U M B 



U M E 



it has a fingle beard hanging down from its chin. Rondelet. 

 de Pifc. p. 182. See Sci.i;NA. 



Umcra, in Zoology, a fpecies of lacerta. See Lizard. 

 UMBRATILIS Pugna, the lighting with one's own 

 iliadow. 



This was one of the kinds of exercife much recommended 

 by the ancient phyficians ; they ordered the perfon who 

 ufed it, not only to box, but to wreftle, with his {hadow ; 

 that is, not only to ufe his arms, but his legs alfo, and often 

 to put himfclf into a leaping pofture, and throw his body 

 violently forward, and often to retreat haftily backwards. 

 The cuftom feems to have been of ancient date ; Plato ex- 

 prefsly mentions it, and St. Paul feems to allude to it in the 

 paffage where, glorying in the reality of his conflifts, he fays 

 he does not fight as one who beats the air. The phyficians 

 greatly recommended this exercife to people of fedentary 

 lives, and to thofe who had weak nerves, and were afflifted 

 with tremors. They etteemed it ufeful alfo m difeafes of 

 the kidneys, and of the thorax. 



UMBRE, in Mineralogy. See Umber. 

 Umbre, in Ornithology. See Scopus. 

 UMBRELLA, in Rural Economy, a well-known (hade 

 or guard from the fun or rain, formed by ftretching filk, 

 canvas, or any other linen or woollen fluff, over elaftlc ftrips 

 of whalebone, fo difpofed as to diverge from a central point 

 and make a circular covering, which may by means of a rod 

 or ftaff palling through the centre be held over the head, 

 when occalion requires it, or which may be drawn up 

 round this rod and conveniently carried in the hand. 

 Thefe temporary guards from heat or wet have not long 

 been introduced into our country, but they have been found 

 fo convenient and ufeful that they are now become very com- 

 mon. They feem to have been of much more ancient ufe 

 in the Eall. M. de la Loubere, who was envoy extraordi- 

 nary for the French king to the king of Siam, in the years 

 1687 and 1688, informs us in his " New Hiftorical Relation 

 of the Kingdom of Siam," a tranflation of which into Eng- 

 lifh was printed at London in 1693, ^^^^ the ufe of um- 

 brellas, in Siamefe Roum, was a favour which the king of 

 Siam did not grant to all his fubjeCts, although the umbrella 

 be permitted to all the Europeans. Thofe which are hke to 

 ours, or which have only one round, were the leaft honourable, 

 and were ufed by mod of the Mandarins. Thofe that had 

 more rounds about the fame handle, as if they were feveral 

 umbrellas fixed one upon another, were for the king alone. 

 Thofe which the Siamefe called " clot," and which had only 

 one round, having two or three painted cloths fufpended 

 from them, one lower than the other, were granted by the 

 king of Siam to the " Sancrats," or fuperiors of the " Ta- 

 lapoins." Thofe which he gave to the king's ambaffadors 

 were of this laft fort, and had three cloth hangings. The 

 Talapoins had umbrellas in the form of a fcrccn, which they 

 carried in their hands. They were formed of a kind of 

 palmetto leaf cut round and folded, and the folds were tied 

 with a thread near the ftem, and the ilem was made crooked 

 like an S, and fervcd for a handle. In the Siamefe language 

 they called them " Talapat," and it is probable, fays Lou- 

 bere, that from ht;»ce comes the name of " Talapoi" or 

 " Talapoin," which is in ufe only among foreigners, and 

 which is unknown to the Talapoins themfelvcs, whofe Sia- 

 mefe name is " Tchaou-cou." 



An umbrella, held in a proper pofition over the head, 

 may ferve to coUeft the force of a diftant found by reflec- 

 tion, in the manner of a hearing-trumpet ; but its fubftance 

 is too flight to refleft any found very perfeftly, unlefs the 

 found fall upon it in a very oblique direftion. The whif- 

 jpering gallery at St. Paul's produces an effeft nearly fimilar, 



by a continual repetition of refleftions. Mr. Charles's pa- 

 radoxical exhibition of the invifible girl has alfo been (aid 

 to depend on the refleftion of found ; but the deception is 

 really performed by conveying the found through pipes, 

 artfully concealed and opening oppolite to the mouth of 

 the trumpet from which it feems to proceed. Young's 

 Philofophy. 



