APO 



APO 



In some respects among 1 the moderns also. 

 Before Apollonius, it had been customa- 

 ry, as we are informed by Eutocius, for 

 the writers on conies to require three dif- 

 ferent sorts of cones to cut the three diffe- 

 rent sections from; viz. the parabola from 

 a. right-angled cone, the ellipse from an 

 acute, and the hyperbola from an obtuse 

 cone ; because they always supposed the 

 sections made by a plane cutting the 

 cones to be perpendicular to the side of 

 them: but Apollonius cut his sections all 

 from any one cone, by only varying the 

 inclination or position of the cutting plane; 

 an improvement that has been followed 

 by all other authors since his time. But 

 that Archimedes was acquainted with the 

 same manner of cutting any cone is suffi- 

 ciently proved, against Eutocius, Pappus, 

 and others, by Guido Ubaldus, in the be- 

 ginning of his Commentary on the second 

 book of Archimedes's Equiponderantes, 

 published at Pisa in 1588. See CONIC 

 SECTIONS. 



The first four books of Apollonius's co- 

 nies only have come down to us in their 

 original Greek language ; but the next 

 three, the 5th, 6th, and 7th, in an Arabic 

 version ; and the 8th not at all. These 

 have been commented upon, translated, 

 and published by various authors. Pap- 

 pus, in the Mathematical collections, has 

 left some account of his various works, 

 with notes and lemmas apon them, and 

 particularly on the Conies. And Eutocius 

 wrote a regular elaborate commentary on 

 the propositions of several of the books of 

 the Conies. 



A neat edition of the first four books in 

 Latin was published by Dr. Barrow, in 

 4to. at London, in 1675. A magnificent 

 edition of all the books was published in 

 folio, by Dr. Halley, at Oxford, in 1710; 

 together with the Lemmas of Pappus, 

 and the Commentaries of Eutocius. The 

 first four in Greek and Latin, but the lat- 

 ter four in Latin only, the 8th book being 

 restored by himself. 



APOLOGUE, in matters of literature, 

 an ingenious method of conveying instruc- 

 tion by means of a feigned relation, called 

 a moral fable. 



The only difference between a parable 

 and an apologue is, that the former, being 

 drawn from what passes among mankind, 

 requires probability in the narration : 

 whereas the apologue, being taken from 

 the supposed actions of brutes, or even of 

 things inanimate, is not tied down to the 

 strict rules of probability. JEsop's fables 

 are a model of this kind of writing. 



APONOGETON, in botany, a genus of 



the Dodecandria Tetragynia. Ament, 

 composed of scales ; no calyx, no corol. ; 

 capsules four ; three seeded. There are 

 four species. 



APOPHTHEGM, a short, sententious, 

 and instructive remark, pronounced by a 

 person of distinguished character. Such 

 are the apophthegms of Plutarch, and 

 those of the ancients collected by Lycos- 

 thenes. 



APOPHYSIS, in anatomy, an excres- 

 cence from the body of a bone, of which 

 it is a true continuous part, as a branch is 

 of a tree. 



APOTHECARY, one who practises the 

 art of pharmacy, or that part of physic 

 which consists in the preparation and 

 composition of medicines. 



A youth intended for this profession 

 should be a pretty good scholar, and have 

 such a knowledge in the Latin tongue, as 

 to be able to read the best writers upon 

 the subject of botany, pharmacy ^ anato- 

 my, and medicine. In London, the apo- 

 thecaries are one of the city companies, 

 and by an act, which was made perpetual 

 in the ninth year of George I. are exempt- 

 ed from serving upon juries, or in ward 

 and parish offices. They are obliged to 

 make up their medicines according to the 

 formulas described in the College Dis- 

 pensatory, and are liable to have their 

 shops visited by the censors of the college, 

 who are empowered to destroy such me- 

 dicines as they think not good. In Penn- 

 sylvania, and we believe the United States 

 generally, no obligation of this kind is 

 imposed. Any person, however ignorant 

 of the qualities and properties of medi- 

 cines, or unskilful in the preparation of 

 them, may nevertheless establish himself 

 as an apothecary ; the consequence is, the 

 occurrence of many accidents ; the inju- 

 dicious application of drugs ; and, as he is 

 amenable to no authority, the consequent 

 adulteration of his compounds. 



The apothecaries have a Hall in Black- 

 friars, London, where there are two fine 

 laboratories, from which all the surgeons' 

 chests are supplied with medicines for the 

 royal navy. In China, they have a singu- 

 lar mode of dispensing their medicines. 

 In the public squares of their cities there 

 is a very high stone pillar, on which are 

 engraven the names of all sorts of medi- 

 cines, with the price of each ; and when 

 the poor stand in need of any re lief from 

 physic, they go to the treasury, where 

 they receive the price each medicine is 

 rated at. 



APOTHEOSIS, in antiquity, a ceremo- 

 ny, by which the ancient Romans compli- 



