A U T 
A X I 
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Antimony, 
Phosphoric, 
Iron, 
Piussic, 
Platinum, 
Zinc, 
Nickel, 
Arsenic, 
Cobalt, 
Manganese, 
Aurum fulminans. See Chemistry. 
Aurum potabile, potable gold, a liquid 
preparation of this metal, formerly much 
used in medicine. 
AUSCULTARE, in ancient customs. A 
person was formerly appointed to instruct the 
monks to read and smg before they were al- 
lowed to perform in public. This was called 
auscultare, to hear or listen. 
AUSPICIUM. See Augury. 
AUSTRALIS Piscis , a constellation of 
the southern hemisphere, not visible in our 
latitude. 1 he stars in Ptolemy’s catalogue 
are 18, and in the Britannic 24. The star 
Fomahaut, of the lirst magnitude, is in the 
mouth of the fish. 
AUTEE. droit, in law, is when persons 
sue or are sued in another’s right, as execu- 
tors, guardians, &c. 
ALTER /of, s acquit, in law, a plea made 
by a criminal that he has been already ac- 
quitted of the same crime with which he is 
charged. For no man shall be arraigned 
more than once for the same offence. 
AU IHENTIC, in the civil law, a name 
given to the novels of Justinian, in which au- 
thenticating is a term used for punishing an 
adult ress by public whipping and imprison- 
ment for two years ; then, if her husband re- 
fuses to take her back, she is shaven, veiled, 
and Shut up for life. 
AUTHORITY , in law, a power given by 
word or writing to a second person to transact 
something, and may be by writ, warrant, 
commission, letter of attorney. See. and some- 
times by law. An authority given to another 
to do what a person himself" cannot do is void; 
and it must be for doing a thing that is lawful, 
otherwise it u ill be no good authority. 
AUTO daj'e. See Act of faith. 
AUTOMATON, a seemingly self-moving 
machine ■*, or one so constructed, by means 
cf weights, levers, pulleys, springs, &c. as to 
move lor a considerable time as if it was en- 
dued with animal life: and according to this 
description, clocks, watches, and all machines 
of that kind, are automata. 
It is said that Archytas of Tarentum, 400 
years before Christ, made a wooden pigeon 
that could fly ; that Archimedes also made 
such automatons; that Regiomontanus made 
-a wooden eagle that flew forth from the city, 
met the emperor, saluted him, and returned; 
al«o that he made an iron fly, which flew out 
of his hand at a feast, and returned again after 
flying about the room; that Dr. Hook made 
tiie model of a flying chariot, capable of sup- 
porting itself in the air. Many oilier surpris- 
ing automatons we have been eye-witnesses 
of in the present age : thus, we have seen 
figures that could write, and perform many 
other actions in imitation of animals. M. Vau- 
canson made a figure that played on the 
flute.- the same gentleman also made a duck 
' which was capable of eating, drinking, and 
imitating exactly the voice of a natural one; 
*ind, what is still more surprising, the food it 
swallowed was evacuated in a digested state, 
or considerably altered on the principles of 
solution ; also the wings, viscera, and bones, 
were formed so as strongly to resemble those 
of a living duck; and the actions of eating 
and drinking shewed the strongest resem- 
blance, even to the muddling the water with 
its bill. M. Le Droz, of La Cnaux de Fonds, 
in the province of Neufchatel, has also exe- 
cuted some very curious pieces of mecha- 
nism : one was a clock, presented to the king 
of Spain, which had, among other curiosities, 
a sheep that imitated the bleating of a natural 
one, and a dog 'watching a basket of fruit, 
that barked and snarled when anyone offered 
to take it away; besides a variety of human 
figures, exhibiting motions truly surprising. 
Another automaton of Droz’s was the figure 
of a man, about the natural size, which held 
in the hand a metal style, and by touching 
a spring that released the internal clock- 
work from its stop, the figure began to draw 
on a card; and having finished its drawings 
on the first card, the figure rested, and then 
proceeded to draw different subjects on five 
or six other cards. The first card exhibited 
elegant portraits of the king and queen facing 
each other; and the figure was observed to 
lift its pencil with the greatest precision, in 
the transition from one point to another, with- 
out making the least slur. 
AUTOUR, in natural history, a sort of 
bark which resembles cinnamon, but is paler 
and thicker ; it is the colour of a broken nut- 
meg, and full of spangles. It conies from the 
Levant, and is an ingredient in the carmine 
dye. 
