ADO 
TefrfS 14. ia thought to allude to these festi- 
vals. 
ADONIC, in antient poetry, a kind of verse 
consisting of a dhctyle and spondee or trochee. 
This kind of verse had its name adonic, on 
account of its being originally used in the la- 
mentations for Adonis. However, its princi- 
pal use among poets, is to serve as a conclusion 
to cadi strophe of sapphic verse. 
ADONICUS, a name given by the Arabs 
to the sun, under which appellation they wor- 
shiped him, by daily offering him incense and 
perfumes. 
ADONIDES, an appellation given to such 
botanists as have given descriptions or cata- 
logues of the plants cultivated in some parti- 
cular place. 
ADONIS flos, a genus of plants, called in 
English pheasant’s- eye. It is of the class and 
order poiyandria polygynia ; and the essential 
diu'acter is, calyx rive-leaved ; petals, live or 
more without a nectary ; seeds naked. 
r i he genus includes six species much resem- 
bling the anemone in appearance, only smaller. 
The adonis autunmahs, an annual plant, is 
common in our gardens, and even in the fields 
about London. Its flowers are of a bright 
scarlet, with a black spot or eye at the bottom. 
The adonis vernalis is also cultivated in our 
gardens ; but though a native of Switzerland 
and Germany, we have observed that it is 
somewhat tender, probably from its shooting 
so early in the spring ; it has a large yellow 
llovver. 
ADOPTIANI, a sect who maintained that 
Christ, with respect to his human nature, was 
not the natural, but adoptive son of God. 
ADOPTION, a solemn act, whereby one 
man made another his heir ; investing him 
with all the rights and privileges of a son. • 
Adoption was in frequent use among the 
Greek's and Homans, who had many regula- 
tions concerning it. The Lacedemonians, in 
order to prevent inconsiderate adoptions, had 
a law, that they should be transacted, or at 
least confirmed, before their kings ; at Athens, 
slaves, madmen, and persons under age, were 
incapable of adopting ; and at Rome, adop- 
tions were confirmed before the praetor, in an 
assembly of the people, or by a rescript of the 
emperor. Young men were not permitted to 
adopt their elders ; on the contrary, it was ne- 
cessary that the adopter should be eighteen 
years older than his adopted son, to give an 
appearance of probability of his being the na- 
tural father. Children, thus adopted, were in- 
vested with all the privileges, and obliged to 
perform ail the duties, of legitimate children, 
evenao the assuming the names of the person 
who adopted them ; and being thus provided 
for in another family, they ceased to have any 
claim for inheritance, or kindred, in the family 
they had left, unless they first renounced their 
ad apt ion ; which, by Solon’s laws, tiwy were 
not permitted to do, till they had begotten chil- 
dren to bear the name of their adopted father. 
On the other hand, the person who had once 
adopted children, was not permitted to marry 
afterwards, without express leave from the ma- 
gistrate ; whom it was usual to petition for such 
a licence, in case the adopted children acted 
aii ungrateful part. 
Among the Romans, before adoption could 
take place, the natural father was obliged to 
renounce all authority over his son, and with 
great formality consent that he should be trans- 
lated into the family of the adopter. The 
A D O 
' adoption of a person already free was called 
I adrogation. the ceremonies of adoption 
being various, have given rise to a great many 
| different kinds of it : thus, we read of adoption 
j by testament, when a man adopted another by 
his last will ; adoption by arms, or presenting 
the adopted son with a suit of armour ; adop- 
tion by cutting off- the hair ; adoption by ma- 
trimony, or adopting the children of a wife by 
a former husband. 
By the Gentoo laws, information must be 
given to the magistrate, by 7 the person who is 
desirous of adopting a child, and a sacrifice 
performed, and ne is also to give gold and rice 
to the father of the child. A woman is not 
allowed to adopt a child without her husband’s 
order ; and he who has no son, or grandson, or 
great-grandson, lias liberty to adopt one son, 
but no more. Among the Turks, the cere- 
mony of adoption is performed bv obliging 
the person adopted to pass through the shirt of 
the adopter. Hence among that people, to 
adopt is expressed by the phrase,’ “ to draw an- 
other through my shirt.” 
Adoption is also used in speaking of the 
admission of persons into certain hospitals, par- 
ticularly that of Lyons : sometimes the term is 
used in the sense of incorporation ; thus the 
French academy of Marseilles was adopted by 
that of Paris. 
ADOPTIVE arms, in heraldry, those en- 
joyed by the concession of another, which the 
adopter is obliged to marshal with his own, as 
being the condition of some honour or estate 
left him. 
Adoptive is sometimes also used for bor- 
rowed or foreign : thus, besides their domestic 
gods, the Romans had a multitude of adoptive 
deities, borrowed from foreign nations. 
ADORATION denotes the act of wor- 
shiping God, or a being supposed to be God. 
