ALE 



A L E 



iriofl ancient of wKom, tlic patriartli Eiitycliius, lias amply 

 cJc'fcribed the coiKjucil of iVlcxaiidria. I'nit tliis curious 

 anecdote will be vainly fought in the annals of Eutythius, 

 and the Saracenic hiilory of Elmacin. The filencc of Abul- 

 feda, Murtadi, and a crowd of Mollcms, is Icfs conclufivc 

 from their ignorance of Chrillian literature. The rigid fen- 

 tence of Omar is repugnant to the found and orthodox jire- 

 cept ot the Mahometan cafuiils : they exprefsly dccLiri. , tiiat 

 the religious books of the Jews and Cluillians, whicli arc 

 acquired by the riglit of war, fliotdd never be comniitted to 

 the flames; and that the works of profane fcience, hillo- 

 rians or poets, phylicians or philofophers, may be lawfully 

 applied to tlie ufe of the faithful." See Reland de Jure Mi- 

 litari Mohammedanorum, in the third volume of DifTertalions, 

 p. 37. The reafon for not burning the religious books of 

 the Jews or Chriftians, is derived from the rcfpeft that is due 

 to the name of God. It (hould be confidered, however, that 

 the pofitive evidence of an hiftorian, of unqueftionable credit 

 as Abulpharagius, cannot be fet aiide by an argument merely 

 negative. Mr. G. acknowledges, that " a mere dcftruftive 

 zeal may perhaps be attributed to the J!i/} fucceflbrs of Ma- 

 homet." His references to A. Gellius (Nofles Attica, 1. vi. 

 c. 17.) Ammian. Marcell. (1. xxii. c. 16.) and Orofius (1. vi. 

 c. 15.), as fpeaking of the Alexandrian libraries in xhe pajl 

 tenfe, are foreign from the purpofe ; for thefe writers only 

 refer to the deitruftion of books at Alexandria in the time 

 of Julius Ccefar ; after which, large libraries nuift have been 

 continually accumulating, during the long period in which 

 the fchools of philofophy flourifhed in that city. Bruckcr's 

 Hift. Philof. by Enfield, vol. ii. p. 22S. On the fubjeft of 

 this article, fee Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xxii. c. 16. p. z(t6. 

 Ed. Gronov. Dion. Caff. 1. xlii. 38. tom.i. p. 327. Ed. llei- 

 mari. Plutarch in Jul. Ca;f. Oper. torn. i. p. 73 1. Tertullian 

 in Apolog. c. 18. p. 18. ed. Rigalt. Eufcb. in chron. Gel- 

 lius, I. vi. c. 17. Ifidor. Orig. 1. vi. c. 3. Orolii, Hift. 

 1. vi. c. 15. p. 42 I. Ed. Havcrc. Plut. in Anton, op. vol. i. 

 p. 943. Newton's Difc. on the Prophecies — Works vol. vii. 

 p. 357. 8vo. Anc. Un. Hift. vol. viii. p. 166. 



ALEXANDRIN,in GeograpL-y, a fmall diftrid of Italy, 

 in the duchy of Milan, in the environs of Alexandria 

 della Piiglia, to which it owes its name. 



Alf.xandrin, or Alfxandrian, in Poetry, the name 

 of a kind of verfe, which confills of twelve, or of twelve 

 and thirteen fyllabks, alternately ; the reft, or paufe, being 

 always on the llxth fyllable. 



It is faid to have taken its name from a poem on the 

 life of Alexander, entitled, the Alexandriad ; written, or 

 at leaft tranflated into this kind of verfe by fome French 

 poets ; though others will have it fo denominated from one 

 of tlie tranflators, Alexander Paris. 



This verfe is thought by lome very proper in the epopea, 

 and the more lublime kinds of poetry ; for which reafon it 

 is alfo called Heroic Verfe. 



It anfwers in our language to the hexameters in the 

 Greek and Latin ; though, according to fome, it rather 

 anfwers to the fciiarii ot the ancient tragic poets Chap- 

 man's tranflation of Homer confills wholly of Alexan- 

 drians. 



