xj-6 . A R G 
ARGASYLT.IS, / [from a^yx^ a ferpeiit, which it 
-is laid to refemble.] The plant which is luppofed to pro- 
.duce gum ammoniac. 
AR'GE, a town of A-fia, in the Arabian Irak, on the 
Tigris, 170 miles north-Weft of Bafibra. 
Arge, a river of Lithuanian Pruliia, which runs into 
the Nemonin, four miles north-weft of Wipe. 
ARGE'A, or Ar'gel-i,/. in Roman antiquity, thirty 
human figures, made of ruflies, thrown annually by the 
.priefts or veftals into the Tiber, on the day of the ides of 
May. Plutarch, in his Roman Queftions, enquires why 
-they were called Argea. There.are two reafons alTigned: 
the firft, that the .barbarous nations who firft: inhabited 
thefe parts, caft all the.Greeks they could meet with into 
.the Tiber; for Argians w-as a common name for all Gre¬ 
cians : but that Hercules p.erfuaded them to quit fo inhu¬ 
man a practice, and to purge themfelves of the crime by 
inftituting this foiemnity. The fecond, that Evander, an 
Arcadian, and a fworn enemy of the Argians, to perpetu¬ 
ate that enmity to his pofteritv, ordered die figures of Ar¬ 
gians to be thus caft into the river. 
ARGE'I A, or Ar'golis, a diftriT of Peloponnefus, 
fituated between Arcadia to the weft the Egean fea to the 
caft, Laconica .and the Sinus Argolicus to the fouth, and 
to the north the territory of Corinth and the Sinus Saro- 
nicus; fo called from Argos, the capital: now Romania 
di Morea. By the Greeks the people were called Argeii , 
from Ar.gi, or Argos-, by the Romans, Argivi, Argives; 
They were ; a colony who migrated, it is faid, from Egypt, 
under the command of Inachus. Polemon and Ptolemy 
Mendefius, ancient Greek writers, inform us, that Inachus 
was contemporary with Arnofis, who demoliflied Avaris, 
.and expelled the fliepherds out of Egypt. If, with fome 
learned chronologers, we fuppofe Inachus to have be¬ 
gun to reform the Argives B. C. 1856, and to have died 
R, C. 1808, he mu ft have been coeval with Arnofis, who 
reigned in Upper Egypt fifteen years before the expulfion 
of the fliepherds, and ten years after that event, which 
happened B. C. 1806. Inachus was ftyled the Son of the. 
Ocean., be.catifc his origin was not known, or becaufe he 
had come by fea into Greece. Before his arrival the in¬ 
habitants were rude and barbarous. Thefe he united and 
■civilized, and inftrufted in various arts. His fon Plioro- 
neus inflitnted the laws of government; and, on that ac¬ 
count, has been called the jirjl king in Argos, the jirjl of 
men, and the father of mortals. The family of Inachus, 
after having kept polfeflion of the throne 347 years, were 
.expelled by Danaus, who arrived B. C. 1509, with a co¬ 
lony from Canaan, Acrifius, the lad king of Argos, died 
B. C. 1313 : and was fucceeded by Perfeus, his grandfon, 
who transferred the feat of government to Mycenae, 544 
years from the firft: year of Inachus, in the reign of Ce- 
,crops II. king of Athens, and about the time when Pelops 
the fon of Tantalus king of Phrygia, having been compel¬ 
led by Hus to leave his native country, came into Greece 
with great wealthy and acquired fupreme power in the re¬ 
gion afterwards called by his name. I11 the thirty-feventh 
year of Eury(iheus, grandfon of Perfeus, the Argonautic 
expedition happened; i. e. B.C. 1224. This unjuft and 
tyrannical prince had affigned to Hercules his talks; and, 
after the death of that hero, he baniflied all his children. 
Thefe were the Heraclidas, who fled to Athens for protec¬ 
tion, and who returned to Peloponnefus forty years after 
the definition of Troy. I11 the -reign of Agamemnon, 
the Trojan war commenced, and it was carried on with vi¬ 
gour during the fpace of t en years. In the year B. C. 1184, 
Troy was taken, and the war was concluded. Scarcely 
had the Grecians fettled in their own country after their 
return from this dangerous expedition, when the pofterity 
of Hercules invaded Peloponnefus, took pofrellion of it, 
and divided it among th.emfelves. Here the kingdom of 
Myceme ended, and that of Sparta was eftablifhed on its 
yuins. See SrARTA. 
