IOO 
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Apodles among the canonical books, and all the church¬ 
es have acknowledged it as f'uch without any controverfy. 
There were feveral Spurious Acts of the Apostles ; 
particularly, I. AEls, fuppofed to be written by Abdias, 
the pretended billiop of Babylon, who gave out that he 
was ordained bilhop by the apodles themfelves when they 
were upon their journey into Perfia. II. The Ads of St. 
Peter : this book came originally from the fchool of the 
Ebionites. III. The A Els of St. Paul , which is entirely 
loll. Eufebius, who hadfeen it, pronounces it of no au¬ 
thority. IV. The ABs of St. John the Evangeli/l ■, a book 
made ufe of by the Encratites, Manichxans, and Prifcil- 
lianids. V. The AEls of St. Andrew ; received by the Ma- 
nichceans, Encratites, and Apotatlics. VI. The Acts of 
St. Thomas the Apof le ; received particularly by the Mani- 
chaeans. VII. The Acts of St. Philip. This book the 
Gnodics made ufe of. VIII. The ABs of St. Matthias. 
Some have imagined that the Jews for a long time had 
concealed the original ads of the life and death of St. 
Matthias written in Hebrew ; and that a monk of the ab¬ 
bey of St. Matthias at Treves, having got them out of 
their hands, procured them to be tranflated into Latin, 
and publifhed them j but the critics will not allow them 
to be authentic. 
Acts of Pilate ; a relation fent by Pilate to the em¬ 
peror Tiberius, concerning Jefus Chrift, his death, re- 
furredion, afcenfion, and the crimes of which he was 
convided defore him. It was a cuftom among the Ro¬ 
mans, that the proconfuls and governors of provinces 
fhould draw up ads, or memoirs, of what happened in 
the courfe of their government, and fend them to the 
emperor and fenate. The genuine aEls of Pilate were fent 
by him to Tiberius, who reported them to the fenate ; 
but they were rejeded by that affembly, becaufe not im¬ 
mediately addrefled to them ; as is teflified by Tertullian, 
in his Apol. cap. 5. and 20, 21. The heretics forged 
ads in imitation of them : in the reign of the emperor 
Maximin, the Gentiles, to throw an odium on the Chrif- 
tian name, fpread about fpurious Ads of Pilate ; which 
the emperor, by a folemn edid, ordered to be fent into 
all the provinces of the empire, and enjoined the fchool- 
maders to teach and explain them to their fcholars, and 
make them learn them by heart. Thefe ads, both the 
genuine and the fpurious, are loft. There is indeed ex¬ 
tant, in the Pfeudo-Hegefippus, a letter from Pilate to 
the emperor Claudius, concerning Jefus Chrift; but it 
difcovers itfelf at firft fight not to be authentic. 
ACTdi, were meadows of remarkable verdure and 
luxuriancy near the fea-lhore, where the Romans ufed to 
indulge themfelves to a great degree in foftnefs and delica¬ 
cy of living. The word is ufed in this fenfe by Cicero 
and Virgil ; but Voflius thinks it can only be ufed in fpeak- 
ing of Sicily, as thefe two authors did. 
ACTdsA,yi [osjcTa-ia, fhore-loving. J In botany, a ge¬ 
nus of the polyandria monogynia clafs, of the natural or¬ 
der of multifiliquae. The generic charaders are—Calyx : 
perianth four-leaved: leaflets roundifh, obtufe, concave, 
caducous. Corolla: petals four, acuminate to both ends, 
larger than the calyx, caducous. Stamina: filaments 
ufuallv about thirty, capillary, broader at top. Anthene 
roundifh, twin, ered. Piftillum: germ fuperior, ovate. 
Stigmas thickifh, obliquely deprefled. Pericarpium : a 
berry oval-globofe, frnooth, one-furrowed, one-celled. 
Seeds : very many, femiorbicular, lying over each other 
in two rows.— Effcntial CkaraEler. Calyx, four-leaved. 
Corolla, four-petalled. Berry, one-celled. Seeds, fe¬ 
miorbicular, in tw r o rows. 
Species. 1. Adaea fpicata: raceme ovate, fruits berried. 
