Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/34

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Adds are commonly ranked in the number of refolving me- dicines ; but they have not this effed per fe, in as much as they rather aftringe and incraflate ; what they contribute to- wards refolving, is either by reprefling, as when by their gentle aftriclion they repel ftagnant humours, or when joined with other medicines which facilitate a refolution. Junker, Confp. Therap. tab. 14. §• 8- p- 39°-. . . ,

Adds have been found ufeful in acute, inflamatory, putrid, and petechial fevers ; alfo in the rheumatifm, phthifis, dia- betes, and even, as fome fay, tertians : though others attri- bute the caufe of all agues to them : they are particularly fuppofed to be endowed with an anti-afthmatic virtue. Al- bert. Lex. Real. Obferv. T. 2.

The Englifh phyficians are divided on the propriety of ad- miniftring Adds in the fmall-pox. Woodward, State of Pbyf.

Adds are alledged to be hurtful in coughs, and moft of them, except the juice of lemons, in difeafes of the breaft. Sig. Poli, an Italian chemift, member of the academy of fciences at Paris, publifhed a treatife, entitled, II Triomfo de gli Acidi, the triumph of Adds t wherein he undertakes to prove, that 'tis unjuftly Adds are charged with being the caufe of an infinity of difeafes ; and that, on the contrary, they are the fovereign remedy thereof. According to this author, Adds are abfolutcly neceflary to all the fermentations or digeftions performed in the ftomach, whether of aliments or medicines : and thofe Adds which are noxious, only be- come fuch, as being made from fubftances which abound too much in alcali's : yet the Adds never enter the blood, but are precipitated in the inteltines, and go out with the excre- ments ; all that pafles the lacleals being only a fine fpirituous vapour, raifed by the natural heat, and formed of ajmooth oil and volatile alcaii. Fontenel Elog. de Poli. See alfo Jour, des Scav. T. 38. p. 328. feq.

Several authors have pretended to determine the figure of Adds. The generality fuppofe them to be aflemblages of fpicula?, or folid, oblong particles, (harp pointed at both ends : their folidity is inferred from their diflblving the hardeft bodies ; their fharpnefs from their pungency on the tongue ; and their being pointed at both ends fpindle fafhion, from their penetrating bodies with eafe, and retaining their flui- dity in the coldeft feafons. Senac. Nouv. Cours de Chym. T. 1. Mem. de Trev. 1724. p. 210.

A late mechanical author is more precife in fettling the figure and dimenfions of Add particles, which he will have to be triangular, but hollowed, according to the dimenfions of the particles of water, within the interftices whereof he fuppofes them formed. The arch of an Acid, according to him, is 60 degrees, but the fhorteft way only 45 ; its femidiameter is to the femidiameter of a particle of water, as 4 to 7 ; its altitude, to the femidiameter of the fame watery particle, as 31 to 49 ; and its weight, as 5 to 18. Sweedenborg. Prodrom Principior. Rer. Natur. in Act. Erud. Lipf. 1722. p. 85 See Tab. of Microfcopical Objects, Clafs 3. Acids, efpecially fulfil, are reckoned correctors of opium, when it affects the head or lungs. See Opium. The only animal Add yielded from the frefh animal by diftil- lation, fo far as yet known, is the Add fpirit of pifmires ; all other flefii, fifh, and infects, which have been tried, yielding an urinous one. Diftillation is not neceflary for the obtaining the Add juice from this animal, though it is the moft convenient way of obtaining it in quantities. If a flick be thruft into an ant-hill, the creatures will drop their Add liquor, in large drops, upon it, and this, when fmelt to, twinges the nofe like new diftilled fpirit of vitriol. It will make the blue flowers of fuccory, borrage, &c. red. And this Add obtained, either by diftillation, or by throwing the living ani- mals into water till it be fufficiently impregnated with it, will with lead, make a peculiar fort of faccharum faturni, which on diftillation will give back the Add in its own form again, Phil. Tranf. N°. 68.

Some are of opinion, that all mineral Adds differ only ac- cording to their degree of ftrength; but this opinion is liable to difficulties.

In Borelli, dc Mot. Animal. I. 2. prop. 224. we have feveral experiments on dogs, with the Add of fulphur, nitre, &c. Acid juice of tar, that procured from tar by diftillation. See

Tar-water. ACINARIA, in botany, a name given by fome to the marfh

whortle-berries, or vaccinia palujlria. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. ACINODENDRON, in botany, the name given by Burman, in his Thefaurus, to a genus of plants, afterwards called me- lajioma. Burman, Thefaur. Zeyl. p. 363. SeeMfiLASTOMA. ACINOS. See Ocvmum.

ACITLI, in zoology, the common Mexican name for the great crefted diver, common to Europe and America, and more ufually called by authors, the lepus aqueus, or water-hare. Ray's Ornithol. p. 257. See Lepus Aqueus. ACKNOWLEDGMENT-™^, a fum paid, in fome parts of England, by tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an Acknowledgment of their new lords. Blount. ACLIDES, in the Roman military art, a kind of miffive wea- pon, having a thong fixed to it, by which, after carting it out of the hand, it might be drawn back again.

