8 + AGO 
Tournefort in the Levant, and was fir ft raifed in the royal 
garden at Paris, from the feeds which he lent, but after¬ 
wards became rare in Europe. 
8. Aconilum cammarum, or purple monk’s-hood or 
wolf’s-bane: flowers moftly with five flyles; divilions of 
the leaves wedge-fhaped, gafhed, acute. It is found wild 
in Switzerland, Auftria, Stiria, Piedmont, &c. Haller 
found it with a white flower; and others have remarked 
it in Switzerland with flowers of a pale blue, variegated 
with white. 
9. Aconitum uncinatum, or American monk’s-hood or 
wolf’s-bane: flowers moftly with five ftyles; leaves ma- 
nv-Iobed; helmet extended very far. This fpecies, which 
is a native of Pennfylvania, has flowers refembling thole 
of the laft, but leaves approaching more to the third. 
Propagation and Culture. All the forts of monk's-hood 
may be propagated by feeds, which Ihould be low n in tire 
autumn, in a fliady lituation; thus they will appeal the 
ipring following; whereas if they are few n in the Ipring, 
they generally lie till the year after, before they come up. 
The ground mull be kept clean from weeds all the fum- 
mer; and the plants ihould be watered in dry weather, till 
they are fit to tranfplant; when they are to be carefully 
taken up, and planted in fliady borders, at the dillance of 
fourteen inches each way, obferving to water them till 
they have taken good root; after which they will require 
no other care, but to keep them clean from weeds, till the 
following autumn, when they may be tranfplanted to the 
places where they are to remain. They then require no 
attention but to cut down the Hulks in autumn, after they 
have done flowering. The common monk’s-hood will 
grow under the (hade of trees, and is therefore proper to 
plant in ornamental woods and wildernell'es. It will alfo 
mcreafe very fait by means of its creeping roots, -every 
piece of which will grow. The other forts may be in- 
creafed the fame way; though njoft of thefe delight in 
ftiade, yet few of them will thrive under the drip of trees; 
they fliotild be planted therefore in fhady borders, not im¬ 
mediately overhung by trees, and thus they will continue 
much longer in flower, and thrive better than in an open 
expofure. They are all hardy perennials, require little 
care or culture, and have moftly handfome fpikes of fpe- 
cious flowers ; and are therefore defirable plants for ftirub- 
beries, and wildernefs quarters. 
Acohitum HYEMAi,E,y. in botany. See Heccebo- 
stus. 
ACONTIAS,y in zoology, an. oblblete name of the 
anguis jaculis, or dart-fnake, belonging to the order of 
amphibia ferpentes. See Anguis. 
ACONTIUM,y [axofltoi’,] in Grecian antiquity, a kind 
of dart or javelin, refembling the Roman pilum. 
ACONTIUS (James), a philofopher, civilian, and di. 
vine, born at Trent in the 16th century : he embraced the 
reformed religion ; and, coming into England in the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth, was much honoured bv her, which 
he acknowledges in a book dedicated to that queen. This 
work is his celebrated ColleiSlion of the Stratagems of Sa-, 
tan, which has been fo often tranfiafed, and borne fo ma¬ 
ny editions, 
ACOPA, or Acopo v,f [«, non, and xovh, laftitude.] 
At firft this word fignified the quality of the medicines 
which was to relieve pain, ftiffnefs, and other ill effects of 
exceftive wearinefs; but afterwards it only fignified the de¬ 
gree of confidence which thq medicines were of. Thefe 
medicines were always external ones. In time the word 
was ufed to exp refs thole kinds of foft cerates which were 
applied to tumors, It is alfo a name of the trifolium 
paludofum. 
ACOSTAN, a mountainous ifland in the north Teas be¬ 
tween A fen and America, obferved by Captain Cook. 
ACORN, /! [(seem, Sax, from ac, an oak, and corn, corn 
or grain; that is, the grain or fruit of the oak. ] The feed 
or fruit borne by the oak: 
The lofty oak from a fmali acorn grows, 
And to the Ikies afeends with fpreading boughs; 
A C O 
As years increafe, it fhades th’ extended plain, 
1 hen, big with death, and vengeance, ploughs the maim 
Hence riles fame and fafety to our Ihore, 
And from an acorn fprings Britannia’s power. 
