ACH 
vinegar; when purified by distillation, it 
assumes the name of distilled vinegar, usual- 
ly called acetous acid : when concentrated 
as much as possible by certain processes, it 
is called in the shops radical vinegar; but 
by chemists it is denominated acetic acid. 
One hundred parts of acetic acid are com- 
posed of 50.19 oxygen 
13.94 hydrogen 
35.87 carbon 
1 00.00 
ACET1TES, a genus of salts formed by 
the acetous acid. 
ACETOUS acid. See Acetic Acid. 
ACHANIA, in botany, a genus of the 
Monadelphia Polyandria class, and the natu- 
ral order of Columniferae. There are three 
species, viz. the A. malvaviscus, scarlet 
achania, or bastard hibiscus, which is a na- 
tive of Mexico and Jamaica ; cultivated here 
in 1714 by the Duchess of Beaufort, and 
flowering through the greatest part of the 
year: the mollis, or woolly achania, a native 
of South America and the West India islands ; 
found in Jamaica by Houstoun, in 1730, and 
introduced in 1780 by B. Bewick, Esq. and 
flowering in August and September: and 
the pilosa, or hairy achania, a native of Ja- 
maica; introduced in 1780 by Mr.G. Alex- 
ander, and flowering in November. Acha- 
nia is generally propagated by cuttings, 
which are planted in pots of light earth, 
plunged into a gentle hot-bed, and kept from 
the air till they take root, when they should 
be gradually inured to the open air. They 
must be preserved in winter in a moderate 
stove ; and kept warm in summer, they will 
flower, and sometimes ripen fruit. 
ACHERNER, in astronomy, a star of the 
first magnitude, in the southern extremity of 
the constellation Eridanus. See the article 
Eridanus. 
ACHILLEA, milfoil, in botany, so called 
from Achilles, who is supposed to have ac- 
quired some knowledge of botany from his 
master Chiron; and to have used this plant 
for the cure of wounds and ulcers ; a genus 
of the Syngenesia Polygamia Superfiua class 
of plants, and of the natural order of Corn- 
posit® Discoide®. There are 5 !7 species, of 
which the most remarkable are the ptarmi- 
ca, or sneezewort, M. growing wild in all the 
temperate parts of Europe, fouud in Britain 
not uncommonly in meadows, by the sides 
of ditches, on the balks of corn fields, in moist 
woods, and shady places. The shoots are 
put into sallets, and the roots, being hot and 
biting, are used for the tooth-ache, whence 
ACH 
the plant has been called bastard pellitory, 
and, on account of the form of the leaf, 
goose-tongue: the powder of the dried 
leaves, used as snuff, provokes sneezing, 
whence the name : in Siberia a decoction 
of the whole herb is said to be successfully 
used in internal hemorrhages : of this plant 
there is a variety with double flowers, called 
batchelor’s buttons; it flowers in July and 
August, and makes a tolerable appearance : 
• — and the millefolium, common M. or yar- 
row ; abundant in pastures and by the sides 
of roads, flowering from June to September ; 
mixed instead of hops by the inhabitants of 
Dalekarlia in their ale, in order to give it an 
inebriating quality: recommended by An- 
derson in his Essays on Agriculture, for cul- 
tivation, though thought to be a noxious 
weed in pastures: the bruised herb fresh 
is recommended by Linnaeus as an excellent 
vulnerary and styptic, and by foreign phy- 
sicians in hemorrhages, and thought by Dr. 
Hill to be excellent in dysenteries, when ad- 
ministered in the form of a strong decoction. 
An ointment is made of it for the piles, and 
for the scab in sheep ; and an essential oil is 
extracted from the flowers; but it is not 
used in the present practice. 
ACHRAS, or Sapota-Plum, in botany, 
a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class, 
and of the natural order of Dumos®. There 
are four species, viz. The mammosa, or 
mamme sapota, otherwise called nippled, S. 
or American marmelade; growing in Ame- 
rica to the height of thirty or forty feet, with 
leaves a foot long, and three inches broad in 
the middle, cream-coloured flowers, and large 
oval fruit, containing a thick, luscious pulp, 
called natural marmelade. This tree is 
planted for the fruit in Jamaica, Barbadoes, 
Cuba, and most of the West India islands, 
and was cultivated here by Mr. Miller in 
1739. Of this there is a variety called the 
bully, or nisbcrry bully-tree, because it is the 
tallest of all the trees in the woods : it is es- 
teemed one of the best timber trees in 
Jamaica. 2 . The sapota, which grows to 
the height of sixty or seventy feet, without 
knots or branches, and bears a round, yel- 
low fruit, bigger than a quince, which smells 
well, and is of an agreeable taste. It is 
common at Panama, and some other places 
m the Spanish West Indies, but not to be 
found m many of the English settlements. 
It was cultivated here by Mr. Miller in 
1739. 3. The dissecta, or cloven flowered 
o. cultivated in Malabar for the fruit 
which is of the form and size of an olive' 
having! pulp of a sweetish acid flavour. Its 
