ZEN 



Vcterum Perfarum are fimply modern language in ancient 

 charaftcrs. 



In the "Memoirs of the Royal Society of Gottingen 

 for 1799," '• ^- " Commentationes Societatis Regi^ Scien- 

 tiarum Gottingenfis, &c." we have a memoir by M. 

 Chriftopher Meiners, who enters into a critical examination 

 of the authenticity and antiquity of the books published 

 by M. Anquetil du Perron, as genuine writings of Zo- 

 roafter ; and alleges many plaufible arguments to prove 

 them recent and fpurious. He fliews, that they contain 

 a multitude of fables, totally unknown to the ancient 

 Perlians, and contrary to the fpirit of their laws and reli- 

 gion ; and alio many opinions and ceremonies, which had 

 their firll rife many ages after Zoroafter. The differtations 

 of profefTor Meiners, relating to the Zendavefta, are printed 

 in the 8th volume of the Novi Commentarii Soc. PvCg. 

 Getting.; and in the ill and 3d volumes of the Commen- 

 tationes. 



Some have thought that the truths which are obfervable 

 in Zendavefta, Vendidad Sadi, and other writings of the 

 eaftern nations, were derived from the difciples of Nefto- 

 rius, who were found very early on the coaft of Malabar. 

 But this, Mr. Bryant thinks, is a groundlefs furmife ; be- 

 caufe the religious fefts, among which thefe writings have 

 been preferved, are widely feparated, and mofl; of them 

 have no conneftion with Malabar or the Chrillians of that 

 quarter. And befides, the Brahmins and Banians adhere 

 clofely to their own rites, and abhor all other perfuafions ; 

 and they are influenced by cuftoms and fcruples, which pre- 

 vent their iiitercourfe with other people. In their writings 

 there occurs no trace of Chriftianity, or of its founder ; 

 and thence Mr. Bryant infers, that whatever truths may be 

 found in the writings of thefe people, they were derived 

 from a higher fource, and by a different channel. See Anal, 

 of Anc. Mythology, vol. iii. p. 599, &c. 



We (haU terminate this article with adding, that Dr. 

 Hyde prefented the copy of part of the Zend writings in 

 his poflefGon to the univerfity of Oxford ; and that the 

 whole Zend was afterwards brought from India by Mr. 

 Frazer, and is lodged with his other oriental MSS. in the 

 RadchfF library at Oxford. 



ZENDERO, in Geography. See GiNGlRO. 



ZENDEROUD. See Zeinderood. 



ZENDGIN Serai, a town of Grand Bucharia ; 30 

 miles S. of Samarcand. 



ZENDORFF, a town of the duchy of Stiria ; 12 miles 

 E. of Landfperg. 



ZENECHDON, a term ufed by the Arabian phyficians 

 for a preparation of arfenic, for external ufe ; zeech being 

 their name for arfenic. 



ZENEXTOR, one of the many names by which the 

 chemifts have called mercury. 



ZENGAN, Zenigan, or Zinjan, in Geography, a town 

 of Perfia, in the province of Irak, faid to have been forti- 

 fied many years before the Chriftian era, and at one time to 

 have contained 20,000 houfes. It was entirely deftroyed by 

 Timur Bee when he firft pafled through that part of Perfia ; 

 but being informed that it had long been the feat of learn- 

 ing and fcience, on his return from Turkey he in part rebuilt 

 it. Since that time it has been frequently facked and de- 

 ftroyed by the Tartars and the Turks. It contained in the 

 17th century about 2000 houfes. It is a large, and now 

 apparently a profperous town, capital of the extenfive dif- 

 trift of Khunifeh, which is 7 1 miles down an uneven country, 

 full of deep ravines, from hence to the banks of the Kizilo- 



ZEN 



zien, or golden ftream, the natural boundaries of Irak and 

 Azerbijan ; 2 1 miles N.W. by W. of Sultania. 



ZENGH. See Segna. 



ZENGHI, a river of Armenia, which rims into the 

 Aras, 10 miles S. of Erivan. 



ZENGIFUR, a word by which fome of the chemical 

 writers have exprefled cinnabar. 



ZENGITZA, in ^Indent Geography, a promontory of 

 Africa, in Ethiopia, upon the gulf of Barbary. Ptolemy. 



ZENGUIA, in Geography, a town of Syria, in the pa- 

 chahc of Aleppo, on the Euphrates; 55 miles N.N.E. of 

 Aleppo. 



ZENHAGA. SeeZANHAGA. 



ZENI, a word ufed by many of the chemical writers as 

 a name for vitriol. 



ZENIC, or Zenik, in Zoology, a fpecies of weafel. See 



ViVERRA. 



ZENICON, the name of a poifon, compofed of feveral 

 ingredients, and ufed to poifon the tips of the arrows with 

 which the Cekic hunters (hot at tlie hearts they purfued for 

 food. The poifon was known to be of that quick fpread- 

 ing nature, that as foon as the beaft was fallen, the huntf- 

 man ran up to it, and cut out a large piece of the fleih about 

 the wound immediately, to hinder the venom from fpreading 

 farther. The antidote to this poifon was fuppofed to be 

 the leaves of oak, beech, and other trees. 



ZENIEH, in Geography, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in 

 Caramania ; 15 miles of Selefkeh. 



ZENITH, in AJlroiwmy, is derived from an Arabic 

 word fignifying^oin/, and is that peculiar point in the vifible 

 celeftial hemifphere, which, at a given time, is vertical to 

 a fpeftator, fituated on any part of the earth's furface, 

 and from which, if a perpendicular line were demitted 

 through the place of the fpeAator, it would proceed to the 

 centre of the earth. Of all the points in the apparent con- 

 cavity of the vifible hemifphere, the %emth point is the moft 

 interelling ; it is not only the pole of the local horizon of 

 every place, and of all parallels of altitude, but is the 

 point to which all the grand circles of the fphere are re- 

 ferred, and through which not only the great circles con- 

 nefting the cardinal points, but all the circles of azimuth 

 pafs and interfeft one another ; and further, it is the only 

 point in the celeftial expanfe that is not affefted by atmo- 

 fpheric refra&ion. If the earth had no annual or diurnal 

 motion, nor any nutation of its axis, the zenith of each place 

 on the earth's furface would be fo many fixed points in the 

 heavens ; but as none of thefe is the cafe, the aCtual zenith 

 of every place, except over the two poles of the earth, is 

 continually changing. The annual orbit of the earth i» 

 indeed fo fmall in comparifon of the diftance of a ftar from 

 it, that the parallax arifing therefrom is too fmall to be ap- 

 preciable with certainty even by the beft inftruraeuts ; but 

 the efieft of nutation of the earth's axis is very perceptible, 

 as is alfo the aberration of light occafioned by the earth's 

 progrefs in its annual orbit ; and thefe will both coufpire to 

 render the apparent a little different from the true zenith. 

 It is, however, the earth's diurnal motion that produce* the 

 principal change in the celeftial fituation of the zenith ; for 

 as this planet revolves on its axis, any given place on its fur- 

 face has a correfponding fucceflion of zeniths, whicii defcribe 

 a circle, at the diftance of its co-latitude from the neareft 

 pole; and hence a fuccelfion of ftars fituated in this circle 

 will appear to tranfit the zenith in a diredion contrary to 

 that of the earth's diurnal motion in every fidereal day, or 

 time of one entire rotation. Hence, though the zenith of 

 any place may be confidered as a fixed point in the heavens, 

 U 2 as 



