ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, the fifth book of the New Testament, written by Luke, a physician and painter of Antioch, who had been converted by St. Paul, whose friend and companion he afterwards was, and whom he accompanied to Rome, sharing his first captivity in that city. The Acts of the Apostles could not have been written before A. D. 62, at which time St. Paul was at Rome, and were probably written between that and the period of his death, A. D. 68. The personal acquaintance of the writer with the subject, especially with the life and experiences of St. Paul, must have given him every facility for the work. The Acts include the history of the church in Judea and Asia Minor during a period of about 30 years after the death of Christ. Theophilus (friend of God), mentioned in the dedication, has by some been considered an ideal for the inquiring heathen, by others a real person. The dates in the Acts have been assumed to be, martyrdom of Stephen, A. D. 35, Paul's conversion, A. D. 36, Paul's journey to Rome, A. D. 62 and 63. The style in which the Acts are written is perspicuous, the narrative striking. The principal personage is St. Paul; next to him St. Peter and Philip. The labors and trials of the other apostles, whose missions led them to distant countries, are but slightly adverted to.

ACTUARY, a word generally used to signify the manager of a joint stock company under a board of directors, particularly of an insurance company.

ACUÑA. I. CHRISTOVAL DE, Spanish Jesuit missionary in the 17th century. He was one of the early explorers of the river Amazon, and was sent in Texeira's expedition to that river, with the special object of reporting the incidents of the exploration. Father Andres de Artieda was appointed as his associate. The expedition lasted from February to December, 1639. Acuña went to Spain with his history of the expedition, but the distraction of the country prevented the government from taking any interest in the colonization of the country, on which so much energy and talent had been devoted. He returned to South America, and died on his journey from Panama to Lima. The narrative was published at Madrid, 1641, in 4to. II. PEDRO DE, Spanish governor of the Philippines and Moluccas, 16th century. He fought at the great battle of Lepanto in 1572, and in 1593 held the post of captain-general of the province of Carthagena, and resisted the attacks of the English. He drove the Dutch out of the Moluccas, and annexed them to Spain.

ACUPUNCTURE, a surgical operation employed among the Chinese and Japanese, in

ACUTE DISEASES

headaches, lethargies, convulsions, colics, &c. It is accomplished by piercing the part which is the seat of the malady with a silver needle. It has recently been adopted, in some cases, by British surgeons.

ACUTE DISEASES. An acute disease is one that is severe in character, rapid in its progress, and short in its duration. Chronic disease is the very opposite; it is less severe in character, slow in its progress, and of comparatively long duration. Measles, scarlet fever, small pox, cholera morbus, are acute diseases, which may be more or less severe in character, but always run their course in a short time; and even where they prove fatal, they are rapid in their progress, and of short duration; when neither fatal, nor complicated with other morbid symptoms, they are easily and promptly cured. Diseases are often distinguished by the words acute and chronic, but these terms are not sufficiently definite to form the basis of a general classification of diseases; for many affections are acute in the first instance, and not being cured in this stage of their progress, they abate somewhat in the severity of their symptoms, and assume, first, a subacute form, and then a lingering chronic state, which may continue for months and years, until the vitality of the patient is exhausted, unless medical advice be sought in time to conquer the disease, and renovate the system.-Diseases are more conveniently divided into " general and local," rather than "acute and chronic," the latter words being applicable to two different stages of the same disease, without regard to the periodicity of certain affections, which run their course in a few hours, days, or weeks. General diseases include those which affect the whole system at the same time; local diseases, those which affect mainly some particular tissue, organ, or function, and in which the general disturbance arising therefrom is only secondary.-General diseases are mostly connected with diseases of the blood, which being universally distributed, causes general disturbance, fever, and prostration to the whole organism. This may be caused either by the direct admission of some virus or miasmatic poison into the blood, or by disease of the nervous system, and consequent defective innervation in the organs, perturbation in their functions, and reaction on the blood by defective elaboration or secretion. Eruptive fevers, gout, and rheumatism, are the leading forms of general disease. Irritative fevers, miasmatic fevers, intermittent fevers, remittent or continued fevers, inflammatory remittent fevers, congestive or malignant fevers, hectic fevers, pernicious fevers, country fever, yellow fever, typhus fever, typhoid fever, relapsing fever, rubeola, scarlatina, variola or small pox, varioloid, varicella, or chicken pox, vaccina, erysipelas, gout, and rheumatismsome of these are acute diseases, others chronic, but all are general, and easily distinguished from local affections, though erysipelas and gout may seem to hold an ambiguous relation to both classes.-Local diseases are those which are

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