A G N 



well acquainted with the fathers and fcliool divinity, and a 

 great Clitic in tlie languages. Gen. Dift, 



AGLONE, in Gcogriiphy, a river of Pruflla, vliich runs 

 into tiie Minnie, near Proeculs. 



AGMANISPHE or Atmanisphe, in j^ncienl Geo- 

 rapby, a village of Arabia Felix, afiigncd l>y Ptolemy to 

 the Honu-rites. 



AGME, in Surgery, fignifics a frafture. 



AGMEN, in ylnliqiihy, properly dciiote=; a Roman army 

 in march. In whicl; iciile, it (lands contrudilHiiguiflied from 

 fl./(\r, which denoted the army in battle anay ; thougli, on fome 

 occafions, we find the two words ufed indifferently for each 

 other. 



The Roman armies, in their marches,, were divided into 

 primitm agnien, anfweriiig to our vanguard ; medium agmen, 

 our main-battle ; TluA pojlremum tignie/i, the rear-guard. 



The order of tlieir march was thus : after the iirft fignal 

 with the trumpets, &c. the tents were taken down, and the 

 baggage packed up j at the fecond fignal, the baggage was 

 to be loaded on the horfes and carriages ; and at the third 

 fignal, they were to begin their march. Firft came the ex- 

 iraordinani ; then the auxiliaiies of the firll wing with their 

 baggage ; thefe were followed by the legions. The cavalry 

 inarched either on each fide, or behind. 



Agmen pilntum, that difpofed in a narrow oblong form, 

 or column ; bcic.g alfo clofe and compaft ; thus called, as 

 refenibling the figure of Vi pila, or pier. Vegetius compares 

 it to that of a broach, or fpit. This form v\-as chiefly ufed 

 in marching without their baggage, through bad ways and 

 clofe countries. 



Agmen quadratum, that ranged fomewhat in a fquare 

 form, being the method ordinarily obferved in the Roman 

 armies. This was alio called agmen grave, by the Greeks 

 T'Tjaywvo; Ta|»<. The three lines, or columns, in which the 

 army ufually marched, were coiifiderably more in length or 

 breadth, than in depth ; but as the baggage marched fome- 

 what in the fame order, the whole approached to the figure 

 of a fquare. 



Agmen is alfo ufed for any number of perfons, or even 

 animajs, moving or advancing in fome regular order. 



AGMET, or Agmat, in Geography, was formerly the 

 capital of Morocco, in Afiica, fituated on a declivity of a 

 hill, which is part of Mount Atlas, and near a river of the 

 fame name ; fix leagues fouth from Morocco. It is at prefent 

 reduced and inhabited by poor people. N. lat. 30° 56'. W. 

 bng. 7° 15'. 



AGMONDESHAM, or Amersham, an ancient town 

 cf Buckingharafhire, fituated betwixt hills that are covered 

 with woods ; about 26 miles north-weft from London. It 

 has a town-hall and free-fchool, fends two members to par- 

 hament, and has a market on Tuefday. The manufafture 

 of this town is black lace : and a cotton manufaftory was 

 lately eilablilhed in it, which employs many of the lower 

 clafs, though the bufinefs is performed by machinery. The 

 mimber of houfes in this borough is 267 ; but the right of 

 voting is reftrifted to about a fourth part of this number, 

 ■which confiils of thofe who pay fcot and lot. This parifh, 

 together with the adjoining hamlet of Coleihill, contains 403 

 lioufes, 859 male and 1171 female inhabitants. The manlion 

 of T. D. T. Drake, Efq. called Shardeloes, to which 

 family the borough belongs, is fituated about 1 5 mile from 

 the town. 



AGNA, in Ancient Geography, a river of M'auritania. 



AGNACAT, Scaligeripyri fpecies. In a country of Ame- 

 rica, beyond the Terra de Labrador, toward the iftlimus of 

 Darien, there is a tree of the figure and fize of a pear-tree, 

 always covered with leaves, and of an extraordinary green- 

 nefs and luftre. It bears a fruit alfo like a pear, but green 



A G N 



even when it if, ripe ; the pulj^ is of the fame colour, fweet, 

 fat, and talles like butter. It is a powerful promoter of 

 venereal vigour. Rav's Hid. 



