ADO 



©f the event. This fable has been varioufly interpreted. 

 Adonis, as foinc f;iy, \v;is the fun, Venvis the upper htmil- 

 phtre of the earth, and Profci-pine the inferior ; and there- 

 fore, when he was in the fix interior tlgns he was with Pro- 

 fei-pine, and during the remaining time he refided with Ve- 

 nus. The boar which flew Adonis was the winter. Ma- 

 crob. Saturn. 1. i. c. ii. Others fiippofe that Adonis de- 

 noted the fruits of the earth ; and when tlie feed was fown 

 in the ground, Adonis was gone to Proferpinc : and that 

 when it had vegetated and fprung up to view, he revifited 

 V^cnus. Hence they fowcd corn, and made gardens for 

 Adonis, which were adapted more for pleafiire tlian profit. 

 Voir, de Idololat. 1. ii. c. 5. Theocritus, IdylL 1 11. Ac- 

 cording to Phitarch, (Sympofiacon, 1. iv. open torn. 2. 

 p. 671. Ed. Xylandr.) Adonis %vas the fame with Bac- 

 chus; and Ofiris was both the fun and Adonis. Some are 

 of opli'iion, tliat the Ammonites and Moabites called him 

 T).\.\L-Peor, and that he was the fame with the Hebrew 

 Thammuz. lir)-ant (Mythol. v. i. p. 371.) fiippofes, that 

 tlie Canaanites worlhipped their chief deity the fun, under 

 this title ; and he fays, that at Bybhis, Berytus, Sidon, and 

 afterwards at Tyre, tliey ufed particularly mournful dirges 

 for the lofs of Adonis or Thamuz, wlio was the fame as 

 Thamas, and Ofiris in Egv-pt. Hence the children of Ifrael 

 were forbidden to weep and make lamentation upon a fef- 

 tival. Nehem. viii. 9. 14. See Adonia. 



The worrtilp of Adonis was eftablilhed by the emperor 

 Adrian in the grottoes of Bethlehem, where it was fuppofed 

 oiu' Saviour was born. 



Adonis />otio, an ancient beverage or drink made of wine 

 mixed with flour of roafted aJor ; the fame with what was 

 otherwife called Cvceon. 



ADONISTS, among i);ii;nfj and Critics, a feft or party, 

 who maintain, that the Hebrew points ordinarily annexed to 

 the confonants of the word yehovah, are not the natural 

 points belonging to that word, nor exprefs the true pronun- 

 ciation of it ; but that they are the vowel-points belonging 

 to the words Adonni atid Elohim, apphed to the confonants 

 dT the ineffable name Jehovah ; to warn the readers, that in- 

 ftead of the word Jehovah, which the Jews were forbidden 

 to pronounce, and the true pronunciation of which had been 

 long unknown to them, tiiey are always to read Adona'i. 

 Thefe were oppofed to Jehov'ijls ; of whom tlie principal 

 are Drufius, Capellus, Buxtorf, Alting, and Reland, who 

 has pubhfhed a coUettion of their writings on this fubjciit. 

 See Adonai and Jehovah. 



ADOPISSUS, in Aiicknt Geography, a town of Afia 

 Minor, which Ptolemy places in Lvcaonia. 



ADOPTER, in Cheiinjlry, a vefi"el with two necks 

 placed between a retort and a receiver, and ferving to increnfe 

 t!ie length of the neck of the fonner. They differ from 

 ALUDELS, which were formerly ufed in the fublim.ation of 

 feveral fubftances, both in tlieir figure and in their fituation. 

 The adopters are tubes which become narrower at one end, 

 from half a foot to three feet long, and are open at both 

 ends. They are joined in a collateral oblique fituation ; 

 whereas the aludels were fet upright. Chemiftry, plate I. 

 fig. I. See Distillation ;tnd Receiter. 