Acorn-,/, in fea-languagc, a little ornamental piece of 
wood, fafhioned like a cone, and fixed on the uppermoft 
point of the fpindle, above the vane, on the malt-head. 
It is ufed to keep the vane from being blown oft' the fpin¬ 
dle in a whirlwind, or when the Ihip leans much to one 
fide under fail. 
ACORNED, adj. Stored with acorns : 
Like a full acorn'd boar. Skahefpeare. 
ACORUS, f. [axo^, from xo§«, the pupil, becaufe it 
was efteemed good for diforders of the eyes.] In botany, 
a genus of the hexandria monogynia clafs, ranking in the 
natural order of piperitae. The generic character, are— 
Calyx: fpadi.x cylindric, entirely iimple, covered with 
flofeules; fpathe, none ; perianthium, none, 11 raid's the ca¬ 
lyx be fo named. Corolla: petals fix, obtufe, concave, 
loofe, thicker at the top, and in a manner truncate. Sta¬ 
mina: filaments thickilh, a little longer than the corolla; 
anther,e thickilh, twin, terminal, adnate. Piftilluni: gerin 
gibbous, rather oblong, the length of theftamina; ftyle, 
none; ftigma, a prominent point. Pcricarpium: a (hort 
triangular capfule, attenuated to both ends, obtufe, three- 
celled. Seeds: many, ova r e-obl<jng.— EJfcntial Chamc. 
ter. Spadix cylindric, covered with Hole tiles. Corollas 
five-petalled, naked. Capfule three-celled. 
Species. 1. Acorus calamus, or common fweet rufti: the 
point of the feape very long and leafy. This fpccies is 
fufticiently diftinguifhed by its long (word-lhaped leaves, 
refembling thole of the flag (iris pfeudacorus), but nar¬ 
rower, and of a brighter green. The root is ally like that 
of the flag; long, cylindric, tuberous, fpongy, marked 
with rings, and putting out abundance of fibres, which 
indeed are the proper roots, Linnaeus obferves, that the 
root powdered might fupply the place of foreign fpices; 
and that it is the only native aromatic plant of northern 
climates. It has a ftrong aromatic fine 11 , and a warm, 
pungent, bitterifh, tafte. The flavour is greatly improved 
by drying. The roots are commonly imported from the 
Levant; but thofe of our own growth are full as good. 
The Turks candy them, and regard them as a prefervativ.e 
againft contagion. They are alfo laid to have cured agues, 
when the Peruvian bark has failed. No cattle whatever 
eat the plant. Calamus aromaticus grows naturally on 
the banks of rivers, and in Handing waters that are (hallow, 
It is found wild in many parts of England, as on Houn- 
flow.heath near Uxbridge, and Harefield, in Middlefex; 
near Hedley, in Surrey; in the river Yore near Norwich, 
and about Lynn and Millington, in Norfolk; in the river 
Waveney, by Bungay, in Suffolk ; near Cambridge; in the 
Soar, between Loughborough and Kegworth; about Tam- 
worth; in the Avpn, near Perfhore; and in many parts of 
Chefhire. With us it is not very abundant; but it grows 
plentifully in 1110ft of the ditches and (funding waters of 
Holland, and is common in many other parts of Europe, 
-—The Indian calamus, which grows in marfh ditches in 
the Eaft Indies, differs little from the European, except 
that in all its parts it is more tender and narrow, and at 
the fame time is of a more hot and biting tafte, Accord¬ 
ing to Father Loureiro’s defeription, the leaves of this are 
much fhorter than in ours, for he fays they are foarceiy a 
foot in length, 
j. Acorus gramineus, or grafs-leayed iweet-rtifti, or 
Chinefb fweet.grafs: the point of the ftullc fcarcely ex¬ 
tending bevond the top of the fpadix, The whole herb 
has an aromatic fmell when bruifed, - much refembling our 
Knglilh fweet-flag; from which the p re lent fpecies is dif. 
tinguilhed by the Ifiortnefs of that portion of its ftidk, 
which is above the fpadix, as well as by all its parts, ex¬ 
cept the florets, being five times (mailer than in that plant , 
It is probably a native of China i at loaft it is frequently 
cultivated, for the fake of its fmell, in pots, about the 
habitations 
