AVE 



AVE 



Averroes could liave little time for the piaftice of phyfio, 

 whence Bayle, as well as fevcral other writers, have fuppofed, 

 that his knowledge of medicine was merely theoretical, yet 

 we have the authoiity of his own words to prove, he was 

 engaged in the praftice alfo, though probably to no great 

 extent. One obfervation (Friend fays) we find made by 

 him, which does not occur in any earlier writer, is " that 

 the fame perfon could have the fmall-pox but once." His 

 principal medical work, tlie " CoUiget," or " Univcrfal," 

 written at tiie command of the Miraniamolin of Morocco, 

 is a compendium of phyfic, colleftcd from the writings of 

 other authors, with iome not very material additions from 

 his own flures. He wrote alfo a Commentary on the Can- 

 tica of Avicenna, which he calls the beft. introduiSlon to 

 the knowledjre of medicine extant. This affords a com- 

 plete arifwer to thole who accufe him of having been jealous 

 of the fame of that celebrated phyfician. As a proof, how- 

 ever, that he regarded him as a rival, it is alleged, that he 

 avoids the mention of him, and in confuting a doftrine 

 maintained by Avicenna, he treats it merely as the opinion 

 of Galen. Befides the works above mentioned, Averroes 

 wrote, "DeVenenis," " De Febribus," « De Theriaca," 

 and " De Simplicibus Mediciiiis ;" all of which have been 

 tranflated into Latin, and publilTied in various forms. Avtr- 

 roes wrote many other tieatifesin theology, philofophy, ju- 

 rifprudence, and medicine. In the Efcuria! catalogue (t. i. 

 p, zgg.), mention is made of an index of his books, amount, 

 ing in all to feventy-eight. His commentary on Ariftotle 

 was publiflied in Latin, at Venice, in folio, in 1495. ■^" 

 edition of his works was publidied in 4to., at Lyons, in 

 1J37 ; another, in folio, with the famous Latin tranflation, 

 by Bagolin, at Venice, in 1552 ; and a third by Moffa, at 

 Venice, in 1608. Of thcMSS. preferved in different libra- 

 ries, and particularly at Vienna, many are either Hebrew 

 trandations from the Arabic, or Arabic written in Hebrew 

 charaftere. 



As to the religious opinions of Averroes, he was by pro- 

 feflion a Mahometan ; but he does not feem to have enter- 

 tained any great reverence for his prophet. It is related of 

 him, that he called Chriftianity an impoflible religion, be- 

 caufe it taught men to eat their god ; fimilarto the reflection 

 of Cicero (De Nat. Deor. 1. iii. c. 16.), when he confidered, 

 that the name of Ceres was given to bread, and that of 

 Bacchus to wine : " Ecquem tarn amentem effe putas qui 

 illud, quo vefcatur, Deum credat effe I" that Judaifm, on 

 account of its rites and ceremonies, was a religion for chil- 

 dren ; that Mahometanifm, offering only fenfual rewards, 

 was the religion of fwine ; and that lie exclaimed, " Let my 

 foul, at death, be amonp; the philofophers." It is alfo faid, 

 that he wrote againft the three great law-givers, Mofes, 

 Chrift, and Mahomet ; and that he furniflied materials for 

 the bpok " De tribus Impoftoribns." His doftrine con- 

 cerning the foul is fuppofed, not to have been peculiarly 

 his own, but to have been afferted by Ariftotle, and to have 

 been embraced by Theophrailus, Simplicius, and Themif- 

 tius ; which was this, that intellect does not exifl individu- 

 ally in this or that man ; but that there is one intelleft be- 

 longing to the whole race of human beings, the common 

 fource of all individual thought, as the fun is the common 

 fource of light to the world. Similar to this was the doc- 

 trine of MaTebranche, who afcribcd the produftion of ideas 

 immediately to God, and taught that the human mind per- 

 ceives God, and fees all things in him. Averroes, however, 

 proceeded farther ; and he leenis to have conceived, that 

 there was no other caufc of thought in individual men, than 

 one univerfal intelligence, which, without multiplying itfelf, 

 it attually united to all the individuals of th« fpccics, as a 



common foul. This notion, with its obvious confeqtienees, 

 as they concern the diiliuCt cxiitence and immortality of the 

 human foul, obtained fo much credit among philofophers 

 for feveral centuries, and particularly in Italy, where their 

 advocates were denominated " Averrhoills," that it was 

 thought ncceffary to employ the papal authority for its 

 fuppreffion. At prefent, the notions of Averroes are ex- 

 ploded, and his writings are forgotten. Dr. Friend (Hift, 

 Pliylic, p. 118.), anxious to vindicate Averroes from the 

 charge of infidelity, with regard to a future {late, refers to 

 two paffages in his works ; in one of which (Phyfic. Difput. 

