoyance she
gave him, from heaven to earth, where she has not been idle since.

ATHABA`SCA, a province, a river, and a lake in British N. America.

ATHALIA, the queen of Judah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel,
celebrated for her crimes and impiety, for which she was in the end
massacred by her subjects, 9th century B.C.

ATHANASIAN CREED, a statement, in the form of a confessi