A T R 
ing along, it was conjectured that the inhabitants of this 
ifland amount to upwards of 50,000. 
ATOP', adv. [from a and top.] On the top ; at the 
top.._What is extracted by water from coffee is the oil, 
which often fvvims atop of the decoCtion. Arbuthnot. 
A'TOPUS,/. [aroTro?, from et. priv. totto?, place.] Ab- 
furd, irregular ; applied to the behaviour of infane or de¬ 
jected perfons. 
ATOU'GIA, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Eftramadura, fituated on an eminence near the fea, oppofite 
the rocks called Barlings, or Burlings : two miles and a 
half E. Peniche. 
ATRABILA'RIAN, adj. [from atra bilis, Lat. black 
choler.] Melancholy; replete with black choler.—The 
atrabilarian conftitution, or a black, vifcous, pitchy, con¬ 
fidence of the fluids, makes all fecretions difficult and (par¬ 
ing. Arbuthnot. 
ATR ABILA'RIOUS, adj. Melancholic.—The blood, 
deprived of its due proportion of ferutn, or finer and more- 
volatile parts, is atrabilarious ; whereby it is rendered 
grofis, black, unCtuous, and earthly. Quincy, 
ATRABILA'RIOUSNESS, f. The date of being me¬ 
lancholy ; repletion with melancholy. 
A'TRA BI'LIS,/. Ater fuccus ; bilis atra ; mercuri- 
alis ; black bile, or melancholy. According to the an¬ 
cients it hath a two-fold origin : id, From the grotter 
parts of the blood, and this they called the melancholy hu¬ 
mour. adly, From yellow bile being highly concocted. 
Dr. Percival in his Edays Med. and Exp. fuggeds, that 
it is the gall rendered acrid by dagnation in the gall-blad¬ 
der, and vifcid by the abforption of its fluid pans. Bile 
in this date difcbarged into the duodenum, occafions uni> 
verfal didurbance and diforder, until it is evacuated ; it 
occafions violent vomiting, or purging, or both, and pre¬ 
vious to this the pulfe is quick, the head aches, a deli¬ 
rium comes on, a hiccough, intenfe third, inward heat, 
and a fetid breath. Some defcribe this kind of bile as 
being acid, harffi, corroding, and, when poured on the 
ground, bubbling up, and raffing the earth after the man¬ 
ner of a ferment. Dr. Percival fays, that by the Life of 
the infuf. fens limoniat. warmed with the tincl. columb. 
he had checked the vomitings occafioned by this matter. 
A'TRA D'lES, f. In antiquity, denotes a fatal day 
whereon the Romans received fome memorable defeat. 
The word literally imports a black day ; a denomination 
taken from the colour ; which is the emblem of death and 
mourning. Whence‘the Thracians had a cudomof mark¬ 
ing all their happy days with white [tones or calculi, and 
their unhappy days w ith black ones ; which they call, at 
the clofe of each day, into an urn. At the perlon’s death 
the (tones were taken out ; and from a comparifon of the 
numbers of each complexion, a judgment was made of 
the felicity or infelicity of his courfe of life. The dies 
atra, or atri, were afterwards denominated nefajli and poj. 
teri. Such in particular was the day when the tribunes 
were defeated by the Gauls at the river Allia, and loft the 
city ; alfo that whereon the battle of Cannae was fought; 
and feveral others marked in the Roman calendar, as atra 
or unfortunate. From this ciffiom is molt probably de¬ 
rived the prefent mode of balloting with black and white 
balls; and wherein the candidate who is fo unfortunate as 
not to fucceed, is faid to be black-balled. 
ATRAC'TYLIS, [ [alpd.xlog 3 a fpindle.] Distaff- 
thistle. In botany, a genus of the clafs fyngenelia, or¬ 
der polygamia aequalis, natural order of compound flowers. 
The generic characters are—Calyx : outer many-leaved, 
linear, larger, roughened, permanent, imprifoning the com¬ 
mon one; common ovate, imbricate; the fcales oblong, 
very many, lanceolate, converging, unarmed. Corolla: 
compound radiate; corollules hermaphrodite numerous, 
tubular in the dilk : hermaphrodite ligulate in the ray ; 
{ iroper : of the dilk funnel-form, five-cleft : of the ray 
igulate, flat, five-toothed. Stamina : filaments five, ca¬ 
pillary, v$ry ffiort; anthera cylindric, tubular. Pffiillum; 
3 
ATR ^8 j 
of the dilk ; germ very fliort; flyle filiform, the length 
of the (tamens ; ftigma bifid, of the ray very like that of 
the dilk, but obfcure and withered. Pericarpium : none ; 
calyx converging. Seeds : turbinate, comprefled ; down 
plumofe. Receptaculum : villofe, flat.— EJfentialCharac¬ 
ter. Corolla radiated ; corollules of the ray five-toothed. 
