AGE 



AGE 



t!iat occafions and accompanies a prepared difcord upon a 

 binding note ; whicli note was termed \.\\c pailenU, 



In the preceding example, C is the patient, E prepares the 

 difcord, 1) is the moving note or ci^ait, and B its refo- 

 lul'fon. 



Agentes in rebus, one of the ranks of officers, in the 

 court of the Conllantinopolitan emperors, whofc buHnefswas 

 to collect and convey the corn, both for the aniiy and houf- 

 hcld ; cany letters and mcflages from court to all parts 

 of the empire; regulate courieis, and their vehicles; to 

 make frequent journeys and expeditions through the pro- 

 vinces ; infpcft any motions, difturbances, machinations 

 tending that way, and give early notice thereof to the em- 

 peror. Aquin. hc\. Mil. torn. i. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. torn. i. 

 Calv. Lex. Jur. 



The agentes in rebus, are by fome made fynonymouswith 

 our poll-mailers, but their function was of great extent. 

 They corrcfpond to what the Greeks call irvfo^oco-,, and the 

 Latins veredarii. 



There were divers orders or degrees of agentes in rebus, 

 as tribuni, primicerii, fenatores, dticenarii, biarchi, circitores, 

 etfuites, lyroiies, &c. through all which they rofe gradatim. 

 Their chief was denominated pr'mceps, which was a poll of 

 great dignity, being reckoned on a level with that of pro- 

 conful. 



The pr'mceps agentium in rebus refided at Conftantinople, 

 othcis of them were lettled in every part of the empire ; and 

 are alfo faid to have fei-ved as interpreters. 



AGEOMETRL'\, a defect in point of geometry, or 

 a deviation trom thellricl principles and conclufions of that 

 fcience. 



This is otherwife called ageomelrefta. 



Som.e haye complained of tlie ageometria of the Scrip- 

 tures, in refpeft of the proportions of the brazen sea, ark, 

 &c. 



ACERveffigaHs privattis, in Roman jintiquity, thatwhofe 

 property was granted to private perfons on the referve of a 

 certain rent, or tribute. 



Ageh vcRigalis publicus, that whofe property vvasreferved 

 to the public, and being let out to farm, the rents or profits 

 accrued to the pubhc treafui-y. 



Acer is alfo ufed for a certain portion or meafure of 

 land, antiently allowed in the divifion of grounds to each 

 citizen. 



In the early days of the Roman ftate, tlie agerwas only 

 \^Kojugera, amounting to ij Englifh acre. After the ex- 

 pulfion of the kings, (even J:igcra were allowed a plebeian. 

 — Under the tribunate of C. Licinius Stolo, in the year of 

 Rome 379, a law was made to limit ellates to 500 jugera, or 

 330 Enghfh acres, and to decree the diilribution of the fur- 

 plus in the poffefTion of any individual amoiigft thofc wlio 

 had no land. Under Juhus'Cafar another a'grariam law 

 was publiihed, by which thofe who enlarged their pittance 

 of land were to pay 50 aurei^ to the public. 



Agi.r is alfo ufed in AffdJL- Jge H^riters, for what we 

 now call an acre. 



AGER, or Aguer, in Geography, a fmall town of Ca- 

 talonia, m Spain, near the river Segra, north of Lender, 

 and 25 leagues well of Barcelona. N. ht. 41° ^k'. E. 

 long. 0= 34'. 



Acer, a river of Auflria, which runs into the Traun, 

 about a league north from Schwannaftatt. 



Agtm. 18 alfo a diftridl in a fief of Aggerhuvs, \a 



Norway, called jiggers- Herred. 



ActR Piccnus. See Picenum. 



