A C C 



Athens to tlie Venetians, Corinth to Theodofms Palcologus, 

 who had married his eldeil daughter ; and tie gave Boeutia 

 to Anthony, his natural fon, who alfo made himfelf mailer 

 of Athens ; but it was taken from his fucccffors in 1455, by 

 Mahomet 1 1. 



ACCIDENCE, Accidentia, a name chiefly ufedfor 

 a little book, containing the firll elements, or rudiments of 

 the Latin ton<jue. 



ACCIDENS, in PhUofiphy. See Accident. 



/•c/- Acciden's, ia frequently ufed among pliilofophei's to 

 denote what dues not follow from the nature of a thing, 

 but from fome accidental qualities thereof, in which fcnfe it 

 ftands oppofed to per yj, which denotes the nature and 

 ieffencc of a thing. 



Thus fire is faid to burn per fe, or confidered as fire, 

 Tisx^ \\n1 psr acc'ulens ; but a piece of iron, though red hot, 

 only burns ^cr accidois, by a quality acc'uknlal to it, and not 

 confidertd as iron. 



ACCIDENT, mthepopular fcnfe of the word, fignifics 

 a coNTiN-GENT effeft, or fomething produced cafnally, and 

 without any foreknowledge or defign in the agent that pro- 

 duced it. 



Accident, in Grammar, denotes a property attached 

 to a WORD, without entering into its elTential definition. 

 Thus every word, wliatever be its fignification, will be pri- 

 mitive, derivative, fimple or compound, which are the ac- 

 cidents of words. Befides, each particular fpecies of words 

 has its accidents : e. g. thofe of the noun fubflantive are 

 gender, declenllon, and nurriber, and the adjeciivc has an- 

 other accident, t;s. comparifon. 



Accident, in Heraldry, is an additional note or mark in 

 a coat-armour, not neceflarily belonging to it j but capable 

 either of being retained, or omitted, without altering the 

 effence of the armour. Such are Abate memts, Diffe- 

 rences, and Tincture. Edmonfon obferves, that acci- 

 dents of arms, though frequently mentioned by authorsj can 

 have no meaning in blazonry. 



Accident, in Logic, fomething additional, or fuper- 

 added, to a substance ; or not effentially belonging to it, 

 but capable, indifferently, either of being or not being in 

 it, without its deftruftion. The fchoolmen dillinguilh three 

 kinds of accidents, •verhal,predicalJe, 7mA. predicamental. J'^'er- 

 W <ifr/W«(/ Hands oppofed to eflence ; and in this fenfe the 

 adjunfts to a thing, though fubilances themfelves, are de- 

 nominated its accidents. Thus a man's cloaths which are 

 not effential, but adventitious or acceffory to his perfon, are 

 accidents. Predicable accident is ufed in oppofition to ji>;-o- 

 i>er. — Such is any common quality ; as whitenefs, heat, or 

 the like. Thefe are called in the fchools, predicable acci- 

 dents, becaufe ufually laid dow.i and explained in the doc- 

 trine of predicables. They may either be taken in the ab- 

 stract, as whitenefs, learning ; or in the concrete, 

 as white, learned. If taken in the af>/Irad,dLS is done by Por- 

 phyry, the accident is defined as above, that which may 

 either be prefent, or abfent, without the deftruftion of its 

 fubjeft. If it be taken in the concrete, accident is ufually 

 defined by the fchoolmen, to be fomething capable of being 

 predicated contingently, of iflany, in rtfpeft of quality. — 

 As learning, which may probably be predicated of you, 

 him, &c. Predicatnental accident is a mode or modification 

 of fome creating fubflance, inhering or depending thereon, 

 fo as not to be capable of fubfifting without the fame. In 

 this fenfe, accident is oppofed to fubftance. — Whence, as 

 fubftance is defined a thing that fubfifts in itfclf, and the 

 fithjlralum of accidents ; fo an accident is faid to be that cujus 

 eje ell inejfe : and therefore Ariftotle, who ufually calls fub- 



Vol. I. 



