5 8A X I 
No metal can, 
No, not the hangman’s axe , bear half the keennefs 
Of thy filarp envy. Shahefpeare. 
AX'EA,/. [fromraem, Lat. an axle-tree.] A fort of 
commiflure or articulation is fo called when one part is 
inferted into the other in the form of an axle. 
AXE'DO, f. the name of a fpell, inMarcellus Empiri¬ 
cus, to. render a perfon impotent. 
AX'EL, a town of Flanders, Itrongly fortified. It was 
taken from the Spaniards by Map rice prince of Naflau in 
1586, and is nine leagues weft of Antwerp. Lat. 51. 15. 
N. Ion. 3.45. E. Greenwich. 
AX'EM, or Axim, a country of Africa, on the Gold 
Qoaft, with a town of the fame ridme. The country is 
fertile and well cultivated, producing great quantities of 
rice, water-melons, pine-apples, cocoa, oranges, yams, and 
palm-oil. Among the animals of the country, are lheep 
in great numbers, with apes, pigeons, and varieties of wild 
fowl. The Portuguefe and Dutch have eftablifhments here. 
AX'ENS, a town of Germany, in the county of Tyrol, 
nine miles fouth-weft of Infpruck. 
AX'HOLM, an illand, formed by the rivers Trent, Idle, 
and Dun, in the north-weft part of the county of Lincoln, 
about twenty miles in circumference, with three villages 
on it, near the mouth of the Trent. 
AXIA'CE, an ancient town of Sarmatia Europea; now 
Oxakow, the capital of Budziac Tartary. 
AXIL'LA,/! [from Vvtt Heb. Scaliger deduces it from 
ago, Lat. to ait, in this manner, ago, axo, axa, axula, axil¬ 
la .] The .arm-pit. In many perfons an offenfive fimell 
proceeds from the arm-pits; to remove which Diofcori- 
des and ZEtjus. recommend the.decoftion of wild artichoke 
in wine, which, by bringing oft' much fetid urine, may ef¬ 
fect a cure. 
Axilla, in botany, is thefpace comprehended between 
the ftems of plants and their leaves. Hence we fay thole 
flowers grow in the axillae of the leaves; i. e. at the bafe 
of the leaves, or juft within the angle of their pedicles. 
AXIL'LAR, or Ax'illary, adj. [from axilla, Lat.] 
Belonging to. the arm-pit. Thus, axillary artery is that 
part of the fpbclavian branches of the afeending trunk ot 
the aorta which pafleth under the arm-pits ; axillary glands 
are fituated under the arm-pits, enveloped in fat, and lie 
clofe by the axillary veffels; and axillary vein is one of the 
fubclavians which pafles under the arm-pit, dividing it- 
felf into feveral branches, which are fpread over the arm. 
AXIN'OMANCY, f. \_axinomanlia, Lat. from a |an, 
Jicuris, and pxvleiet, Gr. divinatio .] An ancient fpecies of 
divination, or a method of foretelling future events, by 
means of an axe or hatchet. This art was in conlidera- 
b!e repute among the ancients; and was performed, ac¬ 
cording to feme, by laying an agate-ftone on a red-hot 
hatchet; and alfo by fixing a hatchet on a round ftake lo 
as to be exactly polled; then the names of thofe that were 
lufpeifted were repeated, and he at w hofe name the hatchet 
moved was pronounced guilty. 
AX'IOM,yi [axiotnc , F r. axiovm, Lat. of u.!-wy.ct and 
Gr. I account worthy, of «|io«.] A felf-evident 
truth, or a propolition whole truth every perfon receives 
at fir ft fight. '1 hus, that the whole is greater than a part; 
that a thing cannot be and not be at the fame time; and 
that from nothing, nothing canarife; are axioms. Axiom 
is alfo an eftablifined principle in fome art or fcience. Thus, 
it is an axiom in phyfics, that nature does nothing in vain ; 
that effects are proportional to their caufes, &c. So it is 
an axiom in geometry,-that things equal to the fame third 
are alfo equal to one.another; that, if to equal things you 
add. equals, the fums will be equal, &c. It is an axiom 
in optics, that the angle of incidence is equal .to the angle 
of reflection, &c. 
