Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/55

 M N I

M N I

gijlrale, or Hildani, wherein treacle, mithridatc, camphor, &c. are ingredients. Junck. Lex. Chym. Pharm. P. 2.

P* 4*4-

White Mgyptiacum is a compofition of liily roots mixed up with aromatics : it is mentioned by Hippocrates, and is the fame with what other antients call Cic'tnum. It was ufcd by the ladies of thofe days to fmcar over their faces, to pre- ferve their complexions. Gorr. Def. Med. Hippocrates alfo fpeaks of another unguent under the fame name, comp^fed of the flowers of the Egyptian thorn. Farriers make a red, as well as black kind, of much the fame ingredients, only with fome difference in the proportions ; ufed efpecially to jbftcn the hoofs of a horfc, when too hard.

v. cm, Ruft.

^GYPTILLA, in natural hiftory, the name of a ftone de- ferred by the antients, and faid, by fome authors, to have the remarkable quality of giving water the colour and tafte of wine. This fcems a very imaginary virtue, as are indeed too many of thofe in former ages attributed to ftones. The defcripttons left us of this remarkable foffil tell us, that it was variegated with, or competed of, veins of black and white or black and blueifh, with fometimes a plate or vein of whitifh red. The authors of thefe accounts feera to have understood by this name the fcveral ftones of the onyx, far- donyx, and camsea kind, all which we have at prefent common among us, but none of which pofieis any fucli ft range properties.

■&HOITULLA, in zoology, the name of an Ealt-Indian fpe- cies of ferpent, found frequently in the ifland of Ceylon ; it is a very long and fleikler (hake fometimes wholly of a fine green, fometimes green and white, and lives principally on trees and among bufties. Ray's Synopf. Anim. p. 332.

/EINAUT/E, in antiquity, fenators of Miletus, who held their deliberations on board a {hip, far from fhore, and till matters were refolved upon, never returned to land. Plut. in Queft. Rom. Calv. Lex. Jur.

The word is Greek, Aw»wwm ; q- d. femper nautaj always mariners.

AELQUAPPE, in zoology, the common name, among the German nations, of a fifti of the muftcla kind, the vivipa- rous eelpout, called by Schonefeldt Mujhla wvtpttrtt, and in fome places, aelpute, aelmodcr, and aelmutter. It is ufually of a foot long or more. Its fkin is perfectly fmooth, and the colour of its back and head a brownifh yellow, marked with blotches of black; the colour of the back grows paler on the fides, and on the belly is whitifh.. It has four gills on a fide, and the head is ftiaped like that of the eel ; the back fin reaches the whole length of the body, termi- nating neat the tail. The belly fin begins at the anus, and reaches to the extremity of the fifti, ending in a fine {lender and fomewhat reddifh tail. Befides thefe, it has two pair of fins, one at the bottom of the gills, which are fome- what broad, and the other very fine and {lender under the throat. The young are often found alive in this fpecies, to the number of three hundred in one individual; they are found of two fingers breadth long, and live fome time after taken Out. Schonefeldt, Ichthiogr.

A EM, or Am, a liquid meafure ufed at Amfterdam, and thoughout Germany. — The Jem of Amfterdam is equal to four ankers or £ of a ton ; amounting to about 250 or 260 Paris pints. The German Aem is different in different towns ; the common one is equal to ao vertels, that of Heidelberg to 12. Savar. Diet. Comm. T, xi p. 26. feq.

^EMOBOLIUM, in antiquity, the blood of a bull, or ram offered in the facrifices, called Taurobolia and Criobolia. In which fenfe the word oceurs in antient inferiptions, Reinefius and Vandale take it for a corruption, and alter it to Mgobolium. M. de Boze defends the Mmobolium. V. Mem. Acad. Infcrip. T. 3. p. 117. Mem. de Trev. 1705. p. 2087. See j^oobolium.

./ENEATORE8, in antiquity, the muficians in an army ; in- cluding thofe who played trumpets, horns,- Litui, Buccina, &c. Kenn. Ant. Rom. P. 2. It 4. c. n. p. 208. Pitifs. Lex. Ant. T. 1.- p. 42.

The word is formed from aneusy On account of the brazen inftruments ufed by them.

jENIGMA, (CycA)— Some reprefent the Mnigma as the fame with grypbus, but the more exact writers make a diftinc- tion; tho' wherein the difference lies is not agreed on. Some make it confift in this,- that the Mnigma properly im- ports fomething merry, or jocofe, and grypbus a fubject more grave and profound a. Others reduce the difference to this, that in the grypbus there is fomething captious, and capable of leading into a fnare, which is not found in the Mnigma b .— [■ Pollux, ap. Seal. Poet. 1. 3. c. 83; p. 319. " Mem. de Trev. Sept. 1701. p. 173.} The rebus is alfo ranked by fome in the number of /Enigma's. In a general fenfe, every dark faying, every difficult queffion, every parable, may pafs for mMmgma. Hence obfeure laws, are called Mnigmata Juris,

The alchemifts arc great dealers in theaenigmatic language, their procefles for the philofophers ftone, being generally wrapped up in riddles, e. gr. Fac ex mare et f amino circulum-, hide auadrangulum, bine triangulum, fac circulum et habebis lopt- dmx phihfipborum. Barchufen, has publilhed an explication

of the riddles of chemifts, alchemifts, phyficians, crV. Acro- amata, Traj. Bat. 1703. 8°. an extract of it is given in Act. Erud. LipC 1704. p. 348. feq. .'

