ARI 
stations in the prosecution of private de- 
signs, yet, whilst all were not under a 
temptation to the same injustice, and hav- 
ing the same end to gain, it would still he 
difficult to obtain the consent of a majority 
to any specific act of oppression, which the 
iniquity of an individual might prompt him 
to propose : or, if the will were the same, 
the power is more confined ; one tyrant, 
whether the tyranny reside in a single per- 
son, or a senate, cannot exercise oppression 
in so many places at the same time, as may 
be carried on by the dominion of a nume- 
rous nobility over their respective vassals 
and dependents. Of all species of domina- 
tion, this is the most odious ; the freedom 
and satisfaction of private life are more re- 
strained and harassed by it, than by the 
most vexatious laws, or even by the lawless 
will of an arbitrary monarch, from whose 
knowledge, and from whose injustice, the 
greatest part of his subjects are removed by 
their distance, or concealed by their obscu- 
rity. An aristocracy of this kind has been 
productive, in several instances, of disas- 
trous revolutions, and the people have con- 
curred with the reigning prince, in ex- 
changing their condition for the miseries 
of despotism. This was the case in Den- 
mark about the middle of the seventeenth 
century, and more lately in Sweden. In 
England, also, the people beheld the de- 
pression of the barons, under the house of 
Tudor, with satisfaction, although they saw 
the crown acquiring thereby a power which 
no limitations, provided at that time by the 
constitution, were likely to confine. 
From such events this lesson may be 
drawn : “ That a mixed government, which 
admits a patrician order into the constitu- 
tion, ought to circumscribe the personal 
privileges of the nobility, especially claims 
of hereditary jurisdiction and local autho- 
rity, with a jealousy equal to the solicitude 
with which it provides for its own preserva- 
tion.” Paley’s Princ. of Philos. 
ARISTOLOCHIA, in botany, birth- 
wort, a genus of plants of the Gynandria 
Hexandria class and order. Stigmata six ; 
no calyx ; corol one-petalled, tubular, tongue- 
shaped ; capsule inferior, six-celled. There 
are 27 species, most foreign. 
ARISTOTELIA, a genus of the Dode- 
candria Monogynia class and order : calyx 
five-leaved; petals five; style three-cleft; 
berry three-celled, with two seeds ip each. 
One species, found in Chili, a shrub, leaves 
ever-green; flowers white in axillary ra- 
eernes. 
ARI 
ARISTOTELIAN, something relating 
to Aristotle : thus we read of the Aristote- 
lian philosophy, school, &c. See Peripa- 
tetics. 
ARITHMETIC, the art of numbering ; 
or, that part of mathematics, which consi- 
ders the powers and properties of num- 
bers, and teaches how to compute or calcu- 
late truly, and with expedition and ease. By 
some autliors it is also defined the science 
of discrete quantity. It consists chiefly in 
the four great rules or operations of Addi- 
tion, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Divi- 
sion. Concerning the origin and invention 
of arithmetic we have ..very little informa- 
tion ; history fixes neither the author nor 
the time. Some knowledge, however, of 
numbers must have existed in the earliest 
ages of mankind. This knowledge would 
be suggested to them, whenever they 
opened their eyes, by their own fingers, and 
by their flocks and herds, and by the va- 
riety of objects that surrounded them. At 
first, indeed, their powers of numeration 
would be of very limited extent ; and be- 
fore the art of writing was invented, it must 
have depended on memory, or on such ar ti- 
ficial helps, as might most easily be obtain- 
ed. To their ten fingers they would, with- 
out doubt, have recourse in the first in- 
stance ; and hence they would be naturally 
led to distribute numbers into periods, each 
of which consisted of ten units. This prac- 
tice was common among all nations, the an- 
cient Chinese, and an obscure people men- 
tioned by Aristotle, excepted. But though 
some kind of computation must have com- 
menced at a very early period, the introduc- 
tion of arithmetic as a science, and the im- 
provements it underwent, must, in a great 
degree, depend upon the introduction and 
establishment of commerce : and as com- 
merce was gradually extended and improv- 
ed, and other sciences were discovered and 
cultivated, arithmetic would be improved 
likewise. It is therefore probable, that if it 
was not of Tyrian invention, it must have 
been much indebted to the Phoenicians or 
Tyrians. Proclus, indeed, in his commen- 
tary on the first book of Euclid, says, that 
the Phoenicians, by reason of their traffic 
and commerce, were the first inventors of 
arithmetic ; and Strabo also informs us, 
that in his time it was attributed to the 
Phoenicians. Others have traced the ori- 
gin of this art to Egypt ; and it has been a 
general opinion, sanctioned by the authori- 
ties of Socrates and Plato, that Theut or 
Thot was the. inventor of numbers ; that 
