8 



ABKUNKTIIY Ai:0. 



on the Heing uiul Attributes of Ciixl, which are 

 highly estet incd. 



ABKRNi.niv, John; a iH)i)uliir surgeon of the 

 present, century, who practised in London. He was 

 born in 17ti3-4, but whether in Scotland or Ireland 

 is strangely enough disputed. lOarly in life lie became 

 tlie pupil, and subsequently the friend of ilie cclc- 

 braU-d John Hunter. In 1780, he became assistant- 

 Mir^eou to St Bartholomew's Hospital, and shortly 

 afterwards took the place of lecturer on anatomy and 

 Misery. I'ndcr his auspices the Hospital atUiined 

 a celebrity which il had never before enjoyed. He 

 published " Surgical Observations" in 2 vols., and 

 - Lectures" in one vol., explanatory of Mr Hunter's 

 opinions of the vital pnxi-sses ; besides smaller es- 

 says. In one of his essays, he gives an account of 

 coses in which he had tied the external iliac artery, 

 a bold and meritorious operation which established 

 liis fame. He died on the 18th of April, 1831. He 

 was noted for his eccentric habits find the roughness 

 df his manner in addressing patients. Exercise and 

 diet were his principal means of cure ; and it was 

 not uncommon for him to address sickly or dyspep- 

 tical patients of the higher classes thus : " Madam, 

 keep your money to buy a skipping rope !" or " Sir, 

 li\ e on sixpence a day and earn it!" Yet his rough- 

 ness was all on the outside ; for at heart he was sym- 

 pathizing and generous ; being known, in the midst 

 of the most distinguished practice, to devote much 

 of his time and talents to the poor and destitute. 



ABERRATION of light. We see an object because 

 the rays of light proceeding from it strike our eyes, 

 and we see the place of the object in the direction in 

 which they proceed. Let us now imagine the earth 

 in its circuit round the sun, just arrived opposite to 

 a fixed star, which sends off rays perpendicularly to 

 the direction of the earth's motion. The eye of the 

 spectator meets the rays, and, as he perceives not his 

 own motion, he supposes the light to be moving in 

 an opposite direction ; as, when we sail in a boat, 

 the trees on the shore appear to pass along by us. 

 Thas the eye misses the perpendicular ray, but meets 

 an oblique one, and thence receives the impression 

 of the light in the direction which results from this 

 compound motion, namely, in the diagonal of a par- 

 allelogram, the sides of which represent the real 

 motion of the light, and the apparent one, (i. e. the 

 motion of the earth,) which take place at the same 

 time. The spectator sees the star in its true place 

 only when he is either approaching it, or receding 

 In mi it, in a straight line. When moving in any 

 other direction, the star appears a little in advance 

 of its tru^> position in the same direction (the maxi- 

 mum is 20 25) ; and we call by the. name of aberra- 

 t'"i of light these apparent clianges in the situation of 

 the heavenly bodies, occasioned by the motion of the 

 earth. We easily see tliat these clianges are com- 

 mon to all those heavenly bodies, and sue only more 

 striking in the case of the fixed stars. They af- 

 ford an additional proof of the motion ot the earth. 

 In consequence of this aberration, the fixed stars 

 appear, during the revolution of the earth about the 

 sun, according as they are. situated, either in the 

 plane of the ecliptic, or in its poles, or somewhere 

 between them, in the first case todeviate in a straight 

 line to the right or left of their true place, in the 

 second to describe a circle, in the third an ellipse 

 about that point, which further observation determines 

 to be their real situation. This discovery we owe 

 to Bradley, (q. v.) For the aberration of light, see 

 the elementary works on astronomy, the dictionaries 

 of natural philosophy by Gehler, Fischer, &c. There 

 Is a very good account of it hi Biot's Traite Ele- 

 mentaire d' Astronomic Physique, Paris, 1811, 2d 

 Treatise, vol 3, page 120, et seq. Tables of aber- 



i, accompanied with explanations, nre to be 

 found in tlie kiron von '/.ach's works, (>i>//ia, 1806, 

 and in the same author's Xotit't-llfs Tables d' Aber- 

 ration et ilr \iititlnin pour 1-104 Ktoilen ; avcc tine 

 TnUc f,'<-iirrulr (/' .llxrrnliiill fialir In 1'lttHftcx et let 

 t'umi-ti-n, Marseilles, 1S1L', and Sufi/ilt-me/it, 1813. 



