Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/69

 AGE

AGE

Agenda mortuwam, called alfo fimply Agenda, the fcrvice fur the dead. V. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. i. p. 106. Agenda is alfo applied to certain church books, compiled by public authority, preferring the order and manner to be obferved by the minifters, and people, in the principal cere- monies, and devotions of the church, that all things may be done decently, and in order. V. Mifc. Lipf. T. 8. Obf. 165. p. 35. Mem. de Trev. Juin. 1702. p. 82. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 46. p. 418.

In which fenfc, Agenda amounts to the fame with what is otherwife called, ritual, liturgy, acalouthia, mifTal, formulary, directory, tie, AGENFRIDA, in antient cuftoms, denotes own lord, or he who has the abfolute property, and dominion of a thing. The word is alfo written Agcnfriga, and agenfrie. It is derived from the Saxon, Agen, own, and Frea, lord, mailer. V. Spelm. GlofT. p. 22. So?nn, and Skinn. Etym. in voc. Wilk. Gloff. ad Lcgg. Angl. Sax. p. 389. AGENHINE, in our old writers, Tignifics a gueft that has lodged at an inn for three nights, after which time he is ac- counted one of the family. Blount, Qmel. SccHoghen- hine, Cycl. AGENT (Cycl.)--lt is a celebrated queftion among philofo- phers, and divines, whether man be a free, or a neceflary .Agent? It may be thus itated ; man is a neceflary Agent if all his actions are fo determined by the caufe preceding each action, that not one paff. action could poflibly not have come to pafs, or have been otherwife than it was ; nor one future action can poflibly not come to pafs, or be otherwife than it fhall be. On the contrary, man is a free Agent, if he be able at any time, under the circumitances and caufes he then is, to do different things ; or in other words, if he is not ever unavoidably determined in every point of time, by the circumftances he is in, to do that one thing he does, and not poflibly to do any other.

"Which of thefe two definitions agrees to man, is a queftion of fact to be determined by what we experience in our- felves, with regard to the operations of our own minds *. A late author pretends to reduce the latter definition to an ab- furdity b . — [^ Coll. Philof. Enquir. Concern. Libert, p. n. Jour. Liter. T. 10. p. 88. b Cato 7 s Lett. T. 4. p. 190. feq.J See Liberty, Necessity, Will, Cycl. Agent is more particularly ufed in medicine, for a being which has motion within itfelf. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 24. In which fenfe it ftands oppofed to patient, which receives motion from another ; thus medicines are confidered as Agents, or as acting on the body ; by way of contradiftinction from aliments, which are fuppofed rather to be acted on, than to act. Agent is fometimes attributed to menftruums, or fuch bodies as in mixture have the greateft fliare of activity and motion. putney, Lex, Phyf. Med. p. 12.

That internal Agent in man, whereby all the vital motions neceflary to the prefervation and reitoration of the body are managed, is by fome called nature; by others archtsus, cal- lidum innatum, animal foul, vital (pint, or principle, &c. Spreng. Nat, Morb. Medic. mPurm. Chir. Cur. 1. 3. c. 16. Agent is fometimes alfo ufed in chemiftry ior what we more ufually call instrument Jour, des Scav. T. 69. p. 350. In which (enfe, fire, water, air, earth, and menltruums, are chemical Agents. Agents of the viclualing- office are officers under the com- miffloners, appointed to buy, and contract for provifions, &c. Some of thefe are fettled in the ports, where they have much the fame office and authority, as the commiflioners themfelves at London. V. Maydm. Nav. Specul. 4. p. 123. Agent victualler is ufed in the fame fenfe. Agent is more particularly ufed for the minuter of a prince, or ftate at another court.

In which fenfe, Agents are commonly reputed a fpecics of public minifters, or embatradors ; but they differ eflentially, in that Agents are not inverted with any representative cha- racter, altho' intrufted with the affairs, and intercfls of their princes. See Embassador, Envoy, Cycl. Agent is fometimes ufed in writers of the middle age, for the king's minifler or officer.

In which fenfe, the king is faid to have fent to his dukes, counts, and the reft of his Agents. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 1. p. 107. AGENTES ad refponfum, among the Romans. See M agis- ter Scrinii difpoftionum. Acentes in Rebus, one of the fchools, or ranks of officers in the court of the Conltantinopolitan emperors, whofe buu- nefs was, to collect and convey the corn both for the army, and houfhold ; carry letters, and meftuages from court to all parts of .the empire ; regulate couriers, and their vehicles ; to make frequent journeys, and expeditions thro' the provinces, have an eye to any motions, disturbances, machinations tend- ing that way, and give early notice thereof to the emperor. V. Aquln. Lex. Milit, T. 1. p. 28. Pitife. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 56. Calv. Lex. Jur. p.53. Hartung. Exerc. 3. c. 14. §• *5- The Agentes in Rebus, are by fome made fynonymous with our port-mafters, but their function was of greater extent. They correfpond to what the Greeks call n>,go:p^oj, and the Latins Veredaru. They differ from the Frumentarii, in Ut- Suppl. Vol. I.

tic more than the name, being erected upon the fuppreflton of the Frumcntarii, to fupply their place, not long before the age of Conftantine. V. Aurel. Vicl. de Csefar, c. 39, n. 44, Pitife. Lex. Antiq.

