AUT 



AUX 



But as it is difficult to make such obser- 

 vations on this phenomenon as are suffi- 

 cient to afford a just estimate of its alti- 

 tude, they must be subject to a consider- 

 able variation, and to material error. 



It is not improbable, that the highest 

 regions of the aurora borealis are the 

 same with those in which fire-balls move; 

 more especially as Dr Blagden informs 

 us, that instances are recorded, in which 

 the northern lights have been seen to 

 join, and form luminous balls, darting 

 about with great velocity, and even leav- 

 ing a train behind like the common fire- 

 balls. Thisingenious author,however,con- 

 jecturing that distinct regions ave allotted 

 to the electrical phenomena of our atmo- 

 sphere, assigns the appearance of fire- 

 balls to that region which lies beyond the 

 limits of our crepuscular atmosphere ; 

 and a greater elevation above the earth to 

 that accumulation of electricity,in a light- 

 er and less condensed form, which pro- 

 duces the wonderfully diversified streams 

 And coruscations of the aurora horealis. 



AUSTRAL, something relating to the 

 south : thus the six signs on the south 

 side of the equinoctial are culled austral 

 signs. 



AUTER/ozs acquit, in law, a plea made 

 by a criminal, that he has been already ac- 

 quitted of the same crime with which he 

 is charged. There are likewise pleas of 

 auter fois convict and attaint, that he has 

 been before convicted of the same felony. 



AUTHENTIC, something of acknow- 

 ledged and received authority. In law, it 

 signifies something clothed in all its for- 

 malities, and attested by persons to whom 

 credit has been regularly given. Thus, 

 we say, authentic papers, authentic in- 

 struments. In music, authentic is a term 

 applied to four of the church modes or 

 tones, which rise a fourth above their do- 

 minants, which are always a fifth above 

 their finals? in this distinguished from the 

 plegal modes, which fall a fourth below 

 their finals. Thus, when an octave is di- 

 vided 'arithmetically, according to the 

 numbers 2, 3, 4, that is, when the fifth is 

 flat, and the fourth sharp, the mode or 

 tone is called authentic, in contradistinc- 

 tion to the plegal tone, where the octave 

 tis divided harmonically by the numbers 

 3, 4, 6, which makes the fourth a flat, and 

 the fifth a sharp. 



AUTHORITY, in a general sense, sig- 

 nifies a right to command, andmake one's 

 self obeyed. 



AUTHORITY, in law, signifies a power 

 given, by word or writing, to a second 

 person to act something, and may be by 



writ, warrant, commission, letter of attor- 

 ney, &,c. and sometimes by law. An au- 

 thority given to another, to do what & 

 person himself cannot do, is void; and it 

 must be for doing a thing that is lawful, 

 otherwise it will be no good authority. 



Authority is represented, in painting, 

 like a grave matron sitting in a chair of 

 state, richly clothed in a garment em- 

 broidered with gold, holding in her right 

 hand a sword, and in her left a sceptre. 

 By her side is a double trophy of books 

 and arms. 



AUTOGRAPHUM, the very hand writ- 

 ing of a person, or the original manu- 

 script of a treatise or discourse. Auto- 

 grapha, or original manuscripts of the 

 New Testament, are the copies written 

 by the apostles, or by amanuenses under 

 their immediate inspection. St. Paul 

 seems generally to have adopted the lat- 

 ter mode ; but, to prevent the circulation 

 of spurious epistles, he wrote the con- 

 cluding benediction with his own hand. 

 The early loss of the autographa of the 

 New Testament afford* matter of sur- 

 prise, when it is known that the original 

 manuscripts of Luther, and other emi- 

 nent men, who lived at the time of the 

 reformation, are still subsisting. 



AUTOMATUM, or AUTOMATON, an 

 instrument, or rather machine, which, by 

 means of springs, weights, See. seems to 

 move itself, as a watch, clock, &c. Such 

 also were Archytus's flying dove; Regio- 

 montanus's wooden eagle, &c. See Air- 

 DB.OIDES. 



AUTUMN, the third season of the 

 year, when the harvest and fruits arc 

 gathered in. Hence, in the language of 

 the alchemists, it signifies the time when 

 the philosopher's stone is brought to per- 

 fection. 



Autumn is represented, in painting, by 

 a man at perfect age, clothed like the 

 vernal, and likewise girded with a starry 

 girdle ; holding in one hand a pair of 

 scales equally poised, with a globe in 

 each ; in the other, a bunch of divert 

 fruits and grapes. His age denotes the 

 perfection of this season ; and the ba- 

 lance, that sign of the zodiac which the 

 sun enters when our autumn begins. 



AUTUMNAL signs, in astronomy, are 

 the signs Libra, Scorpion, and Sagittarius, 

 through which the sun passes during 

 the autumn. 



AUXILIARY verbs, in grammar, are 

 such as help to form or conjugate others; 

 that is, are prefixed to them, to form or 

 denote the moods or tenses thereof. As 

 to have and to be in the English ; estre and 



