Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/31

 ACE

ACE

ACCUMULATION, (Cycl.)— In the antient agriculture, Ac- cumulation denotes the operation of covering up the roots cf trees, by throwing on them the earth that had been before dug from them. Salmaf- Exerc. ad Solin. p. 519. In which fenfc, Accumulation ftands oppofed to Ablaqueation. See Ablaqueation- Accumvjlation 1 s/araij, cumulatio armt>rum 9 is u fed by an- tient heralds, for what the moderns call quartering of arms. Nifbet. Herald, c. 7. p. 87. See the article Quarter- ing, Cycl. Accumulation of degrees, in an univerfity, is ufed for the taking or fcveral degrees together, and with fewer exercifes, or nearer to each other, than the ordinary rules allow of. See Degree, Cycl.

Wood gives numerous inftances of Accumulator \r, i.e. perfons who accumulated^ or took degrees by Accumulation, at Ox- ford. IVood^ Athen. Oxon. T. 2. p. 974. Fajl. T. 1. p. 170, 190, 255. T. 2. p. 95, 103, 106.

ACCUSATION, [Cycl.) — Writers on politics treat of the be- nefit and the inconveniencies of public Accufations. Various arguments are alledged, both for the encouragement and the difcouragement of Accufations againft great men. Nothing, according to Machiavel, tends more to the prefervation of a ftate, than frequent Accufations of perfons trufted with the adminiftration of public affairs. This, accordingly, was ftrictly obferved by the Romans, in the inftances ' of Ca- millus, accufed of corruption by Manlius Capitolinus, &c. Accufations, however, in the judgment of the fame author, are not more beneficial than calumnies are pernicious ; which is alfo confirmed by the practice of the Romans. Manlius not being able to make good his charge againft Camillus, was call into prifon. Machiav. de Repub. 1. r. c. 7. p. 35. The antient Roman lawyers diftinguifhed between pojlulat'io, delatio, and Accufatio ; for firft, leave was defired to bring a charge againft one, which was called poflidare \ then he againft whom the charge was laid, was brought before the judge, which was called deferre, or nominis delatio ; laitly, the charge was drawn up, and prefentcd, which was properly the Accufatio. Voff. Etym. Lat. Danet. Diet. Antiq. in voc. Accufare.

The Accufation properly commenced, according to Psdianus, When the reus, or party charged, being interrogated, denied he was guilty of the crime, and fubferibed his name to the delatio made by his opponent. Calv. Lex. Jur, p. 17. In the French law, none but the Procureur general, or his deputies, can form an Accufation, except for high treafon, and coining, where Accufation is open to every body. In other crimes, private perfons can only ait the part of denouncers, and demand reparation for the offence, with damages. Trev. Diet. Univ. T. 1. p. 92.

There are three ways of entering an information in the tri- bunal of the inquifition. The firft, by way of inquihtion, when a private perfon, applying to the inquifttor, declares he will neither be denunciator, nor Accufer, but that com- mon fame gives out, that fuch and fuch a perfon is an he- retic : the fecond, by way of Accufation, when the informer takes on him the office of Accufer, which rarely happens ; becaufe, in this cafe, the Accufer is obliged to prove, and cxpofes himfelf to the lex Talionis, in cafe his information prove falfe. The laft, and moft ufual way, ts, by Denun- ciation, that is, by naming thofe who know the fact. Holy Inquifit, c. 8. fec\. 1 and 2. p. 104. feq. A Chincfe, of the province of Nanquin, having loft his only daughter, notwkhftanding the prayers and offerings he had made at the fhrine of an idol, whofe power had been magni- fied to him by the Bonzes, brought an Accufation in form againft the idolj which, by a decree of the fovcreign council ofPekin, was condemned accordingly to perpetual exile;, its temple razed, and the Bonze feverely punifhed. Bayl. Contin. des Pcnfees fur la Comet. Jour, des Scav. T. 35. p. 205.

ACE, in gaming, a card, or the fide of a die, marked with a fmgle point.

The word comes from the French As, which fignifies the fame. Hence the term, ames Ace, when two dice are both thrown Aces.

ACENTETUM, orAcENTETA, in natural hiftory, a name given by the antients to the pureft and fineft kind of rock cryftal. They ufed the cryftal in many ways, fometimes en- graving on it, and fometimes forming it into vafes and cups, which were held next in value to the murrhina vafa of thofe times. The cryftal they obtained from the mines of Cyprus was much efteemed, but often faulty in particular parts, having hairs, cracks, and foulneffes, which they called falts, in the midft of the large pieces. Pliny tells us, that when it was ufed for .engraving on, the artift could conceal all thef'e blemifhes among the ftrokes of his work ; but when it was to be formed into cups and pretious vafes, they always chofe the Acentatum, that is, the pure cryftal, which had no flaws or blemifhes.

ACEPHALUS, or Acephalous, (Cycl.)— The lumbricus

laius, or joint worm, was long taken to be acephalous : the

who firft gave it a head was Tulpius, and after him Fehr ; the

fgrmer even makes it biceps, or two-headed. Tulp. Obferv.

2

Ed. 1651. Fehr, de HieraPicra, p. 125. Tyfon. Lumbricus

Latus, in Phil. Tranf. N°. 146. p. 125.