AGNADELLO,' in Geography, a fmall town of Italy, 

 on a canal between the rivers Adda and Serio, in ihc duchy 

 of Milan and teiritoiy of Cremona. It is famous for a 

 Nidory gained here by the Erench over the Venetians in 

 1509, and for a battle fought between prince Eugene and 

 the duke of Vendofme in 1705. See Cassano. N. lat. 

 45" 25'. E. long. 9" 2(>'. 



AGNAN, Si. a town of the late province of BeiTj', and 

 department of Loire and Cher, in France, fituate on the 

 river Cher, containing a cattle, with one collegiate church 

 and two convents. N. lat. 46" 27'. E. long. \" 26'. 



AGNAN [A, or Anagni, a fmall veiy ancient town of 

 Italy, in the Cainpagna of Rome. It is fituated upon a 

 mountain ; and lias a cathedral and five convents. N. lat. 

 41° 45'. E. long 12° 55'. 



AGNANO, late of, a circular lake, nearly two miles in 

 circumference, in the vicinity of Naples, near Pozzliolo, 

 which has all the appearances of a volcanic crater. Its 

 fhape is that of an inverted funnel ; and its fides and bottom 

 are formed of tufa, interfperfed with fragments of lava and 

 pumice-llone. Numerous flocks of ducks fwim on its fuiface, 

 and its waters contain great quantities of tenciies and frogs. 

 The frogs in their tadpole ftate, having tails refembling the 

 hinder part of a fifli with a round body and legs like a frog, 

 furniflied occafion for the vulgar to conclude tliat they were 

 monttrous animals, half fifli and half frogs. Vallifncri dif- 

 covered the caufe of this vulgar error. The tenches and 

 eels of this lake are, in winter, of a ytrj good flavour ; but 

 in fummer they are not eatable, on account of the great 

 quantities of ^ax and hemp which arc brought hither from 

 all the neighbouring parts to be mellowed in the water. The 

 water fometimes boils up to the height of two inches, but 

 without any fenfible heat. Keyfler's Trav. vol. iii. p. 113. 

 Spallanzani's Trav. vol. i. p. 125. 



AGNANTHUS, formed of ay»,-, rhnje, and avSo?, a 

 fozver, in Botany, the name given by Vaillant to a genus of 

 plants, called afterwards cornutia by Plumier and Lin- 

 naeus. 



AGNATI, in the Romati Laiu, the male defccndants 

 from the fame father ; and in the Scots laiv, agnates arc un- 

 derftood to be thofe who are neareft related by the fatlier, 

 though females intervene. 



AGNATION, formed from ad, to, and nafci, to be born, 

 in the Chnl Law, the kinfliip, or relation betv.-eeu the de- 

 fccndants of the fame father, being males, and ifi"ued only 

 from males. 



Agnation differs from cognation, as the latter is an uni- 

 verfal name, under which the whole family, and even the 

 agnaii themfelves are contained ; and agnation, a particular 

 branch of cognation, which only includes the defcendants 

 in the male fine. Again, agnation is properly only a civil 

 name, as that of gens, or family ; cognation, a natural namcj 

 or derived from blood. 



By the law of the Ttuelve Tables, males and females fuc- 

 ceed one another, according to the order of proximitv, and 

 without any regard to the fex : but the laws were afterwards 

 changed in this refpeft, by the Lex l^oconia ; and womeit 

 were excluded from the privileges of agnation, excepting 

 fuch as were within the degree of confanguinity ; /'. c. ex- 

 cepting the fillers of him who died abinteilate ; and it was 

 hence that the difference between <7^nfl//' and fcif«a/i firll took 

 its rife. 



But this difference was again aboliflied by Juftinian (Inft» 

 3. 10.), and the females were reinllated in the right of ag- 

 nation ; aud all the defcendants on the father's fide, whether 



1 - male* 