AXI'POLIS, anciently a town of the Triballi in Mae- 
lia Inferior; now Axiopoli, in Bulgaria. 
AX' 1 S ,/1 [fflxri, Lat.] Tire line real or imaginary that 
uafles fSirough any thing, on which it may revolve: 
A X I 
On their own axis as the planets run, 
And make at once their Circle round the fun; 
So two confident motions adt the foul, 
And one regards itfelf, and one the whole. Pope. 
Axis, in geometry, the ftraight line in a plane figure, 
about which it revolves, to produce or generate a folid. 
Thus, if a femicircle be moved round its diameter at reft, 
it will generate a fphere, whofe axis is that diameter. And, 
if a right-angled triangle.be turned about its perpendicular 
at reft, it will deferibe a cone, whofe axis is that perpen¬ 
dicular. 
Axis is yet more generally ufed for a right line concei¬ 
ved to be drawn from the vertex of a figure to the middle 
of the bafe. Hence the axis of a circle or fphere, is any 
line drawn through the centre, and terminated at the cir¬ 
cumference, on both fides. So the axis of a cone, is the 
line from the vertex to the centre of the bafe. And the 
axis of a cylinder, is the line from the centre of the one end 
to that of the other. 
Axis of a Coxic -Section, is the line from the prin¬ 
cipal vertex, or vertices, perpendicular to tire tangent at 
that point. The ellipfe and hyperbola have each two ax¬ 
es, which are finite and perpendicular to each other; but 
the parabola lias only one, and that infinite in length. 
Axis (Tranfverfe), in the ellipfe and hyperbola, is the 
diameter palling through the two foci, and the tw'o princi¬ 
pal vertices of the figure. In the hyperbola it is the ffiort- 
eft diameter, but in the ellipfe it is the longed. 
Axis (Conjugate), or fccond axis, in the ellipfe and hy¬ 
perbola, is the diameter paffing through the center, and 
perpendicular to the tranfverfe axis; and is the fhorteft of 
all the conjugate diameters. 
Axis, of a curve line, is ftill more generally ufed for 
that diameter which has its ordinates at right angles to it, 
when that is poflible. For, as in the conic feCtions, any 
diameter bifedts all its parallel ordinates, making the two 
parts of them on both fides of it equal; and that diameter 
which has fuch ordinates perpendicular to it, is an axis ; 
fo, in curves of the fecond order, if any two parallel lines 
each meeting the curve in three points; the right line 
which cuts thefe two parallels fo, that the him of the two 
parts on one fide of the cutting line, between it and the 
curve, is equal to the third part terminated by the curve 
on the other fide, then the laid line will in like manner cut 
all other parallels to the former two lines, viz. fo that, of 
every one of them, the fum of the two parts, or ordinates, 
on one fide, will be equal to the third part or ordinate oil 
the other fide. Such cutting line then is a diameter; and 
that diameter whofe parallel ordinates are at right angles 
to it, when poflible, is an axis. And the fame for other 
curves of ftill higher orders. 
Axis, in aftronomy, is the axis of the world, or an 
imaginary right line conceived to pafs through the centre 
of the earth, and terminating at each end in the furface of 
the mundane fphere. 
Axis of the Earth, i the line connecting its two poles, 
and'about which the earth performs its diurnal rotation, 
from weft to eaft. This is a part of the axis of the world, 
and always remains parallel to itfelf during the motion of 
the earth in its orbit about the fun, and perpendicular to 
the plane of the equator. 
Axis of a Planet, is the line paffing through its cen¬ 
tre, and about which the planet revolves. The Sun, Earth, 
Moon, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus, it is known from obfer- 
vation, move about their feveral axes ; and the like mo¬ 
tion is ealily inferred of the other three, Mercury, Saturn, 
and Georgian planet. 
Axis of the Horizon, Eqjjator, Ecliptic, Zo- 
diac, See. are right Sines paffing through the centres of 
thofe circles, perpendicular to their planes. 
Axis of a Mags : t, or magneticalaxis, is a line paffing 
through the middle of a magnet, lengthwife ; in fuch man¬ 
ner, that, however the magnet be divided, provided the 
divilion be made according to a plane paffing through that 
line. 
