22 
AES 
/E N K 
AG IS, in heathen mythology, is particu- 
larly use J for the shield or cuirass oi Jupiter 
and Fallas, 
AG OMAN TIA, a species of divination 
performed by means of a pout. 
AGOiYlI HALM US, the goafs-eye 
stone, in natural history, a name inditfereiitly 
g.ven to any of the semipellucid gems, witii 
circular spots in them, resembling the eve of 
a goat. 
AGOPODIUM, or goat weed, herb ge- 
Tcird, or wild masterwort, a genus of the pen- 
tandria digynia class and order, and of the na- 
tural order of umbellate;, or umbelliferse. 'I'he 
characters are, the universal calyx is a mani- 
fold convex umbel ; the partial one, consimi- 
lar and flat ; there is no invoiucrum, and the 
proper peruiiithium is scarcely discernible: 
tne universal corolla is uniform, the florets all 
te. tile; tne prope- one has live inverse, ovate, 
concave, equal petals, inflected at the top; 
the stamina consist of live simple filaments 
twice the length of the corolla: the anthers 
rounuish ; tne pistillum has a germen be- 
neath ; two purple erect styles the length of 
the coroliet ; the stigmata are headed ; no pe- 
ricarpium ; the fruit is ovate, striated, and bi- 
partite; the seeds ire two, ovate, on one 
side convex and striated, and flat on the 
other. 
i here is but one species, a native of Eng- 
land, and other parts of Europe. It is very 
common under hedges and about gardens; 
the leaves resemble loose oi angelica, and it 
bears small white flowers. 
AGOPRICON, a genus of the moncecia 
li'iOnandria class and order, the characters 
of which are : the calyx both of the m tie and 
female is a tnbuiar perianthium of one leaf di- 
\kk\d into tiuee segments ; corolla wanting in 
bom ; the stamina consist or a single erect 
filament longer than tire calyx, with an ovate 
ant; i era ; tire pistiuum has an ovate aennen, 
tuive divaricated styli, the simple persistent 
stigmata ; the pericarpium is a alobu’ar berry, 
three-grained within, and thremcefed : tne 
seeds are solitary, and angular on one side. 
There is but one species, which is a brandl- 
ing tree, a native of Surinam. 
AG\ P 1 IACUM, the name of several 
detergent ointments, used for eating off rotten 
flesh, and cleansing foul ulcers. 
i lie S'gyptheum, as ordered in the Edin- 
burgh dispensatory, is a composition of ver di- 
grease, reduced to fine powder, five ounces ; 
ol honey, fourteen ounces; of vinegar, seven 
ounces: all which are' to be boiled over a 
gentle lire, to tne consistence of an unguent. 
AGAPPILLA, in the natural history of 
the antients, a stone variegated with veins of a 
black, blue, or red e .lour; and said to be ca- 
pable of giving water the colour and taste of 
wine. 
The stone to which they ascribed this ima- 
ginary virtue, seems to have been a kind of 
onyx, or sardonyx. 
_ AINAU PA, in antiquity, a denomination 
given to the senators of Miletus, from holding 
their deliberations on board a ship, and never 
returning to land till matteis had been agreed 
oil. 
.ELURUS, in Agyptian mythology, the 
deity' or god of eats; represented sometimes 
like a eat, and at others like a man with a 
cat’s head. 
£N EATQRES, in Roman antiquity, a 
general name for the musicians of an army, 
m ox 
viz. those who played on trumpets, horns, 
litui, buccina:, Ac. 
AN [ G M A , denotes any dark saying or 
question, wherein some well-known tiling is 
concealed under obscure language. 
i he parable, gry pirns, and rebus, are by 
some accounted three species, or branches, 
of amigma. do compose an amigma, two 
things are to be chosen which bear some re- 
semblance to each other, on which some per- 
plexing and intricate question, description, 
or prosopopoeia, is to be founded. This last 
is most pleasing, as it gives life and action to 
tilings destitute of them. 
Painted aenigmas are representations of 
some object, whether of nature or art, con- 
cealed under the human figure. 
AO LIC, in a general sense, denotes some- 
thing belonging to Aolia or Aoiis. 
Aolic dialed, among grammarians, one 
of the five dialects of the Greek tongue, 
agreeing in most tilings with the Doric 'dia- 
lect. 
Aolic verse, in prosody, a kind of verse, 
consisting ot an iambus or spondee, then of 
two anapests separated by a long syllable. 
Such is, 
O steliiferi conclitor orbis ! 
AOLIPILE, a hollow metalline ball, in 
which is inserted a slender neck or pipe; 
whence, after the vessel has been partly filled 
with water, and heated, issues a blast of va- 
pour with gregt vehemence. 
