AQUA TO FAN A AQUEDUCT. 



rary works in this manner. For the tcchn'ca. details 

 ..I ili.- art, see The Complete Aquatinter, by J. H, 

 Green ; 3d edit. Loud. 1810. 



AQDA TOKAXA ; a i>oisunous liquid, \vliicli exciter 

 extraordinary attention at Naples, at tin- end of tin 

 17th and heinning of the 18th centuries, the history 

 of which, however, is obscure. Tofana, a Sicilian 

 woman, seem* to have invented it. According' to Lo- 

 Iwt, after she had murdered many hundred men, sh< 

 was strangled, although on the discovery of her guilt 

 she fled to a convent. Keyssler, on the contrary, af- 

 firms that she was still alive in prison, 1730. The 

 -Irink is described as transparent, tasteless water, ol 

 which five or six drops are fatal, producing death 

 .-lowly, without pain, inflammation, convulsions, or le- 

 xer. Gradual decay of strength, disgust ot life, want 

 of appetite, and constant thirst, were the effects, 

 which soon changed to an entire consumption. Thai 

 the exact day of^death can be predicted, is a mere 

 fable. The strangest stories, with regard to its com- 

 position, have gone abroad. A solution of crystal- 

 lized arsenic seems to have been the chief ingredient 

 10 which something else was added, probably to con- 

 ceal the presence of it. 



AQUA VITX, (water of life) is a name familiarly ap- 

 plied to native distilled spirits. It answers to the 

 whisky of the Scottish and Irish, the eau de vie or 

 brandy of the French, and the geneva of the Dutch. 

 AQUAMBOE; one of the greatest kingdoms on the 

 coast of Guinea, in Africa, stretching 20 miles in 

 breadth, and ten times that space in length from E. 

 to W. The inhabitants are very warlike, and infest 

 their neighbours much. 



AQUARIANS. 1. Christians in the primitive church, 

 who consecrated water instead of wine, for the cele- 

 bration of the Lord's supper ; some for the sake of 

 abstinence, others because they thought it unlawful 

 to eat flesh or drink wine. 2. Those Christians, also, 

 were denominated Aquarians, who used water instead 

 of wine at the celebration of the eucliarist, for fear 

 the smell of wine should discover them to the hea- 

 thens. 



AQUARIUS is the name of the eleventh sign of the zo- 

 diac, emblematical of the rainy season. The constel- 

 lation of the same name contains 108 stars in the Bri- 

 tannic catalogue, and 119 in that published at Berlin. 

 AQUA VIVA, Claude, son of the duke of Atri, was 

 Iwrn ir. 1542. He became general of the Jesuits in 

 1 58 1 , and died about 1607. (See Jesuits) There is 

 another A., with the baptismal name of Ottavio, car- 

 dinal and papal legate at Avignon. He was renown- 

 ed for moderation, wisdom, and patronage of the sci- 

 ences and arts. He was the particular friend of the 

 learned Peiresc, and lived under Clement VIII. 



AQUEDUCT, (Latin, aquaeductits) ; a conveyance of 

 any kind made for conducting water. The Greeks 

 did very little towards the construction of aqueducts 

 and roads. The Romans, on the contrary, who were 

 more persevering, and had abundant resources of 

 men and money, made prodigious structures of both 

 kinds. Some of the immense aqueducts of the Ro- 

 mans are still in use; some, in the state of ruins, 

 are among the greatest ornaments of Italy. 

 In other ancient countries, also, large aqueducts were 

 built ; e. g. under Sesostris, in Egypt ; under Semi- 

 ramis, in Babylonia ; under Solomon and Hezekiah, 

 among the Israelites. The consul Sextus Julius 

 Frontinus, who had, under the emperor Nerva, the 

 direction of the aqueducts, has written a treatise on 

 this subject,_.De Aquaeductibus Urbis Rom<e,and 

 is of opinion, that they are the most distinguishing 

 proofs of the grandeur of the empire. He mentions 

 nine aqueducts, which had 1594 pipes of an inch and 

 upwards in diameter. Aqueducts were either formed 

 by erecting one or several rows of arcades across a 



valley, and making these arcades support one or 

 more level canals ; or by piercing through mountains, 

 which would have interrupted the water-course. 