U.MBRELLA-TVff, in Gardening, the common Englifh 

 name of a very ornamental tree. See Magnolia. 



UMBRETTA, in Ornithology. See ScopUS. 



UMBRIA, in Ancient Geography, a large country of 

 Italy, bounded on the N. by a part of GaUia Cifpadana, 

 on the N.E. by the Adriatic gulf, on the E. by Picenum, 

 and on the W. by the Apennines, which feparated it from 

 Etruria. This country, which was very mountainous, con- 

 tained in its northern part the Senonois. It was divided 

 into two parts by the Apennines, and took its name, a; 

 fome have faid, from the Greek 0/ji(3^o-, Imber, becaufe, as 

 they fay, without fufficient reafon, rain inundates this coup.- 

 try. Propertius fays of it : 



" Proxima fuppofito contingens L^mbria campo 

 Me genuit terris fertilis uberibus." 



Ptolemy mentions feveral towns as belonging to this coun- 

 try, the names of feveral of which are now unknown. To 

 the N. of this country lies the Rubicon, which ferves as a 

 boundary to Italy, properly fo called. 



Umbria, in Ger.graphy. See Spoleto. 



UMBRIATICO, a town of Naples, in Calabria Citra, 

 the fee of a bifhop, fuffragan of St. Severina ; 57 miles E. 

 of Cofenza. N. lat. 39° 27'. E. long. 17' 6'. 



UMBRINO, in Ichthyology, a name ufed by fome au- 

 thors for the c'jracintis, or umbra, as fome call it. The um- 

 brino has by fome been elleemed a diflintl fpecies of fifh 

 from the coracinus ; but they feem to differ no other way 

 than as the one is the older, the other the younger fifh. 

 Willughby's Hill. Fife. p. 330. 



UMBRO, Ombro, or O.MBROXE, in Ancient Geography, 

 a river of Italv, in Etruria, commencing N.E. of Sena, and 

 difcharging itfelf into the fea near Ruffellse. 



UMBUNCULUS, in Natural Hijlory, a name given 

 by ancient authors to the fmall prominences on the fur- 

 faces of certain Hones. It was originally derived from the 

 word umbo, which expreffes the prominent knob, or round 

 lump in the centre of a fhield ; and its firll ufe that we find 

 in the naturalifls is, in exprefling a very fimilar thing ; that 

 is, the prominent part of the zmilampis. This was a flone 

 of the nature of what we call oculis beli, or bcUochio, and 

 was of a white ground, and roundifh figure, fomewhat re- 

 fembling an eye. It was found in the Euphrates, and 

 other rivers, and had always an umbunculus of a glaucous 

 or bhieifh colour. This umbunculus was a prominent round 

 fpot, fuch as we fee in our oculi beli, and call ihe pupil. It 

 was afterwards ufed to exprefs the inequalities on the fur- 

 faces of flints and agates, which frequently are roundifh and 

 obtuie, and reprefent a kind of umbones. 



UMDOOM, in Geography, a town of Nubia; 10 miles 

 N. of Chiggre. 



UMEA, a fea-port town of Sweden, in Weft Bothnia, 

 at the mouth of a river of the fame name, in the gulf of 

 Bothnia, built by Guflavus Adolphus, with a good harbour. 

 This town was twice burned by the Ruffians in the begin- 

 ning of the 1 8th century. N. lat. 63° 52'. E. long. 20" 4'. 



UMEABY, a town of Sweden ; 60 miles N.W. of 

 Umea. 



UMELHEDEGI, a town of Africa, in the country of 

 Tafilct; 66 miles S.W. of Sugulmeffa. 



UMEL- 



