EXC 



EXC 





face, before and behind, which are three 

 diameters distant. 



EWHY, in the British customs, an offi- 

 cer in the king's household, which has the 

 care of the table linen, of laying 1 the cloth, 

 and serving- up water, in silver ewers, af- 

 ter dinner. 



EXAGGERATION, in rhetoric, a kind 

 of hyperbole, whereby thing's are aug-- 

 inented or amplified, by saying- more than 

 the truth, either as to "good or bad. 

 There are two kinds of exaggeration, 

 the one of things, the other of words. 

 The first is produced, 1. By a multitude 

 of definitions. 2. By a multitude of ad- 

 juncts. 3. By a detail of causes and 

 effects. 4. By an enumeration of conse- 

 quences. 5. By comparisons. And, 6. 

 By the contrast of epithets and rational 

 inference. 



Exaggeration by words is effected, 1. 

 By using metaphors. 2. By hyperboles. 

 3. By synonymous terms. 4. By a col- 

 lection of splendid and magnificent ex- 

 pressions. 5. By periphrasis. 6. By 

 repetition. And lastly, by confirma- 

 tion with an oath ; as for example, " Pa- 

 rietes, medius fidius, gratias tibi agere 

 gestiunt." 



EXACUM, in botany, a genus of the 

 Tetrandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Rotacese. Gentians, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : calyx four- 

 leaved ; corolla salver-shaped, with an in- 

 flated tube ; capsule two-furrowed, two- 

 celled, many -seeded, bursting at the top. 

 There are ten species. 



EXANTHEMA, among physicians, de- 

 notes any kind of efflorescence or erup- 

 tion, as the measles, purple spots in the 

 plague, or malignant fevers, &c. 



According to Dr. Cullen, it is an order 

 in the class pyrexiae, and includes all 

 contagious diseases, beginning with fe- 

 ver, and followed by an eruption on the 

 skin. 



EXCELLENCY, a title anciently given 

 to kings and emperors, but now to em- 

 bassadoi-s, and ether persons, who are not 

 qualified for that of highness, and yet are 

 to be elevated above the other inferior 

 dignities. In England and France the ti- 

 tle is now peculiar to embassadors, but 

 very common in Germany and Italy. 

 Those it was first appropriated to were 

 the princes of the blood of the several 

 royal houses ; but they quitted it for that 

 of highness, upon several great lords as- 

 suming excellency. 



EXCENTRIC, in geometry, a term ap- 

 plied to circles and spheres which have 

 not the same centre, and consequently 

 VOL. y. 



aae not parallel ; in opposition to concen- 

 tric, where they are parallel, having one 

 common centre. 



EXCENTRIC circle, in the Ptolemaic sys- 

 tem, the very orbit of the planet itself, 

 which it was supposed to describe about 

 'the earth. 



EXCENTRTC circle, in the new astrono- 

 my, a circle described from the centre of 

 the orbit of the planet, with half the axis 

 as a radius. 



ExcEjrrnic/tfrtce of a planet, is the very 

 point of the orbit, where the circle of in- 

 clination coming from the place of a 

 planet in its orbit, falls thereon with right 

 angles. 



EXCENTRICITY, in astronomy, is the 

 distance of the centre of the orbit of a 

 planet from the centre of the sun, that is, 

 the distance between the centre of the 

 ellipsis and the focus. See ASTRONOMY 

 table. 



EXCEPTION to evidence, at common 

 law, is the same as a bill of exceptions-, 

 which is a formal exception made in writ- 

 ing, to be signed by the judge, when any 

 evidence is improperly refused or re- 

 ceived, and is a record of such matter, 

 which the judge is afterwards called up- 

 on to acknowledge in court, and then 

 being made part of the record, it is ar- 

 gued in the same manner as any other 

 point of error appearing upon the record. 

 This proceeding is founded on the Stat. 

 of Westminster, 2. 



EXCEPTION, in law, is a clause, whereby 

 the party contracting excepts, or takes a 

 particular thing out of a general thing 

 granted or conveyed, and it must be 

 something which is not inseparable from 

 it. It must not be the whole thing grant- 

 ed, but part thereof only, and must be 

 conformable, and not repugnant, to the 

 grant, for then the exception is void. It 

 must also be described with certainty. 



EXCHANGE, in political economy. 

 The reciprocal payments of merchants 

 are made in bills of exchange, the amount 

 of which is expressed in the money of 

 the country upon which they are drawn. 

 In calculating the par of <exchange s the 

 coin of different countries is supposed to 

 contain that quantity of gold or silver, of 

 a determinate purity, which, agreeably to 

 the regulations of their respective mints, 

 it ought to contain. Thus, an English 

 guinea is supposed to contain 5 dwt. 6 

 gr. troy of gold, and a Spanish dollar 17 

 dwt. 6 g*r. of silver each, of a certain de- 

 gree of fineness. 



When a bill of exchange upon Lisbon 

 can be procured in London for the same 