Among the /Enigma's of chemifts, that called the fybelKne Mnigma is famous, of which we find a copy in a MS. of Stephanus Alexandrinus. V. Mifcel. Berol. T. 1. Art. 2. p. 19. feq. Fabric, Bibl. Grsec:

"Em at ygeiftft.cti' i)(fii' Ti+^acu'Watoc ttftt, votifxt.

H XoiTT* Je t« ?.CHT«, XCtl ElO-iV a<pa.tst T« -TTivTC.

Th iretyrU H' afiGfiij Ix^tovto;^ ual %U ivrrd, K«i t^eJ; Tgls oex*^;; xcu ^i? Tfia. T»ts$ Si ri( lifii,' Ovx n^tyjjT&j tern T))j trug l[w eoty'i^c.

Thus tranflated by M. Leibnitz,

Litcrulis nofcor quadrifyllabus ipfe novenis 1 Syllaba habit binas, nifl quod tenet ultima ternas* Vocales quatuor, quinis non propria vox ejl. Bis feptem vicibus numerum centuria totum Ingreditur, decadefque novem, turn bis tria. Si me Noveris, bine aditus adfaera nojlra patent.

Stephanus gives a myftical folution of this Mnigma. Moret will have it fignify the name Jehovah, which according to him comprehends the number 1696 abating one, the number contained in the Mnigma. Brentius maintains that the whole fum amounts to 1711, and that it reprefeiits the word puc-fo§c,-. The generality underftand it of the word arfenicj or apsenikon, M. Leibnitz gives a very artful folution of it in this fenfe, by only fuppofing the A to itand for a thoufand, and 1 for unity, as we fometimes find them ufed by grammarians. Another Mnigma of the fame character is that of Bafil Valen- tine, in high Dutch, thus tranflated alfo by Mr, Leibnitz,

ghiinque libros fecit dlvino numine Mojes,

Quos numerus "Jofua fufcipit inde minor. Tres muta popidis putriareba; voce loquuntur,

Unicus bos tejlis vera dedijfe probat ; Nil agit, btcc qui non aitenia mente revolvit

Nee quinquaquinia quinque fubejfe videt. Sunt tamen ilia duo, queis fi millena fubirent y

Divitias fapiens fine parare potcfl. lsafcenti qu'mos comites ajjijlcre eernes,

Quinque eiiam comites max morientis erunt. Sunt quatuor, quorum nutu fententia fertur ;

"Judicio prodit res tamen una fuo.

By which is to be underftood vitriol, or VICTRIOLXJM^ in which manner vitriol is often written by the Germans, from a corrupt etymology, as fuppofing it derived from viStoria. V. Mifcel. Berol. T. I. Art. 2. p. 19. feq. Fabric. Bibl. Grxc. 1. 6. c: 7. p. 696.

Among the divers fpecies of revelation, enumerated by divines, there is one called the enigmatical. Vander Hard maintains at large, that the whole book of Jonah is tsnigmatical, par- ticularly, that by the prophet himfelf, is to be underftood the Jewifti nation ; by his being caft into the fea in a ftormy and fwallowed by a whale, the jews being carried into captivi- ty ; by his prayer in the fifties belly, the Jewifh exiles Re- plications in their captivity ; by the fifties vomiting hrm up, their return jnto their own country, csV. V\ Mnigmata facra, Francof. 1624. 12°. Mnigmata Pr if ci Orbis, Helmft. 1723. Fol. p. 294. feq. ASeelen, Medit. exegit. P. 2. p. 33. feq.

F. Meneftrier has attempted to reduce the compofition and refolution of Mnigma's to a kind of art, with fixed rules, and principles,- which he calls the phflofophy of enigmatic images.

The fubjcS'i of an ./Enigma, or the thing to be concealed, and made a myftery of, he juftly obferves, ought not to be fuch in itfelf j but on the contrary, common, obvious and eafy to be conceived. It is to be taken, either from nature,- . as the heavens, or ftars ; or from' art, as painting, the compafs, a mirror, or the like.

The form of ./Enigma's confifts in the words,' which,' whe- ther they be in profe or verfe, contain either fome defcrip- tioh, a queftion, or a profopopasia. The laft kind are the moft pleafing, inafmueh as they give life and action to things, which otherwife have them not. To make an Mnigma therefore, two things are to be pitched on, which bear fome refemblance to each other; as the hm, and a monarch ; or a ihip, and a houfe ; and on this refemblance is to be raifed a fuperft met lire of contrarieties to amufe and perplex. It is eafier to find great tatyc&sforjEnigmas in figures than in- words, inafmueh as painting attracts the eyes, and excites the atten- tion to difcover the fenfe. The fubjects of Mnigma's in painting, are to be taken' either from hiftory or fable ; the Compofition here is a kind of metamorpbofis, wherein, e. gr. human figures are changed into trees, and rivers into metals. This converfion however, does not depend merely on caprice, there muft be fomething of fuitablenefs, and even erudition to authorize it. Thus the battle of Conftan-