A G R 
AGI 
awned ; calyx oblong, subequal : corolcts 
quadrilid. 
r rhere are two species, natives of- South 
America and China. They are of the descrip- 
tion of tender annuals. 
ACER AT US lapis, a stone used by the 
antients in dying and dressing of leather: pos- 
sibiy a species of pyrites. 
AGGER, in the antient military art, a 
bank or rampart, composed of various ma- 
terials, as earth, boughs of trees, &c. The 
agger of the antients was of the same nature 
with what the modems call lines. 
Ac g er was also used in several other senses : 
as tor a wall or bulwark, to keep off the sea: 
for the middle part of a military road, usually 
raised into a ridge ; and sometimes for the 
heaps of earth raised over graves, more com- 
monly called tumuli. 
AGGLUTINAN TS, a class of strengthen- 
ing medicines, of a glutinous or viscous na- 
ture ; which, by readily adhering to the solids, 
contribute greatly to repair their loss. They 
may be divided into two kinds: 1. Good 
nourishing food, especially jellies, whether 
of hartshorn, veal, mutton, See. 2. Medicines, 
properly so called. 
AGGLUTINATION, among physicians, 
signifies either the adherence of new sub- 
stance, or the giving a glutinous consistence 
to the animal lluids, by which they were sup- 
posed to become more fit for nourishing the 
body'. 
Agglutination is also a term used by 
astronomers to denote the meeting of two or 
more stars in the same part of the zodiac, or 
the * :eming coalition of several stars. It is 
more peculiarly understood of the seeming 
coalition of several stars, so as to form a ne- 
bulous star. 
AGGRAVATION in the Romish canon 
law is used for an ecclesiastical censure, 
threatening excommunication, after three ad- 
monitions used in vain. From aggravation, 
they proceed to re-aggravation, which is the 
1 ast ex com mu n i eat ion. 
AG G REGALE terra, the seventh order 
of earths, comprehending those that are form- 
ed of the aggregate earths of the preceding 
orders. ,To this order belong the granites, 
gneissum, porphyrias, amygdalites, breccia, 
and arenarius. 
AGGREGATE, a term used in botany to 
express those tlowers which are composed of 
parts or tlorets, so united or incorporated by 
means either of the receptacle or calvx, that 
no one of them can be taken away without de- 
stroying the form of the whole. 
AGG REGATION, in natural philosophy, 
denotes a species of union, by which several 
things, nowise connected by nature, are col- 
lected together, so as to form one whole. 
AG I AGES, in the Turkish armies, a kind 
of pioneers, employed in fortifying camps, 
he. 
AGILD, or Agii.de, in old law books, 
denotes a person of so little account, that who- 
ever killed him was liable to no line for so 
doing. 
AGIO, in commerce, a term chiefly used 
in Holland aud at Venice, where it denotes 
the di tference between the value of bank stock, 
and the current coin. 
Money in bank is commonly worth more 
than specie: thus, at Amsterdam, they for- 
merly, before the barbarous French invasion, 
gave 103 or 104 florins for- ever}' 100 florins 
A G N 
in batik. At Venice, the agio was fixed at 
20 per cent. 
The agio of the bank at Hamburgh is about 
14 per cent., which is the supposed difference 
between the good standard money of the state, 
and the clipt, worn, and diminished currency 
poured into it from neighbouring states. 
Agio is also sometimes used for the profit 
arising from the discount of a note, bill, &c. 
Agio of assurance, the same with what we 
call policy of assurance. 
AGIOS YMAN DRUM, in the Greek 
church, subject to the Turks, a wooden ma- 
chine, used instead of bells, the use of these 
being prohibited. 
AGISTMENT, Agistage, or Agista- 
tion, in law, the taking in other people’s cat- 
tle to graze, at so much per week. 
The term is peculiarly used for the taking 
in of cattle to lie fed in the king’s forests, as 
well as for the profits thence arising. 
Agistment is also used for a tax, burden, 
or charge, levied for repairing the sea-banks 
in different parts of England. 
Agistment tithe, is a small tithe paid to 
the rector or vicar for pasturage of cattle, 
horses, or sheep. It is, however, understood 
to be payable only for dry or barren cattle, 
and not for cattle that are nourished for the 
plough or pail, because the parson has tithe 
lor them in other kind. It is paid by the oc- 
cupier of the ground, and not by the person 
who may happen to put his cattle there to 
graze at a certain hire per head. It is com- 
monly estimated at 2s. in the pound, accord- 
ing to the value of the land. See Burn’s Eccl. 
Law, tit. Tithes. 
AGISTOR, or Agistator, an officer be- 
longing to forests, who had the care of the 
cattle taken in to be grazed, and levied the 
moneys due on that account. 
