Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/35

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Aconite with broader leaves and bending (pikes, g. The greateft Aconite with bending fpikes. 10. The common blue Aconite i commonly called blue monk's-hood. n. The pale red flowered monk's-hood. 12. The white flowered monk's-hood. 13. The monk's-hood with blue and white variegated flowers. 14. The monk's-hood with purple and white variegated flowers. 15, The violet flowered monk's- hood. 16. The purple flowered monk's-hood. 17. The monk's-hood with very large purplifh blue flowers. 18. The leffer blue flowered monk's-hood. 19. The pyramidal many flowered monk's-hood. 20. The healing monk's-hood, called anthora. 21. The large Fyrenasan anthora, with dark green leaves and very large flowers. Tournef. Inft. p. 424. ■*Tis not agreed what the antient Aconite was, the antient botanifts uiing the name with ibme diverfity ; fometimes even in a general fenfe, to denote any poifon j whence alfo Aco- 7iitarius, became fynonymous with Pw^wkot™?^,-, a poifoner. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 18. Du Cang. GlofT. Lat. T. 1. p. 45. Diofcorides only makes two kinds of Aconite), the firft the fame with the tbelyphonium, the fecond the proper Aconite. In flrictnefs there appears to have been but one fpecies of Aconite, which refembled the thelyphonium in its virtue and effects, but differed from it in leaf, colour, foil, root, &c. Vid. Salmaf. Exerc. ad Solin. T. 2. p. 881. feq. Gorr. Med. Defin. p. 16. feq. voc Axt-jftov.

Some compare the poifon of the Aconite to that of the napel- lus a. Others feem to make it of the fame kind with that of the falamander b. Dr. Mead will have it to agree with the cicuta c. 'Tis the root alone that is hurtful d ; for its leaves and fruit are faid to be innocent e. — [ J Epliem. Germ. Dec. 1. an. 2. p. 82. b Plin. Hift. Nat. T. 2. 1. 29. c. 4. p. 505. c Mead, of Poifons. Jour, des Scav. T. 47. p. 64. d Sal- maf. lib. cit. p. 882. c Vater. Phyf. Expcr. in app. c. 3. §. 2. p. 870.]

ACONITI, Axovtli, is an appellation given to fome of the an- tient athletes, but differently interpreted. Mercurialis under- stands it of thofe who only anointed their bodies with oil, but did not fmear themfelves over with duft, as was the ufual practice. M. Burette will have it to fignify thofe who con- quered eafdy without duft, q, d. ssronjll, ^c.^, with little ado. Vid. Burette, in Mem. de l'Acad. des Infcript. T. 1. p. 294. feq.

ACONTIAS, (Cycl.) — in zoology, the name of a fpecies of fer- pent, called dbajaculum, or the dart make, from its manner of vibrating its body in the manner of a dart. Bellonius found one of thefe in the ifland of Rhodes, which he defcribes in this manner. It is about three hands-breadth long, and of the thicknefs of one's little-finger. Its colour is"a milky grey on the back, variegated with fmall black fpots, like fo many eyes ; and on the belly it is perfectly white. The neck is wholly black, and from that two milk white ftreaks run all the way along the back to the tail ; the black fpots alfo aire each furrounded with a fmall circle of white. It is found in Egypt alfo, and Lybia, and in the iflands of the Mediterranean. Ray's Synopf. Auim. p. 290.

ACONTIUM, in antient writers, a kind of Grecian dart, or javelin, fomewhat refembling the Romans'/am. Aquin. Lex. Milit. Salmaf. Exerc. ad Solin. T. 2. p. 1017.

ACOPA, in botany, a name given by Diofcorides, and fome other authors, to the trifoHum paludofum, or buck-bean.

Acopa is alfo ufed to denote medicines againft latitude. Aco- pum, 'Axoffonj from a. privative, and xoiroc, wearinefs.

ACOPIS, the name of a fort of foflil fait, defcribed by Pliny, and faid to have been ufed by the antients, mixed with oil and heated, to rub over the limbs to cure wearinefs. The defcriptton Pliny gives of it is a very odd one. He fays, it was of a light, porous and fpungy texture, refembling the pumice, and that it was variegated with gold coloured fpots. AH that is poifible to collect from this, is, that it might be an impure fort of the nairum, or nitre of the antients, fuch as_is now found about Smyrna, and ufed inftcad of foap j this is of a lax fpungy texture, and naturally of a greyifh white, but it is fubjefiT to be tinged by accidents ; and poffibly what Pliny calls Acopis, might be only fuch of it as was acci- dentally fpotted with an admixture of a yellow ochreous earth.

ACORN, in natural hiftory and agriculture, denotes the fruit of trees of the oak kind.

The Acorn, according to Dr. Grew, is the nut of an oak, with this only difference, that befides the cup it frauds in, it has only a leathern or parchment cover, inffead of a fhell. And hence it is, that whereas the kernel of a nut is fweet, that of an Acorn is of a very rough tafte ; the auffere parts of the fap, which in a nut are drained off into the fhell, being here imbibed by the kernel itfelf. Grew, Anat. of Plants" 1. 4. c. 4. §. 8.

Writers on hufbandry give rules concerning feminaries or nur- fenes iof Acbms, the propagating, fowing, or planting oi Acorns. Vid. Evel Sylv. c.2. i&^r.CollccrrN ^. T.3. p. 139. For timber, thofe Acorns are to be chofen as feed which are moft folid and heavy, not thofe which are biggeft. Acorns were the food of the firft ages ; but when corn was found out, Acorns were neglecled. They are of little ufe in our days, but to fatten hogs, and other cattle, and poultry. Yet among the Spaniards the Atoms, glans Iberica, is faid

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to have long remained a delicacy, and been ferved up In the nature of a defert. Hought. N'. 480. p. 168. Plin. Hift i>at. 1. 16.

