ACE 



Thus, when we fay, " the prince loves tlie priiictfs," and 

 " the princefs loves the piincc ;'' the prince is the nomina- 

 tivf in the firft, and the accufative in the lad ; and the princefs 

 the accufative in the firll, and the nominative in the fccond. 



ACE, a card or die, marked only with one point. 



Ace, in u4naent Geography, a name given by icvci-al of 

 the ancient writers to the city afterwards called Ptoli;- 

 MAis, and now Acre. Strabo. Geog. vol. ii. p. logo. 



ACELA, a city of Lycia. 



ACELDAMA, was a place without the fouth wall of 

 Jernfalem, beyond the river of Siloam, and was called the 

 Potter's field, (Matt, xxvii. 7 — 10.) becaufe they dug out 

 of it the earth of which they made their pots, and the FiJ- 

 ler's field, becaufe they dried their cloth there ; but being 

 afterwards bought with the money by which the high priells 

 and rulers of the Jews purchafed the blood of Jefus Chrill, 

 it was, by the Providence of God fo ordering it, called yAv/- 

 i!amn, i. e. the field of blood. Afts i. 19. 



ACELIUM, or AcETUM,a tov/n of the Venetian terri- 

 tory, now called A'-oh, or ylfalo, fituate to the well of Trevi<ri, 

 at the fource of tlie rivulet Mufoue. E. long. 13'^. N. lat. 45". 



ACENTETUM, or Acenteta, in Natural Hlflory, a 

 name given by the ancients to the pureft and fineft kind of 

 rod CRYSTAL. They uled the ci-yttal in many ways ; 

 fometimes engraving on it, and fometimes forming it into 

 vafes and cups, which were held next in value to the Miir- 

 rh'ma vafa of thofe times. The cryftal they obtained from 

 the mines of Cyprus was much efteemed, but often faulty 

 in particular parts, having hairs, cracks, and foulnefles, 

 which they called falts, in the midfl of the large pieces. 

 Pliny tells us (N. H. vol. ii. p. 769. Ed. Hard.) that when 

 it was ufed for engraving, the artift could conceal all thefe 

 blemilhes among the ftrokes of his work ; but when it was 

 to be formed into cups and precious vafes, they always 

 chofe the ncentetum, i. e. the pure ciyftal, which h^d no 

 flaws nor blemilbes. 



ACEPHALI, or AcephaliTj?:, a term that fre- 

 quently occurs in Ecclcfiajllcal Hiftory, as the denomination 

 of various fe£ls : prirticularly — i. Of thofe wlio in the af- 

 fair of the council of Ephcfus, refufed to follow either St. 

 Cyril, or John of Antioch. 2. Of certain Chriftians of 

 the fifth century, who at firft followed Peter Mongus, but 

 afterwards abandoned him, upon his fubfcriblng the coun- 

 cil of Chalcedon, and were thus deprived of tlieir chief ; 

 being generally of the opinion of Eutyches, that there was 

 only one nature in Chrift. This feft war afterwards divided 

 into three others, who were called Anthropomoi-phite^, 

 Barfanuphites and Efaianifts ; and thefe again, in the fol- 

 lowing century'- occafioned new faftions, frequently men- 

 tioned by the ancient writers. However, thefe numerous 

 branches of the Eutychian faftion declined gradually in the 

 next century ; and the influence of the famous Baradaeus 

 chiefly contributed to their extinftion by the union which 

 he eitabliihed among the members of that feft. 3. Of the 

 adherents of Severus of Antioch ; and of all in general who 

 refufed to admit the council of Chalcedon. 



ACEPHALI, in En-^li/b Hifory, a name given to the 

 levellers in the reign of Henry I. who were reckoned fo 

 poor, that they had not a tenement by which they might 

 acknowledge a fuperior lord. In this fenfe the term is ufed 

 in- our ancient law-books, for perfons who held nothing in 

 fee, either of king, bilhop, baron, or other feudal lord. 



■ ACEPHALUS, or jcephnloiis, compofed of the priva- 

 tive a, and xs^aXn, head, Something that wants a head. 

