APT 
the higher apfis, and that at the neare'ft diftance the lower 
apfis. And the two apfes are alfo called augcs. Alfothe 
higher apfis is more particularly called the aphelion, or the 
apogee-, and the lower apfis the perihelion, or the perigee. 
The diameter, which joins there two points, is called the 
line cf the apfes or of the qpfdes ; and it paffes through the 
centre of the orbit of the planet, and the centre of the fun 
or the earth; and in the modernaftrcnomy this line makes 
the longer or tranfverfe axis of the elliptical orbit of the 
planet/ In this line is counted the excentricity of the or¬ 
bit ; being the diftance between the centre of the orbit and 
the focus, where is placed the fun or the earth. 
Different means have been employed to determine the 
motion of the apfes. Dr. Keil explains, in his Aftronomy, 
the method ufed by the ancients, who fuppofed the orbits 
of the planets to be perfectly circular, and the fun out of 
the centre. But fince it has been difcovered that they de- 
fcribe elliptical orbits, various other methods have been 
devifed for determining it. Newton has given, in the 
Principiap an excellent method of determining this motion, 
on the fuppofition that the orbits of the planets differ but 
little from circles, which is the cafe nearly. That great 
philofopher fhevvs, that if the fun be immoveable, and all 
the planets gravitate towards him in the inverfe ratio of 
the fquares of their diffances, then the apfes will be fixed, 
or their motion nothing; that is, the lines of greateff and 
lead diftance will form one right line, and the apfes will 
be directly oppolite, or at 180 degrees diftance from each 
other.. But, becaufe of the mutual tendency of the pla¬ 
nets towards each other, their gravitation towards the fun 
is not precifely in that ratio; and hence it happens, that 
the apfes are not always exactly in a right line with the fun. 
And Newton has given a very elegant method of deter¬ 
mining the motion of the apfes, on the fuppofition that we 
know the force which is thereby added to the gravitation 
of the planet towards the fun, and that this additional 
force is always in that direction. 
Apsis, in architecture, fignifies the bowed or arched 
roof of a houfe, room, or oven, &c. as alfo the ring or 
compafs of a wheel. 
Apsis, in ecclefiaftical writers, denotes an inner part in 
the ancient churches, wherein the clergy fat, and where 
the altar was placed. It is more particularly ufed for the 
bilhop’s feat, or throne. This was peculiarly called apfis 
gradala, becaufe raifed on Heps above the ordinary flails. 
It was alfo denominated exedra, and in latter times, tribune. 
Apis is alfo ufed for a reliquary, Or cafe, wherein the 
relics of faints were anciently kept. It took the name apfis, 
from its being round, or arched, at the top; or perhaps 
from the place where it was kept. The apfis was com¬ 
monly placed on the altar: it was ufually of wood, fome- 
times alfo of gold and filver, with fculptures, &c. 
APSY'CHY, f. [of a priv. and the foul. ] A 
fwooning or fainting away. 
APT', adj. [aptus, Lat.] Fit. Having a natural ten¬ 
dency to ;• liable to ; inclined to; led to; dilpofed to.— 
You may make her you love believe it; which, I warrant 
ffie is apler to do, than confefs fiie does.. Shakcfpcare. — Men 
are apt to think well of themfelves, and of their nation, 
-of their courage and ftrength. Temple. —What we have al¬ 
ways feen to be done in one manner, we are apt to imagine 
there was but that one way. Baitley. —Ready; quick; as, 
An apt wit. Qualified for.—All that were ftrong and 
apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought cap¬ 
tive to Babylon. 2 Kings. 
Att, or Ap'ta, an ancient town in the department of 
the mouths of the Rhone. Its commerce confifls in prunes, 
coarfe ferges, and wax chandlery, for which laft there is a 
great demand. Here are many fine Roman antiquities, and 
it is feated on the riverCalaron, twenty miles north of Aix, 
and twenty-five fouth-eaft of Orange. Lat. 43. 51. N. 
Ion. 5. 30. E. 
