AltlMS. 



AKSF.XIC. 



r.eo 



London. (ATTACHME.\T, FORRIOM.] The person who uses it u called 

 the arrestor ; he in whose hand* it u used u called the arrestee, and the 

 debtor i* called the common debtor. It u of two kinds, arreetment in 

 execution and arreitaient in security. The former can proceed only 

 on the decree of a court, on a deed which contain! a clause of regia- 

 tratiun for execution, or on one of thoM document*, such as bills of 

 exchange and promissory notes, which by the practice of Scotland are 

 placed in the mme position as deeds having a clause of registration. 

 Aimtuient in security in generally ail incidental procedure in an 

 action for the constitution of a debt ; but it niny be obtained on caune 

 shown, u a method of constituting a security for a debt not yet due. 

 This Utter class of arrestnients is under the equitable control of the 

 judge who issues it ; and it is a general principle that it cannot 1-e. 

 obtained unless the claimant show that circumstances have occurred 

 which hare a tendency to make his chance of payment less than it was 

 at the time when he entered into the engagement with his debtor. 

 An orrestment may be recalled on it being shown that it should not 

 have been issued, and an arrestment hi security may be " loosed " on 

 the debtor finding security for the payment of his debt. An arrest- 

 ment in execution expires on the lapse of three years from the date of 

 iu execution, and an arrestment in security, on the lapse of three 

 yean from the day when tin- debt becomes due. In the meantime, 

 the person in whose hands the process is used, is liable in damages if 

 be part with the property arrested, but it cannot be attached after 

 he has parted with it, in the hands of a bou&fidc holder. The arrest- 

 ment U made effectual for the payment of the debt by an action of 

 Forthcoming, in which the common <1< btor is cited. It concludes for 

 payment uf the money if the arrextmrnt be laid on money, or for their 

 ale for behoof of the creditor, if it be laid on other moveable goods. 

 The arrestee may plead against the arrestor whatever defence he might 

 have had against the common debtor. 



There is another species of arrestment, called arrestmeut juriaiic- 

 lionu fmulandie cautA, the object of which is, by attaching the 

 moveable property of a defendant who is not in Scotland, to give 

 jurisdiction to the Court of Session to proceed against him. This 

 arrestment may be loosed, as in other cases, on security being given 

 by the arrestee to abide the judgment of the court. (London and 

 N. U Kail. Co. r. Lindsay, 3 Macqueen's Reports, p. 99.) 



AKKIS, in French Are*tt and Artie, is a term employed in building. 

 It may be denned as the intersection or line in which the two straight 

 or curved surfaces of a body, forming an exterior angle, meet each 

 other. The term arris, synonymous with edge, is constantly employed 

 by workmen engaged in buildings, especially in the formation of 

 mouldings, whether of stone, wood, or plaster. In porallelopipedal 

 bodies, on which the length and thickness may be measured, 08 iu 

 pUnlu, bond timbers, shutters, &c., the term edge only is used. In 

 (iothic architecture, owing to the numerous lines and angles, the 

 arris is of frequent occurrence ; for example, in the mullions and 

 transoms of windows, where there are many mouldings, every edge 

 is an arris, whether formed by square mouldings or by the inter- 

 lection of curves. In Grecian architecture, the raised edge between 

 two flutes of a Doric column, and in both Grecian and Human archi- 

 tecture, the linen bounding every flat moulding are so many exampl.-.- 

 of the arris. 



AKKIS FILLET, a small triangular piece of wood, used to raise the 

 slates of a roof against the shaft of a chimney or a wall, to throw oil' 

 the rain more effectually; it is used for the same purpose : 

 forming gutters round xkylightx, which have the same inclination a.* 

 1 .in- -lightly raised ab. 



AllK'iW HKAIiKli "< HAUAITKKS. [Ci'SKIKOBJI INSCRIITIOMB.] 



AKKOW -UiM (T. An article of commerce, which is imported in 

 considerable quantities from both the West and East Indie*. It is a 

 farinaceous substance, prepared from the roots of certain plant.-. 

 That which is brought from America is made from the root of tin? 

 MaraHia A rtaul imarra ; the arrow-root imported from Asia is ex- 

 tracted from the tubers of the 6'mrnina Affiutif<Ji<i. [l-'..r the 

 botanical descriptions of these plants, see MAKA.XTA and CDHCUMA, in 

 NAT. HIST, liiv.) 



Tin- Knglixh name of thin preparation is derived from the use to 

 whi. h the Indian* of South America were accustomed to apply tin- 

 juice extracted from another species of itaramln the Marantn >/"/'"i'/". 

 which was employed as an antidote to the poison in which tlu- arrows 

 f hostile tribes were dipped. 



The method of preparing the arrow-root of commerce is the same 

 f mm whichever of the two plants it is extracted. The root, or tuber, 

 as the case may be, must first lie carefully waslu-d, in order to remove 

 the adhering particles of earth, and then it is either grated or beaten 

 to a pulpy consistence in a mortar, which should be formed of wood. 

 The pulp is next intimately mixed with a considerable quantity - -t 

 pure water, by which operation the fibrous portion is separated from 

 the farina, which remains mechanically suspended in the water. This 

 fibrous portion is then removed, the larger parts by the hand and 

 the minuter |u-U by straining through a hair sieve. The remaining 

 milk-like fluid in then left for subsidence, after which the water is 

 drawn off. A second and sometimes a third washing in fresh water 

 and straining through finer nievcs of the pulpy residuum, are then 

 employed; after which the Htarchy matter is collected in a state of 

 purity, and iU moisture tin -roughly evaporated by exposure to the null 



and air. When perfectly dry it is |acked in casks or boxes, anil will 



.ts nourishing projierty unimpaired for many years. 

