Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/59

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title Ms grave, till fuch time as they were reduced to a (mailer ftandard b . — Gronovius, on the contrary, maintains, that the As, or pound weight did not acquire the appellation, Ms grave, till after their reduflion. For what neceffity could there be for calling thefe pieces Ms grave, heavy mo- ney, at a time when no fmaller was known. — [ a Philof. Tranf. N°. 197. p. igoi. b Salmaf. de Mod. Ufur. c. 6. and c. 16. Vojf. Etym. in voc. Js.]

After the reduction, authors, who had occafion to fpeak of the antient money, now out of ufe, could not better cha- racterize, and diftinguifh it from the new fort, which was lighter, than by calling it, As grave, heavy money. Grcnov. de Fecun. Vet. 1. 3. c. 15.

Kufter rejeits all thefe opinions, as errors which authors fiave fallen into, by confining themfelves to the comparifon of a heavier metal with a lighter one. The antients, he af- ferts, never meant, by Ms grave, any particular kind of copper money, differing in weight, or form, from other fpecies of the fame metal. The expreffion is ufed by them, to denote any kind of copper money, compared with gold or filver ; which, with regarj to the bulk and fize of the pieces, was much lighter, though of greater value. The term Ms grave, therefore, according to this author, was only intro- duced, after they had begun to coin gold and filver ; for that the word Ms, being then common to all kinds of money, they could not make a particular application of it to copper money, without joining it to the adjective grave, heavy, which limited its fignification, and removed the equivoque. We are not, therefore, to imagine, that when authors fpeak of a kind of money, which they call Ms grave, in the ear- lier! days of Rome, that there was any money which bore this denomination at that time ; but that thofe authors accom- modating themfelves to the cuftom of the age wherein they lived, when the name Ms was applied indifferently to any kind of money, found it neceffary in fpeaking of the antient money, which was only copper, and of confiderable weight, to diftinguifh it from the new by the qualification of grave, heavy, joined with the general word Ms. KuJI. Difq. quid fuerit Ms grave f printed in his Diatribe Anti-Gronoviana, Ami. 1712. 8vo. And in Le Clere, Bibl. Choif. T. 24. p. III. feq. Extracts and notitias of which are given in Jour, des Scav. T. 53. p. 254. Mem. de Trev. 1713. p. 924. It. 1714. p. 517. Hilt. Acad. Infcript. T. 2. p. 546. But this fyftem, however plaufible, is rejefled by feveral learned men, particularly Perizonius, and Mr. Ward =. The former has a difiertation exprefs on the fubject, wherein the opinion of Gronovius is further examined and defended ". — [' Diff. de Affe, p. 18. feq. < Diff. de JErs gravi. Leyd. 1713. I2mo. An extract of which is given in Jour, des Scav. T. 55. p. 202. feq. See alfo Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc. & Mem. de Trev. 1729. p. 1253.] JEs rude, that unfhaped, or not fafhioned for any particular purpofe. — Some will have this to be the fame with Ms grave. — The money during the firft ages of Rome was all of this kind. Pitifc. Lex. Antiq. T. 1. p. 49. See ./Es grave. Others, by Ms rude, underftand metal unftamped ; in op- position to & fignatum, that ftamped, or coined. Hojl. ubi fupra. HLs ujium, among chemifls, is the fame with what fome call Ms veneris, or faffron of Venus ; others, Ms crematum. Caftel. Lex. Med.

There are various ways of preparing Ms ujlum : the moft frequent is, by expofing the plates to a reverberatory, or a potter's furnace, fo long, till they will crumble into a pow- der a. Another is, by heating a long flip of copper in a vehement fire, till it (parities, then pulling it fuddenly out, and applying a piece of fulphur on it ; this immediately liqui- fies the copper, which drops down in a veffel of cold water, placed to receive it b . A third is mentioned in the Cyclo- pedia. See alfo Lemeri, Treat, des Drog. p. 15. A fourth is, by deeping the metal in a folution of fait, or ftrong vinegar ; then ftratifying it with fulphur, as above. After this, it is put in vinegar impregnated with fal ammoniac. The like is repeated till the plates are confirmed. The vinegar being diftilled from it, what remains is Ms ujium '.—[' Vid. Junck. Confp. Chem. tab. 35. p. 907, 911. b Junken, Lex. Chem. Pharm. p. 10. feq. « Trev. Diet. Univ. T. I. p. 167.]

Ms ujium is very drying and deterfive, and, on that account, mixed with plafters and ungents, for drying up fiftulous ul- cers, and the imbibing acrimonious humours, or fanies. It alfo ferves to eat off dead flefll ; to which end, it is faid they heat it red hot in the furnace nine times, and quench it as often in linfeed oil. But it is apt to render the bones carious. Vid. "junck. Confp. Chirurg. p. 252, 257, 271. Flos jEris, called by the Greeks, x aX * a a»6©., (fometimes confounded by moderns with cbalcanthum) is prepared of copper melted, and removed into other furnaces, wherein be- ing expofed to a further and greater heat, and vehemently agi- tated by bellows, it depofites an infinite number of finall fcales, like millet grains, which being feparated by lotion, make the flu Mris. Rul. Lex. Alchem. p. 2. Caft. loc. cit. Gorr. Def. Med. p. 502. feq. in voc. %*>xu uvfy&.

