182 A F F 
as may be done by mailers extraordinary of the court of 
Chancery. When an affidavit hath been read in court, it 
ought to be filed, that the other party may fee it and take 
a copy of it. 
AFFIED, part. adj. [from the verb ajfy , derived from 
affido, Lat. Bracton tiling the phrafe ajfidare mulieres. ] Join¬ 
ed by contraft; affianced. 
AFFILIATION,/ [from ad and//iLr, Lat.] In wri¬ 
ters ot the middle age, the fame with adoption ; the a£l of 
taking a fon. Among the ancient Gauls it was performed 
with military ceremonies.' 
AFFINAGE, / [ ajfinagc , Fi\] The a£t of refining me¬ 
tals by the cupel. 
AFFINED, adj. [from affinis, Lat.].Joined by affinity 
to another; related to another. 
AFFINITY, /. \_affinite', Fr. from affinis, Lat.] Among 
civilians, implies a relation contracted by marriage; in 
contradiftinition to confanguinity, or relation by blood. 
Affinity does not found any real kinfhip; it is no more than 
a kind of fidlion, introduced on account of the clofe rela¬ 
tion between hulband and wife. It is even laid to ceafe 
when the caufe of it ceafes: hence a woman, who is not 
capable ot being a witnels tor her hufband’s brotherduring 
his life-time, is allowed as a witnefs when a v/idow, by 
reafon the affinity is diffolved. Yet, with regard to the 
contracting marriage, affinity is not diirolved by death, 
though it be in every thing elfe. In Lev. xviii. ver. 7. et 
feci- we find that there were feveral degrees of affinity, 
wherein marriage was prohibited by the law of Mofes. 
But thefe cafes are not to be piropofed as examples: be- 
caufe in lome they were authorifed by neceffity ; in others 
by cufiom ; and the law as yet was not in being. If fome 
other examples have exifted, either before or fince the 
law, the fcripture exprefsly difapproves of them, as Reu¬ 
ben’s inceft with Bala his father’s concubine, and the ac¬ 
tion of Ammon with his filler Tamar; and that of He¬ 
rod- Antipas, who married Flerodias his filler-in-law, his 
brother Philip’s wife, while her hulband was yet living. 
Affinity is alfo ufed to denote conformity or agree¬ 
ment. Thus w'e fay, the affinity of languages, the affinity 
of words, the affinity of founds, &:c. 
Affinity, or Elective Attraction, are terms 
ufed by modern chemills to exprefs that peculiar propen- 
fity which different fpecies of matter have to unite and 
combine with certain other bodies exclufively, or in pre¬ 
ference to any other connexion. 
The power in bodies on which their various tranfpofi- 
tions and combinations depend, and which is called their 
affinity, is a term like the Newtonian attraction, which is 
defigned to exprefs not the caufe but the effect. When an 
acid fpontaneoufly quits a metal to unite with an alkali, it 
is laid that it hath a greater affinity to the alkali than to the 
metal; this is only to fay in other words, that it will unite 
with the alkali in preference to the metal. 
The doCtrine of the affinities of bodies is of very exten- 
five ufe in the chemical pharmacy; for, as feveral procef- 
fes are founded on it, fo if an error happens, ' and thereby 
the medicine proves unfit for its intended ufe; it may be 
rendered applicable to other purpoles, by fuch tranfpoli- 
tions of their component parts as are pointed out by the 
knowledge of their affinities. Combinations and fepara- 
tions that are chemical, depend on elective attraction. See 
Chemistry. 
AFFION,/ an Arabian name of opium; alfo of an 
eleCtary in which opium is a part of the compofition. 
To AFFIRM, v. n. \_affirmo, Lat.] To declare; to tell 
confidently: oppofed to the word deny. 
To Affirm, v. a. To declare pofitively; as, To affirm a. 
faCt. To ratify or approve a former law, or judgment: 
oppofed to reverfe or repeal —The houfe of peers hath a 
power of judicatureAn fome cafes, properly to examine, 
and then to affirm ; or, if there be caufe, to reverfe the 
judgments which have been given in the court of king’s 
bench. Bacon.' —In this fenfe we fay, To affirm the truth. 
AFFIRMABLE, adj. That which may be affirmed.— 
A F F 
Thofe attributes and conceptions that were applicable and 
affirmable of him when prefent, are now affirmable and ap¬ 
plicable to him, though pall. Hale. 
