AQU 



AQU 



This aquaeduct was begun by Caligula, 

 and finished by Claudius, who brought 

 its waters from two springs, calted Caeru- 

 leus and Curtius. Vespasian, Titus, Mar- 

 cus Aurelius,and Antoninus Pius,repaired 

 and extended it : it is now called Aqua 

 Felice. The three chief aquaeducts now 

 in being are those of the Aqua Virginea, 

 Aqua Felice, and Aqua Paulina. The first 

 was repaired by Pope Paul IV. The se- 

 cond was constructed by Pope Sixtus V. 

 and is called from the name which he as- 

 sumed before he was exalted to the Papal 

 throne. It proceeds from Palaestrina at 

 the distance of twenty-two miles, and 

 discharges itself at the Fontana di Ter- 

 mini, which was also built at his expense, 

 and consists of three arches, supported 

 by four Corinthian pillars, and the water 

 gushes out through three large apertures. 

 Over the middle arch stands a beautiful 

 statue of Moses striking the rock with 

 his rod ; over another arch is a basso-re- 

 lievo of Aaron leading the people to the 

 miraculous springs in the wilderness , and 

 the third exhibits Gideon trying his sol- 

 diers by their drinking water. Round it 

 are four lions, two of marble, and the 

 other two of oriental granite, said to be 

 brought thither from a temple of Serapis. 

 All the four lions eject water; and on the 

 front is an inscription, importing that this 

 aquaeduct was begun in the first and com- 

 pleted in the third year of the pontificate 

 of Sixtus V. 1588. The third was repair- 

 ed by Pope Paul V. in the year 1612. 

 This divides itself into two principal chan- 

 nels, one of which supplies Mount Jani- 

 culus, and the other the Vatican and its 

 neighbourhood. It is conveyed through 

 the distance of thirty miles, from the dis- 

 trict of Braccianro, and three of its five 

 streams are not inferior to small rivers, 

 and sufficientto tm-n a mill. The famous 

 aquaeducts of Constantinople, about six 

 miles from the village of Belgrade, were 

 built by Valentinian the First, Clearchus 

 being praefect, and afterwards repaired by 

 Solyman the Magnificent, who exempted 

 twelve adjacent Greek villages from the 

 customary tribute of the empire, in con- 

 sideration of their keeping these aquae- 

 ducts in repair. Of these the most re- 

 markable are three large and lofty fabrics, 

 built over so many vallies betwixt the ad- 

 joining hills, of which the longest has 

 many but less arches, and may possibly 

 be the entire work of Solyman. The other 

 two have the appearance of a more an- 

 cient and regular architecture, consisting 

 of two rows of arches one over the other ; 

 and those of the second were enclosed 



by pillars cut through the middle, so as to 

 render the fabric both passable like a 

 bridge, and useful for the conveyance of 

 water. The more considerable of these 

 two consists of only four large arches, 

 each twenty yards long, and somewhat 

 above twenty high, supported by octan- 

 gular pillars of about 56 yards in circum- 

 ference towards the bottom. For an in- 

 quiry into the nature and construction of 

 the aquaeducts of the Romans, see Go- 

 vernor Pownal's Notices and Descriptions 

 of Antiquities of the Provincia Romana 

 of Gaul, 4to. 1788. The aquaeduct built 

 by Lewis XIV. near Maintinon, for carry- 

 ing the River Bure to Versailles, is per- 

 haps the greatest now in the world. It 

 is 7000 fathoms long, and its elevation 

 2560 fathoms ; containing 242 arcades. 



AQUARIUS, in astronomy, a constel- 

 lation which makes the eleventh sign in 

 the zodiac, marked thus, ***. It consists 

 of 45 stars in Ptolemy's catalogue, of 41 

 in Tycho's, and in the Britannic catalogue 

 of 108. It was called Aquarius, or the Wa- 

 ter-bearer, as some say, because, during 

 the sun's motion through this sign, it is 

 generally rainy weather. 



AQUARTIA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Calyx campanulate; corol. wheel-shaped, 

 with linear segments; berry many -seeded. 

 There are two species. 



AQUATIC, in natural history, an ap- 

 pellation given to such things as live or 

 grow in the water : thus we say, aquatic 

 animals, aquatic plants, &c. 



AQUEOUS humour, or the watery hu- 

 mour of the eye; it is the first and outer- 

 most, and that which is less dense than 

 either the vitreous or crystalline. It is 

 transparent and colourless like water, and 

 fills up the space that lies between the 

 cornea and the crystalline humour. See 

 OPTICS. 



AQUILA, the eagle, in ornithology. 

 See FALCO. 



AH.UILA, in astronomy, a constellation 

 of the northern hemisphere, consisting of 

 15 stare in Ptolemy's catalogue, 19 in 

 Tycho Brahe's, 42 in that ofHevelius, and 

 71 in Flamstead's; the principal star being 

 Lucida Aquila, and is between the first 

 and second magnitude. 



AQU1LARIA, in botany, a large tree, 

 affecting a lofty situation. Class Decan- 

 dria Monogynia; cal. perianth one-leafed, 

 permanent ; tube bell-shaped; limb five- 

 cleft ; clefts ovate, acute, flat, spreading ; 

 cor. none : nectary one-leafed, pitcher- 

 shaped, of the length of the tube of the 

 calyx, half five-cleft; clefts bifid, obtuse ; 



