AN ATRON ANCESTORS. 



155 



35. Peroneus brevis. 36. Extensor longus digiti 

 Pedis. 37. Tibialis anticus. 38. Ligamentuin a 

 patella ad libram pertinens. 39. Vastus iuternus. 

 40. Sartorius. 41. Triceps pars quae longus vocatur. 

 42- Triceps pars quas brachialis vocatur. 43. Bra- 

 chialis externus. 44. Biceps Brachii. 45. Pronator 

 teres. 46. Palmaris longus. 47- Sublimis. 48. 

 Ulnaris internus. 49. Ulnaris externus. Fig. 5. 

 1. Temporalis. 2. Mastoidaeus. 3. Trapezius. 4. 

 Deltoides. 5. Brachiaeus. 6. Gemellus. 7. Palma- 

 ris longus. 8. Sublimis. 9. Ulnaris externus. 10. 

 Radialis externus longior. 11. Extensor communis 

 digitorum. 12. InfraSpinatus. 13. Latissimus Dor- 

 si. 14. Obliquus externus Abdominis. 15. Glutaeus 

 medius. 16. Glutaeus major. 17. Gracilis. 18. 

 Adductor inagnus Femoris. 19. Semitendinosus. 

 20. Biceps Cruris. 21. Vastus externus. 22. Gas- 

 trocnemius. 23. Soleus. 24. Tendo Achillis. 



ANATRON ; the scum which swims upon the molten 

 glass in the furnace, sometimes called sal vitrei, which, 

 when taken off, melts in the air, and coagulates into 

 common salt. It is also that salt which gathers 

 upon the walls of vaults ; likewise the same with 

 natron (q. v.). Anatron is also a compound salt, 

 made of quick-lime, alum, vitriol, common salt, and 

 nitre, used as a flux to promote the fusion and purifi- 

 cation of metals. It is also used for the terra Sara- 

 cen ica. 



ANAXAGORAS, one of the principal Ionic philoso- 

 phers, born at Clazomenae,- in Ionia, in the first year 

 of the 70th Olympiad (500 B. C.), of rich and respec- 

 table parents, devoted himself to the study of philo- 

 sophy, under Anaximenes of Miletus, or, according 

 to some, under Hermotimus, his countryman. At 

 the age of twenty years, he set out on his travels, 

 visited Egypt, and all the countries where the 

 sciences flourished, and finally settled at Athens. 

 There he formed an intimacy with Pericles, and 

 numbered among his disciples the most respectable 

 citizens ; e. g. Archelaus, the natural son of Perdic- 

 cas, king of Macedonia, who himself reigned nine 

 years, and Euripides. A profound study of the natu- 

 ral sciences enabled him to explain the eclipses of 

 the sun and moon, earthquakes, and similar pheno- 

 mena ; but, by the intrigues of his enemies, he be- 

 came suspected of blasphemy, and, in consequence 

 of this accusation, was obliged to leave Athens, in 

 431. He went to Lampsacus, where he died after 

 three years, seventy-two years old. The principle of 

 A. was, " from nothing comes nothing." He adopted, 

 therefore, the idea or a chaos, and, as the primary 

 element of all bodies, a kind of atoms, of the same 

 nature as the bodies which they formed. These 

 atoms, in themselves motionless, were, in the begin- 

 ning, put in motion by another equally eternal, im- 

 material, spiritual, elementary being, which he 

 called Nai/j (Intelligence). By this motion, and by 

 the separation of the dissimilar particles, and the 

 combination of those of the same nature, the world 

 was formed; the earthy bodies sank down, whilst 

 the ether or fire rose and spread in the upper regions. 

 The stars, however, were, according to him, of 

 earthy materials, and the sun a glowing mass of 

 stone, about as large as the Peloponnesus. The 

 milky way he thought to be, like the rainbow, the 

 reflection of light. The earth was, according to him, 

 flat ; the moon, a dark, inhabitable body, receiving 

 its light from the sun ; the comets, wandering stars. 

 He contended that the real existence of things, per- 

 ceived by our senses, could not be demonstrably 

 proved, and considered reason as the source of truth. 

