A T R 



certain, that tliia was a particular place in private lioufee, 

 palaces, and temples. 



From the defcription which Vitruvius gives us of it, it 

 appears to have been an oblong room, having its breadth 

 divided into three parts by two rows of columns. He gives 

 I'ules for placing thefe columns according to the general 

 proportion of the atrium. 



The atrium was fituated after the cavxdium wliich was 

 what we commonly call the court, and immediatelv before 

 the tublinum. It was in the atrium that the Romans placed 

 the Itatues of their anceftors, and it was alfo fomctimcs ufcd 

 »s an eating room, though they had alfo other places de- 

 llined for the purpofes of the table. This is proved by 

 Virgil, who in defcribing the place where they made their 

 repaft, fays, 



" Crateras magnos ftatuunt et vina coronant. 



Fit ftrepitus te&is vocemque per ampla volutant. 

 Atria dependent lychni laquearibus aureis." 

 It follows from this, that we mufl confider the atrium as 

 one of the interior parts of the hoiife, in which it differed 

 from the veftibulum, and that it was covered, which diftin- 

 guifhes it ilill more from the cavxdium or the eniphi- 

 vium. 



Some temples had alfo an atrium : of this number was 

 the temple of Vcfta, and that of Liberty. It was in the 

 latter (fays Titus Livius) that they depoilted the hollages 

 of the Tarentines. It appears that it was a covered femi- 

 circular court, if we may judge from the ancient marble 

 plan of Rome, which is preferved in the capitol, on which 

 we ilill read thefe words " atrium libertatis." 



If we may believe the hillorians, the ule and form of the 

 atrium were borrowed from the Etrufcans, and this appella- 

 tion comes from the city of Atria, or Adria, which gives 

 name to the Atriatic or Adriatic fea, and where this fort 

 of porticoes was much ufed. 



Feftus fays " atrium proprie eft genus edificii diftum 

 atrium, quia id genus edificii primum atria in Etruria fit in- 

 ilitutum." Varro de ling. Lat. 1. 4. "atrium appellatum 

 ab atriaticis Tufcis : lUinc enim exemplum fumptum. 



Atrium, in EccleJtaJlkaL AnUqu'ity, denotes an open 

 place or court, before a church, making part of what was 

 called the narthex, or ante-temple. 



The atrium, in the ancient churches, was a large area, or 

 fquare plat of ground, furrounded with a portico or cloyller, 

 fituate between the porch or veflible of the church, and the 

 body of the church. 



Some have miftakenly confounded the atrium with the 

 porch or veftible, from which it was dilHnft ; others with 

 the narthex, of which it was only a part. 



The atrium was the manfion of tliofe who were not fuf- 

 fered to enter farther into the church. More particularly, 

 it was the place where the firft clafs of penitnits ftood, 

 to beg the pi-ayers of the faithful, as they went into the 

 church. 



Atrium is alfo ufed, in the Canon Law, for '.he ceme- 

 tery, or church-yard. 



In this fenfe we find a law, prohibiting buildii '<s to be 

 raifed in atrio ecclejts, except for the clergy ; . lUch tiio 

 gloffary explains thus : id eft in ca-meteno, which inclnd';; 

 the fpace of forty paces round a large church, or ihirf 

 round a little church or chapel. 



ATROPA, in Botany, (from Atropos, the third fai . . 

 who was fuppolcd to "cut the thread of hfe) //<■.','> 

 mgkfiade, Ua. g. 2J,g. Schreb. 335. JufT. 125. Gaat.i. 

 t. 131. Clafs, pentanilrla mono^iynia. Nat. Ord. /;.'-;"■*. 

 fohuiei. Juff. Gen. Char. Cat. perianth one-leafed, iive- 

 paited, gibbous; divifions acute, permanent. Cor. onc- 



A T R 



petalled, bcll-fhaptd ; tube very (hort ; border ventricofe, 

 ovate, longer than the calyx; mouth fmall, fivc-clcft, fprcad- 

 ing ; divifions fubequal. Slam. Filaments five, fubulate from 

 the bafe of the corolla, and of tlie fame length with it, 

 converging at the bafe, above diverging outwards, bowed ; 

 anthers lliickiih, rifing. Pifl. germ Icmiovatc ; llyle fili- 

 form, the length of tlic ftamens, inclined. Sligma headed, 

 rifing tranfverfcly, oblong. Per. berry globular, fitting oij 

 a large calyx, two celled. Rerfplacle fltfhy, convex on both 

 fides, reniform. Seeds, very many, reniform. 



