7?8 APE 
mineral waters and warm baths. There are many moun¬ 
tains in the canton, the higheft of which is called the llo- 
hefar.lis, or the Rokem'ej'mer, which commands a profpeci of 
a prodigious extent. There are alfo feveral lakes and 
rivers. The inhabitants, who are partly proteftants, and 
partly Roman catholics, fubfift chiefly by their manufac¬ 
tures of linen, crape, fuftian, and thread, or by bleach¬ 
ing, and tire fale of their cattle, butter, cheefe, horfes, 
wood, and coal. In fpiritual affairs, the Romanifts are 
fubjeft to the bilhop of Conftance, but the proteftants to 
their own confiftory. The militia of the former does not 
exceed 3000, whereas thofe of the latter amount to 10,000. 
APEP'SIA, f. [from a priv. and Trawlo, to digeft.] 
That genus of difeafe which Dr. Cullen names dyjpepfia , 
or indigeftion. See Medicine. 
A'PER, f. A ridiculous imitator or mimic. 
.APE'RIENT, adj. [aperio , Lat. to open.] That which 
has tlie quality of opening.—Of the flems of plants, fome 
contain a fine aperient fait, and are diuretic and faponace- 
ous. Arbuthnot. 
APE'RIENTS, f. Medicines which have the power of 
opening the mouths of vefiels, lienee clearing obftmftions 
of tire vafcular and glandular kind, as well as the pores of 
the (loin. In this fenfe th.ey are fynonymous with the 
anaftomatica, deobftruents, and deoppilatives. But thofe 
medicines which render the bowels gently laxative, are 
now generally called aperients', the removal of other ob- 
ftruftiens is more confined to the term deobjlruents. 
APE'R>|TIVE, adj. That which has the quality of open¬ 
ing the excrementitious pafiages of the body.—They may 
make broth, with the addition of aperitive herbs. Harvey. 
APERIT'TOS, f. [from a priv. and '7 T££it 1© j , redun¬ 
dant.] Such aliment as generates but little excrement. 
The oppofite quality is called perittomaticos. 
APE'RT, adj. \_aperius, Lat. ] Open. 
APER'TION, f. [from apertus, Lat.] An opening; a 
paffage through any thing ; a gap.-—The next now in or¬ 
der are the apertions ; under which term I do comprehend 
doors, windows, ftaircafes, chimneys, or other conduits: 
in fhort, all inlets or outlets. IVotton. The aft of open¬ 
ing; or date of being opened.—The plenitude of veffels, 
cthervvife called the plethora, when it happens, caufeth 
an extravafation of blood, either by ruption or apertion of 
them. Wifcman. 
APERT'LY, adv. \_apertc, Lat.] Openly; without 
covert. 
APERT'NESS, f. Opennefs.—The freedom, or apert- 
■ne/s and vigour of pronouncing, and the clofenefs of muff¬ 
ling, and lazinefs of fpeaking, render the found different. 
Holder. 
AP'ERTURE, f. [from apertus, Lat. open.] The aft 
©f opening.—Hence arifeth the facility of joining a confo- 
nant to a vowel, becaufd from an appulfe to an aperture is 
caller than from.one appulfe to another. Holder. An open 
place.—If memory be made by the eafy motion of the fpi- 
3 'its throng'll the open paffages, images, without doubt, pafs 
through the lame apertures. Glanville. In optics, the hole 
next the objeftnglafs of a telefcope or microfcope.—The 
concave metal Lire an aperture of an inch : but the aper¬ 
ture was limited by an opaque circle, perforated in the 
middle. Newton. Enlargement; explanation: a fenfe fel- 
dom ufed.—It is too much untwifted by the doftors, and, 
like philofophy, made intricate by explications, and diffi¬ 
cult by the aperture and diffolution of diftinftions. Taylor. 
APE'TALOUS, adj. [of a. priv. and trsrccMv, a leaf.] 
Without petala or flower-leaves. 
APE'TALOUSNESS, f. Being without leaves. 
A'PEX, f. [ apices, plur. Lat.] The tip or point of 
any thing.—The apex, or letter end of it, is broken off. 
Woodward. 
Apex, in antiquity, the creft of a helmet, but more 
efpeciaily a kind of cap worn by the flamens. 
Apex, among grammarians, denotes the mark of a long 
fyllable, falfely called a long accent. 
