CHARACTERS. 
13 ; and instead of M, which signifies a 
thousand, an I is sometimes used between 
two C’s, the one direct and the other in- 
verted, thus Ciy . The addition of C and 3 
before or after, raises CIO by tens, thus 
CCIOO expresses ten thousand, CCCIOOO 
a hundred thousand. The Romans also ex- 
pressed any number of thousands by a line 
drawn over any numeral less than a t hou- 
Sand ; thus, V denotes five thousand, LX 
sixty thousand ; so likewise ivl is one mil- 
lion, MM is two millions, &c. 
The Greeks had three ways of expressing 
numbers: first, every letter, according to 
its place in the alphabet, denoted a number, 
from aj one, to wj twenty-four. 2. The al- 
phabet was divided into eight units, a one, 
jS two, y three} &c. into eight tens, i ten, 
M twenty, x thirty, &c. and eight hundreds, 
5 one hundred, <7 two hundred, r three hun- 
dred, &c. 3. I stood for one, n (ctsv7e) 
five, A {hxcc) ten, H (Hmlov) a hundred, 
X a thousand, M ten thou- 
sand ; and when the letter n inclosed aiiy 
of these, except i, it showed the inclosed 
letter to be five times its value ; as H 
fifty, five hundred, five thousand, 
fifty thousand; 
The Hebrew numerals consisted of their 
alphabet divided into nine units ; thus, N one, 
n two, &C'. : nine tens ; thus, ’ ten, D twen- 
ty, &c. : nine hundreds ; thus, p one hun- 
dred, T two hundred, &c. : and n five hun- 
dred, D six hundred, i seven hundred, p| 
eight hundred, y nine hundred. They ex- 
pressed thousands by the word nbk, with 
the other numerals prefixed to signify the 
number of thousands ; thus, a’PiVk, twb 
thousand, D’fibNJ, three thousand, &c. 
Characters upon tomb-stones. 
Si V. Siste viator, i. ‘e. Stop, traveller. 
M. S. Memoriae sacniiU} i. e. Sacred to 
the memory. 
Character, in law, if a person apply 
to another for the character of a third 
person, and a good character as to his sol- 
vency be given, yet if, in consequence of 
this opinion, the party asking the question 
sutfer loss through the person’s insolvency, 
no action lies against him who gave the 
character, if it were fairly given. But if 
a man assert what he knows to be false, 
and thereby draws his neighbour into a loss, 
it is actionable. But if tlie party giving 
credit also knew that the party credited 
was in bad circumstances, an action will 
not lie. 
Characters, in botany, the description 
of the genera of plants so termed by Lin- 
naeus ; hence the generic character of any 
plant, and the definition of the genus, are 
synonymous terms. The term character 
is uot extended by that authhr to the spe- 
cies of plants, because he never gives the 
complete description of any species ; but 
only enumerates those characters or cir- 
cumstances in which it dilFcrs from all the 
other species of the same genus. This ob- 
servation sufficiently illustrates the different 
methods which are observed in the Genera 
and Species Plantarum. In the former 
work, all the parts of the flower and fruit, 
from which the characters of the genera 
are derived, are accurately and completely 
described ; in the latter, such striking cir- 
cumstances only of the stem, leaves; buds, 
roots, &c. are mentioned, tis sufficiently 
distinguish the species in question from 
every other of that genus to which it be- 
longs. 
In general, characters, or characteristi- 
cal marks, according to the idea of syste- 
matic writers, are certain external signs 
obvious in the appearance of natural bodies, 
by means of which they are distinguished 
from one another. These signs being col- 
lected and expressed by proper words, 
lay the foundation at once for definition, 
distribution, and denomination, the three 
grand parts of practical botany. The cha- 
racteristic mark of each genus is to be 
fixed from the figure, situation, connection, 
number; and proportion of all the parts. 
Any part of a body considered either in 
itself, or with relation to others, is found 
to possess all the properties just enumerated. 
Characters, therefore, may be drawn from 
all the parts to define the difference of 
bodies ; thus the leaf, stem, flower, and its 
parts, in plants ; the foot, wing, fin, in ani- 
mals; all difter in their figure, situation, 
number, and proportion, and exhibit cha- 
racters proper for distinction. Experience 
shows that one part, or property of a part, 
varies more than another; in constituting 
a method, therefore, those parts and pro- 
perties are to be selected which vai-y least. 
Thus the parts of flowers in vegetables, 
the feet, fins, beaks, in animals, are more 
fixed with respect to the above-mentioned 
properties. Again, the figure and number 
of these parts are more apt to vary than 
their situation, connection, and proportion ; 
the characters, therefore, are, if possible, 
to be taken from these last. 
Artificial Character . — ^The artificial cha- 
racter, otherwise called accidental, an.i, by- 
L 2 
