APSIDES AQUA TINTA. 



217 



A PSIDK*. The orbits of the planets and comets are 

 ellipses, in one of the foci of which is the sun. In 

 the same way the satellites move round their planets. 

 The nearest point of the ellipse from that focus, or 

 the lower apsis (Greek, a^/$), is called, in the orbits 

 of the planets and comets, perihelion ; the farthest 

 point, or the higher apsis, is called aphelion. In the 

 orbit of our moon, the corresponding terms are peri- 

 gee and apogee. The straight line which joins the 

 apsides, or the transverse axis of the ellipse, is called 

 the line of the apsides. It moves slowly forward in 

 the direction of the planet's course. Therefore, if 

 the earth sets out from the apogee, it must make more 

 than a whole revolution in its orbit before it returns 

 to the same point. The time which it employs in so 

 .doing is called an anomalistical year. It is, there- 

 fore, longer than a tropical one. See Year. 



APULEIUS, A. Lucius, born at Madaura, in Africa, 

 towards the end of the reign of Adrian, descended from 

 respectable ancestors, and flourished about the middle, 

 and in the latter half, of the second century. He 

 studied at Carthage, became acquainted with Greek li- 

 terature at Athens, particularly with the Platonic phi- 

 losophy, and thence went to Rome, where, he himself 

 says, he learned the Latin language without a teacher, 

 by great exertions, a circumstance not to be over- 

 looked, in judging his style. To satisfy his thirst for 

 knowledge, he performed tedious journeys, in which 

 he was initiated into various mysteries ; again lived 

 borne time at Rome ; studied law ; returned, finally, 

 to his own country ; married a rich widow, and was 

 much respected. A. was of an ardent and active 

 Spirit, with an uncommon share of wit, though much 

 devoted to religious mysticism and magic. His Golden 

 Ass, a romance in eleven books, contains wit, humour, 

 powerful satire, and much poetical merit. He drew 

 the materials from Lucian. The finest part of this 

 work is the episode of Psyche, called by Herder, the 

 most tender and diversified of all romances. It is suf- 

 ficient to render him immortal, even if he be, as some 

 have supposed, only the narrator, and not the inven- 

 tor, of the story. A. was also the author of many 

 works on philosophy and rhetoric, some of which are 

 otill extant. His style is not pure. He is fond of 

 numerous epithets and unusual constructions, and 

 sometimes falls into a flowery and bombastic man- 

 ner. The best edition of the Golden Ass, or the 

 Metamorphosis (" golden" was a subsequent addition, 

 to express the value of the book), is by Oudendorp, 

 Ruhnken and Boscha ; Leyden, 1786 1823 ; 3 vols. 

 4to. Elmenhorst published the Metamorphosis, with 

 a large part of the rest of A.'s philosophical writings, 

 Frankfort, 1621. 



ATCLIA. lapygia, so called from lapyx, son of 

 Daedalus, comprehending the south-eastern parts of 

 Italy, from the river Siris to mount Garganus, con- 

 tains A. within its limits. In the most ancient times 

 three distinct nations dwelt here the Messapians, or 

 Sallentines, the Peucetians, and the Dauni, or Apu- 

 lians. (See Niebuhr's Inquiry concerning the oldest 

 historical Accounts of this Country, in his Roman His- 

 tory, part i. sect. 99, compared with Wachsmutli's 

 older History of Rome, sect. 61.) The Peucetians 

 were in the southern part as far as the Aufidus ; the 

 Dauni in the northern, as far as mount Garganus. 

