A C A 



icatfr, and nfter that a littlt more, till there is ju(l enoupjh 

 to hoitl the flowers incorporated together : they boil this for 

 lomc time, and the juice of the flowers mixing with the 

 water, it becomes thick and yellow ; then they take it from 

 the fire and drain it through a piece of coarfc filk. To the 

 licuorthey add half an ounce of common alum, and an ounce 

 of calcined oyller-fhclls reduced to a fine powder. All is 

 then well mixed together ; and this is the fine lading y.llow 

 tliev have fo long ufed. 



The dyers of large pieces ufe the flowers and feeds of the 

 acaciafor dyeing three difVerent forts of yellow. They road ths: 

 flowers, as before obfer\ed ; and then mix the feeds with 

 them, which mull be gathered for this purpofe when full 

 ripe : by diflerent admixture of thcfe they give the diflerent 

 fhades of colours ; only for the deepeli of all, they give a 

 fmall mixture of Brafil wood. 



M. GeofFroy attributes the origin of bczoar to the feeds 

 of this plant ; which being broufed by certain animals, and 

 vellicating the ftomach by their great fournefs and aftrin- 

 {jcncy, caufe a condenfation of the juices, till at lengtii they 

 become coated over with a ftony matter, which we call 



iiiZOAR, or BEZOARD. 



Acacia, bajlard ot falfe, in Bo/any. See Robinia. 



Acacia Iiul'tana, fignifies Tamarind. 



Acacia, tbree-thorned. See Gleditsia. 



Acacia Zeylnnka, fignifies logwood. 



Acacia, in the Materia Mcdka, is a fubadringent 

 gummy fubdancc, prepared by infpiffating to a due con- 

 iidence, the juice expreffed from the unripe pods of the 

 ytcacla faU'u fcorpioldis Lf^uminofx of Baiihine, or the Mimosa 

 Kdol'ua of Linnxus. For an account of the pods, and man- 

 ner of preparing the juice, fee Murray's Apparatus Med. 

 vol. ii. p. 412. This fubdance is brought from Egypt, 

 in roundifli mafies, wrapt up in thin bladders from four to 

 tight ounces in weight. It is outwardly of a blackilh brown 

 colour, and inwardly of a rcddifli or yellowidi brown. This 

 juice totally diffolves in water ; but reflificd fpirit produces 

 little or no efFeft upon it ; it is therefore truly of the gummy 

 kind. It has no fmell, and applied to the tongue it foon 

 foftens, and manifeds firft a moderately rough and then a 

 fweetldi tade. 



This mild gummy aftringent may be given to advantage 

 in diforders arifing from laxity and acrimony, as habitual 

 diarrhoea*., uterine fluors, and catarrhal coughs. By the 

 Egyptians it is ufed againd fpitting of blood, in dofes of a 

 tlram ; and alfo in collyria for ftrengthening the eyes, in gar- 

 garifms for quinfeys, and glyfters for diarrhoeas. Among 

 113 it is feldom otherwife ufed than as an ingredient in mi- 

 thridate or theriaca. The above fubdance has been called 

 yicjcia vera, by way of diftinftion from the German Acacia, 

 which is a counterfeit of the other, and often fold for it in 

 the fliops. This is the infpifTated juice of unripe floes, formed 

 by boiling the juice to the confii^ence of a folid extraft. It 

 is didinguidied from the true Acac'ia chiefly by its colour, 

 which is as black as that of Spanifh liquorice, and alfo by 

 being harder and heavier, and of a fnarper taft^, and by 

 giving out its aftringency to reftified fpirit. This is ad- 

 miniftered in fliixes, that indicate the want of ftyptic me- 

 dicines, in dofes from a fcruple to a dram. Lew is, Mat. 

 Med. 



Acacia, among Antiquaries, denotes fomcthing refem- 

 bling a kind of roll -or bag, feen on medals in the hands of 

 fevcral of the confuls and emperors from the time of Ana- 

 ftafius. 



According to Du-Cange, the axaxiK, properly fo called, 

 was a purple bag filled with earth, or fand, and born by 

 the priace la hk left hand, to remind bim of his frailty and 



A c; A 



mortality ; and thus to prevent his being too much elated 

 with his llation. 



