AVdIDAXCK OF A BBVKFIC& 



AXIOM. 



Uw. meant ill* protector or guardian of *oa> church, abbey, or monas- 

 tery, or oUxw nnlhitifl community and juri*dio<ioa, ind by their 

 authority all eowtncta rihllllg to the** corporation* mm OMde; in 

 MB* ancient charter* we ted proofs thai in gift* to t>M church or 

 , th* ooawnim wa nade pemoally U> th* avoue'. In tbo 

 b* WM ffeMnlljr MM food*! lord who took oar* of the 

 sr**to at MM UM ..... rilj. s*d d*f*oded then. eHher in 

 eoartorftsM. Tkas CterMmkgiM accepted th. titfc at moot of St. 

 lluh,tbatot8t.Riqirir; and niention fa nwto by Holland, of 

 i ol tup* NiehoU*, ooMtituting St. Edward, king of England, and 

 h MBOMson, aTou** of the mona*tery of Westminster and of all 

 ikiirnfcn in England. The avoue" dfapn**d justice in the name of 

 MM Mlatortinal mperion in all phot* under their jurisdiction, and 

 ommaoded th* force* assembled in their defence. In German he 

 mu called kastvogt ; " the name occurs often in the hUU.ry of the 

 middle ages. 

 AVOIDANCE OF A BENEFICE. [BKSKWCE ; CMWOH. 



AVOIRDUPOIS, or AVKHOUPOIS, the name given to the com 

 man system of weight* in England, now applied to all goo 

 preckxM metals and medicmaa, Thui, a pound of tea is a 

 Atftif, and oontain* 7000 grain* ; a pound of gold is a pound troy, and 



goods except the 



Thui, a pound of tea is a pound arrr- 

 ; a pound of gold is a pound troy, and 



(764 grain*. Th* word hai been iuppo*ed to be derived from 

 the French Mwrd* pewb, to haTe weight; but oonadering that arrr- 

 M i* UM more ancient mode of spelling the word, and that the 

 Uto French Terb <mrw, and the middle Latin word averon, signify 

 to rerify (*ee Doemnge, at the word Artrart), it is more likely that we 

 are to look here for the true etymology. It has also been supposed 

 that the word is derived from arm* pmderit, averia, and oirro, being 

 (on the same authority) words used for goods in general. 



The ounce averdupoU is generally considered as the Roman vnfia. 

 It contains 4374 grain* (N.B. there is but one grain in use amongst 

 us), while the Roman uncia, according to Arbuthnot, contains 437) 

 grains ; according to Christian! (' DclJe Misure,' Ac., Venice, 1760, cited 

 by Dr. Young), it is 415A> grains ; and according to Paucton (cited by 

 Dr. KeUy), it is 431} grains. Whether the preceding be correct or 

 not, we cannot suppose that in any case the supposition could be nearly 

 verified, as our ancestors do not appear to have been very attentive to 

 small weights : for instance, in the list of church gold and silver plate 

 delivered to Henry VIII. (preserved in the Bodleian library), nothing 

 less than an ounce ia mentioned, except only once, in which a quarter 

 of an ounce is given. 



The ancient pound (now used in Scotland) was heavier than the 

 averdupois, and weighed 7600 grains : the earliest regulations on the 

 subject fix the troy weight ; the averdupois is mentioned in some orders 

 of Henry VIII., in 1532, and a pound of this *>rt was placed in the 

 Exchequer as a standard by Elizabeth in 1 588. The committee of 1758 

 found this pound to be 1J grain less than it should be as deduced 

 from the standard troy pound kept at the Mint, which they attributed 

 to frequent use; but considering the averdupois weight altogether a* 

 " of doubtful authority," and troy weight as the one " best known to 

 our law," they recommended the adoption of the latter as a standard, 

 which it has accordingly been ever since, though goods in general are 

 weighed by averdupois weight. 



The committee of 1816 made no alteration in the weights, but ascer- 

 tained the value of the grain, as afterwards described in the Act of 

 Parliament 5 Oco. I V. e. 74 : " A cubic inch of distilled water, weighed 

 in air by brass weights, at the temperature of sixty-two degrees of 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer, the barometer being at thirty inches, is 

 equal to two hundred and fifty-two grains, and four hundred anil t'lfty- 

 eight thousandth part* of a grain." The pound [averdupois contains 

 7000 such grain*. From this it may be deduced that a cubic foot of 

 water, under the above conditions, weighs 9!7'14 ounces, which, being 

 very nearly 1 000 ounces, gives an expeditious rule fur roughly deducing 

 the real weight of a cubic foot of any substance from its opeoific gravity. 

 For example, if the specific gravity of gold be 18-86, the weight of a 

 cubic f'xit of gold ia 19,360 ounces averdupois. If more accuracy be 

 required, subtract three for every thousand from the result. 

 The averdupois pound is divided as follows : 

 Grains. Dram. 



-T 1 Ounce. 



487f 10 1 Ponnd. 



7 ...... 256 18 I 



28 pounds make one quarter. 

 112 pounds, or 4 quarters, one hundred weight. 

 20 hundred weight, one ton. 



The ounce i* more commonly divided into quarters than into drams 

 The usual contraction* are as follows : 



pound . . . lb. 

 quarter . . . qr. 



- - . . hundred weight . . cwt. 



