ARU 



ARU 



tiers of the deep, are not withheld from 

 our view. 



The arts of design, considered more 

 strictly as elegant arts, have a no less ex- 

 tensive and noble scope : our edifices rise 

 with majestic beauty ; the column, the 

 obelisk, and the statue, perpetuate the 

 remembrance of departed worth ; whilst 

 the picture excites us, by its representa- 

 tions, to emulate the heroic deeds of for- 

 mer times, or transports us to the alluring 

 regions of fancy. 



We have perhaps said sufficient to 

 shew the difficulty, nay, the impossibility, 

 of defining the precise limits of the fine 

 arts in general. Of each in particular it is 

 not our intention here to speak, nor shall 

 we undertake a laborious and unprofitable 

 inquiry respecting the pretensions of any 

 one of them to priority of existence or 

 superiority of rank. Each has its allotted 

 office, aud they journey on, hand in hand, 

 reciprocally decorating and assisting each 

 other, the coeval, and perhaps the co- 

 equal, offspring of the same parent. See 

 POETRY, PAINTING, DBA WING, SCULPTURE, 

 ENGRAVING, ARCHITECTURE, Music, and 

 DANCING. 



ARUM, in botany, a genus of plants of 

 the Monoecia Hexandria class and order. 

 Spathe one-leafed ; convolute at the base: 

 spadix cylindrical androgynous, naked 

 above, bearing the stamina in the middle, 

 and the germs at the base. There are 

 three divisions, and upwards of thirty 

 species. A. without stems ; leaves com- 

 pound. B. without stems ; leaves simple. 

 C. caulescent. Of the species we notice, 

 1. A. dracontium, dragon, which has a 

 large tuberous, fleshy root, which, in the 

 spring, puts up a straight stalk about 3 

 feet high, spotted like the belly of a 

 snake ; at the top it spreads out into 

 leaves, which are cut into several narrow 

 segments almost to the bottom ; at the 

 top of the stalk the flower is produced, 

 which has so strong a scent of carrion, 

 that few persons can endure it. It grows 

 naturally in most of the southern parts of 

 Europe, and is preserved in gardens, to 

 supply the markets with the roots which 

 are used in medicine. 2. A. maculatum, 

 cuckoxv-pint, wake robin : the common 

 appellation is lords and ladles, and in Wor- 

 cestershire it is called bloody men's Jin- 

 gers. It is a native of most parts of Eu- 

 rope, except the very northern ones, in 

 shady places, and on the banks of ditches: 

 flowering in may. The berries ripen at 

 the close of summer. The root and leaves 

 of arum, when recent, are extremely acrid, 

 and affect the tongue with a pungency as 

 jf it were pricked with needles. This 



sensation may be alleviated by milk, but- 

 ter, or oil. When dried, they may be 

 used for food in case of necessity. The 

 root, dried and powdered, is used by the 

 French as a wash for the skin, and is sold 

 under the name of cypress powder. 3. 

 A. seguinum, dumb-cane, arum, grows 

 naturally in the sugar islands, and other 

 warm parts of America, chiefly in the low 

 grounds; the plants abound in acrid juice, 

 so that if a leaf or a part of the stalk be 

 broken, and applied to the tip of the 

 tongue, it causes a very painful sensation, 

 and such an irritation as to prevent a 

 person from speaking ; hence its name in 

 Jamaica, where it is said they sometimes 

 rub the mouths of their negroes with it 

 by way of punishment. The stalk is used 

 to bring sugar to a good grain, when the 

 juice is too viscid, and cannot be brought 

 to granulate with lime. 



ARUNA, in botany, a genus of the Di- 

 andria Digynia class and order. Gen. 

 char, calyx four-parted, the divisions re- 

 flected ; berry one-celled, one or two- 

 seeded, there is but a single species, * 

 tree with wide spreading branches, found 

 in Guiana. 



ARUNDELIAN marbles, called also the 

 Parian Chronicle, are supposed to be an- 

 cient stones, on which is inscribed a chro- 

 nicle of the city of Athens, engraven in 

 capital letters in the island of Paros, one 

 of the Cyclades, 264 years before the 

 Christian aera. They are frequently de- 

 nominated Oxford marbles, and derive 

 their name either from the Earl of Arun- 

 del, who procured them out of the east, 

 or from his grandson, who presented 

 them to the University of Oxford : in the 

 former case they are called Arundelian, 

 and in the latter Oxford marbles. These 

 and other ancient relics were purchased 

 in Asia Minor, Greece, and the islands of 

 the Archipelago, by Mr. William Petty, 

 who was employed in the year 1624, by 

 the Earl of Arundel, for the purpose. They 

 arrived in England about the year 1627, 

 and were placed in the gardens belong- 

 ing to Arundel house in London. Hav- 

 ing excited a considerable share of curi- 

 osity among the learned, Mr. Selden un- 

 dertook to explain the Greek inscriptions, 

 which he did in a small quarto volume, 

 under the title of " Marmora Arundelia- 

 na," containing nearly forty inscriptions, 

 with annotations. During the civil wars, 

 these marbles were defaced and much in- 

 jured, and some of them entirely lost, or 

 made use of for the ordinary purposes of 

 building. In 1667, what were left of 

 these curious remains were presented to 

 the University of Oxford, when a new 