But aiuhors are not agreed, either about the ufe of this 

 roll, or about the fubdance whereof it confifts ; fome taking 

 it for a handkeivhief rolled up, which the perfon who pre- 

 fided at the games threw out as a fignal for their begin- 

 nin"- ; whilft others rather imagine it intended to reprefent a 

 roll of memoirs, or petitions. 



ACACIANS, in Church Kijlary, the followers of Aca- 

 cius, bidiop of Cxfarca, who flouriihed about the middle of 

 the fourth centuiy. He fucCeedcd his preceptor, the fa- 

 mous Eufebius, in 340, wrote his life, and feveral other w-orks, 

 viz. 17 books upon Ecclciiaftes, fix books of Mii'ccl- 

 laneous (^uelHons, and a book againd Marcellus, and died 

 about the year 366. He was furnamcd Lufcus, or Mo- 

 nophthalmus, becaufe he could fee only with one eye. 

 He is generally reckoned a man of unfteady principles, 

 but he was fenfible and eloquent, and a (Icllful difputant. 

 Some of the Acacians maintained, that the Son was not of 

 the fame, but of a fimilar fubdance with the Father : others 

 held that he was of a different fubftance from the Father. 

 This was likewife the denomination of another feft, derived 

 from the name of their leader, a patriarch of Condantinople, 

 in the fifth centur)-, who favoured the opinion of Eutyches. 

 See Eutychians, and Monophysites. 



It was by the advice of this Acac'ius, who fucceeded Gen- 

 nadius in .471, and died in 489, that the Henoticon was 

 publidied, by the emperor Zenoin 482. In this conneftioir 

 we cannot forbear introducing a circumftance, that redounds 

 much to the honour of another Acacius, bilhop of Amida, 

 in 420, whofe name, fays Gibbon, (Hifl;. Decl. and Fall of 

 the Rom. Erap. vol. v. p. 427, 8vo. ) might have dignified 

 the faintly calendar. Boldly declaring that cups of gold and 

 filver are ufelefs to a god, who neither eats nor drinks, this 

 generous prelate fold the plate of the church of Amida ; 

 employed the price in the redemption of 70CO Perfian cap- 

 tives ; fuppUed their wants with affeftionate liberality ; and 

 difmiiTed them to their native countiT, to inform the king 

 of the true fpirit of the religion which he perfecuted. The 

 king, it is faid, was fo affefted with this aft of benevolence, 

 that he wifhedto fee the bidiop ; and the intei-view produced 

 a peace between this prince, Veranius, and Theodofius I. 



ACACIUS, a name given to feveral bifliops, and other 

 eminent perfons befides thofe mentioned under the preceding 

 article ; particularly a martyr under the emperor Decius ; 

 a patriarch of Antioch, who fucceeded Bafil in 458, and 

 died in 459 ; a bidiop of Miletum in the 5th centurj' ; ano- 

 ther bifliop of Beroea in Syria, who was prefent at the 

 council held at Conftantinople in 381, the friend of Epi- 

 phanius Flavianus, and the enemy of John Chn,'foftom, 

 biihop of Condantinople, whom he caufed to be depofed, 

 and who, at the age of no years, advifed Theodofius the 

 younger, to confirm the fentence pronounced againll Nef- 

 torius, and alfo againd Cyril, biftiop of Alexandria : he wa$ 

 eminent for wlfdom ar»d fanftity, fays Theodoret, and died 

 in 436 : — and a famous rhetorician in the reign of the em» 

 peror Julian. 



ACADA, fee Porto Bello. 



ACADEMICS, a feft of philofophers who followed the 

 doftrine of Socrates and Plato, as to the uncertainty of 

 knowledge, and the incompi-ehenfibility of truth. 



Academic, in this fenfe, amounts to much the fame with 

 Platonid ; the difference between them being only in point 

 of time. They who embraced the fydem of Plato, among 

 the ancients, were called Academtci ; whereas thofe who did 

 the fame, fince the redoration of learning, have aflumed the 

 deuoraiuation of Platonists.. 



i We 