Species. 1. Atradlylis gummifera, or gummy-rooted 
atraclylis : flower ftemlefs. Root perennial, fending out 
many narrow leaves which are deeply finuated, and armed, 
with fpines on their edge*. Thefe lie clofe on the ground, 
and between them the flower is lituated. The florets on 
the border are white, but thofe which compofe the dilk 
are of a yellowifli colour. It is a native of Italy, and the 
i(lands of the Archipelago. It flowers in July, but never 
perfects feeds in England. The roots, if wounded when 
frefli, yield a vifcous milky juice, which concretes into 
tenacious mattes, whitilh and refembling wax. It was for-- 
merly chewed for the fame purpofes as mattic. 
2. Atradlylis humilis, or dwarf atradlylis : leaves tooth, 
(inuated : flower radiated, fenced with an expanding in¬ 
volucre, (tern herbaceous. Stem near a foot high, with 
indented leaves, having fmall fpines on their edges ; the 
upper part is divided inio two or three (lender branches, 
each fupporting a head of purple flowers. The roots will 
live two or three years ; it flowers in June, but unlefs the 
fuminer be warm and dry, it will not perfedi feeds in Eng¬ 
land. Native of France and Spain. Miller fays, that he 
received the feeds from the neighbourhood of Madrid. 
3. Atradlylis cancellata, or netted atradlylis: involucres 
latticed, bellying, linear, toothed; calyxes ovate; flowers 
flofculous. This is an annual plant, which feldom rifes 
more than eight or nine inches high, witli a (lender Item, 
at the top of which are two or three (lender branches, each 
terminated by a head of flowers, like thofe of the thittle ; 
with an involucre compofed of feveral narrow leaves, 
armed with fpines on their Tides, and longer than the head 
of flowers : it is curioufly netted over, and by a furprifing 
artifice of nature keeping off the flies. It grows naturally 
in Spain, Sicily, and other warm parts of Europe; flow¬ 
ers with 11s in July, and, if the feafon be warm and dry, 
will ripen its feeds in September. It appears from Par- 
kinfon, that it was cultivated among us in 1640. 
4. Atradlylis lancea, or lance-leaved atradlylis : invo¬ 
lucres pinnate; leaves lanceolate, ciliate, fmooth. 5. 
Atradlylis ovata, or ovate-leaved atradlylis : involucres 
pinnate; leaves ovate ciliate fmooth. Stem eredl, near a 
foot high. Thefe are both natives of Japan. 
6. Atradlylis oppofitifolia, or oppoflte-leaved atradlylis: 
leaves oppofite. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
7. Atradlylis purpurata, or purple-flowered atradlylis : 
leaves haftate, runcinate. Stem round, clofely woolly, 
deeming to be fhrubby. Leaves crowded, a long lpan in 
length, acute, irregularly toothed, veined, when they firft 
break forth covered with white wool, but afterwards be¬ 
coming very fmooth, and green ; they are however always 
white and clofely tomentofe underneath ; the terminating 
lobe is very large. Found by Mutius in New Granada, 
8. Atraclylis Mexicana, or Mexican atradlylis; leaves 
oblong, quite entire. Stem fhrubby. Branches quite Am¬ 
ple, (lender, leafy, fomewhat flexuofe, round, (Leaked, 
covered with a white cottony fubfiance, without fpines. 
Leaves alternate, lanceolate, acuminate, with netted veins; 
above naked, bright green, (hining; beneath fnow-white, 
tomentofe, with fcattered dots teeming to be glandular. 
Found by Mutius in Mexico. 
Propagation and Culture. The three firft fpecies are pro¬ 
pagated by feeds, which mutt: be obtained from the coun¬ 
tries where they grow naturally: thefe fhould be (own 
upon a border of light earth, in a warm (Ttuation, early 
in April, and when the plants come up, and are fit to tranf- 
plant, they fhould be thinned, and thofe which are drawn 
out may be tranfplanted, leaving the others two feet a fun¬ 
der ; after which the only culture they require is, to keep 
them clean from weeds in Cummer, and in winter to cover 