The Agentes in Rebus were of the number of the palatine officers, and as fuch under the management of the Magifttf qfficiorum ; tho* their employment was not confined to the court, for which reafon they are fometimes fpoken of as dif- ferent from the palatine officers.

There were divers orders or degrees of Agentes in Rebus, as Trilnni, Primicerii, Saiatoirs, Ducenarii, Biarcbi, Circitores, Equhes, Tyrones, &c. thro' all which they rofe gradat'tm. Their chief was denominated jir/W/'r, which was a poft of great dignity, being reckoned on a level with that of proconful. The Princeps Agentium in Rebus, refided at Conffantinople, others of them were difpofed in every part of the empire. They are alfo faid to have ferved as interpreters. \ T ._ Hartung, loc. cit. c. 11. §. 14.

AGER, {Cycl.) — Ager Vccligalis privatus, in Roman anti- quity, that whofe property was granted to private perfons on therefcrveof a certain rent, or tribute.

Acer Vccligalis publlcus, that whofe property was referved to the public, and bung let out to farm, the rents or profits accrued to the public treafury.

Ager is alfo ufed for a certain portion or meafure of land, an-< ticntly allowed in the divifion of grounds to each citizen. In the early days of the Roman ftate, the Ager was only two fugcra, amounting to \\ Englifh acre — After the cxpulfion of the kings, feven fugcra were allowed a Plebeian. Under the confulate of C.Licinius Stolo, in the year of Rome 376$ a law was made to limit eftates to 500 Jugcra^ or 330 En- glifh acres. Under Julius Caefar another agrarian law was publlihed, by which thofe who enlarged their pittance of land, were to pay 50 Aurei to the public. V. Arbutbn. DifT. of Rom. Money, c. 1. Baxt. GlofT. p. 66. fcq. Hojfm.'LayLi Univ. T. r. p. 108. Jour, des Scav. T. 21. p. 159. See Agrarian.

Ager is alfo ufed in middle age writers, for what we now call an acre. Spelm. GlofT. p. 22. Du Cange, GlofL Lat;- T. 1. p. 107. See Acre.

Ager MinereHum, among chemifls, denotes the element of water; confidered as the field, or foil, wherein mineral bo- dies have their firft root, and from whence they fhoot their branches upon the earth. Dorn. Geneal. Mineral, c. 3. in Theat. Chcm. T. 1. p. 571. Cajl. ap. Lex. Med. p. 24. See Water, and Mineral, Cycl.

Some coniidtr the Uterus as a kind of Ager naturar, bearing a near refcmblance in point of office, to the earth itfelf, in receiving and foftcring the femen, csV. V, Burggrav. Med, p. 345. SeeUTi-Rus, Cycl.

AGERATUM, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe ; the flower is monopctalous, of the perfonatcd kind, and tubular in its lower part, and in the upper divided into two lips, the upper of which is bifid* and the lower divided into three fegments. The piftil arifes from the cup, and finally becomes an oblong membranaceous fruit, divided into two cells, which contain a number of very fine feeds affixed to a placenta.

The fpecies of Ageraium enumerated by Mr. TourneforE are thefe.

1. The fmooth leaved ferratcd alpine Ageratum, with purple flawers. 2. The fmooth leaved ferrated alpine Ageratum y with white flowers. 3. The hairy ferratcd alpine Ageratum, with purple flowers. 4. The hairy alpine ferrated Ageratum, with white flowers. 5. The American Ageratum, with the leaves and whole appearance of the rapunculus. . Tournef. Inft. p. 651. feq.

Ageratum is an officinal plant, popularly called maudlin. The word is originally Greek a.ynsu\w, compounded of the privative « and r^** °ld age, on account of its flowers, which do not eafily wither or grow bid a.

Ageratum bears a near rcfemblance to the Coftmary, from which it only differs, in that its flowers are formed into loofe umbels ; there are divers fpecies of it. The officinal is called Ageratum foliis ferratis, C. B. or Ageratum Luteum, and is the fame with the Eupatorhm Mejues, fo called on account of its virtue in difeafes and obfa-uctions of the liver b. Ageratum is of an aftringent quality, and as fuch recom- mended by Riverius, and others, againfl incontinence of urine ; Gefner has alfo difcovercd a bride purgative power in its c roots. But it is rarely prefcribed in the prefent practice — [ 3 Lemery, Diet, des Drog. p. 18. b J$uitic. Difpenf. P, 1. Sec. 4. n. 257. Mill. Gard. Diet, in voc. c £hrinc. ib. See alfo Burggrav. Lex. Med. T. 1. p. 346. feq. & Junck. Confp. Therap. Tab. 20. p. 516.]

AGER ATUS Lapis, in the materia medica of the antients, the name of a ftone mentioned by Galen and other writers ; and faid to be of the nature of the Phrygian ftone, but more afrrin- gent j and as that was ufed in dying, this was in dreflmg of leather : we have no account of its external appearance, but probably it contained vitriol, and perhaps alum. The great ufe of vitriol or copperas in the management of lea- ther, is well known ; and the Itones which contain it, or Pyritse, are every where common. The method ufed alfo in the I R pre-