CHARACTERS. 



The I repeated twice makes two, II ; 

 thrice, three, III ; four is expressed thus, 

 IV. as I before V or X takes an unit from 

 the number expressed by these letters. 

 To express six, an I is lidded to a V, VI ; 

 for seven, two, VII ; and for eight, three, 

 VIII ; nine is expressed by an I before X, 

 thus, IX. 



The same remark may be made of the 

 X before L or C, except that the di- 

 minution is by tens ; thus XL denotes 

 forty, XC ninety, and LX sixty. The 

 C before D or M diminishes each by a 

 hundred. 



The number five hundred is sometimes 

 expressed by an I before a C invert- 

 ed, thus IQ ; and instead of M, which 

 signifies a thousand, an I is sometimes 

 used between two C's the one direct, 

 and the other inverted, thus ClQ. The 

 addition of C and 3 before or after, raises 

 ClQ by tens, thus CCIoo expresses ten 

 thousand, CCCIooo a hundred thou- 

 sand. The Romans also expressed any 

 number of thousands by a line drawn 

 over any numeral less than a thousand ; 

 thus, ~V~ denotes five thousand, LX sixty 

 thousand ; so likewise M is one million, 

 MM is two millions, &c. 

 , The Greeks had three ways of express- 

 ing numbers: first, every letter, according 

 to its place in the alphabet, denoted a 

 number, from ee,, one, to U) twenty-four. 

 2. The alphabet was divided into eight 

 units, a, one, $ two, y three, &c. into 

 eight tens, ( ten,* twenty, A thirty, &c. 

 and eight hundreds, g one hundred, c- two 

 hundred, r three hundred, &c. 3. i stood 

 for one, n (srevVO five, A (<$W*) ten, H 

 +x,,lov} a hundred, x (/**) a thousand, 

 M (ftvptct) ten thousand ; and when the 

 letter n inclosed any of these except r, 

 it showed the inclosed letter to be five 

 times its value ; as I A j fifty, '**! five hun- 

 dred, |X| five thousand, ]M| fifty thou- 

 sand. 



The Hebrew numerals consisted of 

 their alphabet divided into nine units ; 

 thus, K one, 3 two, Sec.: nine tens ; thus, 

 > ten, 3 twenty, &c.; nine hundreds; thus, 

 p one hundred, n two hundred, &c.: and 

 1 five hundred, Q six hundred, i seven 

 hundred, M eight hundred, ynine hundred. 

 They expressed thousands by the word 

 nStfj with the other numerals prefixed to 

 signify the number of thousands : thus, 

 O^Stf* two thousand, 111 , three 

 thousana. 



CHARACTERS upon tomb-stones. 



S. V. Siste viator, i. e. Stop traveller, 



M. S. Memorise sacrum, i. e. Sacred to 

 the memory. 



CHARACTER, in law, if a person apply 

 to another for the character of a third 

 person, and a good character as to his 

 solvency be given, yet if, inconsequence 

 of this opinion, the party asking the 

 question suffer loss through the person's 

 insolvency, no action lies against him 

 who gave the character, if it were fairly 

 given. But if a man assert what he knows 

 to be false, and thereby draws his neigh- 

 bour into a loss, it is actionable. But if 

 the party giving credit also knew that the 

 party credited was in bad circumstances, 

 an action will not lie. 



CHARACTERS, in botany, the descrip- 

 tion of the genera of plants, so termed by 

 Linnaeus ; hence the generic character of 

 any plant, and the definition of the ge- 

 nus, are synonymous terms. The term 

 character is not extended by that author 

 to the species of plants, because he never 

 gives the complete description of any 

 species ; but only enumerates those cha- 

 racters or circumstances in which it dif- 

 fers from all the other species of the 

 same genus. This observation sufficient- 

 ly illustrates the different methods which 

 are observed in the Genera and Species 

 Plantarum. In the former work, all the 

 parts of the flower and fruit from which 

 the characters of the genera are derived 

 are accurately and completely described; 

 in the latter, such striking circumstances 

 only of the stem, leaves, buds, roots, &c. 

 are mentioned, as sufficiently distinguish 

 the species in question from every other 

 of that genus to which it belongs. 



In general, characters, or characteris- 

 tical marks, according to the idea of 

 systematic writers, are certain external 

 signs, obvious in the appearance of na- 

 tural bodies, by means of which they 

 are distinguished from one another. 

 These signs being collected,and express- 

 ed by proper words, lay the foundation 

 at once for definition,distribution, and de- 

 nomination, the three grand parts of prac- 

 tical botany. The characteristic mark of 

 each genus is to be fixed from the fi- 

 gure, situation, connection, number, and 

 proportion of all the parts. Any part 

 of a body, considered either in itself or 

 with relation to others, is found to pos- 

 sess all the properties just enumerated. 

 Characters, therefore, may be drawn 

 from all the parts, to define the difference 

 of bodies; thus the leaf, stem, flower, 

 and its parts, in plants ; the foot, wing, 