This fort grows naturally in feveral places in the northern 
counties of England. It grows two feet and a half high, 
the footftalks of the leaves arife from the root; thefe di¬ 
vide into three fmaller footfialks, each of which divide 
again into three, and thefe have each three lobes, fo that 
each leaf is compofed of twenty-feven lobes (or fmull 
ACT 
leaves). The. flower flem which arlfes from the root, 
has leaves of the fame form, but fmaller. On the top of 
the ftalk appear the flowers* which grow in ramofe fpikes, 
and are of a pure white ; thefe come out in May, and are 
fucceededby black fhining berries about the lizeof peas, 
which ripen in autumn. This plant is a powerful repel¬ 
lent. The root is ufeful in fome nervous cafes, but 
mud be adminiftepfcd with caution. The berries are poi- 
fonous, the juice of them with alum yields a black dye. 
Toads allured by the foetid fmell of this plant refort to 
it. Dr. Withering obferves very well, that this may be 
owing to its fondnefs for the fame damp fhady fituations 
with the toad. 
2. Ad re a racemofa, or American black or wild fnake- 
root : racemes very long ; fruits dry. This fpecies has 
-large compound leaves, which rife immediately from the 
root, and are branched after the Tame manner with the 
fird. The flower-dems frequently rife to the height of 
four or five feet. The flowers are w hite, in a long fpike, 
reflex at the top. It flowers in June, or the beginning of 
July, but does not perfedfeeds in England. During the 
time of flowering it makes a good appearance in a garden, 
and therefore delerves a place in lhady borders, or among 
flirubs, where, if it be not overhung by them, it thrives 
very well, and, being hardy, will require no other care 
than the flirubs themfelves. It is a native of North Ame¬ 
rica, where it is called black fnake-root, to didinguifh it 
from common fnake-root. The root is much ufed in that 
country againfi many diforders, and is fuppofed to be an 
antidote againfl poifon, or the bite of the rattle-fnake. 
3. Aclsea japonica, or Japanefe herb Chridopher: fpikes 
very long; leaflets gafhed, palmate, undivided. This 
fpecies differs from the preceding in having Ample, not 
pinnate, leaves ; the leaflets are heart-fhaped, nearly of 
the fame length and breadth, not oblong ; the petioles 
longer than the leaflets; and the flowers feflile. 
4. Aftaea afpera, or rough-leaved herb Chridopher: 
dem climbing: leaves lanceolate, rough: fpikes inter¬ 
rupted. This fpecies is a native of China near Canton. 
The leaves being extremely rough, the Chinefe ufe them 
in polifhirig, particularly tin ware. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants may be propa¬ 
gated by feeds, which fliould be fown on a fltady border, 
foon after they are ripe, where they can be obtained irefh ; 
for, if they are kept out of the ground till fpring, the 
plants will not come up till the year after, fo that a whole 
feafon will be lod. As the feeds feldom come up all at 
the fame time, the border fliould not be didurbed till the 
following autumn, in order to fee what plants may appear; 
w'hen they fliould be tranfplanted into another fhady bor¬ 
der, where they may remain to flower. Thefeedsof the 
fecond fort are annually fent from North America, and 
fliould be fown as foon as the feafon will permit. 
Acta;a cimicifuga. See Cimicifuga. 
ACTASON, in fabulous hiflory, the fon ol Aridaeus 
and Autonoe ; a great hunter. He was turned by Diana 
into a dag, for looking on her while bathing ; and died by 
his own dogs. 
ACTANIA, an ifland, according to Pliny, in the North 
fea. It lies to the wed of Holfiein and Ditmerfch, not 
far from the mouth of the Eyder and Elbe, and is now 
called tleyligland. 
ACTE. See Sambucus. 
ACTIAN Games, in Roman antiquity, were folemn 
games indituted by Auguftus, in memory ol his victory 
over Marc Anthony at Actium, held every fifth year, 
and celebrated in honour of Apolio, fince called AEhus. 
Hence Aclia'n Years, an sera commencing from the battle 
of Ail film, called the .Era of Augufus. 
ACTINIA, in zoology, a genus belonging to the order 
of vermes mollufca. The body is oblong and fmooth, 
attaching itfelf firmly by its bafis to rocks or other folid 
fubdances, having a dilatable apex hooked within. The 
mouth is furnifhed with crooked teeth, the roflrum cylin¬ 
drical 
