ACE 
little'beauty, their blow is foon over, and the feeds forne- 
times come to perfection with us. It is common in the 
South of France, and Italy: and was cultivated by Mr. 
Miller in 1739. 
17. Acer creticum, or Cretan maple : leaves three- 
lobed very entire pubefcent perennial. This bears fome 
refemblance to the daft, and gains the fame height. The 
leaves of the young trees are ovate, but afterwards be¬ 
come fhaped like tliofe of ivy : they are of a much thinner 
texture than in that, and their petioles are covered with 
■ a loft hairy down ; whereas thole of the other are fmooth 
and ftift'. Where the trees are well flieltered, they conti¬ 
nue green mod part of the year. The flowers are feldorn 
followed by good feeds, it grows naturally in the Le- 
vant. 
18. Acer trifidum, or trifid-leaved maple: leaves un¬ 
divided and trifid, without indentations on the edge. 
The twigs are round, fmooth, and purplilh. The leaves 
at the ends of the twigs; fcattered, undivided, and of two 
or three lobes, fmooth on both tides, pale underneath, 
ovate and lliarp. 
19. Acer negundo, or Virginian afh-leaved maple: 
leaves compound, flowers racemed. This is a very (trong 
fhooting tree, of quick growth, and is in Virginia and Ca¬ 
rolina one of the largeft trees of this kind. It is well 
adapted by its pale-green leaves, fo different in form from 
thofe of the other fpecies, to make a beautiful variety in 
woods, but they fall very foon in autumn ; and it mult be 
planted in places not too much expofed to violent winds, 
being fubject to fplit. The timber is fit for the fame tiles 
with that of the Norway maple and fycamore, but is foft 
and brittle. 
20. Acer pinnatum, or w ing-leaved maple : leaves pin¬ 
nate : leaflets oblong quite entire. The maple of Cochin 
China is a tree of a middling iize, with a very hard wood, 
and fpreading branches. The leaves have about four 
pairs of alternate, fmall, fmooth, leaflets, terminated by 
an odd one. The flowers are white, in compound ra¬ 
cemes. It is a native of woods in Cochin China. 
Propagation and Culture. The genus acer confifts of de¬ 
ciduous trees, mo ft of them fufficiently hardy. They are 
ealily propagated by flowing their feeds, foon after they 
are ripe, in a bed of common earth, covering them about 
half an inch thick with light mould. In the fpring they 
will appear above ground ; and, if kept clear from weeds, 
and watered in dry weather, fome of the forts will grow 
above a foot high the firfl fummer. The autumn or 
fpring following, if they are clofe in the feed-bed, it 
will be proper to tranfplant them into a nurfery, in rows 
at three feet diftance, and two feet afunder in the rows ; in 
this fituation they may remain three or four years, by 
which time they will be large enough to plant out for 
continuance. If the feeds are kept out of the ground till 
fpring, they rarely come up the fame year, and many 
times do not grow. When therefore theyare to be tranf- 
ported to any diftance, it will be proper to put them up 
in fand or earth. 
The common, fugar, Norway, and afh-leaved, maples, 
being large-growing trees forty feet high and upwards, 
with large fpreading heads, and exuberant foliage, are fit 
, for large plantations ; and the leaves being of different 
lizes, lhapes, and colours, they will make a confiderable 
variety, efpecially if we take in the variegated forts : and 
the large! pendulous branches of flowers, though deficient 
in colour, are not without their beauty, efpecially thofe 
of the Norway maple.—The other forts are of inferior 
growth, feldoin riling more than from twenty to thirty 
feet. 
AcER,yi in botany. See Banisteria and Triop- 
teris. 
ACERB, adj. [ acerbus , Lat.] Acid, with an addition 
of roughnels, as moft fruits are before they are ripe. 
ACERBITY, J. \_acerbitas, Lat.] A rough four tafte. 
Applied to men, fharpnefs of temper; feverity.—True it 
is, tliat the talents for criticifm, namely, fmartnefs, quick 
Vol. I. No. 5, 
ACE 65 
cenfure, vivacity of remark, indeed all but acerbity , feem 
rather the,gifts of youth than of old age. Pope. 