ABH.DGAARD, Nicolai Abraham, historical painter 

 to the king of Denmark, and knight of the order ot 

 Banebrog. He WHS born at I'openhagen, in 1744, 

 and died then in 1809, director and professor of the 

 academy of fine arts. He was undoubtedly the fin- 

 est painter that Denmark ever possessed. I he 

 years' residence in Italy completed the education 

 which he had received in the academy of arts at 

 Copenhagen, yet his works never lost the character 

 of originality. The creations of his productive ima- 

 gination were sometimes of a gloomy, iind alwajs ot 

 a grand and solemn character. .Modern painting 

 can hardly show finer colouring. A considerate 

 number of his large pictures intlie apartments of the 

 royal palace of Christiansburg, were burned in I7!L 

 Several, however, still exist in and out of Copen- 

 hagen. A. acquired reputation as a writer by some 

 short essays, the object of which was, partly, to correct 

 a false taste in regard to the arts, partly to illustrate 

 the earlier works of art. 



ABINGTON, Frances; a popular comic actress of 

 the last century, whose maiden name was Barton, 

 She was born in London in 1731, and made her first 

 appearance in 1751, at tlie Haymarket theatre. She 

 afterwards performed at Drury Lane and Covent 

 Garden with Garrick, enacting the principal char- 

 acters of the comedies of Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, 

 Congreve, Gibber, c. In 1799 she retreated to 

 private life and died in 1815, much respected. 



ABIPONIANS, a warlike tribe of Indians, l>etween 

 28 and 30 S. lat. on the banks of Rio de la Plata, 

 consisting of 5000 persons, who pay little attention 

 to agriculture, but employ themselves principally in 

 hunting and fishing. During the five rainy months 

 they resort to the islands of the Rio de la Plata, or 

 to the tops of trees. The Abiponians prefer the flesh 

 of tigers to every other meat, superstitiously believ- 

 ing that it gives new courage toihe warrior. Long 

 lances, ana arrows with iron points, are their wea- 

 pons. They are often at war with the Spaniards. 

 Their wives are not much browner tlmn the Spanish 

 ladies. The men are tall, with aquiline noses, are 

 good swimmers, and fond of painting figures on 

 their skin. Their caziques are, in times of peace, 

 their judges ; in war, their leaders. In pence, how- 

 ever, their authority is very limited ; for if a cazique 

 should attempt an unpopular innovation, the multi- 

 tude would leave him, and join other tribes. 



ABJURATION, oath of; an oath by which a person 

 obliged himself not to acknowledge any right in the 

 pretender to the British throne. It signifies, a No, 

 according to 25, Charles II., an oath abjuring par- 

 ticular doctrines of the church of Rome. 



ABO, a town in Finland, which contained 11OO 

 houses, and 11,300 inhabitants. Here in 1743, 

 Sweden concluded peace with Russia. Since 1817, 

 it has ceased to be the capital of the government 

 of Finland. The Russian administration has 

 endeavoured, however, to support it by other 

 means ; and it continues to be the capital city of a 

 district, as well as the seat of a Lutheran bishopric, 

 (in 1817, raised to an archbishopric ) and of the su- 

 preme court of justice for South Finland. The 

 mouth of the river Aurajocki, protected by a pro- 

 montory of the gulf of Bothnia, forms the harbour 

 of the city, which, since 1817, has been the chief 

 place of export from Finland to Sweden, and even 

 to the Mediterranean. It has important sugar- 

 works, and manufactures of leather linen, sail-clotli, 