A C O

Servius defcribes the Aclides as full of fpicuke, or eminences ; whence the word may feem from uxthq, of «xi?, point. Others fuppofe it formed from ayxu?.^, of ayxvXv, which alfo fignified a dart.

The Aclides is generally defcribed as a kind of dart or javelin. Scaliger makes it round, or globular, having a (lender wooden Item whereby to poife it. It was full of fpikes, and fo would do mifchief both where it ftruck, and in the withdrawing. Each warriour feems to have been furnifhed with two. Vid. Serv. ad Mn. 1. 7. v. 730. Vojf. Etym. p. 5. feq. Aquin. Lex. Mil. T. 1. p. 14. feq. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 17.

ACLOWA, in botany, the name of a plant common in Gui- nea, and ufed by the natives to cure the itch. They rub it on the body, as we do our ungents. Petiver accounts it a kind of colutea, and has named it the Guinea fcorpioide colutea, with leaves like the gum tragacanth fhrub. Its leaves are very like thofe of that plant, and Hand in pairs on the ribs, to the number of twelve, fixteen, or twenty on a rib. They ftand at fuch fmall diftances, that the whole compound leaf is but fhort. Each of thefe fingle leaves is oblong ; the pods are long, fmooth and ftraight, and they terminate in a point ; they are about four Inches long, and of the thicknefs of a crow's quill. The feeds are brown and fmall, but of a thick and turgid ftiape, and each is feparated from the reft bv a thin feptum, or tranfparent membrane. Philof. Tranf. N°. 232.

ACMELLA. See Ahmelia.

ACOLCHICHI, in zoology, the Mexican name for a bird, defcribed by Nieremberg under the name of the pterophcenico Indiarum. See Pterophoenico.

ACOLIN, in zoology, the name of a bird, of the partridge kind, common in the Spaniih Weft-Indies. It is no larger than a ftarling ; its legs and feet are of a pale grcenifh colour, and its toes very long ; its beak is yellow, and fomewhat long ; its head fmall ; its breaft and belly are white ; its fides are fpotted with brown, and its back and tail of a dufky yellowifli brown ; its tail is very fhort, and both that and the back have fome black foots, and fome narrow ftreaks of white. It frequents the fides of lakes j and is fuppofed to feed on flies, worms, and other infects, which are found about watery places. It is a tolerably well tafted bird. Ray's Ornithol. p. 304.

ACOLUTHI, orAcoLYTHl, (Cyd.) — Acolythus was a title in the Grecian empire, given to the captain or commander of the Varangi, a body of guards appointed for the fecurity of the emperor's palace. Codin. de Offic. Aul. Conftant. c. 1. n. 51. & c 5. n. 71. Meurj. Gloff". Gr. Barb. p. 18. Da. Cang. Gloff". Gr. V. 1. p. 41,

ACOLYTHIA, in the Greek church, denotes the office, or order of divine fervice. Du Cang. Gloff". Grsec. T. 1 . p. 41.

VoC Axo*a0i«.

The fame name is alfo given to the prayers, ceremonies, hymns, and the like, whereof the Greek fervice is com- pofed. Suic. Thef. Grsec. T. 1. p. 163. They are fuppofed to be fo called -Awo t« AxoteDuv, a fequendo, from their fequence or following each other; or becaufe of their cohering and agreeing well together.

ACONE, in the natural hiftory of the antients, the name of a ftone ufed as a whetffone, and for feveral other purpofes ; but more ufually known among the Romans by the name coticula. See Coticula.

ACONCROBA, in botany, a name given by the natives of Guinea to a plant, growing wild with them, and in great efteem for its virtues in the fmall-pox. They give an in- fufion of it in wine. The leaves of this plant are opake, and as ftiff" as thofe of the phillerey ; they grow in pairs, and ftand on fhort foot-ftalks ; they are fmall at each end, and broad in the middle; and the largeit of them are about three inches in length, and an inch and quarter in breadth in the middle. They fomewhat rcfemble thofe of our bay. They are of a dufky colour on the upper fide, and of a pale green underneath.

ACONITE, {Cycl.) — Aconitum, Wolfsbane, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the charaders of which are thefe. The flower is of the polypetalous anomalous kind, confuting of five irregular leaves, and fomewhat refernbling a man's head, with a hood or helmet on it. The upper petal feems to perform the office of a hood or helmet; the two lower leaves reprefent that part of the helmet which receives the lower jaw, and the two wings feem adapted to the upper part of the face, or the temples. From the center of the flower there arife two piftils, fliaped like feet, and received into the hollow of the upper petal or hood, as is alfo the piffil, which finally becomes a fruit, compofed of feveral mem- branaceous vagina? collected into a head, and ufually con- taining angular and wrinkled feeds. See Tab. 1. of Botany, Clafs 11.

The fpecies of Aconite, enumerated by Mr, Toumefort, are thefe. 1. The common yellow Aconite. 2. The great yel- low Aconite, with thicker ftalks and broader leaves. 3. The yellow Aconite, with lower ftalks and fmaller leaves. 4. The Pyrensean Aconite, with large and deeply divided leaves. 5. The blue flowered Aconite. 6. The narrow leaved Aco- _ nite, with bending fpikes. 7. The Aconite with bending fpikes, with fewer flowsrs and deeply divided leaves. 8. The a " Aconite