n 



Aiuris. 



AIMIKSIOK. 



The celebrated traveller Huml-ldt considers it M the 

 organic monument of our planet,' in consequence ot the calculation.. 

 of Adanaon that specimen*, mill found on the north-wort coast of 

 Africa, are probably 5000 yearn old ; the*) calculation* are, however, 

 open to many objection!. 



In appearance, Aiia*tv*ia it unlike any other known tree : the 

 enormous dimension* of it* trunk bear a striking disproportion t.. 

 the other parts. It It not unusual to find a trunk not more than 

 1-J ..r l.'i ft-i-t fr.'in the root to the branches, with a circumference 

 of 75 or 78 feet. The lower branches are very long, and at first 

 horizontal, extending perha|>s 60 feet; the consequence of which i- 

 that they bend down to the ground, entirely hiding the trunk, and 

 giving the tree the appearance of a huge mam of verdure. The wood 

 ii very soft, even when in perfection, and IB subject to a disease, which 

 may be compared to the very malady of which its celebrated dis- 

 coverer died a *ort of softening of all the ban! parts, so that the 

 leant storm i sufficient to overthrow and dismember it* enormous 

 balk. A curious practice prevails among the negroes of hollowing its 

 trunk out int.. chambers, and therein depositing the bodies of male- 

 factors, or of persona to whom the usual ritee of sepulture are denied. 

 In this situation the bodies become dried up, and soon acquire the 

 state of perfect mummies. 



Adaiuonia belongs to the natural order Bombacea, among which it 

 is at once known by a broad tube of stamens and deciduous calyx, 

 combined with a woody closed fruit, containing a soft pulp. 



The only species is Adantunia diijilata, the Monkey-Bread, Sour 

 Gourd, Lalo Plant, Ac., of the African negroes. The leave* are deep 



Leaf and flower of Ada 



green, and divided into five unequal parU, each of which is of a 

 narrow lanceolate figure, and radiates from a common centre, the 

 outermost division* being the smallest. The flowers grow singly in a 

 pendulous position from the bo.-tom of the leaves, are very large, 

 white, crumpled at the edge, and have the petals very much reflexed. 

 The stamens are very numerous, and are collected into a tube, which 

 spreads at the top into a sort of umbrella-like head, from the midst 

 of which arises a slender curved style, terminated by a rayed stigma. 

 The fruit is an oblong, dull green, down .< or nine inches 



long, containing several cells, in each of whi--h tin-re is a number of 

 hard shining seeds immersed in a soft pulp, which U scarcely juicy. 

 From thin pulp the negroes prepare an acidulous drink, much svted in 

 the fevers of the country. The bruised leaves, in a dry state, form a 

 substance called lota, which they mix with their food and imagine is 

 u-M-ful in checking, or counteracting, the effects of profuse perspi- 

 ration. Like the rest of the order, Adaiuonia is emollient and 

 mucilaginous in all its soft parts. 



ADAIMS. in Zoology, th* name of a genu* of Fossil Pachydermatous 

 (thicV skinn.-l) m-un-niUs, described by M. Cuvier, in his great work 

 ' Sur las Ossemens Foasilea,' voL iii. p. 265. The word is fouii'l in 

 Qamer, a* a synonyme of the common rabbit (not, as stated in the 

 reference to Cuvier jut given, of the Ityrar), and is appropriated to 



the present genus, from the presumed similarity in sire, organization, 

 and habit*, which probably existed between the hedgehog (Uyra-c 

 and the fossil species. 



Skull of the Fouil Adapii. 



The remains, upon which M. Cuvier has founded this genus Adapi*, 

 the only specimen which he was able to procure during a period of 

 twenty-five years devoted to researches after fossil bones, con* 

 three fragment* of skulls, found in the plaster quarries of Mnt 

 martre, Paris, celebrated for the enormous quantity and van. 

 the remains of extinct animal * u hieh they have produced, and which, 

 in the hands of M. Cuvier, have effected such improvements in the 

 kindred sciences of zoology and geology. The first of these fragments 

 is a head, nearly perfect on the side, imbedded in the mags of g\ 

 which contained it ; and exhibiting the dentition nearly in a ; 

 form. The general outline of this skull closely resembled that 

 hedgehog, but it was about one-third larger: there were four 

 tec-th in each jaw, trenchant or edged and ohli.nu- : followed, on each 

 side, by a canine tooth, of a conical form, but in other respect* 

 differing little from the molar teeth in length and figure. Of these 

 latter there appear to have Wen seven in each side of each jaw. Two 

 other fragments procured by M. Cuvier one a portion of a l\-.'-r 

 jaw, another of an upper jaw served to complete his description. t>y 

 supplying some of the back teeth which were wanting in the more 

 perfect specimen*. 



ADDA, the Arabic name of a small species of lizard (Scincvt offici- 

 nalit) celebrated by the eastern physicians on account of its pret 

 efficacy in the cure of elephantiasis, leprosy, and other cutaneous 

 diseases, to which the Arabs ami inhabitants of Egypt are peculiarly 

 subject ; and of which, according to Bruce, they are more afraid than 

 of the plague itself. 



The Adda, as described by Bruce, is about six inches and a half in 

 length ; the body and tail are cylindrical, the latter thick at the base, 

 and ending in a very sharp point ; the head is conical, and the mouth 

 provided with two rows of small feeble teeth ; the face is covered 

 with five black lines, which cross one another like a net ; the Ko.ly is 

 of a light straw colour, crossed with eight equidistant bands of black, 

 and the scales are so finely polished that they almost appear as if they 

 had been varnished. The addais found in Arabia, Egypt, and \ 



it is particularly abundant in the neighbourhood of the ancient M. i 



(near the Nile, about 17 N. lat) ; and, in shoi-t. throughout .-very 

 part of the sandy deserts of Asia and Afrioa, wherever the slightest 

 traces of moisture exist. "It burrows," says Bruce, "in the sand, 

 mid performs the operation so quickly, that it is out of sight in an 

 instant, and appears rather to have found a hole than to have made 

 one : yet it often comes out during the heat of the .l.-\ to l... . 

 in the sun ; and, if not very much frightened, will take refuge behind 

 stones, or in the withered, ragged roots of the absinthium, dried in 

 the sun to nearly its own colour." 



ADDAX. [ANTELOPE.] 



ADDER, a name of the common riper. [VirEBiD.K.] 



ADELFOKSITK, a variety of mineral, included under II. ulandite. 



N US, a fossil genus of (' m North Devon. 



[HEUI.ANDITK.] 

 AI>KI."C|; 



AIHII'.SIOX. in Botany, is applied to the union of parts which are 

 separate in other plants, or in younger states of the same plant. 

 Many of the characters which cause the diversity of appearance in 

 the vegetable kingdom originate in the adhesion of a few very simple 

 organs; and what we are accustomed to consider ports of extremely 

 diflcr- i --nly seem so in consequence of the way in which 



such adhesion occurs. Thus, the stem of a tree is not a homo:.-. 

 mass of vegetable matter, |-rfoiitted by holes, or Idle 1 In little 

 cavities caused by the extrication of air in it when in a soft state, but 

 is produced by tin- adhesion of curtain elementary bodies, called 

 Cellular Tiwu.-" nnd Vascular Tissue (TlsstTKS, Vii 

 in a .l.-iinit manner, which varies in every species ; iii-ith. i 

 a fruit, or a flower, a mere mass of pulp, or an expansion, like th. h..m 

 of an animal, hut aim consists of these same elementary organs in 

 a state of adhesion. 



