KNI 
napping, &c. to slumber. The army was 
supplied by packhorses, and all tilings were 
in sacks, so that every soldier had ids sack. 
Such is the account given by a very worthy 
and respectable friend ; but we are inclined 
to think that knapsack conies from the 
Saxon word snapsack, a bag to carry 'bod. 
See James’s Dictionary. 
KN AUTIA, in botany, so named from 
Christopher Knaut,, a genus of the Tetran- 
dria Monogynia class and order. Natural 
order of Aggregatae. Dipsaceae, Jussieu. 
Essential character: calyx common oblong, 
simple, five to ten-flowered ; corollets irre- 
gular ; receptacle naked. There are four 
species, mostly natives of the Levant. 
KNEE. See Anatomy. 
Knee, a crooked piece of timber, having 
two branches or arms, and generally used 
to connect the beams of a ship with her 
sides or timbers. The branches of the 
knees form an angle of greater or smaller 
extent, according to the mutual situation 
of the pieces which they are designed to 
unite. One branch is. securely bolted to 
one of the deck-beams, and the other in the 
same manner strongly attached to a corres- 
ponding timber in the ship’s side. Besides 
the great utility of knees in connecting the 
beams and timbers into one compact 
frame, they contribute greatly to the 
strength and solidity of the ship, in the dif- 
ferent parts of her frame to which they are 
bolted, and thereby enable her with great 
firmness to resist the effects of a turbulent 
sea. 
KNIGHT, in military concerns. This 
word is an anglicisni of the German word 
knecht, signifying a person possessing the 
talents and bravery of a soldier, and re- 
warded for some particular acts of courage 
and address by the sovereign. 
Knights, or Equites, in the Roman art of 
war were originally instituted by Romulus, 
who selected three hundred athletic young- 
men from the best families of the class of Pa- 
tricians, and had them trained to serve their 
country on horseback. This politic mode of 
securing the services of the most important 
part of the community to the existing 
government was improved upon by Servius 
Tullus, after the introduction of the census, 
who admitted all persons worth four hun- 
dred sestertia into the noble order of the 
Equites, whose conduct and morals were 
irreproachable, a precaution highly honour- 
able to the Roman character, and acted upon 
rigidly by monarchs, consuls and censors. 
KNI 
Having ascertained this point, by regular 
scrutiny, the name of the individual approv- 
ed was enrolled with those of the order, a 
ring was presented to him, as a pledge of 
his acceptance into it, and he received a 
horse provided at the public expense j 
thus instituted a knight, he was required 
and expected to appear at a moment’s 
notice ready to execute to the utmost of 
Jiis ability those services which the state 
demanded. 
There were three distinct and solemn 
acts performed by the government calculat- 
ed to impress the members with the neces- 
sity of adhering to their compact with their 
country ; those were termed the Probatio, 
the Transvectio, and the Recensio. The 
first may be considered an annual examina- 
tion as to the moral conduct of the Equites, 
the state of their arms, their horses, and 
tlieir own health ; the second, an universal 
assemblage of the knights in the forum, is 
thus described by Dyonisius : “ The sacri- 
fices being finished, all tho.se who are al- 
lowed horses at the expense of the state, 
ride along in order, as if returning from a 
battle, being habited in the Togse Palmatae, 
or tlie Traba?, and crowned with wreaths 
of olive. The procession begins at the 
temple of Mars, without the walls, and is 
carried on through all the eminent parts of 
the city, particularly the Forum, and the 
temple of Castor and Pollux. The number 
sometimes reaches to five thousand ; every 
man bearing the gifts and ornaments re- 
ceived as a reward of his valour fi om the 
general. A most glorious sight, and worthy 
of the Roman grandeur.”. According to 
Plutarch this honourable body of soldiers, 
and the rest of the army engaged in battle 
with the Latins, about the two hundred and 
fifty-seventh year of the city, were personal- 
ly assisted by Castor and Pollux, who after- 
wards appeared in Rome mounted on 
horses foaming with exertion, near the 
fountain where their temple was subse- 
quently erected; grateful for their super- 
natural aid, the Romans established the 
Transvectio in honour of the deified bro- 
thers. 
The Recensio resembled the Piobatio 
in some degree, except that more ijiiport- 
ance was attached to the former, as it was 
an universal muster of the whole people in- 
cluding the Equites, to answer the useful 
military purposes of ascertaining the then 
state of discipline of men bearing arms, 
enrolling of new names, and expunging 