ADOPTIANI, in Church ////?«ry, a fea in the eighth 

 centur)-, which fprung up under Charlemagne, about the 

 year 783, in confequer.ee of the concurring opinion of Eli- 

 pand, archbifhop of Toledo, and Felix, bifhop of Urge! ; 

 whofe diftinguiihing tenet was, that Chrift, as to his human 

 nature, was not the proper or natural, but oidy the adoptive 

 fon of God. Their doftrine was condemned by a council at 

 Frankfort in 794, ar.d afterwards th a council at Rome 

 ucder pope Leo III. 



ADO 



Adoption, an ad by v.liich any one takes another into 

 his family, owns him for his fon, and appoints him for his 

 heir. The word is derived from iiJoptarc ; whence the Latin 

 barbarous nunbore, to wake a iiiight. 



The cuftom of adopting was veiy familiar among the 

 ancient Romans, who had an exprefs formula for it. They 

 firll learned it from the Greeks, among whom it was called 

 u'/l>i,-, fiUathn ; and it was tranlniited to them fi'om the an- 

 cient Hebrews, Egyptians, and Aifyrians, among whom it 

 prevailed. 



As adoption was a fort of imitation of nature, intended 

 for the comfort of thofe who had no children ; eunuchs 

 were therefore not allowed to adopt, as being under an 

 attual impotency of begetting children. Neither was it 

 lawful for a young man to adopt an elder, becaufe that 

 would have been contrary to the order of nature ; but it 

 was even recpiired, that the perfon who adopted (liould be 

 eit;hteen years older than his adoptive fon, that there might 

 appear at leall a probability of his being the natural fa- 

 ther. 



The Romans had two forms of adoption ; the one be- 

 fore the prnetor ; the other at an aflembly of the people, in 

 the times of the commonwealth, and aftei wards by a refcript 

 of the emperor. In the firft, the natural father addreffed 

 himfclf to the praetor, declaring that he emancipated his fon, 

 refigned all his authority over him, and confented that he 

 fiiovdd be tranflated into the family of the adopter. The 

 latter manner of adoption was praftifed, where the party to 

 be adopted was already free ; and tlus was called adrogation. 

 Tlie perfon adopted changed all his names ; affuming the 

 prename, name and funiame of the perlon who adopted 

 him. When Auguftus adopted his grand-children, the 

 two fons of Agrippa and Julia, he adhered clofely to 

 the moll folemn fjrmularies of the Roman law, and in- 

 filled on their fathers making over to him, by a kind of 

 fale, his right to the children ; and he gave them his 

 name, fo that they called them Caius Cxfar, and Lucius 

 Ca;f;!r. In the reign of Nero, the fenate pafTed a decree, 

 ordaining that fraudulent adoptions lliould not avail fuch 

 as made them, either to quahfy themfelves for honours,, 

 or to receive tlie whole of any inheritance that might 

 fall to them. 



Befides the fonnalities prefcribed by the Roman law, 

 divers other methods have taken place ; which have grven 

 denominations to various fpecies of adoptions among the 

 Gothic nations, in different ages. 



Adoption by arms, was when a prince made a prefcnt 

 of arms to a perfon, in confideration of his merit and va- 

 lour. — Thus it wiis that the king of the Heruh was adopted 

 by Theodoric ; Athalaric, by the emperor Juilinian ; and 

 Cofroes, nephew of the king of Perf.a, by the emperor 

 Juftln. 



This method of adoption, praiSifed in Germany, was 

 called larlarou!, by way of oppofition to- the Roman, 

 cuftom. 



The obligation here laid on the adoptive fon wac, to pro- 

 teft and defend the father from injuries, affronts, &c. — and 

 hence the ceremony of dubbing knights took its origin jis 

 well as name. Selden, Tit. of Hon. p. 865. 



Adoption by baptifm, is that fpiritual alEjiity which is 

 contrafted by god-fatliers. and god-children in the ceremony 

 of baptifm. 



This kind of adoption wa* introduced into the Greek 

 church, and came after^vards into ufe among the ancient 

 Franks, as appears by the Capitulars of Charlemagne. 



In, reality, the god-father was fo far confidered as adop- 

 tive father, that liis god-children were fuppofed to be. 



entitled 



