Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/803

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XWe often meet with the Greek letters X and P joined in this manner £, on antient medals. The firft we find are on fome large brafs coins of the Ptolemies, kings of iEgypt, where it was placed on a civil account. Some writers have taken it for a date, and others for the initial letters of a proper name ; but as no reafons are al- igned for either of thofe conjectures, Mr. Ward rather fup- pofes it an abbreviation of the word xphma, money, irn- preffed on thofe pieces, to denote their currency as money ; which might be thought proper, as they have not the heads of kings ftamped upon them, like their filvcr and gold coins ; but always that of a Jupiter on the front, and an eagle perched on a thunderbolt on the revcrfe. This character £ was afterwards applied to a very different purpofe by Conitantine the Great, who made ufe of it to denote XPIC'FOC, both in his coins and military enftgns ; wherein he was followed not only by fome fucceeding em- perors, but alfo by private perfons, who out of devotion put it on their lamps and other utenfils.

It afterwards came to be ufed merely as a critical note, to point out remarkable paflages in manufcripts ; and then it . flood for the initials of Xl J HCIMON, ufeful ; as we learn from Ifidore, Orig. Lib. i. cap. 20. See Philof. Tranf. N°. 474. §. 1. XAMDELLILAH, an Arabian term, ufed as a grace or thankfgiving after meat. The greateft men of that nation will often call in the mean-

■ eft, even the beggars, to eat with them ; who, as foon as they have done, always rife and pronounce this word, which fignifies God be prailed. Poeock's Egypt, p. 183.

XAMI, a name given by fome of the old writers to the ccra- tion of the Greeks, or carob-tree.

The Arabians ufe this name, and exprefs by it the fame tree which we call by this name : They mention another kind

■ of charnub, which, is their general name for theceration;

■ this other kind was an aftringent, and wholly different from any thing which we know under that name.

It is poffible they might mean by it the acacia, which is alfo. a tree that bears pods, and is of an aftringent quality.

XANTHICA, SaAxx, in antiquity, a Macedonian feftival, fo called becaufe it was obferved in the month Xanthus, at

i which time the whole royal family with the army were '

purified. See the article Lustration.

After which the army was divided into two parts, one of

. which being fe.t in array againrr. the other, there followed a

- . lhort rencounter, in imitation of a fight. Potter, Archasol. '

Grsec. 1. 2. c. 20. T. r. p. 417.

XANTHIUM, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ;i the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the flof- ' culous.kind, being compofed of a number of flofcules, eachj having one ftamen. The feeds are produced on other parts' of the plant, and finally become oblong and ufuali'y prickly, fruits, divided into two cells, and containing each feveral' oblong feeds.

The (pedes of Xantbium, enumerated by Mr. Tourncfort, are thefe : 1. The common Xantbium, called the imaller burdock. 2. The greater Canada Xantbium, with, fruit armed with crooked prickles. 3. The jagged-leaved Por- tugal Xantbium, with fruit armed with very ftrong prickle. Tourn. Inft. p. 130. are recommended, as of great fervice in fcrophulous cafes, . taken in decoction.,; .Matthiolus gives great praifes..to the root dried and powdered, and given in mixture. with rhu-
 * The roots of this plant are of a bitter and acrid tafte,, and

. -barb for the leprofy. AdattbioL, in Diofcor.

XANTHON, a name given by fome of the antients^to a fpeciesof marble, of a yellowifh green colour, much ufed in ornamenting the inner parts of houfes ; and from its equal hardnefs with the Taenarian marble, and the equal high polifh it was capable of, fuppofed by the workmen to. be .of the fame, fpecles. -, (

.. The word A atitbon. is_of-vesy dubious meanings buj: is fup-^ pofed as the name of this marble to have exprefled,- ,a .green: colour, as this was otherwife v called'. marmorherbofanU' See the articles TaenaRIUM, and H : £RBosu, ,m Mar,i.mr. .

XANTHURUS Indicus, in zoolotry, the name of. a fifh, cal- led by the. Dutch Ged-ftardt. —

It is of the: fize and fhape of ■ the bream ; its jaws are .arm- ed with ftrait and very fharp teeth, which ftand ahnoft .ftrait out; its back is 'yellow^ and its- tail very ftrdngly tinged with that colour ; its bejly is of a bluifh white ; "its head brown, and its fins of a fine red. It is caught with hooks

. .among the rocks on the fhores.of the Eaft-Indies ; and is a

very wholcfome and well-tatted fifh. Ra/s Ichthyograph. Append, p. 2.

