26 
A G A 
AGE 
AGE 
skin: it was held in great esteem in many 
nations on account of its supposed virtues. 
AGARIC US, the mushroom, a genus of 
the cryptogamia class and order of fungi. The 
generic character is apileus, or cap with gills 
underneath: gills differing in substance from 
the rest of the plant, composed of two laminae: 
seeds in the gills. 
Authors have enumerated no less than 634 
species of this fungus, and Dr. Withering 
gives 213 as British species. The agaricus 
campestris, or common mushroom, is culti- 
vated with great success and profit in the gar- 
dens about London. The spawn is usually 
found in old hot-beds, or horse-dung, where 
the animals have been fed on a pasture; in 
which case it is supposed that the invisible 
seed which is scattered from the gills of the 
mushroom, is eaten with the grass by the cat- 
tle, and deposited unhurt in their excrements. 
There it vegetates, and forms those white 
fibrous radicles producing tubercles like po- 
tatoes, and which are called the spawn. The 
spawn may easily be known by the smell, 
which resembles that of the true mushroom, 
and which, if planted in a bed of fresh hot 
dung, and kept moderately dry, will soon pro- 
duce a crop. It is the agaricus orcades, ano- 
ther of this genus, which produces the fairy 
rings so frequently observed in pasture fields. 
The agaricus c&sareus, the most splendid of 
all the genus, is eatable, but is rarely found 
in Britain. It was made the vehicle for con- 
veying poison to Claudius Caesar by his wife 
Agrippina. 
AGATE, in natural history, a genus of 
semipellucid gems, variegated with veins and 
clouds, but no zones, like the onyx. 
The Iceland agate is found either in de- 
tached masses, or forming a part of rocks. It 
has the appearance of black glass. It is 
usually invested with a grey or opaque crust. 
Its specific gravity is 2,348 ; colour black, or 
greyish black ; when in very thin pieces it is 
green. It is composed, according to Berg- 
man, of 
69 silica 
22 alumine 
9 iron 
100 
It is found in Iceland, Italy, and other places. 
Agate is also the name of an instrument 
used by the gold wire-drawers; so called from 
the agate in the middle of it, which forms its 
principal part. 
AGATHOPII'Y LLUM, a genus of the 
class and order dodecandria monogynia. The 
essential character is, calyx superior, very 
short, toothless ; corolla six-petalled, some- 
what villous; stamina alternately inserted into 
the calyx and petals; drupe juiceless with a 
half six-celled nut, and one seed. 
There is but one species, a large tree, a na- 
tive of Madagascar, where the nut and leaves 
arc used as spice. 
AGAVE, a genus of the hexandria mono- 
gynia class and order, called also the Ameri- 
can aloe. 
The corolla is funnel-shaped, and the essen- 
tial character is, corolla erect, superior ; fila- 
ments longer than the corolla, erect. The 
species are six, including some varieties with 
striped leaves, of which the most remarkable 
is agave Americana, or great American aloe. 
L is a vujgar jwtion that this plant does not 
flower in less than a hundred years. The fact ; 
is, that its flowering depends upon its growth. 
In hot climates therefore it is known to bloom 
much sooner, and in this country if it was kept 
in a dry stove instead of a green-house, we 
have no doubt that it would flower earlier than 
it does. It is chiefly remarkable for the height 
to which the stem shoots up when it blooms 
(from twenty to thirty feet), tor in our opinion 
there is no beauty whatever in the flower. 
Cortusus is said to be the first European who 
possessed this plant in 1561. It flowered in 
England about the year 1 693, and now scarcely 
a summer passes without one flowering in some 
of the nurseries about London. In the course 
of the year 1805, one of the striped-leaved 
(said to be the first which ever flowered in 
England of that variety) was exhibited by- 
Mr. Smith of Dalston. 
In Spain and Portugal there arc hedges of 
the great agave. The leaves are said to answer 
all the purposes of soap, and are also good for 
scowenng pewter and other utensils ; the in- 
ward spongy substance of the dried stalks 
may be used for tinder ; and the fibres of the 
leaves, when washed, dried, and beaten, will 
make a strong thread for common purposes. 
AGE is sometimes used in the same sense 
as generation, for a period of.30 years. 
Age, in chronology, denotes certain pe- 
riods of the durat on of the world. Thus, a- 
mong Christian chronologers, we meet with 
the age of the law of nature, which compre- 
hends the whole time between Adam and 
Moses; the age of the Jewish law, which in- 
cludes the time from Moses to Christ ; and, 
lastly, the age of grace, or the number of years 
elapsed since the birth of Christ. 