AUTUMNAL signs, in astronomy, are 
the signs Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, 
through which the Sun passes during the au- 
tumn. 
AUXILIARY verbs, in grammar, are 
such as help to form or conjugate others; 
that is, are prefixed to them, to form or de- 
note the moods or tenses thereof : as to have 
and to be. 
In the English language the auxiliary verb 
am supplies the want of passive verbs. 
AU XILIUM ad J/lium militem faciendum, 
vel filiam maritanaum, a precept or writ di- 
rected to the sheriff of every county where 
the king or other lords had any tenants, to 
levy of them reasonable aid towards the 
knighting his eldest son, or the marriage of 
his eldest daughter. 
AWARD, in law, the judgment of an ar- 
bitrator for terminating a difference. 
AWK, see Alca. 
AXILLA, in anatomy, the arm-pit, or the 
cavity under the upper part of the arm. 
Axilla, in botany, the space compre- 
hended betwixt the stems of plants and their 
leaves. 
AXIOM, in philosophy, is such a plain, 
self-evident, and received notion, that it can- 
not be made more plain and evident by de- 
monstration, because it is itself better known 
than any thing that can be brought to prove 
it: as, that nothing can act where it is not; 
that a thing cannot be and not be at the same 
time; that the whole is greater than a part 
thereof; and that from nothing nothing can 
arise. 
AXIS, in geometry, the straight line in a 
plane figure, about which it revolves, to pro- 
duce or generate a solid : thus, if a semi- 
circle be moved round its diameter at rest, 
j it will generate a sphere, the axis of which is 
| that diameter. 
Axis, in astronomy. 1. Axis of the world, 
an imaginary right line conceived to pass 
through the centre of the earth from one 
pole to the other, about which the sphere of 
the world, in the Ptolemaic system, revolves 
in its diurnal rotation. 2. The axis of a pla- 
net is that line drawn through the centre 
about which the planet revolves. The Sun, 
together with all planets, except Mercury 
and Saturn, are known by observation to 
move about their respective axes. The axis 
of the Earth, during its revolution round the 
Sun, remains always parallel to itself; and is 
inclined to the plane of the ecliptic, making 
with it an angle of 66f degrees. 3. Thu 
axes of the equator, horizon, ecliptic, zodiac, 
&c. are right lines drawn through the centres 
of those circles perpendicular to their planes. 
See Astronomy. 
Axis, in conic sections, a right line divid- 
ing the section into two equal parts, and cut-: 
ting all its ordinates at right angles. See 
Conic Sections. 
The axis of the parabola is of an indeter- 
minate length. The axis of the ellipsis is de- 
terminate. In the ellipsis and hyperbola, 
there are two axes and no more; and in the 
parabola only one. 
Axis, in mechanics. The axis of a ba- 
lance is that line about which it moves, or 
rather turns. Axis of oscillation is a 
right line parallel to the horizon, passing 
through the centre, about which a pendulum 
vibrates. See Mechanics. 
Axis in peritrochio, one of the five me- 
chanical powers, consisting of a peritrochiuuv 
or wheel, and moveable together with it 
about its axis. The power is applied at the 
circumference of the wheel, and the weight 
is raised by a rope that is gathered up oiv 
the axis while the machine turns round. ; 
The power may be conceived as applied at 
the extremity of the arm of a lever, equal to 
the radius of the wheel ; and the weight as 
applied at the extremity of a lever, equal to 
the radius of the axis; only those arms do 
not meet at one centre of motion, as in the 
lever, but in place of this centre, we have an 
axis of motion, viz. the axis of the whole 
machine. See Mechanics. 
The use of this machine is to raise weights) 
to a greater height than the lever can do, 
because the wheel is capable of being turned 
several times round, which the lever is not ; 
and also to communicate motion from one: 
part of a machine to another. Accordingly^ 
there are few compound machines without? 
it. 
Axis, in optics, is that ray among all- 
others that are sent to the eye, which falls’ 
perpendicularly upon it, and which conse- 
quently passes through the centre of the eye. 
Common or mean axis is aright line drawn 
from the point of concourse of the two optic 
nerves through the middle of the right line, 
which joins the extremity of the same optic 
nerves. Axis of a glass or lens, is a right 
line joining the middle points of the two op- 
posite surfaces of the glass. 
Axis of incidence, in dioptrics, is a right 
line perpendicular in the point of incidences 
to the refracting superficies, drawn in the 
same medium that the ray of incidence comes! 
from. 
Axis of refraction is a right line drawn 