AFFIRMANCE,/. Confirmation: oppofed to repeal. 
—This (hitute did but reftore an ancient ftatute, which 
was itfelf alfo made but in affirmance of the common law. 
Bacon. 
AFFIRMANT,/ The perfon that affirms; a declarer. 
AFFIRMATION,/ \ajfirmatio , lat.] The aCt of af¬ 
firming or declaring: oppofed to negation or denial. The 
pofition affirmed. Confirmation: oppofed to repeal. 
Affirmation, inlaw, is an indulgence allowed to the 
people called Quakers, who, in cafes where an oath is re¬ 
quired from others, may make a folemn affirmation of the 
truth: and, if they make a falfe affirmation, they are fub- 
ject to the penalties of perjury. But their affirmation is 
not allowed in any criminal caufe, nor fiiall they by vir¬ 
tue hereof be allowed to ferve on any juries, or to bear 
any office or place of profit in the government. 7 & 8 
Wm. c. 34. 8 Geo. c. 6. 22 Geo. II. c. 46. 
AFFIRMATIVE, adj. That which affirms, oppofed 
to negative ; in w hich fenfe we ufe the affirmative abfolutc- 
ly, that is, the affirmative pofition. That which can or may’ 
be affirmed : a fenfe ufed chiefly in fcience.—As in alge¬ 
bra, where affirmative quantities vanilli or ceafe, there ne¬ 
gative ones begin; fo in mechanics, w here attraflion cea¬ 
fes, there a repulfive virtue ought to fucceed. Neutlon .—. 
Applied to perfons, he wdio has the habit of affirming 
with vehemence; pofitive ; dogmatical. 
AFFIRMATIVELY, adv. In an affirmative manner; 
on the pofitive fide; not negatively. 
AFFIRMER,/ The perfon that affirms. 
To AFFIX, v. a. \affigo, affixum, Lat.] To unite to the 
end, or apoferiori ; to fubjoin.—If men conflantly affixed. 
applaufe and difgrace where they ought, the principle of 
fliame would have a very good influence on public con¬ 
duct ; though on fecret villanies it lays no reftraint. Ro¬ 
gers .—To conned! confequentially. Simply to fafterr or 
fix. Obfolete. 
Affix,/ \_affixum , I.at.] In grammar, a participle ad- 
ed at the clofe of a word, either to diverfify its form or 
alter its fignification. We meet with affixes in the Saxon, 
the German, and other northern languages; but more ef- 
pecially in the Hebrew, and other oriental tongues. The 
Hebrew affixes are Angle fyllables, frequently Angle letters, 
fubjoined to nouns and verbs; and contribute not a little 
to the brevity of that language. The oriental languages 
are much the fame as to the radicals , and differ chiefly 
from each other as to affixes and prefixes. 
AFFIXION,/. The acT of affixing. The fiate of be¬ 
ing affixed. 
AFFLATION, / [ affio , affiatum , I.at.] The ad! of 
breathing upon any thing. 
AFFLATUS,/ [from ad , to, and flare , Lat. to blow.} 
It literally denotes a blaft of wind, breath or vapour, flri- 
king with force againfl another body. Naturalifls forr.e- 
times fpeak of the afflatus of ferpents. Tully ufes the 
word figuratively, fora divine infpiration ; in w'hich fenfe, 
he aferibes all great and eminent accomplilhments to a di¬ 
vine afflatus. The Pythian prieftefs being placed on a tri 7 
pod or perforated llool, over a holy cave, received the 
divine afflatus, as a late author expreffes it, in her belly ; 
and, being thus infpired, fell into agitations, likeaphreni- 
tic ; during which Hie pronounced, in hollow groans and 
broken fentences, the will of the deity. This afflatus is 
fuppofed, by fome, to have been a fubterraneous fume, or 
exhalation, wherewith the priefiefs was literally infpired. 
Accordingly, it had the effedls of a real phyiicaLdifeafe; 
the paroxyfm of which was fo vehement, that Plutarch 
obferves it fometimes proved mortal. Van Dale fuppofes 
the pretended enthufiafm of the Pythia to have arifen from 
the fumes of aromatics. 
To AFFLICT, v.a. [ affliElo, ajfliBum, Lat.] To putto 
pain; to grieve ; to torment. The paffive, to be affliEledy 
has often at before the calual noun; by is like.wife proper. 
—The 