A P II 
API -1 A'CA, a place in Syria, lituated between Helio¬ 
polis and Byblus, near Lebanon ; infamous for a temple 
of Venus, called Aphacitis. Near it was a lake, rotuid 
which fireufuajly burft forth, and its waters were fo heavy, 
that bodies floated on them. The temple was dellruyed 
by Conftantine, as being a fchool of incontinence. The 
name is of Syriac origin, lignifying embraces. 
Aphaca, f. in botany. See I.axhvrus. 
APH./ERE'SIS, f. [apaigesr Gr. of a-tpai^u, to take 
away.] In grammar, a figure by which a letter or fy 11 able 
is cut off from the beginning of a word. Thus ciconia, by 
aphaerefls, is written conia ; contemn ere, temnerc ■ omitUre, 
miltere, &c. A fimilar retrenchment at the end of a word 
is caled apocope. 
Aph^eresis, in medicine, denotes 1 a ncceffary taking 
away or removal of fomething that is noxious. In fur- 
gery, it flgnilies an operation whereby fomediing fuper- 
fl uous is taken away. 
APLIA'NES,/i [a.(pan7i; y Gr. not apparent; from its 
diminutive fize. ] In botany, a genus of the tetrandria di- 
gynia or monandria monogynia clafs, ranking in the natu¬ 
ral order of fenticofae. The generic characters are—Ca¬ 
lyx : perianthium one-leafed, tubular, permanent; mouth 
fiat, eight-parted. Stamina : filaments four, crone, erect, 
fubulate, very fmall, placed on the mouth of the calyx ; 
anthene roundiffi, or one twin. Piftillum : germ ovate; 
ftyle filiform, the length of the ftamens, inferred into the 
bale of the germ ; ftigma headed. Pericarpiiim : none ; 
calyx containing the feeds in the bottom, converging at 
the mouth. Seeds: ovate, acuminate, compreffed, the 
length ot the ftyle.— EJfcntial CharaEler. Calyx, eight- 
cleft. Seeds two, or one, naked. 
There is only one fpecies, called aphanes arvenfis, or 
parfley-piert: flems many, flender, leafy, four inches long-, 
round. Leaves roundiffi, three-parted, deeply laciniate; 
the lower ones petiolate ; the upper ones feffile, hoary be¬ 
neath ; flowers herbaceous, axillary ; calyx cut into eight 
fegments. It varies with one piftil and feed ; fome bota- 
niffs fay it is always fo. Hitdfon gives it one piftil and two 
feeds. Haller fays it lias often two feeds ; and Leers, that 
it never has that number. According to Gaertner, it lias 
only one feed, in the gardens ufually, but in the wild 
plant conftantly : and therefore does not deferve to be fe- 
parated from the genus alchemilla. Villars affirms, that 
the calyx is only four-cleft, and that there is one piftil and 
one feed. It is a native of Europe, growing in fallow-fields 
and dry paftures. Annual; flowering from May to A11- 
guft. Parfley-piert is a ftrange corruption from the French 
pcrcepierre, which name it acquired from its fuppofed lith- 
ontriptic qualities. 
APHA'SIA, f. [from a priv. and Gr. I fpeak.] 
In the fceptic philofophy, denotes a (late of doubt, where¬ 
in, a perfon not knowing how to determine, it is heft for 
him to be filent. In this fenfe, apbafia (lands oppofite to 
phafis, under which are included both affection and negation. 
APHE'A, a deity worftiipped by the Cretans. Pindar 
compofed an ode to her honour, who had a temple in the 
ifie of Crete. 
A'PFIEK, the name of feveral cities mentioned in ferip- 
ture. 1. Aphek in the tribe of Judah, where the Phi- 
liftines encamped when the ark was brought from Shiloh ; 
1 Sam. iv. 1, 2, &c. It is fuppofed to be the fame with 
Aphekah, mentioned in Jofli. xv. 53. 2. Apliek in Jezreel, 
where the Philiftines encamped while Saul and his army 
were upon the mountains of Gilboa ; 1 Sam. xxix. 1, See.. 
3. Apliek a city of the tribe of Afher, near the country 
of the Sidonians ; Jofli. xix. 30. and xiii. 4. 4. Aphek in 
Syria, near which the battle was fought between Ahab 
and Benhadad, wherein the Syrians were worfted ; and, as 
they retreated into tlie city, the walls fell upon them, and 
cruffied in pieces 27,000 ; 1 Kings, xx. 26, See. 
APHE'LION, or Aphe'i.ium, f. [ap»Aior, Gr. of 
aw, from, and vAi©-, the fun.] In aftronomy, that point 
in the orbit of the earth, or a planet, in which it is at the 
greateft: 
