id 
ADA 
omen, taken from the points or edges of spears, 
swords, &cc. 
ACUPUNCTURE, in the Chinese and Ja- 
panese surgery, a method of curing several 
disorders, by pricking the part affected with a 
needle. 
Phis operation is performed with a gold or 
silver needle, which they strike into the body 
with their hand, or with a hammer provided 
for that purpose. Not only the legs, arms, 
and the like parts, are pricked in this manner, 
but likewise the head and abdomen. 
They have recourse to acupuncture in the 
head for head-achs, lethargies, epilepsies, con- 
vulsions, diseases of the eyes, &c. and in the 
abdomen for colics, dysenteries, want of appe- 
tite, surfeits, &c. 
ACU'I E, an appellation given to such things 
as terminate in a sharp point or edge : thus, 
we say an acute angle, acute-angled triangle. 
See. See Geometry. 
Acute diseases, among physicians, those 
which suddenly rise to their crisis, and termi- 
nate in a few days. They are extremely dan- 
gerous, as not affording time to administer 
proper medicines. 
Acute, in music, an epithet given to sharp 
or shrill sounds, in opposition to those called 
grave. 
ACUTTATORES, in antiquity, a kind of 
smiths retained in the antient armies for sharp- 
ening the arms. 
ACUTITION, in grammar, the pronoun- 
cing, or marking, a syllable w ith an acute ac- 
cent. 
AD, a Latin preposition, expressing the re- 
lation of one thing to another. 
It is frequently prelixed to other words : 
thus. 
Ad best ins, in antiquity, a kind of punish- 
ment, which consisted in throwing the criminal 
to wild beasts. 
Ad hominem, among logicians, an argument 
drawn from the professed belief or principles 
of those with whom we argue. 
Ad libitum, at discretion, in music, the 
same with piace, or si piace. 
Ad ludos ,* in Roman antiquity, a kind of 
punishment, whereby the criminals entertained 
the people, either by fighting with wild beasts, 
or with each other. 
Ad metalla, in Roman antiquity, the pu- 
hishiueut of such criminals as were condemned 
to the mines, and therefore called metallici. A 
piece of excellent policy, thus to make the pu- 
nishment of rogues doubly subservient to the 
good ot the commonwealth. 
Ad valorem, among the officers of the king’s 
revenue, a term used for such duties, or cus- 
toms, as are paid according to the value of the 
goods sworn to by the owner. 
AD ACTED, in military affairs, is a term 
applied to stakes, or piles, driven into the 
earth by large malls shod with iron, as in secur- 
ing ramparts or pontoons. 
ADAGIO, softly, leisurely, in music, a term 
used to denote the slowest of all times, the 
grave only excepted. Sometimes it is repeated 
adagio adagio, to signify a still greater retarda- 
tion of time. 
ADALIDES, in Spain, officers of justice 
for matters that respect the military forces. 
ADAMANTINE spar. See Minera- 
logy. 
Adamantine, ternv, the sixth order of 
earths ; to this order belongs the corundum. 
ADAM! pomum, in anatomy, a promi- 
A D D 
rnmee in the fore part of the throat ; so called 
from an idle notion, that a piece of the forbid- 
den apple stuck in Adam’s throat, and occa- 
sioned this tumour, which in reality is only 
the convex part of the iirst cartilage of the 
larynx. 
ADAMIC earth, terra, adamica, a name 
by which some call the common red clay sup- 
posed to be the adamah, or ruddy earth, of 
which the first man was formed. 
ADAMITES, a sect of heretics who went 
naked ; pretending that mankind were restored 
to the original state of innocence, wherein 
Adam wast created. 
A DAN SONIA, Ethiopian sour gourd, or 
monkey’s head, is a genus of the monadelphia 
order and polyandria class, called after the fa- 
mous French traveller in Senegal, Adanson. 
I he essential character is, calyx simple, de- 
ciduous ; style very long ; stigmas many ; 
capsules woody, ten-celled, with farinaceous 
pulp, and many seeds. 
We know of but one species, the adansonia 
digitata. In its native country, Africa, it 
grows to a very large t; ee. Its Height how- 
ever is not above 12 or fifteen feet, but its cir- 
cumference is often riO or 70 feet. The fruit 
is pleasant, of an acid flavour, and eaten with 
sugar. The pulp, or a syrup made of it, is 
used in putrid fevers; and at Cairo the pulp 
reduced to a powder is administered in fluxes, 
dysenteries, &c. It has grown (from seeds 
sown in a hot-bed) to the height of 18 feet in 
our stoves. 
ADAR, in Hebrew chronology, the twelfth 
month of the ecclesiastical, and the sixth of 
the civil year. It has only twenty-nine days, 
and answers to the last half of our February 
and the iirst part of March. 