In dearths, Acorns have been fometimes dried, ground into meal, and baked into bread.

The inhabitants of Chio held out a long (lege, without other food. But they are faid to breed headachs and ventofities, and to be hard of digeftion >. A decoction of Acorns is re- puted good againft dyfenteries and cholics. A peffary of them is faid to be good in immoderate fluxes of the menfes b — [■ Bartbol. Aft. Med. T. 2. obf. 57. b Qorr. Med. Defin voc. B*?ia*G?.]

ACORUS, {Cycl.)— in the materia medica, a name by which fome authors have called the great galangal. Dale, Pharm. p. 252.

Acorus .auultermus, in the materia medica, the name of the root ot the iris liiea ialujiris, or common yellow water-flaa flower. C. Bauhin. Pin. p. 34. a

ACOUSMA.TICI, an appellation given to fuch among the dif- ciples of Pythagoras, as were ftill under the five years proba- tion. V. Gentzken. Hift. Philof. p. 47. The Acoufmatici, amcfuOma, are fometimes alfo called A- cmjfkt, i«a r ,»„ ; by Latin writers, Acujtid. The Acouf- matici flood oppofed to the malbtmatici, who were thofe initiated into the fecrets of fcience ; and the Aaufnlatic phi- lofophy, to the mathematic. Vojf. de Sed. Philof. c 6. §•, l8 - /• 35-

I he Acoufmatici were inftruflcd by bare pofitive precepts and rules, without reafons or demonftrations i thefe precepts ™y called Acoufmata, which were divided into three kinds. Ihe firft, Such as aflerted what fome thing is-j- e. gr. what is the fun, the moon, the tetraflys, or the like. The fecond, Such as told what is moft fuch a thing ; e. gr. what is moft juft ? to facrifice : what is the moft powerful ? rcafon : what is the trueft ? that men arc wicked. The third prefcribed what is to be done, and what not ; e. gr. that we ought to beget children ; that we are to put off the right ttoe firft • that we ougnt not to go in the common road, &c. Such were the Pythagorean Acoufmata ; and thofe amon» his dif- ciplcs who retained the greateft fund of thefe, were efteemed the wifeft men. Stanley, Hift. Philof. P. 9. p. 519. Some have denied the appellation of Pythagoreans to be due to the Acoufmatici, in regard many of thefe had their learning not immediately from Pythagoras, but from Hippafus, who, according to fome, was of Crotona, but according to others, ofMetapontium. JamUicb. de Vit. Pytl Stanl. loc. cit.

g. c. 1 8. p. 54.

ACOUSTIC vejils. In the antient theatres there were a kind of_ Acmftic vellels, made of Draft, fhaped in the bell fafhion, which being of all tones within the pitch of the voice, or even of mftruments, rendered the founds more audible, fo that the aflors could be heard through all parts of theatres, which were even 400 feet in diameter. Vitruv. de Archit. 1. 5. c. 5. Boindin, in Mem. de Trev. 1709. p. 30.

Acoustic duel, ductus aamftkus, is applied to the external paffage of the ear ; called alfo meatus auditorius.

Acoustic nerve, nervus acoujlicus, is the fame which we otherwife call the auditory nerve.

Acoustic difciphs, among the antient Pythagoreans, thofe more frequently called Acoufmatici. Voff. de Sefl. Philof. c. 6. §• 18. p. 35. See the article Acousmatici.

ACRE, {Cycl.) — An Acre is 10 fquare chains, of 22 yards each, that is, 4840 fquare yards. And a mile being 1760 yards fquare, a mile fquare will be found to contain 640 Acres. Houghton gives a table of the number of Acres to a houfe in each county of South-Britain, which is found to vary in the Englilh counties, from 3 § Acre, the proportion in Middlefex, and 17 I in Surry, to 49 Acres in Southampton. In the Welfh counties, from 51 Acres, as it is found in Flintfhire, to 193, as in Merionethihire. Houghton, Collect. N°. 28. T. 1. p. 80. feq.

Dr. Grew attempts to afcertain the number of Acres in Eng- land, which, according to him, amounts to 46 millions and 80000. Phil. Tranf. N°. 330. p. 266. feq. SirWilliamPetty reckons but 28millions; others 29 millions. And by an account of the number of Acres in each county, fuppofed to be taken from fome old regifter, the number of Acres in England amounted only to 39 \ millions. But Dr. Grew fhewsi that this is too little.

The province of Holland is faid to contain but one million of Acres ; and was thought formerly to contain 2 millions 400,000 fouls. But by the more acurate computations of Mr. Kerflcboom, that province does not contain one million of fouls. If England were as well peopled in proportion, it would contain 46 millions of inhabitants ; that is, perhaps, above five times as many as it now contains. The Scotch Acre contains four Scotch roods, and bears propor- tion to that of the Englilh by ftatute, as 100,000 to 78,694, regard being had to the difference betwixt the Scotch and Englilh foot. Treat. Prafl. Geom. p. 86. See Foot.

ACRID, in natural hiftory, denotes any thing fharp or pungent to the tafte.

Antient naturalifts diftinguifh two kinds of Acrid taftes ; the firft proceeding from hot and dry, as that of pepper; the fecond from hot and moift, as that of garlic.

Acrid,