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 ACT A C R ( 21 )' buckler, helmet, animal, ire.; but more frequently ACRIFQLIUM, in botany, a iharp or prickly leaf. circular, or Ipiral. It was ufuai to tear diem from ACRIMONY, that quality in bodies which renders the prows of vanquifaed veflels, and fix them to the them, acrid to the tafte. conquerors, as a lignal of viflory. ACRIVIOLA, in botany, a fynonime of a fpecies of ACROTELEUTIC, among ecclellaftic writers, an aptropssolum or Indian crefs. See Tropjeolum. given to any thing added to the end of a pfalm, ACROAMATIC, or Acroatic, in general, denotes pellation as the Gloria Pan i or doxology. a thing fuMime, profound, or abftrufe. Ariftotle’s ACRQTERI, in the illand of Santorin, that ledlures to his favourite difciples and intimate friends lieB in the feaa town of Candia, 25. 26. E. long. 3d. bore this denomination, in oppofition to his exoteric 25. I t. lectures, • or thofe- accommodated to a popular audi- ACROTERIA, in architedure, fmall pedeftals, ufually ence. ACRQBATICA, or Acrobaticum, in Grecian anti- without bafes, anciently placed at the middle and the two extremes of pediments or frontifpieces, fervirg to quity, an enginowhereby the people were raifed aloft, fupport ftatues, It alfo fignifies the figures that they might fee .further, or with greater advan- placed astheornaments of churches, and the tage. It was much the fame v/ith the fcanforium of Iharp pinnacles that on{landthe intopsranges about flat buildthe Latins. ACROCHIRISMUS, in Grecian antiquity, a kind of ings with rails and ballufters. Among ancient phyficians, it fignified the larger exgynjnaftic exercife, performed with the lifts, without tremities of the body, as the head, hands, and feet. doling at all. ACROCHORDON, a painful wart, which is very pro- It has alfo been ufed for the tips of the fingers, and fometimes for the eminences or procefl'es of bones. minent and pendulous. in furgery, a large tumour relentACROCQRION, in botany, an obfglete name of the ACRITHYMIA, bling a wart, though fometimes flat and deprefied. crocus. See Crocus. See Surgery, title, Of. tumours. ACRQMATIC, or Achromatic, in optics, a term ACSOR, a town in the river Nile in Egypt, filmed for applied to a particular kind of telefcope, the meft perfe(ftof the refrading kind. See Optics and Tele- its earthen ware. ACSU, a town in Afiatic Tartary, fituated in 40. 30. scope. N.lat. ACROMION, in anatomy, the upper part of the fca- ACT, in general, denotes the exertion of power; and pula. See Anatomy, Part I. ACROMONOGRAMMATICUM, in poetry, a kind differs from power, as the efFedt from the caufe. of poem,, wherein every ftthfet^uent verfe begins, with Act, among lawyers, is an inftrument in writing for the letter wherewith the immediately preceding one declaring or juftifying the truth of any thing. In Which fenfe, records, decrees, fentences, reports, certerminated. ACRON, a territory on the gold coaft of Guinea in A- tificates, <bc. are called Atts. frica, bordering on th.e Fantynean country. The Acts, alfo denote the deliberations and refolutions cf Dutch have a fort here, called Fort Patknee. The an aflembly, fenate, or convocation, as, Adis of parinhabitants apply themfelves principally to hulbandry. liament, he. They are a very ignorant people, and go naked like Act offaith, auta da fe, in the Romifh church, is a the reft of the negroes. fort of jail delivery, for the punifhment of heretics, ACRON, among ancient botanifts, fignifies the top or and the abfolution of thofe who are found to be innoflower of plants of the thiftle kind. cent. The culprits are firft led to church, wheris ACRONICAL, Achronycal, or Achronical, in their fentence, either of condemnation or abfolution, aftronomy, is a term applied to the riling of a ftar, is pronounced, and the guilty are delivered over to the when the fun is fet in the evening; but has been pro- fecular power, with an earneft interceflion for. them, mifcuqufly ufed to exprefs a ftar’s rifing at funfet, or that no blood may be fhefl. But if they perfift in fetting at funrife. their fuppofed errors, they are burnt alive. See InACROSPIP^E, a vulgar term for What the botanifts call quisition. , x the plume. See Agriculture, Of vegetation. Acts, in dramatic poetry, are the parts or divifions inAQROSPIRED, in mait-making, is the grain’s Ihoot- to which tragedies and comedies are generally fplit. ing both at the root and blade end. See Malt. Dramatic compolitions ufually confift of five adts. But ACROSTIC, Acrosticum, in poetry, a poem dif- this divifion is not eflentially neceffary, but may be pofed in fuch a manner, that the initial letters of the varied according to the humour of the author, or the verfes make fome perfon’s name, title, motto, <bc. nature of the fubjedt. See Drama. ACROSTICUM, in botany, a genus of the cryptoga- Act of grace. See Grace. mia Alices, of which there are qo fpecies, but only ACTiEA, in botany, a gepus of the polyandria monothree of them are natives of Britain, viz. the fepten- gynia clafs. There are three fpecies of this plant, trionale, or horned fern; the ilvenfe, or hairy fern y viz. the adftea fpicata, or bone-berries, which is a and the thelypteris, or marlh fern. of Britain; the racemofa, which is a native of ACROSTOLIUM, in ancient naval archite&ure, the native America; and the cimicifuga, which is a native of Siextreme part cf the ornament ufed on the prows of beria. theft Imps, which was" fometimes in the lhape of a ACTIAN games, In Roman antiquity, were folemn Vol. I. No. i. 3 F games