APO 



APO 



in some respects among the moderns also. 

 Before Apollotiius, it liud been customa- 

 ry, as we arc informed by Kutocius, tor 

 the writers on conies to require three dif- 

 ferent sorts of cones to cut me three difie- 

 rcnt sections from; viz. the parabola from 

 a right-angled cone, the ellipse from an 

 acute, and the hyperbola from an obtuse 

 cone ; because tiiey always supposed the 

 sections made by a plane cutting the 

 cones to be perpendicular to the side of 

 them : but Apollonius cut his sections all 

 from any one cone, by only varying the 

 inclination or position of the cutting plane ; 

 an improvement that has been followed 

 by all other authors since his tune. But 

 that Archimedes was acquainted with the 

 same manner of cutting any cone is suffi- 

 ciently proved, against Eutocius, Pappus, 

 and others, by Guido Ubaldus, in the be- 

 ginning of his Commentary on the second 

 book of Archimcdes's Equiponderantes, 

 published at Pisa in 1588. See CONIC 

 SECTIONS. 



The first four books of Apollonius's co- 

 nies only have come down to us in their 

 original Greek language ; but the next 

 three, the 5th, 6th, and 7th, in an Arabic 

 version ; and the 8th not at all. These 

 have been commented upon, translated, 

 and published by various authors. Pap- 



Eus, in his Mathematical Collections, has 

 :ft some account of his various works, 

 with notes and lemmas upon them, and 

 particularly on the Conies. And Eutocius 

 wrote a regular elaborate commentary on 

 the propositions of several of the books of 

 the Conies. 



A neat edition of the first four books in 

 Latin was published by Dr. Barrow, in 

 4to. at London, in 1675. A magnificent 

 edition of all ttu- hooks was published in 

 folio, by Dr. Halley, at Oxford, in 1710; 

 together with the Lemmas of Pappus, 

 and the Commentaries of Eutocius. The 

 first four in Greek and Latin, but the lat- 

 ter four in Latin only, the 8th book being 

 restored by himself. 



APOLOGUE, in matters of literature, 

 an ingenious method of conveying instruc- 

 tion by means of a feigned relation, called 

 a moral fable. 



The only difference between a parable 

 and an apalogue is, that the former, hi -ing 

 drawn from what passes among mankind, 

 requires probability in the narration : 

 whereas the apalogue, being taken from 

 the supposed actions of brutes, or < 

 things inanimate, is not tied down to the 

 strict rules of probability. .Ksop's fables 

 a iv :i model of this kind of writing. 



APONOGETON, in botany, a prnus cf 



the Dodecandria Tetragynia. Ament, 

 composed of sritKs ; no calyx, no corol. ; 

 capsules four; three seeded. There are 

 four sjji 



APOPHTHEGM, a short, sententious, 

 and instructive remark, pronounced by a 

 person of distinguished character. Such 

 are the apophthegms of Plutarch, and 

 those of the ancients collected by Lycos- 



APOPHYSIS, in anatomy, an excres- 

 cence from the body of a bone, of which 

 it is a true continuous part, as a branch is 

 of a tree. 



APOTHECARY, one who practises the 

 art of pharmacy, or that part of physic 

 which consists in the preparation and 

 composition of medicines. 



A youth intended for this profession- 

 should be ft pretty good scholar, and have 

 such a knowledge in the Latin tongue, as 

 to be able to read the best writers upon 

 the subject of botany, pharmacy, anato- 

 my, and medicine. In London, the apo- 

 thecaries are one of the city companies, 

 and by an act, which was made perpetual 

 in the ninth year of George I. are exempt- 

 ed from serving upon juries, or in ward 

 and parish offices. They are obliged to 

 make up their medicines according to the 

 formulas described in the College Dis- 

 pensatory, and are liable to have their 

 shops visited by the censors of the college, 

 who are empowered to destroy such me- 

 dicines as they think not good. In Penn- 

 sylvania, and we believe the United States 

 generally, no obligation of this kind is 

 imposed. Any person, however ignorant 

 of the qualities and properties of medi- 

 cines, or unskilful in the preparation of 

 them, may nevertheless establish himself 

 as an apothecary ; the consequence is, the 

 occurrence of many accidents; the inju- 

 dicious application of drugs ; and, as he is 

 amenable to no authority, the consequent 

 adulteration of his compounds. 



The apothecaries have a Hull in Black- 

 friars, London, where there are two fine 

 laboratories, from which all the surgeons* 

 chests are supplied with medicines tor the 

 royal navy. In China, the) have a singu- 

 lar mode of dispensing their medicines. 

 In the public squares of their cities there 

 is a very high stone pillar, on which are 

 engraven the names of all sorts of medi- 

 cines, with the price of each; and when 

 the poor stand in need of any relief from 

 phy.Mc, they go to the treasury, where 

 the price each medicine is 

 rated at. 



A I'OTHEOSIS, in antiquity, a ceremo- 

 nv. li\ \\ hieh tht ancient Romans compli- 