 Arrow-root may be used with advantage as the food of 

 children or of persons in delicate health, since its nutritive property is 

 great, and it in of very easy digestion. It is used either mixed with 

 not water or boilim,' milk, or in the form of puddin; . der is 



frequently adulterated by the admixture of conn 



of potatoes, and it is therefore advisable to purchase it in the package 

 in which it is imported, or from some dealer of respectability, 

 which is the most esteemed for purity is imported from the Bermudas 

 and New Providence; but within the last few years the arrow i 

 Ceylon has acquired some celebrity : this is made from the An, 

 plant the ifamnla Aruml'mai-m, wliii h was conveyed from tli> 

 Indies to Ceylon. The cultivation ha* lately been introduced with 

 i -onsidt-rable success into the i-l.m.l of St. Vincent; maeliin. 

 skilful construction is employed to prepare the arrow-root j'roni tin- 

 plant; and the packing for shipment i- carefully conduct. .1. 



A I!S1CX AL, from the Italian Anenalr, a magazine of warlike stores, 

 or government establishment, where naval and military onus, ammu- 

 nition, and equipments, are manufactured and stored. Portsmouth, 

 Plymouth, Woolwich, IJeptford, Sheerness, ami Pembroke, an- tin- 

 princi]>al English naval arsenals: Brest, Toulon, L'dii. : 

 bourg, the principal French ones. Paris, Vim-nines, Vern..ii, and 

 Metz, are some of the French military arsenals, whilst, l.i-.-iii 

 To\\er, which is principally a store, AVoolwich U the only I 

 military arsenal. 



Woolwich arsenal contains a brass-gun foundry, where all the brass 

 guns and fitments used in the British service are cost, to which latterly 

 an iron foundry has been added, where a few iron guns, shot, and 

 shell ore cast, principally to act as a check on the private lomidrics 

 which supply most of them. Besides these Woolwich arsenal . 

 the following departments : boring department, both for 1 irass and 

 iron guns ; carriage department, for the manufacture of gun -c;i- 

 limbers, waggons, and the various carriages and equipments of an 

 army; laboratory, containing percussion-cap factory, rocket manu- 

 factory (both Congreve and signal), workshops for the inaiiufactuie 

 and filling of shells and fuzees, the compression of lead bullet 

 the making-up and packing of all descriptions of ammunition : 

 department, for proving brass and iron guns. .-Imt. and she! 1 

 lastly, a store department for warehousing all descript ions of military 

 equipment. The greater portion of the gunjKiwder used in the 

 British army is made at the government powder-mills at W. 

 Abbey. A manufactory for small arms has also, within the last 

 few years, been established at Knfield, from which the title n..w 

 used in the army takes its name. These are afterwards proved at the 

 Tower. 



At the naval arsenals nicii-of war aic. when put in commission. 

 fitted out and equipped for sea, and when paid oil', stripped and laid 

 up in ordinary. [DoOKTAKD.1 



ARSK MATHS. [AIISKXIC.] 



AKSI'.MC. (As). The term Arsenic is derived from the < 

 df<Tfvuti>y, which is found first in the works of Dioscoridcs. and ol 

 other authors who wrote about the beginning of th,- chiisti.i 

 It denotes, in their works, the substance called naviapditi) by Aristotle, 

 and apatvtKuv by Thcophrastus (although Pliny, lib. xxxi\. 

 make a distinction lietweeu aavtiapdicr) and dp<m>ui)>i>) . and is said to be 

 . the well known paint, oipiment. 



Arsenic is a peculiar metal, which, though long known, w 

 . cammed with tolerable precision by Brandt, in 1783. It i- \ny 

 i!'-'|in-Mtly met with in nature; sometimes in its pure nn talli. 

 but more commonly combined with other metals, as nickel, cobalt , and 

 iron, or with sulphur, and sometimes united with oxygen. It mav be 

 artificially obtained from its natural compounds iu a mode which' w ill 

 be presently pointed out. 



Arsenic has a steel gray colour and considerable brilliancy ; its density 

 is 5700 according to Berzeh'us, and 6'884 by Turner'.- experiment* j 

 when .-ubliin.-d, Ir. Thomson states that it* density is only rr2:\:> ; the 

 :ictd is granular, and the artificial crystalline; it is .-\tivmely 

 brittle, and consequently easily powdered. When arsenic is ex)wed 

 to the air it soon loses its lustre, and becomes black on tl 

 the artificially obtained metal not only suffers these ii ' talk 



1. 1 powder by the action of the air : in this state it is known on the 

 continent by the name of ///-/'"</". and is supposed by ller/,elius to 

 I* a peculiar oxide of arseiiir : m,..-t chemist,., however, regard it as a 

 mere mixture of arsenious acid and the metal. When kept under 

 water, arsenic is gradually converted into arsenious acid ; if he..ti .1 to 

 956* Fahrenheit, it is volatilised, without previous fusion; the vapour 

 lias a strong smell, resembling that of garlic, and this, to a certain 

 extent, is relied upon as proof of its presence ; the vapour readily 

 condenses in small brilliant crystals of metallic arsenic, the form of 

 which is an acute truncated rhomb.. h.-dioii. According to Berzelius, 

 interne exists in two allotropic conditions; one is of a dark gray colour, 

 and soon falls to powder in the air: the other in nearly white, with a 

 strong metallic lustre, and in ]-i mancnt in the air. 



Arsenic and oxjgcn combine in two proportions, and both com- 

 I -.mid.- possess acid |<">] 



Antninuf in-ill (AsO,). AB a natural product, arsenious a. 

 extremely rare ; it maybe artificially prepared by heating the metal 