 3.) he afferts, that the foul is not mortal ; and in another, 

 (Id. 4.) that it is immortal. Leo. Afric. de Vir. lUuffr. 

 Arab. Gen. Dift. Brucker's Philof. by Enfield, vol. ii, 

 p. 245, &c. Fabr. Bib. Grxc. t. xiii. p. 95. 282, &c. 

 Friend's Hill, of Phyfic, vol. ii. p. 1 15, &c. Haller, Bib. 

 Med. Praft. 



AVERRHOISTS, a feft of Peripatetic philofophers. 

 who appeared in Italy fom.e time before the reftoration of 

 learning, and attacked the natural immortality of the foul ; 

 and who took their denomination from Averrhoes. The 

 opinion of tliis feiil was condemned by the lall council of 

 the Lateran, under Leo X. 



AVERRUNCATION, from avcmmco, I prune, in 

 y}g>ic!ilture, the adl of cutting or lopping off the fuperfiuouB 

 branches of trees. Sec Pruning. 



AVERRUNCI, from avcrnmco, I av:-i-t, in j^nt'iqtiity,- 

 an order of deities among the Romans, whole peculiar office 

 was to avert dangers and evils. The Greeks called thefe 

 deities alexkari, and ap'^fompdi. They were Hercules, 

 Apollo, the Diofcuri, and Jupiter. 



The Egyptians had alio their dil averrtinci, or apotropti,. 

 who were pitlur.d in a menacing polhire, and fom.etimes 

 with whips in their hands. — Ifis was a divinity of this kind; 

 as is (hewn by Kircher. See Oedip. iEgypt. torn. iii. 

 P.4S7. 



AVERSA, in Geography, a town of Italy, in the king- 

 dom of Naples, and territovy of Lavora, the fee of a billiop, 

 who is fuffragan to the arehbilhop of Naples. This town 

 was built and fortified A.D. 1029, by count Rainulf, the 

 firtl leader of the Normans, who came into Italy to feek 

 their fortunes in the fervice of the Italian princes. The 

 f<;at of this town was choleu, in a tertile diftridt, as a cen- 

 tral fpot to which the Normans might refoit, and where 

 they might obtain a fixed fcttlement. Accordingly, it at- 

 tracted every year new fwarms of pilgrims and foldiers ; 

 fome urged by neceffity, and others by the hope of cafe 

 and renown. The outlaws of every province affociated 

 with the fettlers in this place, and were loon affimilatcd in 

 manners and language to the Gallic colony. The Ipot was 

 fituated near the ruins of Atella, at the juntlion of two 

 highways, that formed an eafy communication with every 

 part of the country, and from its being oppofed to Capua, 

 and from his averfion to Pandulph, prince of that city,. 

 Rainulf called it Averfa. This town was burnt to the 

 ground by kin?; Roger; and many years after, it underwent 

 a fimilar fate, by order of Charles of Anjou. Its ancient 

 palace, on the foundation of which a convent has been fince 

 creeled, was frequently the refidence of the fovereign, be- 

 fore the murder of Andrew of Hungary, hufband to Joan 

 the firll, who was affaffmated by the inlligation of a brutal 

 monk, called friar Robert, in the year 1 345. It is fitnated 

 ten miles north of Naples. N. lat. 41° o'. E. long. 14° 20', 

 AVERSATA, in Entomology, a fpecies of Phal/ena, 

 {Gi'omdra), with pale wings; Iheak at the bafe ; band in 

 the middle and dot brown. Linn. Fn. Suec. Inhabits Eu- 



rope, 



AVER. 