The advantages of the Alexandrian verfe, are its keep- 

 ing the rhimes from coming fo near, and confecjuently hin- 

 dering them from being lo much perceived. To tliis may 

 be added, that coming nearer to the nature of profe, it is 

 fitter for theatrical dialogue, and fupplies the office of the 

 ancient iambics better than anv other verfe in rhime. 



ALEXANDRINUS, Julio s, in Biography, born at 

 Trent, in the early part of the 1 6th century, was phyfician 



Vox,.. L 



to the emperor Charles V ., and afterwards to M.iximillan IT. 

 by whom he was highly ellccmed. He alfo acquired reputa- 

 tion as a poet, particularly for liia Pacdotrophia, a poem, 

 publiftied at Zurich, 1559, 8vo. 



His medical works, wiiich are numerous, and principally 

 compiled from the ancients, or written in defence of thf 

 doftrine of Galen, are of little value. For their titles fee 

 Eloy's Didlionaire Pliftorique de la Medicine. He died at 

 Trent, his native citv, in the year 1590, aged 84 years, 

 and was honoured with the following epitaph : 



Cxfaribus fi quis multos inferviit annos, 

 Acceptus inagnis principibufque fuit, 

 Te, Juh, vatem poffum medicumque fateri, 

 Doftrina in cujus gratia taiita fuit. 



ALEX AND ROV, in Geography, a town of Kuban 

 Tartar)', in the Ruflian government of Caucafus, 16 Icaguci 

 weft north-weft of Ekaterinograd. 



Ai.EXANDROv, a town of RufTia in the government of 

 Vladimir, 16 leagues weft of Mofcow. N. lat. 55° 45'. E. 

 long. 38- 44'. 



ALEXANDROVSKAIA, a fortrefs of RufTia in the 

 government of Ekaterinofiaf, 36 leagues north-eaft of 

 Cherfon. N. lat. 47° 35'. E. long. 35° 14'. This is alfo 

 the name of another fortrefs in the fame government, 2'i 

 leagues north-weft of Cherfon. 



ALEXICACUS, compounded of aXi^x, I Jrlve arvay, 

 and Kc/.-Mj, e-vil, is fomething that prcferves the body from 

 harm or milchicf, and alexicacus amounts to much the fame 

 with alexiterial. 



Alexicacus, in Aniiqutly, was an attribute of Neptune, 

 whom the tunny fifliers ufed to invoke under this appel- 

 lation, that their nets might be prcfervcd from the |i?ic;; 

 or swoRD-fiHi, which ufed to tear them, and prevent the 

 aftiftance which it was pretended the dolphins ufed to give 

 the tunnies on this occalion. It was alfo an epithet of 

 Hercules, as the defender of men. 



ALEXINTA, in Geography, a town of European 

 Turkey in Servia, fix leagues north north-eaft of NilTa. 



ALEXIPHARMIC, in Metlicive, expreft'es that pro- 

 perty which a remedy, either fimple or compound, hath to 

 refift or deftroy eveiy thing of a poifonous or malignant na- 

 ture. The word is derived from a^E^a, arceo, I expel, 

 and ^y-jp-axov, pioifon. 



The ancients had a notion, that there was poiftm in all 

 malignant difcafes, and in the generality of thofe whofc 

 caufe was unknown. Whence alexipharmic became a deno- 

 mination for all remedies and antidotes againft malignant 

 difcafes, and for amulets. 



The ftudy of poifons and antidotes appeared at an early 

 period among the phyficians of Greece and Rome, and 

 continued as long as the Greek phyfic lafted ; and heiice 

 has arifen the number of .antidotes and theriacas fo fre- 

 quently mentioned by thofe ancient writers. But tlicir 

 compofitions for the correftion of poifons were equally in- 

 judicious and unfucceisful. Modern phyficians, and parti- 

 cularly the Galenills, adopting the ideas of the ancients, 

 have transferred them from the cafe of poifuns taken into the 

 body, to that of noxious powers arifiiig from contagion, or 

 in any other way. The cure of the diteafes proceeding 

 from thcfc, they have, therefore, attempted by the correc- 

 tion or expuHion of the morbific matter, and ihey have ad- 

 miniilered medicines for this Jurpoie, under the titles of 

 alexiphaiTiiics and alexiterials. 



Alexiterial, cardiac, antidote, alcxipharmic, and counter- 

 4 N poifon. 