ADARCON, a coin mentioned in the scrip- 
tures, usually of gold, worth about 15 shil- 
lings. 
AD ARM E, in commerce, a small Spanish 
weight used in America, and nearly equivalent 
to our dram. 
ADCRESCENTES milites, under the Ro- 
man emperors, a kind of junior soldiers, not 
unlike our cadets. 
ADDER. See Coluber. 
ADDEXTRATORES, the pope’s mitre- 
bearers ; so called, according to Ducange, on 
account of their walking at the pope’s right 
hand, when he rides to visit the churches. 
ADDICTI, in Roman antiquity, slaves who 
were reduced to that state because they could 
not satisfy some creditor ; whose slaves they 
became till they could pay or work out the 
debt. 
ADDICTION, addictio, among the Ro- 
mans, was the making over of goods to ano- 
ther, whether in the way of sale, or by sen- 
tence of court : the goods so delivered* were 
called bona addicta. 
Debtors were sometimes delivered over in 
the same mariner, and thence called servi ad- 
dicti, as above. 
ADDITION, in arithmetic, the iirst of the 
four fundamental rules of that art : for this 
and addition of fractions and decimals, see 
Arithmetic. 
Addition, in algebra, is the connecting or 
putting together all the Viters or numbers to 
be added, with their proper signs -f- or — . 
See Algebra. 
Additions, in law, denote all manner of 
designations given to a mail, over and above 
liis proper name and surname, to show of 
ADD 
what estate, degree, mystery, place of abode, 
in c. lie is. 
Additions of degree, arc the same with 
titles of honour, or dignity: as knight, lord, 
earl, duke, &c. 
Additions of estate, are yeoman, gentle- 
man, esquire, &c. 
Additions of mystery or trade, are car- 
penter, mason, painter, engraver, &c. 
Additions of place or residence, are Lon- 
don, Edinburgh, Bristol, York, Glasgow, 
Aberdeen, &c. 
J hese additions were ordained to prevent 
one man’s being grieved, or molested, for an- 
other; and that every person might be cer- 
tainl) known, so as to bear his own burden. 
If a man is of different degrees, as duke, 
carl, & c. lie shall have the most worthy ; and 
the title of knight, or baronet, is part of the 
}«rty s name, and therefore ought to be right- 
ly used ; whereas that of esquire, or gentle- 
man, being as people please to call them, may 
be used or not, or varied at pleasure. 
An cail of Ii eland is no addition of honour 
here ; nay, the law-addition to the children of 
British noblemen is only that of esquire, com- 
monly called lord. 
\\ i its without the proper additions, if ex- 
cepted to, shall abate; only where the pro- 
cess of outlawry does not lie, additions are 
not necessary. 1 he addition of a parish not 
m any city, must mention the county, other- 
wise it is not good. 
Addition of ratios, the same with what 
is othuwise called composition of ratios. 
Addition, among distillers, a general term 
tor such things as are added to the wash, or 
liquid, while 'fermenting, with a view to in- 
crease the vinosity and quantitv of the spirit 
or to give it a particular flavour. 
Addition, in heraldry, something added 
to a coat of arms, as a mark of honour; and 
therefore directly opposite to abatement. 
Among additions we reckon a border, quar- 
ter, canton, gyron, pile, &c. In this manner 
the arms of a kingdom or state have been 
added l0 those of noblemen ; as happened to 
the dukes ot Boufliers and Ricl.lieu in the Ita- 
lian war, who, by a decree of the senate of 
Genoa, were permitted to add the ensigns of 
that republic to those of their families. 
• in music, a dot marked on the 
right side ot a note, to signify that it is to be 
sounded or lengthened half as much more as 
it would have been without such mark. 
ADDUCTOR, in anatomy, a general 
name for all such muscles as serve to draw 
one part of the body towards another. See 
Anatomy. 
AI)EB, in commerce, a weight used in 
rtg} pt> principally for weighing rice. 
pound Ub0UL two drams les s than an English 
i a S eni,s °f the diocecia mona- 
delplua class and order. Its essential charac- 
tei is, male blossom; calix three-parted; co- 
rolla none; stamina many, united at the bast?, 
h emale, calix live-parted ; corolla none, styles 
3 torn, caps, tricoccous. 
1 here are three species of shrubs which 
bear this name, all of them natives of Ja- 
maica. \V e do not find them remarkable for 
any particular quality, and therefore, as their 
flower has no beauty, they are seldom culti- 
vated here. 'I hey may, however, be raised 
trom seed, and treated as stove plants. 
ADELPIIIANI, a sect of heretics, who 
always fasted on Sundays. 