JE S T

Among the moderns, fas Mris is fometimes ufed for atrugc, or verdigreafe. See Verdigrease, Cycl. Squamma JEkis properly denotes flakes of that metal ftruck off by the hammer, in the operations of the forge, &c. Vid. Plin. Hiit. Nat. T. 2. 1. 34. c. u. p. 661. Hardouin. Not. ad loc. Rut. Joe. cit. Gorr. loc. cit. p, 502. in voc.

■Xa.'hX.V ?,£«■(.

Per JEs & libram was a formula in the Roman law, whereby purchafes and fales were ratified. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 49. feq. Brijf. de Verb. Signif. p. 30. Danet. Lex. Ant. in voc.

Originally the phrafe feems to have been only ufed in fpeaking of things fold by weight, or by the fcales \ but it afterwards had place on other occafions. Hence even in adoptions, as there was a kind of imaginary purchafe, the formula thereof exprefled, that the perfon adopted was bought per as & li- bram. See Adoption. JEs aldarium, a term ufed by the German mineralilts, for a fubftance which fometimes occurs to thofe who work upon cobalt, and is ufed for the making the fine blue colour, called fmalt.

Bifmuth ore is fometimes fo intimately mixed with cobalt, that they cannot be feparated from one another. In this cafe, when they have been roafted together, and when the arfenic is feparated in flours, there remains, inftead of the fixed earth of cobalt, a coarfe regulus of bifmuth, of a reddifh co- lour ; to feparate which from the earth, they mult have re- courfe to a fecond operation. This mixed matter they fome- times call, in general, fpeiffe ; but more ufually they divide it into two parts, and call the under part glockcnfpciffe, and the upper part Ms caldarhtm. JEs favum, yel/ozv copper. The Roman authors have all men- tioned the way of making brafs with calamine and copper: but their fincft kind, which they called orichalcum, or auri- chalcum, they diftinguifhed from the inferior forts, which had only the name of Ms flavum. Pliny tells us, that the Marian yellow brafs took up a very large quantity of the ca- lamine in the preparation, and approached to the nature of the orichalcum. This feems plainly to fpeak, the orichalcum to be a different metal ; but this, perhaps, may be owing to an error of Pliny, who fuppofes, that there was once a na- tive metal of this colour. This he calls orichalcum, in com- parifon of which, he fays, all the artificial ones are poor. But this is not fupported by experience, or any other tefli- mony. Pliny tells us, that the Roman fefterces were made of yellow copper, or Ms flavum ; and the AiTes, of the Cy- prian Ms, that is, of the copper in its natural colour. Our medalifts preferve feveral of the feffcrccs of this Ms flavum, which Pliny fays approached nearly to the orichalcum ; and it is evident, that this very metal is called orichalcum by many authors of authority and credit. The Roman authors all mention the throwing cadmia, or calamine, into melting copper, to make it yellow ; and the chemical writers among the Greeks all mention the fame procefs, as a thing well known. It is therefore not to be doubted, but that the Ms flavum and ori- chalcum were the fame thing, only perhaps in different de- grees of perfection, as made of different proportions of the two ingredients. See Brass. ./ESALON, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of hawk of the long-winged kind, called in Englifh the merlin. It is the frnalleft of all the kawk kind, ufed in the diverfion of hawk- ing. It is of about the fize of the blackbird. Its beak is blue, and its eyes hazel ; it has a wreath of whitifh yellow feathers behind its head ; its chin is white, and its back and wings of a dufky blackifh brown. Its larger wing feathers are black, with brown fpots ; and its tail long, and varie- gated with tranfverfe ftreaks of black and whitifh brown. Its breaft and belly are of a whitifh brown, variegated with blackifh brown fpots. Its legs are long and yellow. It feeds on partridges and other birds. Ray's Ornithology, iFSCH, in zoology, a name by which fome have called the

P- 5 1 *

grayling, or tumbler, a fifh of the truttaceous kind, called in

Latin thymallus. IVtllughby, Hilt. Pifc. p. 1 87. ./ESCHNA, in natural hiffory, the name of a fpecies of water

fly, of an afh colour, with four wings, and a long body,

hairy near the tail. iESCULAPII anguis^ in zoology, the name of a harmlefs fpecies

of ferpent, common in Spain and Italy, called alfo panca.

See Par^a. FESTIVAL, (Cycl.) — JEsr I val point is that whereby the fun's

afcent above the equator is determined. PVolf. Elem. Aftron.

§. 250. iEsTiVAL f.gns are thofe extended from the fummer folftitial

point, ;. e. the fun's greateff declination northward, to the

interferon of the zodiac and equinoctial fouthward, including

Cancer, Leo, Virgo. Wolf. Elem. Aftron. §. 152. FESTIVAL folflice, the time when the fun enters the ceflival

point. See Solstice, Cycl. ./ESTUARY, {Cycl.) — /Estuary, in the antient baths, was

applied to the occult pafTages, or openings from the hypo-

caufum, or ftove, penetrating into the chambers. Pitifc.

Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 51.

.ESYM-