 The old Latin traditions speak of Daunus, a king of 

 the Apulians, who was expelled from Illyria, and re- 

 tired to this part of Italy. According to the tradition 

 which conducts the wandering heroes of the Trojan 

 war to Italy, Diomed settled in A., was supported by 

 Daunus in a war with the Messapians, whom he sub- 

 dued, and was afterwards treacherously killed by his 

 ally, who desired to monopolize the fruits of the vic- 

 tory. Roman history informs us of no other Apulian 

 kings, but mentions Arpi, Luceria, and Canusium,as 



important cities. Aufidus, a river of A., has been 

 celebrated by Horace, who was born at Venusia, in 

 this territory. The second Punic war was carried on 

 for years in A. Cannae, famous for the defeat of the 

 Romans, is in this region. Pitglia, the modern name, 

 is only a melancholy relic of the ancient splendour 

 which poets and historians have celebrated. It now 

 supports more sheep than men. 



APCRE ; a river of south America, which rises in 

 the Andes, near Pamplona, in Colombia, and, after 

 an easterly course of about 500 miles, runs into the 

 Orinoco, of which it is one of the most important tri- 

 butaries. Lon. 66 36' W. ; lat. 7 36' N. 



APURIMAC ; a river of Peru, which rises from a lake 

 N. of Arequipa, and afterwards, joining the Ene, with 

 several other rivers, forms the Ucayale. Lon. 73 40' 

 W. ; lat. 10 50' S. 



AQUA FORTIS ; nitric acid In a diluted state. See 

 Nitric Acid. 



AQUA MARINA. See Beryl. 



AQUA REGIA ; the name given byalchymists to what 

 is now called nitromuriatic acid, a mixture of nitric 

 and muriatic acid, yellow, and possessing the power 

 of readily dissolving gold, which neither possessed 

 separately. See Nitric Acid. 



AQUA TINTA ; the art of engraving on copper, 

 after the manner of Indian ink, by which happy imi- 

 tations are made of figures that have been drawn with 

 the pencil in Indian ink, bistre, sepia, &c., particu- 

 larly those which are on a large scale. There are 

 several sorts of it. In the. first, after the outlines of 

 the figure have been etched, finely powdered mastic 

 (colophonium) is sifted over the plate, which is then 

 warmed over coals, that the mastic may be melted. 

 In this way, insensible spaces are formed between the 

 particles of mastic, upon which the nitric acid is after- 

 wards to act. ;The work then goes on as in the mez- 

 zo-tinto, only that the scraper is used in this, and the 

 pencil in that ; and all the places where there is to 

 be no work or shade, are covered with a thick black 

 varnish, on which the acid does not act. The nitric 

 acid is now poured on, and left, to stand as long as is 

 necessary for the lightest shade about five minutes. 

 The light shades are now stopped out with varnish, 

 and the acid allowed to act a second time, and this 

 stopping out is continued till we come to the deepest 

 shades, which are bit in last. This method is best 

 for historical and architectural subjects ; but in land- 

 scapes, in which the trees require more freedom of the 

 pencil, the second is used. In this, a good etching 

 ground is spread over the plate, and covered by means 

 of a hair-pencil, with oil of lavender or oil of turpen- 

 tine, to which lamp-black is sometimes added. The 

 oil softens the ground, which may be wiped off with 

 a fine linen cloth, leaving all the marks made with 

 the pencil apparent on the copper. Then, as in the 

 first process, fine mastic is sifted over the plate, melt- 

 ed in and etched. This operation may be repeated 

 many times, according as there are more or fewer 

 tints in the original. 13y a happy union of both sorts, 

 this style of engraving is carried to a high degree of 

 perfection, and is particularly adapted to express the 

 colouring of the air, where large surfaces are often re- 

 presented of one tint. In France and Switzerland, the 

 roulette is used a little wheel or roller of steel, with 

 a rough surface and several prominences, which, when 

 it is rolled back and forth on the plate, deepens the 

 excavations made by the acid. They have roulettes 

 of all degrees of size and fineness, to make deeper or 

 more shallow impressions on the plate. From time 

 to time, the particles separated by this process are 

 removed witli a scraper. The aqua tinta mode was 

 first introduced a short time since into Britain and 

 Germany ; and the British, particularly since Gilpin 

 brought the art into notice, have adorned their liu> 



