6 
IMB 
I M P 
IMP 
all respects to answer for this purpose equally 
well with the hawthorn. The wood is used 
in fineering, and is sometimes stained black 
to imitate ebony. Handles for knives, and 
cogs for mill-wheels, are made of it. Mr 
Miller says, he has seen the floor of a room 
laid with compartments of holly and ma- 
hogany, which had a very pretty effect. 
ILIAC Passion. See Medicine. 
1LLECEBRUM, a genus of the monogy- 
nia order, in the pentandria class of plants, 
and in the natural method ranking under 
the 12th order, holoraceae. The calyx is 
pentaphyllous, and cartilaginous ; there is no 
corolla; the stigma is simple; the capsule 
quinquevalved, and monospermous. There 
are 21 species, of which the most remarkable 
are the paronychia and thecapitatum. Both 
these have trailing stalks near two feet long, 
which spread on the ground, furnished with 
small leaves like those of knot-grass. The 
heads of the flowers come out from the joints 
of the stalks, having neat silvery bractete 
surrounding them, which make a pretty ap- 
pearance. Their flowers appear in June, and 
there is generally a succession of them for at 
least two months ; and when the autumn | 
proves warm, they wijl ripen their seeds in 
October. 
ILLIC1UM, a genus of the pentagvnia 
order, in the dodecandria class of plants, and 
in the natural method ranking with those of 
which the order is doubtful. The calyx is 
tetraphyllous, and deciduous; there are eight 
petals, and eight petaloid snbulated nectaria. 
There are 16 stamina with bilid anthers; the 
capsules are ovate, compressed, and mono- 
spermous. There are two species, via. 
1. The floridanum, with red flowers, and very 
odorous fruit. It is a native of China. 2. The 
anisatum, a native of the woods of China and 
Japan. The lirst is a very ornamental plant, 
and now common in our greenhouses. 
ILLUMINATING, a kind of miniature- 
painting, antiently much practised for illus- 
trating and adorning books. Besides the 
writers of books, there were artists whose 
profession was to ornament and paint manu- 
scripts, who were called Illuminators: the 
writers of books first finished their part, and 
the illuminators embellished them with or- 
namented letters and paintings. We fre- 
quently find blanks left in manuscripts for the 
illuminators, which were never filled up. 
Some of the autient manuscripts are gilt and 
burnished in a style superior to later times. 
Their colours were excellent, and their skill 
in preparing them must have been very 
gr^at. 
IMAM, a name applied by the Mahomet- 
ans to him who is head of the congregation 
in their mosques; and by way of eminence to 
him who has the supreme authority both in 
respect to spirituals and temporals. 
IMBEZLE, signifies to steal, pilfer, or pur- 
loin, and also to waste or diminish goods, &c. 
entrusted to a person’s charge and care, lin- 
bezlers of wool forfeit double damages, and 
may be committed to the house of correction i 
till paid ; and servants imbezling their mas- 
ters’ goods to the value of 40s. arc deemed 
guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. 
IMBRICATED, among botanists, an ap- 
pellation given to such leaves of plants, as are 
placed over one another like the tiles of a 
house. The term Is likewise applied to some 
of the heart-shells, from their being ridged 
transversely in the same manner. 
IMMEMORIAL: in a legal sense, a thing 
is said to be of time immemorial, or time out 
of mind, that was before the reign of king 
Edward II. 
IMMERSION, in astronomy, is when a 
star or planet is so near the sun with regard 
to our observations, that we cannot see it ; 
being enveloped and hid in the rays of that 
luminary. It also denotes the beginning of 
an eclipse of the moon, or that moment when 
the moon beg'ns to be darkened, and to enter 
into the shadow of the earth ; and the same 
term is also used with regard to an eclipse of 
the sun, when the disk of the moon begins to 
cover it. In this sense emersion stands op- 
posed to immersion, and signifies the moment 
wherein the moon begins to come out of the 
shadow of the earth, or the sun begins to 
shew tiie parts of his disk which were hid be- 
fore.. Immersion is frequently applied to the 
satellites of Jupiter, and especially to the 
first satellite; the observation of which is of 
so much use for discovering the longitude. 
The immersion of that satellite is the moment 
in which it appears to enter within the disk 
of Jupiter, and its emersion the moment 
j when it appears to come out. The immer- 
sions are observed from the time of the con- 
| junction of Jupiter with the sun, to the time 
of his opposition; and the emersions from the 
time of his opposition to his conjunction. 
IMPALED, in heraldry: when the coats 
of a man and his wife who is not an heiress 
are borne in l he same escutcheon, they must 
be marshalled in pale; the husband’s on the 
right side, and the wife’s on the left : and this 
the heralds call baron and feme, two coats 
impaled. See Heraldry. 