Great care should be taken that the aper- 
ture of the pipe be not stopped when the in- 
strument is put on the fire, otherwise the a?oli- 
pih- will burst with a vast explosion, and may 
occasion no little mischief. 
i lie a?olipile is sometimes placed on a small 
carriage, and a cork thrust into the extremity 
oi the pipe. \Y hen the vapour is sufficiently 
heated, it rushes out with the cork in one di- 
rection, while the carriage moves the contrary 
way. 
-EOT. LA? harp, an instrument so named 
from its producing an agreeable harmony, 
merely by the action of the wind. '1 he con- 
struction of the instrument is as follows : Let a 
box be made of as thin deal as possible, its 
length exactly answering to the width of the 
window in which it is to be placed ; it must 
be five or six inches deep, and seven or eight 
inches wide. Across the top, and about four 
inches from each end, glue a piece of wainscot 
half an inch high, and a quarter of an inch 
thick, to serve as bridges for the strings to be 
stretched over, by means of pins inserted into 
ho’es a little behind the bridges, nearer the 
(“lids ; hak' the number being at one end, and 
half at the other. These pins are like those of 
a harpsichord ; and, for their bidder support 
in the thin deal, a piece of beech, about an 
inch wide, is glued on the inside of the lid, 
immediately under the place of the pins, the 
holes for receiving them being bored through 
this piece. It is strung with line catgut, or 
blue lirst-fiddlcst rings, more or less, at plea- 
sure, on the outside and lengthways of the 
lid, fixing one en 1 to one of the small pins, 
and tw, sting the other end about the oppo- 
site or stretching pin. Two sound-holes are 
cut in the lid, and the thinner this is the bet- 
ter will be the performance. 
AVjien the strings are tuned in unison, and 
the instrument placed with the stringed side 
outwards, in the window to which it is fitted, 
the air will cause the instrument to give a 
sound like a distant choir, increasing and de- 
creasing according to the strength of the 
wind. 
AON properly signifies the age or dura- 
tion of any thing. Aon, among the Plato- 
nists, however, was used to denote any virtue, 
attribute, or perfection : hence they repre- 
sented the deity as an assemblage of all pos- 
sible aeons, callmg it pleroma or fulness. 
AORA, among antient physicians, a pecu- 
liar kind ot exercise, which consisted in be- 
ing carried about in a litter or other vehicle. 
Sometimes the patient’s bed was hung by 
ropes, in the manner of a hammock, and 
moved backwards and forwards. Travelling 
in a chariot, or on board a ship or boat, were 
also accounted so many kinds of a'oru. 
ARA, in chronology, a series of rears,, 
commencing from a certain fixed point of 
time, called an epocha : thus, we say the 
Christian aira, that is, the number of s ears 
elapsed since the birth of Christ. 
r i lie generality of authors, however, use 
the terms awa and epocha in a synonymous, 
sense, or for the point of time from Which 
the computation commences; making no 
other difference between them, except' that 
the former is chiefly used by the vulgar, and 
the latter by chronologers. 
ARARltlM, in R oman antiquity, the 
treasury, or place where the public money 
was deposited. Ararium and fiscus are some- 
times used in a synonymous sense; though 
the latter, strictly speaking, contained only 
the money belonging to the emperor. 
Ararium sanctius, an appendage added 
t° flic former, for containing the monies 
arising from the twentieth part of all legacies, 
which was kept for the extreme necessities 
of the state. 
Ararium privatum, was the emperors 
P r 'vy purse, or place where the monies 
arising from his private patrimony were de- 
posited. 
Ararium Thlkice, or Junonis Luciine, one 
where the monies were deposited, which pa- 
rents paid for the birth of each child. There 
are several other treasuries mentioned in 
historians, as the cerarium jivoentutis, f 'cnc- 
ris, fir. 
AR ARILS was used by the Romans fora 
degraded citizen, whose name had been 
struck off tiie list of his century. 1 lie c trarii 
were so called on account of their being lia- 
ble to all the taxes and other burdens ot the 
-fate, without enjoying any of its privileges. 
Hence, inter error ios rtferri was a great deal 
more severe punishment than tribu moveri. 
AERATION of soils denotes the im- 
pregnation of them with air, by means of 
ploughing, harrowing, and other means of 
pulverization, which serve to introduce the 
air into the pores of the earth. 
AERIANS, a branch of Arians, who to 
tire doctrines of that sect added some pecu- 
liar dogmas of their own ; as, that there is no 
difference between bishops and priests ; a 
doctrine maintained by many modern di- 
vines, particularly of the presbyterian and 
reformed churches. 
AEROLOGA is a scientifical account of 
the nature and less obvious properties of air. 
See Air. 
AEROMETRY, the art of measuring the 
motion, gravity, elasticity, rarefaction, con- 
densation, like, of air; in which sense acrorae- 
