e confiscated by the crown in consequence of the sentence which punished
the constable's treason in 1527. The countship, however, had passed in 1422
to the house of La Tour, and was not annexed to the domain until 1615. The
administration of the royal province of Auvergne was organized under Louis
XIV. At the time of the revolution it formed what was called a
"government," with two divisions: Upper Auvergne (Aurillac), and Lower
Auvergne (Clermont).

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Baluze, _Histoire genealogique de la maison d'Auvergne_
(1708); Andre Imberdis, _Histoire generale de l'Auvergne_ (1867); J. B. M.
Bielawski, _Histoire de la comte d'Auvergne et de sa capitale Vic-le-Comte_
(1868); B. Gonot, _Catalogue des ouvrages imprimes et manuscrits concernant
l'Auvergne_ (1849). See further Chevalier, _Repertoire des sources hist.,
Topobibliographie_, s.v.

AUXANOMETER (Gr. [Greek: auxanein], to increase, [Greek: metron], measure),
an apparatus for measuring increase or rate of growth in plants.

AUXENTIUS (fl. _c._ 370), of Cappadocia, an Arian theologian of some
eminence (see ARIUS). When Constantine deposed the orthodox bishops who
resisted, Auxentius was installed into the seat of Dionysius, bishop of
Milan, and came to be regarded as the great opponent of the Nicene doctrine
in the West. So prominent did he become, that he was specially mentioned by
name in the condemnatory decree of the synod which Damasus, bishop of Rome,
urged by Athanasius, convened in defence of the Nicene doctrine (A.D. 369).
When the orthodox emperor Valentinian ascended the throne, Auxentius was
left undisturbed in his diocese, but his theological doctrines were
publicly attacked by Hilary of Poitiers.

The chief source of information about him is the _Liber contra Auxentium_
in the Benedictine edition of the works of Hilary.

AUXERRE, a town of central France, capital of the department of Yonne, 38
m. S.S.E. of Sens on the Paris-Lyon railway, between Laroche and Nevers.
Pop. (1906) 16,971. It is situated on the slopes and the summit of an
eminence on the left bank of the Yonne, which is crossed by two bridges
leading to suburbs on the right bank. The town is irregularly built and its
streets are steep and narrow, but it is surrounded by wide tree-lined
boulevards, which have replaced the ancient fortifications, and has some
fine churches. That of St Etienne, formerly the cathedral, is a majestic
Gothic building of the 13th to the 16th centuries. It is e