IMPARLANCE, in law, a petition in 
court for a day to consider or advise what 
answer the defendant shall make to the plain- 
tiff’s action, and is the continuance ot the 
cause till another day, or a longer time given 
by the court. 
An imparlance is general or special ; gene- 
ral is when it is entered in general terms, 
without any special clause therein; special is 
where the defendant desires a further day to 
answer. And this last imparlance is of use 
to plead some matters, which cannot be 
pleaded after a general imparlance. 
It is said that imparlance was formerly 
from day (o day, but now it is from one term 
to another. In case the plaintiff amends his 
declaration after the same is delivered or 
filed, the defendant may in course imparl to 
the next term afterwards, unless the plaintiff 
pays costs; but if he does, and they are ac- 
cepted, the defendant may not have an im- 
parlance. Likewise the not delivering a de- 
claration in time is sometimes the cause of 
imparlance; and when the plaintiff declares, 
yet does not proceed in three terms after, in 
such ease the defendant may imparl to the 
next succeeding term. But there are divers 
cases wherein imparlances are not to be 
given : as where a person is sued by an at- 
torney or any other privileged person of the 
court, in an assize, one may not imparl, ex- 
cept good cause be given ; nor shall there be 
imparlance in action of special clausum fre- 
git, &c. _ 
IMPATIENS, the common balsam, or 
noli ,me tangere, a genus of the class and or- 
der syngeaesia monogamia. The calyx is 
two-leaved ; corolla five-petalled, irregular, 
with a cowled nectarium ; capsule superior, 
five-valved. There are 12 species, all an- 
nuals. The noli me tangere is indigenous to 
Britain, and lias its specific name from the 
capsule shooting forth its seeds to a great 
distance when touched. 
IMPEACHMENT, is the accusation and 
prosecution of a person in parliament, for trea- 
son or other crime and misdemeanor. An im- 
peachment before the lords by the commons 
of Great Britain, is a presentment to the most 
high and supreme court of criminal jurisdic- 
tion, by the most solemn, grand inquest of 
the whole kingdom. A commoner cannot 
be impeached before the lords for any capital 
offence, but only for high misdemeanors ; but 
a peer may be impeached for any crime. 
The articles of impeachment are a kind of 
bill of indictment, found by the house of 
commons, and afterwards tried by the lords, 
w ho are in cases of misdemeanors considered 
not only as their own peers, but as the peers 
of the whole nation. By stat. 12 and 13 W. 
c. 2. no pardon under the great seal shall be 
pleadable to an impeachment by the com- 
mons in parliament. 4 Black. 259. 
In the case of Warren Hastings, in the year 
1791, it was solemnly determined that* im- 
peachments do not abate by a dissolution of 
parliament. 
Impeachment of waste, signifies a re- 
straint iroin committing of waste upon lands 
and tenements ; and therefore he that has a 
lease without impeachment of waste, has by 
that a property or interest given him in the 
houses and trees, and may make waste in 
them without being impeached for it, that is, 
without being questioned or demanded any 
ivcompence for the waste done. 1 1 liep. 
82. 
IMPEDIMENTS in law. Persons un- 
der impediments are those within age, under 
coverture, non compos mentis, in prison, or 
beyond seas, who, by a saving in our laws, 
have time to claim and prosecute the right, 
after the impediments removed, in case of 
fines levied, &c. 
I M PE NATIVE, one of the moods of a 
verb, used when we would command, entreat, 
or advise. 
I M PE BATOR I A, mast cr Ivor t, a genus of 
the digynia order, in the pentandria class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 45th order, umbeliatse. The fruit 
is roundish, compressed in the midfile, gib- 
bous, and surrounded with a border : the 
petals are inflexo-eniarginated. There is but 
one species, viz. the ostruthium, a native of 
the Austrian and Stythian Alps, and other 
mountainous places "of Italy. The plant is 
cultivated in gardens for the sake of its roots, 
which are used in medicine. The root has a 
flavour similar to that of angelica, and is 
esteemed a good sudorific. There are in- 
stances of its having cured the ague when 
the bark had failed. It should be dug up in 
winter, and a strong infusion made in wine 
IMPERFECT, someth ng that is defec- 
tive, or that wants some of the properties 
found in other beings of the same kind: thu4 
mosses are called imperfect plants, because 
almost all the parts of fructification are w ant- 
ing in them ; and for the like reason is the 
appellation imperfect given to the fungi and 
submarine plants. See Moss, Fungi, and 
Submarine. 