Among antient historians, the duration of 
the world is also subdivided into certain pe- 
riods, called ages; of which they reckon three: 
the first (reaching from the creation to the de- 
luge which happened in Greece, during the 
reign of Ogyges) is called the obscure or un- 
certain age ; the history of mankind, during 
that period, being altogether uncertain. The 
second, called the fabulous or heroic, termi- 
nates at the first olympiad; where the third, 
or historical age, commences. The antient 
poets also divide the duration of the world into 
four ages, or periods ; the first of which they 
called the golden age, the second the silver 
age, the third the brazen age, the fourth the 
iron age. Not unlike these are the four ages 
of the world, as computed by the East- 
Indians, who extend them to a monstrous 
length. 
Age also denotes certain degrees or periods 
of human life, commonly reckoned four, viz. 
infancy, youth, manhood, and old age: the 
first of which extends to the fourteenth year ; 
the second, to the twenty-fifth year; the third, 
to the fiftieth year; and the fourth, to the 
seventy-fifth year, or rather as long as a man 
lives. Shakspeare divides tire term of life 
into seven ages. 
Age, in law, signifies certain periods of life, 
when persons of both sexes are enabled to do 
certain acts, which for want of years and dis- 
cretion they were incapable of before: thus a 
man at twelve years of age, ought to take the 
oath of allegiance to the king; at fourteen, 
which is his age of discretion, he may marry, 
choose his guardian, and claim his lands held 
in socage. Twenty-one is called full age, a 
man or woman being then capable of acting 
for themselves, or managing their affairs, 
-making contracts, disposing of their estates* 
&c. ; which before that age they could not do. 
By the marriage act, no person, man or wo- 
man, can marry before 21, without the con- 
sent of parents or guardians. A woman s 
dowabie at nine years of age, may marry at 
twelve, with consent of parents or guardian, 
and at fourteen choose her guardian, if a 
man or woman acts in any of the above men- 
tioned capacities, before the time prescribed 
by law, he or she may retract at that time, 
otherwise they are supposed to agree to it 
anew, and it shall be deemed valid. Thus, if 
a man marries before fourteen, or a woman 
before twelve, they may either agree to the 
marriage, or not, at these several ages ; and 
so in other cases. At fourteen, a person may 
dispose of a personal estate by will, but not of 
lands. 
Age -prior, atatem precar i, is when an 
action being brought against a person under 
age, for lands descended to him, he, by mo- 
tion or petition, shows the matter to the court, 
praying the action may be staid to his full age: 
to which the court generally agrees. As a 
purchaser, however, a minor ’shall not have his 
age-prier ; nor in any writ of assize, of dow er, 
or petition ; but he may in any action of debt. 
By the civil law the case is otherwise, an in- 
fant or minor being obliged to answer by his 
tutor or curator. 
Among the Romans it was unlawful to offer 
for any public office, or magistracy, unless the 
candidate had attained to a certain age ; w hich 
differed according to the offices sued for. 
Hence the phrases consular age, praetorian, 
age, &c. 
Age of the moon, the time elapsed since 
her last conjunction with the sun. See As- 
tronomy. 
AGEMA, in Macedonian antiquity, was 3 
body of soldiery, not unlike the * Roman 
legion. 
AGEMOGLANS, Agiamoglans, or 
Azamoglans, in the Turkish customs,: 
Christian children raised every third year, by 
way of tribute, from the Christians tolerated 
in the Turkish empire. The collectors of 
this odious tax used to take one child out of 
three, selecting always the handsomest. 
AGENTS, among physicians and chemists* 
an appellation given to allkinds of menstruums.’ 
Agents of bank and exchange, in the com- 
mercial polity of France, are much the same 
with our exchange-brokers. 
Agent and paiient, in law, is said of a per- 
son who is the doer of a thing, and also the 
party to whom it is done. Tiius, if a man who 
is indebted to another, makes his creditor his. 
executor, and dies, the executor may retain 
so much of the goods of the deceased, as will 
satisfy his debt ; by which means he becomes 
agent and patient; that is, the person to 
whom the debt is due, and the person who 
pays it. 
AGENTES in rebus, in antiquity, signi- 
fies officers employed under the emperors of 
Constantinople, and differing only in name 
from the frumentarii, whom they succeeded 
ACER, in Roman antiquity, a certain por- 
tion of laud allowed to each citizen. It is also 
used, in middle-age writers, for an acre of 
land. 
AGERATUM, a genus of the class and 
order syngenesia polygamia aiqualis. The 
corolla is compound uniform ; and the essen- 
tial character is, receptacle naked ; down five- 