EfT. Gen. Char. Cor. bell-lhapcd. Slam, diftant. Berry 

 globular, two-ctlled. 



Species, I. A. Mandragnra, mandrake. Wood v. Med. 

 Bot. t. 225. " Stcmlcfs, fcapts one-flowu-td'" Root 

 perennial, large, tapering, three or four feet long, exter- 

 nally brown, internally whitifli. From the crown of the 

 root arifes a circle of leaves, which arc large, ovate, finu- 

 ated ; veined, they fit tlofe to the root, and are of a deep 

 green colour, and fetid fmell ; among thefe arifc three or 

 four (hort (lender fcapes, each fupporiing a lingle flower 

 of an herbaceous white colour ; fruit a globular foft btrry 

 of a yellowidi colour, and about the lize of a nutmeg. 

 A native of the fouth of Europe. It was cultivated here, 

 according to Turner, in 1562. The fupeiftitious and abfurd 

 ftories related of the mandrake would not now for a moment 

 impofe on the molt credulous and ignoi-ant. The fuppottd. 

 refemblance of fome of the roots to the human form, the 

 danger of taking them out of the ground, as well as their 

 furprifing effects, feem to have been the invention of cliar- 

 latanical knavery and impoiliire. Boerhaave ufed the 

 leaves as a cataplafm with fuccefs in cafes of indurated 

 tumours, and Hoffberg experienced the hke effeds from 

 the roots in glandular Iwellings ; the latter alfo found that 

 three grains of the root given internally had a coiifiderable 

 narcotic effcil in mitigating arthritic pains. See Woodv. 

 1. c. 2. A. belladonna, deadly iiight{hadc, Hudf. 93. With. 

 252. Smith. Brit. 255. Curt. Lond. 5. t. 16. Woodv. 

 Med. Bot. t. 1. Eng. Bot. 592. " Stem herbaceous; 

 leaves ovate, entire." Root perennial, thick, flelhy, creep- 

 ing ; ftalks herbaceous, annual, eredl, firm, three feet high, 

 round, branched, leafy, fubpubefcent ; leaves lateral, two 

 together, of an unequal fize, petioled, ovate, acute, entire, 

 fmoothifti, and of a dull green colour ; peduncles lateral, 

 fubaxiUary, folitary, one-flowered, nodding ; flowers of a 

 dirty violet colour ; calyx rather pubefccnt, vifcous ; anthers 

 large, white ; berry dcprefTed, furrowed ; when ripe of a 

 fiunino- black colour, and abounding with a purple juice. 

 It grows in wafte-ground and gloomy lanes, &c. This 

 plant has been long known as a vciy llrong poilon of the 

 narcotic kind ; the berries, which arc faid to be lefs power- 

 fully fo than the leaves, have produced many inllances of 

 their fatal cffeds, particularly upon children, who are readily 

 tempted to eat this fruit by its alluring appearance and 

 fweet tarte. ^V■hether thefe berries eaten in difTereiit ftatc* 

 of maturity renders them more or lefs deleterious, has not 

 been afcertained; but we are told that in fome^inftancej, one 

 berry, or even half of one, has produced a fatal efi"e£t : 

 while Haller informs us, that he has feen a fellow-ftudent of 

 his eat more than three or four without fuifering any incon- 

 venience from them. The fymptoms produced by this 

 poilon are vertigo, delirnim, great thirft, painful deglutition, 

 and retching, followed by furor, ftridor dcntium, and con- 

 vulfions ; the eye-iids are drawn down, the uvea dilated and 

 immoveable, the face becomes red and tumid, and fpafms 

 affect the mouth and jaw ; the fenfibility and irritability of 

 the body fuffer Inch great diminution, that large and re- 

 peated dofcs of the llrongeft emetics produce no fcnfible 



cfftcl ; 



