XAN 
XIP 
X. 
X or X, is the twenty-second letter of 
’ our alphabet, and a double conso- 
nant. It was not used by the Hebrews 
or ancient Greeks j for as it is a com- 
pound letter, the ancients, who used great 
simplicity in their writings, made use of, 
and expressed this letter by its component 
letters cs. Neither have the Italians this 
letter, but express it by ss. X begins no 
word in our language but such as are of 
Greek original, and is in few others but 
What are of Latin derivation, as perplex, re- 
flexion, deflxixion, &c. We often express 
this sound by single letters, as cks in backs, 
necks; by ks in books, breaks; by ec in ac- 
cess, accident ; bycfin action, unction, &c. 
In numerals it expresseth 10, whence in old 
Roman manuscripts it is used for denarius ; 
and as such seems to be made of two V’s 
placed one over the other. When a dash 
is added over it, thus Y, it signifies ten 
thousand. 
XANTHE, in botany, a genus of the 
Dioecia Syngenesia class and order. Essen- 
tial character; flowers dioecious; calyx 
five, six-parted, permanent ; corolla five, 
six-petalled : males with one filament, 
bearing five anthers, collected into a shield- 
shaped head ; females with five bairen an- 
thers ; capsule globose, crowned with the 
stigma, five-striated, five-valved; seeds very 
many,- involved in the pulp. There are two 
species, viz. X. quapoya, and X. panari. 
XANTHIUM, in botany, a genus of the 
Monoecia Pentaudria class and order. Na- 
tural order of Composite Nucamentaceae. 
Corymbiferae, Jussieu. Essential character: 
male, calyx common, imbricate; corolla 
one-petalled, five-cleft, funnel-form ; recep- 
tacle chaffy : female, calyx involucre, two- 
leaved, two-flowered ; corolla none; drupe 
dry, muricated, two-cleft ; nucleus two- 
celled. There are five species. 
XANTHORHIZA, in botany, a genus 
of the Pentandria Polygynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Ranunculacea;, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx none ; 
petals five ; nectary five, pedicelled ; cap- 
sule five, one-seeded. There is only one 
species, viz, X. apiitolia, a native of North 
America. 
XANTHOXYLUM, in botany, a genu 
of the Dioecia Pentandria class and order. 
Natural order of Hederaceae. Terebinta- 
ceae, Jussieu. Essential character; calyx 
five-parted; corolla none: female, pistil 
five ; capsule five, one-seeded. There is 
but one species, viz. X. clava herculis, 
tooth-ache tree, it grows naturally in Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland. 
XERANTHEMUM, in botany, a genus 
of the Syngenesia Polygamia Snperflnh class 
and order. Natural order of Compositas 
Discoide®. Corymbifer®, Jussieu. Essen- 
tial character: calyx imbricate, rayed, with 
the ray coloured; down bristle-shaped; re- 
ceptacle chaffy. There are twenty-seveii 
species. 
XIMENIA, in botany, so named in ho- 
nour of the Rev. Father Francis Ximenes, 
a Spaniard, a genus of the Octandria Mono- 
gynia class and order. Natural order of 
Aurantia, Jussieu. Essential character; 
calyx four- cleft ; petals four, hairy, rolled 
back ; drupe one-seeded. There are three 
species. 
XIPHIAS, the sword-fish, in natural his- 
tory, a genus of fishes of the order Apodes. 
Generic character: head with the ypper 
jaw ending in a sword-shaped snout; mouth 
without teeth; gill-membrane eight- rayed; 
body roundish, without scales. There are 
three species ; X. gladeus, or the common 
sword-fish, is of the length of twenty feet, 
and is particularly distinguished by its upper 
jaw being stretched to a considerable dis- 
tance beyond the lower, flat above and be- 
neath, bnt edges at the sides, and of a bony 
substance, covered by a strong epidermis. 
It is a fish extremely rapacious, and finds in 
the above instrument a weapon of attack 
and destruction, able to procure it tiie 
most ample supplies. It first transfixes its 
prey with this snout, and then devours it. 
It is found in the Mediterranean, chiefly 
about Sicily, and is used as food by the 
Sicilians, who preserve it for a long time by 
salting it in small pieces. See Pisces, Plate 
VI. fig. 5. 
X. platypterns, or the broad-finned sword- 
fish, is found in the Northern, Atlantic, and 
Indian Seas, and is considered as one of the 