AGMEN, in the Roman art of war, de- 
noted an army, or rather a part of it, in march : 
thus we read of the primum agmen, or van- 
guard; medium agmen, or main body ; and 
th epostremum agmen, or rear-guard. \Ve also 
meet witli the agmen pilatum, which was a 
part of the army, drawn up in form of an ob- 
long parallelogram, and answering to what the 
moderns call column. The agmen quadratum, 
however, or square form, was that mostly prac- 
tised in the Roman armies. 
AGNOET/E, a sect of heretics, so called 
on account of their maintaining that Christ 
was ignorant of many things, and particularly 
ot the day of judgment: an opinion which 
they built upon the text, Mark xiii. 32. 
AGNOMEN, in Roman antiquity, a kind j 
of fourth or honorary name given to a person 
on account of some extraordinary act ion, vir- 
tue, or other accomplishment/ Thus the j 
agnomen Africanus was bestowed upon Pub- / 
lius Cornelius Scipio, on account of his great j 
achievements in Africa. In cases of adop- ; 
tion, it was usual to retain their former cog- | 
nomen, or family name, by way of Y.srnomcn: \ 
thus Marcus Junius Brutus, being adopted by 
Quintus Servilius C;e io, called himself 
Quintus Servilius Csepio Brutus. 
AGNUS dei, in the church of Rome, a 
cake of wax, stamped with the figure of a 
lamb supporting a cross. 'These being con- 
secrated by the pope with great solemnity, and 
distributed among the people, are supposed 
to have great efficacy: as to preserve those 
who carry them worthily, and with faith, from 
all manner ot accidents ; to. expel evil spirits, 
D 2 ' 
2 7 
&c. It is also a popular name for that part of 
the mass, where the priest strikes his breast 
thrice, and says the prayer beginning with the 
words a gnus dei. 
AGONALIA, festivals celebrated in ho- 
nour of Janus, or of the god Agcnius, whom 
the Romans invoked before undertaking any 
affair of importance. They sc-em to have 
been kept three times in the year, viz. on the 
5th of the ides of January, on the 12th of the 
calends of June, and on the 3d of the ides of 
December. 
■AGONISTICI, a name given by Donates 
to such of his disciples as he sent to fairs, mar- 
kets, and other public places, to preach and 
propagate his doctrine. 
AGONIUM, in Roman antiquity, was used 
for the day on which the rex sacroriun sacri- 
liecd a victim, as well as for the place where 
the games were celebrated, otherwise called 
agon. 
AGONOTHETA, or Agonothetes, in 
Gr ecian antiquity, was the president or super- 
intendanl of the sacred games ; w ho not only 
defrayed the expenccs attending them, but 
inspected the' manners and discipline of the 
athletic, and adjudged the prizes io the victors. 
At first there was only one itgonotheta in the 
Olympic games ; but several colleagues were 
afterwards joined with him, three of whom 
had the direction of the horse races, three 
others of the pentathlon, and the re st of the 
other exercises. 
AGONACLIT2E, or Agonyclites, a 
sect of Christians, in the seventh century, who 
prayed always standing, as thinking it u.ilaw- 
iul to kneel. 
AGORANOMUS, a magistrate of Athens 
who had the regulation of weights and mea- 
sures, of the prices of provisions, See. r J lie 
agoranomus answered in part to the axlile of 
the Romans. 
AGOS'lUS signifies the part of the arm 
from the fingers to the elbow : also the palm 
or hollow of the hand, 
AGRARIAN stations, agraria stationes , 
in the Roman art of war, were a kind eft' ad- 
vanced guards, posted in the fields. 
Agrarian laves, among the same people, 
were those relating to the division and distri- 
bution of lands; of which there were a Great 
number: but that called the agrarian ft// bv 
vay of eminence, was published In Sperms 
Cassius, about the year of Rome firs, for di- 
viding the conquered lands equally among all 
the citizens, and limiting the number ot acres 
which each citizen might enjoy. 
AGR EEME.N 1, in law, signili sthe con- 
sent ot persons to any thing done, or to be 
done. 
1 here are three kinds of agreement, b ird, 
an agreement already executed at flic beg in- 
ning; as when motley is paid, or other satis- 
faction made for the thing agreed to. Se- 
condly, an agreement after an act done by 
another, to which a person agrees: this is also 
executed. 1 hirdly, an agreement executory, 
or to be executed in time to come. 
An agreement is generally made prepara- 
tory to some more formal instrument of con- 
veyance. On breach of an agreement there 
is a remedy either at common law, or in a 
court of equity. But when the matter ls 
merely in damages, there the remedy is at 
law; because the damages cannot be a.-cer- 
tained by tire conscience of the chancellor, 
but by the verdict of a jury. AH aarcemen's 