XANTHUS, in the natural hiftory of the antients, the name of an iron ore of the haematites or blood-ftone kind, and ufually accounted a fpecics of it, and called by others elatites.

It was of a pale yellowifh white, or the colour of the French pale yellow ochre, ufed by our painters ; but like all other ferrugineous bodies it became red by burning. Theophraftus gives us exprefly the etymology of the name, obferving that it was called fo from its colour ; the Dorians calling a yellowifh white |«G 0S, Xapthns. Hill's Theoph. p. 07.

XANXUS, in zoology, a name given by- fome authors to a large fpecics of fea-fhell, fomewhat like that with which the tntons of old were painted. It is found in great abundance near Ceylon, and is ufed there in medicine as an alkali and abforbent, in the fame cafes in which we give the teftaceous powders.

XATHOS, m ichthyology, a name given by Appian, to the fifh, called by the generality of authors the erytbr'mus, or rubellio. See the articleERYTHRiNus. It is of the fparus kind, and is defcribed by Artedi under the name of the filver-eyed, red-bodied fparus.

XEL,- in the materia medica of the antients, a name given to the fruity;-/. See the article Sel.

XENEXTON, a word ufed by Paracelfus, to exprefs a fort of amulet to be worn about the neck, to preferve people from infection in the plague.

XENINEPHIDE1, a word ufed to exprefs a fort of imaginary fpirits, mentioned by the' adepts, as delighting to diicover the occult qualities of bodies to men.

XENlSMI, ffww^-w, in antiquity, (acrifices offered at the A- thenian feftival Anactea, Potter, T. 1. p. 366. See the ar- ticle Anacsa.

XENOPAROCHUS, among the Romans, an officer who pro- vided embaffadors with all kind of neceilaries, at the public expence. Pitifc. Lex. Antiq. in voc.

XERANTHEMCJM, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which arc thefe : The flower is radiated; its diik is compofed of flofcules Handing upon the embryo- feeds ; but the outer circle is compofed of plane flat petals, which are not affixed to embryos, but are contained in the fame cup with the floicules which make up the diik. - The embryos finally ripen into i'eeds, whichare furnilhed with a foliaceous head.

The lbecies of Xerantbemum, enumerated by Mr. Tourne- fort, are thefe-: 1. The Xerantbemum, with large lingle pur- ple flowers. 2. The Xerantbemum, with large double purple flowers. 3. The Xerantbemum, with -iiiigle white flowers. 4. The double white-flowered Xerantbemum. 5. The fingle flowered Xerantbeimon, with flowers mixed of white and reff. '6. The double-flowered Xeranthevium, with flowers mixed, cfri dulky red and white. 7. The white- flowered hoary Xerantbfmmn^ 8- The Xerantbemum, with fmall fnigfe purpl'e flowers. 9. The Xerantbemum, with fmall fingle pale purple, flowers, Tgurn, Inft. p. 499. ■ We hay.c feveral fpqeies o£ this plant cultivated in our gar- dens^ and, known in Englifli by the name of everlajting flowers ; a name common to all, the fpecies of this plant, and of the amaranthoides.

Thefe flowers are of. fp dry and durable a ftructure, that if gathered juir. when they are ripe, they will laft many years in perfection, and appear as.frefh .as while growing ; they arc alfo capable of Leiieral tinges, and,hence are often ieen of fine blues and greens,, colours not natural to them. They, arc all propagated by fowjng their, feeds in Auguft, in a warm border* qb/erviiiiz to water and fhade them till they are come up, if. .the weather proves over dry. When the young plants aire-', two inches high 7 they ihould be re- moved -.to another warm border under the ihelter of a wall, and. there planted at,, fiy.e inches diftance from each other. They will here ftand the winter very well, and in fpring ' wj;ll be; re,ady to grow up;; for flowering without any farther tranfpkmting ; they are- only to be kept clear of weeds, and in June they will flower.;' the flowers ftiould be gathered in July for drying, and fome .of the findt mould be fuftered to ftand for feed ; for the plants perifh as loori as they have per- fected' their feeds,, and. muit be renewed by lowing every year.' Milkr.s Garde"ner's 'Diet.

XERASIA, in medicine,^ the name of a difeafe, a fpecies of alopecia, in which the hair falls ofF through a dryuefs of the part, and want of due nourifhment.

XrROMYRON,