EQU 



311 



EQ,U 



quantity. The 3 a and 3 b are equimulti- 

 ples of a and b. See MULTIPLE. 



EQUINOCTIAL, i from <equus and 



EQUINOCTIAL LINE, > nox, night; the 



THE LINE, ) great circle of the 



sphere under which the equator of the 

 earth moves in its diurnal course, and 

 to which, when the sun in his progress 

 through the ecliptic comes, he makes equal 

 days and nights all over the globe, as then 

 he rises due east and sets due west. From 

 this circle the declination of the heavenly 

 bodies is counted (see EQUATOU and EQUI- 

 NOX). Equinoctial colure is that passing 

 through the equinoctial points (see COL- 

 URE;. Equinoctial dial, one whose plane is 

 parallel to the equator. Equinoctial points 

 are the two points wherein the equator 

 and ecliptic intersect each other (see 

 EQUINOX/. Equinoctial gales, storms 

 which are observed generally to take 

 place about the time when the sun crosses 

 the equinoctial. 



E'auiNox, from esquus, equal, and nox, 

 night ; the precise time at which the sun 

 enters one of the equinoctial points (the 

 first point of Aries or Libra), for then, 

 moving exactly in the equinoctial circle, 

 he makes our days and nights equal. The 

 sun enters Aries about the 21st of March, 

 which is the vernal or spring equinox, and 

 Libra about the 23rd of September, which 

 is the autumnal equinox. The word Equi- 

 noxes taken absolutely in common lan- 

 guage, generally signifies the equinoctial 

 gales, and the small observed retrograde 

 motion of the equinoctial points is what is 

 termed , in astronomical language , the pre- 

 cession of the equinoxes. 



E'QUIPAGE, from equip, the -furniture of 

 an army. Camp equipage includes tents 

 and everything necessary for accommoda- 

 tion in camp. Field equipage consists of 

 arms, artillery, waggons, tumbrils, &c. 

 An army furnished with all its camp and 

 field equipage is said to be equipped for , 

 service. 



EQUI'RIA, equestrian games instituted 

 by Romulus at Rome in honour of Mars. 



E'auiTANT, Lat. equitans, riding; ap- 

 plied to leaves which are disposed in two 

 opposite rows, and clasp or ride upon each 

 other by their compressed base. 



E'QUITES, plural of eques, a knight or 

 horseman; the equestrian order among 

 the Romans. The equites composed the 

 Roman cavalry, and constituted the se- 

 cond order of nobility. 



E'auiTT i quasi tpqualitas") , the impartial 

 distribution of justice. Equity, in its 

 true and general meaning, is the soul and 

 spirit of all law ; positive law is construed 

 and rational law is made by it. In this 

 equity is synonymous with justice. In 

 English jurisprudence, equity is the law 

 cl reason, and a court of equity is one 

 *huse business U is to correct the opera- 



tions of the literal text of the law, and 

 supply its defects. Chancery is, or ought 

 to be, such a court. 



EQUIVALENTS. In chemistry, a term 

 introduced by Dr. Wollaston to denote 

 the primary proportions in which the 

 various chemical bodies reciprocally com- 

 bine, referred to a common standard, as 

 oxygen or hydrogen, reckoned unity or 

 I'OOO. Dr. Dalton, who is justly con- 

 sidered the true author of the grand dis- 

 covery of definite and' multiple chemical 

 ratios, calls these equivalent numbers 

 atomic weights, when reduced to their 

 lowest terms, oxygen or hydrogen being 

 the radix of the scale. The following is 

 A Table of all the Chemical Equivalents at 

 present known, with their Symbols. 



