JAN 



JAS 



among the sands of Vera Cruz. This 

 plant resembles in appearance the con- 

 volvolus of our hedges. Its stem is climb- 

 ing, angular, and covered with a slight 

 down. Its leaves alternately disposed are 

 rather large, sometimes entire and cordj- 

 form, sometimes divided into several 

 lobes, more or less distinct. The flower 

 is campaniform, whithish on the outside, 

 and of a dark purple within. Its root, 

 which is the only part in use, is tuberose, 

 large, lengthened put into the form of a 

 French turnip, white on the inside, and 

 full of a milky juice. The weight of the 

 roots is from twelve to twenty pounds. 

 They are cut into slices, in order to dry 

 them. They then acquire a brown co- 

 lour, and a resinous appearance. Their 

 taste is rather acrid, and excites a nausea. 

 Jalap to the amount of 50,000/. sterling is 

 consumed in Europe annually. 



IAMBICS, certain songs, or satires, 

 which are supposed to have given birth to 

 the ancient comedy. The word is applied 

 also to a particular kind of Latin verse, of 

 which the simple foot consists of a short 

 and long syllable. Ruddiman makes two 

 kinds of iambic, viz. dimeter and trimeter; 

 the former containing four feet, and the 

 latter six. 



JANSENISTS, in church history, a 

 sect of the Roman Catholics in France, 

 who follow the opinions of Jansenius, 

 bishop of Ypres, and docter of divinity of 

 the Universities of Louvain and Douay, in 

 relation to grace and predestination. 



In the year 1640, the two universities 

 just mentioned, and particularly Father 

 Molina and Father Leonard Celsus, 

 thought fit to condemn the opinions of the 

 Jesuits on grace and free-will. This hav- 

 ing set the controversy on foot, Jansenius 

 opposed to the doctrine of the Jesuits the 

 sentiments of St. Augustine, and wrote a 

 treatise on grace, which he entitled Au- 

 gustinus. This treatise was attacked by 

 the Jesuits, who accused Jansenius of 

 maintaining dangerous and heretical opi- 

 nions ; and afterwards, in 1642, obtained 

 of Pope Urban VIII. a formal condemna- 

 tion of the treatise wrote by Jansenius : 

 when the partisans of Jansenius gave out 

 that this bull was spurious, and composed 

 by a person entirely devoted to the Jesuits. 

 After the death of Urban VIII. the affair 

 of Jansenism began to be more warmly 

 controverted, and gave birth to an infinite 

 number of polemical writings concerning 

 grace ; and what occasioned some mirth, 

 was the titles which each party gave to 

 f.heir writings: one writer published " The 

 Torch of SL Augustin," another found 



Snuffers for St. Augustin's Torch," aivd 

 Father Vernon formed " A Gag for the 

 Jansenists," &c. In the year 1650, sixty- 

 eight bishops of France subscribed aletter 

 to pope Innocent X. to obtain an inquiry 

 into, and condemnation of, the five follow- 

 ing propositions, extracted from Jan&eni- 

 us's Augustinus : 1. Some of God's com- 

 mandments are impossible to be observed 

 by the righteous, even though they en- 

 deavour with all their power to accom- 

 plish them. 2, In the state of corrupted 

 nature, we are incapable of resisting in- 

 ward grace. 3. Merit and demerit, in a 

 state of corrupted nature, does not depend 

 on a liberty which excludes necessity, but 

 on a liberty which excludes constraint. 

 4. The semipelagians admitted the neces- 

 sity of an inward preventing grace forthe 

 performance of each particular act, even 

 for the beginning of faith, but they were 

 heretics in maintainingthat this grace was 

 of such a nature that the will of man was 

 able either to resist or obey it. 5. It is 

 semipelagianism to say, that Jesus Christ 

 died, or shed his blood, for all mankind, 

 in general. 



JARGON. See ZIBCPK. 



JASIONE, in botany, a genus of the 

 Syngenesia Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Cam panacea. Essential 

 character: calyx, common, ten-leaved; 

 corolla five-petalled, regular ; capsule in- 

 ferior, two-celled. There are four species, 

 natives of the West Indies. 



JASMINUM, in botany, English jas- 

 mine-tree, a genus of the Diandria Mono- 

 gynia class and order. Natural order of 

 Sepiariae. Essential character : corolla 

 salver-shaped ; berry dicoccous ; seeds 

 arillated; antherae within the tube. There 

 are seventeen species. 



JASPER, in mineralogy, a species of 

 the clay genus, divided by Werner into 

 six sub-species, viz. the Egyptian, the 

 striped, the porcelain, the common, the 

 agate, and the opal jasper. 



The Egyptian jasper exhibits two or 

 more colours in concentric zones or bands, 

 more or less regular, with interspersed 

 spots or dendritic figures. It is brittle, 

 and the specific gravity is about 2.6. It 

 occurs in rolled pieces, which are mostly 

 spherical. Before the blow-pipe it is in- 

 fusible without addition. It is found in 

 Egypt and the adjoining desarts, and, on 

 account of its beautiful colour and great 

 hardness, it is used for similar ornamental 

 and useful purposes as the agate 



The colours of the striped jasper are 

 grey, green, yellow, and red ; these are 

 often found together, and arranged in 



