ACTÆON, a hunter changed into a stag for surprising Diana when
bathing, and afterwards devoured by his own dogs.


ACTINIC RAYS, "non-luminous rays of higher frequency than the
luminous rays."


ACTINISM, the chemical action of sunlight.


ACTINOMYCOSIS, a disease of a fungous nature on the mouth and lower
jaw of cows.


ACTIUM, a town and promontory at the entrance of the Ambracian Gulf
(Arta), in Greece, where Augustus gained his naval victory over Antony
and Cleopatra, Sept. 2, 31 B.C.


ACTON, an adventurer of English birth, who became prime minister of
Naples, but was driven from the helm of affairs on account of his
inveterate antipathy to the French (1737-1808).


ACTON, LORD, a descendant of the former, who became a leader of the
Liberal Catholics in England, M.P. for Carlow, and made a peer in 1869;
a man of wide learning, and the projector of a universal history by
experts in different departments of the field; _b_. 1834.