AVICEN`NA, an illustrious Arabian physician, surnamed the prince of physicians, a man of immense learning and extensive practice in his art; of authority in philosophy as well as in medicine, his philosophy being of the school of Aristotle with a mixture of Neoplatonism, his “Canon of Medicine,” being the supreme in medical science for centuries (980-1037).

AVIE`NUS, RUFUS FESTUS, a geographer and Latin poet, or versifier rather, of the 4th century.

AVIGN`ON (37), capital of the dep. of Vaucluse, France; an ancient city beautifully situated on the left bank of the Rhone, near the confluence of the Durance, of various fortune from its foundation by the Phocaeans in 539 B.C.; was the seat of the Papacy from 1305 to 1377, purchased by Pope Clement VI. at that period, and belonged to the Papacy from that time till 1797, when it was appropriated to France; it contains a number of interesting buildings, and carries on a large trade in wine, oil, and fruits; grows and manufactures silk in large quantities.

A`VILA (10), a town in Spain, in a province of the name, in S. of Old Castile, 3000 ft. above the sea-level, with a Gothic cathedral and a Moorish castle; birthplace of St. Theresa.

AVILA, JUAN D’, a Spanish priest, surnamed the Apostle of Andalusia, for his zeal in planting the Gospel in its mountains; d. 1569.

AVILA Y ZINUGA, a soldier, diplomatist, and historian under Charles V.

AVLO`NA (6), or VALONA, a port of Albania, on an inlet of the Adriatic.

AV`OLA (12), a seaport on the E. coast of Sicily, ruined by an earthquake in 1693, rebuilt since; place of export of the Hybla honey.

A`VON, the name of several English rivers, such as Shakespeare’s in Warwickshire, of Salisbury in Wiltshire, and of Bristol, rising in Wiltshire.

AVRANCHES` (7), a town in dep. of Manche, Normandy; the place, the spot marked by a stone, where Henry II. received absolution for the murder of Thomas a Becket; lace-making the staple industry, and trade in agricultural products.

AWE, LOCH, in the centre of Argyllshire, overshadowed by mountains, 25 m. in length, the second in size of Scottish lakes, studded with islands, one with the ruin of a castle; the scenery gloomily picturesque; its surface is 100 ft. above the sea-level.

AXEL, archbishop of Lund; born in Zealand; a Danish patriot with Norse blood; subdued tribes of Wends, and compelled them to adopt Christianity.

AXHOLME, ISLE OF, a tract of land in NW.  Lincolnshire, 17 m. long and 5 m. broad; once a forest, then a marsh; drained in 1632, and now fertile, producing hemp, flax, rape, &c.

AXIM, a trading settlement on the Gold Coast, Africa, belonging to Britain; belonged to Holland till 1871.

AX`OLOTL, a batrachian, numerous in Mexico and the Western States, believed to be in its preliminary or tadpole state of existence.

AX`UM, capital of an Ethiopian kingdom in Abyssinia, now in ruins, where Christianity was introduced in the 4th century, and which as the outpost of Christendom fell early before the Mohammedan power.