ACERNO, a town of Italy, in the citerior principality 
of Naples, with a bilhop’s fee. E. Ion. 15.46. N. lat. 
4 °- 5 °- 
ACERINA,/. in ichthyology, a name given by Pliny and 
other of the old naturalilts, to the filli we at this time call 
the ruffe. See Perca. 
ACERRA, /. in antiquity, an altar ereCted, among the 
Romans, near the bed of a perfon deceafed, on which his 
friends daily offered incenfe till his burial.—The real in¬ 
tention probably was to overcome any offenfive fine 11 that 
might arife about the corpfe. The Chinefe have dill a 
cuftom like this : they erect an altar to the deceafed in a 
room hung with mourning ; and place an image of the 
dead perfon on the altar, to which every one that approach- 
es it bows tour times, and offers oblations and perfumes. 
The acerra alfo lignified a little pot wherein were put 
the incenfe and perfumes to be burnt on the altars of the 
gods and before the dead. It appears to have been the 
fame with what was otherwife called thuribulum, pyxis. 
We find mention of acerra; in the ancient church. The 
Jews had alfo their acerrae, in our verfion rendered cenfers 
and the Romanilts If ill retain them under the name of in¬ 
cenfe-pots. In Roman writers, we frequently meet with 
plena acerra , a full acerra : to underhand which, it is to be 
obferved, that people were obliged to offer incenfe in pro¬ 
portion to their eftate and condition ; the rich in larger 
quantities, the poor only a few grains; the former pour¬ 
ed out acerras full on the altar, the latter took out two or 
three bits with their fingers. 
Acerra, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples,, 
and in the Terra di Lavaro ; feated on the river Agno. 
E. Ion. 15. 10. N. lat. 40. 55. 
ACERRftE, the ancient name of a town, now called la 
Girola, in the territory and to the fouth-eall of Lodi, where 
the rivulet Serio falls into the Adda, to the weft of Cre¬ 
mona and north of Placentia. 
To ACERVATE, v. a. [acervo , Lat.] To heap up. 
ACER.VATION, f. The act of heaping together. 
ACERVOSE, adj. Full of heaps. 
ACESCENT, adj. [acefccns, Lat.] That which has a 
tendency to fournefs or acidity.—The fame perfons,. per¬ 
haps, had enjoyed their health as well with a mixture of 
animal diet, qualified with a fufficient quantity of acefccnts\ 
as bread, vinegar, and fermented liquors. Arbuthnot. 
ACESTRIDES, a name ufed among theGreeks for fe¬ 
male phyiicians or midwives. 
ACETABULUM, in antiquity, a meafure ufed by the 
ancients, equal to one eighth of our pint. It feems to 
have acquired its name from a veffel in which acetutn or 
vinegar was brought to their tables, and which probably 
contained about this quantity. 
Acetabulum, in anatomy, a cavity in any bone for 
receiving the protuberant head of another, and thereby 
forming that fpecies of articulation called Enarthrosis, 
Acetabulum, in botany, the trivial nameof a fpecies 
of the peziza, or cup-peziza, a genus belonging to the 
cryptogamia fungi of Linnxus. It has got the name of 
acetabulum, from tire refemblance its leaves bear to a cup.. 
See Peziza. 
ACETARY, a pulpy fubftance in certain fruits, c. g. 
the pear, which is inclofed in a congeries of fmall calcu¬ 
lous bodies towards thebafe of the’fniit, and is always of 
an acid tafte. 
AC ETI AM are words or a claufe in a writ, where, in 
order to intitle the court to.jurifdiftion, an additional caufe 
of aCtion is alleged ; as where, upon the ulual complaint 
of trefpafs, the defendant is required to be brought in to 
anfwer the plaintiff of a plea of trefpafs, and alfo (ac etiam j 
to abill of debt: or where, to the ufual, complaint of break¬ 
ing the plaintiff’s clofe, a claufe is added containing the 
real caufe of action. 
ACETOSA, f. forrel; by Linnaeus.joined to the gc.- 
nusofdock* under the title of Rumcx. bee Rumex. 
S ACE POSE., 