The word comes from ad, to ; and os, oris, the 
mouth; and imports, to kiss the hand, this 
being universally acknowledged to be a mark 
of great respect. Among the Jews, adoration 
consisted in kissing the hands, bowing, kneel- 
ing, and gven prostration. Hence, in their 
language, the word kissing is used for adora- 
tion. As to the ceremony of adoration among 
the Romans, it was performed with the head 
veiled, or covered ; the devotee applying his 
right-hand to his lips, the fore-finger resting on 
the thumb, which was erect ; and then bowing, 
lie turned himself round from left to right. The 
Gauls, on the contrary 7 , thought it more reli- 
gious to turn from right to left ; and the 
G reeks, to worship with their heads uncovered. 
The Christians follow the Grecian rather than 
the Roman mode, by uncovering, when they 
perform any act of adoration. 
Adoration, barbarous, denotes that used 
by heathen nations. The Phenicians adored 
the winds, on account of the terrible effects 
produced by them. The same practice was 
adopted by the Greeks, Persians, Romans, 
Ac. The Troglodytes adored tortoises ; the 
Scythians, swords ; the- Romans, axes ; and 
the Arabs, stones; the Indians adored vipers ; 
tiie Bengalese and the Canadians, the sun. 
"The Manta, a Peruvian people, antiently 
adored a huge emerald, by offering to it eme- 
ralds of a lesser size ; all* of which the priests 
kept for their own use. 
Adoration is also used, in a civil sense, for 
any extraordinary homage or respect paid by 
one man to another. Thus the Persians adored 
their kings, by falling prostrate before them, 
C ? 
1 striking the earth with their foreheads, and kiss' 
ing the ground. This was an act of servility* 
which Conon, a citizen of Athens, refused to 
comply with, when introduced to Artaxerxes ; 
neither would the philosopher Calisthenics per- 
form it to Alexander the Great, as judging it: 
impious and unlawful. The Roman emperors 
were adored, by bowing or kneeling at their 
feet, laying hold of their purple robe, and im- 
mediately withdrawing the hand, andkissing it. 
Adoration is more particularly used for 
the ceremony of paying homage to the pope, 
by- kissing his feet ; which not only the people, 
but the greatest prelates, and even princes, 
make no scruple of performing. Protestants 
have hence taken occasion, and not without 
reason, to charge the popes with excessive 
pride, and even impiety. 
Adoration is still more particularly used 
for a method of electing a new pope, when the 
cardinals, instead of proceeding in the usual 
way, unanimously fall down and adore one of 
their own number. Adoration is the last ce- 
remony of a regular election, but here it is the 
election itself, or rather supersedes it. 
Adoration, perpetual, in the church of 
Rome, a kind of religious society, frequent in 
the popish countries ; which consists ot devout 
persons, who, by regularly relieving each 
other, keep constantly praying before the eu- 
charist both day and night. 
ADO REA, in Roman antiquity, a word 
used in different senses ; sometimes for ail 
manner of grain ; sometimes for a kind of cakes 
made of fine Hour, and offered in sacrifice ; 
and, finally, for a dole or distribution of corn, 
as a reward for some service : whence, by me- 
tonymy, it is put for praise or rewards in ge- 
neral. 
ADOSSEE, in heraldry, a term used for 
two rampant animals, placed back to buck. It 
also denotes any other figures, as axes, keys, 
&c. placed with their heads facing different 
ways. 
ADOXTA, a genus of plants, of the class 
and order of octandria tetragynia. The essen- 
tial character is, calyx bifid, inferior ; corolla 
four or five cleft, superior ; berry four or five 
celled, united with the calyx. 
We know of but one species ; the adoxia 
moschatelina, so called from its smelling like 
musk. It is otherwise called bastard fumitory 7 , 
and grows wild in shady places, as in Hamp- 
stead and Charlton woods. 
AD PON DUS OMNIUM, among phy- 
sicians, denotes that the last-mentioned" ingre- 
dient ought to weigh as much as all the rest- 
put together. 
AD QUOD DAMNUM, in law, a tvrit 
which ought to be issued before the king grants 
certain liberties, as a fair, market, highway, 
Ac. ordering the sheriff to inquire by the 
country what damage such a grant is likely to 
be attended with. 
ADR IFF, in sea language, denotes the state 
of a vessel broken from her moorings, and 
driven by the wind or waves, 
ADSCENDENS caulis, denotes in bota- 
ny, a stalk or branch inclining upwards. 
ADSENTIRI, a term used to express the 
assent of the Roman soldiers to any proposi- 
tions that were made to them by their com- 
manders, which they did by lifting up their 
hands with acclamation, and striking their 
bucklers against their knees. 
ADSIDELLA, in antiquity, the table at 
which the fiainetis sat during the sacrifices, 
