ACE 



tlie fame umbi-'l are often of tv^o kinds ; th« lower onfs 

 feminine lienr.jpkrojitvs, of which lie anthers do not V;'irll, 

 but the pi'lll grows into a fruit ; the upper oties mafcullne 

 hermjphroditv.-3, of wliich tlie anthers f<,ilter th';ir dull, and 

 the pilli'.s do not sjrow, but f Jl off. Mr. Martyn in his 

 much improved edition of Mil'er's Di£liona:y, enumerates 

 and d^-'fciibcs twenty fpecics. In the lall edition of Lin- 

 nxus by Gmclin, the j-!cer is a genus of the Odandria Mono- 

 gynia clafs and order, inchiding twenty fp^'cies. For the pro- 

 perties and ufcsof the ftveral fpccies, and the method of pro- 

 pagatinp: and cultivating them. See Maple and Sycamore. 



ACER. Sec Banisteiiia and Trioptf.ris. 



ACERIS, PiiiiUna, in Nalu~itl Hyiory, a fpeciesof Pha- 

 L.tNA, found on the Acer, ilifculus, ar.d fuglans. 



ACER-ATOS, aKipa'd.r, from a, negative and x^paaa, or 

 K'.)x\;\jfjn, to mix, unmixed, uncornipted, is apphed fometini.s 

 to the humours of the body by Hippoc-atcs. PauUis 

 yEgineta mentions a plafterundcr this name. Sec Aceridf.s. 



ACERB, a compound talle, confilling of four, with the 

 addition of a degree of roughnefs, and allnngency ; fuch as 

 that of unripe fi-uit. 



ACERIDES, ay.r.jii:;, from * neg. and ■■t.r.p:, 'a;i2s, denote 

 pla.lers made without wax. 



ACERINA, in I:hihyo!y};y, a name given by Plinv, and 

 othei-s of the old naturalirts, to the fiTi now called the 

 Cirnua and Aurala JluviJlilis, and in England the Rtiff^. 

 The accrina of Gmelin's Linnaian fyftem is a fpecies of 



Perca, whofe dorfal fin has 31 rays and 17 fpines. It 

 approaches to the Cermia in many refpefts, but differs from 

 it in the number of rays and fpines of the dorfsl fii, and the 

 fize of its head, which is longer. It is found in the E'.ixine 

 fea, and the lake of Mjeotis, and the rivers that run into them. 



ACERNO, in Geography, a fmall city of Naples, with a 

 bifliop's fee, about 12 miles N. E. of Salerno. E. long. 

 15° 6'. N. lat. 40° 45'. 



AcERNO isalfo the name given by the Portugucfe, on the 

 firft difcovery of it in the 15th centur)-, to the ifland now 

 called the I/h ofFiAHCE. 



ACER(bSE leaf, m B.7!jny. See Leaf. 



ACEROSUS, chojfy, is an epithet, denoting the browned 

 and coarfefl fort of bread, made of flour not feparatcd from 

 the bran. 



Acerosus, in Natur.-il H'ljlory, a name given by Vogel 

 in his Mineralogy to a fpecies of Talc. 



ACERRA, in Antiquity, a kind of altar, eretled among 

 the Romans near the bed of a pcrfon deceafed ; on which 

 his friends daily burned incenfe till the time of his burial. 

 The Chinefe have a fimilar cuftom. They eraiS an altar to 

 the deceafed in a room hung with mourning ; and upon it 

 they place an image of the dead perfon, to which every one 

 that approaches it bows four times, and offers oblations and 

 perfumes. The original intention of the practice was, with- 

 out doubt, to overcome ajiy offenfive fmell that might pro- 

 -ceed from tlie corpfe. 



By the laws of the 1 2 tables, the erefting of acerra: was 

 prohibited. 



The Acerra alfo fignified a little pot, wherein the incenfe 

 and perfumes were put, to be burnt on the altars of the gods, 

 and before the dead. It appears to have been the fame with 

 what was otherwife called thurihulum and/yi.v;j. 



We find mention of accrrs in the ancient church. The 

 Jews alfo had their acernr;, in our verficns rendered cenfers ; 

 and the Romanifts ftill retain them under the name of io- 

 cenfe-pots. In Roman writers, we frequently meet with 

 acerra plena, a full acerra ; for underflanding which it is to 

 be obfePved, that people were obliged to offer incenfe in 

 proportion to their eflatc and condition ; tke rich in larger 



ACE 



quantities, the poor only a few grains : the former poured 

 out acerne full on the altar ; the latter tcok out tv/o or 

 three bits wilh their fingers. Pitifc. Lex. Aut. Briffon. 

 de Formul. 1. i. 



