APPERT

appert, benjamin nicolas marie (1797-1847), french philanthropist, was born in paris on the 10th of september 1797. while a young man he introduced a system of mutual instruction into the regimental schools of the department of the nord. the success which it obtained induced him to publish a _manual_ setting forth his system. while engaged in teaching prisoners at montaigu, he fell under the suspicion of having connived at the escape of two of them, and was thrown into the prison of la force. on his release he resolved to devote the rest of his life to bettering the condition of those whose lot he had for a time shared, and he travelled much over europe for the purpose of studying the various systems of prison discipline, and wrote several books on the subject. after the revolution of 1830 he became secretary to queen marie amelie, and organized the measures taken for the relief of the needy. he was decorated with the legion of honour in 1833. his brother, francois appert (d. 1840), was the inventor of the method of preserving food by enclosing it in hermetically sealed tins; he left a work entitled _art de conserver les substances animales et vegetables_. appian (gr. [greek: appianos]), of alexandria, roman historian, flourished during the reigns of trajan, hadrian and antoninus pius. he tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in his native place, he repaired to rome, where he practised as an advocate. when advanced in years, he obtained, by the good offices of his friend fronto, the dignity of imperial procurator--it is supposed in egypt. his work ([greek: rumaika]) in twenty-four books, written in greek, is rather a number of monographs than a connected history. it gives an account of various peoples and countries from the earliest times down to their incorporation into the roman empire. besides a preface, there are extant eleven complete books and considerable fragments. in spite of its unattractive style, the work is very valuable, especially for the period of the civil wars. editio princeps, 1551; schweighauser, 1785; bekker, 1852; mendelssohn, 1878-1905. english translations: by w. b., 1578 (black letter); j. d[avies], 1679; h. white, 1899 (bohn's classical library); bk. i. ed. by j.l. strachan-davidson, 1902.