AR'GELES, a town of France, in the department of 
if: Futile rn Pyrenees, and chief place of a canton, in the 
A R G 
diftrlcf of Cercf, near the Mediterranean Sea, twelve miles 
fouth of Perpignon. 
ARGELLE'Z, a town of France, and principal place 
of a diftriG, in the department of the Higher Pyrenees, 
feven leagues fouth-fouth-eaft of Pan. Lat.43.0. N. 
Ion. 17. 33. E. Ferro. 
ARGE'MA, or Arge'mon,/! [from agy ®-, white.] 
A little ulcer of the eye in the circle called iris, having its 
feat in a part of the black of the eye. 
AR'GEMONE,_/l [from a diforder of the eye, 
which this plant is faid to cure.] In botany, a genus”of 
the polyandria monogynia clafs, ranking in the natural or¬ 
der of rhoeadese. The generic characters are—Calyx : 
perianthium three-leaved, roundifh ; leaflets roundifh with 
a point, concave, caducous. Corolla : petals fix, round- 
ifli, from ereft fpreading, larger than the calyx. "Stamina: 
filaments numerous, filiform, the length of the calyx ; an- 
therae oblong, ereft. Piftillum : germ ovate, five-angled; 
ftyle none; ftigma thioki/h, obtufe, reflex, quinquefid, 
permanent. Pericarpium : capfnle ovate, five-angled, 
one-celled; half-Valved. Seeds: numerous, very final! ; 
receptacles linear, faftened to the angles of the pericarpium, 
not gaping.— EJJ'ential CharaEler. Corolla, fix-petalled,; 
calyx, three-leaved ;• capfnle, half-valved. 
Species. 1. Argemone mexicana, or prickly argemone 
or poppy : capfules fix-valved, leaves fpiny. This is an 
annual plant, riling to the height of two or three feet, with 
ftems armed with prickles. Leaves /innate or jagged, foft, 
finning, ftem-clafping, the points of the jags ending in 
/harp yellow fpines; on the upper fide are milky veins, as 
in our lady’s thiflle, on the under are fmall prickles along 
the midrib and veins. Seeds very numerous, round, black, 
rough, with a comprefied fear on one fide. It is common 
in Mexico, and all the iflands of the Weft Indies, where 
it is a troublefome weed in their cultivated lands. The 
Spaniards firft brought it into Europe, under the title of 
figo del inferno , or devil’s fig, which name it obtained from 
the form of the fruit, armed, as Parkinfon expreftes it, 
with cruel /harp prickles or thorns, it is now found in a 
wild ftate in fome of the fouthern countries of Europe; 
and was cultivated by Gerard in 1597. It flowers in July 
and Auguft. The whole plant abounds with a milky glu¬ 
tinous juice, which turns in the air to a fine bright yellow, 
and when reduced to confidence is not diftingui/hable from 
gamboge. In very fmall dofes it is probably of equal effi¬ 
cacy given in droplies, jaundice, and cutaneous eruptions. 
It is efteemed very deterlive, and generally u/ed in difeafes 
of the eyes: but the infufion is looked upon as a fudorific 
and refolutive, which may be ufed, with fuc.ceft, on many 
occafions. The feeds are faid to be a much /Longer nar¬ 
cotic than opium. They are thought to be an excellent 
remedy., and are frequently adminiftered by the inhabitants 
in the lugar colonies in diarrheeas and bloody fluxes: they 
have a pungent warm tafte, but it does not manifeft itfelf 
for fome time upon the palate. They work both'by ftool 
and vomit, and have been frequently adminiftered in the 
dry belly-ach ; but we have much fafer and better medi¬ 
cines for both thefe diforders ; though this may be given, 
with fuccefs, when the parts are relaxed or weakly, or the 
diforder proceeds from indigeftion, which is frequently the 
cafe in hot climates. It is called the yellow thiflle in the 
Weft Indies. 
2. Argemone armeniaca : capfules three-valved. This 
was difeovered in Armenia by the celebrated Tournefort. 
3. Argemone pyrenaica : capfules four-valved, ftem na¬ 
ked. This is a native of the Pyrenees. 
Propagation and Culture. The feeds of the firft mud be 
fown on a bed of light earth in the fpring, where they are 
to remain : if they come up too thick, the plants mull be 
thinned to four inches diftance ; and, when once they have 
/lied their feeds, a fiipply of plants will not be wanting for 
feveral years after. The two other forts have not yet 
been introduced into cultivation. See Pa p a vER. 
ARGEN'CES, a town of France, in the department 
of Calvados, and in the late province of Normandy, fitu- 
1 ate 