i- c c 



flanccs fimply o'x, entities, beings ; commonly cajli acci- 

 dents, ojTo,- ow>,, entitles of entity ; rcquiiiiig fome fiibHance 

 wherein to reljde, as their fubjcrt •<( adhcfioii. So that ac- 

 cident lias an immediate and efFcntial dependence on its fub- 

 flance ; both as to its prodiidlon, its continuation, and it) 

 effeifts ; it arifes or is deduced from its fubjctt, is preferred 

 or fubfilled by it ; and can only be aiTedled by what alters, or 

 afFL-ds, the fiibjecl. The old fchoolmen, liowever, will not 

 have accidents to be mere modes of matter, but entities 

 really dillinft from it : and, in fome cafes, fepamblc from 

 all matter. — But the notion of ri-al accidents, and qualities, 

 is now exploded. Ariilolle and the Peripatetics make nine 

 kind of clafTes of predicameutal iiccidenis : others contrail 

 tiiem into a lefs number. The term abj'olule accident h ufed 

 ill the Romifli theology for a prcdicamental accident, wliicli 

 fubfifts, or may pofiibly fubfift, at leaft iniiaculouny, and 

 by fome fupernatural power, without a fuhjeft. 



Such, they conlciid, were the accidents of the bread and 

 wine in the eueharift, c. gr. the cohiur, flavour, figure. Sec. 

 thereof, which remain afur the fubftauccs they Lihmgcd to 

 are changed into other fulillances of flefh. 



The Cartefiaus univerfally combat the notion of abfolute 

 accidents ; it being their doftrinc, that the efience of mat- 

 ter confifts in extenfion ; and that accidents are only modi- 

 fications thereof, in no wife diftiuA from it ; an accident 

 therefore without a fubjeft muft be a contradiclion. — And 

 hence Cartefiauiim is branded as contrary to the Roman ca- 

 tholic faith. 



Various expedients have been invented by the Cartefians, 

 to account for traiifubftantiation, &c. without the hypo- 

 thefis of abfolute accidents. — Some hold that the ufual im- 

 preflions are made on the fenfe by the immediate agency of 

 God ; and without any thing remaining of the fonner na- 

 ture. Others afcribe the whole to heterogeneous matter 

 contained in the pores of the bread, 5cc. which remaining 

 unaltered by the tranfubftantiation, produces the fame fenfa- 

 tions as the bread produced. 



Accident, among Phyfuinns, is fometimes ufed for what 

 is more generally called Symptom. 



ACCIDENTS, in AJlrolony, denote the moll extraordi- 

 nary occurrences in the courfe of a pcrfon's life : fuch are a 

 remarkable inftance of good fuccefs, a fignal deliverance, a 

 dangerous ficknefs, &c. 



ACCIDENTAL, in z general fenfe, fignifies fomething 

 that partakes of the nature of an accident ; or, what is not 

 effential to its fubjeft, but is indifferent. Thus, whitenefs 

 is accidental to marble ; and fenfible heat to iron. 



Accidental, in Philofophy, is applied to that cffeft, 

 which proceeds from a caufe occuning by accident, 

 without being fubjeft, according to appearance, to general 

 laws or regular returns. In this fenfe, accidental is oppofed 

 to conftant and principal. Thus, the fun's lefs or greater 

 diftance from the earth is the conftant and chief caufe of 

 the heat in fummer, and cold in winter ; whereas winds, 

 fnow or rain are accidental caufes, which often alter and 

 modify the aftion of the principal caufe. 



Accidental colours, fo called by M. Buffon, are thofe 

 which depend upon the affeftions of the eye, in contradif- 

 tinftion to fuch as belong to the light itfelf. The impref- 

 fions made upon the eye by looking ftedfaftly on objedts of 

 a particular colour are various, according to the fingle co- 

 lour, or affemblage of colours, in the objecl ; and they 

 continue for fome time after the eye is withdrawn, and give 

 a falfe colcmring to other objefts wliieh are viewed during 

 their continuance. M. BufTuii has endeavoured to trice the 

 conneftiou which iLcfe accidental colours liavc with thofe 



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