Z E R 



ZEREA, in Geography, a town and fortrefa of Pcrfia, 

 in Farfiftan : this town was taken by the troops of Timur 

 B€C, with great (laughter ; i8 miles N.N.E. of Schiras. 



ZEREB, a town of Perfia, in the province of Segeftan ; 

 130 miles N.W. of Zarang. 



ZEREWICA, a town of Lithuania; 5 miles S.W. of 

 Slonim. 



ZERIB, a town of Kurdiftan ; 25 miles W. of Gu- 



lamerik. r 1 1^ • 1 



ZERICHUM, a name given by fome of the chemical 



writers to arfenic. 



ZERKI, in Geography, a town of Kurdiftan ; 30 miles 



S.W. of BetUs. 



ZERKWITZ, a town of Lufatia ; z miles W. of 



Lubbenau. 



ZERMA. See Surma. 



ZERMAGNA, a river of Dalmatia, which runs into 

 the Adriatic, oppofite Pago. 



ZERMONY, a town of Lithuania; 10 miles N.W. 

 of Lida. 



ZERNA, a mountain of Carinthia ; 3 miles N.W. of 

 Milftatt. 



Zerna, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to 

 exprefs an ulcerated lepra or impetigo. The chemical au- 

 thors ufe it alfo as a name for the foulneffes which they call 

 the leprte metallontm, or leprofies of metals. 



ZERNEMBL, or Tscherxemel, in Geography, a town 

 of the duchy of Carniola, on a fmall river which runs into 

 the Kulpa ; 4 miles S.S.W. of Rudolfswerth. N. lat. 45° 

 50'. E. long. 15° 5'. 



ZERNENSIUM ColoniA, \n Ancient Geography, a co- 

 lony of Dacia, founded by Trajan. 



ZERNETZ, in Geography, a town of Switzerland, in 

 the Upper Engadine. In the late war it was taicen by the 

 French, and foon after retaken by the Auftrians ; 8 miles 

 N. of Zultz. 



ZERNITZ. SeeCzERNETz. 



ZERO, a river of Italy, which runs into the fea, 7 

 miles N. of Venice. 



Zero, denotes the point from which the fcale of a ther- 

 mometer is graduated. Thus Celfnis's and Reaumur's 

 thermometers have their zero at the freezing-point, while the 

 thermometerof Fahrenheithas its zero at that point at which it 

 ftands when immerfed in a mixture of fnow and common fait. 

 In Wedgwood's pyrometer, the zero correfponds with 1077° 

 of Fahrenheit's, each degree of which is equal to 130° of 

 Fahrenheit. Confequently 180'^ Fahr. = 100° Celf. = 

 80° Reaum. = 150° De Lifle = i| Wedgw. See Ther- 

 mometer. 



ZEROGERE, in Ancient Geography, a town of India, 

 on this fide of the Ganges, E. of the river Namadus. 

 Ptolemy. 



ZEROWITZ, in Geography, a town of Bohemia, in 

 the circle of Bechin ; 3 miles W.S.W. of Potfchaken. 



ZERREH, or ZuRRAH, Lake of, a lake of Perfia, in 

 the province of Seiftan or Segeltan, into which the river 

 Heermund, or Hindmund, (the ancient Etymander,) navi- 

 gable for boats from Boft to Zarang, flows through the 

 centre of it, from the mountains of Huzara, beyond Ca- 

 bul. This lake is faid to be 30 furfungs in length, and 6 

 in breadth, or about 100 miles long, and 20 broad at the 

 wideft part. It is principally formed by the waters of the 

 rivers Heermund and Ferrah, and in the dry feafon refem- 

 bles more a marfh than a lake, being covered with rulhes and 

 reeds. In the middle the water is frefh ; but brackifh to- 

 wards the fhore, ae the fandy plains which furround it are 



9 



Z E S 



impregnated with fait. The lake is full of fi(h and wild 

 fowl ; and in its centre there is a fortified town, called 

 " Kookhozerd," built on a high ifland, where the treafure 

 of the principal families of Seiftan ufed to be depofited 

 when the province was invaded. It is laid that on the bor- 

 ders of this lake is a town named " Naffarabad," which is 

 defcribed as being four dayb' journey for a loaded camel, W. 

 of the city of Dooftiak, the prefent capital of the province. 



ZERTA, or Serta, the Zerte, or Serte, in Ichthyology, 

 a fifh caught in the rivers of Italy, and fome other places, 

 of the figure of the chub, and called by authors capita ana- 

 dromus, and the blike. It lelJom grows to more than ten 

 pounds weight, and at times lives in rivers, at times in the 

 fea ; and is efteemed a very well tafted fifh, efpecially a little 

 before the feafon of its fpawning, either frefh, falted, or 

 prepared in various ways by pickling, &c. 



The zerte is that fpecies of cyprinus defcribed by Gefner 

 and others under the name of capita anadromus. See Cypri- 

 NUs Fimba. 



This is the filvery-blueifh carp, olivaceous above, with 

 the dorfal, caudal, and anal fin blueifh, the reft reddifh, and 

 the nofe protuberant. It is a native of Germany, Ruffia, 

 Sweden, and other parts of Europe, inhabiting rivers, and 

 migrating into the Baltic fea. 



ZERVINKA, in Geography, a town of Servia, on the 

 Danube ; 10 miles N.W. of Belgrade. 



ZERUIS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Thrace, on 

 the route from Dyrrachiumto Byfance, between Dymae and 

 Plotinopolis. Anton. Itin. 



ZERUMBET, in Botany, a name firft ufed by Serapio, 

 and apparently either of Arabian or Indian origin. It be- 

 longs to one of the aromatic roots of the natural order of 

 Scilaminete, the produce of the Eaft Indies, but rather to a 

 Kiempferia, than to the fpecies of Ginger to which Linnaeus 

 has applied it. ( See Zingiber. ) Dale has very juftly ob- 

 ferved on this fubjeft, Pharmacologia, 275, that in the pre- 

 fent inftance, as well as innumerable others, the Arabian 

 writers are fo brief, as well as vague, in their defcriptions, 

 and fo contradiftory amongft themfelves, that we can 

 fcarcely tell whether they were acquainted with any particu- 

 lar objeft or not. 



Wendland, Jacquin, and Poiret, (Lamarck Dift. v. 8. 

 857,) have moft unaccountably made a genus of Alpinia 

 nutans, and called it Zerumbet ; but this cannot on any prin- 

 ciple be maintained. 



Z E R YNTHUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Thrace, 

 which had a cavern of the fame name, and which the an- 

 cients called Zerynthium Antrum. This cavern was con- 

 fecrated to Hecate, to whom they facrificed dogs. Suid.is. 



ZERZEN, in Geography, a town of Arabia, in Yemen ; 

 36 miles S.E. of Ghezar. 



ZESEMITZ, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 

 Chrudim ; 8 miles N. of Chrudim. 



ZESSEL, a town of Silefia, in the principality of Oels; 

 5 miles N.E. of Oels. 



ZEST, the woody thick fkin quartering the kernel of 

 a walnut. Some phyficians prefcribe this zefl, dried, and 

 taken with white wine, as a remedy againfl the gravel. 



The word is alfo ufed for a chip of orange or lemon- 

 peel J fuch as is ufually fqueezed into ale, wine, &c. to 

 give it a flavour ; or for the fine thin oil that fpurts out of 

 that peel on fqueezing it. 



Hence, to zeft an orange or lemon, among confeftioners, 

 is to cut the peel from top to bottom into fmall flips, as 

 thin as poflible ; or, to zeft, is to fqueeze the peel over the 

 furface of any thing. 



ZESTO- 