Acerra, in Geography, a walled town of Naples in the 

 Terra di I^avora, iiluate on the river Agno, feven miles 

 N. E. of Naples. It is the reiidence of a bidiop, and ha« 

 the title of an earldom. E. long. 14° 30'. N. lat. 40° 55'. 



ACERRvE, in ylndent Geography, the name of a town on 

 the Clanius in Campania, now Acerra. It was a Roman 

 colony, and its inhabitants were reckoned a brave people : 

 " Acerranis plus animi, quam vlrium erat," fays Livy, 

 1. xxiii. c. 17. torn. iii. p. 739, Ed. Drakenb. This wasalfo 

 the name of another town, now called La Giro/a, or Gherra, 

 which retains fome trace of the original name, in the tcni- 

 tory a;id to the S. E. of Lodi, where the river .Serio falls 

 into the Adda, to the W. of Cremona, and N. of Placep.tia. 

 It was formerly a place of couliderable importance. Its 

 fiege by the R.omans is partic-alarly defcribed by Polybius, 

 1. ii. p. 12 1. Ed. Cafaiib. 



ACERRI, a town of Spain, belonging to the Lace* 

 tani; probably Gerri. 



ACESjE and .'^.cesamkns, cities of Macedonia. 



ACESCENT, a word ufcd to denote any thing v/hich is 

 turning four or a:id, or which is flightly acid. It is only- 

 applied properly to denote the firll of thefe two meanings. 

 The fecoi-.d may be belter expreffed by either of the words 

 acidulous, or fubricid. 



ACESINES, in Ancient Geography, a large and rapid 

 river of L'dia, v.-hich Alexander paffed in his expedition into 

 that countiy; and on the bank of which he bifilt a city 

 under the direttion of Hephxslion. The k'ngdom of 

 Porus, wliom he vanqiiifhed, and which, according to Strabo, 

 contained about 300 cities, lay between the Hydafpes and 

 this r'"';r, which, after receiving the former and other con- 

 fiderable rivers, emptied itfelf into the Indus. Its fituation 

 is nut precifely k.iown. Arriin fays, (De Exped. Alex. 1. v. 

 p. 222. Ed. Gronov.) that, where Alexander paffed it, 

 its breadth was. 15 ftadia, its courfe very rap'd, and the 

 channel full of large and fliarp rocks. It was fubjeft to 

 extraordinary inundations, rifing at the fummec foHticc 40 

 cubits and overflowing the adjacent plains. Theophraft-is 

 (Hift. 1. iv. c. 12) fpeaks of the roeds that grew near this 

 river ; and Pliny (H. N. 1. xxxvii. c. 12. torn. ii. p. 796) 

 fays, that this and the Ganges furni(hed gems. We read of 

 trees near this river of fuch magnitude, that 5.'^, fome fay 

 400 horfemen might lodge under the fp-eading branches of 

 one of them ; and that they produced long pods of honey, 

 which proved fatal to thofe who eat it. Strabo, Geog. 

 vol. ii. 1014 — 1022. Some have fuppofed that the Ace- 

 fmes of Arrian was the river now called Rauvee ; but major 

 Rennell, in his Memoir, gives good reafons for concluding 

 that the modern Jenaub was the Acefines of the ancients. 



ACESINUS, a river of Sarmatia, called by Pliny 

 Pantica?es. 



ACESIUS, in Biography, a bifhop of Conftantinople, 

 in the reign of Conftantine, was a difciple of Novatus, wIhi 

 founded a fe6l v.-hofe tenet was, that thofe who had f;dlen 

 from the faith in time of perfecution, or, who after baptifm 

 had committed any mortal fin, were not to be admitted to 

 the communion of the church, even on their exhibiting 

 tokens of fincere repentance. Conftantine was fo much 

 difpleafed with the feverity of this feft, which difcouragcd 

 repentance, that, after queitioning Acefnis concerning it, 

 he faid, " then, Acefius, make a ladder for yourfelf, and 

 go up to heaven alone." This ftoiy is related by Socrates 

 (!• i. c. 10.) and Sozomen (1. j. c. zz) ; but difputed by 



V'aiefius, 