Acephalus is more particularly ufed in fpcaking of certain nations, or people, represented by antient naturalifts and cof- mographers, as well as by ibme modern travellers, as formed without heads ; their eyes, mouths, &c. being lodged hi other parts.

Such are the Blemmyes, a nation of Africa, near the head of the Niger, reprefented to be by Pliny a and Solinus b ; Blem- myis traduniur capita abeffe^ ore & oculis peelore affixis. Ctefias and Solinus mention others in India, near the Ganges, fine cervice, oculos in bumeris habentes. Mela c alfo fpeaks of people, qui bus capita £5" vultus in peclorc funt. And Suidas, Stephanus Byzantinus, Vopifcus, and others after them, re- late the like. Some modern travellers ftill pretend to find Acephalous people in America.

Marcus Mappus rl, a phyfician of Strafburg, has written the medical hiftory of Acephali, on occafion of the difpute, whe- ther the fcetus in utero derives its nourifbinent by the mouth, or the navel. The ftory of entire nations of Acephali being alledged as an argument againft the former opinion, this author undertook to refute it ; and fhews that the whole is a fable, invented by travellers, and propagated by geo- graphers.

Several opinions have been framed as to the origin of the fable of the Acephali. The firft is that of Thomas Bartholin, who turns the whole into a metaphor ; being convinced, that the name Acephali was antiently given to fuch as had lefs brain, or conducted thcmfelves lefs by the rules of prudence, than others. Olearius e rather apprehends, that the antient Voyagers viewing certain barbarous people from the coafts, had been impofed on by their uncouth drefs ; for that the Samogitians, being fhort of ffcture, and going, in the feve- verity of winter, with their heads covered in hoods, feem at a diftance as if they were beadltfs. F. Lafitau f fays, that by Acephali are only meant people whofe heads are funk be- low their fhoulders ; fuch as the natives of the Caribbees are found to he. In effect, Hulfius g, in his epitome of Sir Walter Raleigh's voyage to Guaiana, alio fpeaks of a people which that traveller found in the province of" Irvipanama, be- tween the lakes of Panama and Caflipa, who had no head or neck: and Hondius, in his map, marks the place with the figures of thefe monfters. Yet Dc Laet h rejects the ftory; being informed by other hands, that the inhabitants of the banks of the Caora, a river that flows out of the lake of Caf- fipa, have their head fo far funk between their fhoulders, that many believed they had their eyes in their fhoulders, and' their mouth* in their breafts.

But though the exiftence of a nation of Acephali be ill war- ranted, naturalifts furntfh feveral inftances of individuals born without heads, by fome lufus or aberration of .nature. Wep- fer ' gives a catalogue of fuch acephalous births from Schenc- kitis, Licetus, Parseus, Wolfius, Mauriceau, &c. Mappus k reduces them to two kinds ; the firft, properly called Acephali, being thofe born without a head, or any thing in lieu thereof; the fecond, lefs properly fo called, having a fort of heads, but thofe imperfect, or half-formed ; e. gr. fome whofe heads do not appear when they lye on their backs. — [ a Hift. Nat. I. 5. c. 8. Id. ibid. 1. 7. c. 2. h Solin. Polyhift. s. 45. & 65. c Mela, de Situ Orbis, 1. 1. c. 4. Vid. Wepfer. in Ephem. German, dec, I. an. 3. obf. 129. p. 181. feq. d Mapp. Hift. Medic, de Acephalis, Argent. 1687. 4to. Jour, des Scav. T. 15. p. 538. c Olear. Itin. Mofcov. k Perfic. 1. 3. c. 3. f Lafitau, Paral. des Mceurs des Sauv. Mem. de Trev. 1725. p. 237. E Hulf. Epit. Itin. Raleigh, an. 1594. h De Laet> Defcript. Americ. 1. 17. c. 22. * In Ephem. Germ. 1. c. p. 184. Ibid. Dec. 2. an. 9. obf. 148. p. 258. k Jour, des Scav. T. 82. p. 276. See alfo Borell. cent. 4. obf. 78.]

Acephalus is alfo ufed, in poetry, for a verfe which is lame or defective, by wanting a beginning. Martin. Lex. Philol. T. 1. p. 8.

Some alfo give the name Ax£<?«Xo? to all verfes which begin with a fhort, inftead of a long fyllable. Bibl. Anc. Mod. T. 25. p. 385. feq.

ACER, in botany. See the article Maple.

ACER1NA, in ichthyology, a name given by Pliny, and other of the old naturalifts, to the fifh we at this time call the cornua, and aurata fluviatilis, and m England the Rujfe. It is a genuine fpecies of pearch, and is diftinguifhed by Artedi from ail the other fifties of that genus, by having the back fin fmgle, and the head cavernous. See the articles Corn ua, Aurata, and Perca.

ACERRA, {Cycl.)— By the laws of the twelve tables, the erecting of acerra: was prohibited. Salmuth. ad Pancirol. P. 1. Tit. 62. p. 343. Fcjl. in Voc. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. The Acerra alfo fignified a little pot, wherein the incenfe and perfumes were put, to be burnt on the altars of the gods, and before the dead. Pitijc. Lex. Antiq. The Acerra appears to have been the fame with what was otherwife called thur'ibulum, and pyxis ; fome have alfo con- founded it with the patera?^ in which libations were offered. Cornut. ad Perf. Sat. 2. Vet. Schol. w\Horat. 1. 3. Od.8. Voff, Etym. p. 4.