To Apt, v. a. [apto, Lat.] Tofuit; to adapt; to fit ; 
fto qualify; to difpofe ; to p-epare ; 
APT s 3 
We need a man that knows the feveral graces 
Of hiftory, and how to apt their places; 
Where brevity, where fplendour, and where height, 
Where fweetnefs is required, and wherb weight. Ben Jonfon. 
To AP'TATE, v. a. \_aptatum, Lat.] Tomakefit.—To 
aptate a planet, is to (Lengthen the planet in pofition of 
houfe and dignities to the greateft advantage, in order to 
bring about the defined end. Bailey. 
APTE'NODYTES,yi [of a. priv. and tempt, to fly.] 
The Penguin, fo called by the Dutch navigators, who 
firft difcovered thefe birds, on a voyage to the South Sea, 
in 1598. Dr. Grew calls them pinguins, from pinguis,- 
“ fat;” and Meffrs. Pennant and Latham have gone fo far, 
to favour that conjecture, as to alter the ufual fpelling 
into pinguin. But is it in the fmalleft degree probable, 
that the illiterate Dutch failors Ihould think of bellowing 
a Latin generic term upon a newly-difcovered objeCt r But, 
even admitting that any on-board were capable of this, 
they would have called the bird pingued, and not pinguin ; 
furely far lefs penguin, which is the original orthography, 
and the name by which the Indians defcribed thefe birds 
to the Dutch adventurers, and by which they diftinguilE 
them at this day. 
They are a genus belonging to the order of the anferes, 
and there are eleven fpecies; the characters are thefe: 
Bill ftraight, fmooth, flattilh, and fomevvhat knife-fhaped ; 
the upper mandible marked longitudinally with oblique 
furrows; the lower truncated at the tip. Feet fettered 
and palmated. Wings contift of pinions, without lhafts. 
The penguins, in many refpeCls, appear analagous to the 
alca, or auks. The former fill up the fame fpace among, 
the fowls of the fouthern, that the latter do among thofe 
of the northern, hemifpheres. As nature feems to have 
begun the feathered tribes with birds incapable of flight, 
and refembling quadrupeds more than birds, fo file con¬ 
cludes the order with others, that appear more nearly al¬ 
lied to fillies than to fov\ Is. The plumage of the penguins, 
efpecially that upon the wings, more reiembles fealesthan 
feathers; and, while it renders thefe inftruments fervice- 
able to their owners as fins in fwimming, it renders them 
altogether ufelefs for flight. The whole body of the pen¬ 
guins is covered with oblong plumes, of a hard, thick, 
and Alining, fubftance, and clofely applied to each other, 
like the feales of a fifh . Thefe, together with a thick 
coat of fat, protect the birds of this order from the cold 
of thofe frozen regions which they inhabit. They prefer, 
as a refidence, thofe bleak and deferted traCIs, that bor¬ 
der upon the fouth pole; tracts, condemned by nature to 
perpetual fierility and folitude. In the higheft latitudes 
vifited by captain Cook, who penetrated to the very borders 
of thofe countries that are locked up by perpetual ice and 
fnow, he conffantly obferved the penguins and petnls, far 
beyond the precincts allotted to other animals, as if lent 
to roufe nature from that eternal filence and inactivity in 
which the is funk in thefe horrid abodes. As the water 
is the natural and proper element of the penguins, they can 
reff upon it by night as well as by day. When the ice, 
upon which they perch, breaks off and floats, they ftill 
keep by it, till they are often carried to an immenfe dif¬ 
tance from land. Their motions, upon land are as flow 
and aukward as upon the fea they are alert and rapid. 
Their fhort legs are fttuated far back in the abdomen; and, 
in order to fupport themfelves upon them, their bodies are 
raifed quite perpendicular; fo that, when walking, they 
appear like fo many children with white aprons. The food 
of the penguins is fifh only ; and, although they are feen, 
while on fhore, frequenting the tufts of coarfe grafs, the 
only vegetable that grows on thofe lands which they vifit* 
it is, probably, for fhelter, and not for the fake of food. 
They lay from one to three eggs, a very imall progeny, 
like that of the congenerous birds of the North Seas. They 
dig holes, like rabbits, in the land, where they dep.ofit their 
eggs, and rear their young. In walking over the fields, 
which they have dug in this manner, one often finks to the 
knee 
