^ R U 



ndapted, and-rulcs for eflimnting the heiglits to which they 

 afceiid. 



See alfo for an account of fcveral publications on this 

 fubjeft and abftratts of tlitir contents, Monthly Review, 

 vol. Ixix. p. 551. — vol. Ixxi. p. 379. — vol. Ixxiii. p. 99. — 

 Meyer's Fragments fur Paiis, torn, ii, p. 107, &c. Hut- 

 ton's Math. Dia. Art. Aeroflation. 



AERSCHOT, or Arschot, in Geography, a town of 

 the Auftrian Netherlands in the duchy of Brabant, and ca- 

 pital of the diftridl of the fame name,»\vhich was railed to 

 a marquifite in 1507, and to a duchy in 1533. The town 

 is fmall, but fortiiied and well inhabited, fcated on the river 

 Demer, about ten miles tall of Mechlin, and eight miles 

 north of Louvain, and contains a collegiate church, two 

 monalleries, and three nunneries. It belongs to the Houfe 

 of Aremberg. N. lat. 51°. E. long. 5° 44'. 



AERTSEN, in Biography. See Aarsens. 



^RVA, in Botany, a genus of the monaddph'ta decan- 

 dria clafs and order. The charafters of which are, that 

 tire flowers are polygamous ; the calyx is five-I,eaved and 

 patent ; the (lamina are five, and ban-en ; the piftillum is a 

 globnlous ovaiy, having a filiform ftyle terminated by a 

 bifid ftigma ; the fruit is a capfule, which is oblong, fingle- 

 feeded and encompaffed by the calyx. There is one fpecies, 

 viz. JK. icgfptiaca or tomcntnfa, which grows on fandy cal- 

 careous foil in Arabia. La Riarck thinks it bears affinity to 



the AMARANTUS. 



iERUGINOUS, fortething partaking of, or hke to, 

 the ruft of copper. 



Authors do not feem perfcftly agreed about the colour 

 to be exprefled by this word, fome exprefling by it green, 

 others brown. 



iERUGO denotes rust, efpecially that of copper. 



Naturaliils fpeak of two kinds of n-nigo, one nali-ve, and 

 the othvv fciilitious : the na/ive, is only the fuperficial par- 

 ticles of the metal diffolved ; and intimately mixed with 

 acid fait ; in which form it is ordinarily found in copper- 

 mines, and other moill places : and the arllfu-lal, commonly 

 called vF.RDiGRisE, or copper converted into a green 

 calx bv vinous acid. 



One fpecies of natural <triigo is a greenldi marcafite, like 

 the drops of iron ; it is found in copper-mines, but is of no 

 ufe. Diofcorides (hb. v. c. 91, 92.) and PKny (lib. xxxlv. 

 c. II. 12.) lay cxprcfsly, that a fubftance of the nature of 

 thefe ftones, which yielded cop])er when melted, was fcraped 

 off In the mines of Cyprus, much In the manner now prac- 

 tifed in Hungary, where the outer coat of the copper ore Is 

 thus coUefted, and afterwards purified by being wafiied In 

 water. Another fpecies, according to the account*of Dio- 

 fcorides, was procured from the water of a grotto in the 

 fame Ifland ; and the moft faleable natural vcrdigrife is ft.111 

 obtained in the fame way in Hungary. The clear water 

 which runs from old copper works is put into large veffels, 

 and after fome time the green earth falls to the bottom as 

 a fedlment. There is alio, on lome mountains In Moravia, 

 a fort of green grains, like fand, that is of a grafs green, 

 ivhen ui( d in painting. It is called the Hungarian tnoim- 

 tail!, or/ea •verdigrift: See nwunla'in green. 



jIIrugo rafil'is, or 4t5 vir'nle. Is a mil formed on copper, 

 Ity hanging a plate of It over the ilrongtft vinegar for 

 fome time, without fufiering' the one to touch the other. 

 It was only ufed externally by Diofcorides and the ancient 

 phyfielans for cleanfing ulcers, and deltroying excrefcences ; 

 but it has been more lately employed externally with cf- 

 fence of mynh and honey of rofes in fiilulte and aphthse, 

 and alfo internally for malignant ulcers that have corroded 

 the bones, and either with or without turbith mineral as a 



Vol. I. 



