AUG 



AVI 



ture has not confined her works of ele- 

 gance to regions within the tropics. 



The whole class of birds differs essen- 

 tially from all other animals m internal 

 structure, as well as in external form and 

 appearance ; and every point of difference, 

 when accurately examined, is evidently 

 adapted to their peculiar habits. These 

 will be noticed under the several orders 

 and genera. To give but a single instance 

 in this place : the accipitres have sight so 

 piercing, that frequently, when so high as 

 to be out of human ken, they can descry 

 their prey upon the ground, and their 

 flight is so rapid, that they can dart upon 

 it with the celerity of a meteor. Their 

 prey varies according to their strength 

 and rapacity, from the lamb or kid, which 

 the vulture bears away in his talons, to 

 the smaller birds and mice, on which the 

 hawk and owl tribes feast. To prevent 

 the depredation that these would other- 

 wise commit, nature has ordained that 

 this tribe of birds should be the least pro- 

 lific ; few of them lay more than two 

 eggs. 



AUGEA, in botany, a genus of the De- 

 canrhia Monogynia class and order. Ca- 

 lyx live-parted : corolla ov. nectary ten- 

 toothed ; capsule ten-celled. One species, 

 a native of the Cape. 



AUGITE, a mineral of the Chrysolite 

 family, found in basalt, sometimes in 

 grains, but most commonly in crystals, 

 mostly small and complete. Colour black- 

 ish green, sometimes passing into leek 

 green, and rarely to liver brown. Spe- 

 cific gravity 3. 22 to 3.47 Before the blow- 

 pipe it. is with difficulty converted into 

 a black enamel : the constituent parts 

 are 



Silica 52.00 



Lime 13.20 



Alumina 3.33 



Magnesia .... 10.00 

 Oxide of iron . . . 14.66 

 manganese 2.00 



Loss 



95.19 

 4.81 



100,00 



it isfoundvery abundant n in Bohemia, 

 Transylvania, Hungary, Scotland, as at 

 Arthur's Seat, near Edinburgh, and re- 

 markably fine in the island of R^ma, one 

 of the Hebrides, and equally beautiful at 

 Arendal, in Norway. Augite is distin- 

 guished from olivino by its darker co- 

 lours, different crystallization, greater 

 hardness, and specific gravity It used 



to be considered as a product of fire ; but 

 the circumstance of its occurring wrap- 

 ped up, and imbedded, in lava, demon- 

 strates that it is one of the constituent 

 parts of the mother-stone, which has es- 

 caped fusion. 



AUGMENT, in grammar, an accident 

 of certain tenses of Greek verbs, being 

 either the prefixing of a syllable, or an 

 increase of the quantity of the initial 

 vowels. 



Of these there are two kinds, the aug~ 

 mentitm temporale, or of a letter, when a 

 short vowel is changed into a long one, 

 or a diphthong into another longer one ; 

 and augmentum syllabicum, or of a sylla- 

 ble, when a syllable is added at the be- 

 ginning of the word. 



AUGMENTATION, was the name of 

 a court erected 27 Hen. VIII. so called, 

 from the augmentation of the revenues of 

 the crown by the suppression of religi- 

 ous houses ; and the office still remains, 

 wherein there are many curious records, 

 though the court has been dissolved long 

 since, 



AUGMENTATION, in heraldry, are addi- 

 tional charges to a coat-armour, frequently 

 given as particular marks of honour, 

 and generally borne either on the es- 

 cutcheon or a canton ; as have all the ba- 

 ronets of England, who have borne the 

 arms of the province of Ulster, in Ire- 

 land 



AUGMENTATION, in music, a term con- 

 fined to the language of fuguists, and is 

 the doubling the value of the notes of 

 the subject of a fugue or canon : or, the 

 giving the intervals of the subject in notes 

 of twice the original length. 



AUGRE, or AWGIU:, an instrument used 

 by carpenters and joiners to bore large 

 round holes, and consisting of a wooden 

 handle and an iron blade, terminated at 

 bottom with a steel bit. 



AVIARY, a place set apart for feeding 

 and propagating birds. It should be so 

 large as to give the birds some freedom of 

 flight; and turfed, to avoid the appear- 

 ance of foulness on the floor. 



AVICENA, EBU SINA, in biography, 

 has been accounted the prince of Ara- 

 bian philosophers and physicians. He 

 was born at Assena, near Bokhara, in 978 ; 

 and died at Hamadan in 1036, being 58 

 years of age. 



The first years of Avicena were em- 

 ployed in the study of the Belles Lettres, 

 and the Koran, and at ten years of age he 

 was perfect master of the hidden senses 

 of that book. Then applying to the stu- 

 dy of logic, philosophy, and mathematics, 

 he quickly made a rapid progress. After 



