ADORATION ADRAGANTH. 



37 



o/y/iwfra, 1.179 ; Prussian Code, part 2, tit. 2, 666.) 

 The adopted child receives the. name of its adopter, 

 but does not share in his rank if he be a nobleman, 

 except bj the special permission of the sovereign. In 

 Prussia, a married couple must have lived many years 

 without children, before they are allowed to adopt a 

 child. The modem French law (Code civile, a. 343) 

 also admits adoption, but only on certain conditions. 

 The code establishes three kinds of adoption I'adop- 

 tion ordinaire, la remuneratoire, et la testamentoire. 

 Those who wish to adopt must have supported the 

 person to be adopted for six years, or the adopter's 

 life must have been saved by the person to be adopted. 

 Excepting in this last case, the latter must be as 

 much as fifteen years younger than the former. 

 ..Adoption (excepting as before) cannot take place 

 until the person to be adopted is of age, and must be 

 ratified by the district court as well as by the court 

 of appeal. There is nothing corresponding with 

 adoption in the law either of England or America. 

 In Asia, adoption is a very common practice. The 

 ceremony is frequently performed merely by the 

 adopting person exclianging girdles with the person 

 adopted. The Turks declare adoption often before 

 the cadi, and a writing regularly witnessed is drawn 

 up. The law of Mahomet prescribes still another 

 very curious ceremony of- adoption. The person 

 adopted is required to pass through the shirt of the 

 adopter; and hence the phrase to draw another 

 through one's shirt is, among them, expressive of 

 adoption. An adopted son is called akictogli, that 

 is, the son of another life. Several writers have ap- 

 plied this ceremony as explanatory of many passages 

 both of the Old and New Testaments. 



ADORATION ; originally, the expression of the high- 

 est respect either to God or man ; now used, more 

 particularly, for the act of religious homage. The 

 word literally signifies applying the hand to the 

 mouth ; manum ad os admovere, i. e. to kiss the 

 hand. The word kissing is the usual idiom of the 

 Hebrew language to signify adoration. Herodotus 

 considers the custom of kissing the hand in adoration 

 to have been adopted by the Greeks from the Per- 

 sians. It certainly prevailed at an early period all 

 over the East. The Roman ceremony of adoration 

 has been thus described : the devotee, having his 

 head covered, applied his right hand to his lips, the 

 fore finger resting on his thumb, which was erect, 

 and, thus bowing his head, turned himself round from 

 left to right. The kiss given was called osculum 

 lalratum. Sometimes, however, they kissed the feet 

 or even the knees of their gods. The Grecians ge- 

 nerally worshipped uncovered. During their prayers, 

 their hands were raised above their heads with the 

 palms turned towards heaven or the statues of their 

 god, a custom still often seen, in catholic countries, 

 accompanying fervent prayer; but generally the 

 Christians clasp their hands during prayer, which is 

 still the custom in Europe, both among catholics 

 and protestants. The first Christians often turned 

 the face towards the east when they prayed. The 

 Mahommedans turn the face towards Mecca. Prostra- 

 tion, accompanied sometimes by kissing the ground, 

 is an ancient mode of adoring the gods, and express- 

 ing the highest respect for men. In Russia and 

 Poland, it is still the custom for people of the lower 

 classes to kneel down and kiss the garment of the 

 person to whom they wisli to show respect. Dio- 

 clesian offered his foot to be kissed by the courtiers, 

 and even under Charlemagne and his son, the no- 

 blemen kissed the emperors foot. Probably, there- 

 fore, the popes took this custom from the emperors, 

 to whose power they laid claim in succeeding to their 

 title of sovereign pontiff. They have an embroidered 

 cross on the slipper of their right foot, which is kissed 



by the catholics. When the late king of Spain was 

 in Rome, he prostrated himself betore the pontiff, 

 and kissed the cross on his foot. There is no doubt 

 that the Roman emperors borrowed this custom from 

 the East. In the primitive Christian church, this 

 honour is said to have been shown to every bishop , 

 as it often is still in the Greek church. In kissing 

 the bishop's foot, the words x-gofxvtu tri were, and still 

 are used. The Jews, being an Asiatic tribe, often 

 prostrated themselves in the act of worship. Taking 

 off the shoes or slippers during adoration is an old 

 custom in Asia. It is also practised on common oc- 

 casions as an act of politeness. The Oriental takes 

 off his shoes before he enters the temple, the mosque, 

 or the apartment of a man of respectability. This 

 custom was also adopted by the Roman catholic 

 church in some cases. At the adoration of the cross 

 on Good Friday, the Roman catholics walk bare- 

 footed ; and the ceremony of humiliation, when the 

 pope and all the cardinals approach the cross bare- 

 footed, in the Capella Sistina, makes a deep im- 

 pression on the superstitious. Kneeling was in 

 all ages a common posture of adoration, and ori- 

 ginates from the feeling of humility in addressing a 

 higher and mightier being. Sitting with the thighs 

 resting on the lieels, was an ancient Egyptian atti- 

 tude in the act of worship. There are many statues 

 represented hi this position. Standing with the body 

 inclined forward, the eyes fixed on the ground, the 

 hands probably resting on the knees, was an early 

 eastern attitude of adoration. Dancing, screaming, 

 rolling on the ground, and many similar acts accom- 

 pany the worship of different savage tribes. Mr 

 Ward, one of the Baptist missionaries at Serampore, 

 in a work on the history and literature of the Hin- 

 doos, has given a very curious and minute account of 

 the modes of adoration, which they call pooja. The 

 objects of adoration have been greatly diversified. 

 In all ages, worship has been paid to idols, but many 

 of the worshippers have regarded the image merely 

 as the representative of the Divinity. Protestants 

 mistake when they impute to catholics, universally, 

 the worship of images, as being in themselves objects 

 of adoration, for they are regarded by that church, 

 as they are by the wisest of the heathen, merely as 

 visible signs of the invisible Deity. The ancients 

 placed crowns of garlands on the statues of the gods ; 

 and the catholics still offer flowers to their saints and 

 the virgin. It was common to sleep in the ancient 

 temples, with a view of receiving responses from the 

 gods in dreams. The sick, in particular, slept for this 

 purpose in the temple of ^Esculapius. In the Roman 

 catholic church, a species of adoration is offered to 

 departed saints and martyrs, and their intercession 

 is solicited. The Phoenicians (the first navigators) 

 adored the winds, a practice adopted by many other 

 nations. The Persians adored the sun and fire. 

 The Greeks and Romans adored fire under the name 

 of Vesta. Pliny mentions the adoration of light- 

 ning by gently clapping the hands. The Egyptians 

 adored animals, plants, and fishes ; the Arabs, stones ; 

 the Scythians, swords ; the Chinese, the statues of 

 their ancestors. The Hindoos have not only an 

 amazing variety of gods, but they worship human 

 lyings, beasts, birds, trees, rivers, fish, books, and 

 stones. See Ward's View of the History, Literature, 

 and Religion of the Hindoos, and Bishop Heber's 

 Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces 

 of liwKa, from Calcutta to Bombay, 18241825, 

 with Notes upon Ceylon, and an Account of a Jour- 

 ney to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 18io. 

 It must be remembered, that all adoration originates 

 from two different sources, either from love and 

 thankfulness, or from fear. 



ADRAGANTH, in medicine, gum dragon. It distils 