JE S 



remedy for men or hearts that have been bitten by mad 

 dogs or wolves. The dofe has been from three to fix gialns. 

 Pills, formed of the lenago, in a manner however that ha< 

 been concealed, have been recommended for a cancer of the 

 breafts ; but their beneficial effedt Kas been difputed. 

 Gmelln's App. Med. voL i. p. 346. 



A'.v-VGO Jalis, In Natural HtJIpry,z name given by PUny, 

 and fcveral other ancient authors, to a rcddini filmy Jnat- 

 ter, feparatcd from the Egyptian fait, called natrum, 

 in purifying it. We find this matter remain in the filter, 

 on diflblving and filtering the Egyptian nitre, at this 

 time ; it feems to be a mixture of bituminous matter, 

 and a red eartli, which had mixed tliemfelves among the 

 cakes of the fait, during the time of their concreting from 

 the water. 



iERUSCATORES, formed from ifrufcan, to heg, mump, 

 &c. in Anliqudy, a kind of (harping ilrollers, who got their 

 living by tricks, telling fortunes, and the like, much like 

 modern gyplies. The term is alfo applied to oppreffive tax- 

 gatherers. 



The Gall'i, or priefts of Cybele, were called grufcalores 

 niag/iie matris, on account of their begging, or collefting 

 alms in the ftreets. To which end they had little bells 

 whereby to draw people's attention to them, much like fome 

 orders of mendicants abroad. 



AERY, or Airy, in fpeaking of hawks, eagles, or the 

 like, anfwers to the nest of other birds. 



./ES, In jintiquily, has various fignlfications ; but it pro- 

 perly denotes brafs or copper. It was for a long time ap- 

 plied indlfcriminately to either of thefe metals ; and it was 

 not till a late period that metallurglfts, in order to diftin- 

 gullh them, gave the name cuprum to copper : as copper wa» 

 the firll metal ufed in coinage by the Romans, the word aei 

 was ufed In their language to fignify money In general. It 

 ■ llkewlfe denoted a particular coin made of that metal. 



^s caldarhim, or cajl brafs, otherwife called as olarlum, 

 or pot brass, is a fpecies of brafs mentioned by Pliny, which 

 was not capable of being hammered. This is likev/ife a 

 term ufed by the German irinerahjls, for a fubftance 

 which fometimes occurs to thofe who work upon co- 

 balt, and is ufed for making the fine blue colour called 



SMALT. 



jEs candidum, among the Anc'tsnts, was different from that 

 which we call white brafs ; it Is a purer and whiter kind of 

 metal found, it is fald, under the veins of filver, fomewhat 

 analogous to Venetian talc. They had probably a me- 

 thod of making Copper while 2iS well as yello'w, equal, if 

 not fuperior, to that now in ufe. The phrafes of ortchakum 

 album in Virgil, (jEn. xli. v. 87.) and \aiKa-i xpa/iiK among 

 the Greeks, ftrldtly fignify 'white brass. 



jEs Corinthium, a precious metallic compofition, of a 

 much finer colour than common brafs, and for its beauty 

 little inferior to gold. Pliny fays, (Hift. torn. II. p. 640. 

 Ed. Hard.) that this was an accidental mixture of metals 

 at the fack and conflagration of Corinth by I-. Munimlus, 

 146 years before Chriil ; when the gold, filver, and brafs 

 ftatues, and all metallic fubftances, melting and mingling 

 together, formed this mafs. He fays, that there were three 

 forts of Corinthian brafs, viz. the red, the white, and that 

 which was of the coloin- of money, according to the different 

 proportions of gold and filver livat were In It. But fome re- 

 finers, who have flriftly examined this metal, find no gold 

 in it ; a circumflance which, if true, fuggefts one reafon, 

 among others, for concluding, that this account is fabu- 

 lous. However, the f^hle has been interpreted by fome to 

 fignify, that tlie art of making copper into brass wa» 

 firll dilcQvered by the Corinthians, who found the cala- 



R r MINE 



