ADA 



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ADA 



acme, or less than 90 each. The acute 

 accent is that which marks the elevation 

 or sharpening of the voice (see Accent). 

 An acute disease is one attended with 

 violent symptoms, and comes speedily to 

 a crisis : the opposite of a chronic disease. 

 In music, the term acute is applied to a 

 tone which is sharp or high opposed to 

 grave. In botany, acute is applied to parts 

 of plants ending in acute angles, as leaves, 

 &c. The term is figuratively applied to 

 the senses and intellect, as an acute eye- 

 eight, acute reasoning. 



ACUTENAC'ITLUM, Lat. from acus and 

 tenactilum, the handle of a chirurgical 

 needle ; also the name given by Heister 

 to the portaiguille. 



ACUTIA'TOR, from acuo ; in the middle 

 ages, a military officer whose business it 

 was to see to the sharpening of the in- 

 struments of the soldiers. 



ACY'ANOBLEPSY, Lat. acyanoblepsia, from 

 xvos, blue, and fiKixiu, to see. A de- 

 fect of vision, consisting in incapability 

 of distinguishing the colour of blue. 



ACYRO'LOGY, from etxu^af, empty, and 

 Asye?, discourse. Unmeaning discussion. 



AD, a Latin preposition signifying to. 

 In composition, the d is usually changed 

 into the first letter of the word to which 

 it is prefixed ; e. g. accession for arfcession, 

 /finity for adfinity, &c. The reason of 

 this change is agreeableness of sound. 

 Ad hominem, i. e. to the man, in logic, an 

 argument adapted to touch the prejudices 

 of the person addressed. Ad inquirendum , 

 in law, a writ commanding inquiry to be 

 made. Ad valorem, i. & according to the 

 value : applied to duties or charges laid 

 upon goods at a certain rate per cent, 

 upon their value, in opposition to a spe- 

 cific sum upon a given quantity. Ad libi- 

 tum, i. e. at pleasure. 



A.D., abbreviation of Anno Domini, i. e. 

 In the year of our Lord. 



ADA'GIO, Ital. from ad and agio, leisure. 



In music, (1.) A slow movement. (2.) 



Leisurely and with grace. When repeated, 

 adagio adagio, it directs the movement to 

 be very slow. 



ADAM, in oriental languages, means man. 

 Adam's needle, the popular name of the 

 yacca, (q. v.) Adam's apple, the popular 

 name of a species of citron ; also the pro- 

 tuberance in the forepart of the throat, 

 vulgarly attributed to a piece of the for- 

 bidden apple having stuck in the throat 

 of Adam ! Adami morsus os, in anatomy, 

 the thyroid cartilage. 



AD' AM ANT, Lat. adamas, from ct^otuMf , 

 a name given to different stones of great 

 hardness, e. g. the diamond. Chaucer uses 

 adamant for the loadstone (Romaunt of 

 th Hose, line r*2). In modern minera- 

 logy the word has no technical signinca- 



ADAMA'NTINE, having the qualities of 

 adamant. Adamantine spar, a variety of 

 rhombohedral corundum, found in India, 

 Ava, China, &c., both massive and crys- 

 tallised. Colour usually reddish- brown ; 

 fracture foliated and sparry, and some- 

 times vitreous. It is brittle, and so hard 

 as to cut rock crystal. Sp. gr. 3 7 to 4'2. 

 The crystals brought from India are the 

 most pure. 



AD'AMIC, relating to Adam. Adamic 

 earth, a name given to several kinds of 

 clay or bole which are of a red colour, in 

 consequence of a mistaken opinion that 

 Adam means " red earth." 



AD'AMITES, in church history, a sect of 

 visionaries who pretended to establish 

 a state of innocence, and, like Adam, 

 went naked. 



ADANSO'NIA, Ethiopian sour -gourd ; 

 monkeys' bread-tree; African calabash- 

 tree: a genus of one species belonging to 

 the class monadelphia, order polyandria. 

 This huge tree is a native of Africa. It 

 grows mostly on the western coast, from 

 the Niger to the kingdom of Benin. Its 

 height is rarely 18 feet, but its circum- 

 ference is often upwards of 75 feet. Th 

 branches shoot out 60 or 70 feet, the end* 

 bending to the ground. Its bark is mu- 

 cilaginous, and promotes perspiration. It 

 is considered a powerful antidote against 

 the epidemic fevers of the country, and 

 is used by the negroes, when dried and 

 powdered, as pepper on their food. The 

 fruit is oblong, pointed at both ends, ten 

 inches in length, and covered with a 

 greenish down, under which is a ligneous 

 rind. It hangs to the tree by a pedicle 

 two feet long, and contains a white sponzy 

 substance. The tree is named from M. 

 Adanson, who first described it. The 

 native name is baobab, or bahobab. 



A'DAPIS, one of the extinct pachyder- 

 mata, found in the gypsum quarries of 

 Montmartre. Its form nearly resembles 

 that of the hedgehog, but it was three 

 times the size of that animal : it seems to 

 have formed a link connecting the pachy- 

 dermata with the insectivorous carnivora. 



A'DAR, a Jewish month answering to 

 the end of February and beginning of 

 March: the twelfth of the sacred, and 

 sixth of the civil year. Name, from adar, 

 to become glorious, in respect to the exu- 

 berance of vegetation during that month 

 in Egypt and Palestine. Parkhurst. 



AUAU'CA, ADAR'<;E,or ADAR'CES, a saltish 

 concretion found encrusting the reeds and 

 grass in the marshes on the sea-coast of 

 Galatia. It was formerly in repute as a 

 medicine for freeing the skin from tetters, 

 freckles, &c. Name, a.'oce.^o^xca, from , 

 priv. and Zifzu, to see, " quod herbas qui 

 occultet." 



ADAR'CON, an old Jewish coin trcrt* 

 about 15i. 



