ABO 



Octro an earlier ir.flancf, of a woman puiiillied for this 

 fift ; but it was in Milcli.i, ;•. countiy not fubjcd to the 

 Roman laws. 



Bynkcrihoeck. howtveV denies, that a woman was al- 

 lowed to drink the ixn-u/um aiorllonis, impum- ; and the rca- 

 fou he gives, i3, that the womb was the hufbaud's pro- 

 perty, who was declared, by the laws, the I'ole ciijos 

 of it ; to prevent his being inipofed on in the children 

 he was to bring up. But then this docs not affeft wo- 

 men wlio had been impregiialcd by othcri, who were not their 

 hulbands. 



The foundation on which the praclice is faid to have been 

 allowed, was, that the/irtuj. while in ulcro, was reputed as 

 a part of the mother, ranked as one of her own Tifcera, 

 over which (he had the fame power as over the reft ; befidcs, 

 tliat it was not reputed as a man, homo ; nor to be alive, 

 otherwife than as a vegetable : confccjuently, the crime 

 amounted to httle more than that of plucking unripe fruit 

 from the tree. V. Juven. Sat. vi. v. joo, .S:c. Scnec. Con- 

 folat. ad Helviam Malrem, c. 16. 



This laft cited author reprefents it as a peculiar g;Ior)' of 

 Helvia, that flic had never, like other women, whofe chief 

 rtuily is their beauty and fliape, dcftroyed the fa-tus m her 

 «-omb. Nunquam te fxcund'ital'is tut quafi exprohraret ata- 

 tem, puJuil : nunquam more alienarum quilus omn'ts coin- 

 r:,-:.^.:.'io ex forma pt/itur, tumefccntim uterum ahfcond'xji'i quafi 

 ii.':.7u onus, nee inkr v'tfcera iua conceptas /pes liberorum 

 tlijljii. By the decretals of the canon law, (Part ii. CaufT. 

 32. quid. ii. c. 8.) Non ejl bomk'ida, qua abort urn procurat, 

 antequam anima corpar'ijit infufn. 



The primitive fathers, Athenagoras, Tertulhan, Minu- 

 lius Felix, Auguftin, &c. declaimed loudly againft the 

 praflicc, as virtual murder : Homicidii feJlinaUo cjl, [fays 

 Tertullian, (Apolog. apud Oper. p. 10.) prolAhere nafcl ; 

 nee refert, nalam quii eripiat anlmam, an tiafccntem d'ljlurhet. 

 Several councils have declared againft it. That the foetus in 

 the mother's womb is without life, and that it is not ani- 

 mated before it is born ; and alfo that it is lawful for a 

 young woman, her life or charadler being at flake, to pro- 

 cure an abortion, are propolitions which pope Innocent X. 

 in a general council in 1679, condemned as falfe and fcan- 

 dilous. Yet we are told that the modern Romilh eccle- 

 fiaftical laws allow of difpenfations for it. Egane mentions 

 the rates at which a difpenfation for it may be had. 



Fodere fays, {^Tra'Ue de Medicine Lhiile,)\n the Introduc- 

 tion, the Emperors Severus and Antonine, decreed, that wo- 

 men procuring abortion, forty days after they had conceived, 

 at which time they imagined the foetus was completely 

 formed, and endued with life, ftiould be put to death ; but 

 earlier than that period, and before the fcctus was fuppofed 

 to be living, they (hould only fuffer a temporary bani(h- 

 ment. Our law (cems to have adopted a principle fimllar to 

 this, but it extends the punilhment to any perfon (malici- 

 oufly or intentionally, we uippofe,) being inftrumental in 

 occafioning a woman to mifcarry. 



" Si rdiquis muliercm pregnantem percufferit," fays Brafton, 

 lib. iii. c. 2 1 . " velei i-enenum dedcril,per quodfecerit aborlivam; 

 Ji puerpetium jam formatum fucrit, et maxime Ji fucrit animalum, 

 fitcit homicidium." " Life," fays Black ftone, (Commentaries, 

 book i. chap. i. vol. i. p. 129. 8vo.) " is the immediate 

 gift of God, a right inherent by nature in ever)' individual ; 

 and it begins, in contemplation of law, as foon as an infant 

 is able to ftir in the mother's womb. For if a woman is 

 quick with child, and by a potion, or otherwife, kiileth it 

 in her womb ; or if any one beat her, wherebv the child 

 dicth in htr body, and fi;e is delivered of a dead ciuld, this, 



A E O 



though not murder, was by the ancient law homicide, or 

 manllautjhter." But, he goes on to obferve, " The modern 

 law doth not look upon this oflei'.ce in quite fo atrocious a 

 liglit, but merely as a heinous mifdemefnor." 3 Inft. 50. 