To reduce a large number of pounds to hundred weight* roughly, 

 from, all but t*ofig*nt lalte ail h*t lAret. Thu 17,684 pounds contain 

 169 hundred weight, done a* follow* >- 



17U 

 Subtract 17 



158 



The pound averdupois is -45354 of the French kilogramme, and '9071 

 of th* common French pound. That is, 804 pound* are 410 kilo. 

 gramme*, and 452 pounds averdupois are 410 French pounds [Wanoni 

 and MIACU BM]. 



If decimal* be employed : from one ktuukrtdA of the pounds sub- 

 tract one Ouxaaiubk, and from the result subtract its ku>vlr<,/th part. 

 The result is about one five-hundredth part too small. We give the 

 preceding example, ami another which ia an obvious verification : 



17,8411b. 112111.. 



176-84 112 



17-68 -112 



Ifit i-; 



159 

 157-57 



1-008 

 010 



998 



AVOWRY. [RPUEvn.] 



AVOYER is a term derived from the Latin advocate*. XvotM or 

 Aroyer was no doubt a French form or corruption of advocattu. ,in<l 

 was applied in general to the lay champion or gii.inlian of the churrh. 

 In South Germany and Switzerland, however, a country so ancient ly 

 and universally of ecclesiastical organisation, the officers who rul.-.l -.1* 

 deputies of the emperor were induced to designate their aiitlmrii v ' v 

 the title which was most general in the country, viz., the title implying 

 ecclesiastical authority. Thus we find in the beginning of the 13th 

 century, Berthold, Duke of Zahringon, styled the em|>eror'g adrufatui 

 in these regions, and Rodolph afterward* was advocatug of Suevia, 

 This term, half Germanised, half Callicued (for the Burgtindians then 

 governed the plains of Western Switzerland), became in common par- 

 lance Atoytr, and was assumed by the magistrates of such towns as 

 had attained the rank of Imperial. This meant that they belonged 

 nominally to the emperor, which privilege rendered them independent 

 of, and on a level with, the feudal aristocracy. The magistrates of 

 Swiss cities assumed the title of Aruyer, to which the German term 

 Schtiltheissen is equivalent, but the title sunk everywhere into disuse, 

 except at Berne, in which town it lasted till tin- revolution <>f 1 "94. 



In an amusing account of Switzerland (published in 1704), by 

 Temple Stanyan, Esq., the reader will find a full description of the 

 dignity and duties of these officers, who were two in numlxT and were 

 at the head of the government of the Canton, retaining their employ- 

 ment* for life, but exercising them annually by turns. 



AWAKD. JABBITHATIO.N.] 



AXIOM, a word derived from the Greek offa^a, which is formed 

 from the Greek verb afirfv, to think worthy of ; and thence to detirc or 

 demand. It was not used in the time of Kuclnl, liy whom the prin- 

 ciples which we call axioms are termed mural trmuu, or cum mm notion*. 

 The word was not in universal use as late as the year 1600, at which 

 date we find " fommttnis tcntentiit" preferred to " ojrioma." (See 

 Chambers' edition of ' liarlaam,' Paris, 1599.) 



The term axiom was originally peculiar to geometry, in which science 

 it came to mean a proposition which it is necessary to take for granted. 

 It ia usual to define an axiom as a irlf-cmltnt proportion ; but this, 

 though a true description of all the axioms which are found necessary, 

 is not a good dilution. In the first place, it is well known that the 

 geometer must deduce the properties of space in the best way he can, 

 from the smallest possible number of the most evident principles ; and 

 it must be his study so to choose them, that his own in in. I. or 

 his pupil or opponent, shall be at the least possible expense of conces- 

 sion. But he cannot say beforehand that his science thall be deduced 

 from self-evident principles. Imagine a person of cultivated reasoning 

 powers first approaching geometry, and capable of being made to take 

 a view of the general objects of the science. It would not appear to 

 him certain that he should be able to deduce all the properties of 

 figure from those which are self-evident; on the contrary, he might 

 suspect that he would be obliged to have recourse to actual measure- 

 ment, in order to verify some essential preliminaries. At least no 

 answer could be given to him, if he did express such a su>| 

 except a reference to the science itself ; and this clogs an axiom, defined 

 as a self -evident proposition, with a condition which can only be verified 

 by subsequent study. 



In the second place, a self-evident proposition, as such, ought not i.. 

 be called an axiom, because it is not admitted as such in geometry, 

 however evident it may be, provided it can be proved from those pro- 

 positions which are called axioms. That two sides of a triangle are 

 greater than the third, has a greater degree of evidence than some of 

 the admitted axioms ; yet it is not taken for granted, because it can be 

 deduced from these. 



The Epicureans are said to have laughed at geometry, because, 

 among other things, it prove* the proposition that two sides of a 

 triangle are greater than the third ; which, said they, is evident even 

 to a jackass, who always makes practical use of it in going from one 

 place to another. This evidently arises from the uiiatake that a geo- 

 metrical axiom is self-evident, and that all self-evident propositions 

 ought to be axioms. And the oldest remaining opponent of geometry, 

 Sextua Kuipiricun, has a chapter upon the subject (' Pyrrhouiarum 

 Hypotypoaeon,' lib. ii. cap. 11); on which, as on most other things of 

 the same sort, it may be safely averred that the axioms of geometry 