AGERATUM, compounded of the privative a and 

 yff »,-, old age, and denoting never-old or ever-green, in Botany , 

 a genus of plants, of the fyngenefa polygamia aqualis clafs and 

 order, of the natural order of comp'Jitte. dijcoideee, and corym- 

 lifer f of JulTieu ; the charafters of which arc, that the com- 

 mon calyx is oblong, with many, lanceolate, fub-equal fcales : 

 the compound corolla is uniform, corollets hermaphrodite, tu- 

 bulous, numerous, equal, fcarcely longer than the calyx ; 

 proper monopetalous, fuanel-ihaped, border quadrifid and 

 fpreading ; the llamina are capillary filaments, very Ihort, 

 the anther cylindric and tubular ; the plllillum is an oblong 

 germ, (lyle lilifonii, of the length of the ftamina, the ftigmas 

 are two, vei-y (lender and ereCl ; no pericaqiium, calyx un- 

 changed ; the feed folitaiy, oblong, angular, crowned with 

 a chaffy, five-leaved, upright awned calycle ; the receptacle 

 naked, convex, and very fmall. It differs from Eupatorium 

 in the crown of the feeds ; and from Bidens in the naked- 

 nefs of the receptacle. iMartyn enumerates two fpecies, 

 tj/a. I. A. cony%oides, hairy ageratum, with ovate leave* 

 and hairy ftem, which flowers in July and Augufl, and is a 

 native of Africa, the iilands of America, and the ifle of 

 Tanna, in the South Seas. This fpecies is propagated by 

 fowing the feeds on a hot bed in the Spring ; and when the 

 plants are flrong enough to bear removing, tranfplanting 

 them into another moderate hot-bed ; where they fhould bv: 

 watered, and fiiadedtill they have taken root. In June they 

 (liould be inured to the open air, and tranfplanted towards 

 the middle of the month into the open ground, where they 

 will continue flowering from July till the froits in Autumn 

 deilroy them. The feeds ripen in September and October. 

 2. A. cV.iare, with leaves ovate, crenate, obtufe, andhnootli 

 ftem, which is a native of the Eail Indies, and of China, 

 near Canton. The A. Houjlon'umurn of Miller, found wild 

 at I^a Vera Cruz, by Dr. Houiloun, does not differ from the 

 iirfl; fort. In Gmelin's edition of Linnaeus, we have a third 

 fpecies, i)/«. A. Gitianenfe, with cordated, ferrated, and 

 petiolated leaves. See Achillea, Athanasia, Conyza, 

 Erin'us, Eupatorium and Senecio. 



Ageratum, in the Materia Medica, is a fpecies of 

 Achillea, with numerous, fiAall, oblong, nan-ow leaves, called 

 in Englifli_/7i.'fc/ milfoi/ znd maudlin, it bears a near refem- 

 blance to the coltmary, and is denominated btdfamiia famina, 

 as that is called balfamita mas. It is alio called eupatorium 

 mefues, on account of its fuppofed virtue in difeafes and ob- 

 ftrudtions of the liver. It is a native of Italy, the Souttx 

 of France, and of Spain ; and is found by the road fides, 

 where it f.owers from Augufl to October. As it is leldoni 

 ufed with us for medicinal purpofes, it is not cultivated in 

 the gardens for fnle. There are two varieties of it, one 

 having longer and more compait corymbs, the other with 

 broader leaves and Imaller flowers. It is fweet to the fmell, 

 and of a bitter tafte, and aromatic. Linnsus reckons it 

 obfolete and fuperfluous. Allione, on the contrary-, thinks 

 it an efficacious plant, and recommends it in all diforders 

 arifing from a debility of the nerves. Dr. Lewis fays of 

 this and the coflmary, that thefe herbs have been ufed as 

 mild coiToborants and aperients, in weakneffes of the llomach, 

 obflrudtions of the vifcera, and cachectic dlfpofitions ; and 

 though at prefent difregardcd, they promife, from their 

 fenfibie qualities, to be medicines of fome utility. Riverius 

 recommends ageratum, en account of its aftringent quality, 

 as an antidote to incontinence of urine ; and Gefner has dif- 

 covered a brill': purgative quality in its roots. 



AGE RAT US lapis, in the Materia Medica bf the An- 

 4 cients. 