 When the aqueduct was conveyed under the ground, 

 there were openings at about every 240 feet. Some 

 of the Roman aqiutlucts brought water from the dis- 

 tance of upwards of sixty miles, through rocks and 

 mountains, and over valleys in places more than I'.M 

 feet high. The declivity of the aqueduct, according 

 to Pliny, was one inch, and according to Vitruvius, 

 half a foot, in a hundred. The censor Appius Clau- 

 dius Crassus Coccus, the builder of the great road 

 which was called after him, caused the first aqueduct 

 to be built at Rome, the slfi)>in IK/II/I. l-'rontinus, aa 

 we stated, mentions nine, 1'rocopiiis fourteen, and 1'. 

 Victor twenty-four aqueducts ; some of which were 

 one, some two, some even three stories high, and 

 many miles long. In almost all countries where the 

 Romans extended their conquests, aqueducts were 

 built ; thus we find the remains of them in France, 

 Spain, and Asia. The principal Roman aqueducts 

 now remaining are the aqua Virginia, repaired by 

 pope Paul IV., and the aqua Felice, constructed by 

 Sextus V. In modem times, that of Segovia may be 

 compared with the most admired works of antiquity. 

 At a recent period, there remained 159 arcades-, 

 wholly consisting of enormous stones joined without 

 mortar. Louis XIV. began an aqueduct, in 1684, 

 near Maintenon, to carry water from the river Eure 

 to Versailles; but the works were abandoned in 

 1688. This would have been, perhaps, the largest 

 aqueduct in the world ; the whole length being 

 60,000 fathoms, the bridge being 2070 iathoms in 

 length, 220 feet high, and consisting of 632 arches. 

 Though the system of pipes has superseded the use 

 of stone channels all raised to a level in the convey- 

 ance of water, there are still cases, such as those of 

 canals, where the water must be kept on a perfect 

 level, and where, therefore, aqueduct bridges are still 

 necessary in conveying it over the illeys ; and of 

 these we have long had examples in France, on the 

 Languedoc canal. The first aqueduct bridges for 

 canals in this country were those made by the duke 

 of Bridgewater, under the direction of the celebrated 

 Brindley, and which, being quiti< new here, excited 

 no small degree of astonishment. The first and 

 largest was the aqueduct at Barton Bridge, for con- 

 eying the canal across the Irwell, 39 feet above the 

 surface of the water. It consisted of three arches, 

 the middle one 63 feet span, and admitting under it 

 the largest barges navigating the Irwell with sails set. 

 It was commenced in September, 1760 ; and in July of 

 the following year the spectacle was first presented 

 "n this country, of vessels floating and sailing across 

 the course of the river, while others in the river it-elf 

 were passing under them. Since that period canal 

 aqueducts have become more common ; and many ex- 

 cellent examples are to be found both in England and 

 Scotland. Of these are the aqueducts over the river 

 Lune, on the Lancaster canal, designed by Rennie, a 

 ery excellent and splendid work of five arches, each 

 2 feet span, and rising 65 feet above the level of the 

 river : and the Kelvin aqueduct, near Glasgow, which 

 conveys the Forth and Clyde canal over the valley of 

 Kelvin, consisting of four arches, each 70 feet span, 

 ind rising 70 feet above the level of the river. In 

 Plate IV. we have given views of several aqueducts. 

 Of these the Pont Cysylte by Mr Telford is justly 

 celebrated for its magnitude, for the simplicity of the 

 design, and the skilful dispositions of the parts, eom- 

 jining lightness with strength in a degree seldom at- 

 empted. This aqueduct serves to convey the waters 

 of the Ellesmere canal across the Dee and the vale 

 of Llangollen, which it traverses. The channel for 

 lie water is made of cast iron, supported on cast iron 