 Pliny rcprefents the Blemmyes as a htadlefs, or acepha- 

 lous nation. Ctefias and Solinus mention others in India, 

 near the Ganges, without a head, and with their e^-es in 



A C E 



tlicir flioulders. Mela, Suidac, Stephanus Byr.antinus, Vo- 

 pifcns, and otiier writers, fnniilh fimilar relations ; anil 

 fome modern travellers pretend that they have found people 

 ct the fame deleription in Amciica. The origin of lliis 

 fable has been varioully explained. Banliolin underllands 

 it metaphorically, atlirming that the Aceph.di had lefs brain, 

 or conducted themfelves with lefs prudence than others. In 

 tliis opinion Boehart fecms to have concuiTcd. Sec Blem- 

 myes. Olearius aferibes it to the drefs of fuch pc ifons ; 

 alleging, that the Samogltians being (hort of llalurc, and 

 covering their heads with hoods in winter, fecmcd at a 

 dillance as if they were without lieads. l.afitau fays, tliat 

 the tenn Accphali was merely a denomination of people 

 wiiofe heads were deprelfed below their (boulders. IluirMi^, 

 in his epitome of Raleigh's voyage to Guiana, fpcukr. of a 

 people difcovcred by that traveller in tlie province of Irvi- 

 panama, between the lakes of Panama and CalTlya, who 

 had no head or neck : and Hondius, in his map, marked 

 the place, and delineates tiie figures of thefe moiiltcrs. 

 However, De Laet (Defer. Americ. 1. xvii. c. 12.) rejefls 

 the ilory, and relates, that thofe who dwelt on tlie banks 

 of Caora, a river that flows out of the lake of Caffipa, had 

 their heads fo far funk between their flioulders, that many 

 believed they had their eyes in their flioulders, and their 

 mouths in their breafts. But though the cxillence of a na- 

 tion of Acephali be ill-warranted, naturalifls fnmilh feveral 

 inftances of individuals born without iicads, by fome lufus 

 or aberration of nature. Wepfcr gives a catalogue of fuch 

 acephalous births from Schenckius, I.icetus, Parxus, Wol- 

 fius, Mauriceau, &c. Acephalous worms, or what are 

 deemed fuch, are frequent. The lumbrinu latus, or joint wi.irm, 

 was long taken to be acephalous. The firft who afcribed a head 

 to it was Tulpius, and after him Fehr ; the former even 

 makes it biceps, or two-headed. Sec T^nia. 



AcEPHALUs, ClerL See Clerk. 



AcupHALUS is alfo ufed in Poetry, for a verfe which- is 

 defcftive in tlie beginning. Some alfo give the name aK-- 

 <fc.\ac to all verfes which begin with a fliort inllcad of a long 

 f)'llablc : as 



'ETTsidJi' ir^ac TE xai 'EXX>i'<77ro»'jov ixo/lo. Iliad. I. xxiii. v. 2. 

 In the beginning of this verfe we have an Iambus inftead of 

 a Spondee. 



Acer, Maple, in Botany, fo called, as fome fay, 

 from acr'a, denoting the hardnefs of the wood, or accord- 

 ing to others, from acre ingcnium, becaufe the common 

 maple was much employed by ingenious artificers in fine 

 works, a genus of the Monoecia order and polygamia clafs of 

 plants, and belonging to the natural order of Trili'ilata. 

 Its generic and eflential charadlers are thefe : it hath herma- 

 phrodite and male flowers on the fame tree ; the herma- 

 phrodite calyx is a one-leaved, five-cleft, acute, coloured, 

 flat, and entire at the bafe, pennanent perianthium ; the 

 corolla has five petals, ovate, broader outward, obtufc, 

 fcareely larger than the calyx, and fpreading ; the (lamina 

 conllft of eight or ten fubulate ftioit filaments: the antherx 

 are finiple, and the pollen cruciform ; the piftillum has a 

 comprefTed germ, immerled in a convex, perforated, large 

 receptacle : the ftyle is filifoiTn and daily progr'.flive ; the 

 (lignias are two or three, pointed, flender, and reflex ; the 

 pericarpium is compofed of as many capfuics as lligma.'-, 

 with one feed in each, coalefcent at the bafe, roundifli, 

 comprefted, and each terminated by a very large membran- 

 ous wing ; the feeds are foHtary and roundiUi : the n- ilc 

 flowers are the fame with the hermaphrodites, except that 

 they have neither germ nor ftyk, but only a bifid ftigma. 

 On the unfolding of the flower the ftigma only appeai-s, and 

 a few days after, the ftyk. The hermaphrodite flowers in 



the 