Abortion, among Gardeners, fignilies fuch fruits as are 

 produced too early, and never arrive at maturity. 



ABORTIVE, foniething come before its due time, or 

 before it has arrived at its maturity and perfection. 



The term is applied by fome writers on the materia me 

 dica to medicines that occafion an abortion in pregnant 

 wonHn. Medicines of this kind have alfo been denominated 

 Amblotica and Ecbolica ; and they have been commonly 

 fuppofed to poffefs the power of promoting the natural 

 birth, of forcing off the placenta, and even of expelling a 

 dead fcctus. Bjt thefe powers, afcribed to medicines by 

 the ancients, are now deemed imaginaiy, and fuch medicines 

 are now hardly ever employed. Cullen'sMat. Med. v. i. p. 162. 



Abortive corn, in Jgricuhure, a diftemper of corn men- 

 tioned by M. Tiilet, and fufpeftcd to be occafioned by infefts. 

 It appears long before hai-veft, and may be known by a defor- 

 mity in the ftalk, the leaves, the ear, and even the grain. 



AliORTIVE_/H.V. SeeABORTIOM. 



Abortive vellum, is made of the ficin of an abortive calf. 



ABOTRITES, or Abodrites, in Hi/lory, a people 

 bordering upon Bulgaria, in that part of Daeia contiguous 

 to the Danube. Henry I. of Germ.any, furnamed the 

 Fowler, in his zeal for the propagation of the chriftian 

 faith, undertook, and aftually effected the converfion of 

 the king of thefe people. The kingdom of the Abodrites 

 was a part of the ancient Vandalia, and is now called Meck- 

 lenburg. 



ABOU Hannes,' in Ornithology, a bird of AbyfTmia, fa 

 called, becaufe it appears on St. John's day ; the terms fig- 

 nifying, father 'John. This is the feafon v^'hen the frefli 

 water of the tropical rains is iirft known in Egypt to have 

 mixed with the Nile, and to have rendered it lighter, 

 fweeter, and more exhaleable in dew ; and accordingly it is 

 the feafon when all water-fowl, that are birds of paffage, 

 refort in great numbers to Ethiopia. This bird, according 

 to Mr. Bruce, (Travels, &c. vol. v. p. 173.) is the Ibis 

 of the ancients. Its beak refembles in fhape that of a cur- 

 lew, and the colour of the upper part is green, and of the 

 lower part black ; and it is four and a half inches in length. 

 The bone of the leg is round and ftrong, fix inches long, 

 and the length of the thigh-part is five and a half inches. 

 The height of the body, as it (lands, from the fole of the 

 foot to the middle of tl^e back is nineteen inches. Its feet 

 and legs are black ; it has three toes before, armed with 

 Ihai-p ftrong claws, and a toe behind. The head and back 

 part of the neck are brown ; the throat, breaft, back, and 

 thighs are white. The largeft feathers of the wings are a 

 deep black for thirteen inches from the tail, anrl a fpace of 

 fix inches in length from the end of the tail along the back 

 is alfo of the fame colour. The meafuresaud colours correfpond 

 to thofe of the embalmed Ibis. See Plate I. Birds. 



ABOUALI, in Hydrography, a river of Paleftinc, 

 which rifes in mount Lihanus, and flows- with a. rapid current 

 into a romantic valley, where it is concealed by trees. 



ABOUILLON. See Apollonia. 



ABOUKIR, in Geography, a fmall town of Egypt, 

 fituate in the dcfart between Alexandria and Rofetta. It is 

 the ancient Canopus, and diftant, according to Mr. Sa- 

 vary, (Letters on Egypt, v. i. p. 49.) fix leagues from 

 Pharos. Pliny, (N.H. 1. v. c. 31. torn, i.p.2S3.ed. Hard.) 

 who had coUedled the teftimonies of antiquity, fays, that it 

 was formerly an illand. Its local appeaiaiice makes this cre- 

 I dibk. 