 On account of this principle, many have regarded 

 bim as the first theist among the philosophers. Ar- 

 chelaus of Athens w^s his disciple. 



KR, son of Praxiades, a disciple of 



Thales, and an original thinker was born at Miletus 

 in the 42d Olympiad (610 B. C.) His chief study was 

 mathematics. He discovered, or taught, at least, the 

 inclination of the ecliptic, and determined the sol- 

 stices and equinoxes, by means of a dial (gnomon). 

 He first used figures, to illustrate the propositions of 

 geometry. He was also the first who attempted to 

 sketch the outlines of lands and seas on a globe, and 

 made a celestial globe, for the explanation of his 

 system of the universe. Yet his statements are not 

 to be entirely relied upon. His ideas concerning the 

 first principle of things are so obscurely stated, that 

 they cannot well be ascertained. His system seems 

 to have been that infinity, TO a^s/jav, is the origin of 

 all existence, from which all emanates, and to which 

 every thing returns. He has not, however, defined 

 the nature-of this eternal, incorruptible, original mat- 

 ter, the parts of which are variable, the whole un- 

 changeable. The number of worlds is, according to 

 him, infinite. The firmament is composed of heat and 

 cold, the stars of air and fire. The sun occupies the 

 highest place in the heavens, has a circumference 28 

 times larger, than the earth, and resembles a cylinder, 

 from which streams of fire issue. When its opening 

 is obstructed, it appears eclipsed. The moon is, ac- 

 cording to him, likewise a cylinder, 19 times larger 

 than the earth ; its inclination produces the phases, 

 its entire revolution the eclipses. Thunder and 

 lightning are productions of the wind, compressed 

 within the clouds. The earth has the shape of a 

 cylinder, and is placed in the midst of the universe, 

 where it remains suspended. He died in the 58th 

 Olympiad (546 B. C.), 64 years of age. 



ANAXIMENES of Miletus flourished about the 56th 

 Olympiad (556 B. C.) He was a disciple of Anaxi- 

 mander, from whose doctrines he, however, deviated. 

 According to him, the air () is the infinite, divine^ 

 perpetually active, first principle of all things. He 

 taught that the exterior circumference of the heavens 

 consisted of earth ; that the stars were solid bodies, sur- 

 rounded by fire ; that the sun, by whose course alone 

 the seasons are determined, was flat, as well as the 

 earth, which rests upon the air. Diogenes of Apoi- 

 lonia carried his doctrine still further. 



ANAXIMENES, of Lampsacus, was one of the precep- 

 tors of Alexander the Great. He accompanied his 

 pupil through most of his campaigns, and afterwards 

 wrote the history of his reign and that of his father 

 Philip. He was also the author of a history of Greece. 



ANBERT KEND (the cistern of the waters of life) ; a 

 celebrated book of the Brahmins, wherein the Indian 

 religion and philosophy are contained. It is divided 

 into 50 beths or discourses, each consisting of 10 

 chapters. It has been translated into Arabic, under 

 the title of Moral al Maani ; i. e. the marrow of in- 

 telligence. 



ANCESTORS. All nations, in any way civilized, have 

 paid respect to the memory of their ancestors. Some 

 have gone so far as to offer them religious homage. 

 All the Asiatic nations are proud of a long line ot 

 ancestors. The Bible abounds in genealogies, and 

 modern travellers state, that the same pride of descent 

 prevails among the Arabians, Persians, &c. Men of 

 rank in the East are frequently entertained with songs 

 in praise of their ancestors, a custom which prevail- 

 ed in Greece and Rome, and throughout Europe in 

 the middle ages. Esteem for parents and ancestors 

 is so natural to all mankind, that low people, through- 

 out the world, if they happen to quarrel, as the readi- 

 est means of insulting the opposite party, attack the 

 honour of his mother, the honesty of his father, or 

 the general character of the family from which he is 

 descended, as the writer lias had occasion to remark 

 in very different countries. There is hardly any age 

 which does not furnish many instances, some even in 



