I MM 
act of doing or striving to copy after, or be- 
come like to, another person or thing. 
IMITATIVE, in music, a term applica- 
ble to that music which is composed in 
imitation of the effects of some of the 
operations of nature, art, or human passion, 
as the rolling of thunder, swiftness of light- 
ning, agitation of the sea, bellowing of the 
winds or waves, &c. Imitation is likewise 
a technical term for a studied resemblance 
of melody between the several passages of 
the harmonical parts of a composition. 
IMMATERIAL, something devoid of 
matter, or that is pure spirit: thus, God, 
angels, and the human soul, are immaterial 
beings. 
IMMEMORIAL, in law, an epithet 
given to the time or duration of any thing, 
whose beginning we know nothing of. In a 
legal sense, a thing is said to be of time im- 
memorial, or time out of mind, that was be- 
fore the reign of King Edward II. 
IMMENSITY, an unlimited extension, 
or which no finite and determinate space, 
repeated ever so often, can equal. 
IMMERSION, that act by which any 
thing is plunged into water, or other fluid. 
See Fluid. 
Immersion, in astronomy, is when a star 
or plane t is so near the sun with regard to 
our observations, that we cannot see it; 
being, as it were enveloped and hidden in the 
-rays of that luminary. It also denotes the 
beginning of an eclipse of the moon, or that 
moment when the moon begins to be dar- 
kened, and to enter into the shadow of, the 
earth ; and the same term is also used with 
regard to an eclipse of the sun, when the 
disk of the moon begins to cover it. In 
this sense emersion stands opposed to im- 
mersion, and signifies the moment wherein 
the moon begins to come out of the shadow 
of the earth, or the sun begins to show the 
parts of his disk which were hid before. 
Immersion is frequently applied to the 
satellites' of Jupitfer, and especially to the 
first satellite ; the observation whereof is 
of so much use for discovering the longi- 
tude. The immersion of that satellite i3 
the moment in which it appears to enter 
within the disk of Jupiter, and its emer- 
sion the moment when it appears to come 
out. 
The immersions are observed from the 
time of the conjuction of Jupiter with the 
sun, to the time of his opposition ; and the 
emersions from the time of his opposition to 
his conjuction. 
IMMUTABILITY, one of the divine 
IMP 
attributes, founded on the absolute perfec- 
tion of the deity. 
The immutability of God is two-fold, 
physical and moral. The first consists in 
this, that the divine essence does not, nor 
possibly can, receive any alteration ; and 
the moral immutability is founded on- the 
perfection of his nature, whereby he always 
wills the same things, or such as are best 
on the whole. 
IMPALED, in heraldry, when the coats 
of a man and his wife who is not an heiress 
are borne in the same escutcheon, they 
must be marshalled in pale; the husband’s 
on the right side, and the wife’s on the left : 
and this the heralds call baron and feme, 
two coats impaled. 
If a man has had two wives lie may- im- 
pale his coat in the middle between theirs ; 
and if he has had more than two, they are 
to he marshalled on each side of his in their 
proper order, 
IMPALPABLE, that whose parts are 
so extremely minute that they cannot be 
distinguished by the senses, particularly by 
that of feeling. 
IMPARLANCE, is a petition in court, 
for a day to consider or advise what answer 
the defendant shall make to the action of 
the plaintiff ; being a continuance of the 
cause till auother day, or a larger time 
given by the court, which is generally till 
the next term. 
IMPASSIBLE, that which is exempt 
from suffering, or cannot undergo pain or 
alteration. The stoics place the soul of 
their wise men in an impassible, or imper- 
turbable state. 
IMPATIENS, in botany, a genus of the 
Syngenesia Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Corydales. Gerania, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx two-leav- 
ed : corolla five-petalled, irregular, with a 
cowled nectary ; capsule superior, five- 
valved. There are twelve species, of which 
I. balsamina, garden balsam, is an annual 
plant, about a foot and a half in height, 
dividing into many succulent branches ; 
leaves long and serrate ; the flowers come 
out from the joints of the stem, upon slen- 
• der peduncles, an inch in length, each sus- 
taining a single flower. In its wild state it 
is two feet, or more, in height, round, his- 
pid, juicy, with a white stem, and ascend- 
ing branches. It is a native of the East 
Indies, China, Cochin-China, and Japan ; 
the Japanese use the juice prepared with 
alum, for dying their nails red. By culture 
this plant is very much enlarged, and he- 
